Her coat burned.
Like some great beast, Canterlot Mountain had risen from the horizon, shimmering purple in the sunlight and crowned by a hat of cloud as the train made its way past the hills and over the bogs of Asherby’s southernmost reaches. The trip through the tunnels that spiraled up within the mountain’s vertical slopes had been scary, but the darkness gave way to the bright, white and gold streets of Canterlot, now more than just a fantasy on a piece of paper.
And now she was here, in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She had dreamed of this day ever since she had first learned of the place, and she was ready to do her best. It was only now, with her family on their way back to Vanhoover and the Princess out of view, that she realised how lonely she felt.
The filly placed a tiny hoof against the ceiling of her chest and pushed. It stayed firm, her own cutie mark-themed lock keeping her sealed inside. She lit her horn again and looked around for some way out. Her spare clothes muffled her attempts at movement and the edges of Bubble Bloom’s Magic for Fillies jabbed into her side. She’d read it countless times; there wouldn’t be anything in there that could help her.
It had been the noblefoal; the filly with the freckles and the warm smile. She’d greeted her, complimented how well-prepared she was, and then willed her into the chest as her smile turned into something more predatory. Moondancer had never seen dark magic in person before. For all she’d read about its uses she had never considered how it would actually feel, let alone that she would be too emotionally unprepared to keep its will in check. She could sense the residual energy watching her, preparing to drag her back into the darkness if she somehow escaped. It was studying her state of mind, but there was little she could do to quell the fear when it finally struck her that she was trapped.
Her coat felt like it was burning where the aura touched her. Images of fire filled her mind and it all came back at once.
Her screams drew the attention of others. She even heard the loping hoofsteps of the Princess reentering the room, but the first face she saw as light broke through her darkness was purple. Twilight Sparkle broke into a beaming smile, but a giant, white wing drew her away as the Princess raised Moondancer from the chest in a soft, golden glow.
Her coat burned.
-----
“Are you coming or not?”
The path led them east, toward the internal edges of Middle Canterlot. It was a raised road that overlooked Sunflare’s Walk to their right, the mountain looming to their left in all its great majesty. Its dark, purple-blue stone released a near-invisible haze into the air around it, causing the surface to shine in the sunlight. The added moonlight strengthened the effect, making it look like a full on mirage outlining the mountain’s form. The tiny white lines that travelled down its face had grown to become the network of aqueducts that kept the city hydrated, their shapes apparently wavering in the odd effect, even with how close they were.
Moondancer shifted her shoulders as she walked. A dull pain throbbed between them, and the very edges of her shoulder blades felt almost like they were experiencing pins and needles. It was the sort of burn one got when exercising, but Moondancer never needed to do any heavy lifting. She thought for a moment on one of her anatomy books for an answer, only to recall the sight of her bones reappearing from the maelstrom.
She refocused herself to get the images out of her head. Her chest floated by her side, its colourful lock shimmering under her levitation. Her aura was growing thin today, making the chest feel twice as heavy as it already did. She must not have had as large a dinner last night as she thought. Her stomach grumbled again. It didn’t matter, really. It was just another annoyance to deal with. The only thing that mattered was getting out of here.
Yet another annoyance wandered into view; the biggest thorn in her side so far today. Twilight Sparkle looked like she was about to say something, judging by that look on her face which she only got when she saw a problem she could solve. It usually only looked mildly aggravating, but today was not the time for it. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, likely to offer to carry the chest again, but Moondancer stopped in her tracks and set it down on the cobbles, breathing a quiet sigh from the strain.
“There. Look at that,” she said, pointing up at the mountain.
The other unicorn and the dragon on her back followed the hoof to see something that absolutely did matter. Canterlot Mountain was far too steep to provide much in the way of natural streams, let alone for an entire city, so much of the rainwater had to be brought in manually. Around the peak swirled the giant ring of collected vapour that normally shrouded it in permanent gloom.
“You see how thin it looks?”
Twilight squinted at the ring. “Kinda. Why?”
“Even when it’s small you can usually see it really easily, but it’s practically pure white today.”
The edge of the ring stretched a good distance past the false peak. It should have been an obvious darker shade against the brighter blue of the sky, but now the two blended together in this perpetual twilight. “Are they not...bringing in enough?” her friend asked.
Moodancer gave her a look. “No. They’re just having an extended break from work, like everypony else,” she replied dryly. “I’m guessing you haven’t had any water problems yet?”
Twilight and Spike both shook their heads.
“Figures. My pipes are already juddering and stuff. We’ve had shortages cropping up all over the Rabbles for the past couple of days. It’s turning into a big problem, but maybe it hasn’t reached Middle Canterlot yet. They’re shutting off a bunch of fountains in my area and I hear the earl is thinking of starting a rationing program.”
The other unicorn frowned. “Is it really that bad? Don’t they just need to collect more clouds?” The thought visibly clicked. “Oh. But maybe they can’t with the extra heat evaporating more than usual…”
“It gets a lot worse than that,” Moondancer continued. “You know Blitz Wind? He came to Canterlot right after the riots started and enacted a curfew, and he brought a small army of Royal Guards along to enforce it, so now the Rabbles is teeming with them.” She looked back to the ring. A distance below it, obscured by the curve of the mountain, would be Canterlot’s weather factory. Tasked with turning collected rainwater into a usable flow, the factory normally released faint, colourful plumes through the center of the cloud ring, creating an interesting formation from the right vantage point.
“He’s up there, in the factory,” Moondancer added. She looked to her friend and got to see the surprise fill her face.
“Why is he there…?” Twilight asked, sounding concerned.
“To keep the factory running, at a guess,” Moondancer replied. “Unless he’s the one causing the shortage, of course.”
“He’d never do a thing like that,” Twilight responded without hesitation.
“Are you sure? From what I’ve heard he’s gotten lazy. Either he leaves settlements without enough guards, or he leaves the guards without enough money.”
That gave Twilight pause. Moondancer knew this kind of thing would suck to hear, but it needed to be said. Twilight had known Captain Blitz Wind before she even joined the school, consistently beating him at chess and accidentally turning herself into a prime candidate for the Communication and Transfer division after showing a keen have-your-cake-and-eat-it sense of tactical logic whenever the pegasus shared his stories from the front line. That had been up until a number of years ago, when something in him changed. His training methods grew harsher and his mood grew sour, turning him into the kind of pony one couldn’t even look in the eyes without feeling a sense of animosity.
Twilight finally responded. “He must have a good reason for being up there. He’s not the kind of pony who would try to profit from a crisis.”
Moondancer shrugged. “Who knows? How long since you last spoke to him?”
The frown deepened. She was treading thin ice here. “A long time,” Twilight admitted, looking away. “But I know he’s a good pony. I’ve never heard about him straying from the rules to this extent.”
“And maybe he hasn’t. If the workers aren’t willing to keep things running smoothly around here then I’m sure a military occupation will do it. It’s not like that could ever end badly.” Moondancer gave her a moment to think on that. “And what’s worse is that, from what I hear, he’s doing all this without the PA’s go-ahead, which is ridiculously illegal.”
“Well, the Princess must have instructed him to instead. It wouldn’t make any sense otherwise.”
Moondancer raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t make any sense. You need to brush up on your legal-ese, Twilight. Celestia doesn’t have the authority to meddle in Canterlot’s day-to-day business, even less where basic utilities are concerned. If she actually gave the Royal Guard direct permission to take over the weather factory then that would infringe upon the Pony Authority, which would set the Vigil against the Guard and all of Canterlot against the princess.”
Twilight paused again to think. She took longer this time. “How do you know all this?” she eventually asked.
I don’t, but if I can’t get through to you with blunt facts then exaggerations will have to do. A grim little grin appeared on Moondancer’s face. “Because you can read a changeling by its cover, Twilight. A high-ranking member of the guard doesn’t go through a - very public - descent in reputation and then do this kind of thing without some kind of goal behind it.”
“I still think he has Canterlot’s best interests in mind. The Princess has a lot on her plate right now. I know it’s not right, but it only makes sense to make sure vital infrastructure keeps working at a time like this.”
The princess doesn’t have anything on her plate, you damn moron! Moondancer made to respond but Twilight raised a hoof to stop her.
“And just so we’re clear, that’s just my opinion on this specific case. I’m not making any kind of grand statement about the way the law works or anything like that.”
The grin turned into a smirk. “Yeah, great. You realise he could’ve just told people not to use as much water, right?”
Twilight gave her half a smile. “I guess.”
They continued on. The path gradually sloped downwards again as the west-to-east tilt of the city overcame the inward tilt of its aqueduct-like shape. The shops were starting to give way to stout residential complexes filled with low-income families and singletons renting their first home away from home, such as it was, judging by the blocky, un-Canterlot style of construction. As they ventured further downhill the streams either side of the road started to show signs of the chaos to come, with odd bits and pieces of trash resting at the bottom of the miniature troughs.
They were heading towards the area that served as the transition between Middle and Lower Canterlot; the Terrace Gallery. Moondancer had one place in particular she wanted to show Twilight that would really hammer her point home. From here the black spires of the Octenic Hall could be seen standing high above the other buildings, with the softer, brighter arches of Sunflare’s Theatre right beside it. Her goal was gold and white, smaller in stature, and likely still smoldering.
Her stomach rumbled again and her chest slipped from her grip.
“Moondancer? Are you ok?” Twilight asked as she rushed to her aid.
Moondancer shrugged her off, still holding her middle. “Agh…” That one hurt. This was probably a sign she’d pushed herself too far today without any food to back her up. She knew from experience that, as tempting as it always was to just keep reading when her body was literally starting to die on her, it was never worth the stomach pains in the end. For a while she’d thought she had some kind of health condition, prompting her to buy a series of equine biology books to sort things out, only for Quilliam of all people to point out that she was repeatedly starving herself.
“I’m ok,” she reassured her friend. “Y’know what? I think we should get some food. I’m right in the middle of my bad habits again…”
“I can see that.” Twilight looked over to the chest and raised it with her amethyst glow. “I’ll carry this for now, if that’s ok?”
Moondancer’s gaze lingered on the cutie mark-themed lock, now wreathed in another’s magic. “Yeah, fine. Whatever…”
---
The construction of residential blocks down here were always focused towards the center line of the city as the population density of the Rabbles overcame the majesty of Sunflare’s Walk. However, even here the edges of the city were considered high-class areas. On one side home buyers had the incredible view of Central Equestria to enjoy, while on the other there were various attractions both natural and constructed in and along the mountain cliffs. This had led to a long strip of the Canterlot Lap becoming known as the Golden Mile for its abundance of shops and homes that were an order of magnitude wealthier than those only a few streets further inward.
One of the first that truly made use of its prestigious location was a jewelry shop with a shiny, golden facade and strengthened glass that shimmered in the sun and moonlight. The latest customers had turned the road outside into a beautiful pattern of bright reflections, leaving a jagged new entrance in their wake along with a few wide bands of red paint all the way around the outside of the former corner shop.
The three of them eyed it cautiously as they passed, as if one of the robbers was about to burst out at them. They made their way around the shards of glass and away from the ugly sight, only to find more signs of vandalism further up the road.
“What is that smell?” Spike asked as he held his nose.
“It smells like… off cabbage, or something,” Twilight replied.
“It smells like the Rabbles,” Moondancer stated. “It’s a lot worse down there than this. Everyone’s scared to go outside so all the cafes are losing stock, which is then left where they put it because the litter pickers are refusing to work out of fear of the gangs. And then there’s the water problems. It’s not just the sinks and baths that are drying up.”
“Meaning…?”
Moondancer looked her friend in the eye, recalling a putrid stench that had persisted for hours on end, wafting down her street. “Let’s just say a lot of ponies are being arrested for not being able to flush their own toilets.”
“That’s… horrific.”
“See why I wanna leave now?”
Moondancer felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickling up as Spike leaned towards her in his seat. She trusted Twilight with her chest well enough, but not that fire-breathing creature. “If ponies are actually doing that, and they can’t get water from the taps, wouldn’t that make the lake the perfect place for them to ‘go’?”
The two unicorns stopped in their tracks.
“Well, we’ll see when we get there,” said Twilight, in an all too measured tone.
“Uh, no!” Moondancer exclaimed. “They’ll be pooping in the rivers like fucking cannibals! It’ll be washing off the side of the city to fertilise Equestria!” It was like some kind of disgusting joke; wealth raining from the sky was only meant to be a metaphor for the nobility’s arrogant philanthropy. If word got out about this, it would only strengthen the stereotype of Canterlot citizenry being a bunch of uppity pieces of equine shit.
Despite her feelings being abundantly clear, Twilight continued on, bringing the chest in tow. “Hey, wait, are you for real?” Moondancer exclaimed.
Twilight sent a frown back at her. “Well we have to make sure. Spike’s been waiting to see the lake for the past hour.”
“It’s been a lot longer than that, but sure,” Spike commented.
Moondancer grit her teeth but felt forced to follow her friend. It wasn’t like she had any money to spare for lunch anyway. Her scowl moved from the back of Twilight’s head to the dragon riding her like a steed. He looked tense. The sight had always been a bewildering one to her. For the first week of attending the school she’d convinced herself that Spike was nothing more than a plush toy and that his baby-like gurbles and cries were all in her head. Then, she told herself that he was nothing more than an enchanted plush toy, or at most a fully golemised one. It took her a good few months to finally accept the fact that her new best friend regularly spent her time around the most dangerous creature in Equestria, treating him like he was part of her family.
It was no wonder, really. Save for Celestia herself, Twilight was the most powerful mare in the whole school, teachers included. It only made sense that a dragon would feel at home with a pony who could tame it.
She imagined Celestia’s maw filling with teeth and her feathery wings falling away to reveal a scaly membrane underneath, and she shook her head to get the bad thoughts out, adjusting her glasses. She wouldn’t have to think about any of that soon. She could convince Twilight to leave just as she’d convinced Juniper that the princess wouldn’t chase after him if he quit his studies. As far as she could tell from her own experience, she’d been right.
They passed more gold-adorned shops, though a fair few of them looked to have been stripped of their prestige. The smell of wasted produce followed them, slowly giving way to the scent of grass, flowers and a feeling of moisture in the air as the end of the street widened into the Canterlot Lap. The marble slabs turned into a short set of steps that bordered a long stretch of the road, past which was a large, relatively flat area where the grass grew freely and the water was fresh.
They stepped up and the bright blue lake finally came into view. It was packed out.
The lake alone was practically surrounded by a crowd of ponies. Entire family groups flowed to and from the shores carrying buckets full of water as if they’d stepped back in time to before plumbing was a thing. On top of that, the grassy fields encircling most of the lake were brimming with activity as well. In the distance, towards the grand waterfall, was what looked like a massive party, if the thudding music and the writhing, cheering youths were anything to go by. More were milling about or eating grass, presumably to escape the cesspool that the Rabbles had become, and some were simply sunbathing in the extra heat. There were a number of makeshift stalls and a carriage trunk sale taking advantage of the crowd. The whole scene was an alien melting pot of apathy and desperation, and Moondancer wanted nothing to do with it.
“This is… way worse than I thought it would be,” said Twilight.
Even Spike cringed, his defined brow ridge scrunching his face into something only Twilight could love. “Yikes. Looks like there’s still some space left if we want to sunbathe or something?” he suggested.
Twilight looked more than a little hesitant. “In front of all those ponies? I was looking forward to bathing, but there’s a lot of people already doing that, too…”
“Well, the other side of the lake looks better. We could go there?”
“Spike, I don’t think we should be here. It’s way too busy, and I think some of them might be using this in place of a proper bath or shower.”
Spike stood up on her back, the cringe turning into a frown. “Hey, come on, we just got here! We can finally enjoy the weather if we just go right to the mountain!”
Twilight remained calm in spite of the rising tensions. “No, Spike. Who knows what could happen with so many desperate ponies in one place? This is exactly what I was afraid of when we set off.”
The dragon’s chest was starting to heave and he grit his fangs in frustration. “But you promised!” he cried.
Twilight merely frowned back at him. “No, I said we’d come here and see what it was like. We didn’t know it was going to be this busy! Besides, I can’t leave you alone in this crowd else you might get lost.”
Spike looked like he was about to explode. Moondancer watched in horror as he tightened his grip, pushing Twilight’s face up so he could yell down at her, “I don’t get lost anymore! I’m not a baby!”
“Stop it!!”
They both looked at her, startled.
Moondancer felt beads of sweat forming on her brow and she quickly adjusted her glasses. “L-let her go!” She set herself and lit her horn, ready to try and levitate the dragon away from its would-be owner.
“Moondancer, what are you doing?” asked Twilight.
Spike brought his hands away and waved them in front of him. “Hey, woah, I wasn’t going to do anything!”
“Yeah, right! I saw the look on your face!” Moondancer sneered in response. That look of petulant fury, of a kid who still only thought about himself, who didn’t know that hurting others was wrong. She could see ruffled fur where Spike’s claws had dug into the back of Twilight’s jawline. If he were bigger he could have caused real damage.
“Moondancer…” Twilight began, placing the chest down on the grass. “Whatever you’re about to do, don’t. I don’t know what you think was about to happen, but it wasn’t.”
The sweat turned cold as she watched this. Twilight had lived most of her life with Spike and didn’t seem scared by this sort of thing, but from the outside it was plain to see the flash of anger on Spike’s face. Just because he hadn’t properly lashed out yet didn’t mean he never would.
And yet the sight of her chest cast an air of doubt on the situation. She looked back at them. It must have felt terrifying, and yet Twilight’s grip on the chest hadn’t wavered for even a moment. Maybe it was just a strength thing and she’d still been surprised. But then her tone of voice had been perfectly measured, as if she was giving the telling off to an insolent foal instead of a baby dragon.
“Wh… what part of that was ok with you?” Moondancer asked, horn still lit.
Twilight’s face had turned into a deep scowl. “The part that happens literally all the time, but that you never get to see because you’re permanently afraid of him and haven’t gotten to know him after all these years. Are you thinking straight?”
She was perfectly fine. Spike had burned both of them before, but only she seemed to see sense afterwards. An image of Celestia came to mind again, this time wreathed in flame, and the aura around Moondancer’s horn faded away. There were bigger hills to die on than this. “I’m… f-fine,” Moondancer replied. “I just thought he was…”
Twilight raised her eyebrows. “What? Attacking me? You’re an idiot, Moondancer.” She stomped a hoof. “Seriously, you’re an idiot! Spike is my little brother, he would never do that!”
“He’s a dragon.”
“No. None of that. Apologise!”
Spike hopped down onto the grass and closed the gap between them. He may not have been fully grown, but she could still see the flickering of fire behind his slit pupils and the corpses of cattle littered around her family’s farm. Before she knew it he’d poked a little claw into her hoof and she lurched back as if stung, letting out a small cry.
“Moondancer, he’s just a baby. Apologise and let’s get lunch over with.”
Her lips quivered and her stomach growled. She opened her mouth to respond, but her tongue hesitated. It didn’t matter. He was just a dragon. He could take it. She didn’t understand why Twilight felt so strongly in his favour when she was only trying to defend her.
Before she could say anything, a voice called over to them. “Excuse me,” it said. It was a stallion wearing the grey and white of the City Vigil, complete with the hat of an officer, an unused set of manacles and a whopping stick. “Is that a dragon?” he asked, coming to a stop between them, eyes on Spike.
Spike looked back with worry, Twilight with frustration. “Huh? Yeah?” he answered.
The officer breathed a fake sigh and subtly motioned to his equipment. “I’m going to need to ask him a few questions. Is that alright, ma’am?”
“Wh-what…?” Twilight asked with a frown.
“The PA has just outlawed dragons in public spaces, but I’ll overlook that since the law only just came into effect. I just need to know where he was on certain nights.”
“What do you mean ‘outlawed’?”
“Exactly what it says. From now on, dragons need to be kept indoors for the public’s safety.”
“But… but he’s not dangerous. He hasn’t done anything wrong,” Twilight stated, the frustration in her posture giving way to panic.
“I’m not saying he has,” the officer replied. “I just need to know where he was on the third and fifth of August, then I’ll be out of your mane.”
“He was… with me, studying.”
“Studying?”
“Yes. We’re students at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. He helps me.”
He raised an eyebrow and stared at Spike for a moment. “Is that true? What kinds of things do you study?”
For once, Spike looked truly out of his depth. They were such simple questions and yet he looked as if he was going to melt under the pressure. “Uhh,” he stammered out. He glanced between the officer and Twilight. “I don’t… do I have to?”
Moondancer watched the officer’s neutral expression give way to one of the fakest smiles she’d ever seen. This guy wasn’t just inexperienced with deadly creatures, he had no idea how to not look like a creep around kids, either. “Relax, I’m just doing my job. There’s been a series of arson attacks all over Lower Canterlot, so we strongly suspect that a dragon is responsible.” He looked back to Twilight. “If you’d allow me to ask him a few questions in private?”
At least they’ll both be out of sight for a while, Moondancer reasoned. Maybe he’ll get flambé’d instead. As much as the Pony Authority liked to pretend there was a separation of rule between it and Celestia, it was always clear who was in charge. When Blitz Wind strode through town his guards seemed to settle in a little too easily considering the Vigil were the ones who were meant to be keeping everything in order. Compared to the Royal Guard, the City Vigil was just as bad when it came to heavy-hoofedness, but with the added air of pomp and arrogance that came with thinking one was acting outside of the princess’ jurisdiction. They weren’t all bad and they weren’t all lazy - certain parts of the Rabbles tended to turn officers into soldiers, after all - but to accuse a baby dragon who was practically glued to Twilight’s leg every waking moment of every day of arson felt beyond stupid.
“He’s just a baby,” Twilight replied. The frown was returning. Moondancer could see her friend preparing herself, but if recent events had taught her anything about the other mare, it was that she was incapable of acting against authority.
“I’m just doing my job, ma’am,” the officer droned.
“He’s not even a dragon, you fucking idiot.”
The officer tilted his head in Moondancer’s direction, the smile vanishing. “Excuse me?”
Moondancer pointed a hoof at Spike as if trying to poke out his eyes. “He’s a salamander, not a dragon!” she exclaimed. Coming as close to touching him as she could stomach, she pointed to the green, fin-like ears that hung lazily from either side of his head. “See these? They’re gills! And look, do you see any wings on his back? Not a dragon!”
“Salamanders are fire elementals.”
Moondancer rolled her eyes, various factoids about gigantic lizards flitting through her mind. “Yeah, but they don’t make fire! If you paid attention in class then maybe you would know that.” Her eyes narrowed again, sending a death glare past his cap. “And look; an easy way to tell them apart is the lack of horns. Dragons use their horns to break out of their eggs, so how did he do it?”
The officer frowned and let out another fake sigh. He looked between them, once again settling his gaze upon Moondancer. “Look, if you aren’t telling the truth during an emergency, then-”
“If I’m not telling the truth?” she interrupted. “You can’t even tell a lizard from a fire-breathing monster!” She closed the gap between her and the officer’s noses, her face screwing up in fury. “Spike hasn’t breathed a lick of flame in his life, and he doesn’t even have enough stamina to make it to the Rabbles and back without us, or are you going to accuse us as well?” She glanced to Twilight now. “Do you even know who that is?”
“M-Moondancer, wai-”
“That’s Twilight-fucking-Sparkle, Celestia’s personal protege! She’s the most powerful and influential unicorn in the school, and she doesn’t have time to be treated like some criminal! If she tells Celestia about this harassment then you’ll be out a job! Now do you have any other questions or are you looking for trouble with the princess by threatening her best students?”
The officer’s expression only got worse. Of course. To a pony lacking enough critical thought to suggest a baby-anything could have dealt any significant damage during the riots, her words would come across as a genuine threat, and lazy ponies like him were nothing if not litigious. “She doesn’t mean that, really,” Twilight cut in, putting herself between them but pushing more against Moondancer than the stallion. She put on her nice voice. “I’m sorry, we’ve been walking for half the day only to find the lake packed full of people, so to have you come out of nowhere with that sort of thing… y’now? She’s just been stressed lately with everything that’s happened.” A tense moment a silence. She placed her forehooves together, the nice voice gaining a desperate smile to go with it. “I promise that I always keep a close eye on him; you don’t need to worry about him wandering off or doing anything crazy.”
The stallion made no effort to hide his glare. He dusted himself off. “Right. I’m glad to hear that, just keep in mind that he needs to stay away from the thoroughfares and markets from now on. Also, if you aren’t here to collect water then please move along. The lake and field are for emergency use only for the time being.”
With that, the officer disappeared back into the crowd. Moondancer could feel the anger dying back down, but when she looked over to Twilight, she didn’t see a smile. The other mare’s face was wreathed in fury as she glared at the back of the officer’s head. Maybe I’m underestimating her, she thought. It could be true, at least where Spike was concerned. The little gremlin was like a brother to her.
“Apology accepted?” came a chipper little voice between them, breaking the silence.
Twilight met her gaze, the uncharacteristically harsh feeling fading. “Me, Celestia’s most influential student?” she asked, a small smile appearing on her face. “That felt like a little much, but I appreciate what you just did.”
“Your welcome.” Moondancer rolled her eyes at them both. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I just wanted to get that guy off our backs. I can’t stand ponies like him who take advantage.”
“Well I appreciated it,” Spike offered with a shrug, holding out a tiny hand.
Moondancer pulled away. “Well don’t. I don’t like you, I just hate them a lot more. The Vigil has been stepping over the line every chance they get and I didn’t wanna give him the pleasure of getting away with such bullshit.”
Spike simply smiled as he hopped back up onto his ever-faithful steed. “Good enough for me.”
They wandered back down the steps and the mess that was the lake vanished from view, though the distant music of the party still thrmmed through the air. The Golden Mile stretched either side of them, high-quality shops in full polish and busted hinges. Most looked to have been left alone, but the ones that weren’t stood out like sore hooves. Moondancer recalled the odd experience of wandering down the shopping lane she normally frequented, seeing all the broken glass, upturned bins and even a couple of burnt trees. This was nothing compared to down there, and yet all the City Vigil did was shout at people.
“They get worse every month,” Moondancer muttered, half to herself.
“I’m sure I could have sorted things out if it came to questioning,” Twilight replied. “I could’ve probably done what you did with the whole ‘studying under Celestia’ thing. The Vigil may not be the Royal Guard, but they still respect her influence.”
Moondancer looked away with a grunt. “Probably. Like half of them are changelings though.”
“They’re not all like that. That guy just seemed like an idiot.”
“No, literally, half of them are changelings. They’d probably try to keep you as long as they could as soon as they caught wind of how much you love her.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Is… this another one of your conspiracy theories?”
“Says Twilight “Mare in the Moon” Sparkle?”
“Touché, but still, this one doesn’t make any sense.”
“It would if I explained it to you.”
“I’ll pass.”
Moondancer felt a mischievous smile creeping onto her face. “Notice how he only showed up as soon as you beat me over the head with how much you love nachobreath back there?”
Twilight gave her an annoyed prod. “Hey, no weird stories around Spike.”
“Speaking of me…” Spike began, holding one of his ear-fins, “are you totally sure I shouldn’t be able to breathe underwater? I-I mean… there’s sea dragons, and I don’t even know what these things are for.”
Twilight smiled back at him. “Whatever they are, they aren’t gills, Spike, and I don’t recommend testing them out just to make sure. You already hate bathing as it is.”
“Literally everything I told that guy was pulled straight out of-... my head,” Moondancer stated.
Spike leaned over again, receiving a short glare. “But you aren’t the only pony to say that! When me and Twilight went to Ponyville, Rarity said I wasn’t a dragon as well!”
Twilight gave a scoff worthy of a spoiled noble brat. “She didn’t say that! She just… asked why you were shorter than she was expecting.”
“But dragons aren’t even supposed to breathe magic.” His voice was gaining a whine, like a kid who’d just realised he had missed out on a school trip to the Badlands.
“Dragons growing up in the wild don’t breathe magic. You can do both.” She gave him a nuzzle on the nose. “Don’t worry! There’s literally zero chance that you’re not a dragon, Spike.”
Moondancer watched as their noses touched. If she were a less paranoid mare she would have fallen for him ages ago, like the mares who talk about nothing but stallions and babies. Looking at Spike, she could see how his defined brow and cheeks, his sharp claws and fangs, could develop as he grew, until he became just as terrifying to look at as any other adult dragon. They needed a lot of meat to survive, too.
Dragons in the wild usually don’t rely on gems or nachos for food, Moondancer’s brain pointed out. It would take a dedicated factory to produce enough of either for an adult Spike. Their hoard isn’t usually made of comic books, either, the voice on her shoulder continued. She wasn’t sure if it was a baby-obsessed pegasus or a changeling wanting to see him chew her up. Whether it was an eight-headed spear or a twisting lance, the blunt truth was poking her directly in the neck.
She could feel something slipping, and it suddenly became difficult to look at the baby dragon. He was, after all, just a baby. A baby who had never burnt anything without sneezing first and constantly looked to his sister-mother for reassurance, who had access to magical, non-harmful breath after growing up around ponies, and who seemed to be vulnerable about his status as a real dragon like a colt his age would be about not having a cutie mark. He wasn’t like the one that had trapped her family in their home as it feasted upon their livestock. He was just a stupid kid.
“Sorry,” Moondancer muttered.
“Hm?”
“Nothing. Let’s just get something to eat.”