//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Four Days // Story: Spike vs Bridezilla, Destoroyah of Marriages // by TheMessenger //------------------------------// A small crowd had gathered before the shut door, with many more casting anxious looks at the door before hurrying off. Nervous whispers filled the corridor, interrupted by glares from those in front of the closed entrance, but only briefly as eventually, the crowd’s attention would return to the door, and the hushed words would continue in full force. One particularly multicolored tail twitched restlessly as the pegasus attached to it paced restlessly before the room, her eyes glued to the door standing in her way. Every so often, she’d give her wings an impatient flap before turning and continuing her vigilant march, her frown deepening. Then, with a sudden frustrated groan, Rainbow Dash charged forward and slammed her front hooves continually against the hard wood, causing the surrounding stares to turn onto her instead. “Argh! Alright Spike, we know you’re in there! Come on out already, before you make us bust our way inside!” she shouted over the sounds of her own pounding, which drew even more odd looks her way. It took the combined efforts of Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack to pull Rainbow back. “Whoa, easy there,” Applejack said to the struggling pegasus before turning back to the door. “Listen, sugarcube, we get it. You must be mighty embarrassed right now. Heavens to Betsy, I know I’d definitely be if I were in your shoes. And sure, it wasn’t exactly your finest moment back there, but you know you can’t just sit around in that room, alone and moping.” “Yeah!” Pinkie Pie piped in. “I mean, yeah, growing into a super big and really mean version of yourself and terrorizing an entire city is pretty bad, but it’s not like you hadn’t done that before. Actually, wait.” Pinkie hummed as she rubbed the tip of her chin. “Does that make that better or worse?” “What Pinkie is trying to say is that everypony, and dragon, makes mistakes,” Fluttershy quickly added to try and salvage the crumbling situation. “And yes, we should learn from our mistakes, but sometimes we need to learn a lesson more than once, and that’s okay. Please come out, Spike. Nopony here is angry, we’re just worried about you.” “Yeah, worried and really gosh darned angry because of it!” Rainbow managed to get one last kick against the door. “Now hurry up and get out here so we can make sure you’re alright already.” “That ain’t helping,” Applejack snapped. “You can’t just force him out.” “Sure I can. Just watch me.” “Wait.” Pinkie Pie suddenly released her hold over Rainbow, causing her to fall forward and land flat on her face. “Anypony else hear that?” “What, the sound of my nose breaking?” Rainbow groaned as she lifted her head. Hers and everypony else’s ears perked and turned as they tried to pick up whatever it was that Pinkie Pie’s had detected. “Um, I don’t hear anything,” observed Fluttershy in a low whisper. She looked to Applejack and Rainbow Dash who shook their respective heads and shrugged as they too failed to hear what Pinkie Pie apparently had. “No, that’s just it.” Pinkie dug her hoof into her ear to try and clear it out. Her ear flopped around for a bit as she frowned. “It’s all quiet now.” And indeed it was. The surrounding area that was once rife with whispered gossip had suddenly become as quiet as an abandoned library. They only had moments to ponder the new atmosphere before the silence was broken by the sound of heavy hooves clacking against the hard stone floor. The mares turned toward the direction of the footsteps and watched as the once whispering ponies lowered their heads and bent the knee as their princess walked by them. Following closely behind her was Rarity, doing her best to keep up with Twilight’s larger stride that came with the alicorn’s longer legs. “How is he?” Twilight asked the moment she and Rarity joined the group. Her glance at the door was a worried one loaded with uncertainty. Her solemn expression grew all the more apprehensive as Fluttershy and Pinkie lowered their gazes to the ground while Applejack shook her head and Rainbow turned away and let out a disgruntled snort. “Sorry, Twilight,” said Applejack. “He hasn’t said a peep, and nopony’s seen a scale of him yet.” “I see.” Twilight walked up and knocked on the door. “Spike, are you there? It’s me, Twilight.” There was no reply. “Luna’s already back on her hooves, and she’s no longer upset about you saying she doesn’t look good in pink. Nopony else was badly hurt, and the damage done was all pretty minimal, it won’t take long or cost much to fix,” Twilight assured. “Canterlot’s calmed down after we explained everything, so you don’t have to worry about the city rising up against you or anything like that, okay? We have your back, all of us. Always.” A jumbled and chaotic mess of affirmations came out from the mares beside Twilight in support of her claim. “You see, Spike? And it’s not just us. Shining and Cadance, Flurry Heart, Celestia and Luna, Mom and Dad, the ambassadorial staff, we’re all here for you. And that’s not counting all the countless ponies and nonponies across Equestria and beyond that you’ve helped me help, and nothing you did yesterday can take any of that away. Nothing’s changed. You’re still you, and we’re still your friends, so will you please come out of there?” Twilight pleaded, placing both a hoof and her forehead against the closed door. “Spike, talk to us, please.” Again, there was no reply. Twilight let out a loud, frustrated sigh as her sympathetic expression changed to match more of Rainbow’s less patient one. “Well, will you at least thank Rarity for everything? She didn’t have to help me settle everypony down and explain the situation, not to mention helping me with all of your responsibilities that still needed to be done in your absence.” A second passed before the door creaked open about a crack. Twilight looked to the rest of the group, and after a quick mental deliberation amongst themselves, they approached the door and slowly entered the room. The room, they discovered as they piled in, was largely dark, with the only light being whatever managed to seep through the torn remains of the curtains. A breeze blew through the broken window, briefly filling the area with sunlight that allowed everypony to spot the clumped up blanket seated on the messy and unmade bed. “That was low, Twilight,” the blanket growled as a scaly purple face stuck itself out of it. Illuminated by Twilight’s magic, dark rings surrounding Spike’s eyes could be seen, and there was an unhealthy redness in them that competed with their natural green. Twilight gave him an apologetic smile. “I know. Sorry, but you weren’t giving us any other ins.” “Yeah, I wonder why,” Spike grumbled, retreating back into the blanket, like a tortoise and its shell. He sighed and peeked back out a moment later. “Thanks, Rarity.” “It’s quite alright, darling,” Rarity assured with a warm smile. “No, it’s not.” The comforter unraveled, and he tossed it to the side of the room. “Twilight’s right,” he said as he rubbed at his eyes and struggled to stand. “I should get back to work. Guess I’ve slacked off enough already.” A weak, mirthless laugh left him, and as it did so, Spike’s body appeared to deflate. “Not remotely what I meant,” Twilight said, frowning as she pushed her assistant back into a seated position on the mattress with her magic. “Your head’s clearly not in the right place right now to be working.” “I’m, well, I’m not fine, but I can still—“ “You can’t be serious,” Rarity suddenly interjected. She leapt forward and set a hoof on Spike’s chest, forcing him to lean back awkwardly as she glared at him scrutinizingly. “Look at yourself. I don’t think you bothered to bathe after that little incident, did you? All this dust and dirt still clinging onto those gorgeous scales of yours.” She tutted and shook her head. “Did you really go to bed in this state? And speaking of which, good gracious, it looks like you just got out of bed.” A handkerchief was levitated up and onto Spike’s face and started its assault before he could begin to defend himself. “Ugh, you can’t seriously be thinking of stepping out in the open while looking like this.” Spike tried to speak, but his words came out as an incomprehensible muffled mumble as the handkerchief continued to scrub mercilessly away at his face. “You’ve been a public figure for a while now, I shouldn’t have to remind you how important your appearance is,” Rarity continued, poking at Spike’s chest. “Honestly. I do hope you’ll at least remember to look your best during our wedding.” Spike finally succeeded in throwing off the cloth from his face which went from looking mildly annoyed at the sudden and unrequested fussing over to confused and anxious. “Wait, what?” “Our wedding, remember?” Rarity said, her brow raised to add to the incredulity of her look as her handkerchief returned to tackle the dragon’s upper torso. “You know, the one happening in a few days? Goodness, that reminds me, it sounds like we’ll need to find you a new suit. It’s a little last minute, but I’m just about done with the bridesmaids dresses, so I should have time to make you a new one myself.” “You, still want to get married? To me?” Rarity blinked. Her handkerchief went still. “Well, of course. Why, what would make you think otherwise?” “Well, it’s just that, I mean, you said.” The rest of Spike’s sentence trailed off as he turned away with a claw wrapped over the front of his neck. Slowly, Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh, precious scales. I said I didn’t want to get married the way you were then, not that I never wanted to marry you.” She placed a hoof onto Spike’s cheek and gently moved his head so that their gazes met. “You weren’t you at that moment, but now?” Rarity frowned as Spike pulled away. “Spike, please, something is still very wrong here. My love for you hasn’t changed, but what about you? Do you feel any differently toward me?” “What, no!” Spike’s head turned back to face Rarity so quickly, some in the room with them winced and grabbed at their own necks. “No, of course not,” he exclaimed. “I love you, with my every ounce.” “Then tell me what’s going on,” Rarity begged as she cupped Spike’s cheeks, this time using both hooves to keep Spike’s gaze locked on her. “Whatever it is, we can work through it together.” A good long moment passed in silence as the whole room held its breath, waiting for Spike’s response. “Okay,” he finally said after the longest five seconds. “Okay, just, give me a moment.” He ran a claw along the ridges of his head spikes and let out a long exhale. “Sorry. There’s just, a bit to unpack here.” “Take your time,” said Twilight. “We’re ready when you are.” “Okay. Well.” Spike took in another deep breath. “I just, really, really wanted our wedding to go, well, you know. Perfect.” “Yeah, we kind of noticed,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. “Ain’t anything wrong that, though you did take it a bit far with your micromanaging,” added Applejack with a small smirk. “Won’t lie, got on my nerves a couple of times.” All the others save for Rarity, but even Fluttershy, nodded and spoke out their agreements to that sentiment. “So it must have been your incredibly strong desire for a perfect wedding that caused you to grow and go crazy,” Twilight theorized with a thoughtful nod. “I imagine all the stress that built up from trying to make sure every little detail was perfect didn’t help. You being unable to fit in your suit must have been the final straw.” “Straws!” Everypony turned to Pinkie Pie in surprise as she clapped her forehead with her hoof. “That’s what was missing from the reception’s table settings.” Pinkie glanced around at the stares and odd looks directed at her. “What? Spike and I’ve been discussing that all week.” Spike’s left eye twitched as he gulped down hard and tried to rise. Rarity forced him back down. “We can figure that out later,” she said sternly. “But—“ “It’s a minor detail,” Rarity said, cutting off the dragon’s protest. “Something the wedding can and will survive without.” Spike bit down on his lower lip. “And you’d be alright with that? With the wedding not being absolutely perfect?” “I’d be marrying you, my love. How could it not be?” Rarity pressed herself against Spike’s shoulder and nested in the crook of his arm, which caused some of the group to coo and aw and others, namely a rainbow maned pegasus, to gag. “But what I don’t understand is why you didn’t come to me for help. If I had known the preparations were causing you to suffer so severely, I would have intervened immediately. You promised me you’d let me know if things were getting too difficult.” “I know, I know, it’s just.” Spike winced. “I was worried.” “Worried?” Rarity repeated with a look of confusion. “Yeah. You were already so busy with your work, and I was afraid that if things weren’t going well you’d try to take control and get stressed and start feeling miserable and maybe possibly, I don’t know, start taking it out on everypony else.” The last few words tumbled out like torrent as Spike squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced, bracing himself for the fallout. “Let me get this straight,” Rarity began after a moment, her tone calm and steady. “You were under the concern that the stress of the wedding preparations might cause me to lash out at others so you instead decided to take on all that responsibility entirely on your own, which resulted in you becoming so stressed that you grew into that massive greed monster and terrorized Canterlot for a solid ten or so minutes.” Slowly, reluctantly, Spike opened his eyes. “Okay, I know it all sounds really bad in hindsight, but would it help if I told you that Discord was the one who put the idea in my head in the first place?” He attempted a rueful, disarming smile that withered in the presence of Rarity’s utterly deadpanned expression. “A little, yes, I suppose,” Rarity conceded with a sigh as the others nodded and vocalized their understanding. “Still, I’m not entire pleased that you’d rather trust Discord over your own wife-to-be.” “I’m sorry.” “I know you are, darling, I know.” Rarity patted Spike on the cheek before planting a kiss on it. “Well, what’s done is done. It’s a good thing we still have a few days before the actual wedding date. Why don’t we make the most of them and fix something out of this mess?” Slowly, Spike’s mouth split into a nervous grin. “Together?” he ventured. Rarity smiled widely and with all the confidence Spike’s lacked. “Together.” She leaned forward for a second kiss, but as Spike brought his lips down to hers, Rarity recoiled and immediately withdrew, placing a hoof over the dragon’s mouth. “Er, perhaps you could brush your teeth first, dear. And, ah, about that bath.” Another breeze blew through, filling the room with light once again along with the giggles that followed as Spike cupped a claw over his snout and winced at the stench of his own breath. Soon, Spike’s own laughter joined theirs, forcing out the previous air of awkwardness and dejection to make space for the good humor and affection that was quickly settling in.