“Pinkie, the shirt didn’t shrink,” I carefully advised, trying not to sound overly judgemental.
I somehow found myself in Pinkie’s room with her, only a few days after the departure of Ember and Smolder, wondering why I was helping her pick out clothes. Unlike when Rarity would do the same thing, as far as I could tell, there wasn’t any playful seduction or anything of the sort: the pink earth pony was just tossing clothing out of her closet as she sifted through shirts, trying to find “the right one,” though she never specified what would make it right. This was further complicated by the fact she was wearing next to nothing the entire time, and watching her wiggle into or out of clothes was…doing things to me.
In a supposed effort to show me how the shirt didn't fit right, Pinkie decided to bounce up and down, causing her fun parts to also bounce. Said parts had my complete, undivided attention during their dance before I physically slapped myself to stay in the conversation.
“Ooh, that looked like it hurt,” Pinkie commented. “Anyway, I just wore this shirt before I went back to the farm! I washed it when I was there, and now it doesn’t fit!”
I closed my eyes and worked to settle my labido, which a certain curvy friend of mine was putting through the wringer. “Okay, this is gonna sound kinda creepy for me to ask, but do your bras still fit?”
I heard the rustling of fabric. “Um…” Some more rustling, the sound of what was clearly a clip of some kind, followed by more of the same sounds. After a minute or so, Pinkie cried, “No! My girls are escaping now!”
“Pinkie, for the love of Faust, can we please not discuss what your ‘girls’ are doing?” I pleaded, admittedly on the verge of whining. “Anyway, if your girls are escaping now, the only logical explanation is that you…might have gotten a little bigger.”
I heard Pinkie gasp loudly. “Spike, did you just call me fat?”
“Wait, no, I didn’t-”
“I prefer the term ‘voluptuous,’ thank you very much!” she concluded, sounding suitably outraged. Had I the courage to open my eyes, I probably would have laughed at her facial expressions. As it was, I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t receive an eyeful of Pinkie’s two funbags, and I had enough mare problems at the moment. I didn’t need to start fantasizing about another of my best friends.
“Pinkie,” I groaned pitifully, “I don’t think anyone is denying that you’re very curvy, and you have a body that is likely in the dreams of a good number of Ponyville’s populace.”
“Thanks Spikey!”
“You’re welcome,” I grunted, with my eyes remaining closed. “However, all I’m saying is maybe you ate too much food over the holidays. That’s it. You’re still cute, you’re still pretty, and I’m sure no one will deny that. All I’m saying is that it doesn’t make sense that all of your clothes seem to have gotten tighter all of the sudden, seemingly at the same time.”
“W-well maybe if I…” Pinkie began, before more rustling was heard. After a moment, the very distinct sound of tearing fabric was heard, followed by a cry of frustration. “Aww, phooey! Fine, guess I have to wear my not-so-cute clothes for now.” After a few more moments, Pinkie tapped me on my shoulder with a sigh. “Okay Spikey, you can open your eyes now.”
Cracking open one eye, I was relieved to see Pinkie was now wearing a long white shirt that was quite a bit more roomy than what she normally wore. She still wasn’t wearing any bottoms, but since she was at least wearing underwear, that was the best I was probably going to get for the moment. I tried to ignore the two pointy spots on the front of her shirt (which oddly reminded me of little, wrapped bon-bons), and I definitely wasn’t wondering if they tasted as sweet as the pony smelled.
Pinkie was staring down at the floor, shamefully hoofing the fluffy, pink carpet on the floor. “W-well…I guess if I’m being honest, I might have had one too many goodies sometimes.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “O-okay, maybe more than just sometimes.”
Smiling and reaching up to capture her chin, I gently tilted her head up until those beautiful baby-blues were looking at me. “If it bothers you that much, you can join me when I exercise. I work out every day, so I'm sure I can fit you in if you want some help. I give it a week of that, and you’ll be back in tip-top shape.”
Pinkie pouted at that. “That doesn’t exactly sound like a whole lot of fun, Spike.”
I shrugged helplessly, releasing her chin as I stood. “There’s no easy way to stay in shape, Pinkie. It takes hard work and dedication. It’s either that, or you have to buy an entire wardrobe of new clothes.”
Pinkie looked behind her, where piles of her clothes littered the floor, and sighed. “Fiiiine…I guess I gotta.” She tromped over to the closet and pulled out a cute little pair of bright blue cargo shorts, which she shimmied into and buttoned before trotting over to me.
Looking the mare up and down, I asked, “Now, was there an actual reason you invited me over here, or did you just want to torture me by playing dressup?”
“Yeperooni! I wanted you to help me make a baby!”
I just stared at the mare for a long time. “You want me to help you make…a baby…”
“Yeah!” she exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the door. “I got an order for a cake in the shape of a baby! It’s gonna be soooo cute!”
I felt my eye twitch, and the intensity of the fire within reminded me I needed to burn some magic at some point that day. “...are you doing this on purpose?”
She tilted her head in that cute way a puppy does when it hears a new sound. "Am I doing what on purpose?”
I restrained the groan this time and swallowed all that down for now, instead nodding to the fun-loving pony at my side. “Nevermind. Sounds fun, Pinks.”
The baking had gone well enough, but after helping the pony make multiple cakes and shape them, I left the decorating to her. Not because I didn’t want to help, but because my fire burned all the hotter when Pinkie innocently asked if I wanted to “put some icing on her cake”. I felt bad at how rude I probably looked when I quickly said some haphazard goodbyes and all but sprinted out of the bakery. Still, I had to get out of there before I did something untoward to a friend.
The walk outside did some good to clear my head and settle my fire, and I found myself taking my time strolling around the town. The temperatures were slowly starting to become less cold as the days went on, which meant that within the next month, Winter Wrap-Up was going to happen. Since there was no more snow scheduled for the foreseeable future, the locals were shoveling around their homes, and volunteers were also cleaning up the public paths so that it was easier to get around town. This of course meant more ponies were out and about, which meant I got to say “hi” to quite a few that I hadn’t seen all winter. The flower triplets were out preparing their garden for the coming spring growing season, ensuring the bulbs that they had planted before winter were ready to sprout for spring, which meant the marketplace would soon have their colorful bouquets return. All three waved to me as I passed, but other than a wave in return, I didn’t stop to chat. Instead, I kept my feet moving, and just enjoyed the quiet for now. Quiet was a rarity for me, after all, so I took it where I could get it.
I was passing by the west end of town when I spotted a familiar young pegasus sitting on her front step. Her purple mane was nice and short, which was how she liked it, and her fur was well-brushed and clean. Scootaloo looked far more put together nowadays, and the sight made me smile. Sure, she was still in the thick of grieving, but things were improving, and that was always a good thing.
She was staring down at a book she was reading, her eyes scanning the page quickly as she remained engrossed in it. A glance at the cover showed it was a book on, of all things, engineering, and I found myself momentarily surprised by the topic. Then again, Scootaloo wasn’t known for being stupid. Sure, she wasn’t a bookworm or anything, but she was sharp as a tack, and twice as feisty.
The sound of my steps on the stone pathway alerted her to my approach, and she glanced up when she saw me. Immediately, her face relaxed into a smile, and she stood to greet me. I turned down the short walkway that led to her house, and met her with a hug once I stepped up to her front steps. After a few moments of holding the embrace, I released her.
Looking down at the pegasus, I greeted, “Hey, Scoots. How are you doing today?”
“I’m…doing okay,” she replied, shrugging a bit. “Not a hundred percent yet, but getting there.”
I gave her a firm nod. “That’s good.” I pointed to the book in her hand. “What’s that you’re reading?”
She glanced down at the book she held. “Oh, this? Just some stuff I was looking into. Helping others find their purpose in life might be my talent, but it doesn’t exactly pay the bills. So…I’ve been thinking about what else I’m good at.” She gestured to the brand new picket fencing that encircled the yard, which included a space for the gate that was laying against the front porch. “I’ve always been good at building stuff, so I figured…why not upgrade that skill and learn some really cool stuff?”
My jaw dropped a little at that, again looking at the fence. “Wait, you built this? This is you?”
Scootaloo hopped down the steps and stood beside me. “Yep, I did this. Does it look good?”
I stepped away from her and got closer so I could inspect the fencing. Just from where I stood, the spacing between each fence post looked even, as did the individual pickets. The rails didn’t appear to dip anywhere, and the tops of each picket and post looked to also be in line with each other. Crouching, I followed the line with my eyes, and was impressed that I couldn’t pick out any obvious imperfections.
I stood again and walked back over to her with a gobsmacked expression. “Scoots, did you use a level when you did this?”
She shrugged. “Don’t have one. I kinda had to eyeball it.”
Whistling loud, I glanced back at the fence once more before smiling at Scootaloo. “Then this is pretty impressive. I’m no expert, but it looks pretty darn good.”
She shrugged again. “I mean, it’s not perfect. Just from here, I can see a couple parts that are a little uneven, but I think I did a pretty good job for my first fence.”
“I’ll say,” I marveled aloud, nodding approvingly at the fencing. “Hay, I’d pay for a job like this. You did good, Scoots.”
She gave a little smile at that. “Thanks, Spike. So, what’re you up to today?”
I shrugged. “Not much, honestly. The workload was pretty light today, with most of it being stuff Twilight had to take care of, so I’ve just been kinda wandering around to see what trouble I can get into.”
Scootaloo bit her lip, her eyes darting back to the house before looking up at me. “Do you think we could talk then?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
She shivered a bit and amended, “Do you think we could talk inside?”
Smiling briefly at the pegasus, I nodded. “Sure. Lead the way.”
I followed Scootaloo back in the house, idly noting that the house was nice and clean, and while quiet, had regained some life to it. She led me to the living room, where I took a seat on an armchair while Scootaloo sat on the edge of a loveseat.
“So, what’s up?” I asked, wondering what Scootaloo might want to speak in private about.
She let out a long breath before raising her eyes and plainly stating, “I’m worried about Rainbow.”
My first impulse was to laugh, but I swallowed that down. Even so, I couldn’t help the little bit of snark that escaped. “Yeah, welcome to the club, Scoots.”
She immediately frowned at that. “I’m serious.”
I sighed and leaned back in the chair, crossing a leg over my other knee. “I’m not sure what you want me to do about it. She hasn’t spoken to any of us since Hearth’s Warming, so unless you’re willing to give us some more information, I can’t really help. We don’t even know anything.”
She just stared at me for a minute before she spoke again. “...tell you what: if you tell me what happened the last time you all saw her, I’ll tell you what I know.”
I raised my brow at that. “She didn’t tell you? I figured she would have.”
Scootaloo shook her head with a straight face. “Nope. So clue me in, please.”
With a long sigh and doing my best to prepare myself, I began telling her what she wanted to know. Since she knew what happened before she left with her friends, I skipped ahead and just laid out everything that happened once she was gone. Most of it was pretty boring until, of course, I explained what happened at the end of the night.
“That…doesn’t sound like her,” she mumbled, glancing away with a mild blush. “I mean, she’s never been what I think any of us would call proper, but that was way past ‘crass’.” She bobbed her head a bit and shrugged. “But, if I’m being honest, her behavior after that kinda made sense. She’s always been a hothead, and doesn’t like being told what to do. If she was already sauced, that probably added to it. Couple that with the fact she’s a lightweight, and…”
With a snort, I nodded. “Fine, I guess that explains some of it. Still, the comment she made was way out of line, and for all the teasing she’s done over the years, that was too far. Now, I’ve told you what happened, so tell me what you know.”
Scootaloo again bit her lip and pulled her legs up to her chest as she went silent for a while. Eventually she breathed deep and said, “...okay, but bear in mind it’s not much. She’s been having nightmares every single night. I hear her crying in her sleep, but she acts like everything’s fine when she wakes up.”
I pursed my lips as I thought about that information. “And if she’s having nightmares, that means Luna’s letting it happen. That means she feels there’s something Dash needs to confront, but the fact she’s still having nightmares means she’s not.”
“I tried to get her to talk about it yesterday actually, but she brushed me off,” Scootaloo said, frowning deeper as her tail whipped back and forth off the side of the chair. “Whatever it is, she’s not even gonna talk about it to me. I really don’t want to use emotional blackmail, like making some crocodile tears and making up some sob story about how she’s hurting me, but…” she huffed angrily, “I don’t know what else to do. She’s hurting, I know she’s hurting, but she’s pretending everything’s fine.”
We sat in silence for a few beats. “...you know she does it for you, right? She doesn’t want to stress you out.”
Scootaloo snorted in anger. “Yeah? Well, she’s failing. By acting like everything’s fine when I know it’s not, she is stressing me out. I mean, does she think I’m some stupid little filly or something? What, does she think I’m that wrapped up in my own horseapples that I'm completely oblivious to everyone and everything around me?"
"I think she's hoping for that, yeah," I carefully pointed out.
Another angry snort escaped her nose. "Yeah? Well I'm not.” She then closed her eyes and shivered slightly as she lay her chin on her knees. “...look, my parents are gone. It bucking sucks, but I’ve moped enough, and they taught me better than to ignore everyone and everything else just because life’s hard. Letting the world fall apart around me doesn’t make things better.”
While it was heartening to hear her willing to plow through the difficult parts of life, I was worried she was pushing herself too hard. “Scoots, no one expects you to just hit the grindstone and get on with your life after this. Not right away, anyway.”
“But they do expect me to get along with things,” she reminded, huffing quietly. “And that’s fair, so I can’t just let things crumble while I grieve.” She glanced up at me with the ghost of a smile. “My friends deserve better than that. That's why I want to help Rainbow Dash. If that means I need to physically pull her head out of her flank, then that’s what I’m gonna do.”
Her determination made me smile as well, and I couldn’t help but admire that about her. “You’re a tough mare, Scoots. I don’t know how we’re gonna do it, but I wanna help you.”
Her smile regained a little more of her vigor from my response. “Cool. I’ll figure it out, but it makes me happy to know you’ve got my back.”
“Always,” I said without hesitation.
She uncurled herself and stood, shaking out her diminutive wings. “Anyway, I’ll let you get going. I’m gonna need some time to come up with a plan, because as silly as it sounds regarding Rainbow Dash, we’re gonna have to use a delicate touch or else she’ll just shut down.”
“Talk to your friends,” I helpfully suggested. “Three or four heads is better than one.”
Scootaloo nodded before walking over and wrapping me up in a hug. “I’ll do that. It was good to see you, Spike. Thanks for talking with me.”
I gently patted the back of her head and released her. “Of course, Scoots. Was there anything else you needed before I go?”
Scootaloo shook her head with a smirk. “Nah, and I know you probably have stuff you need to take care of, like whatever had you running away from Sugarcube Corner like that.”
I froze at the accusation. “...y-you saw that, huh?”
“Kinda hard to miss a guy as big as you, and I have a clear view of Sugarcube Corner from my front yard,” she explained with a hint of humor, poking me in the side. “I take it Pinkie did something weird again?”
A headache began to form at the reminder of our baker friend, and I rubbed my forehead in an effort to alleviate it. “You could say that, yeah. Mostly just more of Pinkie not having a concept of boundaries.”
“Did she kiss you again?”
I blushed at the thought, less so because of the memory and more because I kinda wanted it. “...no. More like she asked me to help her find clothes to wear, which involved me essentially sitting there and watching her play dress-up for almost an hour. I didn’t see anything untoward exactly, but let’s just say it got my motor running more than I would have liked, considering it’s Pinkie.”
Scootaloo tilted her head at that, all but forgetting that she had been ushering me out just a few moments ago. “What do you mean?”
I gave a ragged sigh and leaned against the wall. “Scoots, I had to watch one of my friends prance around in her underwear for almost an hour. And since she’s not one of ‘my girls,’ I could only watch. Imagine if you had to watch some pretty mare for an hour, almost naked, knowing you weren’t allowed to touch.”
Scootaloo froze for a second, her cheeks pinkening just a little, before she cleared her throat and answered, “...okay, maybe that would kinda suck a little.”
“And there’s also the fact that she somehow threw innuendos around without even realizing it,” I tacked on, remembering she had asked me to help her ‘make a baby’ before clarifying exactly what she meant. Even almost an hour later, the thought still caused my fire to flare up a bit.
Rolling her eyes and smirking, Scootaloo commented, “Yeah, she kinda has a habit of doing that. I still haven’t figured out if she even realizes she’s doing it. She’s either playing all of us, or she’s disturbingly innocent.” Giving one final shrug, the pegasus just gave me a mild shake of the head. “I can’t really help with that, but I hope it works out somehow. One of the things Rainbow Dash did tell me about was that Pinkie talked about how much she missed you while she was gone, as soon as she got back.”
“I figured. I mean, she said she was going to miss us until she got back,” I mused aloud, knowing full well that although she loved her family, she would prefer to stay in Ponyville. “I mean, I’ll readily admit that Hearth’s Warming missed that ‘little extra’ without her here, but her family has to stay with the farm, so she makes sure to visit them when she can. It just so happened that this time it was Hearth’s Warming. Well, I’ll make sure I invite her over to hang out sometime. At least at the castle, she doesn’t have a reason to be naked.”
“Saying that is tempting fate, Spike,” Scootaloo playfully warned, opening the front door for me. “Anyway, I’ll let you get going. Don’t worry about Rainbow Dash for now; let me figure out what to do, and I’ll contact you then. For now, we’re just going to have to watch her be stupid until I can think of something to make her stop.”
I raised a brow as I passed her, stepping outside once again. “Are you sure I shouldn’t at least try to get her to talk to me?”
Scootaloo shook her head hard, snorting in annoyance. “We both know that if Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to talk about something, she’s not gonna. Like I said: she’s being stupid, so until I can figure out a plan to get her to stop, she’s gonna keep being stupid. Just gimme some time and I’ll come up with something.”
“Cool,” I concluded, waving to the pegasus. “Well, I’ll see you later. And remember: you’re always welcome to visit us if you want. Take care, Scoots.”
She nodded to me before shutting the front door. With that out of the way, I made my way back up the walkway to the main town path, going back to walking around town. This was one of the few times I wished I had more work, so I could at least distract myself from the feelings of frustration that were swirling within me. With nothing else to do, I decided to head back to the castle and see if any of my three roommates needed help with anything, and silently hoped that something, somehow, could take my attention away from the negative thoughts that were slowly building in my mind.
There honestly wasn’t much to do back at the castle, but Twilight was grateful for the help nonetheless. I was able to help her finish up the rest of the paperwork she had been in the thick of by properly filing and organizing it for quick mailing in the morning, when the offices they needed to be sent to would be open. Along with that, I offered my assistance in clearing some of the backlog of work that was honestly not late, but Twilight had wanted to get a head start on, and simply hadn’t had the chance. This reduced Twilight’s “resting” stress levels further, and after getting to observe my magic-burning session for the second time, Twilight was left in a pretty good mood for the day.
Currently, we were resting together on the sofa in the commons room as she silently read a book. I was splayed on my back, with Twilight laying on top of me on her back, and I busied myself with lovingly caressing Twilight’s body in a relaxed manner. Contrary to the “heated” day we experienced a few days ago, there was nothing particularly sensual about the moment. Instead, one of my hands idly rubbed circles on her stomach while the other slowly and methodically parted the fur against her ribs. No plan in mind, no need for any progression to heavier touching: it was just a moment with the two of us relaxing, and me enjoying the feel of Twilight’s body in my hands. The quiet moment was interrupted when Fizzlepop entered the room, looking a little nervous as she approached us. As one, Twilight and I sat up, and I released my hold on her as she took the seat beside me.
Twilight, as always, smiled happily at our friend as she greeted her. “Good day, Fizzle. Are you doing okay today?”
The mare looked uncharacteristically anxious in the face of her friend, and hoofed the rug on the floor in a very Fluttershy-esque manner. She bit her lip and squirmed as she mentally debated with herself, and though I didn’t say it aloud, I couldn’t help but think the former conqueror looked cute with that behavior.
Fizzlepop muttered something to herself, too quiet for Twilight or I to hear, before straightening herself a bit and looking Twilight in the eyes. “Twilight…I-I need your help.”
Twilight’s mood instantly shifted, and she stood up to approach the other mare with concern in her eyes. “Of course, Fizzle. Anything you need.”
I didn’t want to assume, but I had a feeling I knew what this was about. My thought was confirmed when Fizzle looked at me and subtly nodded before looking back at Twilight. “Twilight…I’m sorry I never told you about this before. Spike already knows because he helped me one time, but I asked him not to tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. You already have so much on your plate with matters of state and being a good princess that-”
“Fizzlepop,” Twilight gently said, her tone sounding somewhere between hurt and understanding, “I appreciate that you don’t want to burden me with anything, but I’m the princess of friendship. If my own friends feel like I’m somehow above them and that they shouldn’t bother me when they have a problem or a concern, then I feel like I’ve failed in my duties. Please Fizzle, don’t ever tell yourself that I don’t care or that I don’t want to know when something’s wrong.” She then glanced at me and gave a slightly disappointed frown. “I…I want to be upset that you kept a secret from me Spike, but I understand not wanting to betray a friend’s desire for confidentiality. I promise, I’m not upset at you.”
Fizzlepop jerked her head at me. “Good, because it’s not his fault. I asked him to keep a secret, so if you want to be upset at someone, be upset with me. Anyway, this is a secret I’ve kept for years, and the reason I’ve decided to break my silence on it is…” she winced slightly and reached back behind her shoulder, one of her eyes closing as a lance of pain seemed to hit her at that moment. She grit her teeth hard and took a few sharp breaths in through her bared teeth. After the wave of pain apparently passed, she looked at Twilight with an almost pleading expression. “I-I don’t want to be in pain anymore. Please, help me Twilight.”
Twilight gasped as she rushed to meet the mare and began inspecting her. “W-where does it hurt? What can I do?”
I brought myself up to the other side, and caught Fizzlepop’s eye. With a helpless expression, I suggested, “Show it to her.”
Fizzlepop held my gaze for a moment before reaching down to grasp at the hem of the sweater she wore. The movement caused her to wince again, and she growled as the wave of pain passed over her. It was clear to me that the pain was getting worse for some reason, which also caused me to worry more than I already did.
With a silent request to me spoken through her pleading, teary eyes, I reached to the bottom of the sweater and gently pulled it up. Twilight gave a startled gasp at what she likely thought was a very inappropriate action, but after removing the sweater, I used my hands to gently guide Fizzlepop to turn and show the large, bloody bandage to Twilight, prompting a second gasp to escape the alicorn’s mouth.
Twilight slowly raised a trembling hand to her lips, her eyes already beginning to fill with tears as she choked out, “F-Fizzle, w-what am I looking at?”
“It’s a cursed wound,” I answered for the mare, as I had a feeling words were particularly difficult for her at the moment. “I first learned about this before the new year, but she wasn’t in this much pain before. Something’s different.” Twilight slowly reached a hand up toward the other mare’s back, but before she could touch the bandage, I gently stopped her and shook my head. “Twi, I promise, it looks just as ugly as you imagine.”
“And it’s not infected, I promise,” Fizzle ground out, her mouth still forced into a grimace. “But the pain’s been getting worse, and I don’t know why. And now…I-I can’t stand it anymore. I need to do something.”
Twilight swallowed hard, and I saw her throat bob at the action, though whether that was from feeling sick at the sight or trying not to cry for her friend, I wasn’t sure. Twilight sighed deeply and shook out her wings, the feathers fluffing as she did so. From there, Twilight’s posture straightened, her eyes sharpened, and her entire body seemed somehow more powerful as the full might of the Princess of Friendship was now focused on a singular goal.
Her eyes held Fizzlepop unflinchingly as she stated, “I’ve researched curses before, though I’ll readily admit that I’ve never had a chance or reason to counter or dispel one. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to help you, Fizzle. For now,” her horn flashed, causing a bottle of prescription pills to fall into her open hand. She immediately handed them to Fizzlepop and ordered, “take those. They’ll make you a little loopy, but it’ll relieve a good bit of the pain. Make sure you eat something with them, and-”
“Don’t take it with alcohol or operate heavy machinery,” FIzzlepop finished with a pained smile. “Thank you, Twilight. I really do appreciate it.”
Twilight smiled slightly before turning her eyes to me. “Spike, I have a job for you: you’re to stay with Fizzle and assist her in any way she needs. If she asks for a glass of water, get it. If she needs someone to go to the store, do it. Can you take care of that for me?”
I raised a brow and smiled at the alicorn. “So I’m a glorified butler now?”
“A handsome butler,” Twilight joked, returning my smile. Her expression then became serious. “But yes, I need you to do whatever she needs done. Those pills are going to make her lethargic, but I also don’t want her in pain, so I need you to help her. Starlight and I will handle the normal day’s business should it come up, but your only job is Fizzle.”
Fizzlepop narrowed her eyes at her friend, even as one of those eyes closed when another wave of pain hit her. “I’m not an invalid, Twilight. I don’t need to be babied.”
Twilight slowly reached out and gently caressed the cheek of Fizzlepop, which caused the mare to freeze as a light blush formed on her cheeks. Regardless, Twilight held the mare’s face in her hand as she gave the unicorn a sad smile. “No one deserves to be in this much pain, Fizzle. Like I said: those pills will make you effectively useless, so you’re going to need help. I promise I won’t tell anyone, but neither am I going to let you suffer. The medication will let you get some rest without so much pain, and Spike will ensure you’re looked after. Please, trust me on this.”
Fizzlepop looked down at the pill bottle and hurriedly unscrewed the cap as another wave of pain hit her. After pouring out a few pills, she chucked two into her mouth and swallowed them dry before replacing the cap and turning her eyes back to the alicorn in front of her. At Twilight’s questioning look, she advised, “I ate a few minutes ago, so I’ll be okay. By the way…I know I’ve been kinda difficult, Twilight. I just want you to know I’m grateful, and I’m glad you’re my friend.”
Twilight just nodded before inclining her head to me. “Get her to her room. I’m counting on you, Spike.”
Without prompting, I gently ushered Fizzlepop with me, and we made our way out of the commons room toward her private apartment. The walk was short and silent, but the air seemed heavy somehow, as if I was breathing jungle air. Maybe it was because I was essentially being assigned to Fizzlepop as her caretaker or the fact that something was clearly wrong with her, but whatever the reason, I didn’t find reason to break the silence even as we entered her private quarters.
“I’m gonna get a shower before this pill kicks in,” Fizzlepop announced as she moved toward the bedroom section of her apartment, which also led to her bathroom. “I’ll warn you that you might hear some cursing.”
I knew why, and had a feeling the soapy water wasn’t going to feel good on the worsening wound. “I understand. Do you need help taking care of it like I did before?”
She shook her head lazily. “No. I did that just an hour ago, so it’s fine for now. Just wait out here for me, and I’ll be back soon.” She made her way out of the living room, but just before entering the bedroom, she paused at the double doors and looked back over her shoulder, winking at me. “Try not to sneak a peek like you did with Starlight.”
Blushing a bit at the memory, I retorted, “Hey, that was not my fault. Besides,” I gave her a rather suggestive lick of my lips, “if it’s going to be like what happened with Starlight, that means you won’t care if I invite myself in. So be sure and let me know if you need help cleaning those hard-to-reach places.”
The blush that had receded since we made our way to her apartment flared up again, and she turned away to leave the room. Again she stopped, popping her head back in through the doorway. “Uh, by the way, if those meds are as strong as Twilight implied, I hope you won’t take anything I say seriously if I get kinda…silly.”
Despite the anxiety she clearly was feeling, I still sent her a reassuring smile and assured, “I won’t hold anything you say or do in that state against you. Just get yourself cleaned up, get dressed, and resign yourself to being waited on hand and hoof until Twilight decides otherwise.”
Contrary to what I thought she would do, Fizzlepop smiled more genuinely at me, only to disappear behind the twin doors as she closed them, leaving me alone in the living room. With nothing else to do at the moment, I picked up the remote and turned on the television, deciding to catch up on the news or something as I waited.
…
A short while later (and some loud curses that were just barely muffled by the multiple walls between the bathroom and the living room), the doors opened once again to reveal Fizzlepop, who was now dressed in far more relaxed wear consisting of lounge shorts and a button-down lounge shirt that was made of soft cotton. Just from her heavier gait, I could tell the pills were already having an affect on her, and I hurriedly stood to offer her my hand to help her over to a chair. Fizzlepop waved me off and made her own way to the loveseat, sitting a little uneasily down on the cushion before bringing her legs up and curling them to the side. She then lay down on her side and propped her head up on the cushioned armrest, letting out a long breath as she did so.
“Twilight wasn’t kidding about these pills,” she said aloud, though it was unclear if she was just thinking aloud to herself or talking to me.
I responded nonetheless. “Twilight had to take them after she was injured due to a lab accident that drove a huge shard of metal through her arm.” At Fizzlepop’s questioning stare, I clarified, “Yeah, through. The healing magics did their work and she made a full recovery, but she was in constant pain for eight days. They gave her those pills so she could sleep, because otherwise she would just writhe in pain the entire time.” Fizzlepop said nothing for a long time. When she finally did speak, it was quiet, but in a direct tone of voice that told me she truly meant what she said.
“Hey Spike…thanks for not telling Twilight,” she said, shifting a bit as she focused on the mindless programs that were on the television screen. “Looking back, I could have avoided this by just telling her sooner, but I still want to thank you for keeping your word.”
“For the record, I don’t like keeping secrets, least of all from my friends,” I replied, catching sight of Fizzlepop’s ears pinning back at my words. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before I continued. “However, while I didn’t agree with you keeping this from Twilight for so long, it also wasn’t my secret to tell. Your business is your business, and while I would always prefer my friends to be more open, I’ll never force that upon you or anyone else.”
Fizzlepop smiled slightly at my words before settling herself and letting out a long breath. The two of us just watched television for some time, and while Fizzlepop didn’t fall asleep, she did seem significantly more relaxed. Twilight swung by to check on us and gather a scraping of the cursed flesh around the edges of Fizzlepop’s wound (Twilight nearly gagged as she was doing it), but other than that, the day marched on calmly, and I enjoyed the time despite the situation. Fizzlepop wasn’t exactly a talkative pony, so we didn’t have long drawn out conversations or anything, but it felt nice just sitting there, offering my (hopefully reassuring) presence to a friend in need.
…
Eventually, as was my job for the day, I found myself in the kitchen fixing a quick meal for Fizzlepop. The pills Twilight gave her seemed to be doing their job well enough so that the unicorn mare could relax a little, but the fact she needed medication of that caliber scared me a little. I remembered when Twilight took the recommended dosage, she was all but comatose. That alone told me the amount of pain Fizzlepop was in every day, as well as how bad it must have been for her to finally break down and ask for Twilight’s help to remove the curse.
The brush of fingertips raced over my back as someone passed by me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a certain pink unicorn passing by. “Oh, hey Star. How’re you doing today?”
She smiled at me as she walked to the refrigerator, pulling open the door and reaching in to pull out a bottle of apple juice. After unscrewing the cap and taking a sip, she answered, “Pretty good actually. Twilight has me doing some research on old spells and spellcasters, and you know I love learning about old spells.”
I tried my best not to react in a way that would tip her off to exactly why Twilight had enlisted her help. I wanted to tell her, but Twilight had clearly concluded the reason would only upset her, so Starlight didn’t know. I wasn’t kidding when I told Fizzlepop I didn’t like keeping secrets from my friends, but this was also one of the rare situations when telling Starlight what was going on would only cause undue stress for the mare.
So instead, I smiled and nodded with a relaxed face, ensuring my facial expression wouldn’t give it away. “Sounds pretty cool. So Twilight’s on another research binge I guess?”
Starlight shrugged a bit. “It seems that way, yeah. You know how she gets.”
“I do indeed,” I answered, grinning despite my internal worries. “For a long time I was her only assistant, so I’m well aware of how she is when she gets bitten by a random ‘research bug’.”
She giggled a bit at the thought of our analytical friend, then pointed to the sandwich I was making. “Whatcha making there?”
I glanced down at the sandwich-in-process, smearing a good amount of dijon mustard and mayonnaise on either piece of bread before beginning to assemble the tomato, single basil leaf, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and haybacon onto the two slices. “Eh, nothing special. Just a BLT with some basil. Fizzle’s feeling a little under the weather, so I’m bringing her some lunch.”
As I began pouring some baked radish chips onto the plate, Starlight gently placed her hand on my shoulder and asked, “Oh dear, is she okay?”
I took a moment to think about how to respond. “Well…yeah, for the most part. She’s just not feeling up to doing anything right now, so I’m making sure she eats and drinks.” Speaking of that, I then reached into the refrigerator and pulled out another small bottle of juice identical to the one Starlight was sipping from. “I don’t have much to do today, so I’m spending time looking after a friend. I’m happy to help out.”
Starlight’s concerned expression melted into a bright smile as she again rubbed my shoulder affectionately. “You’re a sweetheart, Spike. I’m sure she appreciates it. Let her know I hope she feels better.”
“Will do, Star. See ya later,” I finished, flashing one more smile to the mare before I left the kitchen and made my way back to Fizzlepop’s apartment.
The walk was short, and only a few minutes later, I was gingerly knocking on the door with my knuckles. When I heard nothing from inside, I gently pushed open the door and stepped inside, closing it behind me. Fizzlepop was exactly as I had left her, looking largely relaxed, but restless as she tried her best to deal with the lingering pain that even the pain medication couldn’t completely eliminate.
She turned her head to me as I slipped inside the apartment, her eyes a bit more hazy this time, and it was clear the medication was doing its job well. In addition to actually relieving pain, the drugs also made it more difficult for the individual to be aware of the pain itself. It wasn’t a perfect medication to be sure (all medications had their downsides, after all), but considering the severity of the pain she would otherwise be feeling, it was a fair tradeoff.
Fizzlepop smiled a little crookedly. “Hey, you’re back.”
I returned her smile and moved over to set down the plate and bottle of juice in front of her. “Of course I am. Anyway, I brought you lunch. I know you probably don’t feel very hungry right now, but you gotta get something in your stomach or else those pills are going to make you sick.”
Fizzlepop groaned as she pushed herself to a seated position, wobbling a bit as she finally sat up. She carefully reached forward and took the plate from the table and popped one of the crisp radish slices into her mouth, crunching and humming pleasantly. She apparently didn’t need coaxing to eat, so I just stayed silent and allowed her to feed herself, ready to assist in whatever way she might need. After a few minutes, Fizzlepop placed the empty plate and half-empty bottle back on the table. With a soft groan, she hefted her legs back up on the loveseat and lay down once again, her eyelids noticeably heavier this time.
“Think ‘m gonna shut my eyes for a little bit,” she mumbled aloud, doing as she said and closing her eyes.
Though she couldn’t see it, I smiled at her and just continued watching the television as she got some much-needed rest.
I awoke some time later, the light of day still streaming in the windows. That alone told me not all that much time had passed, but I still felt a bit groggy from being asleep. I glanced over at the mare I had been tasked with watching over and found her sound asleep, little snores leaving her mouth as she slumbered peacefully. Her shirt had ridden up a little bit as she slept, showing off her toned stomach, and her shorts already showed off the impressive musculature of her legs. As much as I tried not to, I couldn’t help but admire the mare.
After allowing myself a minute to look over Fizzlepop, I stood and stretched, fanning out my wings and allowing the muscles to fully extend. I let my arms and wings drop once again and looked over at the sleeping unicorn, finding myself smiling at her. Without a thought, I pulled the throw blanket off of the back of the loveseat and gently laid it over her body. And then, without knowing quite why, I found myself gently running my claws through her mane before turning and leaving the room.
I wanted to check up on Twilight to see if she had made any headway on anything. We had received a letter from Luna that told us she would be looking into the fiasco that was happening due to the infamous picture that was now circulating, so that allowed us to completely devote our time to the portal and, now, curing Fizzlepop of the curse.
I wound my way through the corridors until I came upon Twilight’s study. Without knocking, I pushed open the door and stepped inside, immediately noticing the alicorn herself huddled within a circle of books as she wrote upon a scroll at her desk.
I stepped up beside her, but before I could greet Twilight, she said, “How is she?”
Shrugging slightly and letting my eyes browse over the titles floating around Twilight’s head, I replied, “Much better. Those meds really helped, and she’s sleeping right now.” I carefully reached under the circle of books and placed my palm on Twilight’s shoulder, giving her a gentle rub. “Any progress?”
Contrary to my fears, Twilight turned her head a bit and smiled at me. “Actually, yes. I’ve already pinpointed what kind of curse it must be to create an unhealing wound, so now Starlight and I are researching how to undo it. The only problem I have so far is that curses are innately evil magic, and might require a sacrifice to dispel it.”
I frowned at that. As a general rule, Equestria outlawed most of the more dangerous schools of magic for regular citizens, such as soulmancy, umbramancy, and necromancy. This was a problem for the situation with Fizzlepop, since those same magics usually required less-than-pure means to dispel them. As a master mage and Celestia’s trusted protege, Twilight had access to many of these magics, and being the embodiment of the Element of Magic meant she had both the power and skill to cast them. Because of the social stigma however, she tended to stay away from certain schools of magic.
“Well…there’s always blood magic,” I quietly suggested.
Twilight glanced at me from the corner of her eye. “Spike, you know I don’t like using that.”
“But what if we have to? What if we can’t find a normal means to do this?” I pressed, gently running my thumb over her shoulder.
Twilight went very quiet, and I could only imagine she was internally debating it with herself. Blood magic was one of the “dangerous schools” that, while technically legal, was harshly regulated. Blood magic, after all, required blood, which every creature needed to live. The ability to draw upon the inherent power of magical blood made it incredibly powerful, and I knew that she knew there was merit to my suggestion. I knew she also knew that, even for the privileged royal researchers that were allowed to experiment with that school of magic, they were often viewed with suspicion and even fear. As an academic, Twilight was well aware that no school of magic was inherently evil, but she was also aware that some were more prone to be used for evil than others. Curses didn’t have their own school, as nearly every school had its own curses (even elemental sorcery), but because the intent of a curse was always to directly cause suffering, they were widely considered to be an innately evil form of magic.
After a few minutes of silent thought, Twilight eventually admitted, “...maybe. I want to try and avoid that if I can, but I fear you might be right.”
“And I’ll volunteer my own blood as tribute,” I added, not even needing to think about it. This caused Twilight to whip her head around and for all the books to fall around her as she stared at me with her jaw dropped. I just shrugged and said, “What? Dragonsblood is powerful, so much so that back when my kind was considered little more than monsters, our blood was incredibly valuable. So, if we should reach the point where you decide we need to do it, you have a willing donor.”
She continued to stare at me for a bit longer before closing her mouth, swallowing hard, and asking, “Spike…are you sure?”
I shrugged. “Ponies donate blood every day to save others. I’d just be doing the same thing.”
Slowly, a smile grew on Twilight’s face, and she reached out to grasp my hand. “You’re a good friend, Spike. If we end up having to do it, I’ll make sure Fizzle knows what you did for her. Now,” she levitated each fallen book and fixed the pages before stacking them on her desk and standing, “I don’t know about you, but I could use some fresh air. Let’s take a quick walk while Fizzle’s sleeping.”
With no reason to decline, I followed my mare out of the study, and subsequently out of the castle where ponies were going about their daily lives. The days were getting progressively warmer as time went on -- still cold enough for snow and ice, but no longer so cold that being outside for longer than a dozen minutes was physically uncomfortable. As for me, since the weather didn’t particularly matter much, it was nice to see others out and about.
As we walked, Twilight casually looped her arm in mine. I tried my best to ignore the new glances and whispers that had started ever since the infamous photo had surfaced, but luckily, most of the citizens of Ponyville were humble enough and had known us long enough to guess it was likely tabloid nonsense. It still bothered me, but I had made my peace about my lack of privacy a long time ago.
“Are you okay Spike?”
Humming and turning to look at Twilight, I was privy to see her concerned face looking up at me expectantly. Flashing her a weak smile, I answered, “Yeah, just…thinking.”
Twilight turned her eyes to the ponies outside, and seemed to understand my thoughts a little better. “Oh…this is about that picture.”
Heaving a big breath and letting it out in a sigh, I nodded to her. “Yeah, it is. Twi, what are we going to do about this? Any ideas?”
She frowned and turned her head down as she thought, and I just gently ushered her along as we kept walking. Eventually, she spoke up again, sounding helpless. “I don’t know, Spike. Luna said Celestia almost exploded when she heard about it, and Luna herself isn’t exactly happy either. Their investigation teams are still doing their jobs, but it might very well be that you’ll have to come clean about who you really are.”
“And then, we’ll have to deal with ponies making claims of nepotism and such,” I grumbled, not liking that particular option.
Twilight also gave a resigned sigh at that. “...Spike, not to sound unsympathetic, but how long did you really think it was going to last? Very few secrets remain buried forever. Frankly, I’m surprised it lasted this long.”
Part of me wanted to yell at her for that, but I kept calm and had to admit she was correct. I had been thinking like a little kid: I believed that if I just let things be, everything would work out just fine and I’d never have to confront this particular part of my life. To be fair, being the adopted son of Princess Celestia came with a lot of perks, but I hadn’t been shouldered with the responsibilities that came with most of those perks. Sure, I had a lot of work to do as a member of the Council of Friendship, and I certainly helped Twilight with her own duties, but as a member of the royal family, there would be a workload for me as well, should I go public.
And unfortunately, as the days went on, it seemed more and more likely that I would have to do so.
“I’m starting to fear revealing myself might be the only way out of this,” I said quietly. “I mean, the only other way I can think of is to find out who did this and frame them for something crazy, which would delegitimize their claim. However, even with this whole fiasco, lying to get what I want doesn’t sit right with me.”
Twilight bumped her shoulder into me, smiling. “That’s because you’re a good person, Spike. It would be all too easy to do something like that, but you still don’t want to, even if they might deserve it.” Her smile receded and was replaced with a more frustrated expression. “I mean, let’s face it: whoever put this story out there was aiming to cause trouble for you, and they deserve to be punished for it. But if we sink to using dirty tricks to silence those that may oppose us, we’re no better than those that seek to harm us. We have to be better than that; we are better than that.”
I blew a steaming breath out of my nose. “Maybe, but sometimes I don’t want to be. Being a 'good guy' sucks sometimes, because you have to worry about the rule of law, collateral damage, and all that stuff.”
Twilight giggled softly at that. “I agree, Spike. Just dream and fantasize about it, but don’t actually do it.”
She then shivered a bit and fluffed her wings to insulate a little better. “Little cold there, Twi? You didn’t grab your coat before we left.”
“That was on purpose,” she explained, continuing to walk beside me. “It’s nice to feel the chill on my bare fur from time to time, and besides that, cold kinda shocks the system and allows me to think more clearly. That’s why cold showers work so well when we’re a little ‘heated’. Clears your head and lets you focus.”
“It’s been awhile since I’ve actually seen you under the effects of a real heat, though,” I pointed out, causing the mare to blush a bit.
While Twilight tended to be fairly academic regarding biological facts of life, knowing the effects of the estrous season and how it used to be caused her a fair amount of embarrassment. Recent advances in medicine had vastly improved the state of mares (and stallions, indirectly) during estrous season, allowing most to continue living life normally, but even as recently as eight years ago, mares were subjected to a radically increased sex drive due to the biological instinct to make more ponies. Twilight was one of the mares that had been hit the hardest by her heat, and there were a few times when I started to mature into an adult that she had taken to completely isolating herself to keep from doing something to me that she’d regret. For mares like her, the heat suppression medication that was now mainstream had been a great boon, since it all but eliminated the symptoms of estrous for her. Save for a desire to practice ‘self care’ a little more often, Spring could safely be spent doing the things she normally did, without the constant intrusive thoughts that told her she needed to secure a mate, and be bred like…well, like a mare in heat.
Twilight’s flushed face caused her to look downright adorable, even as she tried to pretend the increased blood flow was just a “healthy glow” from proper hygiene and diet. Contrary to what I had expected though, she smiled at me and said, “W-well, in the future, you’ll get to experience it first-hand. When a mare wants to have foals, she has to stop taking the medication to avoid pregnancy complications.”
And, as another of my herd suggested the very real future involving having a family with her, I found myself smiling unreservedly. As the months had gone on, I had found myself wanting a family more and more, and I was finding myself downright eager to get started. I was fairly sure Ember would be the first, but perhaps the following year, Twilight and I may be welcoming our own baby into the world.
“You’re smiling pretty wide there, Spike,” Twilight observed lightly. “Are you really that excited to take me to bed?”
Glancing down at her, I presented my own blush. “N-no! Well…yes, but no. I just…” I gave a loud sigh as she giggled, continuing to lead us on the short walk through town. “I…I don’t think it’s news that I would love to cross the final threshold with you, Twilight. You’re a wonderful, beautiful mare, and I’m always willing. But I’m more excited to start a family with the ones I love. Don’t get me wrong: making a baby will be a lot of fun, but I’ve found myself daydreaming more and more about starting a family with my herd. It’s an innate instinct for all sapient creatures, but ever since finding out I can sire offspring with all of you, I’ve been thinking about it more and more, and I want it. I want it real bad.”
Despite the full-face blush that she sported, Twilight was still smiling at me. “It’s a biological imperative. With Lyla and Ember, you’ve had no shortage of the physical aspects of relationships. You’re now in a place in your life that you have both the capability and stability to start a family, and so it’s something you want. Believe me, I understand.”
Still looking down at the mare, I gave her a smile. “You do?”
“Pretty much every mare has daydreamed about having a foal, Spike,” she explained as we made a turn on one of the pathways, heading back toward the castle. She hugged my arm and leaned into me as we walked, nuzzling her face against me affectionately. “Now that I have you, of course I’ve thought about it. Until we found out from Ember that you could sire foals normally, I had resigned myself to surrogacy or adoption, but I’ll not lie and say I didn’t want a foal of my own blood. Now, knowing I can have that, I want it too. So yes, Spike, I’ve thought about it quite extensively.”
If I didn’t have the self-discipline that I did, I would have outright squealed in delight. Yes, I was that happy. Regardless, I’m sure my smile was wide enough to be seen for miles around, and I didn’t dare hide it. I wrapped my wing around the mare and hugged her tightly for a moment before laughing to myself as we continued walking. Sure, the past few months had come with many challenges, and there was sure to be more, but I had to be sure not to overlook the wonderful things that also happened.
“That,” I croaked out, pausing for a moment to clear my throat and try again. “T-that makes me really happy, Twi. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy as I am right now.”
“Then I’m glad I can be a part of that,” she finished, still smiling up at me with rosy cheeks.
Within a few more minutes, we arrived back at the castle, and Twilight bid me goodbye with a quick kiss. She made her way back to her study to continue her research, and I once again walked to Fizzlepop’s apartment. Upon arriving at the door, I knocked softly, and upon receiving no answer, gently pushed open the door and poked my head inside. Fizzlepop was still sleeping on the loveseat, so I let myself inside and closed the door behind me. Other than pulling both arms underneath the blanket, it seemed she hadn’t moved since I left, which made me smile once again.
This time, realizing my desire ahead of time, I walked over to her and gently ran my fingers through Fizzlepop’s mane, causing the mare to mumble and snuggle into the padded armrest a bit more. I pulled away and reclaimed my seat across from her, grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels to try and find something interesting to watch as I watched over her.
As if she sensed my presence within the dream realm, after a few minutes, Fizzlepop began to stir, grumbling to herself as she awakened. After a few moments, she yawned and sat up, stretching mightily and scratching at her cheek before settling her eyes upon me.
“Oh hey, you’re back,” she sleepily greeted, rubbing her eyes to try and wake up a bit more. “I got up briefly to take care of business and saw you weren’t here, so I figured you had to do the same or something. You know you could have just used my bathroom, right?”
Chuckling and shaking my head, I clarified, “Nah, it wasn’t that. I stopped by to see how Twilight was doing, and you’ll be pleased to know she’s already made headway. She said she’s already pinpointed what kind of curse it must be, so now she’s just figuring out a way to safely dispel it.”
Though the pain medication kept her a bit groggy, she was aware enough to realize just how incredible that was. Her surprise was shown with a slight raise of her eyebrows, and she whistled softly. “Already? Wow, Twilight doesn’t play around when it comes to research.”
I nodded shallowly. “When properly motivated, Twilight becomes a one-mare research department. If something is important enough to move to the top of her mental priorities, I believe there is nothing she can’t discover and decipher, and no problem she can’t solve. As the Princess of Friendship, a friend in need certainly qualifies.”
Fizzlepop sat back against the backrest of the seat, grimacing when her tender wound touched it. After a few moments, she blew out a long breath and said, “You know, pain has been a constant in my life. First there was the mental and emotional pain that drove me to conquer nations, and recently, there was the physical pain of this wound. I’ll be glad to have it gone, of course, but pain has become a part of who I am. Maybe it’s silly, but I kinda wonder who I’ll be without it.”
I shrugged. “You’ll be Fizzle.”
“Yeah, but who is that? I’m not sure I even know,” she countered, frowning as she turned her eyes to the ceiling, leaning her head back to rest against the top of the cushion. “Like I said, maybe it’s silly, but I don’t know what it’s like to live without pain of some kind. Friends are new to me, having a home is new to me, and even being able to sleep without fear of being attacked is new. My one constant has been pain of some kind. It’s colored my decisions, it’s been the driving force in my life to keep me going, and it’s ensured I never forget the terrible things I did.”
I frowned a bit. “You’re forgiven for that, Fizzle.”
“Let’s face it, Spike: I’m never going to have a normal life,” she continued as if I hadn’t said anything. It seemed that with the influence of the pain medication, she was opening up a bit more, which was nice. “I’m never going to have employment at a regular business, I’ll never get to know what it’s like to walk around without being stared at and feared, and I’ll…”
As she trailed off, I waited for a few moments. When she didn’t continue, I gently coaxed, “You’ll never what, Fizzle?”
For the first time since I’d known her, Fizzlepop looked distinctly sad. Not angry, not uncomfortable, and not even morose: she looked sad, like she was going to cry at any moment. I’ll admit it was strange to see the mare looking so vulnerable, and while logic told me this was a good thing for her mental and emotional recovery, I couldn’t help but feel sad for her.
She sucked in a big breath, having trouble doing so as her chest fought against her. Eventually, quiet enough that I had to strain to hear her, she said, “...I-I’ll never have a family. I’ll never get to live my later years in the company of someone that loves me, with a few foals running around. I’ll never get to know what it’s like to be loved unconditionally by someone, just for being me. I’ve told myself for years that I didn’t need or want that, but without the constant fight to survive, and without the promise of unending pain…”
“You kinda want it now,” I surmised, frowning deeply.
She went from almost crying to growling angrily in a millisecond, grabbing fistfuls of her mane. “This is stupid; I’m stupid. I didn’t even care about any of this junk before, and now my stupid, STUPID head has me thinking about stupid things that I can’t have because of things I can’t change, and-”
“Who says you can’t have those things?” I asked, partially as an honest question, but partially to keep her from literally tearing her mane out.
“Who would prove me wrong?” she snapped, letting go of her mane and locking her gaze on me with the intensity of a tiger stalking prey. “I will never be accepted in normal society, I am feared and hated by nearly everyone, and to top it off, my own trauma will never let someone get that close to me. I want it, and it can’t happen: so yes, I’m stupid. It’s all stupid!”
While she appeared angry, the tears that now fell from her eyes told a different story. For once, I stopped second-guessing what she might want or what she might be comfortable with, and made my way over to sit right beside her. Without hesitation, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and she immediately leaned against me as she struggled to choke back sobs. Despite her attempt, the dam gave way, and this strong, resilient, proud mare broke down into sobs as she lamented the consequences of the choices made in her life. I didn’t agree with the premise that she could never have those things, but now wasn’t the time to fight her on that. So instead, I held Fizzlepop as she cried, and let my silent presence do what words could not.
We stayed that way for a few minutes, and slowly, her sobs quieted until she was sniffling every now and then. Those, too, eventually quieted, which left the two of us just holding one another. Seemingly realizing what she was doing, Fizzlepop abruptly sat up and scooted away from me, her cheeks flushing as she darted her eyes away from mine.
After a few moments, she loudly cleared her throat. “Um…sorry about that. I didn’t mean to get all emotional like that.” She rubbed her eyes a bit to clear the wetness before sighing loudly. “I hope you remember what I said when I first took those meds.”
“You asked me not to judge you for what you might say or do under their influence,” I answered, smiling at her. “I won’t. However, something you need to understand is that these are just pain pills: they don’t have the power to implant thoughts or feelings into you. That means that whatever you’re feeling or thinking was already in here,” I tapped a finger on the center of her chest, “and the temporary reduction in control of your emotional faculties is just making it easier for all that to come out. Look,” I released my own breath as I dropped my arm back to my side and leaned back against the cushion behind me, “I know this is probably just a temporary occurrence. I know that because of what you’ve been through and the life you’ve lived, holding things inside is probably more comfortable. You’ve built up walls and a shell to keep yourself safe from those that might want to do you harm, and because you’re still alive, it clearly worked. And, even though it’s lonely sometimes, that place is familiar and comfortable for you.”
She just stared at me. “That’s…surprisingly insightful.”
Giving her a brief smirk, I said, “I’ll take that as a compliment. My point is that I don’t expect you to all of the sudden open up with all of us. We will always be here for you and will always be willing to talk and help however we can, but I know it’ll be years before you’ll ever be comfortable enough with any of us to fully let those walls fall once and for all. Maybe you never will. What I do know is that none of us blame you for that. You’re allowed to be frustrated, and you’re allowed to want those cheesy idealistic things that we all dream of. You’re also allowed to be wary of letting others in, especially considering your past.”
She stared down at her hands in thought, fiddling with the hem of her shorts for a few seconds. “...y’know, in all that time I was traveling, I was hoping to rediscover who I am. I don’t want to be Tempest Shadow, but I’m still not sure who Fizzlepop Berrytwist is. I only use the name because it’s the only other name I’ve had, but even now, I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean. I wasn’t kidding when I told Princess Cadence that I feel like she represents everything wrong with Equestria, but that doesn’t mean those things aren’t also nice. Me though…” she paused here, forcing her hands to still, “I represent what shouldn’t be in Equestria. Anger, rage, malice, murder…that stuff isn’t supposed to happen in such a sunny, happy place.”
“And because of that, you’ll never completely feel like you belong,” I surmised, frowning as I began to understand her feelings regarding herself, and why she didn’t feel like she belonged. When she didn’t answer, I found a question bubbling up that I was hoping she’d answer. “So…why did you come back?”
She didn’t answer for a long time. Other than the subtle rise and fall of her chest, and rolling of her jaw, one could rather easily mistake Fizzlepop for a statue. Eventually though, she answered, and what she said reminded me of just how vulnerable she truly was. “Because, despite my remarks on how naive and sunny this place is, and despite how much I feel like I don’t deserve it, this is the one place where I’ve felt like I’m welcome. Not even Ponyville as a whole: just here, in this castle, with Twilight, and now, you. It’s selfish, but I wanted that, and in a moment of weakness, I decided to take something for myself.”
“Everyone’s allowed to be selfish sometimes, Fizzle,” I soothed, resting my hand on her shoulder.
She gently shrugged my hand off, shooting me a surprisingly sober glare. “The last time I was selfish, tens of thousands died across the world, and a few thousand were a direct result of my own actions.”
“You screwed up,” I stated flatly, rolling my eyes at her. “Is torturing yourself going to change any of that?”
“We’ve had this conversation before, Spike,” she argued, her glare lessening, but her eyes still narrowed.
I shrugged. “Maybe we need to have it again, because you still aren’t getting it. You spent years of your own life working to fix the things you destroyed, and I can almost guarantee you refused payment for most of it, except for what was necessary to keep on living. You weathered insults, threats, attacks, and a curse for your trouble. I get it, you’ll carry that guilt with you for a long time, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to want things for yourself every now and then. Do I need to carve that into one of the walls here? Maybe on the bedroom ceiling, so you see it every time you wake up? I’ll get a custom coffee mug made with that printed on the side if I have to.”
Fizzlepop’s mouth had dropped open during my half-threats. She could only stare at me for a bit before eventually forcing out, “Y-you wouldn’t actually do that, right?”
“I’m a mate to the Princess of Friendship, and I have too much time on my hands. Try me,” I threatened, finishing with a wide smile of sharp teeth.
Again the mare just stared at me for the longest time before eventually breaking my gaze and looking away. When she spoke again, it was almost a whisper. “...why are you doing this, Spike? You don’t owe me anything. Considering what I’ve done, I owe you.”
I shrugged helplessly. “I’m doing it because I feel it’s the right thing to do. I’m doing it because you’re my friend, and I believe anyone with the will to change deserves a second chance. I’m doing it because in another life, I could be you, and I would want someone to offer their hand in friendship to me.”
Her lips curled a bit at that, as if the very idea of me being in her place was impossible. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t have it in you to do the things I did.”
“Did you think you did when you were little?” I argued, letting the question hang in the air for a bit.
She digested my point for a moment before reluctantly nodding. “Fine, I guess I get it. Still, are you sure you’re not in this for something? This is…weird for me. No one’s ever done something for me for nothing. Not until Twilight.”
I decided not to comment on the fact this was the most we had ever spoken before. “Nope. Call me a bleeding heart if you want, but I don’t like seeing my friends unhappy or in pain, and I have an innate desire to correct that when I see it. Draconic instinct to protect the hoard, and all that.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t recall agreeing to be a part of your hoard.”
I shrugged. “Not the herd, no, but all of my friends are a part of my hoard. As is Ponyville as a whole. I don’t hoard things: I hoard friends, and places significant to me. Other dragons are protective of piles of gold and shiny rocks, but I protect my home and all the people in it. That includes you, Fizzle.” I then shot a saucy smirk her way. “I mean, unless you’re asking to be a part of my herd. We can certainly rectify that oversight, if we need to.”
She snorted at me before nudging me, causing me to stand. She curled her legs up again and lay back against the armrest. “That’s not in the cards, Spike. Nice try though.”
I had meant the entire thing as a joke anyway, so I just brushed it off with another shrug. “Eh, can’t blame a guy for trying. Anyway, did you need anything, or are you good for now?”
She shifted a bit, wincing slightly when her shoulder pulled at the bandage on her back. “I am a little hungry.”
“How about some creamy tomato soup with crackers? It’s nothing fancy, but it’ll fill you up and it tastes good,” I suggested.
As she gently rested on her side again, Fizzlepop snorted at me. “You’re a regular house servant. Should I start calling you ‘Jeeves’?”
I shrugged as I made my way to the door. “I prefer ‘Spike the Marvelous,’ actually.” I tossed a smile over my shoulder as I pulled open the door once more. “Seriously though: is there anything else you need or want? You are literally my only responsibility today, so I am completely at your disposal.”
She gently shook her head as her eyes lowered a bit. “No, you’ve already done more than I could ever ask for.”
“Fizzle-”
“I know, Spike,” she interrupted, huffing softly, “but that’s just how I feel. All I’m trying to say is I’m grateful, even if I don’t feel I deserve it. Thank you.”
While I knew helping Fizzlepop heal was going to be a job that would take months or years, I still didn’t like knowing that there was not much I could do to fix how she felt now. Still, if I could make her feel a little better in her time of need, that was going to have to be good enough. With that last thought, I again left the room and closed the door behind me, heading toward the kitchen for the third time that day.
It was during my walk, however, that I felt a familiar pressure in my throat, and I let out a loud belch. The flame swirled in front of my face and materialized into a scroll, which I snatched out of the air to inspect. The scroll was sealed with plain twine instead of a wax seal, and the scroll itself was made from parchment instead of paper. This told me it was from someone outside of Equestria, and I knew of only one person it could be that could send a letter directly to me.
I snapped the twine with a claw as I continued walking, unrolling the scroll as I began reading.
“Dear Spike,
I miss you.
I know I start almost every letter that way, but it never stops being true. It seems every day I miss you more and more, and I especially miss waking up with you next to me, holding me tight. With all the pain-in-the-tail things I have to take care of every day, I find myself missing all of you more with every passing moment. I often find myself fantasizing about a portal appearing in my home, with you and Twilight stepping through, announcing she had finished the portal network, and I’d be able to see everyone again. More than that, I find myself wanting to just get away sometimes, even though I know I can’t.
Being gone for so many months left quite a bit of work for me when I returned, and I’ve been doing my best not to lose my cool. Still, some days, it’s really difficult. I got used to not having responsibilities when I was staying with you, and while I knew from the beginning it was only temporary, it was nice to live for myself for once.
Anyway, I got kind of distracted.
I was just sending you this letter to tell you that I’m okay, and everything is going as smooth as it can back here. Father was pleased to hear we are mated now, and mother hasn’t stopped gushing about how beautiful our whelps will be. I…haven’t told them about the herd yet, but I imagine it will be better if everyone is there when I do, just so all of you can explain with me. Regardless, I find myself both nervous and excited at the prospect of revealing such a thing to not only my parents, but the clans as a whole. As far as I know, no dragon has ever done something like this before. But, I’m well aware a lot of dragon traditions have held us back as a species, and maybe it’s time to redefine or do away with some of those traditions.
Anyhow, I’ll be counting the days until we see each other again. If the schedule is kept, that means just four more days, but that seems like an eternity from now. I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little clingy when you get here, but I imagine you’re not going to mind too much.
Until we are together again, beloved,
Ember”
I felt a warmth blossom and a fairytale fluttering in my chest that told me I was deeply in love with my dragoness, as if I needed more proof of that. I carefully rolled up the scroll again and tucked it into one of my trouser pockets before continuing on my way to the kitchen, a new bounce in my step as my day became brighter just from that letter alone. Not that I had been particularly depressed or anything, but I believe everyone can use a little pick me up from time to time.
I arrived in the kitchen a few minutes later, and set about preparing the meal as intended. This involved stewing fresh tomatoes and onions in a pot with a lump of butter, then using the hand blender to blend everything to a smooth, creamy consistency. I poured the mixture into a bowl and topped it with two fresh bay leaves before grabbing a sleeve of crackers and a lap tray, then walking back to Fizzlepop’s room. There were no interruptions or anything, so the walk was quick and quiet, and after already doing this twice today, I entered the room without knocking or anything. Fizzlepop was nestled on the loveseat, still awake, though clearly a bit out of it. If the open pill bottle nearby was any indication, she had just taken another dose of medication.
The sound of the door opening drew her attention, and without prompting, she sat up with a groan. I made my way over and gently set the tray down on her lap before retreating to the sofa once again to let her eat in peace. The program currently on the television was some daytime drama that was good for little more than background noise, so I left things as they were and just sat silently while Fizzlepop enjoyed her meal. I had hoped for the day to be boring and otherwise uneventful, but during a break in the program, a news advert appeared showing a very familiar picture on the screen. I sat up and grabbed the remote, turning up the channel as an orange unicorn mare spoke.
“...story in Canterlot may reveal that our very own Princess Celestia may be closer to the nation’s heroes than she seems. Is this some odd greeting alicorns have, or is he a secret lover? More on this at 8:00pm…”
While it was only a quick advert that was already over, I had to turn down the volume to keep from losing my cool. While I knew this was a looming threat on the horizon, I hadn’t thought about the issue with this story for almost a whole day. After all: I had been focused on tending to Fizzlepop’s needs, so I didn’t have the time to worry about anything else. Now, with news outlets actively reporting on the story, I knew there was no escaping the uproar this was going to cause.
“And so it begins,” Fizzlepop muttered from her place across from me.
I breathed in, held it, and let out the air before answering. “Yep. At this point, I kinda wish that-” At that very moment, an alarm sounded throughout the castle. I was quite familiar with it, since it was there for something that was my job to take care of. With a growl, I threw up my hands and yelled, “Oh come on, I didn’t even get to say it!”
“What in the hay is that noise?” Fizzlepop shouted, covering her ears with her hands.
I stood and rolled my shoulders. “It’s the Everfree warning alarm. It lets us know when anything dangerous is heading toward Ponyville. Twilight set them up years ago, and thankfully, we don’t hear them go off too often.” With a loud sigh, I headed to the door. “Well, duty calls!” I left Fizzlepop in her room a moment later, jogging down the corridor toward the map room, where Twilight would no doubt be gathered to address the alarm and what was causing it.
True to my assumption, Twilight was there when I arrived, along with Starlight. The larger alicorn had her hands braced on the table as she looked over the part of the map that showed Equestria, moving her hands above it in a way that somehow caused it to zoom in to Ponyville specifically.
Twilight pointed toward the northwest of the town, where three red dots could be seen moving slowly out of the Everfree, and toward the town itself. “There seems to only be three right now, but more could be coming.”
“Any idea what we’re dealing with?” I asked, frowning down at the map as I mentally prepared myself for what was to come.
Twilight shook her head. “No, but whatever they are, they’re big. Spike,” she finally looked up at me, her eyes steely and her posture stiff, “head out there and see what you can do. I’ll gather the girls and meet you there in a few minutes. If you can’t subdue, distract them until we arrive.” She then frowned briefly. “Do you think you can grow to a giant size safely?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never done it without Ember around before, but I think so. We practiced quite a bit, so I’m pretty sure I can keep my head straight even when I’m big. If not, you’ll have to find a way to calm me down.”
Twilight huffed before shaking her head. “Well, we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. For now, head out and do what you can. I’m counting on you, Spike.”
I gave her a quick salute before pressing my hand to the wall, and jumping out the window that appeared a moment later. With one last glance back, I shot off into the air and bolted toward the Everfree forest.
Reaching the border with the Everfree only took a few minutes, but I was able to see what we were going to be dealing with within thirty seconds. It was a pride of manticores to one side, a pack of timberwolves on the other, along with what had driven them out of the forest: a swarm of parasprites. The timberwolves in particular were extremely upset, as parasprites could be seen all over them, eating their leaves and the few berries that might be growing on them.
I knew there wasn’t much I was going to be able to do to combat the threat other than keep them focused on me until the girls could arrive. With that in mind, I hurriedly removed my shirt and pants, tossing them to the side before closing my eyes and willing myself to grow to protect the town. With my protective instinct already screaming at me to defend the town, it took no time at all for the transformation to take hold, and I felt my body stretching in all sorts of ways as I grew larger, bulkier, and heavier. The comparatively silent flaps of my wings became inescapably noticeable as their size increased, and the odd lengthening of my neck was momentarily distracting. However, after only a few seconds, I opened my eyes and flexed my hand in front of my face, recognizing it was now larger by a factor of at least ten, which would have to be big enough. And, while my instincts were far more noticeable than normal, I was still able to think and feel as I normally did, which was a definite plus in my book.
Since the timberwolves were busy with the parasprites, I headed toward the manticores, knowing they would be a far greater threat if they escaped into the town. I descended lazily before closing my wings and dropping the last twenty feet, crashing into the ground causing a tremor to race through the dirt that I’m sure everyone in Ponyville felt. This, along with the loud roar I gave, thoroughly got the attention of the eight manticores in front of me, which meant my plan was working.
The manticores roared right back, dwarfed by my size, but brave since there was only one of me and eight of them. They wasted no time in swarming me from all angles, their claws largely ineffective against my thick hide, but a bite on my thigh told me their fangs were still sharp enough to pierce my skin. The prick to my leg forced me into action, and I whipped my body around and began tossing them left and right to keep them angry and focused on me, but unable to to easily get close enough to do any further damage. I was intentionally trying not to hurt them, since Fluttershy would be quite upset if I killed any when I could have spared them, which made the whole situation more difficult.
Keeping track of eight targets was difficult, and despite my attempts, I still took a bite here and there. One flew up to my face, attempting to injure me somewhere that would be more debilitating, but my longer neck allowed me to move my head away as I batted the beast away with the palm of my hand. I made sure my strikes hurt, but again, I pulled my punches so to speak. Minutes passed and I took a few more hits, but eventually, I heard the telltale sound of a sonic boom as Rainbow Dash arrived on scene, followed seconds later by the rest of the girls.
Shoving the manticores away briefly, I yelled, “Pinkie, get those parasprites back into the forest! The rest of you, deal with the timberwolves!”
Rainbow Dash spoke to me for the first time in days, worriedly asking, “But what about-”
“Worry about these later! Get going!” I shouted, just before the manticores again swarmed me, nearly knocking me to the ground with their combined weight. With another angry roar, I threw them off of me and punched one hard in the side, feeling the bones move just a little more than they should. Fluttershy would be angry with me, but I needed to keep the manticores from going after my friends.
Fighting in real life wasn’t anything like an action film. It was messy, it was bloody, and it was chaotic. All I could do was keep the beasts focused on me, and hope that my friends were taking care of the rest, but even then, keeping track of more than one opponent was hard, and more than five was extremely difficult. Even with my highly mobile head and wider field of vision, I kept having to quickly count during a lull in the fighting to be sure there were still eight around me, which in turn led to me taking a bite or attempted sting. Luckily for the latter, the stinger wasn’t sharp enough to pierce my skin, but that doesn’t mean the manticores didn’t try. I was definitely going to have quite a few bruises as a result of the large, heavy appendages hitting my body over and over again.
“Spike! We’re back! What do you need?” Twilight’s voice shouted from off to the side.
I glanced around and caught her eye for a moment. As I still pushed and shoved the manticores away from me, I ran through a few ideas before finally settling on, “Put them to sleep! If we can move them far enough away from the border, they’ll retreat to the deeper forest when they wake up!”
With a nod, Twilight closed her eyes as her horn began glowing like a miniature sun. After a chime and a flash, all of the manticores dropped to the ground, snoring. I took a moment to breathe and inspect my body, seeing I was going to need some disinfectant and bandages in a few places, but none the worse for the wear. With a heavy sigh, I gathered the manticores up in my arms and inclined my head toward Fluttershy, who understood what I was asking and took flight next to me as I also flapped my wings to ascend.
We flew for a few minutes, ensuring we were miles away from town before I dropped down into a clearing and laid down the pride as Fluttershy got to work inspecting the beasts to be sure I hadn’t caused too much damage. Despite the fact that they had clearly been trying to hurt me, I didn’t want to have caused permanent damage upon any of them, so I said nothing as the pegasus looked over the creatures I had been fighting only a few minutes before.
Fluttershy frowned as she looked over the one I had tagged in the side. “Thank you for not killing any of them, Spike”
I nodded slowly. “You’re welcome. I really tried not to hurt any of them, but they were biting me, and the battle was kinda crazy, so I couldn’t completely avoid causing some damage here and there. Plus, I needed to keep them angry enough to keep attacking me so they wouldn’t get into the town.”
Fluttershy absently nodded before standing and moving over to me, gently rubbing her hand against my knee. “It’s okay, Spike. I understand. I’m glad you’re okay too.”
After she ensured the manticores would be okay, we took flight once again and headed back to Ponyville. On the way though, I found myself asking, “What could have driven the parasprites to such numbers? Aren’t the carnivorous plants supposed to be keeping them in check?”
Fluttershy nodded as she kept her eyes forward. “Which means something is wrong. Pinkie will…um, dispose of the ones she caught, and I just hope it’ll keep their numbers down until Zecora returns and she can help us discover and hopefully fix whatever caused their numbers to swell so much.”
Despite the situation, I chuckled. “Y’know, I remember a time when the mere thought of another creature being killed would make you faint.”
She smiled briefly, continuing her flight beside me. “As I’ve grown and learned more, I understand how important ecology is. Too much of one animal can cause an entire ecosystem to collapse, which is why predators are so important. If I had my way, no animal would ever have to die, but nature doesn’t work that way. To balance the environment, some animals have to serve as a food source and others have to hunt them, otherwise the prey animals will destroy the plant life, and thus, destroy whatever environment they’re a part of. In this case, whatever would normally be eating the parasprites isn’t doing their job well enough, which caused their population to boom, and that’s what caused the timberwolves and manticores to be driven out of the forest.”
I snorted loudly at that. “I just hope no one gets hurt in the meantime. By the way, where’s Lyla?”
Fluttershy inclined her head toward Ponyville. “Watching over the outskirts of town in case any creature got by you. We needed a second line of defense just in case you couldn’t keep the attention of all the creatures, and since you were already there, she elected to protect the town.”
I glanced away at that. “I don’t think she’s going to be too happy with me about that.”
“Then make her understand,” Fluttershy asserted, pulling forward a bit so I could look at her. She sent a smile my way and said, “You did the right thing, Spike. If you had stayed away and let Lyla face the danger, those few minutes it would take to get her could have allowed these creatures to wreak havoc on the town. Ponies could have died.” She motioned to me, and I could only imagine she was looking at my bite wounds as she frowned. “While I wish we could have prevented you from getting hurt, you’re a lot better off than ponies would be.”
I nodded as I turned my head back to the front. “Yeah, and these’ll heal in no time. I’m just glad no one was seriously injured. When the alarm went off, only the urgency kept me from having a panic attack. If I’d had time to think about it, I might have frozen.”
We remained silent the rest of the way back. As soon as I landed upon arriving to where the others were waiting, everyone swarmed me, fussing over the bite marks and blood even as they praised me for my efforts. Fluttershy and Twilight worked quickly to create a salve, using plants from Fluttershy’s satchel she had thoughtfully brought with her. The two pegasi flew up to tend to the bite marks on my hands and shoulder, while the rest of the group did the same for my legs and tail. After a few minutes, the work was done, and Rarity wasted no time in admonishing me for not waiting for backup before “rushing in like a brute.” It took some doing, but I was able to convince her of the necessity of my actions with some help from Twilight.
The one I was dreading the most, however, was Rainbow Dash. It seemed during the past year, she had become incredibly protective of me, usually whenever I put myself in danger for one reason or another. But as I glanced around, I was strangely disappointed not to see her. It seemed that now that the danger had been taken care of, Rainbow Dash was back to avoiding all of us. A look around the gathered mares told me they all knew what was going on, but none of us knew what to do about it. Because of that, a familiar, uncomfortable silence enveloped us as we headed back to town.
As we reached the outskirts of the town, a certain changeling queen was impatiently waiting, pacing back and forth until she noticed our approach. She wasted no time in practically teleporting to me, her larger, stronger wings capable of much higher speeds than before. The fact I was ten times larger than normal meant I barely felt it when she clumsily crashed into my side, as she was still in the process of learning to fly again. This didn’t stop her from scrambling right back to her hooves and stomping over to me, looking comically adorable even with how angry she was.
“What the hay were you thinking?!” she screeched, gesturing to my body with a loud, angry snort. “Look at you! You’re in shambles!”
Despite her fussing, I reached down and gently patted her on the head. She immediately froze, confused, before batting my hand away while I chuckled at her. “Lyla, I’m okay. I promise. These,” I gestured to the bite marks, which were already scabbing over thanks to the salve, “are surface injuries. It’s nowhere near as bad as what you went through, I swear. Besides: this is my job. True, it’s the first time I’ve actually had to fight to keep the town safe, but I’m supposed to be protecting my home, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Lyla quieted at my explanation, now chewing on her lip as she seemed to be trying to come up with an argument. “But Spike, you can’t just throw yourself into danger like that.”
“Like you did with Sapphira?” I asked with a smirk.
Lyla pouted and crossed her arms under her chest. “That’s different.”
“How?” I challenged, my smile never abating. “You did that to protect me. Well, I’m doing this to protect my town, including you. Luckily, I wasn’t grievously injured, so you don’t need to rush me to a hospital or anything.” I kneeled down now, gently running my giant thumb over her cheek as she tried to keep glaring up at me. “You’re allowed to worry about me, but now that I’m strong enough to stand with all of you instead of staying on the sidelines, I’m not going to stand by and be dead weight when I can do something.”
“I don’t like it when you’re in danger, Spike,” she argued, still frowning up at me.
“And I don’t like it when you are either,” I countered, gently wiping a tear away from her cheek. “So instead of us trying to constantly keep the other from being in danger, we can protect each other.” I gestured to the other girls who were gathered around us. “We all can. This is a group effort, and it’s far past time I start pitching in. Twilight helped make me smart, and Ember helped to make me strong. I want to use that to help all of you.”
Lyla huffed, but couldn’t stop herself from nuzzling against my finger. After a moment, she looked up at me again and said, “I’m not sure if I like this.”
“I’m not asking you to like it,” I clarified, pulling away from her and standing again, “I’m just saying that from now on, I’m joining you. More of us protecting each other means it’s less likely any one of us will get seriously hurt. Lyla,” I sighed heavily and shook my head, remembering what had happened to her, “seeing you injured like that terrified me. I never want that to happen again, so I want to try and stop that by helping all of you from now on.”
Regardless, Lyla continued frowning. “Spike, you hate fighting. You’re basically a pacifist.”
I shrugged. “I certainly don’t want to fight, but I will if it means protecting my home and those I care about. I want to help all of you. After all, a burden-”
“Shared is a burden halved,” Lyla finished with a grumble, unable to refute my argument in any way except that she didn’t want me to be hurt. However, I had apparently gotten her -- and by extension, the others -- to understand that neither did I want to see any of them hurt, so why not help them?
I closed my eyes and focused, feeling my body start shrinking almost immediately. Other than some light seeping, I didn’t feel any of my wounds open again, and after only a minute, I was back to my regular size. After opening my eyes and giving my sore shoulders a roll, I caught Lyla’s eyes again and smiled. “Believe me: I’m in no hurry to die, Lyla. However, neither am I going to just sit around and let all of you put yourselves in harm’s way while I sit around and do nothing. Besides, in the increasingly likely event that I’ll need to reveal the truth of who I am to the public, it looks good if I am willing to face danger for the sake of Equestria. The nobles will still hate me, but that’s normal.”
With her argument sufficiently defeated, Lyla sighed again and took my arm, leading me back toward town. “Well, c’mon and let’s get you cleaned up. Oh, and I found your clothes.” She gave a pat to the messenger bag she wore over her shoulder.
At Rarity’s outraged gasp, I chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of my head. “Y-yeah, I kinda figured they’d do better not being on me when I changed. Better to get a little dirty on the ground than be torn to ribbons when I grew into a giant dragon.”
“Speaking of, how does your neck feel?” Twilight questioned as she stepped up beside me.
To test it, I leaned my head from side to side before shrugging. “Well, it doesn’t hurt, but it is a little disorienting. Just a few minutes ago, my neck was almost as long as my body. Now, it’s short and stubby by comparison. Takes some getting used to, but a serpentine neck has its advantages. Reach, for one.” A loud growl issued forth from my stomach, reminding me of a problem with growing so rapidly, and so large. With an embarrassed smile, I advised, “But, I need to eat now. I’d appreciate it if-”
“Ah’ll whip somethin’ up for ya while ya get cleaned up and you get those bites bound up right,” Applejack suggested from behind. “Ah can spare a bit’a time to make us somethin’ t’eat b’fore Ah head back home.”
I gave a happy hum of anticipation. “That sounds fantastic. Can any of you stay tonight?”
“Ah think Ah can spare some time t’stay with mah new herd,” Applejack confirmed with a smile that I could hear even in her voice.
“I believe unless any of you has prior obligations, we can all spend time together,” Rarity added.
The silence that answered me made me smile. True, Twilight and I would be busy for awhile yet, but I could look forward to the later hours in the day.
Once again, Twilight and I found ourselves in the castle, both of us returning to our mutually agreed-upon tasks for the day. With the emergency taken care of, I was on my way back to Fizzlepop’s room, hoping that she had gotten some rest in the meantime. Two covered travel mugs were in my hands, one for each of us. Mine was a generous portion of hot chocolate with emerald shavings, while Fizzlepop’s was filled with some of the tea a certain ex-mercenary gave us to bring home when Twilight, Ember and I returned.
Like before, other than peeking my head inside to make sure I wasn’t intruding upon anything, I walked inside Fizzlepop’s apartment without knocking. Noticing she wasn’t there, I walked over and placed the two mugs on the coffee table before taking a seat on the sofa and waiting for the unicorn to return. I idly glanced around the room, noticing nothing had changed since I left, which thankfully meant Fizzlepop hadn’t been putting herself under any undue stress.
My silent thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a toilet flushing, followed subsequently by the sink running for a bit. The water then cut off a few seconds before the door opened, and moments later the mare herself walked through the double doors into the living room. The hazy look in her eyes cleared up a bit when she spotted me, but a frown immediately formed on her lips when she noticed the bandages on my legs and arms.
“Got a little roughed up, did ya?” she rhetorically asked.
I self-consciously ran my fingers over the bandage on my left forearm. “Yeah. Got into a fight with a pride of manticores. No one else got hurt though, so everything’s okay.”
She let out a breath through her nose before ambling over to the loveseat and sitting lazily upon it. “Considering how dangerous a manticore is, I’m kinda surprised you didn’t get more hurt. Especially fighting off an entire pride. You didn’t get stung, did you?”
I shook my head. “Nah. Seems their barbs couldn’t pierce dragonhide, which I’m thankful for. They ended up just slapping me a bunch with their tails, which will leave bruises. They did get some good bites on me though.”
Fizzlepop nodded as she reclined against the armrest. “Yeah, those buckers bite hard. I’ve seen them bite through trees when sufficiently motivated. Not as strong as a cragdile of course, but eight of them biting you couldn’t have felt nice.”
“Not really, no. And Lyla also wasn’t particularly happy with me for putting myself in harm’s way,” I advised, leaning back against the backrest and letting out a long groan of contentment. “But, if anyone would understand that sometimes danger is unavoidable, I imagine it would be you.”
As she fully lay down again and covered herself with the blanket, Fizzlepop sighed again. “Yeah, I do. While it’s certainly not the main reason, it’s a reason I never got close to anyone. The more people that care about you, the more people it hurts when you get hurt. It is an unfortunate truth that sometimes we’re going to get hurt, whether physically or mentally, and having other people worry about you complicates things.” She looked up at me with a shrug. “Don’t get me wrong: it’s nice to be cared for, but during a time where I never stayed in one place for too long and basically the entire world was my enemy, making friends would have caused more problems that I didn’t have time for.”
“Speaking of, what about Grubber?” I asked.
She shrugged again. “We parted ways. I guess he was kinda the only friend I had, but we were only friends because we were both under the Storm King’s thumb for one reason or another. In the end, he decided to return home, and his family welcomed him with open arms. Hedgehogs are really close-knit, especially with the mothers and their hoglets. Kinda stupid for them to just ignore all the stuff he did just because he came home, but that’s not my business. In the end, we said our goodbyes, and I haven’t heard from him since. But, if I’m being honest, I am glad one of us got to go home again.”
I nodded slowly. After a few moments of silence, I asked, “Do you mind if I ask why you couldn’t go home?”
She stilled at my words, breathing deeply in silence. Eventually she answered, but it was with a tone of sadness and longing. “...there’s nothing for me to go back to. Being the scarred unicorn filly with no horn and no cutie mark basically ostracized me from ‘polite’ society as it was. I was an orphan, so it isn’t like I have parents waiting for me, and no one in town would even want to see me. You forget, Spike: you and Twilight might have accepted me, but no one else will. There’s never going to be a time I can just walk into a town, my face and horn in the free air, and not be immediately met with fear and suspicion.”
While the explanation certainly answered my question, I now had another that I blurted out before I could stop myself. “What is your cutie mark? I’ve never seen it.”
Despite the previously morose mood she was in, Fizzlepop barked out a laugh and shook her head. “Spike, if you wanted to get a look at my rump, there are more tactful ways to ask.” It was at that moment that I did indeed realize how my question sounded, but before I could stammer out an apology, the mare waved my response away. “Don’t worry about it; I know what you meant. Well, the answer is I don’t have one.” She shifted a bit and pulled the side of her shorts down, exposing her hip, showing that the fur was the same as the rest of her body: unadorned and plain. “See? Nothing there. If I have a special talent, I’ve never figured it out.”
My brow furrowed as I looked down at my lap. “Everyone has a special talent, Fizzle. Even dragons. We don’t get cutie marks, but we all have something we are uniquely talented at.”
“As far as you know,” she argued. “But Equestrian society has a tendency to push out those that don’t conform or fit in. I’m proof of that, and so is your friend Zecora. Fearing the unknown is natural, but for all of Equestria’s talk of acceptance and love, this nation demands conformity from those that are going to live here. That’s fair, because for a nation to survive, everyone living in it needs to have a similar culture and values, but let’s not pretend Equestria doesn’t have its bouts of xenophobia.”
Looking over to her again, I continued frowning. “They accepted me.”
“Do they, though?” she challenged, her eyes remaining closed as she rested her body. “How many times do you get looked at with confusion or fear when you go anywhere but Ponyville? How often have those Canterlot noble plotholes called you a beast, or a monster?”
“Okay, that’s not fair,” I countered, pointing my finger at her. “The nobles are jerks to everyone, even each other.”
Fizzlepop was still as she answered me. “Fine, that’s a good point. However, you’re going to have a rude awakening when the truth of who you are comes out. A lot of the ponies that you believe accept you might suddenly turn their backs on you. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid I’m not. And,” she interrupted me, causing my teeth to clack as I snapped my mouth shut, “before you say something about how Equestrians wouldn’t do that, remember: I was born in Equestria too. Don’t take it the wrong way when I say this, but you live a very sheltered life. I’ve seen and done more than you have, so believe me when I say the world is very different from how you perceive it. I have no doubt your friends will be there to help you through trials, but they might be the only ones. You’ve never known what it’s like to have the people you thought were your friends turn on you, and the townsfolk you thought accepted you suddenly shun you. If things go the way I think they might, you’re going to experience that very soon.”
“That’s…not very reassuring,” I grumbled.
Fizzlepop just continued lazing on her side. “It’s not supposed to be. I’m not trying to make you feel better, I’m trying to give you a little insight into how the world really works, and how bad things might get. It’s better to be prepared and worried than ignorant and happy.”
I frowned hard at that. “I happen to like being happy.”
“Everyone does,” she said with a sigh, “but happiness doesn’t always keep you alive. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t like and confront uncomfortable truths to survive. I wish you didn’t have to go through that, but life doesn’t always give us a choice. During those times, we can either isolate ourselves to keep from hurting others, or lean on our friends.”
I was smart enough to pick up on what she was insinuating. “Well, it worked for you.”
Fizzle opened her eyes and stared at me with an intensity I hadn’t seen before. “You don’t want to be like me, Spike. You have friends and a herd that care deeply for you. I became what I am because I never had any of that. I was treated like a monster by everyone I met for so long that I ended up becoming one. You’re better than that, and your friends will ensure you stay on the right path.”
While my heart ached for Fizzlepop, I also understood why she was telling me these things. Part of her self-imposed redemption fueled by her guilt dictated that she wanted to make sure I didn’t make the same mistakes she did. I didn’t think there was any chance of that happening, but I appreciated the words nonetheless. Though I knew she didn’t believe it, it was clear to me there was a good, caring pony buried inside the cynical ex-commander of the Storm King’s armada.
From there, we lapsed into silence as the two of us watched some program on television that, for the life of me, I can’t even recall. It wasn’t important anyway.
…
A few hours later, a knock on the door brought me out of my mindless zoning, and woke Fizzlepop from her light doze. The two of us glanced at each other before I stood and made my way over to the door. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by my favorite alicorn princess, who looked quite pleased with herself.
I could only smile in return. “You look like you figured something out.”
Twilight nodded rapidly with an almost manic grin. “I did! I found out how we need to remove the curse.” As she stepped into the room, she turned her eyes toward Fizzlepop, who was now focusing intently on the other mare. “Because of how long you’ve had the curse, it won’t be a quick process, but I do have a treatment plan we can follow to purge you of the curse once and for all.”
Fizzlepop just stared blankly for a few moments before eventually venturing, “...s-so you can fix me?”
Twilight stepped closer until she was standing in front of the unicorn, and gave a firm nod. “I can. Like I said, it won’t be quick, but-”
Twilight was interrupted when Fizzlepop quickly stood and practically flung herself at the alicorn, latching onto her in a surprise hug that nearly knocked Twilight over. It only took a heartbeat for Twilight to return the embrace, being mindful of the sensitive wound on her back. The two mares held the hug for a moment before breaking away, a suddenly wobbly Fizzlepop doing her best to hurriedly wipe away the relieved tears from her eyes before either of us could see them.
FIzzlepop loudly cleared her throat and said, “Um…sorry about that. The pills are kinda messing with my head.”
Twilight just smiled and gently shook her head. “Never apologize for being grateful. Besides: this thing has had you in near-constant pain for years, so you’re allowed to be relieved that we can fix it. If that means you get a little uncharacteristically physically affectionate, well I suppose we’ll just have to cope.”
Fizzlepop rolled her eyes before carefully sitting back down in her place, letting out a long breath. “Still…it’s nice to have an end in sight. After so many different people have told me there’s no hope, you’ve given me some.” As Twilight opened her mouth, she grabbed a pillow and warned, “And if you start lecturing me about how ‘that’s friendship,’ I’m throwing this pillow at your face.”
Twilight’s surprised expression changed to a smirk at the challenge. “That’s friendsh-” And, true to Fizzlepop’s warning, the pillow impacted Twilight’s face with considerable force, leaving the alicorn slightly off-balance even as she giggled like a foal. Despite how disgruntled she was trying to appear, Fizzlepop also cracked a smile and snorted out a single laugh.
After giving a moment for Twilight to settle down, Fizzlepop asked, “So, when do we start?”
Twilight nodded to the other mare. “Right now. This first treatment won’t do much, in all honesty. Instead, the spell I’m going to use will essentially prepare you and your magical core for the rest of the spells I’ll be casting on you.”
Fizzlepop raised a brow at that. “My magical core?”
Twilight nodded again. “That’s why the curse never went away. It uses your own internal magic to stay active, like a parasite. This first spell will sever the curse’s connection with your magical core, which might be…uncomfortable. From there, we’ll just have to treat the affected flesh.”
The unicorn let out a long, slow breath. “Well, I’m used to pain by now. If a little more means I can be fixed, then I’ll bear it gladly. Ready when you are.”
Twilight took her own breath before closing her eyes and lighting her horn. A cloud of her magic slowly slithered out of her horn to cover Fizzlepop completely before sinking into her skin. Only a single line of magic still connected Twilight to her spell, and within a second, Fizzlepop tensed a bit and growled as the pain flared up again. Thankfully for all present, it lasted only a few seconds before Twilight cut the power from her horn, and the spell was completed.
Fizzlepop slumped once the spell was completed, gasping for breath as she struggled to settle her nerves, which I could only imagine were on fire at the moment. After gulping down a few lungfuls of air, she ground out a few choice curses before commenting, “Buck, I wasn’t expecting that. Felt like you were cutting a chunk out of my insides.”
Twilight had the good grace to look apologetic. “A-heh, sorry about that. I’ve never actually had to cast a spell like that before, so I wasn’t exactly sure what it would feel like for you.”
Fizzlepop shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Sometimes you gotta cause a little pain to heal, and I’m certainly no stranger to that. Oh, by the way, did you find out why the curse started hurting more all of the sudden?”
Twilight jolted at the mention of that, and by her expression, I knew the answer wasn’t going to be nice. “Um…yeah, I did. To be blunt, it was killing you.” At Fizzlepop’s tired, uncomprehending stare, Twilight elaborated. “Well, like I said, the curse uses your own magical core to stay active. Over the years, it started to meld with it, so much so that it was starting to corrupt you. If you had waited another week, there might not have been anything we could do for you other than make you comfortable.”
Fizzlepop just sat there with her jaw dropped. There was no denying she was a tough mare, but confronting your own mortality was something that would shake nearly anyone to their core, no matter how seasoned they might be. I’d had to face the same sort of situation once before, and I knew exactly how emotionally stressful it could be.
“It was…killing me,” Fizzlepop confirmed, her face unreadable.
Twilight nodded solemnly. “Yes. During an experiment, I caused injury to my own core by accident, and the pain alone caused me to pass out. Considering how painful that was, I can only surmise your pain tolerance is higher than even my most generous estimates. I don’t even know how you were still functioning under that much pain.”
“Will there be any permanent damage?” Fizzlepop asked next.
Twilight frowned briefly. “I…don’t know. Like your flesh, this might leave something like a scar in your core. As for how much it will affect you, there’s no way to tell for sure.”
“How bad could it be? Give me the worst case scenario,” Fizzlepop pressed, nearly begging for an answer.
Twilight bit her lip as she pondered how to word her thoughts. “Well…if it’s the absolute worst case scenario, we’re talking about your life span being reduced by decades. This could be complicated by early onset dementia and cognitive decline, as early as middle age.”
“So I’ll essentially age faster than I should,” Fizzlepop summarized.
Twilight reluctantly nodded. “Yes. Again, that’s the worst case, and I doubt even with the damage caused that such a thing will happen-”
“But the possibility still exists, and we won’t know until much later down the line,” Fizzlepop finished, getting another reluctant nod from her alicorn friend. The mare released another long breath, leaning back into her seat and closing her eyes. “Well, there’s no sense getting all worked up over something I can’t change. If it comes to that, I’ll deal with it. If things are better, then I’ll deal with that too. Either way, I’m still alive thanks to all of you, and if you can take the pain away, you’ll have my undying gratitude.”
Finally deciding to put in my own two bits, I added, “Then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll ensure whatever life you live will be free of this curse, so you can live how you want without that constant agony bearing down on you. It’s one less thing to worry about, at the very least.”
Fizzlepop glanced up at me finally, smirking. “So Twilight will do the heavy lifting, and you’ll make me food. Nice to know you two make such a great team.”
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” both Twilight and I answered at the same time. We glanced at each other and laughed heartily.
Instead of doing what I thought she would and rolling her eyes, Fizzlepop gave a single nod as she quietly commented, “Apparently it does. Whatever this is, it works for you.”
Twilight returned the smile. “Anyhow, I think we’ll have a spell treatment every three days, to be finished up in about two weeks. For now, rest and recover, and know that you’re officially on the road to recovery. Was there anything else you needed before I head back to work?”
Fizzlepop chuckled halfheartedly. “Twilight, you’ve done more for me than I can ever repay. I mean that. At this point, you could ask me to sacrifice a child to you, and I’d do it. I have no right to ask you for anything ever again.”
“For the record, do not sacrifice a foal to me,” Twilight jokingly warned. “That’s a lot of paperwork I’ll have to fill out, and ponies already look at me strangely when I go off on one of my ‘sciency tangents’.”
Fizzlepop (and me, by extension) looked distinctly surprised. “...I gotta admit, I didn’t expect you to roll with that kind of joke. I’m impressed, Sparkle.”
“Oh, I’m just full of surprises.”
Fizzlepop only smiled enigmatically. “I don’t doubt it. Anyhow, to answer your question, no, I think I’ll be good for the rest of the day. You’ve exceeded any expectation I could possibly have, and an end in sight to this pain is more than enough. Thank you.”
Twilight was beaming and offered one final nod to the other mare before turning and leaving the room. Just before exiting though, she called over her shoulder. “Oh, and Spike, your task still stands until Fizzle relieves you. Thanks for your help.”
As Twilight leaves, Fizzlepop just stares at the door, quietly muttering, “Why do I feel like we’re part of a plan and neither of us knows what’s going on?”
“Because you’re 100% correct,” I answered blandly, sighing as I again took my seat and gave a big stretch before relaxing. “Alicorns have a habit of playing multiple ‘long games’ all at once. The world is kinda one big chessboard, to them. It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. And for Twilight specifically, I don’t think she’s capable of hurting anyone on purpose.”
“Dragons have long lifespans too, though,” Fizzlepop pointed out.
I shrugged. “Yeah, but I tend to live in the moment. Maybe that’ll change when I get older, but I’m of the mind that if you spend too much time looking ahead, you miss everything that’s happening right now. I don’t want to make the mistake of missing life happening currently in favor of focusing only on the future. That’s no way to live, and it would only lead to regret.”
“I assume one of the Canterlot princesses taught you that,” Fizzlepop commented.
“My mom, yeah,” I answered, smiling briefly. “Not the kind of thing any parent wants to need to teach their child, but paramount for someone like me, who’s going to live for eons. Twilight got the same lesson when she ascended, but as a mare that’s naturally anxious, she wants to have plans for every single eventuality. She’s still learning that such an approach is untenable.” I turned my eyes to the unicorn across from me and tentatively asked, “So, anything you want or need to do?”
Fizzlepop made herself a bit more comfortable as she hummed aloud. “...tell me a story. In fact, tell me your favorite story about something you and your friends have done.”
With a broad smile, I nodded. “Sure, I’ve got a few.”