//------------------------------// // A Not So Ponyrific Chapter // Story: A Not-So Draconian Adventure // by Rock-Lee //------------------------------// "You know Spike, I was thinking about something" Sunset and Spike would be outside the school building, technically they could both retire as it was their day with the psychologist, but Spike had no way of leaving and Sunset wasn't in the mood to walk, so they would just be lying on the grass waiting for the bell to mark the end of class. "Do you think...It would have been a good idea to have gone to Equestria to learn with Twilight instead of staying here?" "To be honest with you, no," Spike would say, hugging his teddy calmly, lying down with his legs pointing away from Sunset's, with his head next to the red-haired girl's. "Even though Twilight is the princess of friendship and the element of harmony, the people you affected are here you know? It would be like pushing a kid in the park and apologizing to the kid who only saw you do it." "yeah...I guess to a certain extent you're right...I guess I'm just looking for excuses to escape and find the easy way" Sunset would say bringing her hands to her face to let out a heavy sigh, feeling like a fool for the fact that a literal child was more mature than her. "Hehe, trust me, with Twilight there is no easy way" Spike would say trying to cheer the girl up, smiling somewhat nervously for not quite knowing how to interact with Sunset since he barely knew her outside of her cruel and evil version. "...Thanks Spike" The red-haired girl would say finally taking her hands off her face, placing them on her stomach as she spoke in a somewhat subdued tone. "Mhhg? Thanks for what?" "Whenever I have my sessions with the psychologist, everyone always treats me like a child, you're the first one who...You know, doesn't seem to mind." After a few seconds of silence, Spike would gently grab Sunset's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers carefully, something Sweetie had done with Spike the night before to help him calm down. "Probably because I have my own things to think about too..." And so the two would remain several minutes in comfortable silence, feeling sorry for themselves, until finally the sprinklers in the garden would come on, starting to spray them with water, though neither would seem to want to move. "Your stuffed animal will get wet" Sunset would say as she simply closed her eyes so the water wouldn't irritate that area. "Apparently it's made of duck feathers, water doesn't do anything to it..." "...We should move right?" Sunset would say letting out a sigh, annoyed at having to leave the place where she was comfortable with the person who would most seem to understand her in that horrible situation. "We should...We should" Spike would say closing his eyes slowly, enjoying the water droplets falling on his body, probably planning to get some sleep on that lawn. "But I am so comfortable here..." "Mhhg...It's okay it's okay" The redhead would say getting up from the ground so she could grab Spike and help him up, brushing his hair out of his face and cleaning some of his clothes. "Would you like to get something to eat? We have some time before school ends" "Umm...I just don't know if that's allowed, Rarity told me Celestia didn't know if we should talk yet" Spike would say somewhat embarrassed to have to tell his friend that. "Yeah, I know, that's why I sent her a message saying that I met you and that you were the most awesome little dude" Sunset would say, slipping her arm behind Spike's neck and pulling him close to her, rubbing her knuckles against his head for a few seconds. "Hehe! Hey that hurts!" Spike would say trying to break away from her for a few seconds, until he was finally released from that grip, able to comb her hair into its spiky form again. "So? There's a good place to eat around here" She would say calmly, offering her hand to Spike, since as far as she knew Spike was a child, because of not having met him in his dragon form. "Only if you're paying" Spike would say with a smile as he grabbed her hand and they started walking away from the school to go to a food place that Sunset seemed to know. After a good couple of minutes of walking, the two would be in front of a "restaurant" that would be decorated like a big gingerbread house and a cupcake at the same time, somehow making it look very nice to the eye, although above that place there was a normal looking extra floor, where the owners probably lived. "And this Spike, is the best place to get sugar in the world, Sugar-" Sunset would say, trying to add some suspense to the place, before being interrupted by Spike. "Sugar Cube Corner!" The boy would say with his eyes sparkling with joy, jumping up and down like a little kid, pulling Sunset's hand to try to get in. "Wait, how do you know this place? Have any of the girls brought you here yet?" Sunset would say, starting to walk towards the entrance, herself having to pull Spike's hand so he wouldn't run like a tornado into the place. "We have one just like it in Ponyville, in fact Pinkie works there! Does she work here too?" Spike would say before they both entered the place, letting the delicious smell of bread and assorted candy confections hit them like a warm breeze on a fallen day. "Ahhh~ How I love this" Sunset would say as she walked towards the counter still avoiding Spike running off towards the candy like a bear to a jar of honey. "Pinkie? yeah, she works here part time either in the store or babysitting the owners' kids." "Oh! Sunset dear! It's a pleasure to see you again!" A woman behind the counter would say with a smile, probably Miss Cake unless in this universe the owners were someone else. "Miss Cake!" And there was the proof I needed. "Yes, I'm sorry I'm not coming in as often, I wasn't in the mood to go out that much." "Nonsense sweetie! Oh, and who's that cute little guy?" Miss Cake would say, leaning a little towards Spike with a sweet smile, trying to appear friendly to the boy. "I'm Spike Drake Miss Cake! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Would say with a big smile the boy, with his stuffed dragon clutched tightly against his torso by one of his arms. "The pleasure is mine!" Miss Cake would say happy to meet such a kind young man. "Another of Celestia's protégés?" "Mhhg...I guess you could call him that" Sunset would say, putting a hand to her chin, wondering if that would be a correct term. "Celestia's protégé? What does that mean?" Spike would say with a raised eyebrow, somewhat confused as to what the two women were talking about. "Uh? Oh, it's nothing Spike, don't worry" Sunset would say with a smile, ruffling Spike's hair reassuringly. "So you two, what are you going to order?" Miss Cake would say as she set up the cash register to record the orders for the two of them. "Mhhg...A ruby milkshake with obsidian on top!" Spike would say forgetting for a second that he wasn't in the pony world, and that Sugar Cube Corner wasn't prepared for his type of food. ...Excuse me?" Miss Cake would say with a raised eyebrow, confused by the child's order. "Hehe! Sorry, Spike doesn't like the name of the fruits so he usually changes the name! Kids i am right?" Sunset would say putting a hand over Spike's mouth quickly making up a good excuse. "Oh hehe, yes, i get you Sunset," Miss Cake would say with a chuckle, nodding at the lie. "What he meant was a strawberry milkshake with blueberries on top, and some cake?" Sunset would say, taking her hand away from Spike's mouth to let him speak. "Carrot cake please!" he would say with a big smile, it being his favorite next to the gem cakes, but to his chagrin, he wouldn't have the gem ones on hand. "A strawberry milkshake with a carrot cake, and what will you have Sunset?" "I'll take the usual please" Sunset would say with a smile, before pulling out her wallet and paying what she owed the woman, before leading Spike to a table to wait. "So...do you have the magic diary at home?" Spike would say, sitting his dragon down next to him, before observing Sunset with a smile. "That's right, when I get home today I'll send a message to Twilight telling her you're here, sound good?" Sunset would say with a smile, earning a nod from Spike. "Although...there's something weird about all this." "Mhhg? The fact that I'm human?" Spike would say somewhat confused as to what it was she was referring to. "Other than that...how come you used the mirror? It only suposed to be open every 30 moons" Sunset would say grabing one free candy from the basket on the table Spike would open his mouth for a few seconds before closing it and bringing his hand to his chin in thought. "It's true....Besides that he was making a weird glow that he didn't make the first time we used the mirror...That's really weird." "Maybe you could take the opportunity to ask Crystal? Since she has a favoritism for you" Sunset would say assuming Spike could go talk to her whenever he wanted to. "It's not that easy, she basically decides when to see me, I think we've only met...2 times if I remember right, and one was to interrupt my meeting Luna in dreams" Spike would say letting out a dejected sigh as he dropped his head against the table. "Wait...you were able to talk to Luna?" Sunset would say surprised to hear that piece of information, since she had assumed that would be totally impossible, princesses had no power over beings from other universes. "Yes, but she interrupted the dream before I could speak properly...I think I got to tell her my situation, but I don't know if she even got to hear me between my cries." "Wait wait wait...Crystal interrupted a dream from the inside?...With Princess Luna inside?..." Sunset would say feeling like nothing Spike was saying made any sense at all. "I never thought of it like that...Damn I need to talk to her" Spike would say banging his head against the table once more. "H-Hey, it's okay Spike, don't worry, we're here to get something to eat now, we can talk about this later...After all, they already know you're here don't they? It's only a matter of time before everything gets sorted out." "Yeah...You know what? You're right! I guess I can enjoy this place while this is going on, right? After all, it's fun to be a normal kid after going through so much in Equestria," Spike would say, seeing the possible benefits of being able to spend some time in this place, smiling broadly at the idea of a little break. Lately Spike was getting fed up with all the chaos that was crossing Twilight and her friends' lives because of all the friendship missions that Spike obviously couldn't attend, basically being a sponge for the complaints and problems that they brought, but without the cool adventures and fun times that they brought to the mares, which he was managing to fill with the almost infinite patience that the dragon had learned to have in his life, so even though he would never in his life get sick of helping them, he felt he deserved a little break, since after all he had earned it just as much as the girls. "And here you go boys, enjoy" Miss Cake would say as she lowered two trays in front of them with their orders, in Sunset's case it would have been a cup of chocolate ice cream with a carrot and apple milkshake. "Thank you!...Carrot and Apple, seriously Sunset?" would say with a raised eyebrow Spike as he saw the note written on their trays with a description of their orders. "You can take a pony out of equestria, but you can't take equestria out of the pony" Sunset would say with a smile as Miss Cake walked away from the table. "Yeah...To be honest it's going to hurt to go back to Equestria in terms of food...I'm never going to eat and enjoy meat like here again" Spike would pout in annoyance, he had never had a problem with eating the kind of food the ponies enjoyed, but after knowing the pleasure of that delicious meat, he'd never had a problem with eating the kind of food the ponies enjoyed. "Yeah...Being honest I'm what they know here as a vegetarian, I don't want to risk eating some meat and it tasting good to me, it would be...Brrr!" Sunset would say feeling a shiver go up her spine at the thought of how horrible it would feel. "...H-How is everything going? Rarity told me they're trying to help you get a better handle on friendships and how it work" Spike would say trying to change the subject, grabbing his fork and tasting that carrot cake, practically melting in his seat from how delicious it was. "That's right...It's still very complicated, I still haven't made any friends besides the girls, I feel like I'll keep ruining everything, the other students hopefully look at me in the halls" Sunset would say letting out a sigh, grabbing the straw of her milkshake and starting to drink it. "Hey! That's not true!" Spike would say, slamming his hands on the table, much to Sunset's surprise. "What are you talking about Spike?" Sunset would say with a raised eyebrow, grabbing her fork and grabbing a piece of her chocolate cake. "You got your brother from another universe!" Spike would say, extending his fist to the red-haired girl with a friendly smile. "And I have my sister from another universe! So we can both say we have new friends from this whole adventure." "...Hehe, I see you're more mature than I thought at first glance Spike" The girl would say with a small smile, bumping her fist against Spike's. "Hehe, being Twilight Sparkle's student and personal assistant pays off you know?" Spike would say with a somewhat smug grin as he chuckled a little, grabbing his milkshake and starting to drink leisurely. "Yeah...I wish I could know the same as you, about...everything" Sunset would say letting out another sigh, though a bit calmer, continuing with her drink. "I could help you if you like, we can ask Celestia if you can join the group of girls I stay with, and I can teach you everything I know! It would be like a super cool sleepover!" Spike would say with a smile, happy at the thought of making the most of his time there with a new friend. "That...Doesn't sound so bad...It'll cost her to accept, but I'm sure a pair of puppy dog eyes will do the trick!" Sunset would say happy at that amazing idea of finally having someone to spend the boring, almost lonely nights she'd had since she'd gotten good. "Well it's done! The siblings from another universe will have their sleepover!" Spike would say to close the subject, leaving Sunset with a calmer smile as they continued with their lunch, with Sunset pulling out her phone to let Rarity and the other girls know that Spike was with her and they didn't have to worry about him. After a good while of eating, Spike and Sunset would walk to Rarity's house since it was relatively close, and it was starting to get dark even though it wasn't that late in the evening in general. "And then I ordered him to go home hugging every dragon she came across on his way!" Spike would say as he told Sunset of his adventure to very briefly become dragonlord before handing over that honor to Ember. "hehehe, from what I know of dragons, he probably got in a lot of trouble for giving hugs to others!" Sunset would say as she gently grabbed Spike's hand so he wouldn't run off or do anything foolish near the streets. "Aren't you afraid that one day he'll come back for revenge? " "Not at all! I'm the bravest dragon ever!" Spike would say with a big proud grin, thumping his chest with his thumb cheerfully. After saying that, almost as if it was a moment of Karma, a huge dog would come out of the bushes trying to bite the duo, barking loudly, but a chain around his neck would hold him back from getting too close. "AHHH!" Startled, Spike would duck behind Sunset hiding his face in the girl's torso. "get him away get him away!" "H-Hey! Get away you flea-dog!" Sunset would say stomping her feet on the ground in front of the dog, staring at him with a diluted version of THE LOOK that Fluttershy had taught her a while back, causing the dog after barking for a couple of seconds, to calm down and slowly walk inside the bushes again. "...H-He left?" Spike would say still hiding behind the teenager. "It's okay Spike, it's over, he's gone, take it easy" Sunset would say kneeling down in front of the boy and wiping the tears off his face with a smile. "I guess that was the universe's way of telling me I wasn't as brave as I thought I was, hehe." Spike would say letting out a slight dejected sigh. "Oh come on! Don't worry, after all, at least three of the girls would have run off after simply hearing that dog, but you stayed! You were very brave Spike" Sunset would say, giving Spike a soft kiss on the forehead. "...Thank you...Just don't tell the girls this please" SPike would say with a slight blush of embarrassment, though feeling much better for the girl's words. "Promise" Sunset would say grabbing Spike's hand once more and continuing on their way to Rarity's house. The rest of the day into the evening would continue as normal, with Spike explaining to the Belle family how his first day at the psychologist went and enjoying a nice dinner of homemade pasta and meatballs, until it would finally be time for bedtime in the house, leaving Spike and Sweetie Belle resting in their room. "Please Crystal...let me talk to you today" Spike would say softly so as not to wake Sweetie Belle, finally closing his eyes to finally fall asleep in hopes of meeting the princess of the mirror world. And so, as Spike wanted, he would appear once again in that dark universe in his dragon form, stopping for a couple of seconds to observe his claws with a small smile, happy to be in his own skin once again, after that, the dragon would look around for a couple of seconds until he observed Crystal in the distance, with her back turned and observing what seemed to be a large piece of mirror, so he would quickly run towards her. "Spike" Crystal's voice would cause Spike to shut his mouth, not saying a single word as he had originally planned. "Why do you keep trying to refuse and destroy my plan? I had to close the connection between journals so Twilight wouldn't try anything to get in the way of my plans." "You...What?" Spike would say taking a step back, leaving him a chance to get a good look at Crystal, noticing how her wings seemed to have grown since the last time they had seen each other, covering the area of her Cutie Mark, just as her horn seemed to have grown a bit, with a lighter color than the last time. "I see you noticed my change, I find myself currently recovering from the energy expenditure it was to open the mirror ahead of schedule" Crystal would say without even turning to look at Spike. "That explains why I was able to get in...Wait, don't change the subject!" Spike would say shaking his head and taking an angry step forward. "How's that for you shutting down the connection between diaries!?" "You didn't think I wouldn't be able to do something so simple did you?" Crystal would finally say turning her head so as to make her horn glow slightly, bringing the piece of mirror in front of Spike so he could see the contents. The mirror would show a dark room in the castle of Ponyville, with Twilight lit only by a single candle, her hooves covering her head as she wept silently, the walls would be filled with papers and drawings, with a huge map with many places marked with an X on it. "...Why is she like this?...Luna told her I was here! I told her myself yesterday!" Spike would say clutching tightly that piece of mirror with worry, watching his sister crying in that lonely room. "I couldn't leave loose ends, so I made her totally forget everything you told her" She would say as she would make that mirror disappear from Spike's hand, starting to walk silently in a random direction, with Spike following quickly behind her. "Wh-what!!! What are you talking about!? How!?" "I'm not just the one who observes the universes, I control them at will...sure I have limits, but memory isn't one of them, or why do you think no one remembers the purple and green talking dog named Spike?" "But...how come Sunset remembers me!?" he would say trying to make some sense of that whole situation. "Her affection for the people who led her to the path of goodness is very powerful...that includes you" Crystal would say looking sideways at him. "but...then why don't you just make me forget everything and force me to live there!? It would be more merciful to just leave me with all my memories!" Spike would say clenching his fists tightly, feeling the fire forming inside him from the rage he felt at that Alicorn. "Your love for your friends trumps even my own power of control...I don't know how I let them brainwash you in such a way" Crystal would say letting out a sigh of disapproval at her own attitude to everything Spike had been through. But before Spike could say anything at the things Crystal was saying, a huge blinding glare would stop him and leave him speechless, as it was revealed where that light was coming from, Spike's smile would grow from one second to the next. "Mom!" Spike would say as he would see Princess Celestia appearing in front of them, he would try to run to give her a tight hug, but he would feel how he only seemed to be running in place, as Crystal's magic had him frozen in place. "Sister! Let him go immediately!" Celestia would say, taking a step towards the two of them, and at that moment, Spike would open his eyes, having been cast out of the mirror universe once more "..." Spike would look to the side in silence, noting only the sight of Sweetie Belle sleeping peacefully as she clutched his hand, causing Spike to sigh sadly, laying his head back on the pillow in a sad attempt to sleep. Needless to say, Spike would never know what had happened that night between Crystal and Celestia, and most likely, Celestia herself would not remember it upon returning to her world.