It was a normal morning in Ponyville, as always, Spike woke early ready to prepare Twilight’s breakfast and his own.
Or at least Spike wished it were a normal morning, but he had things in his mind, he was lost in thought as Twilight walked in and bid him a good morning, ignoring his sibling’s greeting.
“Spike!” Twilight called him in a much louder tone snapping the dragon from his thoughts and causing to fall on his tail, he began searching the area frantically only to see Twilight giggling over his fall.
“You didn’t have to yell, Twi…” Spike complained getting on his feet.
“Well, some dragon wasn’t paying attention.” she eyed him carefully and approached him putting foreleg on his tiny shoulder before saying anything else. “Come on Spike, you’ve been acting strange these past few days, what’s the matter?” Twilight asked with worry in her face.
“It’s… Nothing…” Spike lied, he wished nothing more than to tell Twilight about what was bothering him, but he knew that even if he tried, he would have no such luck.
Besides, he had tried, oh, how he had tried.
“Listen Spike, how about I give you the day off? Just to relax, I’ll be fine on my own for one day.” Twilight assured the young drake.
“I… Fine. I’ll be upstairs if you do need me.” he made his way upstairs leaving a still worried Twilight behind.
“Oh, I hope he gets better soon.” she made her way to the first floor and saw the immense pile of books piled up the foyer and sighed.
“This is going to be a LONG day.”
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As Spike laid on his basket, he couldn’t help but go back to that day, the day he became a national hero, the day he showed everyone he could be helpful, that he could make a difference. Oddly enough, that wasn’t what was really bothering him.
His worries began when everypony got together to prepare for the Crystal Fair…
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“Come on Spike, we have a Crystal Fair to put together.” Twilight walked towards the meeting room with Spike closely following behind, he was trying to hold the history book with all his might, but it had been heavier than he had expected.
"Note to self: Don’t volunteer." He thought begrudgingly.
They made their way to the table in the middle of the room where their friends awaited further instructions, as soon as they reached it, Twilight began singing.
“Princess Cadence needs our help,
Her magic will not last for ever,
I think we can do it,
But we have to work together.”
Spike just allowed her to sing along, he had gotten used to the ponies’ spontaneous out of nowhere musical numbers, he always thought the random outbursts of talent were odd, but he had stopped questioning it, what still surprised him was that Twilight didn’t make a comment over it, wasn’t this some sort of subject to study after all?
Twilight continued along breaking Spike’s line of thought by levitating the book out of his stubby hands.
“We have to get this right,
Yes we have to make them see.
We can save the Crystal Ponies
With their History!”
Twilight stopped abruptly leaving Spike surprised at the short length of the song, Twilight focused her attention back to the book and began reading it, her brow furrowing deep in thought before speaking again.
“Rainbow Dash, I need you to check the armory, I think you’ll find something you might just enjoy.” unable to help herself to a surprise, she flew over to the book and her smile widened when she read the page that Twilight was on.
“Jousting? Awesome!” she cheered and flew into a random direction before quickly returning with a sheepish look.
“So… Where is that room again?” Twilight rolled her eyes and looked over to Spike.
“Spike, go ahead and take her there, do you remember from the map we checked earlier?” she asked Spike who just beamed, happy that he was finally about to do something instead of waiting.
“Sure Twi!” he made his way to Rainbow and climbed on her back, as soon as he was secured, he nudged her the go ahead. Rainbow flew into the air and did a few tricks (much to the chagrin of the young dragon) and shot straight for the door.
“Alright Spike, where to now?” Rainbow asked flying in place when the first interception came up.
“Uh, what? Oh right! Turn left here.” the pair continued on with Spike giving her directions, and not long after, they made it to the armory.
“Finally!” Rainbow made her way through the door, Spike still riding on her back, both stared with mouths hanging at what they saw found inside.
Rows upon rows of armor adorned the room, most of it seemed unused, but still in working condition, a gasp came from Rainbow Dash and she flew away, leaving Spike hanging in the now empty spot, unable to realize the lack of support under him, and fell with a soft thud.
“Geez, thanks Dash.” he quickly got on his feet and began rubbing his now aching spot, he began walking towards the blue Pegasus in order to give her a piece of his mind, but that was quickly interrupted by Dash’s sudden line.
“It said that they like jousting!”
Spike rolled his eyes and waited for the mare to continue, but no further lines came, he was once again surprised by the sudden ending but just shrugged it off and chalked it as a coincidence.
“Ready Rainbow?” he asked the Pegasus, but her attention was completely focused on the armor and the helmet now resting on her head.
“Guess I’ll see you later then.” Spike shrugged and walked outside leaving Rainbow to herself and made his way back to the meeting room where he found Twilight still on her book.
“Hey Twilight, need any help?” the unicorn just kept her attention on the book not paying any attention giving Spike an idea.
“Maybe I should go help Rarity, if you want me to stay, say something!” Twilight kept on reading once again ignoring the young dragon, at which point, he made a beeline to the door and headed out to look for his beloved; Rarity.
He ran as fast as his stubby legs allowed him to, but he didn’t have to run far as he quickly found the fashionista as she was going into a room.
“Rarity…” the lovestruck dragon quickly ran towards the door and made his way in, but his trance was broken by Rarity who was handling a piece of fabric at the moment he went in.
“They had a flag with many hues!”
Spike waited for anymore lines but none came, he would have worried more, but Rarity had taken notice of him and greeted him with glee.
“Hello there dear, may I help you with something?” she asked and patiently awaited for a response.
“… Huh? Oh yeah! I was wondering if you needed any help, I’m here to assist to anything milady needs!” he felt corny muttering the last line, but he knew Rarity enjoyed it, and if that meant getting closer to her, he would do it in a heartbeat.
“Oh, while I appreciate the help Spikey, I don’t really need any.” Spike looked down in disappointment and was about to leave the room when Rarity called him back.
“But Applejack might need some dearie, she is out in the fields picking crystal berries, why don’t you go help her out?” she told him in an attempt to keep him busy.
“That’s a good idea, thanks Rarity! I’ll see you later!” he made his way out of the room, not before bowing beforehand. As soon as he was out of earshot, Rarity let out a sigh of relief and went back to work, she loved the dragon to bits, but she needed to be focused solely on the flag.
Spike made his way outside but his mood had been soured by Rarity’s denial to letting him help, but his bad mood was quickly set aside when he noticed two of his friends in the distance.
“Hey guys!” he called out to them, but was instantly stopped by a certain pink earth pony.
“Hiya Spike! What are you doing here? Well you are obviously walking, duh! Oh! You said hi! Hi Spike!” Spike became overwhelmed by the party pony’s sudden outburst and was about to respond when he noticed she was back with Applejack, he swore he could hear her saying. ‘Spike said hi.’
“Hey Applejack, how is the crystal berry picking going?” he asked as soon as he had reached them, eager to help out.
“It’s going mighty fine actually, so, what can I do for ya Spike?” she asked stopping her picking and focusing her attention on him.
“I came to help out with the berry picking, need a hand?” he asked hopeful.
“Sure ya can Spike, pick a bush and get picking,” Spike hurriedly grabbed one of the baskets and moved to a random bush and began picking the foreign berries, he kept his attention focused on the strange berries that somehow shined in the glistening song, he smiled at the look as it reminded him of his gems.
"I wonder if they taste like gems…"He wondered and popped one into his mouth, he bit into it and savored it for a few seconds, letting the juices envelop his taste buds, he was at first disappointed by the flavor, but soon, the berry’s true taste took over and made him grin with joy.
Happy with the results, he decided that another taste test was in order. Just in case. He justified himself and threw a berry in the air, aiming it to land in his now open maw.
“Made sweets of crystal berries!”
Spike heard Applejack’s voice and stared at her, failing to notice the previously thrown berry, one of which trajectory now lead it to the poor dragon’s eye.
“Ouch!” he winced in pain, as soon as he had opened his eyes, he saw the element of Honesty standing in front of him with a worried look in her face.
“You okay Spike?” she asked searching the young dragon for any signs of injury.
“It’s fine… Did you sing something just now?” he asked hopeful that he hadn’t heard wrong.
“Uh? Not that I know of… Are ya sure you’re alright Spike?” his heart sank and he became instantly bewildered, he looked around to see what kind of practical joke he was being played but when he found no other pony what really put the last nail in the coffin happened when he noticed even Pinkie Pie was staring at him as if he were… Crazy?
“I-I need to go! Maybe Fluttershy needs help?” he asked and giving him and odd look, Applejack replied.
“Yeah… She went to gather some animals for a petting zoo, she is not far from here actually.” Spike heard all that he needed and rushed out of there leaving the two earth ponies confused at his behavior.
What’s going on? Why doesn’t she remember singing? the question now occupied his thoughts at every turn, but he had been too mentally unstable to think about it too much. Deciding that he needed to relax, he chose to go with the one pony that could help him do just that. Fluttershy.
He ran across the fields and looked up to the sky, he grinned when he noticed a canary yellow colored dot in the sky, he began filling his lungs with air ready to call out what he knew was a pony in the sky.
“FLUTTERSHY!” the dot flew higher in the air in surprise and then flew straight into a cloud to hide from the sudden noise, having forgotten his paranoia at the sight, Spike felt instantly guilty after scaring his timid friend, he walked the rest of the way till he was under the cloud he saw Fluttershy had hidden herself in, and called her out in a softer tone.
“Sorry about that Fluttershy, it’s me, Spike!” he called out hoping she would show up, he smiled as he saw the timid mare poke her head out of the cloud and sighing in relief after seeing she wasn’t in any danger.
Taking longer than he would have liked, Fluttershy made her way down and landed in front of the young dragon, giving him a smile, she proceeded to greet him.
“H-Hey Spike, sorry about that, you scared me.” she began hiding a blush behind her long mane.
Spike gave a relieved sigh happy, that his friend was still acting normal, wondering what she was doing out in the fields by herself, he chose to voice his question to the timid mare.
“Oh well, you see, apparently, the crystal ponies had an odd breed of ewes that are smaller than normal.” Spike gave her a questioning look and prepared to question what that animal was, but Fluttershy had anticipated the question.
“They are female sheep, and I‘m looking for some to make a petting zoo.” Spike made an “ooh” motion with his mouth showing he understood.
“Want me to help?” she nodded accepting the help and motioned him to climb on her back, happy to oblige, he did just that and both made their way to the sky, Spike grinned happy that the fly with Fluttershy would be smoother than Rainbow’s reckless flying. They flew for 20 minutes without any progress, but soon after, Spike noticed what he could only describe as multicolored sheep.
“Are those it?” as if to answer, she flew straight down and stopped a few feet away from the herd, Spike noticed Fluttershy was eyeing him and the ground, noticing the hint, he dropped off her back and watched as the timid pony took on a nearly different stance while walking towards the ewes, she stopped a few inches away and began speaking in a soft(er) tone.
“What are you do-” he asked, but he stopped when Fluttershy began trotting away, he stared in awe when the tiny sheep began skipping along.
“Woah, that’s amazing Fluttershy!” he began running trying to catch up, but stopped when Fluttershy got on her hind legs and began skipping, the ewes matching the rhythm of the cheery looking mare.
“They had a petting zoo with tiny ewes!”
“Oh no…” he watched as Fluttershy made her way to through the fields, now quietly humming to herself.
The young dragon had had enough, he ran as fast as his tiny feet could take him, he made his way back to the castle and quickly, reached the meeting room where he found his sister writing a list.
“Twilight! Oh I’m glad you are here, it’s so weird! Everypony is singing for no reason, and, and, they don’t remember doing it, and what if they are being controlled to sing against their will!” he wasn’t 100% sure about his theory, but he knew that the random singing had been unnatural.
Well, even more unnatural than usual.
“What are you going on about Spike? You sure you are okay? Besides, you sang just a few days before for no reason, were you being controlled then?” she giggled at what she thought to be absurd, causing the dragon’s heart to sink even lower, he normally only sang following everypony else’s singing, but just days before, he had in fact tried to sing , but as backup for Twilight thinking it would flow naturally (it had in fact gone well as the mare adapted his singing into the song), but he had just found out that she only heard his singing and not even noticed her own.
“What kind of joke is this?” he muttered to himself as he fell flat on his behind, he began running paranoid conspiracy theories of why the ponies would burst into song and not even remember.
“King Sombra himself? Maybe Discord has a claw in this, or maybe… Princess Celestia…?” he shook away the thought, sickened to even suspect the one pony he considered his second mother (Twilight taking the role of first mother and big sister at the same time).
“Maybe this isn’t bad, maybe I’m blowing this out of proportion, maybe this isn’t some attempt at entertainment for a higher being… Okay that’s not helping…” choosing to calm his nerves, he tried to remember the reason he was there. He remembered the Crystal Ponies who needed their help, Cadence who was in a bad state after protecting the whole kingdom with her magic, and of course, her friends who were diligently working to help all of the former mentioned.
“I have to focus, okay, I can do this!” he turned around just in time to see the rest of the mares softly trotting into the room, with the exception of Pinkie Pie who skipped into the room with her usual smile planted on her face.
Everypony made their way to the center of the table where they would reconvene, and to his horror, began singing.
“Oh, we have to get this right,
Yes we have to make them see,
We can save the Crystal Ponies
With their history!”
Spike sang along holding a fake smile trying to keep calm, as hard as he had tried, he would have snapped if the others hadn’t stopped. What really bothered Spike was that they all acted as if nothing had happened.
“How are the preparations going you guys?” Twilight asked her friends who just smiled and nodded, taking the gesture as enough of a response, she checked the specified spots on her checklist
“Alright Rarity, I need you to use your skills to decorate the plaza, and maybe you can find something to use for the booths?.” she asked the white unicorn.
“You know you can count on me darling, I‘ll think up of something.” Twilight nodded and eyed Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow, I want you to fix the podium for the jousting event, and Pinkie, have you finished helping Applejack?”
“Yes Twi! And it was super duper fun! What should I do now! Huh? Huh? Huh?” she spouted frantically jumping in place.
“Well, I need you to find this.” she pushed the book towards her to which Pinkie simply smiled to and sang along.
“There was a crystal flugelhorn,
That everypony liked to play!”
Spike just stared at her, but the surprising thing was that everypony else stared at her as well.
“Oh, right. It’s Pinkie, she always sings.” wiping the sweat that had been building in his brow, he went back to looking at the spot where Pinkie stood, only to find her holding an odd looking trumpet.
“Pinkie, where did you get that from?” he asked eyeing the strange object.
“What do you mean silly? I’ve had it for a while now!” Spike shrugged and just once again, chalked it off to her just being Pinkie Pie. “If I had a gemstone for every time there is a Pinkie moment, I would be a very fat dragon right now.”
His thoughts had been interrupted by the sudden playing of the instrument, instinctively, he reached for his ear holes trying to keep the sound away, he looked around only to see everypony else with a similar reaction.
“Pinkie!” Applejack growled loudly, taking the horn away from the pink pony. “I think we got enough of that sugarcube.” Pinkie just whined loudly after having lost her instrument, but Twilight quickly intervened.
“Hey Pinkie, how about you go help outside, make everything look nice, like a party!” at the mention of the word party, the queen of parties vanished from the spot she had been standing on, leaving a cloud of smoke in its place.
“I think I’ll go do my part, I need to keep an eye on Pinkie as well, you know, just in case.” Rainbow said flying out the window and heading to the main plaza.
“I think I’ll head out as well, I certainly won’t let Pinkie outdo me.” Rarity commented giving everypony a curt nod, and gallantly trotting out of the room.
“I-I’ll go prepare the ewes, wouldn‘t want them to be scared.” looking around frantically, she eyed Twilight who just rolled her eyes and smiled.
“Yes, you can go Fluttershy.” she smiled and nodded in response and made her way out of the window heading for the fields.
“I’ll go finish the cooking, got me some work to do.” Applejack made her way out leaving Twilight and Spike on their own.
With nothing else to do, Twilight made her way to the book and began reading it again, leaving Spike to his own thoughts.
“Maybe I was thinking too much about it, everything seems fine so far. I should apologize to Twilight.” with the words already in mind, he joined Twilight and sat next to her, he was about to talk when Twilight smiled, apparently catching onto something in the book.
“And the Crystal Kingdom anthem,
Can you learn it in a day!”
Twilight finished her singing and then turned to Spike who was only staring at her with a bewildered look.
“What’s the matter Spike?” she asked confused by the young dragon’s stare.
“Nothing. If you need me, I’ll be outside helping everypony else.” he huffed changing his mood ruined, and stomped out of the room.
“Did I say something?” Twilight asked herself blinking in rapid succession trying to understand what she had done to anger her sibling. Quickly dropping the matter, she went back to her book and began muttering to herself. “I‘ll need a good crystal in order to do this…”
“Dumb Twilight, ruining the mood for apologies.” he complained and kicked a random rock while walking towards the main plaza, as soon as he reached it, he perked up as he noticed multiple stands around the area.
“How did they build these so fast?” he thought looking around and seeing the mares hard at work, choosing to forget his problems for a bit and instead focus on the bigger issue, he decided to help his friends, of course, starting with Rarity.
“Nopony said I couldn’t choose.” he grinned and made the quick walk to his crush’s current location.
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A few hours later, Spike sat down giving himself a well earned rest, and it would have been perfect if Pinkie hadn’t made him hold a whole set of balloons (she mentioned something about not wanting the balloons to get lost, and gave them to him for safekeeping, choosing not to question the Pinkie, he reluctantly accepted the balloons).
Meanwhile, Twilight made rounds around the nearly finished fair, checking everything (she had arrived earlier and gave everypony a hoof) she nodded every once in a while, grinning as everything began falling into place, Spike only waited patiently while staring at her, he groaned when he noticed her taking a deep breath, shaking his head, he prepared for what he knew was coming, and was taken aback by the others joining in as well.
“Oh we have to get this right,
Yes, we have to make them see,
We can save the crystal ponies!”
“Well, if you can’t beat them, might as well join them!” he thought and released the balloons to join them in the last line.
“With their hiiistoooryyy!”
“It looks amazing! I don’t know how I could have done this without you!” Twilight exclaimed amazed at the work they had done, but Spike was too busy thinking to himself.
“Spike! Where are my balloons?” Pinkie asked looking everywhere frantically, Spike could only gulp, but was saved by Twilight who used her magic to put him on her back.
“Come on Spike, let’s make the announcement for everypony to hear!”
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Spike groaned at the memory of that day, he had ignored the event due to how hectic it had gotten afterwards, but at the end everything had been alright, he had even joined in one final song as they left Canterlot, but as happy as that had been, he couldn’t get the odd event out of his head, it had practically taken over his thoughts for days and it had been slowly driving him insane, he had even debated about sending a letter to Princess Celestia about it, but being a pony herself, he wondered if she would be forced to work along with the odd magic, and by doing so, not know what to make of his letter.
“Dang it!” he turned on his belly and began yelling into his pillow, muffling his anguished cry in order to keep Twilight from listening.
He took out the scroll and stared at it, the scroll had been handled so much that it had been extremely worn down.
“What should I do?” he groaned loudly, little did he know that would be his undoing.
“Spike? You okay!?” Twilight yelled bursting into the room, causing Spike to burst fire instinctively, what he had not expected, was the fire catching the scroll that disintegrated and flew out following the now known magic trail.
Spike just stood on the spot, dumbfounded at the event that had just transpired, but was conscious enough to reply.
“No Twilight, I don’t think I’m okay…” he groaned and fell back on his bed covering his scaly face.
“I’m so doomed…!”
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“Thank you, your Majesty!”
The strange Pony made his way out with a big grin, happy that the audience was finally over and he had gotten his wish, meanwhile, “her Majesty” usually known as aka “The Princess of the Sun” Celestia herself, sighed in relief and nodded to the guard who in turned, bowed and left the Princess to herself.
“Today has been such a long day.” she groaned and shrugged out of her royal demeanor, she slumped into the spot and relaxed, but her relaxation did not last long, as a letter materialized out of nowhere.
“Oh?” Celestia perked up, content to read another lesson learned by her favorite student or any of her friends, she dug into the letter so to speak, her expressions changed from mild surprise, to confusion, then to understanding, and finally to showing a scowl.
She dropped the scroll to the floor and slowly trotted to the window, there was only one thought in her mind as she stared into Ponyville’s general direction.
He knows too much.
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Hurray, I made a one-shot that basically ends in a cliffhanger!
I just needed to get this off my head, and I did. Feel free to down vote the crap out of it!