//------------------------------// // Scars of Yesterday // Story: My Little Dragon // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// Spike woke to the gentle insistence of sunlight streaming through the window. He stretched out on the cushion and got up, smacking his nose against the underside of table as he did so. It was a rude awakening, but an effective one. It’s hard to feel sleepy when your face stings. With a groan, he crawled out from under the table and stood up properly. He walked over to the nearest window and pushed the curtain aside to look outside. It was just after dawn and the sun was barely visible above the mountains in the distance, but sunlight still managed to hit him square in the face. He had a smile on his face as he whispered to the glowing orb. “You’ve got good aim, you know that?” He rubbed the last traces of sleep from his eyes and headed for the kitchen. He planned on letting the two dragons get a little more sleep, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t surprise them with breakfast. Rarity’s nose twitched. … … … It twitched again. Her nose twitched once more. This time, it was accompanied by the lazy fluttering of sleepy eyes drifting open. When she noticed that it was morning, her eyes snapped open and she tried to jump out of bed. Her claw caught in the blanket and she ended up tumbling to the floor with a small yelp, upending Twilight’s basket in the process. The hatchling rolled out onto the floor. She stood up slowly, blinking and yawning as she looked around. “Oh, good morning, Rarity.” Twilight sniffed at the air. “What’s that smell?” She started walking towards the stairs even though she was still mostly asleep. Rarity took a moment to take a few sniffs of her own. Whatever that smell is, it smells good. She quickly tidied up the small bedroom, making the bed and righting the over-turned basket. She didn’t use her magic, intending to save as much of it as she could for her work. Once she was satisfied with the room’s appearance, she started down the stairs. Spike was just stepping out of the kitchen when Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs. The unicorn was holding a metal tray aloft, and the hatchling knew that the source of whatever smell was able to get her out of bed at this unholy hour was sitting on that pan. She also knew that, if this is even half as good as those hash-browns, Rarity’s out of a job. Now if only she could see what was on the tray. Rarity reached the bottom of the stairs just as Spike set the tray on the table. She let out a little laugh as Twilight started jumping up and down, desperately trying to get a peek at the morning’s meal. She approached the table, examining the breakfast with interest; bacon, oatmeal and some sort of light broth, three servings of each. She took a deep breath. It smelled absolutely divine. “You’ve really outdone yourself thi-“ She looked up just in time to see Spike form a telekinetic field around Twilight. “No!” She dove over the table and tackled Spike to the floor. One moment he had been standing, the next, he found himself looking up into a pair of sapphire-blue eyes. Rarity was breathing heavily as she looked down at him. She climbed off him and looked back and forth between pony and hatchling for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief. She walked over to Twilight and was about to use her tail to lift the hatchling on to the table when a green glow surrounded the little dragon. Before Rarity could do more than let out a startled gasp, Twilight was lifted onto the table and deposited near the food. The dragoness felt a light pressure on her shoulder urging her to turn around. When she did, she found herself staring into a concerned pair of emerald eyes. “Rarity? What was that about?” Tears started to form in her eyes as she tried to speak. She leaned towards him, touching a claw to his chest as if to convince herself that he was still there. As her head fell to a rest against him, she managed to choke out three little words. “You’re not hurt.” She sobbed even harder and Spike could feel the tears running down his fur, Twilight walked towards her caretaker. She couldn’t remember ever having seen Rarity like this before and it was starting to scare her. “Rarity?” The hatchling was worried; she didn’t know what was wrong, and she didn’t know if there was anything she could do to help. “Spike? What’s wrong?” Maybe he would know, maybe he could help. Rarity sniffed loudly and pulled away from the purple-furred shoulder she was crying on. She rubbed at her eyes with the back of a claw before responding. “I’m fine, Twilight, nothing’s wrong.” She turned to her charge with as much of a smile as she could muster, but it quickly fell. She took a step towards the hatchling and rubbed a claw along the smooth, purple scales of the little dragon’s crest. “I’m a terrible liar, aren’t I?” Twilight replied with a stiff nod. Rarity pulled her into a deep hug, rocking back and forth slightly. “I shouldn’t lie to you.” She released the purple hatchling and took a step back. “Something is bothering me, but please believe me when I say that it’s nothing you need to be concerned with.” She pointed at the food on the table. “Why don’t you start on breakfast; I need to speak with Spike for a moment.” Twilight nodded and Rarity walked towards the kitchen. Before following her, Spike leaned towards the hatchling. He did his best to hide his concern, but was probably doing a pretty poor job of it. “You can have my bacon, if you want it. It tastes good, but if I eat too much of it I get a bellyache.” He patted her on the head. “Just don’t touch my oatmeal.” He gave her a small smile before heading to the kitchen. Rarity was sitting by the sink and facing away from the door when Spike walked in. She didn’t turn around. When he closed the door, she started to speak in a somber, shaky tone. “I’m going to trust you, Spike.” She took a few deep breaths before continuing. “I need to tell you something that I have never told another, and I’m going to show you something that I had hoped to never show another soul.” She lifted a dishcloth from a stack on the counter. “Come here please.” She held the rag under the faucet and turned on the water. Spike walked over and sat next to her. She turned the water off and rung out the rag. She then set it on the counter and turned to face him. She put a claw to his hoof and lifted it. She leaned her head down and brought the hoof to her face. No, past her face, past her ear, she pressed the hoof to her horn. Spike tried to pull his hoof back. This was a rather intimate act, and he was a little uncomfortable with- He let out a gasp and Rarity let go of his hoof. He didn’t pull it away though; he kept it in place rubbing slightly at one particular spot in the underside of her horn. “Is-“ He swallowed loudly. “Is that a chip?” A chipped horn is one of the worst injuries a dragon could receive, especially a magic dragon. Their horns are as hard as diamond, if not harder, and anything capable of causing such an injury usually causes the death of the dragon in question. “What could have-“ Rarity put a claw to his mouth, stopping his question. It was a question she was about to answer anyway. She removed the claw from his lips and used it to pick the wet rag off the counter. She started wiping it against the side of her neck, just under her damaged horn. Spike watched as something, it must have been paint, started to come off. White gave way to sickly greyish-black. She started crying again as she started wiping the rag over a larger area, revealing more of the tainted scales. She fell into Spike and dropped her claw to the ground. He put one hoof around her as she cried into his shoulder. His other hoof lifted the rag and set to work on the task she could not finish. With each brush of the cloth, more paint came away from her scales. When at last, no paint remained, Spike understood what had happened to her. The darkened scales radiated outward from a spot near her horn, forming a diseased-looking spiderweb of tendrils that covered the whole right side of her neck. Magical feedback, something had taken her own power and turned it back on her in a twisted, distorted way that burned into her and left no hope of healing. Given her actions earlier, it wasn’t hard for Spike to guess what, or rather, who that was. “Twilight?” Rarity nodded against his chest. “How?” “I don’t know.” Rarity straightened a little, pulling her face away from the chest of the pony holding her. “I’ve searched for an answer, but never found one. Poor dear was as scared as I was when it happened. It,” she swallowed, “it was the first time I tried to pick her up with magic, the next thing I remember, I was laying on the ground, unable to move. I could only feel two things; the burning in my neck, and Twilight curled up against me, crying and apologizing. For two days, she stayed by my side until somedragon found us.” Rarity sat up, but Spike kept his hoof on her shoulder. “She hasn’t used her magic since then, and I’m not sure she ever will. I- I’ve tried to talk to her about it, about what happened, but she can’t remember. I think she’s forced it out of her mind because she doesn’t want to remember.” Rarity took another rag from the counter and wiped at her face, doing her best to dry any remaining tears. “I wish I could do the same, but it’s difficult to forget when the reminder is etched into your body.” Spike let his hoof slide from her shoulder to the scar on her neck, drawing a surprised gasp from the dragoness. “You shouldn’t forget, not ever. For good or bad, your scars are part of you.” He let his hoof fall away from her. He gathered up the paint-stained cloth from where it had fallen and started back towards the main room. He paused at the door. “Twilight’s going to get worried if we’re gone too long.” Rarity nodded slowly. “You go ahead.” She put a claw to her neck. “I don’t want her to see this, not yet. All it’ll do is scare her, and I don’t want to do that.” Spike took a deep breath. “I think she’s already scared, but I understand.” He closed his eyes and lit his horn. Rarity felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck. “It’ll last about a day. After that? That’s up to you.” He walked out the door, closing it gently behind him. Rarity walked over to the cabinet where the pans were stored. She dug through it for the shiniest one she could find. Once she found it, she lifted it in front of her so she could see her reflection. She turned her head slowly to reveal her neck. In the oblong surface of the pan, she could make out scales, scales the same shade as fresh-fallen snow. Twilight sat on the table, nibbling half-heartedly at a piece of bacon. Spike walked out of the kitchen a moment ago, but all he did was offer a smile before heading for the wash room. Twilight heard a door open. She looked up at the kitchen door, but that wasn’t the one. She looked over at the door to the hallway. Spike was walking towards the table. She put the bacon down and stood up. She walked over to him as he sat down next to the table. Spike took a bowl of oatmeal and a spoon from the tray on the table. He looked up at Twilight and offered them to her. “Sit down and eat, Rarity’ll be out in a moment.” The hatchling opened her mouth to respond, but her stomach beat her to it, letting out a growl in response to the smell of the food being held in front of her. “You don’t want her to worry about you, do you?’ Twilight shook her head and took the bowl. She sat down, giving the bowl a tentative sniff once she was seated. It didn’t smell like the oatmeal she was used to, this oatmeal smelled sweet. It probably tasted really good, but she didn’t really feel like eating. Spike held back a sigh and reached for another bowl of oatmeal. He watched Twilight as she lifted a spoonful of oatmeal to her mouth. She held it in front of her for a moment before dropping it back into the bowl. She looked over at Spike and was just about to say something when the kitchen door opened. Twilight looked over just in time to see a smiling Rarity come walking out of the kitchen with a tray in her mouth. On the tray sat three glasses. The dragoness set the tray on the table and fixed Spike in a playful glare. “It looks like somepony forgot the orange juice.” She turned to Twilight with a mischievous smile. “We can’t let him get away with that, can we?” Twilight looked at Spike in time to see his eyes widen in surprise. She turned back to Rarity and matched her smile. Then, she shook her head.