//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Draconequus in the Stone // Story: The Wackiness of Unofficial Life // by edward18 //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie fidgeted around uncomfortably. Her teeth chattered with the vibrations of her body. She had no idea what had come over her. Even Gummy seemed to be a bit startled by his owner. The pink pony hadn't felt such a rush since the time she'd predicted that Twilight would believe in her Pinkie Sense without fully understanding it. When something completely unexpected that she'd never in a million years expect to happen would happen. The doozey. "This is a big one Gummy!" Pinkie Pie rattled across the ground, "Almost as big as the time that I found out the writer of Cupcakes wanted to be remembered for stories other than that!" The alligator just blinked and cocked its head to the side. "No I'm not in the mood for a boyfriend! That's Twilight's thing this fic!" she responded to the silent animal. After what seemed like a good half an hour the vibrating finally subsided and Pinkie Pie let out a sigh of relief upon returning to normal. She certainly hadn't felt anything near that caliber before in her life. She just hoped whatever was coming was something good like it had been with the previous doozey. "Oh I know!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily, "Rainbow Dash must be hooking up with Fluttershy!" Again Gummy's blinking caught his owner's attention. "Well of course I know she's not a lesbian," Pinkie Pie laughed, "But gotta pair her up with someone since she's the closest thing we have to a guy other than Spike in the cast. And you know how screwed up things get when you go with the actual guy...of course I guess you could go with Big Macintosh also. Fans really seem to think he's pretty attractive. I just don't get what the big deal is. I mean he's big, yeah. He's probably the strongest colt in town. Hell, they shoulda sent him to deal with Nightmare Moon!" Gummy blinked again. "Of course big means he's strong and tall. What else would it be referring to?" Pinkie Pie asked. --- "Alright Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom hollered, "Today will be the day we get our-" "Cutie Marks!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle joined in excitedly. The two earth-bound ponies hopped aboard the wagon that Scootaloo rode them around in. Within seconds they were off darting through Ponyville. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle always loved the rush that came with the speed they traveled at. They felt as though they could do anything. "So what's first on the checklist?" Scootaloo inquired from the front. "It's..." Sweetie Belle stopped just as soon as she started. "Something wrong?" Apple Bloom asked. "Uh yeah..." Sweetie Belle rubbed her head holding it over for her friend to see, "It says the first thing to do is to stop having the attention on us since the author can't think of anything interesting for us to do right now..." "Wonder what that means," Apple Bloom said. --- "Oh Opalescence, I remember when I was Sweetie Belle's age," Rarity sighed stroking the uncaring cat. Not even bothering to hiss it just yawned on her bed. "Oh what an exciting youth it was," she sighed dreamily, "and the day I found that rock with all the gems in it. I still have that first dress I made with those jewels locked away you know." Suddenly the cat let out a screech from the knocking of the door that had caused Rarity to leap off the bed taking Opalescence with her. An irritable grunt was heard as the animal impacted the floor. Not seeming to take notice of the all-to-frequent occurence, Rarity used her magic to open the front door and greet her guests. Almost instantly she trotted back a few steps. There in the doorway stood Spike and Twilight. After giving her lip a bite, the white Pony let out a nervous laugh. "Well, um, how nice to see you two," she grinned. 'Crap!' was what she really thought 'He didn't tell Twilight about what happened did he? Oh I can already feel the guilt from the lecture she-' "Lovely to see you too Rarity," Twilight smiled. Spike on the other hand looked almost as uncomfortable as Rarity. Almost. 'Alright...' Rarity thought, 'She doesn't seem to notice anything...no wait! She must be lowering me into a false sense of non-security! Well Twilight Sparkle, I believe I can see through this charade of yours.' "What brings you here?" Rarity asked politely. Her eyes drifted to Spike who retreated a bit at the glance. Neither of them wanted to be in sight of each other at the moment it seemed. To her surprise, Twilight actually produced something she was familiar with. A scarf. "I just need this patched up," she revealed a rather lengthy tear that'd been slashed into it, "A certain baby dragon didn't look where he was scraping his hands along the wall today..." Spike's chuckle could be heard from behind the annoyed purple pony. So that was it! Tears began pouring out of Rarity's eyes as she shoved Twilight out of the way and fell to the ground in front of Spike. He was just as shocked as the now wall-embedded companion of his. "Oh Spike I am so sorry!" the drama queen cried wrapping her arms around his leg, "I know you're still maturing and it must be hard, but you can't take your anger out on Twilight! You two've been together forever! You just need to understand that we can't be together. This is between you and me, no one else! This must be so hard for you. Why I know how it was the first time I had my heart broken. I'd never want to see you like that! It's jus-" Rarity's voice silenced from the purple claws that cupped her jaws together. "Uh...I didn't do it on purpose," Spike told her quietly, "I was just bored and wiping my hands along the walls when they came to the hook that that scarf was on." With each passing second the awkward silence brought more and more blush to the pale unicorn's cheeks. Rarity felt as though she could die of embarrassment. "Um...yes...of course..." she said slowly turning her attention back to Twilight who'd now succeeded in prying herself loose from the structure of her friend's home, "But um...still...Twilight if the dear should get a bit...ancy in the future it's because...well...he came over the other day and-" "Oh I know," Twilight laughed. Rarity's eyes went wide as dinner plates. 'Shit! Alright, now she has to start the lecture...' "So if you could just get this sewed up today I'd really be-" "Hold up," Rarity cut her off. Twilight's eyes peaked at the command. "So you know about this and aren't going to like...you know, ridicule me or anything?" Again her friend laughed. "Rarity, why would I do that?" she chuckled, "You have every right to reject Spike." Now it was the dragon's turn to have a red tint to his cheeks while his brows furrowed. "He'll be just fine," Twilight assured her handing the clothing piece over. Rarity sighed with relief. "Besides, I'm his girlfriend now." This revelation caused the sigh to turn into an uncontrollable gagging and coughing fit from the air she inhaled afterwards. Twilight and Spike exchanged glances, each wondering if they should help the agonizing mare. Eventually though she did manage to regain control of her throat's inner workings. "I'm...I'm sorry, what?" Rarity asked in disbelief, her eyes still watering. Spike did his best to hide his face in his hands. The embarrassment just kept building. 'Yes,' he thought, 'Hello my crush, I'd like you to meet my new girlfriend. My best friend...' "Well, I thought it'd help Spike," Twilight figured, "And either way, it should be a great learning experience for me. Books are good and all, but doing that Running of the Leaves thing was so much more insightful than just reading about racing. A boyfriend should work the same way if my calculations are correct." "But deary he's a dragon," Rarity tried to say quietly enough to keep Spike from hearing. It didn't work. "So?" Twilight shrugged, "I love him." Rarity's eyes went between Twilight and the hiding baby dragon a few times. "Well I'm happy for you two," she said uneasily. --- "So that's defusing a nuclear warhead, saving baby chickens, and collecting the Triforce off our list," Sweetie Belle muttered checking over the piece of paper again, "We just aren't having any luck today." "And I was so sure that beating Ganon would get it for us," Apple Bloom sighed. Sometimes she wondered if it really was worth it. This whole quest for the Cutie Marks thing. Sure it was fun and all and she'd made the best friends she'd ever had from it, but each and every new venture was nothing but...well nothing. It was as though fate was against them constantly just to crack a few jokes. Despite all their efforts they got nothing in return other than bruises and embarrassment...that they almost immediately always forgot about once they moved onto their next quest. "Next one is statue hunters," Sweetie Belle told em. "Alright girls, keep your eyes peeled," Scootaloo ordered, "I don't care if we have to go all the way to Canterlot, we are getting a good statue!" "Cutie Mark Crusader Statue Hunters!" they exclaimed, "YAY!" None of them seemed to remember or care about the injuries they'd gotten in their previous endeavors. --- For most of the walk back towards their home, the figure of a dragon atop a unicorn didn't talk. To the inhabitants of Ponyville it was a normal everyday thing to see Twilight Sparkle and Spike together on the street. But if one ever cared to notice they would usually find them either in a conversation or Twilight would be having the younger being write something down for her. Hardly anypony did take to such detail. But one did. It was time for her everyday random appearance. She didn't know why she did it, but it seemed instinct. But before she could she noticed the silence. This caused quiet the reaction when she decided to pop up right in the duo's face for once. Both Twilight and Spike screamed as they fell back from the intruder. "Derpy!" Twilight yelped, "What are you doing!" "Yeah, haven't you ever heard of personal space?" Spike groaned rubbing his back after getting back to his feet. The gray pegasi's jaw drooped a bit. "Muffin?" Spike and Twilight shook their heads. Seeming to have become interested in a new subject, the confusing specimen trotted off leaving the dragon to climb back onto his perch. If nothing else, the interruption had been enough to bring Spike's mind back to what all was happening. He gulped at what he was about to say. "Hey Twi...Twilight..." he started. His ride didn't look at him, but he knew he had her attention. It didn't even take years of living together to know that. "Back there...did you mean what you said?..." "...well of course," Twilight said in confusion, "It was an accident that you ripped-" "No not, that, I mean that you...love me..." This made the unicorn's head swivel around. She didn't know if Spike was joking or not. "Of course I do," she told him with a smile, "I mean we've been frien-" "No, you know what I mean," Spike grumbled, "I mean like do you actually love love me." At this Twilight fell silent for about fifteen seconds. Her pace even seemed to slow a bit. "Well sure I do," she figured, "I mean the book said-" Spike's eyes nearly popped off his face. Before Twilight could finish Spike hoisted himself over head and grabbed her cheeks so that he was staring at her upside down. "Book?..." he said quietly. Twilight nodded. "The guide to being a good girlfriend. Step one, make sure that you know that both of you are equa-" "A book?" Spike repeated a bit louder. Now Twilight was a bit a frightened. It hadn't mentioned the boyfriend getting worked up over the girlfriend referencing the guide. Maybe she just wasn't far enough yet... "Twilight Sparkle, tell me you're joking," Spike told the female. She tried to peer to the sides but just kept locking her gaze back on the young dragon's face. "You are using a goddamn book to be in a relationship?" Spike growled and leapt to the ground, "I mean it's bad enough that you blabbed to Rarity about all this crap! But now you tell me that...ugh! You know what, no. You just keep reading your book and when it tells you that you can't follow some piece of literature for that kind of thing then you tell me that you wanna be with me!" Twilight opened her mouth to speak. Even if she had known what to say Spike was already out of hearing range. She just let her gaze drift to the ground and kicked the dirt a bit. She hadn't read about that happening at all. --- "There it was again Gummy!" Pinkie Pie informed excitedly, "oh man is it ever gonna be a doozey! And and...oh I can feel it!...it's gonna involve someone we know!...hm...is it...Spike?" The pony had had her eyes clenched to try and get a better picture of who she was predicting about, but opened them upon hearing the dragon's voice. She peered out the window just in time to see him tear through the streets. "Hm..." she rubbed her chin, "Nope...that wasn't it..." --- Spike's eyelids lowered a bit as he gazed across the stream that flowed beneath the bridge. The one he'd sat on when Rarity had given him his birthday kiss. After he'd...attacked... He lifted his hand as he had that day to compare it to the clawmark his monstrous self had left embedded in the ground nearby. The print was still there and visible. He cringed at the memories it brought. Nothing but hate and spite for what he was. A monster cloaked in kindness. He knew he could probably get Twilight to get a spell to negate him ever doing that again. Ever getting-no! He didn't need Twilight. He was perfectly fine taking care of his inner demons on his own. He'd proven that when he'd reverted back to his baby form...even if he and Rarity would have died had Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy not been there. Spike sighed and shook his head. He shouldn't be angry. He was around friends that cared about him. They risked their lives for him and, even if he didn't get as many opporunities, he for their's. With the lifting spirits, he took a nearby pebble and skipped it across the water half expecting the reflection of Rarity's reflection to pop up next to his as it had the previous time he'd been at the bridge. A head did appear however. This one was purple though. "...hey..." Spike said, "...sorry about...you know..." "It's...alright," Twilight sighed, "You just know what it's like when I get into a book..." Spike let out a light chuckle. "Yeah..." he replied, "That isn't the reason I got mad. That was just...a 'you're actually doing that?' kind of moment to add onto what was already happening. I know you Twilight. I'd never get mad at you for reading with how long we've been together..." A spell of silence engulfed the two. It seemed like hours before either of them made a sound again. "Hey Spike," Twilight eventually said. Spike's head lifted a bit. "I do love you." The dragon finally looked at the pony and smiled. "I love you too Twilight." --- "Alright! Anypony see a difference in their flank!" Scootaloo exclaimed. The Cutie Mark Crusaders eagerly looked each other over but only received another round of disappointment. "Ugh! Screw this!" Apple Bloom grumbled, "The moon's even out now! I'm going home!" "Yeah, Rarity might get me in trouble with mom and dad if I don't show up," Sweetie Belle sighed. Scootaloo sat down next to the statue they'd dragged back to the outskirts of Ponyville and glared up at it. "You were heavy as hell! We should've at least gotten half a Cutie Mark for you!" Even though the object was stone there was a presence it gave off in response that made the young filly feel quite uneasy. Now that she thought about it, the twisted being looked like that statue that her class had come across in the royal garden when those cotton candy clouds that rained chocolate milk had started showing up. Only this time the being was contorted in a way that showed quite the look of fear on its face. Figuring it best not to tempt fate any longer, whatever it might bring, Scootaloo abandoned their trophy and sped off into Ponyville.