//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A Ruby Breakfast // Story: The Wackiness of Unofficial Life // by edward18 //------------------------------// Chapter 3: A Ruby Breakfast From the edge of Ponyville could be seen a scene that occasionally graced its outer limits. Near the cottage in the distance drifted a yellow pegasus with pink hair. Happily she collected various flowers as a tune was hummed to the pattern she'd been making in her gestures. Though she'd heard that things hadn't gone over as well as Spike would have liked with Rarity, Fluttershy was sure that the flowers she'd helped him gather had lightened the atmosphere at least a bit when the moment had finally come. She was just happy that she could help in some way or another. "Oh hello Angel!" Fluttershy greeted her most prominent companion whom had taken to hopping about the flowerbed around their home. Immediately the bunny turned its attention to the larger being. "Are you getting hungry?" Hastily the bunny shook its head and pointed towards the Everfree Forest. "Oh did Squirrely get in a quarrel with Mr. Pigeon again?" Fluttershy gasped. Not even taking a guess as to how she could come up with such a suggestion and not wanting to go into the usual twenty-questions with the nature-loving pegasus, Angel simply jumped on Fluttershy's head and yanked it towards the Everfree Forest. What caught the innocent pony's eye was certainly intriguing. There seemed to be a low glow emanating from the parts that the vegetation weren't blocking. Oddly enough she wasn't scared. Had it been any other thing that was making itself known from the terrifying environment, Fluttershy would've darted into the cottage and bolted the door shut. Before she could contemplate approaching the setting any longer however, solid figures did appear from the bushes and trees. Three to be exact. No wait...four! Three of them Fluttershy immediately noticed. "Girls, what are you doing in there!" she exclaimed running to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, "You know you sh...shou..." The fragile pony trotted slowly to a stop in front of them upon realizing what the fourth figure was laying across their parallel backs. "S-Spike!" she yelped. All she received was a moan. His scales were thick with sweat. But the feature that Fluttershy really took notice of was the mark on his torso. Or rather through it. A gash seemed to run straight into his abdomen, dark liquid leaking from it. "W...what happened?..." Fluttershy finally managed to ask. The fillies looked amongst each other. "We're not even sure what's happening with us," Scootaloo told her. "The air..." Spike's quiet voice said, his eyes remaining shut, "It...it's alive...not burning...not...dead..." Rapidly Angel pounded his foot on Fluttershy's head and her eyes went wide. Now was not the time to try and figure out was going on! An animal needed help! "Girls, in the cottage, now!" Fluttershy ordered. --- Spike stretched and gave a soft yawn as he awoke. Even though they'd been sharing a bed for the past week now, he was still getting used to waking up in Twilight's arms. Not that it felt bad or anything. Quite the contrary actually. The warmth and comfort of her constricting arms against his smaller frame made him feel all cozy and protected. It was just...different than he was used to. The last time they'd done stuff like that had been when he really was a baby. Revisiting those memories, Spike smiled at his dozing "girlfriend". She must've stayed up all night again. With Owlowiscious around she certainly got even more work done than she used to, even though he had to fill in for him til he dropped from exhaustion the night before. The feathered menace had the night off. Twilight Sparkle really was one of the most dedicated ponies Spike knew. "Well might as well get started on breakfast," he yawned, "Still the number one assistant, and I'll be damned if this whole relationship crap the fic's forcing on me is gonna tamper with that." Spike grunted and groaned as he tried to pry himself loose of Twilight's grasp but to no avail. "Geez!" Spike grumbled, "squeeze me like Smarty Pants why don't ya?" Seeming to take the suggestion to heart, the purple unicorn did just that, much to Spike's chagrin. The next thing he saw was a face-full of Twilight's chest from how much her limbs wrapped around him. The young dragon could feel his cheeks heating up. "You are so lucky this isn't a clopfic," he muttered under his breath. Once more the smaller lifeform gave a shot at freedom and once more was dragged back into the embrace of the nuzzling female. Finally Spike huffed into defeat and wrapped his own limbs around Twilight's body returning the affectionate gestures. He didn't know whether or not it was the girl's subconscious, but Spike could definitely hear some giggles from the rubbing he did against Twilight. At this an idea popped into his head. More rapidly now he cuddled against the pony's body. It only took a few seconds for Twilight to roll over in an attempt to escape the pleasurable tickling sensation. "Alright alright! I surrender!" she laughed after toppling off the bed completely. Satisfied, Spike placed his hands on his hips. "Now where's breakfast?" The dragon rolled his eyes. --- Pinkie Pie's eyes whizzed around wildly in their sockets. She knew something was up. And she knew she was headed in the right direction. Her senses were just getting more and more out of whack. She'd never had them acting up as much as they had been for the past week. "Why, out of all the things the author had to remember, did it have to be the Pinkie Sense?" she grumbled as she trotted through Ponyville, "I mean for others it's just "oh she's Pinkie Pie! She likes sweets and is probably more willing to experiment with sexuality cause of her personality!". But no, this one has to go the full mile. At this rate I'll be having to tear my ears off from all the flapping they're doing!" Not a single pony even gave notice of the pink one that continually blabbed to no one in particular. It was just the normal citizen Pinkie Pie to them. --- "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried, "Sweetie Belle where are you!" Furiously the fashionista stomped around her boutique. It was one thing when the young filly had cut out three gold squares for her friend's robes or used every baby-blue sapphire on her silly yet lovely art project, but this was just too much. She had had it with that little pony! "SWEETIE BELLE!" Reluctantly said pony's eye popped open for a second before promptly sealing itself shut again and was thrust under a pillow with the rest of her head. Sweetie Belle didn't really know what her sister was screaming about nor did she care. She was still tired from the hard labor she and her friends had taken part in the night before. And Rarity's voice wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing to be woken up from. "I know you're out here somewhere!" the voice insisted as the stomping continued. "Mfr asheep!" Rarity suddenly heard from the door to the room her sister usually stayed in when she visited. Her eyes narrowing, the older unicorn burst straight through the door and glared down at the little curled up lump of sheets on the bed. In an instant she had twirled her sister to the floor, Sweetie Belle's eyes twirling in her head from the dizziness. "Alright," she yawned, "I'm apparently up now. What is it?" "Where are they!" Rarity screamed expanding her sister's eye size from the caliber of her voice. "Where's wha-" "ALL of my jewels I collected yesterday!" Rarity cut her off frantically, "Where did you put them? WHERE DID YOU PUT THEM!" Sweetie Belle just rolled her eyes at the drama entering the older unicorn's voice. "I don't know, the gem-goblin came in the middle of the night and ate em all?" Sweetie suggested. "Gem-goblin?..." Rarity thought. Sweetie Belle smacked her forehead. Rarity was actually considering the suggestion! "Goblins are small..." "Rarity, I wasn't-" "and who do we know that's small?...and likes...to..eat..." "Rarity-" "SPIKE!" the fashion expert growled before bursting through the front door leaving her sister blinking in the trail of dust she left behind. "This can't end well," Sweetie Belle sighed, "...oh I know what'll cheer her up! I'll make her something to eat for when she comes back!" --- "I got all the gems I could find!" Sweetie Belle told the group upon dumping the glistening stones across the floor of Fluttershy's cottage. The others' jaws dropped. They'd never seen so much shining beauty in their entire lives. "I didn't remember Rarity having nearly this much in stock when I last saw her," Sweetie Belle reminisced, "But do you think it's enough?..." Fluttershy had to shake her head a few times before it registered to her that she was being addressed. "Oh um, yes, it should be quite enough," she laughed nervously. Carefully she picked as many as she could up with her wings and carried them over to her stove-top where she had a pot heating up with some herbs and spices in it. "That smells good," Apple Bloom's eyelids drooped in admiration, "Can I have some?" "Only if you want your throat shredded," Fluttershy warned as she dropped the stones one at a time into the crackling cauldron, "The stuff in it other than the jewels are simply to add flavor for Spike's medicine." The name turned Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's heads to the moaning dragon that lay sprawled on a nearby couch. The injury looked worse than ever and the sweating had definitely increased. Spike's whole face glistened. Apple Bloom however had taken a spot next to Fluttershy once she'd gotten all the jewels she could fit into the pot. Curiously the filly looked into it. The instant one hit the bottom of the metal it started to melt and mix into a liquid with the others causing for a rather sparkling rainbowish mixture. It practically hypnotized her in its wonder. "How'd you learn to make this?" Apple Bloom wondered aloud as Fluttershy began to stir the liquid. "Oh, after your little "Cutie Pox" incident I visited Zecora," Fluttershy answered lifting the ladle a bit, "Angel had chipped his tooth and she lent me this interesting book on how to make cures for various ailments saying that you'd suffered a similar predicament earlier." The memory made the younger pony blush. "Spike's wound isn't that much different than a chipped tooth. Just on a much larger and more vital scale," Fluttershy explained. Slowly she scooped up some of the sparkling liquid and dripped it into a cup. "Let's just hope I did everything correctly." --- "And here thou are oh fare mare," Spike presented the bowl on a rather shiny platter, "Thy morning breakfast of cereal oats." Twilight turned his eyes skyward and rubbed her hoof into the dragon's head below. "Cut it out," she smiled. Spike did the same and took his seat on the opposite end of the table. Lovingly he licked his lips upon pulling his plate towards him. "And what are you having today?" Twilight mused taking the first bite of her meal. The dragon ripped the cloth covering his breakfast away with eagerness. Beneath it lay a large sparkling ruby. The purple pony's eyes expanded at the site of it. "It took me forever to find one of these, especially without Rarity's powers to aide me. But finally I got one! A giant, luscious, yummy, succulent-" "Insert other adjectives here since the author doesn't know when to stop describing something," Twilight summarized from her seat. Ignoring the peanut gallery, Spike poked and prodded the glistening object as if to weigh and measure its qualities. Twilight hadn't seen the little guy so excited in quite some time. After a few minutes probably, Spike finally lifted the ruby up and opened his mouth to take a bite. "NO!" Both residents' attention turned to the front door. There stood Rarity with a mixture of rage and shock on her face. Instinctively she tackled the dragon to the ground in a leap that spanned a good twelve feet. When Spike regained his standing in the situation he noticed that his breakfast was gone. "Hey! What the-" "Hello Rarity," Twilight greeted happily from her side of the table, "Did you come to join us for breakfast?" She shrunk back a bit from the glare she recieved. "As if!" the white unicorn scoffed hugging the ruby to her chest. A bit irritated by the whole intrusion, Spike walked over and attempted to take his meal back only to have his claws slapped away from the frustrated pony that had stolen it. "Um...that's sorta mine..." Spike told her, "No offense." "Oh all offense taken you little thief," Rarity turned her head to the ceiling dismissively, "You know I shouldn't be sorry at all that I broke your heart now that you've done this!" Spike's jaw drooped a bit. Even Twilight was having trouble piecing together what the intruder was going on about. "Did you get enough sleep?" Spike asked. The look he recieved from the pony literally caused him to take a few steps back. "Did I get enough sleep?" she repeated, "Did I get enough sleep! I most certainly seemed to have considering I didn't notice you at all waltz into my boutique in the middle of the night and make off with all the gems that I had been collecting for my new top-of-the-line dresses you vile little lizard!" Even though he didn't know what exactly she was talking about, the words still hurt Spike. It could be seen from his face. "But Rarity, I was here all ni-" "Pish posh," she cut the younger life form off, "Now where have you stashed all the others? You couldn't have eaten them all yet. You're not nearly that fat." The comments just got worse and worse affecting Spike's usually cheerful demeanor rather drastically with each passing moment. "But Rarit-" "Where are they!" "He doesn't have them." Rarity and Spike blinked and turned their attention to the other resident who before the comment had seemingly faded into the background of the setting. It hadn't been a yell or anything that Twilight had made, but the other twos' voices had been so prominent that the introduction of her's was noticed by both. Calmly Twilight trotted over to where Rarity was crouched over the ruby. "Oh Twilight, you can't honestly expect me to believe that Spike, the only person in Ponyville that feasts on these glorious gifts from heaven, didn't steal all my jewels," Rarity reasoned. "I honestly don't give much of a damn what you believe," Twilight shrugged. Now it was Rarity's turn to shrink back. She certainly hadn't expected that kind of reply. "What I do know," the purple one continued, "Is that Spike was here with me all night helping me research the workings of Golems since Owlowicious was on vacation. And as always he was a great help. He couldn't have been at your place last night. Added to that, I wouldn't call you much better considering you just burst into our house without warning and accused him of something he had no part in." Rarity tried numerous times throughout the speech to interrupt and counteract the arguments that Twilight was making but to no avail. It was the lecture she'd feared when she'd come to her to get her scarf fixed. "But Twilight d-" "Spike isn't the one who took your gems. It could've been a thief or Diamond Dog or what-have you, but it wasn't Spike. And if you're so hung up over this I can always get the girls together to help you get more," Twilight told Rarity firmly. She peered into her eyes for a moment causing her to gulp and slowly hand the ruby back to Spike. "Heh...heh..." Rarity laughed nervously as she forced herself to her feet. She made her way to the door taking caution with each step. "...sorry Spike..." Rarity apologized taking a glance at him before evacuating the premise. It was a while before either Spike or Twilight talked again. "...that was kinda hot..." Spike finally broke the silence. Twilight just smiled. "The book said that girlfriends are supposed to stick up for their boyfriends," she informed happily. "Well than-" "And in return the boyfriends listen more to the complaints and whining that the girlfriends have and do." Spike lifted a brow at the extended information. "...don't I already do that?..." Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Yeah...I guess you do," she realized, "Wow, you really are boyfriend material." "Like you wouldn't believe," Spike rubbed his claw against his chest proudly earning him a bonk on the head. --- At first the vision was blurry. It'd been that way for quite some time. But the pain had stopped. And it was clearing up. He could see the group of ponies that surrounded him. Could make out their colors. White, yellow, orange, and yellow again. The tallest yellow was saying something. It sounded distant. "ike..." was all he could make out. After a few more times of the word being repeated he could understand it and noticed who was talking. "Spike," Fluttershy repeated. With the sound returning so was his sight. Violently the young dragon shook his head and looked around. There were the Cutie Mark Crusaders next to her that had saved his life. They were all smiling. "Guess I'm not dead," he said more to himself than anyone in the cottage, "Hold on a sec...Fluttershy...you're alright!" Had it been any other dragon that had leapt at her, the timid pegasus would've hidden behind a couch or some other furniture she had available. But Spike's hug was one of thankfulness and relief. "O...of course I am?" the words finally hitting her. "But wait...Twilight, the others!" Fluttershy looked at the younger ponies curiously. There'd obviously been something that'd happened, but she had no idea what. "Where exactly did you three come from when you brought Spike here? Why was he-" "No time!" Spike responded leaping off her and charging out the door, "Come on Crusaders! You have to get me back to where we were!" "Cutie Mark Crusaders Dragon Rescuers!" they exclaimed rushing off with Spike, "YAY!" Fluttershy was left coughing in the dust cloud they left behind. --- "Ugh!" Rarity dramatized as she burst through the Carousel Boutique's front door. Though she was a lot less frustrated than she had been before going to Twilight's she was still rather dismayed about the whole gem affair. Jewelry doesn't just get up and walk away after all. And it had been quite a bit of hard work to collect them all. Still, they could be replaced. After all, Twilight had volunteered her and the others to help her get more if she really needed them all that badly. It was just...what could've happened to them? What affected Rarity the most though was how she had acted. It'd taken the walk home to actually think of looking at the situation from Spike and Twilight's point of view. She couldn't believe how embarrassed she was once she thought everything over. And how mean she'd been to the dragon. It was bad enough that she'd already rejected him, but then to have her verbally attack him. It certainly wasn't something she'd get over if some guy she liked did that to her. Still, her element was the one of Generosity, not Kindness or whatever the hell it'd be called. The moment she stepped into the kitchen though her train of thought went crashing head-first off its tracks. Smoke flooded her nostrils as it did her eyes. "What in Equestria!" she yelped. "Come sit down at the table!" Sweetie Belle invited, "My cooking's sure to cheer you up!" Rarity let out an exasperated sigh. If nothing else, at least the gems were now off her mind now.