A friendship “never” ending
By Flying Lotus Zodiac Shit
Chapter two: And a half
Eight days later…
Spike paced across the library’s lower floor, its bookshelves entombed with dusty books and faded scrolls. He was mumbling perplexedly under his breath, contradicting his every thought with an equally persuasive counter argument. (He’d been up a few hours after his usual sleep time and Twilight had all but passed out from over studying into the late hours of the morning)
“I just don’t know what to do Owlalicious?” Spike whined to his (and it pained him to say it) friend. Owlalicious… the owl. Spike was tired, but he didn’t try to hide it. His eyes lids were idly hang over his eyes as he rushed about the living room in frantic disarray.
The feathered mass standing alone on the libraries only birds’ perch turned to face Spike for another time. Owlicious gradually opened his beak to convey his wise owl knowledge to the tired and eager young dragon.
“Who?” Owlalicous yowled in a tone so oblivious and innocent it we as if he were part of another conversation.
“No, not who! Do! I don’t know what to do!” Spike interjected the tawny owl, frustration heavily laced in his voice. “I mean, know I have feelings for Rarity… but there’s just something about Rainbow dash” Spike finished unsure of himself. “But it just isn’t the same. It couldn’t be!”
Owlalicious looked seriously burdened with words he couldn’t speak… as he was an owl…. In a world full of talking ponies. He stayed his experienced black eyes on Spike. And began exerting a pressure on his vocal chords, forcing himself to utter another word other than…
“Who?” Owlalicious yowled yet again. (If owls could face wing, he’d do it. Over and over again)
But Spike didn’t pay much attention to the question. He was too distracted he didn’t even notice that Owlalicious had yet again uttered a completely off topic answer to question that was never asked. “If only there was a way I could talk to some pony who knew more about this sort of thing” Spike fell back on his rear with a light thud, impacting the dusty wooden floor as he settled into his new position. Spike was defeated his eyes coming to a squint. He was ready to pass out.
Owlalicious just stood in place on his personal bird perch, wings at his sides his feathers unruffled. His expression alone spoke volumes; he was frustrated with himself not being able to comfort Spike.
He raised his wings into the air and began beating them into flight, silently gliding across the room and landing on the edge of a window sill nearest to Spike. He opened his mouth mustering his entire being into the very action; drawing in a vast breath of air into his lungs expanding his chest double its size. And began meditating on the words that needed to be spoken to channel down his throat and exit out of his beak.
“Wwhroo!” He screamed at shuddering loud volume. Loud enough to frighten even himself.
But Spike just sat still, looking as beat down as he did before. “But that’s just the question isn’t it? Who, who can possibly help me?” Spike spirits were utterly deflated. He was defeated in more ways than one and he couldn’t find the strength to stay awake for much longer
“Who could possibly know more about a dragon’s? Who coul..” Spike paused a moment. There was only one pony who had the knowledge of what exactly what was happening. And that pony was…
“Zecora!” He screeched before bringing his hands over his mouth hiding his voice once more.
“Of course!” Spike whispered as he gradually drifted into well-deserved sleep. The sun had just began peeking over the distant horizon like giant red luminescent apple in the distance; ripening with intensity and vividness with each passing minute
Owlalicious slumped against the window pane easing down on his rear and sighed, or did the bird equivalent of a sigh. Relief washed over him as he finally saw his friend friend happy. Though maybe a little defeated himself that he couldn’t help Spike the he wanted too, but happy for him nonetheless.
The sun shone into the room like every other morning, burning away all darkness from the small dusty room. Owlalicious was long asleep on his perch; wings tucked into his sides insulating his body warmth under his glossy smooth brown and beige feathers. And amazingly, so was Twilight.
Spike wistfully opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling he hadn’t had fallen asleep under. He was snuggly tucked tightly into his own bed; wrapped under layers of sheets, blankets and quilts that Owlalicious must’ve bound him in.
He struggled under the combined weight of the heavy bed coverings squirming his way out and onto his feet. The floor was particularly cold that morning Spike thought to himself as he stood in place; gazing across the gradually warming chamber and out the window. Morning, Spike had seen it before and he had admired it all the same. But this particular morning was different, he couldn’t exactly explain it, but he could feel it. He took a faint few steps forward shooting out his arms in a stretch as he glanced over his shoulder to find Twilight fast asleep.
That was good he thought to himself, his one window of opportunity. Sneak out, follow the dirt path to the Everfree, go see Zecora at her cottage and sneak back in time before Twilight ever realized he had ever left. So simple a foal could do it.
Outside was just as beautiful as it had been eight days ago. A very long and head spinning eight days ago to be precise. Spike peered up into the horizon overhead Ponyville, sporadically covered with clouds doting all over the small town creating a pink and beige mosaic in the sky against its brilliant blue backdrop. As he brought his view back down to earth he really took notice of all the ponies everywhere. He saw them all rushing about on their business to and fro, shop to shop or house to house. It was a productive morning, it was peaceful morning, it was noisy morning and it was… it was…
“Cold” Spike muffled under his breath trailed by a puff of moisture.
The late morning air was littered with the scents of freshly baked breads, cakes and other various sweets. To most ponies, the smells of baked goods were good, but not to Spike it wasn’t. It only meant he was in Pinkie Pie territory, and when you were in Pinkie Pie territory, you had a good chance of lacerations, decapitations, incinerations, conflagrations, cremations, re incarnations, lubrications and Pinkies personal favorite, celebrations… Although come to think of it, he might have been exaggerating on those first seven.
“Hiya Spike!” Chimed the pink pony shaped avatar of energy that seemingly appeared out of thin air. Inches away from Spike snout “What cha been up to?” Pinkie bellowed innocently enough to be suspicious… or was Spike just being paranoid
“Gah! What the!” Spike shrieked “how the heck did you get there?”
Pinkie giggled lightly under her infectious smile “Hehahe I live here silly!” She retorted as she proceeded to throw her left foreleg around Spikes shoulders while simultaneously gesturing her right towards sugar cube corner.
“Huh, of course I knew that!” Spike replied as he gingerly brushed Pinkies fuzzy arm off from around his scaly shoulder.
“Whats Twilight been up to these days?” Pinkie chimed with a smile.
“Uh, nothing. I mean, well, last week she went to the spa with Rarity but between then and now” Spike paused “She’s just been bogged down with books to read”
“Really?” Pinkie replied mildly “I should really go by and visit her today. She always so busy with all her work that she never gets time to have fun anymore” Pinkie sighed falling back on her rump, her saddle bags ruffling with by sudden movement.
Spike noticed Pinkies dull light brown bags packed to burst limit. Dull and boring bags without even a spec of dirt on them, practically brand new “So, what’s in the bags?”
“Oh, these bags?” Pinkie insinuated with her hoof “A CAKE!” She screamed in an ear pinching volume, elicting a few stares from the other ponies from around the two “I’m actually on a delivery right now”
Pinkie paused leaning in closer to Spike as she brought her left hoof up covering his right ear and her mouth “It’s top secret so don’t tell anypony” Pinkie whispered into the little dragons ear.
“Uh, sure of course” Spike mumbled backing away from whimsical pony.
Pinkie stood herself back up lightly brushing the dirt off of her flank as she turned to face Spike “Whataya doing all the way out here anyway?” Pinkie leisurely asked Spike “Shouldn’t you be at the library right now?”
“Me?” Spike replied blankly “Uhh I was going on a... Umm...” Spike stalled for as long as he could manage “A walk! That’s right! I’m walking! With my legs!
Pinkies struck a confused look across her face, more out of concern than bewilderment. “Are you feeling okay Spike?” the pink equine asked genuinely out of concern for her friend.
“Of course, never been better!” Spike quickly interjected smiling a fakely trying to appear as honest as he could manage.
“Really?” Pinkie continued, pressuring Spike in a skeptical tone. Did Spike just lie to her? No, not really anyway, he just didn’t tell her the whole truth. Though not telling the truth, which meant he was up to something! “And you know this path heads towards the Everfree forest right?”
“Yeah…?” Spike said cautiously as he tried his best to maintain his fake smile.
Pinkie shot Spike back a glare bordering Fluttershys supposedly lethal stare, tilting her head to the side “Well why didn’t you just say so!” The naïve and Pink pony replied with a huge smile “Well I’m off to go make my delivery now! See-Ya!” Pinky screeched the last part awfully loud, causing all ponies within earshot to snap their attention towards her.
Spike scratched his head in confusion “I guess Pinkie Pie just being Pinkie Pie again” A sizable amount of time had passed and Spike would really need to hurry along if he wanted to intercept Zecora at her cottage. So, he ran, running with his legs that he runs on.
“Knock, knock, knock, knock. Come on, please be home” Our usual suspect lightly huffed with anxiety and fatigue “Oh please tell me I didn’t miss her!”
And as if answering his prayers the heavy bulk of the door swung open from its adorable timber frame revealing a surprised looking Zecora “Well isn’t this a surprise” she said softly with her velvet like voice “Why it is a dragon I see before my eyes”
“Uh hey Zecora” Spike murmured.
“Don’t be shy come in and sit down; you must be tired walking all the way from pony town” Zecora musically added.
Spike shuffled his way into small hut with Zecoras’ guidance and sat down around her living room table as the rhyming zebra stood standing making tea for her unexpected visitor.
“So what brought you all the way out here? So far from Ponyville yet so near.”
“Uhg, well, this might sound really strange, but” Spike paused “I need your help and I want you’ll keep it between us”
“Lies, secrets, mysteries and whirls are exactly the things I promise to not tells” Zecora said as she handed… hoofded the steaming cup to Spike as he coddled it in his claws “But first I have a question If you’d be so kind you can answer any time”
Spike sighed “Okay, what is it?”
“Why come and seek me out, all the way in the Everfree, when it was easier to ask some other pony?”
“Because I trust you” Spike admitted with a strong sense of respect and courage in his voice.
Zecora shone with the slightest touch astonishment mixed with embarrassment before collecting herself once more “Okay Spike you have my ears, I just hope you question won’t involve tears”
“Okay, have you ever felt confused like, when you like somepony, and there’s another pony I’ve always known. And let say I’ve had feels the same way toward this other pony. What do I do?”
“Ah, love is not so easily traversed, but stay steadfast and you shall come out first” Zecora took a sip of her tea “Now I think I’ve eaten enough of your time go on and… go…”
Zecoras sudden rhyme break grabbed Spikes ears “Wait, what?” Spike teetered.
Zecora popped out of her seat a slight blush present on her cheeks, and hurriedly trotted over to Spike, lightly nudging him to his feet “Nothing, please do hurry and try not to worry”
Confused? Maybe, clueless was more like it. “But wai..”
But despite Spikes best protest, Zecora cut through Spikes sentence a second time “Now if you don’t mind I things to do” Zecora said only pausing to shove Spike out of her hut. “And I believe you do too”
“SLAM!”
“Wha?...”
The walk back to Ponyville was as uneventful as it was surprisingly quicker than it had been getting to the Everfree. And the advice Zecora had given him was useless without knowing what she meant. “Damn zebras and their rhyming riddles…” Spike murmured under his breath. It was midday by the time he had come made it into town, surely Twilight was awake and probably freaking out that he’d disappeared.
A familiar sound of wind breaking filled the air, but Spike had been ignoring everything thing on his way back into town, so by the time he realized it was Rainbowdash he didn’t have any time left to panic.
"Thud!" Rainbow slammered hoof first into the ground with a fierce velocity and heavy aheft. Spike looked up to meet the eyes of his multicolored friend "Heya Spike!, watcha been up to?" Rainbow chimed with a smile as bright as her mane.
“Oh! AH! Hey Rainbow!” Spike choked in sentence repeatedly “I didn’t notice you there!”
Rainbow flicked her mane with enthusiasm “I’m surprised other ponies even notice me when I’m flying that fast” Rainbow boasted “So, what are you doing out here and not at the library?”
“Oh you know, walking and uh, walking?’
“You know I feel like I haven’t seen all week? Funny isn’t it?”
“Yeah, a real hoot” Spike reeled sarcasticly
“So are you doing anything later tomorrow?
Spike scratched his head attentively “Wait, why’re you asking?
“Well, funny you should mention it” Rainbow begun “But, I just so happen to have prime access tickets to the Wonderbolts acrobatic show in Cloudsdale, and seeing as how I still owe you from last week, I thought you could tag along”
“Me? Cloudsdale? How is that even possible?”
“Oh don’t worry, I heard they have special seats that can accommodate ponies of all kinds, dragons included”
“But, there’s Twilight and the library and uh I have work to do”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, I already spoke to Twilight this morning. At first she was like ‘Where’s Spike?!’ then I said ‘Hey I was about to ask the same thing’ then, one thing led to another and I asked her if she’d let you come with me to Cloudsdale or not? She said it’s up to you” Uh oh, Twilights awake “And that you’d be in serious trouble for sneaking out this morning”
“Well, you see, the thing is…”
“Soarins going to be there…” Rainbow grinned
“Really!” Spike bursted with excitement “I mean, so?”
“You know you’re coming with me right”
“Unfortunately…” Spike muttered under his breath.
“Great!” Rainbow replied in royal Canterlot speech “Okay I’ll meet you in the town square tomorrow at 9am sharp.” Said Rainbow before she made off in a beeline towards the ever blue horizon leaving Spike alone with his thoughts again.
“That… could’ve gone worse…” Spike muttered breathlessly as he remembered Twilight was most likely having a panic attack in his unannounced absence.
“BOOSH!” Spike pushed open the door with all he’s might, only yo be left out of breath at what he was looking at.
“Oh there's my Spike-wikey! Where have you been?” Spike stared slack jawed at the beautiful visage that was rarity incarnate, only to be interrupted by her silk like voice once again before he could form a coherent sentence “Oh it doesn't matter as long as you’re here now, that’s what really matters” Rarity said as she embraced Spike in her arms. Behind Rarity was Twilight, Applejack Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all standing underneath a banner that had the words written on “HAPPY HATCHING DAY SPIKE!”
It’d finally struck Spike in a genius sort of way, Pinkie Pie and her super-secret cake delivery, Twilight going nuts looking for him this morning “I… I don’t know what to say?” Spike said in astonishment.
“A thank you wouldn't be so bad” Applejack interjected.
“Enough talk LETS PARTY!” Screamed an overly enthusiastic Pinkie Pie who exploded in confetti and streamers.
“How about telling me where you ran off to this morning hmm” Twilight pressured the young dragon "I was worried sick about you"
“Oh, um I went to see uhh…” Spike tried to stall as best he could but to no avail, only increasing Twilights suspicion.
“Spike came over to see me” Rarity cut in, much to the surprise of everyone, including Spike “He came over to help with a few dresses I was working on and when we finished I made sure to get here before him. To surprise him for the party”
Spike sighed, still blushing under the glowing aura of Rarity, she had just lied to keep him safe; heck Spike would do the same thing twice just to see Rarity smile. Rarity continued holding Spike in her arms increasing his heart ever faster to the point of making Spike light headed. Spike was content, he was happy, but uncertain for the immediate future, one day from now to be exact, in a town called Cloudsdale is where his story will really take a dive for the worst.