//------------------------------// // Gifts // Story: His Vector Grey // by Darkryt Orbinautz //------------------------------// His Vector Grey Chapter 1 Gifts Spike lay asleep in his basket in the upper level of the library. Twilight's tendency to fret and worry and study sometimes kept him awake at night, so when he had absolute nothing to keep him from going to sleep, he appreciated it all the more. Of course, there being nothing to prevent him from GOING to sleep said nothing of whether or not something was going to wake him up AFTER he fell asleep. His developing dragon ears- not much more than holes in the sides of his head- picked up the sound of paper rustling. Normally, he would dismiss it, but something about it seemed off. Library books didn't sound like that... In curiosity and in concern, he opened his eyes, threw off his blanket, and made his way down the stairs. Peeking over the corner of the door, Spike saw a veritable flock of magazines on the Twilight's desk. He found this strange, as Twilight much preferred hardcover and paperback books over glossy magazines and gaudy articles. Spike decided to go over and read the magazines. Maybe that would explain why Twilight made an exception for them? Ruffling through, Spike found the magazines didn't have a lot in common. One was on rings and jewelry, another was on collars and chokers, and then the next one after that was advertising a catering company that specialized in sweets. And after that was on dresses! "Ooh...none of these magazines are any help." Spike heard Twilight groan. "I need something nice to-" To what? Spike wondered, turning around to see Twilight, tiredly conferring her issue with her pet owl. She saw him, too. "SPIKE!" Oh, gem scraps! Spike forgot it was past his bedtime and he wasn't supposed to be up! "Twilight, I can explain!" "I don't care!" Twilight snapped at him. "Baby dragons need their rest! Go back to bed this instant!" "But I-" "NOW, Spike!" "Okay, okay!" Spike threw his claws up to show he surrendered. "I'm going! I'm going!" Spike walked up the stairs sideways, making sure to face Twilight with his open arms. Twilight glared at him all the way up the stairs, cowing him like a sheep dog herding an out of line member of its flock. Once he was halfway up the stairs, Twilight was satisfied and turned around to the magazines, placing her knees on the table and looking down at the piles of gloss paper. Spike looked over his shoulder to see her shoving one aside from the pile and flipping through it. What was she trying to find that was giving her so much distress? Spike crawled into his basket and tried to fall back asleep, but his mind preferred wondering what Twilight was trying to over the idea of shutting down. He twisted and turned, a brillion questions in his head. She was always upset when he was up past bedtime, but why did she seem so...angry at him for rooting through her magazines? Why? Eventually, he found his sleep again, though the mystery of the magazine was going to be the first thing on his mind when he woke up. When he woke up, however, was not his decided time to. Instead of yawning and stretching as he normally would, he found himself being nudged and whispered to softly. "Spike..." Twilight began. "Spike, wake up. I have a treat for you." At the notion of a treat, Spike immediately propped himself up. "Treat? What kind of treat?" Twilight smiled with a serenity to it and held out her hoof. In it was a blue bowl filled with ice cream, chocolate syrup, cut-up bananas, and a cherry on top. "A sundae?" Spike happily questioned, eagerly taking the bowl into his claws. Once it was in his grasp, however, he thought of a question. "But why?" "I feel bad about last night." Twilight answered. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I had just trying to find a gift for . . . somepony. I'm sorry." "Gift for who?" Spike asked, alternating between speaking and shoveling spoonfuls of the ice cream into his mouth. Twilight looked away. "Somepony special. That's why I'm having so much trouble figuring out a gift for . . . them." There was a delay in her sentence, near the end. Like she was literally choking herself to keep certain words from being used. Spike completely missed the emphasis Twilight was putting on her pronoun. "How bad could it be?" "What if I get them something they don't want or don't like? Will they still want to be . . . friends with me? What if I get something that offends them, and they don't ever want to see me again!?" Twilight flailed her legs in the air as she explained to Spike her worries. Spike was starting to wonder what was making Twilight sound like she was choking so much. "Calm down, Twilight." Spike told her casually, dismissing her like it was another of her unnecessary freakouts she was so prone to. "Just get them something they like." "WHAT DO THEY LIKE!?" Twilight bellowed, the volume of her voice blowing Spike out of his basket. He just barely clung onto his sundae as he was blown away. "That's the problem!" "Well..." Spike raked himself for ideas. "You know, I could help out more if I knew who it was you were trying to get a gift." "Whom!" Twilight corrected. Spike rolled his eyes, really really not caring. "So . . . who is it?" Spike repeated. His mind wandered to Twilight's friends, and why she would be having trouble getting any of them gifts. Rarity would do with a fancy, expensive jewel. Or a stallion, maybe, but he didn't think ponies could go out and buy those. Applejack didn't care much for gifts, so a fruit basket would probably be the best bet. Something edible. Rainbow Dash had no reservations about letting ponies know what she wanted. Fluttershy was so timid and naive that any gift meant for her would probably give her an anxiety attack. And Pinkie Pie... What would a pony get Pinkie Pie, anyway? She lived in a bakery, so chocolate and cake were out. Spike didn't know how Pinkie felt about gems, or fruit baskets or... a stallion. Twilight was pacing while Spike roamed around in his own head. "Well..." Spike scratched his head. "What's the occasion?" Twilight glared at him, confused. "Occasion?" "Yeah. You know, the reason you're getting a gift in the first place?" Twilight sat on her haunches and stared off into space. "The reason I'm getting a gift . . . " She murmured airily, sounding distant and detached from reality. "Twilight?" Spike asked, growing concerned from the spacey look in her eye. "Twilight?" He waved his claw at her, earning no response. He put his sundae down and walked over and pinched her. "YOW!" Twilight yelped. She looked at Spike, having come back from her daydream. She looked ready to yell at him, but she realized what happened and turned away, embarrassed. ". . . Thanks." "Soo . . . " Spike drawled. "The occasion?" Twilight shirked. Why was she so unwilling to tell him what the occasion was? "Duuhmmm . . . it's . . . celebrating our . . . friendship!" Twilight's hesitance was suddenly replaced by enthusiasm at the last word that Spike had no reason to be suspicious of. "We're celebrating how long we've been friends!" "Okay . . . but, is it just one of your friends?" Spike questioned, concerned that Twilight was singling out somepony of her close circle when they had been friends for an equal amount of time with each other. "Well, yes." Twilight admitted, the drop in her voice suggesting she was aware of Spike's concern. "But this friend likes to, uh . .. record landmarks in our time together!" "Landmarks?" Spike questioned. "Yeah!" Twilight affirmed. "O...kay then." Spike turned to his sundae. "Well, I'm no help. Why don't you just give her a sundae like you did for me?" Twilight groaned. "Because that's an apology sundae, Spike! Not a friendship hallmark sundae!" Hmm. What a Pinkie-esque thing to say. Spike dismissed the thought quickly and took another bite of his sundae. "Hmm . . . you know what? This sundae is great, but it could use some gems." Spike said, trying not to upset Twilight while still expressing his desire for gems. "I don't have any gems for you right now. I still need to go to the store . . ." Twilight sadly told him. "Ah, that's okay." Spike walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a drawer, from which he plucked a large, kind of pretty, but not that pretty, cyan brilliant-cut jewel. "I keep a secret stash for when you're out. Though I guess it's not a secret anymore!" Twilight's eyes locked onto the jewel. "Do you have another one like that in there?" "Uh, I think so." Spike answered. "Why?" "Because that would be perfect for my gift. It's nice, in a way, but it's not some billion-bit piece of jewelry that's worth more our house." "Oh. Well . . . I guess I could give you this one." Spike said, holding the gem out for her. Twilight was reluctant. "Are you sure?" "Yeah! Rarity has a bunch of them. I mean, a BUNCH of them. In fact, she gave me this one because she had too many and said if I wanted another one (or two or three, heheh) all I had to do was ask!" Spike tossed the jewel across the room, Twilight catching midair with her magic. Twilight regarded it reservedly before she levitated it into the pocket of her hair. "Thanks, Spike. You really have no idea how much this means to me." Spike dismissed her with a wave of his claw, not realizing the truth of Twilight's words. He really did have no idea how much it meant to her. "No problem!" He plucked an emerald from the door and started trying to grind it into his sundae. Twilight left the room, evidently happy with Spike's sacrifice. Spike didn't hear her mutter something about the color pink. Later in the afternoon, close to lunchtime, Spike didn't he was going to be diverted from his meal just yet, as he had only started to work on it. An ooey-gooey mess of a recipe that was barely made cohesive by the high concentration of chemicals in the gem. He put it in the over, waited for some time, and pulled it out, setting it on the table to cool. He stared at, his tongue flopping from the side lustfully, as he waited for it to be safe to eat. (How eerily prophetic.) As it was, he put a claw on it to gauge it's temperature. The hiss on his scales was . . . telling, at the least. But as he stood there, waiting patiently for his treat. He heard a creak, like somepony trying to sneak into the library. However, when he looked at the library entrance, the door was untouched. "Huh." Spike said to himself before refocusing his attention on the meal. Then he heard ANOTHER door creak, followed by...giggling? It sounded like giggling. Frowning and furrowing his little scaly eyebrows, he started prowling around to find out what it was. He was upset at being lured away from his treat, but he really shouldn't have been. Who was going to eat it while he wasn't looking? Twilight? The owl? He came 'round on a door with a gold doorknob and keyhole. He walked right past it, at first, but a deep breath from the other side caused him to back up and try to barge it. No matter how hard he shook the knob with his claws, it wouldn't budge. Must've been locked really well. Spike stopped, grumbled to himself a little, then tried peeping in through the keyhole. He didn't really understand what he saw. There was a bed inside a room that was decorated in pink. Twilight and Pinkie Pie were both lying on it, Twilight in Pinkie's lap. The keyhole was not so great at transferring sound, but from the slight change in her belly, Spike reasoned Twilight was . . . purring? Spike put his ear to the door, trying to hear something. "So, what do you want to do today?" He heard Pinkie ask. "Any and everything you want is fine." He heard Twilight reply in a very unusual low tone. "Yeah, but I'm asking what you want to do." "I just want you to be here." Pinkie groaned. "Twilight-" Spike pressed his ear against the door harder and harder, trying to make sure the sound was at its best quality, but he eventually pressed his head on the door so hard he lost his footing on the ground and fell over, causing a thunk! Splayed out on the floor, Spike could hear them from underneath the door's bottom. "What was that?" "I don't know. I'll go see." Spike scrambled to his feet and scurried over back the kitchen. He barely made the jump from one room to the next before he heard the door unlock. He just narrowly avoided trouble, this time... "Huh. Nopony or nothing there...although...just to be safe..." He heard Twilight say to herself. Great! Now Spike would never find out what was going on between Pinkie and Twilight were doing- or- or why or...no, wait, that was pretty much it, actually. The how was unimportant, and he knew the when and where. After he heard the door lock back up, he sneaked back over to find Twilight's owl on his perch set up by the door. It looked like he was...standing guard? Weird. Observing him, Spike happened on an idea. He wiggled over and started trying to sweet-talk the nocturnal bird. "Hey, you know what Twi and Pinkie are doing in there?" The owl nodded. "Would you mind telling me?" The owl shook his head no. Spike was frustrated. "Oh, come on! Why can't I know?" The owl just held out a feather like a disapproving finger. Spike's eye twitched. He did not just get told off by an owl, a creature of inferior intellect to a dragon! Actually, most owls and dragons were neck-and-neck in smarts. Dragons just live longer, so. On top of that, Twilight's owl was smarter than Spike. "Please?" Spike begged. "Just a little peek?" The owl seemed to mull over this, then nodded, apparently deciding to allow him his "peek." The owl floated over, grabbed the doorknob in his talon, and pulled the door open slightly. Spike carefully tiptoed over, careful not to make a sound. With the door now open, Spike peered inside to see Twilight and Pinkie were in the same position as earlier, Pinkie on her back, Twilight in Pinkie's lap. "Ready?" Pinkie asked Twilight. "Ready!" Twilight answered. Pinkie took her hoof and propped Twilight's head up. She hesitated, but then she went in closer, took in a deep breath, and exhaled on Twilight's neck. Twilight made a very pleased "oooh!" sound. "You just can't get enough of me, can you?" Pinkie asked with some odd mixture of concern and self-pride. "Nnooo..." Twilight answered quietly. "More?" Pinkie giggled. "Sure. More." Pinkie stuck her tongue out and started licking the back of Twilight's neck. Twilight moaned and cooed and purred. Spike was captivated by the sight. It was like watching a helpless, caught animal in some predator's sweet-yet-ironclad grasp. "What are they doing?" Spike asked, more to himself than to the owl. "Did you hear something?" Twilight asked Pinkie. Once more, with feeling...gem scraps! Spike hightailed and made a straight beeline for the bedroom upstairs, hoping against all odds that he would be out of sight before Twilight saw him. Once inside the room, he locked the door. It's not that he wanted to keep Twilight out, he was just in a panic. He dived for his basket and tried to appear innocent. After he had a moment to calm down and catch his breath, he saw the owl sitting on his roost in the room, apparently chuckling. "You!" Spike accused, with a claw pointed to match. "You were trying to get me in trouble, weren't you!?" The owl quit laughing and rolled his eyes. He made a gesture with his wing as if to say: "Not quite." Spike intensified his glare at him. Was the bird trying to teach him a lesson, or something stupid like that? Of course, even now, he still didn't know what was going on. He heard the doorknob rattle. "That's strange...why is it locked?" Spike put his claws over his face. He rushed over the door open and unlocked, immediately swinging it open to beg forgiveness. "Twilight I'm sorry I didn't know and everything happened so fast and I-" "Whoa, whoa!" Twilight held out a hoof. "Calm down, Spike. What happened?" Spike didn't know what to say. He didn't know what happened! He also couldn't let Twilight know Spike had been spying on her and Pinkie. He thought on it for a moment and realized his best ticket out was in what he had already said. "I don't know!" Spike said, throwing his claws in the air. "So you ran up the stairs and locked the door?" Twilight questioned. Spike wasn't sure how to answer. Twilight suddenly pulled him into a tight embrace. "You poor thing! Something must've scared you out of your mind! I came up here because I saw you left your meal on the table, but...oh, you poor thing!" "Yeah..." Spike chuckled, feeling a little guilty for the sympathy that he didn't entirely deserve. "Poor me..." "Come on." Twilight patted him on the back. "I'll warm up your lunch, and we can eat together. Pinkie's going to be having lunch with us. I hope you don't mind." "Why would I?" Spike questioned nervously as he brought down the stairs. He sat down at the table with Twilight and Pinkie, both of whom made no notice of any weird things they may have doing earlier. Twilight blasted Spike's cold bowl with her magic, making it steam and hiss again. She pushed across the table over to him. "Here ya go!" "Thanks..." Spike nervously began scooping up mouthfuls. Twilight and Pinkie noticed his behavior. Pinkie leaned in close to Twilight and whispered. "You think he saw us?" "Maybe. It would explain some things." Twilight whispered back in response. Twilight would deal with later. Now, they were going to enjoy a lunch with each other.