//------------------------------// // Take My Hand // Story: My Little Dragon // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// A light buzzing sound was the first thing Rarity heard, and it was accompanied by a gentle warmth. It was an odd warmth. She couldn’t quite tell where it was coming from, but it was still pleasant, sort of like being wrapped in a weightless blanket. The buzzing wasn’t all that unpleasant either. It wasn’t a harsh buzz, like that of a cicada, but softer, like the beat of a hummingbird’s wings. All in all, it was a rather pleasant combination to wake up to. Wake up to? The dragoness gasped and opened her eyes. She saw a pair of green hooves in front of her, and looked up. Spike looked down at her and managed a weak smile. “How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?” His voice sounded weak and timid, laced with worry. “Spike?” Rarity slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position, accepting a helping hoof when Spike offered it. “What happened? I don’t remember going to sleep. All I remember is…” She saw him look away, saw the guilt and remorse on his face. All she could remember was talking to him last night, and the moment he leaned towards her. “You-“ He scratched at his mane, refusing to look at her. “I… I shouldn’t have, but I thought it would be easier for you this way.” She nodded slowly. Even though she knew what he was referring to, hearing it like that made her stomach twist. Her tail was gone. She couldn’t feel it, and she had been asleep when she lost it. “Then,” she couldn’t bring herself to look back, “it- it’s-“ Gaze still averted, Spike cringed. “It’s gone, yes.” That was it, two words. It’s gone. Simple words, short and to the point, but filled with consequences and repercussions that would follow the dragoness for the rest of her life. He was still holding out hope that her tail would grow back, but he knew that, even if it did, it would never be the same. The fine motor control she had displayed so many times over the last few days would be gone, and its strength would be less than half of what it was before. Rarity closed her eyes and lifted her head. “Well, then.” There was a slight pause, and the dragoness’ voice wavered slightly. “There’s nothing else to be done for it, is there?” Her voice was a bit louder than usual, not so loud that she was yelling, but more like she was trying to keep her voice from cracking. Spike looked at her and saw that tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes. “Rarity, I-“ She spun around quickly, and started walking towards the pile of camping supplies. “Be a dear and wake Twilight for me, won’t you?” She stood near the supplies with her back to Spike and wiped at her face. “I would like to get us both cleaned up before we continue our trip.” “Mom?” Rarity winced at the sound of Twilight’s voice, but started digging through the camping supplies without looking back. “Are you ok?” “Ah, Twilight, I didn’t realize you were already up.” She pulled a blue bag that Spike recognized from the pile. “Spike will carry you today; I’m not quite feeling up to it.” She tossed the bag over her back and turned around. She kept her face lowered and walked past Spike and Twilight. The hatchling was sitting on a blanket close to where she had been sleeping, and Rarity could only hope that Spike hadn’t let her see anything last night. She walked towards the newly cleared path to the river, only pausing when she noticed that Spike and Twilight weren’t following her. “Now is no time to dilly-dally, we’ll all feel much better after freshening up for the morning. Then, we can continue on towards the mountain.” Spike moved towards the dragoness. He kept his head and voice low. “Rarity?” He walked up alongside her, trying to get a good look at her face, but she took a few steps forward before he could. “We’re heading back to town, if you’re up to traveling.” “Nonsense.” The dragoness shifted the bag on her back. “We have to go meet Pinkie’s friends at the mountain, and I simply must look presentable. So must Twilight, I am her caretaker after all, and I shan’t have her looking out of sorts in front of guests.” Spike shook his head in confusion. “Guests? What are you talking about?” Spike looked back towards the other dragons in the camp. Applejack was still asleep, recovering from taking her watch, Fluttershy was measuring his doppelganger and taking notes, and Grumble was pacing back and forth behind her. He was a little wobbly on his claws, and obviously fighting to stay awake. The only dragon paying any attention to them was Rainbow Dash. When she noticed that Spike was looking at her, she motioned him towards the dragoness with her head. He sighed and tried to walk next to Rarity again, but she took another few steps. “And, are you sure you want to go back to the river? Wouldn’t it be better to just head back?” “Whatever do you mean? I’m just fine, and it’s simply vital that Twilight, as the town librarian make a good impression on any visitors to our fair town.” She started walking again. “Besides, I just don’t feel right without washing up in the morning.” She paused for just a moment. “Come along, dears, a good scrubbing will help clear our scales and worries.” Spike watched her walk off towards river. “Rarity…” “Dude.” Spike looked back to find Rainbow Dash. Somehow, she had moved behind him without him noticing. “Go after her.” Spike sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, ‘cause I wasn’t just about to do that on my own.” Rainbow rolled her eyes as Spike walked over to Twilight. The hatchling was staring off after Rarity as she walked away, but looked up at Spike as he approached. “Is she ok?” The pony laid down in front of Twilight so the hatchling could climb up onto his back. “She will be. Maybe not now, but we just need to be there for her, ok?” Twilight nodded slowly before climbing up. “Spike? What’s it like?” The pony stood up carefully, making sure his passenger kept her balance. “What is what like?” He started walking after Rarity, towards the forest path. Twilight fiddled with her claws for a moment. “Losing something.” Spike ignored the fact that Twilight’s nervous claw movements were pulling hairs out of his mane. “This is about her tail, isn’t it?” She didn’t answer. “You’ll have to ask Rarity about it, but I think you should probably wait a bit.” Again, Twilight didn’t answer. Ahead of Spike, Rarity waited on the trail. She glanced over as he walked up to her. “Come along, dears.” She started off towards the river, walking slow enough for Spike to keep up. He walked alongside her, but kept quiet. If she wanted to talk, he would let her do it in her own time. As they walked in silence, the dragoness would glance back from time to time, looking at the hatchling on the pony’s back. After a few moments, she let out a soft sigh. “It’ll be so nice when my tail grows back, won’t it?” Spike blinked and looked over at her. “What do you mean?” Rarity nodded her head towards Twilight. “I should be carrying her, but until my tail heals, I can’t pick her up. Not to mention it’s hard for Twi to climb onto my back on her own; I don’t have fur like you or Rainbow. Fluttershy has fur, too, of course, but she thinks Twilight should spend more time walking around on her own. I would agree with her, but with all my friends being so much larger, it simply isn’t feasible. Sometimes, I am barely able to keep up myself.” Spike chuckled nervously. “Yeah, it can be tough being small.” He let out a quiet groan. She was talking at least, and not avoiding eye contact, but she still seemed distant. “So,” he glanced down and tried to convince himself not to ask his next question, “does regeneration run in your family?” He watched her carefully, hoping to gauge her response. “I mean, since there was no autotomy, I just assumed that, well…” She didn’t respond, but she did stiffen a little. Spike gulped. This didn’t look good. “Of course, I could be wrong, it’s just-“ “Tails grow back, deary, it’s simply what they do, isn’t it?” Rarity kept walking along, but Spike stopped. “Just think, a few more weeks, and it’ll be good as new.” “But…” Spike sighed and shook his head. She was avoiding it, ignoring the possibility that it might not grow back, and ignoring the fact that, even if it did, it wouldn’t be the same. She didn’t mention regeneration running in the family, so that led Spike to believe that it didn’t. If that was true, the possibility that her tail would grow back dropped dramatically. He started walking again, moving a little faster so he could catch up to her. “Rarity, what if it doesn’t grow back?” “Nonsense.” The dragoness looked over at Spike, then at the hatchling on his back. “Twilight, be a dear and tell him to stop worrying so much.” She returned her gaze to the path ahead of them and their nearing destination. “Look at that, we’re almost at the river. Isn’t this new trail convenient?” Spike glanced back at Twilight. “Yeah, it sure is.” The hatchling didn’t say anything. She looked worried, but she also looked confused. Spike let out a long sigh. He could certainly relate. “Rarity, I just think you need to be prepared for the possibility that your tail won’t grow back. It might, and that would be great, but even then, you might need to find different ways to do things.” “Here we are!” Rarity dashed the rest of the short distance to the river. She found a shallow pool of clear water and set her bag down next to it. “Spike? Would you bring Twilight over here, please?” Spike walked over to her. “Are you even listening to me? You seriously have to consider all the-” Rarity slammed her claw down on the bag, making Spike and Twilight jump. She looked over at Spike. “I have considered it!” She looked at the bag under her claw and pulled it open. “I know it might not grow back, but I choose not to dwell on that. I am perfectly fine, so if you would kindly drop it, I would be most appreciative!” She started to rummage through the bag, removing various soaps and scale brushes from it. “Why is this so messy?” She removed a bundled up towel from the bag. “I could have sworn I packed this neater.” The dragoness turned the towel over in her claws, and several small, white flakes fell from it. “What is this?” She rubbed at the towel, dislodging more of the flakes. “Is this paint?” She took a sharp breath. “No…” She slowly looked over at Spike. “Please tell me you didn’t.” She moved closer to the water and looked into it. In her reflection, she could see the dark grey and black scarring along the side of her neck. “I didn’t have a choice.” Spike lifted Twilight off his back with his magic and set her down a little bit off to the side. “I had to make sure there wasn’t any additional damage.” He walked towards Rarity. “I was going to use the illusion on it, but I-“ The dragoness slapped at the surface of the water, distorting her reflection and splashing the approaching pony with cold water. “I trusted you.” She turned away from Spike, kicking over the bag. The pony wiped at his face with his hoof, trying to wick away some of the water. He then lifted the discarded towel in his magic, but Rarity snatched it out of the air. She then threw it at him. It wrapped around his head, and Rarity stomped off. “You know why I kept it hidden!” Spike pulled the towel away from his face and tossed it aside. “Yes, I do.” He started walking after the angry dragoness. “You didn’t want to scare Twilight.” Rarity swiped at another pool of water as she passed it, trying to splash Spike, but he stepped to the side and the water landed against nothing but rock. The dragoness glared at him, and he glared right back. “You don’t think this is scaring her? She’s worried about you!” Rarity slapped at the water again, but Spike summoned a force field and the water splashed off of it, soaking Rarity. She grabbed the nearest thing she could get her claws on, a small rock, and threw it at him. He dodged to the side, letting it go right past him. She picked up a second one and threw it. Spike side-stepped again. She threw another rock at him, but instead of avoiding it, the pony swatted it out of the air, crushing it beneath his hoof. Rarity picked up a fourth rock, and Spike flicked his hoof forward, launching the crushed remains of last rock at her. She flinched, holding up her other claw to shield herself, and Spike rushed forward. Before she could react, he knocked the rock from her claw. He stood snout to snout with her, staring her right in the eyes. “Stop this!” In response, she slammed her claw to the ground. Spike jerked his head to the side just as a sharp splinter of stone launched from beneath them. It grazed his cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood. Rarity jumped back, crouching into a fight stance. Spike grabbed the stone splinter in his magic and flicked his head forward. It launched through the air and straight past Rarity, faster than she could react to. It shot through a tree behind her, making it explode in a shower of splinters. Spike took one step towards her as she glanced back in surprise. “If you’re gonna play around, know what you’re playing with.” She spun back to face him. “Look who’s talking!” She charged at him, long splinters of stone pulling themselves from the landscape and joining her attack. “Don’t underestimate me!” The stone swirled around Spike, forming a curved prison and cutting off any chance of escape. Spike stood calmly as the dragoness rushed towards him. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Earthmate.” When she was close enough, Rarity slashed at Spike. He didn’t move, didn’t dodge, and her claw sliced towards his face. When it connected, Spike rippled and disappeared. Her claw slashed through open air, and the force of her intended blow threw her off balance. As she fell forward, she tried to use her tail as a counter-weight, forgetting for a moment that she had lost it. When she realized that it wasn’t working, she glanced back. At that moment, she felt herself hit something. She was lifted up and back, then slammed down to the stone and water below, and held down by the neck. The air above her shimmered, and Spike appeared again, hoof at her neck, holding her down. “But, let me give you the same advice.” Rarity slammed her claw against the ground again, and the stone prison broke into shards and launched itself at Spike. He pulled his hoof away from Rarity’s neck and used his magic to pull her up and into the air, placing her between him and the shards. She had just enough time to see the attack, her own attack, coming towards her before the stone shards hit a force field and shattered into dust. At that moment, a shaky, high-pitched scream filled the air. “Stop it!” Spike and Rarity looked over to where Twilight stood. Tears streamed from her face as she watched them. “Stop it,” the hatchling whispered as she fell to her knees, “stop it. You told me you liked each other! Liars!” Spike released Rarity from his magic, dropping her to the ground below. “You’re both just stupid! I thought you loved each other! Why are you fighting?!” Spike and Rarity exchanged guilty glances before looking at the ground. “Why?” Spike took a tentative step towards the hatchling. “Twi…” What could he say? He probably just scared her as badly as the Nothing had, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she hated him. After what just happened, he wouldn’t be surprised if Rarity hated him too. “I’m sorry if we scared you, but-“ “I don’t care!” Twilight got up, ran forward, and kicked Spike in the leg, just above the hoof, right where the shin would be on a dragon. “Stupidhead!” Spike rubbed his leg with a hoof. Then he muttered under his breath, “I probably deserved that.” Twilight kicked him again. “You deserved that one too!” She crossed her claws in front of her chest and spun around, sticking her snout in the air with a loud, “Hmph!” The hatchling then marched away, stopping once to pick up the forgotten towel. “I’m going to take my bath now, and I don’t want to talk to either of you until you’re ready to talk to each other like reasonable dragons.” Spike looked back and forth between Rarity and Twilight. “Reasonable?” He pointed a hoof at Rarity. “She started it!” Twilight just clapped her claws over her ear-fins. “La-la-la-la-la, not listening!” Spike groaned. “Twilight-“ Twilight turned around, ran back towards Spike, and kicked him in the shin. “I said, I’m not listening!” Spike rubbed at his leg again. “Stop doing that!” Twilight kicked him again. “No!” She stomped off again, leaving the pony to his pain. Spike watched the hatchling storm off for a moment before looking down at his leg. He could almost swear he could see a bump growing in front of his eyes. He heard a scratching noise behind him and looked back. Rarity was struggling to get back to her claws. “I really messed up this time,” he whispered to himself. The dragoness gave up on standing and let herself fall to the ground. “No, dear,” she rolled onto her back, “we messed up.” She let out a small groan. What was she thinking, trying to pick a fight before recovering from the last one? What was she thinking, picking a fight at all? Let alone in front of Twilight? Let alone with Spike? Attacking the one you like probably isn’t the best way to make them like you back. That was what she wanted, right? For him to like her? Then, why would she try to fight him? Not that it was much of a fight, she pretty much got her tail handed to her with each attack. Not that she had a tail at the moment, or ever would again; nodragon in her family had ever exhibited the traits of autotomy or regeneration, so the chances of her being the first were next to nothing. It was a funny thing, losing a tail. There was no pain, no feeling at all, just a gnawing sensation that there was supposed to be something there, and that feeling just wouldn’t go away. Rarity shifted onto her side. It was a little less noticeable when she was preoccupied, like she was during the fight, but the moment the distractions were gone, the feeling of loss returned in full. It was driving her mad, this constant, persistent, unshakeable feeling that something was missing. She knew it was missing, she knew it better than anydragon else, so why couldn’t it just go away? Why did it have to be like this? A shadow passed over the dragoness as she laid on the ground. “Rarity, are you ok?” The dragoness rolled over to her other side to avoid looking at the pony. “Leave me alone!” She couldn’t look at him right now, how could she? And why was he asking about her? She had attacked him, and she hadn’t been holding back. If he hadn’t been as strong as he was, he would have been hurt, maybe even killed. He had no business worrying about her. The shadow crossed over her once more. “Rarity?” Something nudged her shoulder, probably Spike’s hoof, and she curled into a ball. “I understand if you don’t want to talk to me right now, but please know that I never wanted to go against your wishes. I had to wash the paint off so I could check for any more damage. I know it’s not much consolation right now, but there wasn’t any. It seems that the Nothing’s influence dissipated the feedback before it could cause any permanent damage.” There was a short pause before he continued. “That’s the name of the thing that attacked you, Nothing.” There was another pause, slightly longer this time. “They, um, they used to be used as weapons thousands of years ago, and, uh, everydragon thought they were extinct. Well, not everydragon, a lot of ’em didn’t think they existed in the first place.” There was another long pause followed by a sigh. “You probably hate me right now, don’t you?” Rarity didn’t answer him. She wanted to, she wanted to scream that it wasn’t true, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t bring herself to show weakness in front of him. She was a dragon, and dragons remained strong at all times. She let the silence drag on. “I’ll get you and Twilight back to Dragonspire safely. After that,” there was a series of soft hoofsteps as Spike started walking away, “I’ll head back to Dragartha to make my report. You won’t have to see me again.” “No!” Rarity reached out, grabbing for the sound of his hooves. Her claw closed around several of the strands of the green tail that trailed along the ground behind him. “I… I don’t want you to leave.” The pony turned around, looking at the claw wrapped around his tail. “How can you say that after what I just did? I shouldn’t have-” “Stop.” Rarity’s grip on Spike’s tail tightened. “Just stop.” She shook her head slowly and laid her head against the ground. “I attacked you. How can you not be angry at me?” Spike sighed and sat down in front of her. “I am.” The dragoness looked up at him, unsure that she heard him correctly. He held out a hoof to help her up. “But, I’m still worried about you.” Rarity made no move to take the offered hoof, and Spike pulled it back slightly. “And, I’m also mad at myself, madder than I am at you. I could have just thrown up a shield and sat there while you worked out your frustration, but I didn’t. I fought back, even though you were already hurt.” Rarity tried to stand up, but her own weight proved too much for her and she ended up falling back to the ground. Spike offered his hoof again. “Please, let me help you.” Rarity looked at his hoof, and then up at him. “On one condition,” she took hold of his hoof, “you don’t apologize to me for anything you did. This whole thing is-“ “Fine!” Spike pulled his hoof away from the dragoness’ grip and crossed his forelegs in front of his chest. He glared down at Rarity for a moment before pointing a hoof at her. “Be like that. Just for being unreasonable,” he clicked his other hoof against the ground twice, “I have two conditions. The first one is that the next words out of your mouth are not, ‘my fault,’ because this clearly isn’t. The second one is that you don’t apologize to me either. I’m not saying we should sweep this whole affair deeper into the cave and pretend it never happened, but I think we can learn from this and, without trying to assign blame, agree that we won’t let something like this happen again.” He put his hoof down and slowly held the other out to her. “If you accept these conditions, then take my hoof, and let me help you.” Rarity chuckled before catching herself. She looked up at him for a moment before looking away. “I don’t get it.” She glanced back and reached out for the offered hoof. “Why are you being so nice to me?” “I don’t know,” Spike pulled her up to a sitting position, “why were you so nice to me? I just showed up out of nowhere, and you took me in.” He hooked a hoof around her body to stabilize her. “But more than that, you didn’t care. You didn’t care that I was different, that I wasn’t a dragon. You accepted me as I was, and that meant a lot to me, more than you could ever know.” He let Rarity lean against him while she tried to get enough strength back to stand on her own. “Are you going to be able to make the walk back to camp?” “Maybe.” She stepped away from Spike and almost immediately started falling. The pony’s eyes went wide and he lunged forward. He caught her just before she hit the ground, and she looked up at him with a sheepish smile. “Then again, maybe not.” Spike sighed as he helped her back to a sitting position. “I’ll get you back, don’t worry.” He looked towards the trail, then back at Rarity. “It doesn’t look like too much of a hike; I can carry the both you if I have to.” “I’ll be fine in a moment.” The dragoness glanced at the trail as she let the pony support her. ”Spike,” she paused for a moment and leaned her head against his chest, “I don’t care. I don’t care that you aren’t a dragon.” She pushed herself away from his chest so she could look him in the eyes. “Spike, I...” Her words trailed off as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She looked over, as did Spike. Twilight was standing there, staring at them with her claws crossed in front of her chest and a determined glare on her face. She snapped out one claw to point at them. “Now! Kiss and make up!” “What?!” Spike and Rarity exchanged nervous glances as their faces turned bright red. Then they looked down at the hooves and claws that were touching the other. They snapped their respective limbs away from each other, carefully avoiding eye contact. They then glanced back at each other for just a moment, quickly turning away with a deepening blush. Twilight just held her claw in the air, continuing to point. “If you just get it over with, everydragon will be a lot happier, and maybe I can get some peace and quiet out of this trip.” She closed her eyes, crossed her claws in front of her, and turned her back to her two embarrassed companions. This was her chance! If she could get them together now, Spike wouldn’t want to leave, and Rarity wouldn’t have to be lonely anymore. It was the perfect plan, and to top it all off, they already finished fighting, so they probably won’t fight again. After all, Aunt Rainbow only fought with Rarity once, and they’ve been friends since. “You both told me you like the other, so I’m just doing you a favor.” The hatchling carefully tried to sneak a peek over her shoulder without the pony or dragoness noticing. “And, making sure neither of you chicken out.” Spike’s ears perked up and he looked over at Rarity. “You told her that you…” His words trailed off as he thought about the implications of what Twilight said. He now had confirmation that his feelings would not only not be rejected, but that they were, in fact, shared. This raised new questions for the pony, questions that Spike couldn’t even guess the answer to. The first of which being whether or not she still felt the same way after their little spat. The dragoness stiffened. She nodded slowly without looking over at him. “Apparently, so did you.” “Eh?” Spike turned away quickly and scratched at the back of his neck. “Heh, I guess I did.” His scratching slowed to a stop and he glanced back over at the blushing dragoness. “So, um-“ “No!” She shook her head, gesturing madly with her claws. “We are not doing that!” Spike’s head tilted to the side as he blinked at the dragoness. “What?” “Aw!” Twilight turned around, claws falling to her side in disappointment. “Why not?” Rarity took a wobbly step towards the hatchling, trying her best to look intimidating despite the dripping wet crest that planted itself in her face the moment she moved. “Because, we’re not! Now, that’s the end of it!” Spike looked backed and forth between the two dragons, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “Um, what’s going on here?” Twilight crossed her claws. “I don’t think it is! I’m sorry,” she pointed at Spike, “but I have to take his side on this.” The hatchling offered a slight shrug. “What’s the big deal? I thought you wanted to?” The dragoness gasped and brought a claw to her chest. “Why, I never-“ She glared at the nearby pony. “Well, I hope you’re happy with yourself.” “Wait. What?” Spike kept glancing back and forth between Rarity and Twilight. “What did I do? I was just going to suggest we head back soon.” Twilight jumped between Spike and Rarity. She faced the dragoness with her claws up in front of her, trying to block the much larger pony from Rarity’s view. “No, he wasn’t!” She turned around and reached up, grabbing Spike by the ears. She pulled his head down, even with her. “No, you weren’t!” She glanced back at Rarity with a sheepish smile. “Excuse us a minute.” The hatchling walked away from Rarity, dragging Spike along by the ears. Once the pony was facing away from the dragoness, Twilight glanced back at Rarity again. The hatchling held up a claw, extending one digit. “One minute.” She turned back to Spike and started whispering, “What are you doing? This is your big chance! All you’ve got to do is-“ With a loud sigh, Rarity walked forward, grabbing Twilight by the ear fin as she passed. “We’re heading back to camp.” The startled hatchling let go of Spike, and Rarity started heading towards the trail, walking with difficulty on three legs and tugging a resisting hatchling behind her. “Spike, grab our stuff.” “Ow! Stop! You’ll pull out my earring!” The hatchling reached back towards Spike as she was pulled along. “Why are you just standing there? You’re letting her get away! Ow!” Rarity didn’t stop, she just kept walking. “It’s a clip-on, I should know, I made it for you.” The hatchling brought a claw to her ear-fin. “It still hurts!” Rarity stopped for a moment and let go. She started walking again, and Twilight walked slowly behind her, pouting and rubbing at her ear-fin. Spike laughed nervously as he watched them walk away. It seemed like things were a little closer to normal, even if the outcome was at Twilight’s expense. He gathered the scattered bath supplies in his magic and stuffed them all back into the bag, except for the towel. It must have landed in the water at some point, because it was now thoroughly soaked. With a sigh, he set the bag on his back and started off after Rarity and Twilight, wringing out the towel in his magic as he walked. He looked forward to see how far ahead of him the two dragons had gotten, and almost immediately felt something tugging against his magic. He looked back. In his moment of distraction, he had gotten the towel stuck among the limbs of a fallen tree. With a loud groan, he walked back to it and started to untangle it by hoof. He couldn’t just pull on it without risking damage to the towel. Once the towel was free of the tangled branches, he turned to resume his course towards camp. “Wait a minute.” He turned back to face the tree before taking a single step. He looked at the towel he held. After a few seconds, he tossed it over his back and started breaking limbs off the fallen tree with his magic. He made a small pile of them beside him. He then started testing the strength of each one with his hooves. If one snapped, he tossed it, if it didn’t, he set it down next to him. He repeated the process until he had a bunch of strong branches piled beside him. He then picked up the pile in his magic and started heading back to camp, breaking into a run in and easily catching up with Twilight and Rarity. The hatchling looked back as she heard the approaching hoofbeats. The cloud of sticks surrounding Spike confused her for a moment, but she thought about what he said when they first met, about not underestimating stuff, and decided that there must be a reason for it, even if she couldn’t see it at the moment. Rarity looked back as well, eyes widening as she saw the pony’s wooden entourage. She stopped in her tracks as the he approached. “Picking up souvenirs, are we?” Twilight came to a stop alongside the older dragon. Spike let out a sigh as he walked up to the two dragons. “Not quite.” The pony dropped the sticks into a rough pile and started picking through it. He picked out the smallest of the sticks and held it in his hoof. “Last night, I, uh…” He glanced back and forth between Twilight and Rarity. “You know what? You’ll think I’m crazy, so just imagine fire and water, ok?” He drew a line in the ground with his hoof. He pointed a hoof at one end of the line. “If fire is here,” he moved his hoof to the other end, “then water is here.” He glanced up at the two dragons, noticing that they were both staring at him like they already thought he was crazy. He held up one hoof in a defensive gesture. “Just go with it for a moment.” The hatchling and dragoness exchanged glances, but kept silent. When they looked back at him, Rarity rolled her claw in the air, motioning for the pony to continue his explanation, as odd as it may be. Spike scratched at his mane. “Thanks, I guess.” He cleared his throat and gestured at the line again. “They’re complete opposites; fire can boil water, or water can put fire out, but they can’t coexist.” Twilight looked over at Rarity, eyes resting on the spiderweb scar on the side of her neck. She looked down at the ground before speaking. “You’re saying my magic is destructive, like fire.” Rarity shot an angry glare at Spike. His mouth fell open and he gaped at her for a moment. “N-no!” That was not the point he was trying to make, and now he had to recover the conversation. “Um, Twilight,” he leaned down, looking the hatchling in the eyes, “fire can be destructive at times, but we use it to cook food, shape metal, heat our caves, and even provide light to read by.” He glanced back at Rarity. She was still glaring at him. “It’s not all bad.” The hatchling looked up slowly. “But-“ Spike gently placed his hoof on the top of her head. “Water can be destructive as well; it can cause floods, or make things rot, or it can wear things away over time. The point is, that your magic isn’t bad, neither is Rarity’s, they just don’t get along.” He turned around. Now standing in between the two dragons, he pointed to the line on the ground. “Now, consider air.” He drew a small line intersecting the other in the middle. “It can coexist with both fire and water, and even contain a little bit of each in the form of smoke or water vapor.” Rarity nodded and rolled her eyes. “So, you’re the only one whose magic isn’t destructive?” Spike looked up as his ears and eyebrows drooped. “Fine,” he deadpanned. He pointed at Twilight. “Her magic is space.” He pointed at Rarity. “Yours is rock.” He pointed at himself. “Mine is some sort of space-rock, does that make sense?” Rarity just stared at him. Twilight leaned forward to look around Spike at the stunned dragoness. “I told you I needed a new telescope.” Rarity shook her head in confusion. “I’m sorry, Spike, but what do you mean by that?” She then looked down at Twilight. “You don’t need a magically charged stabilizer crystal in a telescope when you have a tripod.” Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but the dragoness cut her off. “And, I know you aren’t going to bring up portability, because we had a discussion about that the last time I got you a claw-held telescope and you almost got stepped on for not paying attention.” Rarity looked back at Spike. “Please, do go on,” she smiled and nodded, “you lost me at space-rock.” Spike stared at her for a moment, trying to determine if that was sarcasm or not, and wishing he had a bit more social experience. “Um, you’re mocking me, aren’t you?” “Just a little.” Rarity held up her claw, holding her first and opposable digits together. “But you have to admit, what you just said makes no sense.” Spike sighed. “I know, but that’s the thing, I’m trying to explain something that I really don’t understand.” Twilight tapped the pony on the leg, making him look down. “You’re talking about elemental classification, right? Rarity’s earth magic could be called rock magic.” Rarity nodded slowly. “I see, that makes a little more sense. You’re saying that Twilight’s elemental classification is similar to space, like void or darkess?” Spike put a hoof to his chin. “I guess you could put it like that, and those are pretty rare classifications, but I think Twilight’s is a little different.” He looked down at the hatchling next to him. If only he could get her to actually use her magic, everything would be so much clearer, but she was most likely still afraid to use it. “Also, up until now, I didn’t think my magic had an elemental classification. Yesterday, I realized that I do have a classification, and it’s something in between the two of you.” He picked up the nearby pile of sticks in his magic and brought them over to where he sat. “That’s why I have these sticks. I’m going to try bridging your magic energies to find out why they react so violently.” Twilight nervously rubbed her claws together. “But, I can’t use my magic. What if it goes out of control and-“ Spike put his hoof on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do anything.” He sighed quietly. At least he knew for sure that the hatchling was still uneasy about her own power. “All you have to do is hold one end of a stick while Rarity holds the end of another stick. I’ll hold the other ends.” The pony picked out two of the sticks and held them in his hooves. He started pouring magic into them, charging them so he could calibrate them and begin the scanning cycle. “This is a type of scanning spell. Most scanning spells involve bouncing waves of magic off of things, kind of like some subterranean dragons’ natural sonar capabilities, but this scan involves charging an object with known magic and using that to compare some other magic. To start, I have to calibrate the sticks so they don’t throw off the spell. To do this, I’ll make sure nothing is touching the sticks, and then I’ll cycle magic through them really quickly. After that, somedragon touches the charged objects. Their magic then contaminates the pure, known charge, and can then be analyzed and compared to the known charge, or to a second source of magic. It’s really slow and troublesome compared to most other scanning spells, but it has one major advantage, the amount of magic being examined can be controlled. This makes it a really useful spell for comparing things, especially when there is a gap between the power levels of the things you want to measure, like you and Rarity. See?” Spike smiled as Twilight nodded. He glossed over two things during his explanation. The first thing he skipped was the fact that the power gap between the two dragons was huge. Rarity was pretty strong, about at the tetrarch level, but Twilight’s magic, as far as he could tell, was nearly at the centurion level. The other thing he skipped was the name of the spell, the poor dragon’s paternity test. “Um,” Rarity raised her claw, “I believe I got most of that, but why did you bring so many sticks if you only need two?” Spike glanced at the pile. “Well, depending on how well this works, I’m going to build something for the two of you.” “Uh-huh.” Rarity nodded slowly. “Out of sticks?” Spike nodded back at a much faster pace. “Yep.” Twilight rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, ”You said it wrong.” As Rarity watched, the sticks that Spike held started to glow. Green energy started swirling on the surface of the wood, flowing towards the pony’s hooves. She reached a claw out towards the end of the closest stick. “So, all we have to do is-“ “No! Don’t touch it!” Spike’s eyes went wide as the dragoness’ claw touched the end of the stick. The swirling energies turned vibrant purple as Rarity’s ambient magic poured into the stick. The pony cut off the flow of magic and slammed his eyes shut. He hadn’t finished the calibration, and there was no telling how much magic he just absorbed, and all he could do now was wait for the migraine that would occur once the magic reached his alembic nerves. After few seconds, he realized that nothing was happening. There was no migraine, no overload to his sensory system. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw Rarity staring at him. “Sorry, I thought that…” She kept staring at him, without moving, with absolutely no change in her expression. “Rarity? Are you ok?” “Spike!” A shout from the hatchling beside him drew his attention, and he glanced over. “The stick!” His eyes snapped down. He and Rarity were still holding on to the ends of the stick. Even worse, the stick was still glowing. But, now, the stick was a mix of purple and green, both colors swirling and flowing in opposite directions, purple towards him, and green towards her. “Shoot!” He had cut off the flow of his magic, but he wasn’t able to do anything about the magic already in the stick, and she was absorbing it somehow. And, for some reason, he was still absorbing her magic. He tried to pull the stick away from her, but her claw held fast to the end. Seeing that she wouldn’t let go, he tried to drop his end of the stick, only to find it stuck to his hoof. He tried to dislodge it, but couldn’t. Twilight took a step towards Rarity. “Spike, What’s going o-“ “Get back!” Spike yelled at her without looking up. “Get back, right now!” The hatchling shrunk back. “Spike?” He sounded angry, angrier than she had ever heard him before. And why wasn’t Rarity moving? “Spike?” He said the spell was safe. “Spike?!” The pony kept trying to pull the stick away from him. He tried to shake it off, he pried at it with his other hoof, and he even tried biting at it. He screamed in frustration. Nothing he did worked, so he braced his end of the stick against the ground and started pounding away at it with his free hoof. With each strike, Spike grew more and more worried. He should have been able to break the stick easily, but it held up to every blow. His worry turned to fear. Magical energy, both his and Rarity’s, was still flowing through the stick. He could feel more of his energy being pulled away, and started to feel dizzy. “Twilight,” his voice cracked, and he tried to hold back tears, “I need you to listen to me.” He didn’t know what would happen if this displacement of magic continued, and that terrified him. “I need you to promise me that, whatever happens, you won’t touch us. Understand?” He looked over at Twilight, but his vision had started to blur, and he couldn’t see her very well. “No matter what! You can’t touch either of us! Promise me!” Twilight nodded, but Spike’s vision had blurred so much that he couldn’t see it. “Promise me, please.” The hatchling took another step back. “I- I promise.” She kept walking back. Something was wrong, and there was nothing she could do to help. She didn’t even know what was happening, all she could do was stand by and watch, powerless to protect those she cared about. “I promise.” She fell back to a sitting position and buried her face in her claws. Spike was trying to protect her, just like Rarity did at the river. Why? Why was she always the one being protected? Why did bad things keep happening around her? “Save her, Spike. Save mom.” “I will,” the pony whispered to himself. His vision wasn’t the only thing blurring, his mind started feeling fuzzy too. He looked at Rarity. All he could see was a blur of white and violet, but he knew it was her, and that she was probably still staring, unaware of what’s going on around her. What was she going through? What was she feeling as her magic drained into him and his poured into her? And, what would happen if her energy was to run out? It was possible to overuse magic energy and collapse in exhaustion, but as far as Spike knew, there had never been a case where energy was forcibly removed. He couldn’t be sure it would stop, and he couldn’t be sure that it wouldn’t kill her in the process. This whole thing was his fault, and he would make it right. He held his hoof away from him and started concentrating magic in his horn. He did his best to focus through the fog. He would have one shot at this, and the more concentrated the spell, the cleaner the cut. The cleaner the cut, the better the chances of reattaching his leg, but it probably didn’t matter. He would probably bleed to death long before help reached them. “I love you,” he whispered to Rarity. He glanced over in Twilight’s direction, barely able to make out her blurry purple form. Again, he whispered, “I love you both. I’ve had a lot of fun these last few days, and you let me feel what it’s like to have a family.” He turned away, making sure there was nothing in the path of his spell besides his own leg. “I’m sorry it couldn’t last longer.” With a loud yell, he flicked his head and released the spell. At that moment, all the energy he charged was ripped away from him. There was no spell, no cutting ribbon of air, no blood, and no detached limbs. His spell had failed. He was still connected to Rarity, and all he managed to do was send a powerful surge of magic over the link, doing who knows how much damage to the dragon he was trying to save and draining his own energy that much faster. Spike racked his mind for options. He couldn’t use his magic, he couldn’t break the stick, and he had no way to remove the stick from his hoof. Then he realized that there was one more option, one last thing he could try to stop what was happening. He didn’t want to do it, but he had no choice now. His hoof was too strong to break or cut or anything, but scales were weaker, and they would grow back. He braced Rarity with his free hoof and twisted his body, pulling the stick away from her as quickly and with as much force as he could. The stick pulled away from Rarity’s claw, ripping the scales from her palm along with it. The glow faded as the link between Spike and Rarity broke, and the stick, no longer magically bound to Spike’s hoof, went flying off into the forest. “Spike?” Rarity blinked at the pony and looked down at her claw. She could see blood, but couldn’t feel any pain. “What happened?” “I don’t know,” the pony smiled at her with tears in his eyes, “but I’m just happy you’re ok.” Spike’s vision was starting to clear, and he saw that his hoof was still resting on the dragoness’ chest. Green lines and purple swirls danced from hoof to scales, and vice versa. Twilight looked up when she heard Rarity’s voice. She saw them standing there, saw Spike smiling, and stood up. They were both safe. It was over. She started walking towards them. “Mom! You’re ok!” The hatchling picked up her pace as she got closer. “You’re both ok!” Twilight saw the smile on Spike’s face faded as the dragoness turned towards her. Then she saw the Rarity collapse mid-turn. Spike tried to catch her. “Twilight, go get-“ His eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground, still holding the dragoness.