It was three weeks before the summer solstice, the day that I had heard planned as the day of Luna’s return, when I learned of Celestia’s plan to send us ahead of her to Luna’s destination. It wasn’t very unusual, I had gone on a couple of reconnaissance missions with the Darklighters a couple of times, but this was the first time I’d gone without help from the others of Celestia’s personal guard. It was also the first time the princess had sent along Twilight.
When he’d asked about it, Celestia had chuckled (she was loosening up nicely with my help) and said, “Of course I’m sending you. You’re the only one not prepared to harm my sister before letting her run loose. And the reason I’m also sending Twi… Well, you’ll need company, and to be honest…”
She looked around conspiratorially and whispered, “She’s getting a bit of scholar’s gut, just sitting around the library all day.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth and squeezed to keep the laugh in, and Twilight herself was sitting across the table, immersed in a book and not even listening. She looks up at my pained breathing and asks, “Are you okay, Spike? You’re awful red…”
Celestia starts to giggle quietly, and I just laugh harder and struggle to keep quiet in the middle of the cafeteria we were taking our lunch in.
I shook my head at Twilight, and she glanced worriedly at Celestia, then shrugs and returns to her book.
It was the week of the summer solstice, a couple of days before the main event was scheduled. Twilight and I were flying to the small town in a royal carriage, towed behind two horses enchanted with Pegasi wings. With the open back, we had decided that we felt safer with a piece of rope tying us to the handles of the open-backed chariot.
“I can’t believe Celestia sent me to check on this festival thing. She knows how much I dislike leaving Canterlot…”
“Maybe that’s the reason she sent you Twi. You’re getting awfully pale; all this sun has to be good for you.” I poke her arm gently as I joke with her.
She has to reach up to flick my nose now. Five years has gone by a lot more kindly for me than it has her. I was now a foot and a few inches taller than Twilight, who hadn’t grown much over the years. I’d also tanned quite a bit from being outside, while she had paled with years of staying mostly inside with her books. Our hair hadn’t changed much, mine left a little shaggy but still spiky, while hers now trailed to her mid-back.
We were both pretty thin, me from constant training and her from missing one too many meals. Celestia and I both worry over Twilight’s health, but she never seems weak when she’s in the middle of a debate. She gets very worked up when she speaks of any subject she knows and feels as if she has to defend. She and one of her teachers once had a three hour argument when Twilight found a formula she believed disproved one her teacher had formulated himself.
Twilight had been proven right by three other professors.
Her intellect had soared, and she quickly became much smarter than I even aspired to be. I kept my learning to reading, writing, and math. That, and whatever my night tutors deemed necessary. I’d mastered everything except the most complicated of poisons and the strongest of offensive spells, and many of my teachers felt that I was ready for my own solo assignments.
Shadowfall still felt that I needed more practice mixing some of the more venomous concoctions, but in the end I’d convinced her that I wouldn’t need many of them with the swordplay I’d learned from Morris. Besides, I’d become adept at the transformation spell Celestia had taught me to bring out the wings of my other form, and had taught myself how to bring forth the claws of my dragon side.
There wasn’t much that I hadn’t been able to pierce with my claws. So far stone was all I could find that would give them pause, and I had spells to soften stone.
Twilight had learned many more spells, all much more peaceful in intent than any I had learned. She learned a few spells for self-defense, but nothing near as threatening as the ones I had committed to memory. She had a few shielding spells, ones that guarded about the level of the most basic of mine. While Twilight had much more magical variety, I had the upper hand through sheer power level.
I’d also had the great opportunity to learn some of Celestia’s ancient circle magics. All were defensive, except for one killing spell. They took time and concentration to cast, so they were more for planned defense than the fieldwork I’d been trained for.
Twilight sighed and brushed at the ponytail flying behind her. “My hair’s going to be a mess when I take the hairband out.”
“Then don’t,” I offered, shrugging.
She rolled her eyes and muttered something about fashion, and I said something about how the only fashion she knew of came out of books, and she flicked me again. I rubbed my poor nose; it was getting a little tender.
We landed on the outskirts of town and waved as the guards left, going back to prepare Celestia’s personal chariot. They looked resplendent in their golden gear, but shifted and pushed uncomfortably. It was a large change from their usual leather and steel, more for show than for defense, but it was what the public expected.
We walked into town, I carrying our luggage, looking around at our festive surroundings and taking in the sites of the town. It was a very cute place, full of brightly colored houses and businesses decorated to reflect what they sold. We even passed a small pink building with what appeared to be blue frosting adorning the top, sprinkled with bright blues, greens, and reds.
We walked inside, following the smells of fresh baked bread and sweet treats. We walked up to a counter being attended by an older woman with light blue hair, like cotton candy. While she shoves cupcakes and éclairs behind a glass display window, she called into the back of the store, “Customers, dear!”
A young woman bounced into the front, bright yellow and pink dress under a frilly, batter-stained blue apron that nearly matched the other woman’s hair. She gasped as walked into the room, putting her hands up to her mouth and pulling back in shock. The action caused her white hat to shift on her head, and it seemed to strain against an unknown pressure.
She took off her apron and tossed it on a rack in the corner, tossing with it her hat and unleashing a torrent of lively hair, loose pink curls flowing and bouncing over her shoulders. It was a bit of a mystery to me as to how she even got the poor hat on.
The youth jumped the counter, clearing it easily, and ran over to us. She stopped a couple of feet from us and bounced on her toes, tossing her hair into a sea of movement. She still had her hands over her mouth and was squeaking quietly, keeping rhythm with her own bounces. “You’re new!” she exclaimed, hands bursting from her face and extending as far as they could.
She bounced to me and reached up to gently pat my head, then bounced over and copied her action on Twilight. I had tensed, ready to strike, but I felt absolutely nothing from her but pure excitement and glee. “Where are you staying?” Twilight was stunned, so I said, “The library…”
She squeaked again and ran out the door. She made a small return and yelled across the store, “I’m taking my lunch break Mrs. Cake!” and was gone again.
The woman straightened and chuckled, then held out her hand and shook our hands when we reached the register. “I’m Mrs. Cake, and that whirlwind of pink was Pinkie Pie, my assistant. I apologize, but that’s the usual way Pinkie greets new guests. What can I help you with?”
We explained that we were in town to inspect everything for the Princess’s coming, and we were looking for directions to the aforementioned library. She pointed us in the right direction, and we thanked her and bought Twilight and I a couple of cupcakes. We stopped in a deli on the way to the library and grabbed a few wrapped sandwiches for dinner later. Neither of us had really had time to learn culinary skills, Twilight with her studies and I with mine.
We reached the library without another Pinkie Pie incident, and promptly dropped off our luggage in the upstairs bedroom, which we’d been told was unoccupied. The Mayor was there to greet us, offering a handshake and a large, genuine smile.
We discussed our plans with the Mayor, and received a map with a few numbers written across it. “The numbers show the locations in the order you want to visit, if you want to keep schedule and still have a little down time.”
“What are all these… question marks across the map?”
The Mayor sighed and rubbed a hand across her eyes. “That’s Rainbow Dash. She’s who you’ll want to talk to about the weather tomorrow. Unfortunately, today’s her day off, and there’s no easy way of telling where she’ll be. All we know is that she’ll be floating within earshot of the ground…”
“Floating within earshot of the ground?” Twilight asked, bewildered. She hadn’t had many friends in Canterlot, and not a lot of reason to learn about Pegasi, so she had no idea that they handled the weather directly and could touch the clouds.
“Yes,” the Mayor said, “she likes to float around Ponyville on her days off, a little cloud not really working according to the wind.”
This was our first time to hear the name of our town, and I smiled at the thought of a bunch of little ponies with a town of their own.
“How are we supposed to find her if we don’t know where she’s going to be?” Twilight asked, sounding slightly irritated. The Mayor pointed at the question marks that spotted the maps.
“These are the places she’s most often seen during the day. I would simply go about your business until you happen to see her, it’s the best way I could think of finding her, without another Pegasus to help.”
“You don’t have any other Pegasus to help us?”
“Sorry Twilight,” apologized the gray-haired woman, “but with Rainbow off today all the rest of the Pegasi are busy with the weather prep and other miscellaneous duties. Our mail deliverer might be able to help you, but I’m not sure how useful she may actually be…”
“That sounds great, where can I reach her?” I asked.
“Well, she may be at home with her little sister, they may both be at the park in the middle of town, or they could be at the deli.” Using a pencil, she marked a number seven in three places. “Or she could be wandering the streets in between one of those places. You’ll be looking for a girl about your age, with a little sister around eleven years old. Looks just like a younger version of her older sister, two pretty blondes with pale skin and yellow eyes.”
“Any other defining characteristics?” I asked. Twilight gave me a weird look, like Where’d you learn to speak like that?, and I shrugged.
“Yeah, uhm…” The Mayor looked slightly uncomfortable. “The older sister is kind of… cross-eyed?”
I nodded and made a mental note of her description, literally imagining a pencil scribbling a note on a scroll; it was how Silent had taught him to remember important things.
“Just the older sister, not the young one?” Twilight asked.
“Just her,” the Mayor said, still uncomfortable. I frowned and asked, “How many people make fun of her?” She flinched and muttered, “Too many.”
Twilight and I shared a look and Twi said, “You realize we won’t say anything, right?” The Mayor smiled and thanked us, then wiped her eyes and bid us goodbye. We watched her pause at the door and blow her nose on a tissue.
We packed away our overnight bags and sat at a table to study our maps, eating the exquisite cupcakes as we planned our way around town. Twilight and I both had to admit that following the numbers on the map seemed to be the fastest route around town, except for the question marks randomly set around town. There definitely wasn’t a good way to find the weather girl, and there didn’t seem to be a good way to find the mail Pegasus either.
Twilight stared at the map for a while, then sighed heavily and rolled the map up and put it into her sleeve. “Oh well. Let’s just head for the caterers, they’re the first stop recommended by the Mayor.”
We reached the farm to find the land covered in apple trees. It only surprised us a little; Celestia was a big fan of apples, and any dish that contained the fruit. It was a little strange that she order an entire festival worth of foods from an apple farm, but we soon discovered it was more a combination of ranch and orchard.
Set apart from the trees were animal pens, containing pigs and various fowl. A field held cows and horses, a windmill supplying steady water tow all the animals. A large man was walking along the horses, scratching their ears whenever he wandered close. He brushed the sandy–blonde hair out of his eyes and smiled at us, waving.
We walked over to the fence and reached the barrier at the same time he did. He offered a large hand we both shook and said, “Ya’ll aren’t from ‘round here, are ya’ll?” Twilight giggled at little, I assumed at his accent, and I lightly kicked her in her shin.
“We’re here to check on the catering,” I told the young man as Twilight hopped around, clutching her leg and cursing my family in very creative metaphors. I pointed out that she was pretty much half of my family, and her metaphors became much more pointed.
Looking confused, the big man pointed us to the barn, where he told us most of the cooking was going on. We walked there, Twilight limping over-dramatically, and knocked on the barn’s large double-door. A young girl, ten or eleven, opened the door and looked up at us. “What’d you want?” she asked.
A large hat came from behind her and smacked her in her head, and a woman replaced her at the door. “Sorry ‘bout Apple Bloom,” she apologized. “She hasn’t quite learned how to treat strangers yet.”
“Ah have too!” came a voice behind the door, and the hat was swiftly administered again. Replacing the headwear over her blonde ponytail, the young lady grinned at us and held out her hand, squeezing it nearly as firmly as her brother had. “I’m Applejack, pleased to meet’cha.”
“We’re here to check on how the food’s coming for tomorrow,” Twilight said as she rubbed her hand, apparently sore from the repeated squeezing. We were invited inside, where we met the entire extended family; they’d gathered for a reunion before the festival, and everyone had volunteered to help with the preparations.
After a whirlwind of faces, hands, and hospitality, we retired with Applejack into her house to talk about times and payment. In addition to whatever money they charged at the event, Celestia paid them enough to cover the expenses of food and other supplies. Twilight had been authorized the offer whatever she felt was fair, and it wasn’t long before we’d settled matters and left the house for our next destination.
We headed for the second stop on our route, a small cabin-like house near the edge of a small forest of oak trees. We could hear birds in the trees, chickens clucking in a pen, and frogs croaking near a pond around the back of the house.
We knocked on the front door, but nobody answered. We looked inside the front window, but the house was mostly dark. Walking around the side, we saw a young, pale woman seeming to conduct a chorus of birds with a baton made of an oak branch. We sat and listened to the bird song for a minute of two, and the young woman finished with a small flourish and the birds all erupted into the same, harmonious note.
We started clapping, and the young woman squeaked and hit her knees, covering her head with her hands and yelled softly. Something about taking whatever we wanted; her voice was muffled by her hands and the long pink hair that now covered her face.
Twilight and I shared a glance, then walked over and kneeled in front of the woman. “We’re not here to take anything,” Twilight told her. “We’re here about the entertainment for tomorrow’s Sun Festival.”
The young woman peeked at us through her fingers and a few errant strands of hair. I smiled at he and her eyes widened. I quickly closed my mouth, forgetting the fangs that had become a regular part of my life around Canterlot. She quickly placed her hands on my cheeks and gently pressed, pooching my lips. “Let me see them,” she said, firmly.
Bewildered, I parted my lips slightly and showed her my fangs. She seemed to study them for a bit, testing the sharpness with a finger. Pulling back she broke into a wide, white grin. “You’re Draconi, aren’t you?”
I smiled back. “Yes, although that particular word’s been outdated for a few years now.” No book I had found on transformed Dragons, a sparse subject at best, had used that word beside one from well over three-hundred years ago. I’d taken the book to Silent so she could translate it, but she had taught me the language instead. Something about it coming in useful later.
The young woman blushed and curtsied to me, introducing herself, “Hello Draconi, my name’s…” She trailed off, getting too quiet for me to hear when she saw Twilight behind me.
“What was that?” Twi asked, looking confused.
“I said its Flu…” The rest of her name was lost underneath her hair again. I looked into her eyes and smiled again, and she smiled back and said, “Fluttershy. My name’s… Fluttershy.”
“Well thank you, Fluttershy,” I said, holding her gaze. “We’ve just come to check on your music and pay you. We think your birds sound beautiful.” She blushed deeper, and we went into her house to discuss payment. After a bombardment of offers for cookies, cakes, and teas, we finally left her a coin-purse with a little extra in it. We bowed our ways out, Fluttershy still trying to offer us food for the road as we left.
I’d been watching the sky as we made our way across town, letting Twilight lead me to make sure I didn’t trip over anything. She’d gotten her revenge for what happened at Applejack’s twice before I’d had to threaten her nose with a claw.
It was halfway through my third trip to the ground that I saw the small cloud heading west. It wouldn’t have been so unusual, if it hadn’t been the only truly substantial cloud. And hadn’t been floating lazily against the wind. I rolled over onto my back and pointed up, leading Twilight to stare upwards. I hooked the back of her ankles as I got up, dumping her on her butt.
“Hey! Is that Rainbow Dash?” I called up, as Twi grumpily got to her feet. “Warned you,” was all I said to her as she glared.
“Who wants to know?” called down a feminine voice, husky from sleep and irritated.
“Twilight and Spike, royal emissaries of Celestia!” I called up, straining my voice to be sure she heard me against the wind. It was pretty peaceful up there, but there was no way of knowing the conditions up there.
“What kind of a dumb name is Spike?” she yelled down, finally poking her head over the edge of the cloud.
“What kind of name is Rainbow Dash?” I yelled back up. I heard her laugh, then saw her roll off of her cloud and plummet down, towards the ground. Her wings shot open a few meters above the ground, and we could see the shock of frizzy, multicolored hair.
“Oh,” I said lamely, sounding dumb in my own ears. She laughed and asked, “So, what was you were needing, Twilight?” We explained about needing the skies clear all tomorrow, from an hour before dawn until the last light. Rainbow blew it off as the simplest thing in the world, we paid her the wages for tomorrow, and agreed on a meeting time. She flew back up to her cloud, kicking an errant cloud back into place, and we started back on our way to stop number three.
It turned out that the town’s civic center was the next stop on our list, and we were to meet with a…
“Does that say Fashionista?” I asked Twilight, holding the map out to her and pointing at the words beside the number three. “What the heck is a Fashionista?”
Twilight shrugged. “From the base definition, I’d have to guess it’s a lady who has dedicated their life to fashion.”
I opened the door and bowed Twilight in, eliciting a curtsy and a giggle in return. It was much cooler inside the building, a pleasant turn from the hot sun. Twilight shivered a little, body acclimating to the new temperature. “They like keeping it cool in here, don’t they.”
“It’s to help me work darling,” came a voice from the middle of the room. A girl was standing there, swirls of violet curls spinning as she cast ribbons from a basket at her feet using her wand. Her white dress swirled gently around her ankles as she turned to and fro, tying ribbons to the rafters and support beams.
“I can’t concentrate when I sweat,” said the girl, summoning a new basket from a far wall. “So I asked the caretaker to turn down the thermostat for me.”
We stood back and watched her work, trying our best to stay out of her way as she brightened up the hall with colorful yards of cloth.
“This must have taken quite a bit of effort,” I said, beckoning around me at the highly decorated walls.
“Not really,” said Twilight and the girl at the same time, and the Fashionista finally turned so we could see her face. She was a very lovely woman, and I felt myself flush when she smiled at us.
“You must be another Unicorn,” she said, holding her hand out to Twilight. “My name’s Rarity. I’m the center of fashion around town; if you ever need something to wear to an event of any kind, I run a boutique near the edge of town. I also do decorations for formal events, such as the Festival tomorrow.”
“That’s actually why we’re here,” Twi said, gesturing to herself and I. “We’re emissaries from Canterlot…”
“Canterlot!” Rarity exclaimed, eyes widening. “Why dear, you should have said so before! Are all the decorations to your liking?”
“Well yes actually, I was ab…” Twilight started.
“Good! Then I must insist you accompany me to my boutique. We have so much to discuss!” Rarity flung the last of the ribbon out of her basket, looking careless but still landing in ways that were pleasing to the eye, and stacked all of her empty baskets inside each other.
Twilight looked at me, pleading in her eyes. I smiled wickedly and pointed at my shins, saying, “That sounds great Rarity, we would love to join you.”
Twilight plastered on a smile as Rarity gathered up all of her supplies and levitated them outside to a cart by the door. She was talking all the way to her store, peppering Twilight with questions as I pulled the cart along behind me. Twilight struggled with some fashion questions, and I had to help her with a couple of landmarks, but otherwise Rarity seemed to be quite happy with our answers.
We reached the boutique and Rarity opened the door, floating her gear in from the cart that I parked beside her door. We entered the cool shop, I shutting the hot air out behind me, and Twilight was immediately drawn to a lavender dress, simple in its shape with what appeared to be constellations stitched over it. She ran a hand over what appeared to be satin.
“You can try that on, if you’d like,” Rarity said, closing the door to the storeroom she exited from. “I finished it this morning, and I’ve no prospective buyers.” Twilight nodded and gently removed the dress from the mannequin, walking over to a dressing room pointed out by Rarity.
“She’s going to buy that dress,” Rarity said, sounding a little smug. “That dress is quite outside of my usual designs, and I wouldn’t have made it for anyone in this town.”
“Does that happen to you often?” I asked. “Making a dress for someone you don’t know yet?”
“Not often, but not rarely either.” She busied herself pulling out a full-length mirror and a box of what appeared to be cosmetics and hair products.
“Do you usually offer a full make-over with your dresses?”
“Yes actually,” she grinned at me. “I take great pride in my role as Fashionista, and I’ve dedicated myself to beauty. Everyone should look good darling, and I help them with that.” She tossed me a bottle and pointed me to a room. “And you’re no different. Wash your hair with that, I’ve got a suit for you as well.”
Frowning at my revenge’s backfire, I obeyed and went into the bathroom and rinsed my hair with the smelly shampoo. I made sure that the rest of me smelled presentable, swiping the sweat away from my face and cleaning the backs of my neck and ears.
When I walked out Rarity was nearly done with Twilight’s hair, and was getting some hair accessories ready. She saw me and smiled, then pointing to a package sitting out on a counter. “Change please. I’ll have Twilight done by the time you get back out, and we can start on your hair.”
Twilight snickered as I grabbed the box and walked into the changing room she had used earlier. I stuck out a tongue as I walked past her, amplified three times by the mirrors.
It didn’t seem a difficult suit, but it still took me awhile to get it how I thought it should look. I walked out without the jacket on; it’d been a warm summer, and I didn’t want the sweat to dirty the new shirt. Rarity looked me over, adjusted a couple of things, then nodded and smiled. “How’s it feel. Need any tailoring?”
I shook my head. “No, it feels pretty great.” I wiggled my shoulders, feeling where my wings were hidden. I hoped I didn’t need to use them anytime soon; it would be a shame to ruin such a nice shirt.
“Good. Now, come here and let’s see what we can do about that hair of yours…”
We left shortly after, heading to the library in our new, black tie clothes. In my case, they were blue tie.
Rarity had tired a couple of products and styles on my hair before giving up and sticking my hair back into the rough spikes I was accustomed to. She said it was what looked best anyhow, and she didn’t want to mess with a good thing. We’d thanked her and paid for all the decorations, and our brand new clothes.
We were on our way back to the library, to our temporary living arrangement; it was the only thing the princess could do with the distinct lack of a hotel in the town. Twilight had made it clear that she didn’t mind at all, but I made sure there was a shower and kitchen before I gave my own okay.
It was early night when we got home, the last wisps of the sun disappearing behind the horizon. We were both tired from the day’s activities, and the social call Rarity had imposed on us hadn’t helped. I dropped our old clothes by the door, along with a few other items Twilight and I had accrued.
I heard breathing and froze. Twilight hadn’t noticed as tired as she was, but I couldn’t stop from noticing the multitude of inhales and exhales. I turned, drawing my wand and flicking on the light.
“Surprise!” called Pinkie Pie, elongating the “i” until the word lasted ten seconds. A crowd joined her, popping little streamers and cheering. The cheer died out when they saw me with my wand extended, with a few fire spells on my lips. Twilight had jumped, not expecting the light or the party, but I was able to holster my wand before she could see the way I was aiming it.
“Wha-what is this?” Twi stammered, holding a hand to her chest as though to keep her heart from beating out of her chest.
“Why, it’s your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ surprise party!” Pinkie said, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands together softly. “Welcome to Ponyville!”
Twilight sighed and walked over to a table laden with assorted foods and drink. “How in Equestria did you manage to pull this all together in your lunch break?”
Pinkie waved at the rest of the party and they seemed to relax, everyone starting to speak among each other and set some quiet music on the simple radio. “Well, Mrs. Cake let me have a little time extra on my break, and I know lots of people who like to help me set up welcome parties.”
Twilight poured herself a glass of drink from a bottle without a label, then took a sip. She swallowed a little and then spit the rest back into her cup, eyes watering from her gagging. Pinkie handed her another bottle that she chugged as I picked up and smelled the previous bottle.
“Pinkie, why would there be an unmarked bottle of pepper oil next to the drinks?”
“You can’t really blame Pinks for that one.”
I turned to see Rainbow Dash swagger up and grin at me, taking the bottle from me. “The best pranks are always the ones pulled on the unknown target.”
“That’s nah funny Rainbow,” said a country voice from my left, and Applejack walked up to us, frowning. “Ah’ve been on the receivin’ end of your pranks one too many times.”
“I must agree with dear Applejack here Dash, that was a bit too harsh.” Rarity also appeared out of the crowd, Fluttershy following along with a small cup and straw. Rarity had changed out of her white dress into a blue affair, chaste enough to be socially acceptable but still suggestive of her features, enough that I found myself blushing as I looked away to the foods on the table. A giggle made me suspect she noticed.
Rainbow dash frowned and held up her hands. “Okay guys, I get it, don’t have to all gang up on me.” She turned to Twilight and handed her another water bottle from the table. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Twilight swallowed half the bottle, then swished a mouthful around before answering. “No, I’m okay. Just very, very surprised.”
“And not good party-surprised, even!” Pinkie contributed.
Rainbow threw her hands up and walked away, muttering about people with no sense of humor and how Vinyl appreciated a good prank.
Twilight finished washing the heat out of her mouth and looked around the library. “Who are all these people? Is all of Ponyville here?” she asked Pinkie.
“Of course not silly! Quite a few people have to get up early to prepare stalls for the festival, and some have their businesses open for the tourists, and poor Lyra is sick and her wife Bonbon is home taking care of her, and…”
“I understand, Pinkie,” Twilight said, copying the other woman’s infectious grin. “Everyone that could make it.”
Pinkie nodded and scooped up some dip with a carrot, crunching loudly and happily. Fluttershy joined her, making the very act of eating seem introverted. I smiled and joined her with a carrot from the plate, and she flushed at the attention.
“How long is this party planned for?” Twi was asking Pinkie, who had moved on to a celery stalk.
“Until sunrise silly. Everybody is going to be awake anyway, may as well party the night away!” Pinkie shot both of her hands into the air with this declaration, celery dripping ranch into her hair. She quickly wiped it away with a napkin from the table.
Twilight nodded, her face puckered in a frown that suggested she had suspected as much. “Well, I’m pretty tired. You’re welcome to use the library of course, but I think I’ll opt out. Coming Spike?”
Pinkie’s crestfallen face brightened again when I said, “Actually, I think I’d like to get to meet some more of these people. Pinkie herself seems worth the time.”
Looking between me and Rarity, Twilight deadpanned, “Uh-huh. Okay then, enjoy yourself.” She turned and walked up the stairs into her room, waving over her shoulder at us right before she shut the door.
I shrugged at the other three people. Rarity nodded, understanding; Pinkie shrugged, keeping up what seemed to be her usual grin; Fluttershy continued sipping at the drink she’d recently refilled.
New music started rolling through the library, louder than before and with a heavier bass. A cheer went up and I looked over at a youth with spiky blue hair messing with equipment I didn’t recognize. I wasn’t able to figure out how she could see through the thick red glasses she had balanced on her nose. Either she could, or didn’t need to.
I motioned towards her with my drink. “Who’s she?” I asked Pinkie.
“She’s the person you call for new-agey techno music.” Pinkie said. “I wasn’t sure what kind of music you two would be into, so I guessed. Like it?”
I grinned. “Not really, but most of the other people here seem to, and it doesn’t bother me.” I smirked and gestured towards Twi’s door. “It might be bothering her, but that’s kind of what she gets for being such a sour-puss.”
Fluttershy giggled and Rarity frowned at her, making her flush and apologize quietly. The joke passed over my head though, so I just mentioned that I was thinking about going over to talk to Rainbow. The ladies bid me goodbye, and I started across the room.
It proved to be difficult to make any progress across the room. I met scores of people interested in introducing themselves, and more people who had heard of “Celestia’s pet dragon” and were curious about the princess and myself. It took much of the night to reach the deejay’s stand, and by the time I got there Rainbow had moved across the room again. I sighed and headed to the front door, looking for some fresh air.
I managed to reach a door, but I wound up in Twilight’s room instead of outside. “Bathroom’s downstairs and to the right,” a very sleepy voice called down from a loft that housed a bed.
I walked up the short staircase and to Twilight’s bed, sitting down near her feet. “Having a good welcome party, Twi?”
She waved at me and grumbled something, and I smiled and left her room. On my way out I locked her door, and I descended the stairs back into the crowd.
It was much quicker making my way to the outside door than it had been to cross the room. I squeezed my way through, pressing gently on the edge of the crowd to pass between the door and the frame. I breathed in the chill night air, feeling goose-bumps bloom as my lungs absorbed the air. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”
I turned to Rainbow Dash, who was leaning against the wall with a drink in-hand. I joined her, sitting on the stoop beside her calves. She slid down to the dirt, and we sat silently beside each other for a moment.
“You’re hiding something,” she said evenly, taking a sip from her drink.
“Everyone is,” I said, shrugging before my shoulders could tense. She smiled and tapped my forehead.
“You’re hiding something special. Something not even Twilight knows.”
I shrugged again, unsure of what to do. Who was this Rainbow, and how did she seem to know so much about me?
She looked into my face and laughed. “I can see your mind trying to puzzle me out. You won’t ever get it, though.”
She handed a scroll of papyrus over and I was surprised to see stats and columns of information about me. At the bottom was a seal in black ink: a lightning bolt with wings.
“Spitfire always did get a bit much into the cloak and dagger of things. I mean, who even uses that old paper anymore?” She grinned at the dawning realization she saw on my face. She saluted crookedly and intoned, “Our lives for the princess.”
I looked her over and asked, “Aren’t you a bit young, to be part of the princess’s personal guard?” She bit her lip and looked up into the moon. “Yeah actually, I am. I’m what Spitfire calls a Sidelighter, pretty much just support for the real Darklighters.” She poked me in my side, gently. “And I want you to tell me how you got in, when I know you’re younger than me.”
“I rescued Celestia from an assassin when I was two days old,” I said, keeping it as deadpan as possible. Rainbow gazed wide-eyed at me and I couldn’t help but grin. “It’s because I’m one of the last dragons, and because I’ve been with her for a few centuries in my egg.”
This information didn’t lessen her gaze, and I stared up into the leaves and at the stars twinkling between the branches. “That’s… pretty cool.”
I turned to her and echoed her grin. “I guess it sounds cool.” I punched her lightly in the arm and stuck out my tongue. “Way cooler than ‘Sidelighter’.”
She punched my arm much harder, though just as playfully. I rubbed the spot and made a face. “What, the big bad dragon not unbreakable?” she taunted.
I grinned and pulled my wand. Repeating the words I had memorized, I transformed my arm. Thick, leathery scales grew and my arm thickened as new muscles grew in place of my human ones. Her eyes widened again, but then she scoffed and chocked out something along the lines of Transformation magic being all illusions. I held my arm out to her, offering to let her give it another smack.
Instead she carefully placed her hands on my forearm. “It’s… smooth. And kind of soft. How is it so soft?”
“I guess it’s because I never have my true form out? I never use it unless I need to block something…”
It might not seem very defensive, as long as it took me to cast the spell to turn myself, but it was useful for before battles. I could turn just the skin quicker, but it was thin and felt insubstantial, even if it was just as tough without the muscle.
Rainbow ran her hands over my arm a bit more, than withdrew her hands. “Thank you. I’m sure not a lot of people have felt living dragon-skin before.”
I let the human skin cover my arm again, shivering at the cold water feeling. “No, I suppose not many alive now have. And those who have are probably left scarred. Not many dragons are tolerant of outsiders at all, much less friendly.”
She reached out again and felt my arm, now smooth and soft if a little sun-worn. Her hands were as soft as the clouds she worked with, and nearly as pale. I shivered at her touch and pulled away slowly. I wasn’t used to anyone touching me the way she had, and I was surprised when I discovered that my skin missed her touch.
“So,” I started, rubbing my face to get the blood out of my cheeks. “Spitfire asked you to help me out?”
“No, not really,” she said, grinning. “Mostly she just told me about you; told me to make sure you knew you had help here.”
I looked the girl up and down. “Just you then?”
She punched me again, but ended up with bruised knuckles this time. “Ow ow ow… Yeah just me, who else would you need?”
I laughed, patting her shoulder and saying, “I was mostly just curious. Thanks for not saying this in front of Twi. I… don’t like having her worry over me. She knows pretty much nothing about the Darklighters; I’m not even sure she knows we exist still.”
She stood up, holding out a hand to help me up. “It’s cool, Dragon-boy. Spitfire told me the Darklighters were pretty incognito, I figured you would want to hide that from your sister.” She gave me a sideways look. “She is just your sister, right?” I snorted and coughed, surprised at the idea.
“Yeah, Twi’s just a sister to me. No blood, just grown up together.”
She rolled her eyes. “I could figure out the no blood part myself, Spike.” I stuck my tongue out at her, letting it split itself and wiggling both halves separately. She scrunched up her face and made a gagging sound, then turned with me and walked up the stairs.
“Speaking of romance,” I said as we stood at the door. “Who’s the apple of your eye?” I asked pointedly, imagining Applejack’s brother to be about her type.
She blushed and smiled. “Fluttershy’s my special someone, actually.” She winked at me and left me standing on the stoop, flushed and staring.