//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Step-Parents // by Azreale //------------------------------// “Well, I hope I don’t have to go through something like that again for a while.” Twilight flung her castle bedroom door shut and collapsed onto her bed. Her crown rolled off her head carelessly and rested near her pillows as she let out a sigh of relief. It had been two days of long, hard work negotiating with the griffons, who thought they were being undercut in one of their trade deals, but in the end, the three alicorns pulled through, and it was Luna who came up with a better deal, one which clearly benefitted both parties. Twilight was just about to roll over and claim her much-earned sleep when a knock at the door interrupted her. “What is it?” Twilight called out, trying to make her voice sound pleasant. A muffled response answered her, one which she could not make out. She waited a few moments before huffing and getting up to open the door. “What was that?” A crystal messenger stood at the door, who bowed quickly when he saw her. “I apologize, Your Highness, I am under orders to deliver you this message from His Highness, The Crystal Prince Shining Armor. He has marked it as urgent and has informed me that it is for your eyes only.” “Oh my gosh!” Twilight gasped, levitating the rolled scroll from the messengers open saddlebag and nodding to him. “Thank you, sir. You’ve done well. Be seated in the lobby and get the servants to bring you something to eat and drink. You’ve earned a rest.” The messenger nodded gratefully and his limbs relaxed as he turned and began his walk down the hallway to the lobby. Eagerly, Twilight closed the door behind her and unrolled the scroll, sitting down on her bed. Her eyes scanned the page rapidly, then slowly as she re-read the letter. “Huh?” Dear Princess Twilight, Today I learned that our mother has found another certain special somepony, somepony that you might remember from your last visit here. That certain special somepony is somepony that I did not approve of for you, and is somepony that I do not approve of for our mother. I have devised a plan – a plan that literally has no possible flaws – to break up mom and Flash Sentry, and get her back with dad, before she has the chance to have foals with him, as she threatened that she would. Please respond to me via. letter if you are interested in assisting me in this endeavor. I am certain that you are as eager to see mom and dad back together as I am. Your Loving BBBFF, Shining Armor. “WHAT?!” Twilight yelped, dropping the letter in anger. “My MOTHER is dating my ex-coltfriend?!” The new Princess felt like stomping angrily on her brother’s letter, but refrained from doing so. “I can’t believe her! ARG!” “Twilight?” Twilight heard a gentle, serene voice that she had heard so many times in her life. Turning, Twilight hung her head and sighed. She didn’t know why, but her former mentor’s voice always had the ability to calm those around her. “Yes, Celestia?” Twilight asked, taking deep breaths. “Is there something I can help you with? Are the griffons not satisfied with the new deal?” “No, Twilight. I heard you shouting. Is everything alright?” Celestia entered Twilight’s bedroom and wrapped her wing around her in a motherly fashion. “You know that you can tell me anything.” “I know, Princess. I’m sorry for disturbing you. I just got a letter from my brother, which included some… less than desirable things.” Twilight looked up to Celestia, and saw that the older Princess was staring between the letter and her with wide, flustered eyes. "What kind of things?" She asked slowly. Twilight shook her head sadly and looked off into the corner of the room. "Some things that I'm not too happy to see, or hear. My brother said some things that I never thought I would hear out of his mouth... or anypony's mouth, to be exact." Celestia blinked a few times at Twilight's words. “Twilight Sparkle, you are aware that the Crystal Kingdom Empire is still a part of Equestria, correct?” “O-Of course…” Twilight stuttered, wondering what had brought about that question. “And you are aware that incestuous relationships are one hundred percent illegal across every corner of Equestria, correct?” Twilight stared wide eyed at her mentor. “Of course it is, Celestia! Everypony knows that! Why would you ask me that?” Twilight asked, feeling a little bit disgusted at even the thought of being a part of an incestuous relationship with one of her family members. Her eyes fell on the discarded letter that was lying on the floor. “Wait a second, did you think…” “I’m overreacting again, aren’t I?” Celestia realized her folly and chuckled to herself. “I apologize. I should have asked to see the letter before I jumped to conclusions. You merely stated that the letter held undesirable things, and I though the worst of it. If you can believe it, it's not the first time that something like that has happened, so I just assumed...” To the untrained eye, Celestia’s face held no blush, but to Twilight, who had been around her mentor for her entire life, could see a twinge of red hidden beneath her white face. “I got word from Shining saying that my mother is seeing a stallion that I myself used to date,” The younger alicorn hung her head. “It feels so unfair to me, Celestia. Flash broke up with me, and now my mother gets to go out with him? Like, what the hay?!” Twilight’s own use of such curse words surprised even her, but she was so flustered that it didn’t matter. If Celestia was offended by such terms, she didn’t show it. “Now my student, I know that you must feel angry, or upset, or maybe even a little jealous,” Celestia rested her head on top of Twilight’s in a loving fashion. “But there is nothing you can do about it except for merely telling your dear mother how you feel, and hope that she will understand.” “But my mom has always been this way! She’ll do things behind my back, and when I tell her that it makes me mad, she’ll apologize and promise not to do it again, but then a week later, it’s all ‘oh, sorry Twilight, I donated all your books to the school without telling you, whoops!’” Twilight ground her teeth together. “Do you have any idea how infuriating that is?!” “Of course I do,” Celestia cooed gently, smiling in a nostalgic way. “I do have a little sister, you know. And we weren’t always so old and wise as we are today.” At that, Twilight glanced upwards at the older Princess. “You mean, you and Luna used to get into fights and stuff too?” “Of course we did! Obviously, the biggest fight that we’ve gotten into happened approximately 1005 years ago, but Luna has always been on the receiving end of my pranks, and I on hers. Though I must say, she’s a little rusty after being gone for so long.” She added with a wink. “But back to the matter on hoof: would you rather I leave, so you may meditate on the letter?” “I think so, if it’s not too much to ask,” Twilight smiled sadly. “It’s a lot to take in at once. I had no clue that my mother was seeing somepony else. Thank you for the advice though, Celestia. It’s always wonderful to hear your opinions on a topic.” “And it’s always wonderful knowing that there’s somepony around to listen to my advice. Do not hesitate to call for me if you need anything else, my dear Twilight. I’m always here for you.” The two alicorns exchanged hugs and a brief nuzzle before Celestia stood and took her leave. Twilight watched her go, and when her door was finally shut, she picked up the letter and re-read it yet again. After a few minutes in solitude, Twilight stood and walked over to her desk to pull out a pad of crisp, Canterlot stationary, and a pen. She desperately wished that she had Spike around to send a letter directly to Shining, but a messenger would have to do. Dear Prince Shining Armor, It was just wonderful to learn of my mother dating my ex-coltfriend. Even more wonderfully it was to learn that you had a plan to break the two of them up. While I would normally be 100% behind this endeavor, I cannot assist you in such a thing, as I feel that it would put a stain on my otherwise spotless conscious. I wish you the best of luck, however, and while I cannot help you, I secretly hope that you succeed. Your Morally Correct LSBFF, Princess Twilight Sparkle. “There! Now, to find that messenger so he can take it back to Shiny.” Twilight thought aloud as she walked slowly over to the door, rolling up the parchment as she went. Careful not to put any wrinkles or creases in it, she folded it under her wing and went to open the door. Yet just as she was outstretching her hoof to swing it open, a swirl of green fire came through her open window, and a scroll landed ungracefully at her hooves. “What’s this? A letter?” Sure enough, the rolled up paper contained the unmistakable mark of the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight quickly unrolled it, frowning. She had told Spike not to contact her while she was away on business unless it was a serious problem. Twilight, Dad kissed Rarity after you left. Rarity kissed dad back. Send help. Preferably in tissue form. We’re all out. Spike. The page was marked at the bottom by a few little tear stains, and for a few brief moments, Twilight couldn’t speak. She thought that Shining’s letter had surprised her, but Spike’s took the cake – as well as everything else in the bakery. For a minute, the alicorn considered the possibility of Spike lying, or misconstruing a few details – he had a tendency of jumping to conclusions. “Just like a certain Princess I know.” Twilight thought grimly. Yet something in the letter indicated that her number one assistant wasn’t lying. She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes, briefly imagining her father, her dear, pure, kind father, kissing one of her best friends – kissing, among other rigorous activities. Twilight nearly gagged as she shook the mental image out of her head. She lifted up her right wing and allowed her reply to Shining drop out from under it. “What is with my parents right now?!” Twilight muttered angrily as she flung open her desk drawer with her magic and brought over the paper and pen again, scribbling a new letter for her brother rapidly. Her eyes only scanned over the letter once for spelling and grammatical errors before she nodded firmly to herself, ran out the bedroom door without closing it after her, and down to the lobby where she had told the crystal messenger to go. ~~~~~~~~~~ Nowhere in the Golden Oaks Library could a baby dragon be found. Instead, one very sad looking pony – an older stallion – could be found, sitting shamefully in silence. In fact, nowhere in Ponyville could a baby dragon be found. Yet if one were to go to the eastern border of the Everfree Forest, on the right side of the river, the side with the extensive apple orchard on it, a baby dragon could be found, looking sorrowfully at his own pitiful expression in the water. Spike had been sitting there for what felt like days, but in reality, was probably only a few hours. The only times that he had moved from his spot were to run to Fluttershy’s cottage for the night, which was mercifully located near Sweet Apple Acres. The timid pegasus was kind enough to let him sleep at her home for as long as he needed to, and he graciously accepted her offer. He hadn’t said a word, and he hadn’t even flinched when he thought he heard movements coming from the dark forest nearby. He just gazed into his reflection’s wet eyes and wept some more. The rustling of nearby trees grew louder, but he didn’t care. He just cried some more, as he had been doing for hours. Spike knew that he was almost out of tears, but he didn’t stop or even slow down. An even louder rustle startled him, and this time it was much closer than before. He looked up and around at his surroundings, but saw nopony. “H-Hello?” He called out, his voice shaky, but from fear or sadness, he couldn’t tell. “Is anypony out there?” More rustling. It was coming from a nearby bush, a large one. The leaves on it trembled slightly as it wiggled back and forth. “Hello?” “Oh let’s just go, he knows we’re here.” An annoyed, raspy voice sighed. Spike took a tentative step towards the bush. “Well of course he does, since you just had to yell that out!” A southern voice replied, equally annoyed sounding. “Girls, can we please not fight?” A charmingly light, squeaky voice intervened. Before Spike could take a step back, two figures, one orange and one yellow, came tumbling out of the bush in an embrace, pushing and shoving each other. A white figure jumped out after them. Spike blushed immediately at the knowledge that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been watching him cry. “What are you three doing out here?!” Spike demanded in an authoritarian voice, trying to mask his insecurities. “You shouldn’t spy on people, you know!” At his words, three heads slumped low to the ground. “We know.” The young fillies chimed at once. “We just thought that if we could be extra sneaky, then we could get our spy cutie marks!” Apple Bloom explained, rubbing her mane and putting her big bow off center. “Besides, it was really fun!” Sweetie Belle put in. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom immediately clamped their hooves over Sweetie’s mouth. “N-Not that we were spying on you for very long, of course.” Scootaloo laughed. “Yeah! It’s not like we had heard that you left the library all teary eyed, and asked Fluttershy where you were!” Apple Bloom grinned shyly, hoping that her lie would hold up. “What are you guys talking about; we’ve been out here for two hours!” Sweetie reminded them, giving Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both a light knock on the head as a reminder. “Honestly, you two are so spacey sometimes!” The earth filly and the pegasus filly both groaned at Sweetie’s remarks. Sweetie Belle, for the most part, remained oblivious as to what she had done wrong. “Why were you crying anyways, Spike?” Spike sighed deeply. He had wanted to avoid this conversation if he could, but it was apparent by their curious stares that they weren’t going to let it go. “I just found out that… my crush is seeing someone else.” He mumbled, keeping his voice low in case anypony else was nearby for any reason. He was surprised to find, however, that even though he had worded his response in such a plain, dull way, the three fillies immediately latched onto him, hugging him and telling him motivational phrases. “Just keep going, Spike!” Apple Bloom cried out. “We’re here for you now! No need to worry!” “Oh, what an awful thing to find out, Spike!” Sweetie Belle cooed, stroking his scales. “If there’s anything we can do to make you feel better, just ask!” “Yeah, if you wanna come and spend the rest of the day with us, you can! I mean, you might not be able to get a cutie mark, but you can still have fun with us!” Scootaloo pounded on his back hard with her hoof, causing Spike to have to hide a grunt of pain. “Really? I-I wouldn’t be intruding on you guys or anything?” He asked the three girls sheepishly. “Other than Twilight and her friends, I never really get to hang out with anyone else, especially ponies my own age.” “Really? Well look no further than the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Sweetie Belle announced proudly, swinging her forearm over his shoulder and pulling her two friends in for a group hug. “We would never turn down a fellow in need, right girls?” “Right!” The other two affirmed, yelling loudly. Spike felt a grin creep onto his face, one that he neither could hinder, nor wanted to hinder. It was his first smile in days. “Well… alright! D-Does this mean… I mean, if I’m hanging out with you girls and all… I know I’m a dragon, but maybe… if it isn’t too much to ask…?” “New Cutie Mark Crusader!” Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo screamed even louder this time as they released him from the group hug. Scootaloo ran off towards the bush where the three had emerged from, while Sweetie and Apple Bloom tugged him along eagerly. “Where are we going?” He asked quizzically, peering curiously around the bush. There, Scootaloo was adjusting her helmet over her mane. She had one hoof poised on her scooter, and attached to the back of it was a large wagon, big enough for three or four ponies – maybe five, albeit very uncomfortably. “We’re goin’ to the clubhouse! Jump in, Spike!” Apple Bloom ordered, pushing him into the wagon. Spike lost his footing and collapsed into it. Sweetie and Apple Bloom jumped in after he had brought himself into sitting position. “Everypo-Everyone ready back there?” Scootaloo asked without looking back. Her wings started to flicker up and down slowly. “Ready!” Scootaloo’s three passengers shouted in unison. Without further ado, Scootaloo took off, her little wings buzzing and rapidly picking up speed as she whizzed through the trees. Spike held onto the wagon for dear life, but Sweetie and Apple Bloom reclined backwards, Apple Bloom with her arms behind her head. “It won’t be long before we get there, and then you can become an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed to Spike, who was too terrified to open his eyes. “Aren’t you excited?!” “Aren’t you worried for your life?!” Spike retorted, cracking one eye open just enough to see Sweetie Belle’s face. “Why would I be?” She asked him. “Look how fast she’s going!” “Well duh, how else do you think we’re gonna get there quickly?” Apple Bloom piqued up, raising an eyebrow at the dragon. “Scootaloo’s driven us around enough times – we know not to doubt her anymore.” As if on cue, the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse appeared behind some apple trees, looking just as fresh as the day it was first made. “Let’s go Spike! The faster we can get you initiated, the faster we can get to crusading!” “Yeah! Come on!” Sweetie grabbed his arm and tugged him up the stairs and inside, as Scootaloo followed soon after, leaving her helmet on the handlebar of her scooter. Spike couldn’t help but to smile again as he saw the three girls run around frantically, trying to make as many preparations as they could. Scootaloo pushed out a podium from Celestia knows where, and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom busied themselves with scribbling down something on a couple of queue cards. He felt at home with these girls. While he loved Twilight and her friends, he felt more like an annoying little brother tagging along, than an actual member of her group. Here, he was surrounded – well, not quite surrounded, but almost – by a group of ponies his age, and he felt remarkably happy. “We’re almost ready Spike; just give us a few minutes!” Sweetie told him absently, not looking up from the card that she was writing on. Spike merely nodded, even though he knew that she couldn’t see it, and took a seat against the wall. “It’s perfectly fine, girls. Take your time.”