Hoof Covers Bruise
by Arwhale
Spike stood in front of the library door. With every deep breath his bulging belly rose and fell, staring up at him in mockery. He glared right back at it, brow creased with determination.
Today was the day. Today was the day he was going to start getting in shape.
A scaly hand reached out to open the door, but after hovering over the doorknob for several seconds, it fell right back to his side. He bit his lip.
I should probably stretch a little more… he thought to himself. Don’t wanna start my workout before I’m ready.
He placed his feet together and reached down to touch his toes, but his belly acted as a wall to impede his progress. Nonetheless, he continued to push against the barrier, wiggling his fingers as they hovered only an inch away from his toes…
“Uhh… Spike?” A feminine voice piped up from behind. His concentration was broken instantly, and he twisted his head around to look over his shoulder.
Twilight stood at the base of the stairs, with two books surrounded in a purple aura hovering on either side of her head. She looked at her assistant with an amused smirk on her face. “Isn’t that, like, the fourth time you’ve stretched since you came down here?”
Spike’s cheeks turned red as he shot to his feet. “Uh, uhh, yeah. I mean, no. I mean… not the fourth time…”
Twilight sighed. He was trying to beat around the bush, but she wasn't going to let him.
“Spike… are you going to run or aren’t you?”
Her question nailed him right to the wall. Spike replied immediately, raising his voice as he went on the defensive.
“Yeah, yeah, of course! I’m just making sure that I’m… loosened up enough. Y’know, to make sure I don’t pull something…”
Twilight chuckled. Her question obviously struck a nerve.
“Suuure, Spike. But if you ask me, it seemed more like you were about to pull something when you were stretching just a second ago. Your arms looked like they were about to come right out of their sockets,” she laughed.
Her giggles caused Spike’s cheeks to flush red with indignation. “No they weren’t! I mean, didn’t! I mean…”
“Spike, listen for just a second,” Twilight interrupted him before he could dig himself into an even deeper hole. “You can’t keep putting it off, okay? If you don’t force yourself, you’re never gonna do it.”
As a usual reflex, the dragon opened his mouth to argue with her, but before the words could leave his mouth, they became trapped in his throat. His hands ran over his belly, feeling it more closely. Despite the thick layer of scales, there was no hiding the extensive layer of fat beneath which gave under his touch like a water balloon.
Twilight hovered the books over to a nearby shelf, sticking them into their previous slots. Spike clutched at his stomach from the other end of the room, lips pursed together in contemplation.
“Well? Are you gonna do it?” She asked. Spike’s eyes darted between her, his stomach, and the front door in rapid succession multiple times. With the alicorn staring at him it was impossible to put it off any longer. It was now or never. At last, he gave in with a deep exhale.
“Alright, fine,” he groaned, inching over to the door. “I’ll go now. I’ll stop putting it off. You win.”
Twilight smirked. She muttered under her breath, “Yeah, I usually do…”
“What?”
“Oh, nothing,” she smiled sweetly. “Have a good run! And remember, start out slow and keep your breathing nice and easy!”
Her advice was met with a laugh from Spike, who crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, okay, Twi. Since when did you suddenly become a running expert? You read that in one of your books?”
This time it was her turn to blush. “Maaaybe… but that doesn’t make it less true!”
Spike blew a raspberry. “Pfft. Suuure, Twilight.” He made his best imitation of her from before. Twilight gave him a disapproving glare. “Anyway, I’m gonna go now. Have fun with your books!”
He opened the door, scurrying outside to avoid a book Twilight threw at him from across the room. It smacked against the wall right where he had been standing and fell to the floor with a thud. Before she could launch anything else, he slammed the door behind him with a mischievous giggle.
When it was clear he had left, Twilight picked the book back up with her magic, inspecting it for damage or marks. Miraculously, there were none. She put the book back onto the shelf, unable to prevent a smile from forming on her face. She chuckled with a good-natured shake of her head.
“Oh, Spike, what am I going to do with you?”
…
Unfortunately for the baby dragon, in the midst of his excitement, he had totally forgotten Twilight’s advice.
He started out fleeing the library at a pace he could not possibly maintain, and within less than five minutes he was forced to stop, coughing violently with his hands on his knees. He had at least made it down the street, but now he felt like a vacuum was sucking the air from his lungs, and the longer he leaned forward to catch his breath, the more his belly began to weigh him down and pull him toward the street.
When he looked back up he noticed a few ponies were shooting him perplexed looks as they walked past. His brow creased with newfound determination when he realized other ponies were watching him, and he broke out into a jog once more.
This time, he made it all the way around the corner before he had to stop again. He coughed into a closed fist, holding his gut with his other hand.
Maybe this whole “getting in shape” thing isn’t for me, he reasoned to himself. After all, Twilight had said a while ago that a little bulge in the belly was normal for his age…
Still, he knew that if he showed back up at the library after only being out for less than fifteen minutes, Twilight would never let him hear the end of it. She’d probably nag him, telling him that he should have listened to her and taken it slow, and that she had, once again, been right all along. But he could have none of that.
So, he settled for a compromise and walked instead.
He soon found the exercise to be more up his alley. All he had to do was walk around town for a while and Twilight wouldn’t even know he hadn’t been running, he surmised. After all, walking still counted as working out…right?
Suddenly, the intoxicating aroma of cinnamon and warm sugary glaze greeted his nostrils. His head whirled around, searching for the source of the smell: Sugarcube Corner.
He froze. Oh no.
Nutmeg, spiced apples, brown sugar and honey, flaky pastries fresh from the oven, buttercream icing: he could smell all of it. Each scent conjured up images in his brain of the glass counter inside, lined with the finest cakes, tarts, cobblers, and pies that could be found.
Oh…yes.
His stomach purred seductively underneath him with newfound appetite. He kept his feet rooted to the spot, resisting his urges to just give in and call it a day. However, the rest of his body subconsciously leaned forward, gravitating towards the beloved bakery.
It’s okay, Spike, his growling stomach seemed to say. You’ve been exercising for long enough. It’s only your first day, after all. You really should take a break and treat yourself to something nice. You totally deserve it.
“No…” said Spike aloud. “I… I shouldn’t…”
Don’t be silly, his stomach growled again in reply. Spike ignored it as best as he could, trying instead to think of something else to take his mind off the heavenly smell, but it was fruitless.
Come on, Spike, it said. He clenched his jaw muscles tight. Just one little cupcake…
“No,” he refused. But his stomach wasn’t quite ready to give up just yet. This time, it didn’t say anything in particular, but its message to his brain was quite clear.
Wuuuuurpp!
That was it. With a final resolution, Spike pointed at his belly with one of his sharp claws and exclaimed in a loud voice, “Shut up! I’m not gonna do it, so stop trying!”
“Err… excuse me?”
The sound of a pony’s voice close by made him jerk his head up, looking in the direction of the speaker. Lyra stood right in front of him, only a few meters away. Her pupils dilated with worry.
“Err, Spike? Who are you talking to?”
Spike's mouth fell open. “Uhh, uh… nobody. Just… talking to myself,” he stammered.
To your stomach. Your stomach.
Lyra backed up a few steps, watching him closely. She smiled, but her face gave him a clear indication that she thought he was crazy. Spike didn’t blame her.
“Um… okay, then… H-have a good day.”
Spike smiled back with a pair of crimson cheeks on full display. “Thanks. You… you, too.”
She waved to him, and without another word they went their separate ways. Once she was gone, Spike sighed with relief, exiting downtown and leaving the aroma of fresh baked goods behind.
Ponyville was small, and pretty soon he had made a left turn into the residential area of town. Multi-leveled houses stood on either side of him, containing sizable yards in addition to flower and vegetable gardens which were in full bloom. It was not like he never came to this part of Ponyville, but considering all of Twilight’s friends either lived downtown or in the opposite direction, he didn’t visit this area very often. He walked at a leisurely pace, looking around at the less familiar part of town with curiosity.
He soon came to a three way intersection. The main road went straight, and another, much thinner road branched off to the right. To his surprise, Spike realized he had never gone down the road on the right before. Curious to see where it led, he made the turn.
Right away he could see a difference in the size of the houses on this road. They were much smaller than the multi-leveled homes he had seen coming in, and their yards were less sizable as well. There were no fancy flower gardens that he could see, either. Spike knew that Ponyville was a prosperous town and that there was a high degree of economic equality, but as in every city and town, there was always a place where the less prosperous lived. From the looks of it, Spike guessed he had made it to that place.
The road was a dead end, but Spike did not realize this until he had nearly reached the end of the cul-de-sac. He frowned, turning around and heading back the way he came. But before he could make it very far, he heard something that made him stop dead in his tracks…
A faint cry of distress.
Based on what he could tell, it came from somewhere behind him at the end of the cul-de-sac. Spike turned back around, suddenly on the alert. His eyes scanned between each of the three houses on the dead-end, listening closely. He was not sure if he had actually heard something, as the sound had been muted and unclear at best, but he was determined to find out.
He stood there for a little while, but the only sound he could hear was the chattering of a cicada in one of the nearby trees. Even so, he stood in the center of the street for quite a while longer, the sun getting lower and lower in the sky.
He never heard the sound again. Part of him wanted to go back and check the houses and investigate further, but he didn’t want to snoop around in places where he didn’t belong, either. Finally, after careful consideration, he decided to head back to the library.
On the way back, Spike no longer looked around him at the rows of houses, or at the trees, or at the birds that flew past. He barely even smelled Sugarcube Corner. Instead, he looked at the ground directly in front of his feet.
There was only one thing on his mind: Had he or hadn’t he heard something?
Back at the cul-de-sac, next the middle house, a blue scooter stood propped up against a tree.
…
Twilight heard the library door open behind her. She glanced up at the clock from her place near one of the bookshelves; he had been gone for nearly an hour. She grinned.
“Hey, Spike,” she said over her shoulder. “How was your run? You were certainly gone for a while.”
The door shut with a click. “Fine.”
A one work answer; he sounded less than enthusiastic. Twilight picked up on this right away, and thinking something was the matter, she turned around.
He was already walking over to the stairs, not even bothering to look at her. She furrowed her brow in puzzlement, asking, “Uh, Spike? Are you feeling okay?”
The dragon shrugged. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired,” he said absentmindedly. He was already on the first step, his back faced to her. She raised one eyebrow.
“You sure? You don’t sound like it… did you start out slow?”
She couldn’t see Spike roll his eyes at the question. He stopped halfway up the stairs, making eye contact with her for the first time since he returned.
“Yeah, I did. I’m fine, okay? I just need a nap, that’s all,” he insisted. “Nothing’s wrong.”
Twilight did not believe him. She had known the dragon for too long not to know when something was the matter with him. Nonetheless, she could tell from his grumpy demeanor that she wasn’t going to get anywhere fast by asking questions, so she decided it would be best to leave him be for now and try her luck later.
“Okay, then. Have a good nap. I’ll be quiet down here for you,” she added. He gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder.
“Thanks,” he said before he was lost to sight. Twilight gazed up the stairwell, biting her lip.
“Oh Spike,” she sighed, shaking her head, “what am I going to do with you?”
…
It was a scooter accident. Yep, another one. Yeah, I know. I really do need to take a break from all of those crazy tricks. If I’m not careful, I might get hurt even worse next time. Got it.
It was always a scooter accident.
A cricket chirped outside her window. Being a light sleeper, on most nights this would have kept her awake for quite a while. But not tonight. Tonight, it was the fresh blue and brown spots on her hide that did the job.
Each time Scootaloo settled into the mattress, her body weight settled upon a previously undiscovered bruise, forcing her to roll over and try her luck on the other side. She rolled from right to left and back again more times than she could count, but after numerous unsuccessful attempts, she gave up with an irritated sigh and sat herself up against the headboard, laying her head up against the wall.
It was never a scooter accident.
The blinds over her window were broken and bent in several places, allowing the moon’s phosphorescent glow to seep in through the cracks. Placing one of her forelegs into the light, she revealed a black spot which had risen into a bump just above her hoof. The pegasus filly poked it gently, wincing as the pain resurfaced from the slightest touch. Bending further forward, the moonlight illuminated another mark, this time a black and blue ring on the underside of her arm. The girl rolled her eyes. Sitting still in her desk was going to be even more challenging than usual tomorrow.
Her scooter was a curse in disguise. Something she could hide behind, could use as a shield from inquiry. It was such a perfect excuse that even Miss Cheerilee didn’t ask about her bruises any more. In fact, she could already rehearse tomorrow morning in her head; she’d walk into school, and Miss Cheerilee would just shake her head at her and tell everypony to take their seats. Applebloom might give her a knowing smirk.
And that was that. No more questions. Everypony already knew.
Just another scooter accident.