Twilight Sparkle clutched a mug of the gods’ own ambrosia tightly in her hooves. Oh, black nectar, how it completed her. Should she compare it to a summer’s day? No, for none other caressed her tongue with such sensations, both gently smooth and coyly bitter, nor lit her veins on fire with such wholesome energ—
“Good morning, sleepy head!” Ah, there was the pink menace, materializing out of nowhere, chipper as ever even without sleep. Sleep that she had deprived Twilight of with her unending nocturnal antics. By the gods she was tired, now she was ending clauses with prepositions!
Twilight sighed into her mug. “No, Pinkie, good mornings come after sleep. You know, that activity that adults do at sleepovers?”
“Phhblt!” Pinkie rasberried in derision. Wait, rasberried? Was that a word? Actually, it didn’t matter. Coffee mattered, so Twilight took another sip. “Fillies sleep at sleepovers because they get in trouble if they don’t! Mares party the night away, and face the morning with a smile! We’re able to make bad decisions, and enjoy them. So why not do so, and carry on through the consequences with a smile?”
Twilight tried to fix Pinkie with her most disapproving glare, but failed when her eyes drifted back down to her mug. Now she was glaring at her coffee, and it didn’t deserve that. It was nothing but good to her. “I don’t like philosophical Pinkie. She attacks before my coffee. Cogent arguments come after coffee.”
“Oh, yes you do! Philosopher Pie makes chocolate chip pancakes!”
A sip of coffee loosened the knot of tension at the back of Twilight’s neck. The thought of chocolate also helped to turn her thoughts down a mildly less murderous track. Chocolate had caffeine, and dark chocolate was even more teasingly luxuriant with her tastebuds than coffee. “... I might be persuaded to like her, if she uses dark chocolate chips.”
“Ha! I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me! The way to a pony’s heart is through their stomach, don’t ya know? I’ll be in the kitchen. Get your tummy ready for some grade-A flapjacks!” Pinkie bounced into the kitchen, and only received a grunt from Twilight that turned into a moan of pleasure as she took another sip of coffee.
The rasp of claws on hardwood let her know that Spike was coming down the stairs. The last couple years had seen the pudgy baby dragon grow into a lanky young drake. He didn’t exactly fit in his basket any more, so they had turned the spare bedroom into a private space for him, complete with a nice hardwood desk, a handmade gift from Macintosh. Big Mac, now that was a stallion who appreciated good coffee. It was he who had taught Twilight how to make the especially potent blend she was drinking, which Spike referred to as, ‘motor oil spiked with black magics.’ He didn’t know what he was talking about. Her coffee was perfect.
“Morning, Twi. Nice... ponytail, bun-thing?”
“What? Oh, right. Pinkie insisted we braid each others’ manes.” Twilight’s voice took on a harder edge. “At 3 o’clock in the morning.”
“I’m glad I bought those earplugs,” he said, laughing. “You had fun, though, didn’t you?”
A small, reluctant smile broke Twilight’s scowl. “Yes, I suppose I had fun. Waking up after only a couple hours of sleep is putting a bit of a damper on my mood.”
“Understandable, we all know how much you like your sleep. How come Pinkie’s hair isn’t done up?”
“Because hair, and pink madmares.”
Spike paused for a moment. “Oh, right, you haven’t finished your coffee yet.”
Twilight only grunted in response, which again turned into a quiet moan of pleasure as she took another sip.
Spike held his face in his palm. “Right, you haven’t finished your coffee yet. I’ll help Pinkie in the kitchen, leave you two alone, give you some privacy.”
Twilight heard him mutter something along the lines of, ‘that filly has a problem,’ as he left, but she let it slide. She was alone with her wonderful coffee now, and all was right in the world. Alas, it was gone all too soon, but she could feel it doing wonders for her mood. Shower was done, mane not a mess, and breakfast was on the way: she could open the library. Pinkie really did do a good job. Normally, Twilight’s mane was complete mess when she woke up, but the coiffure had held. She would have to thank her when she was done in the kitchen.
No sooner than she had unlocked the door and started shelving books deep in the shelves did her expected first customer of the day enter the library. Were it not for his predictable behaviour, Twilight would never guess it was Repose, nor would she know he was there were the hinges not in need of a good oiling. In fact, his near silent hoof-falls had surprised her the first time he had visited. The stallion’s gentle steps contrasted sharply with his sheer size, rivalling Big Mac in height and musculature.
Twilight could feel her heart quickening. As mild mannered as the stallion seemed, he had, ‘a monster caged behind his bones,’ as Luna had said. A wolf-pony was in the middle of her library, in the middle of Ponyville, and her only back up was a mildly mad baker and an adolescent drake; that was definitely breaking a rule. Still, he had saved her life, and as scared as she was, she owed him the benefit of the doubt.
So, with a deep breath, she stepped out of the shelves and towards the front desk. As he had every two weeks for the last few months, Repose stood at the front desk carrying his borrowed books. Dirt from the road coated his untrimmed fetlocks and the worn cloak obscuring his cutie mark, though his reddish-brown coat and unkempt mahogany mane were mostly clean. He may have been a hermit, but he always put a bit of effort into being presentable when he visited, especially after she started offering him tea.
“Good morning, Miss Sparkle,” rumbled his gentle baritone. “Nice hair do. Shelving some books?”
Twilight looked him in the eyes and smiled. “Thank you, and yes, I thought I would get to work right away today.” His eyes were their usual dark brown, rather than the bright yellow she had seen in the forest. “A friend of mine spent the night, and she’s making breakfast right now. Pinkie doesn’t need any help in the kitchen, so I might as well get some work done while I wait.”
“Ah, don’t want to bother you when you have company. I’ll just renew these books and be on my way.”
“Don’t be silly, you’re more than welcome to stay for breakfast. Pinkie would have made too many pancakes even if I hadn’t told her you would be here this morning.”
Repose scratched the back of his head. “I’m a bit predictable, aren’t I?”
“I would say dependable. Not many ponies would trek all the way from deep in the Everfree every two weeks just for some books.”
“Well, it’d be awfully rude to not return them on time after you let me borrow them without an official address. I could stay for breakfast. Thank you”
“Excellent! Pinkie is anxious to meet you.”
Repose’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really?” he asked as his weight shifted to his hind legs, eyes darting to the door. “Why would she want to meet me?”
“I recently learned that Pinkie has an interest in Zen Philosophy, so I told her it took up a fair portion of your book selections.” It wasn’t a lie, and Repose visibly relaxed, shifting back into a more neutral stance and a mildly interested facial expression. “Even with the large number of earth ponies in the area, not many take an interest in the topic. I hope you don’t mind the intrusion on your privacy, I’m probably not supposed to tell ponies about another’s book borrowing tendencies.”
“Oh, not at all. I look forward to meeting her—”
“Hello!” Pinkie popped up in between them. A quick glance to the side showed Twilight that the table was set and generously supplied with chocolate chip pancakes. “My name’s Pinkie Pie. What’s yours?”
Repose had stiffened and closed his eyes at Pinkie’s surprising introduction. Twilight could feel her heart rate picking up again; maybe he didn’t have as tight a hold on the monster as she had assumed. Thankfully, he took a deep breath in and out of his nose and opened his eyes with a smile. “Repose. Pleased to meet you, Miss Pie.”
“Oh, just call me Pinkie. Do you like chocolate chip cupcakes, Repose?”
“I love them.”
“Great! I’ve made plenty! I hope you don’t mind dark chocolate, Twilight doesn’t have any other kind here.” Pinkie leaned towards him and spoke in a faux-whisper: “She has a bit of a caffeine addiction.”
Twilight’s ears pricked up in indignation. “Well… the evidence does support that.”
“So Pinkie, I hear you have an interest in Zen philosophy?” Repose asked as they moved to the table. Pinkie, as usual, started talking faster than Twilight could follow and dragged him to the pancakes, sweet, dark chocolate pancakes, with just a bit of butter—dragged him to the pancakes, leaving Twilight to finish up at the front desk. Spike came out of the kitchen as she was organizing some books and laid a claw on her shoulder.
“I’m proud of you, Twilight.” His smirk told her snark was incoming. “The first step to overcoming addiction is admitting you have a problem.”
“Coffee is never the problem, it’s the solution. Besides, if for some reason I cannot get my hooves on some, I can always conjure it.”
He patted her on the shoulder and shook his head. “Ah, we were so close to making some progress. Come on, you can finish up here later. Have some breakfast.”
“All right, smarty pants, I’ll do it later.” She rested her head on his shoulder and nuzzled him. “Thanks for always looking out for me,” she whispered. “Even if you’re a sarcastic prick about it.”
He returned the hug with one arm, his smile holding just a hint of a smirk. “Always.”
As much as she hated to, Twilight couldn’t help but snort in laughter. “Come on, you, let’s grab some pancakes before Pinkie eats them all.”
They headed over to the table and found Pinkie and Repose in an animated discussion of Zen. Twilight and Spike sat down to enjoy their pancakes, letting the two of them continue their conversation. It carried on through breakfast, long past the last pancake and through several pots of tea. Twilight didn’t mind the drain on her tea supplies. Hopefully, the longer he spoke with her, the more comfortable he would become with Pinkie and the more likely he would be to react well when she eased him into the topic of helping him with his secret. It was looking good; Pinkie had kept the conversation going strong on both ends, instead of monopolizing the conversation, and had moved the topic to their shared interest in meditation. As much as she cared for Pinkie, Twilight still found it difficult to imagine her sitting still and quiet for long.
“I prefer to focus on my breath, I can’t do the whole, ‘let your thoughts just pass by, release them,’ thing,” Pinkie stated as she buttered another scone. Seriously, where was she putting all of that food? “If I don’t focus on something I’m just all over the place.”
Repose nodded and took a sip from his cup. “Watching your thoughts and just letting them go is pretty hard, takes a lot of practice. It’s how I like to meditate though, find it very calming.”
Pinkie rested her chin on her hoof, lips pursed and brow crinkled. “That makes a lot of sense, actually. I imagine it’s good practice for just letting go of the anger and hunger?”
The room went silent, and Twilight could feel her heart quickening once again. Did she actually just blurt out that she knew he’s a wolf-pony, like it was nothing? Repose wasn’t reacting, though. He was just sitting there, face expressionless. Finally, he just cradled his cup of tea in his massive hooves and stared into it, as if he wished he could hide there.
“Yes. That’s how I do it.”
In the blink of an eye, Pinkie was kneeling next to him, hoof on his shoulder. “So what’s your real name?”
He didn’t look up. “Heart Wood.”
“Well, Heart Wood, I wanted to thank you for saving my life.”
Heart Wood tried to shrink into his tea, hunching his shoulders and bending his neck further down.
“Please look at me?” Heart Wood slowly turned his head to find a pair of big, bright blue eyes pleading with him to open up. Poor stallion, he didn’t stand a chance.
“Thank you for saving my life.” Pinkie pulled him into a hug, and at first, he didn’t react. Then he slowly set down his cup of tea and returned the hug, burying his muzzle in her voluminous mane.
“You don’t have to deal with this alone anymore. We’re here for you.” And that is when the giant stallion began crying. He squeezed Pinkie tight, and she hugged him just as hard in return, massive sobs racking his body and tears streaming into her mane.
“Well,” Spike whispered to Twilight, “neither of us expected that.” She didn’t respond. “Twilight?”
The lavender mare was sitting stock-still, staring straight ahead, and clutching a shattered tea cup and the tea it had been holding in her magical grip.
“You okay?” he asked, tapping her on the shoulder. She blinked, then turned to look at him.
“Yes Spike, I’m fine.”
“Oh, good. I just thought you were super stressed or something, seeing as you shattered that tea cup, and the only thing holding the tea is your magic.”
“Oh. I guess I should clean this up then.” Twilight got up and slowly walked to the kitchen. Spike rolled his eyes and got up to follow her. In the kitchen, he found her with her forehead resting on the edge of the counter.
Spike crossed his arms. “See, this is why I asked. You don’t look okay.”
“Of course I’m not okay!” she whispered forcefully, turning to look at him but keeping her head on the counter. “I was just present when Pinkie sprung upon a wolf-pony that she knew his secret—like it was no big deal! How was that not the least bit stressful for you?”
Spike just kept his arms crossed and fixed her with a stern stare. “Because I trust Pinkie. As good at friend as you’ve become, she is much better at reading ponies that you are, Miss Spends-All-Her-Time-Studying, or hanging out with the same five ponies and one dragon. She spoke to Heart Wood for an hour before she did that, so I am one hundred percent sure that she thought that through after thorough observation.”
“She could have told me she was going to do that!”
“Oh, of course, I forgot about Pinkie’s telepathy. How was she supposed to tell you that discretely? Do you two have a secret sign-language I’m not aware of? Two blinks and scratching your rump means you’re going to try something outside the plan?”
Twilight turned back to face the counter and mumbled something.
“What’s that?”
“I said you’re right. I’m sorry, I’m being silly.”
“Don’t apologize to me, Pinkie’s the one you weren’t trusting. I’m sure they think we just went in here to give Heart Wood some privacy, so no need to tell her you were being a crappy friend.”
“Gee, thanks for that.”
Spike’s stern glare softened, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not going to apologize, because you need someone to say these things, but the only reason I’m being so stern is because I worry about you.” Twilight looked up to see Spike had his eyes scrunched shut and the bridge of his nose pinched between his claws. Why was it that males found it so difficult to talk about their emotions?
“You put yourself under too much pressure, and don’t trust anyone to handle anything you feel is your responsibility. You can’t help everyone, and you can’t always plan for everything you and the girls deal with. You need to learn to trust them to handle some things on their own, and let the manure fall where it will.”
Spike found himself wrapped in forelegs and a pair of purple wings. “I’ll try, Spike.”
“Good. Now let’s try to get this overly-emotional morning back on track. The last train to Canterlot leaves in an hour.”
Twilight released him and returned his smirk from earlier. “Why the hurry? Is your manliness feeling threatened by all the emotion?”
“No, nothing like that. You’ve got somepony here who has spent I-don’t-know-how-long hiding from the world about to agree to not hide, and I think you should go before he can change his mind.”
“Good thinking, Spike. Let’s get this done.”
“I’ll go pack your bags. You take care of convincing a reclusive wolf-pony that going to Canterlot is a good idea.”
Now that she could do. She might not have been the best pony to tell Rep—Heart that they knew his secret, she might not have been the best pony to comfort him, but she was the pony to persuade him to go to Canterlot with them and meet Princess Luna. No pony could present a series of cogent, rational arguments like she could. She would have him convinced in no more than a half hour, allowing for time to address any questions or concerns he might have regarding her arguments, giving them plenty of time to pack.
Pinkie and Heart were sitting on the floor, talking quietly while he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief embroidered with Pinkie’s cutie mark. He sat up just a little more straight when Twilight walked out of the kitchen. “Thank you for the privacy, Miss Sparkle. I’ve… been dealing with a lot of stuff for the last few years.” He paused when Pinkie rested her hoof on his and returned her smile. “Pinkie says we’re going to Canterlot?”
Twilight stopped in her tracks. She opened her mouth to respond, closed it, opened it again, and paused for a moment. “Right, that we are. The train leaves in an hour. So, I guess I’ll go help Spike pack. Do you need to go home to pack, Pinkie?”
“Nope, I’m all ready, and Woody’s good to go too.”
“Excellent. I’ll be right back with my luggage.” She headed up the stairs to her room, but found that Spike was just finishing with the packing. “My, that was fast!”
“I’m fairly practiced at this, Twi. All done, and by the ‘Royal Business’ checklist.”
“Thank you, Spike. I’m sorry to leave you out of this, but do you mind staying here to look after the library?”
Spike shook his head. “Not at all.”
Twilight paused for a beat. “Really?”
“Really. It’s just a train ride to Canterlot. Besides, if Pinkie trusts him, then I do too.”
“Okay. I’m glad to hear that.” Twilight picked up her suitcase with her magic and headed towards her bedroom door. “I should be back soon, Spike. I’ll let you know if I have to stay longer.”
“Twilight?” She stopped and looked back at him. The poor thing was shifting on his feet, brow creased with worry. “Be safe. You have a tendency to fall into crazy situations.”
She smiled at him, with just the faintest hint of a smirk at the corners. “Always.”