//------------------------------// // Getting Ready // Story: Golden Wings // by TheGreatEater //------------------------------// ~The Previous Evening~ Cloud Kicker strolled to her house with her thoughts on Raindrops and uncontained glee that she said yes to a date. It was something she had been working up the courage to do for awhile now. She was one of the few ponies from behind the Weather Team that liked her for herself, and fought to maintain her reputation from the ponies that slandered her, calling her a slut or an easy lay. Spreading lies about how she would screw anything with four legs and a pulse, it was infuriating, but made her appreciate Weather Team and the few friends she had all the more. She had always admired Raindrops since she met her in Canterlot. Back then she offered to help her out in learning her way around Canterlot nobility because there was something about seeing her looking so downtrodden that hit a chord with her, after learning that she was working on making a better Canterlot. Seeing the fire in her eyes, and the passion in her voice, she wanted to help out even more. Through the years helping her out, Raindrops never asked for a bit, even though Cloud Kicker funded her anyways. She was the few non-nobles who, upon knowing that she was loaded, didn’t try hitting her up for bits, or trying to dig for gold. It was in a word, refreshing. She was shaken from her revelry when Alula came out of her room, “Hi’ya sis. I’m done with my homework.” Alula chirped. “That’s good. Are you ready for your new school when you go back to Canterlot?” Cloud Kicker asked. “I am, I just wish that I got the hang of this stupid transformation thing already! Stupid Alicorn hormones!” Alulu exclaimed stomping her hooves, “Nopony here in Ponyville seems to notice, but in Canterlot when they find out they call me ”Princess Erroria”, or ask if I’m really an ugly Changeling.” “Being an Alicorn foal sucks doesn’t it?” Cloud Kicker asked hugging her sister. “Uh-huh! Sis? I’m not an error am I? Like some giant mistake?” Alula asked. “Of course not. They’re just jealous that they aren’t as awesome as you. I’ll admit from the stories that I heard that Grandma Chicken Kicker was surprised when she popped you out. Probably as much as Cadence’s mom when she was born along side that slobbering twat Blueblood, talk about sibling rivalry. But you are, and never will be an error. You are my pretty little sis, and my number one wingmare.” Cloud Kicker replied, just like she always did when her sister’s secret came up. “I just hope you don’t grow old like sissy Gale did. I love you.” Alula said hugging her. “Don’t you worry about that. With all the plants, herbs and stuff to stay young I can stay young for at least another few centuries. Heck, Granny Smith is 850 years old, and still kicking,” Cloud Kicker said hugging her, “And I love you too. No matter how old you get, or what you do, you’ll always be my favorite sister. Now how about some dinner!” “Thank you sis. So what’re we having?” She asked. “Hmmm …,” Cloud Kicker said placing a foreleg on her chin, “How about a veggie cheeseburger, and you can choose Prench fries, or Sweet Potato fries, and a side of apple chips.” “I want those salty Prench fries you make. I’ve been craving them since forever!” Alula said bouncing, her temporary burst of angst pushed to the side for the promise of one of her favorite foods. “Sure thing short stuff, just don’t let our folks know that I’m spoiling you rotten.” Cloud Kicker replied over her shoulder with a smile. “I’m not rotten,” Alula said as she watched her sister’s deft wings maneuvering around the kitchen like an extra pair of limbs as Cloud Kicker got to the task of setting things up for dinner, “So sis, what’s gotten you in such a good mood?” “Do you remember Raindrops?” Placing her left foreleg over her chin, her skin rippled and shifted into that of an earth pony with a Cutie Mark of a single pink flower, “I remember her. She was friends with you over in Canterlot, the nice pony who didn’t care that I shifted at weird times?” “Yep! I’m going on a date with her next week.” Cloud Kicker give a little self-congratulatory cheer. “Finally. I swear, your luck with getting a special somepony is worse than sissy Steel’s was. At least Raindrops is nice.” Alula commented. “True, now I just need to put away my little black book, and be get ready for my special night. I’ll ask Derpy if Dinky wants to hang out with you that night.” “Alright. I love you sis.” Alula chirped. “I love you too.” Cloud Kicker replied warmly. As Cloud Kicker cooked she let herself think back onto her black book. It was her guilty secret, it wasn’t that she was some loose floozy but she hated being alone, and sometimes she’d meet a pony who liked her. Although they made horrible special someponies, they’d hook up, and when Cloud Kicker was feeling lonely, or as if she was less of a pony after a bad break up. It was nice to have a pony there for her that would, even for a night, make her feel as if she was worth being around rather than her family's wealth, her family’s prestige and title of nobility, or other things that she worked her life escaping from the shadow of. That doesn’t mean that she didn’t love her family, but sometimes it was difficult to have the only thing that other ponies cared about being what they could get out of you, rather than being with you for you. Even the ponies in her black book only really were interested in being friends with benefits rather than something long term. Cloud Kicker, as she dwelled on this, put on a smile for her sister and thought about playing matchmaker. It was a little game she played once in a while, hooking up ponies in her book that looked like they’d be cute together. Even if she wasn’t the lucky pony at least she could make a friend happy. ~Today~ Raindrops watched as Scootaloo walk into the schoolhouse with a twinge of sadness for the little filly, but all things considered things turned out rather well. She wore a bittersweet smile as she went on to complete her to-do list before work. First on her list was to visit Twilight, and then onto Rarity’s. Before going to Twilight’s she procured a small cart to help carry the two hundred-odd lbs of gold she’d need to bring to Twilight’s from her rainy day fund to help pay off the bits that Scootaloo appropriated over the years. As she entered the library she heard a male voice call out from the kitchen, “I’ll be there in a second.” That comment was followed shortly by a pudgy dragon waddling out of the kitchen wearing a frilly pink apron with a bright purple heart embroidered in the center. Raindrops looked at him and tried placing his name, having not seen much of the little dragon other than when he was trailing after Rarity on the few times she saw Rarity get within a hundred miles of any activity that could dirty her coat. “Hello, my name’s Raindrops, what’s yours?” She asked bending down slightly to put her on eye level to Spike. “My name’s Spike, nice to meet you Raindrops. I’ll get Twilight for you, she’s not really a morning pony, Do you want some breakfast too?” He asked “No thanks, I had breakfast already, but thank you for offering,” She replied, “I’m here to talk to Twilight about something we agreed upon a few days ago.” “Alright, I was about to go get her anyways,” With that Spike waddled up the stairs to get Twilight. It was several minutes and several amusing muffled snippets of an argument when Twilight trudged down the steps with large bags under her eyes, “Hello Raindrops. Do you mind if I get some coffee in me before we start talking?” Twilight mumbled. “Sure, actually do you want me to come back later?” “No! It’s ok. I should’ve been up earlier, come join me and we can talk in a bit.” Twilight gave a grumbling reply. It was a short while later that Spike came in with a bowl of honey cinnamon oatmeal, and a steaming cup of coffee. Raindrops looked at him and asked the question that she’d been wondering since she’d seen the drake hauling working like a rented mule running errands all over the place for Twilight and more often than not Rarity. “So are you his Mistress?” Raindrops asked innocently. Twilight spat her coffee out, while falling over her breath coming out in coughs and indecipherable stammering of surprise. Spike on the other hand was bawling with laughter, clutching his sides as his body shook from the force of the laughs. When Twilight recovered she yelled, “What!?” “Well I’ll be honest I never got to properly know what the owner of a servant is. And you can’t be his master since master is a male term. So I thought you’d be his Mistress.” Raindrops said not seeing what she said wrong in the context of her question. “Oh! I thought you meant …” Twilight started to say before trailing off. “Ha! Oh that’s good. Even I thought you meant like in those romance novels Rarity gets all the time. Although I doubt ponies can really bend that way.” Spike said as his laugh calmed down. “Spike! I told you, you are too young to read those stories!” Twilight exclaimed in a startled tone, “But to answer your question. No I’m not his Mistress per say, rather I’m his … well we never really talked about what I am to him, but I guess I can see how my number one assistant could be classified as a servant. Looking back that term is rather fitting.” Spike looked shocked, “Does this mean that I’m no longer your number one assistant?” “Of course not. Think of it as a broadening of your duties, and you’re the best baby dragon servant I could ask for.” Twilight said matronly. “Ummm ...Princess?” Raindrops asked hearing the term baby dragon in that statement. “Yes, what is it?” “You said baby dragon, as in an infant. How old is he anyways?” “Oh! No, not baby in pony terms, rather in dragon terms. As for age, he’s about eleven. Same age as the Crusaders.” Twilight clarified. “And I have to ask this, I’m really sorry about it, but it’s my job.” Raindrops said. “I understand, it would be a sad state of affair if our civil servants didn’t do their jobs.” Twilight said, taking a sip of what was left of her coffee as Spike went to get a refill. “How long has Spike been working? What is his level of education? And have you been ensuring that he’s had the proper level of socialization required for his social milestones?” Raindrops asked, giving a stream of necessary questions to make sure the child was taken care of. “He’s been working since eight, the minimum age of a worker. He’s been taught by Princess Celestia, as well as my tutors. He knows how to respect and respond to authority, but he’s more likely to do what he thinks will please a pony more than he would to socialize like I’ve been learning to do. He does spend time with Rarity, and my other friends sometimes though, but even then he hasn’t really hit his social milestones. That’s my fault I guess since I wasn’t really social and I’ve worked him at my schedule for too long. I guess I could give him some more free time, or at least a schedule slightly less bound to my own.” Twilight answered. “Ok … um … never mind Princess.” Raindrops was going to start, but doing her job on a Princess was something that started to make her feel unsettled. Twilight sighed, and placed a hoof on Raindrops’ reassuringly, “As I said, I understand, your duty is to look after all types of youth. And while I have the documents for Spike’s workload and duties from the Princess I commend you for doing what you think is right. So ask.” “Well, I just need to do a quick look over to see that he has appropriate lodgings, and his body doesn’t show signs of abuse. After that my legal obligations are over and we can start talking about Scootaloo.” “Well let’s get started then,” Twilight said, getting up her refilled coffee cup held in her magic as she led her up to Spike and her shared room. Raindrops looked around and noticing that a dog’s nest lay beside Twilight’s bed said, “I didn’t know you kept a dog.” “Oh! That’s where Spike sleeps.” Twilight said offhoovedly. “What?” Raindrops’ left eye twitched slightly, “You know he’s a sentient, speaking being? Not a pet?” Twilight blushed and waved her hoof at Spike’s general direction, “He’s always slept in one of these, I never really thought about it before, after all it’s not like he complains about it.” Raindrops looked at Spike and asked, “Spike, do you like beds or are you comfortable contorting yourself to fit in that?” Spike shuffled a bit and shrugged, “I haven’t slept in a bed since Twilight was fourteen. So I guess it’s been what, nine years give or take?” Twilight at this moment was beyond embarrassed that she hadn’t thought about getting him to sleep in the spare bed in the room, or anywhere for nine years. Rather she’d kept him in the basket she got him almost a decade ago which wasn’t looking good for her right now, gave a nod of affirmation. “But me and Twilight can talk about that later, no offense.” Spike replied. “None taken, I’m just doing my job to ensure that everything’s alright. I guess there’s one last measure of business. Spike, do you mind if I touch you? I just need to do a quick examination of your body.” Raindrops said in a gentle but professional manner. “Alright,” Spike responded. She walked him over to the chair in front of Twilight’s desk, “I’m going to need you to stand up and touch your toes. I’ll look along your scales to make sure there’s no injuries. If everything checks out we’ll be done in no time.” Raindrops explained to Spike and Twilight. As Spike bent over and touched his toes Raindrops looked at his scales and rubbed her hooves carefully over them, stretching them and squishing looking to sense if anything was off. On his back she noticed numerous thin holes in the scales as if a thin, sharp object had been imbedded in the scales along random sections of his back. With a few of them causing cracks in the corners of quite a few of the scales. “Twilight can you come here please, I need you to look at these for a moment.” Waving her over she showed her what she was seeing, “What are these?” Twilight looked at them and took a deep breath, her left foreleg coming to her chest and thrusting outward as she exhaled, “Spike, did you know there were holes and cracks in your scales?” “Yeah, but it’s no big deal, I hardly feel them.” Spike said with a shrug. “Hardly? So you do feel it, since when?” Twilight asked her voice rising a little bit. “Every now and then when I’m cleaning up, and then when I was in that lava pool during the Dragon migration.” Spike said. “The … lava … pool? Dragon migration?” Raindrops said, disbelievingly falling to her haunches. “Spike … with those cracks you could’ve gotten lava into the skin under your scales, you could’ve been hurt!” Twilight said angrily, “Why didn’t you tell me this?” “It’s no big deal. I’m not hurt, and my scales will grow back after I shed them in a few years.” Spike replied, “And yeah, I went on the Dragon migration to see if I could find my birth parents. Dragons can rest in lava pools, it feels really relaxing actually. Other than the itch it gave me on my back after a while.” Twilight looked over at Raindrops, “Don’t worry about this, I’ll talk to Rarity personally about using Spike as a pincushion. Now what are your findings?” “Spike needs his own room, and an actual bed rather than a dog’s nest. And you need to pay more attention to his physical well being, but seeing as he was hiding it from you … fix it, and I’ll be back in a few days to check up on him, also I was planning on going to Rarity’s and I’ll need to speak to her about this as well,” Raindrops said in a professional manner, before changing the subject. “If it’s okay with you, let’s go back downstairs and I can talk to you about Scootaloo.” “Alright, you can speak to her first since it’s part of your job. But tell her when Spike and I get over there later we’re going to have a long talk,” Twilight said with a terse nod. Raindrops sat with Twilight, who had recently given Spike a bag of bits, and a the day off to have a day on the town for himself. She looked at Raindrops and sighed, “I can’t believe I never noticed what effect being a pincushion had on him. I mentioned it to him before, but he said he had thick scales. Although thinking back on it, it’s only a centimeter thick at most, give or take a few millimeters by my estimate.” “I guess I can understand that. I mean, he’s the only dragon in civilization that I know of. So there’s going to be some hit and miss areas, at least you’re willing to work on problem areas and make sure that he’s better taken care of. Now onto what brought me here,” Raindrops said. “I guess it’s about the small get together that Pinkie planned.” “Well, partially,” She pulled out several different sized bags of bits with different names on them from out of her cart. Altogether it was 1,510 bits for the money taken by Scootaloo as well as an extra bag next to Rarity’s bit bag that held, 8,996 bits. 10,506 bits was a 4 months wages for a Weathermare and bits that she had been saving to make additions to her house. But to make a filly’s life better was a greater cause to Raindrops, “These bits are marked to the ponies that Scootaloo took money from. Can I ask you to make sure it gets to them?” “That’s a lot of bits.” Twilight said. “Not when stretched over five years. She took them from table tops, on floors, and hidden in furniture. She didn’t know it was stealing since it was out in the open in the more communal areas of places she’s visited, and she used it to get food as well as repair her scooter which was the last gift she has of her family.” Raindrops replied sadly. “Five years? You're telling me that all of Ponyville ignored a homeless filly for five years and nopony has noticed? I should tell the girls,” Twilight whispered, her body in a state of shock at the news. “I think it should be something she says, after all this party is so that she can tell everypony. But if you think it’s wise, please try to make sure that it doesn’t go past your group, I think it would hurt Scootaloo if everypony knew about it before she was ready.” “Don’t worry, everything will turn out fine. Is there anything else?” Twilight reassured Raindrops. “Yes, from both to you and Cheerilee, she took pencils, scrolls, papers, and other utensils she needed for school, but I don’t know how much she took, nor how much it’d cost altogether.” “Don’t worry about that. I was wondering about where they ran off to, but as long as they went to further a pony’s education, I’m alright with that. I’ll admit the money might go quite a ways to rectifying what she did. But this is Ponyville I’m sure when they find out that she took what was needed for survival they won’t press legal action, but they might want some other form of recompense. As for our other point of business. "I’m still looking for ponies who’d be willing to take in Scootaloo, there’s none so far who’d be willing to take in a pegasus who can’t fly,” Twilight said with a sigh, she placed her cup down and, ruffling her wings, continued, “Anyways, there’s another matter about Scootaloo. If what she has is a disability and not just underdevelopment? Are you going to take her to the doctors to get her physical? It should help things along greatly.” “It’s next week actually. The day after we have the little get together, I’ve got to go to Rarity’s about getting an appointment for a fitting and a pick up for a new dress. I’ll be seeing you this weekend. Later Twilight, and thank you for being forgiving of Scootaloo. I bet she’ll appreciate it.” Twilight waved farewell as Raindrops left the Library, Now onto Rarity’s. Hopefully I can get this little snafu cleared up since it sounds so unlike the Rarity I know to purposefully endanger anypony. And hopefully I can get some good dating tips out of her before the day is done. Raindrops entered Rarity’s shop where she heard her yell out her from out of sight, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique! I’ll be right up!” A clattering of material was heard from the room behind the entrance, and a quick ruffling sound before a slightly haggard looking Rarity came out, “Hello darling, it’s been simply forever since we’ve had time to talk. What can I help you with?” “Well I came here for a few reasons, but the foremost is something that’s a little private.” Raindrops said. Rarity gave her a discerning glance before waving Raindrops to follow her. Walking toward the kitchen she turned to look over her shoulder, “Would you like a cup of tea?” “That’d be nice, thank you.” Raindrops replied. After setting down on Rarity’s light, oaken table Raindrops waited as Rarity got her tea ready. As she waited she went over everything in her mind trying to set up how to go about the upcoming conversation. She was so lost in her thoughts that she was startled when she heard Rarity cough to get her attention. “So darling, what can I do for you?” Rarity asked. “Well a few things. First and most important is something that Twilight is going to be coming over to talk to you herself, but I thought I’d bring it up to your attention,” said Raindrops , shuffling her cup idly from hoof to hoof across the table, “I went to Twilight’s earlier to talk about something I promised to talk to her about two days ago. When I went there I saw Spike and ended up giving him an inspection,” She took a deep breath readying herself for what she was going to ask when Rarity interrupted. “How’s my little Spikey Wikey? Is he alright?” Rarity asked, the front half of her body leaning dramatically over the table. “Well that’s the problem. Twilight said that you... Use him as a living pin cushion?” “True, but he says that it doesn’t bother him, and he does have thick scales. He’d tell me if something was bothering him.” “When I looked him over, he had holes in his scales, and a few of them caused chips. He said that it was causing him discomfort every now and then. He also mentioned that when he was in the lava pit during … the dragon migration, I’ll never get used to hearing about that. He mentioned that it caused him discomfort there as well. If the holes were any deeper the lava could’ve gotten past his armor, and who knows what would’ve happened. Now I’m not blaming you for anything, I know you wouldn’t intentionally harm anyone. But I have to ask, why would you put holes in the natural defenses of anyone, much less a child? And why you didn’t notice the damage it was causing?” “Well … I guess I never really thought about it. It was so convenient to have something that I could hold needles in while focusing my magic on my work. I never really thought about how it was affecting him. Yes, everypony knows about his crush to me, but that he’d ignore his own health and safety. To think that I hurt my poor Spikey Wikey,” Rarity said bemoaned before adding dramatically with a swoon, “Of! All! The! Worst! Possible! Things! This is the worst!” “Since it was accidental, in that you didn’t know that poking a dragon full of holes was dangerous, and his guardian didn’t know what it was doing, all I’m going to say is that you be more careful with him, but Twilight wanted me to pass on a message that Spike and her are going to talk with you later,” Raindrops said, taking a drink of her tea. “Most definitely! I have four years of accidental harm to make up for! With Celestia as my witness, he shall be the happiest dragon in all of Equestria! Now I just need to figure out how to fix this before I lose his friendship forever!” Rarity exclaimed, before remembering that Raindrops came for other business. Having a different problem to focus on while letting her mind stew over solutions for the bigger problem might be just what the doctor ordered. Giving her a discerning gaze, she added, “But now you came here for other business. What can I do for you?” “Well two things, I needs a dress for next Wednesday and I never dated anypony before so I wanted to know if you could both make me a dress as well as maybe … probably give me dating tips?” Raindrops asked. “Well darling, let’s get your measurements, and after I fix things up with Spike I’ll get you prepared for your special somepony. All I ask is that you tell me everything about your date!” Rarity said with a predatory grin. Hopefully things get fixed with Spike, I hate seeing a child put in danger's way. Then there’s Scootaloo, if we can’t fix her getting her to fly and nopony adopts her what will I do? I can’t abandon her, I’ve taken care of lots of ponies but I’ve never raised one before. Could I do that for her? Could I be what she needs, or do I need to find somepony better than I could ever be for her? Raindrops thought to herself as she was led to Rarity’s work room.