Twilight Sparkle had awoken to the mixed feelings of optimism, contentment, and hunger. That last feeling had been swiftly and decisively dealt with by a pile of pancakes and syrup Spike served her in bed, leaving only feelings of optimism and contentment. Ordinarily a simple birthday party wouldn’t have had her anywhere near this excited, but this was no ordinary birthday.
This would be the first time Rainbow Dash or Rarity would have been in Ponyville for months, completing the Elements of Harmony once again; and Twilight couldn’t wait to hear about Rainbow Dash’s exploits as the Wonderbolt Captain, or Rarity’s stories about the top rungs of Canterlot fashion society. Even more exciting was that this would be the first time Twilight would see Cadance since coming to Ponyville, the day she could finally introduce Cadance to her friends and, if she was extremely lucky, finally get some real answers about why her wedding to Shining Armor was postponed indefinitely.
The regular morning routine passed quickly; Twilight finished quadruple checking her checklist for the party just as the last library patron left and was on her way to the door to flip the sign to closed when the door shook with a hollow boom. Twilight opened it to see a minotaur she vaguely recognized but couldn’t name, looking rather anxious, and somewhat startled to see her. “Hello, Iron Will is looking for a book on… pony muscle building techniques.”
“I’m sorry, but we were just closing, if you could come back another day-”
“This will only take a few minutes.” Pleaded the minotaur, growing more anxious.
Twilight hated to turn away any seeker of knowledge, but his timing was horrid. Still, the minotaur, did look desperate, maybe just a few – “Don’t worry about it Twilight; I got this.” Spike hopped lightly to her side, “You go on ahead to meet Cadance and Rarity at Train Station, I’ll help him find the book he needs and he’ll be gone by the time you get back.”
Twilight hesitated, she’d never left him in charge of the library before, “Are you sure Spike?”
“Positive; I mean our physical education section is small, so there’s not much to look through and nothing can really go wrong if we’re just looking at books.” Twilight felt her jaw tighten, “Unless the books are magic,” corrected Spike quickly, “But these ones aren’t. We’ll be fine, trust me.”
Twilight smiled lovingly at her number one assistant, “Alright then; you two have the house to yourselves.”
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Iron Will watched the pony librarian trot merrily away. She looked so happy, so – “Come on in?” invited the baby dragon happily, “Name’s Spike, now what kind of book can I help you look for?”
Iron Will crouched through the door and closed it firmly behind him, “Something that could help Iron Will make exercise routines for his clients.”
“Hmm, alright then, follow me.”
Iron Will began slowly walking behind the pattering dragon; he was so tiny, Iron Will could probably kill him just by stepping on him and say it was an accident. The dragon wasn’t even looking in his direction… because he was looking at the bookshelf so he could try and help him. Frankly, Iron Will was surprised that the dragon could even talk. He’d only ever heard them roar like ravenous beasts; then again, he guessed that’s what he should expect when he only dragons he’d seen were being hunted by his clan for hides and honor. “How long do we have before the librarian pony returns?”
“We got a couple hours easy; Twilight has some errands to run before meeting her friends at the train station at noon, and chances are they’ll stay and catch up for a while before coming straight back.
“Have her friend’s been gone for a long time?”
“Yea. Rainbow Dash won’t be flying in until later, but Rarity used to be one of her best friends until she moved to Canterlot last year, and Cadance used to be like a big sister to her, but they haven’t seen each other in years. That’s why all of them being able to make it is gonna make this Twilight’s best birthday party ever.”
Birthday party? Iron Will’s pet python Mr. Strangly had died on his eleventh birthday, he’d cried for a week before his father had ordered him to snap out of it; and this dragon wasn’t even a pet, he was a friggen kid!
“I hope they come right back though; Cadance and Rarity are just as much my friends as they are Twilight’s, and when the rest of the gang gets here they’ll have to answer the same questions anyways. I mean, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, we’ve all been counting down to this day for weeks now.”
This wasn’t just one pony’s heart Iron Will was going to break; he was going to shatter the celebrations of a whole herd of little ponies.
“I’d still like to help you out as fast as possible if that’s alright” continued the dragon, “Twilight doesn’t know it yet, but last time we were in Canterlot I managed to get some of her favorite jam, and am making her a special batch of cupcakes to go with it. The jam’s really expensive since it has to be imported from Oatlantis, but Twilight’s an awesome mom and I wanted to do something really special for her.”
Iron Will shook his head, why couldn’t the dragon just be quiet and die? Iron Will needed to do this to save himself; OK, maybe he could leave his caravan behind and make a run for it, but Stone Resolve had his goats hostage. Nort and Branjure had been his best friends ever since they met when he accidentally saved them from a hungry crocodile, his only friends since the three of them spent their lives on the road.
“Hey!” Spike was prodding his leg with a book, “You alright there, you just kind of droned out.”
Iron Will looked down; the dragon was standing on his tippy toes, trying to hand him some book on exercises, after a moment, his charade clicked back into place and Iron Will took the book, thumbing through it quickly. “I was hoping for something with diagrams in it.”
“Alright then.” Said Spike, taking the book back and moving his ladder to the next shelf over; Iron Will felt guilty, at the very least he should be helping the dragon look for the book - No! He wasn’t here for a book; he was here for the dragon’s head. Spike’s back was turned, all he needed to do was grab his head and body and give one twist; the dragon would be dead before he felt anything, no one would miss him for hours and by that time Iron Will would have left Ponyville. Nort and Branjure would be safe, and they could get on with their lives.
Just one twist.
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Spike scanned through titles on the shelf until one of them nearly jumped out at him. Snatching it from the shelf he scanned it quickly, ready-made exercises, full body diagrams, this was perfect. Spike spun triumphantly, book outstretched, but the minotaur was nowhere to be seen. “Hello?”
The front door slammed shut.
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Iron Will paced away from the house, trying to get as much distance as he could from himself and the dragon. He could still change his mind; he could go back in an hour, make an excuse as to why he’d ran out and– NO! Iron Will didn’t need to tell the dragon anything! He just needed to kill him! Murdering an innocent kid wasn’t something he’d feel great about, but he didn’t have many other options; he could kill the dragon, leave Nort and Branjure to die, or die himself… or for his brother to think he was dead.
Iron Will paused mid-stride, letting this new idea sink in. He’d faked his death once before to skip out on some bad debts and get the jump on those freakish assassin clans hired by that totally crazy camel sultan. If he could do it again, his brother would go away, and everyone would be happy.
Then again, if he was going to fake his death, why not do it right? Iron Will didn’t really want to go home, but father had always wanted to be the Supreme Battle Priest and if he could give it to him, without dying, he would. The most honorable way for Iron Will to ‘die’ would be to do it defending the cow he loved. Iron Will wasn’t really in love with anyone at the moment, but that didn’t matter, all he needed to do was make Stone Resolve believe it; except… there weren’t any minotaur cows in Ponyville.
There were lots of mares though.
Ponies and minotaurs had fallen in love before... maybe... on the other hand that might just have been story Iron Will read in a kids book; but that didn’t matter. So long as he could find a mare who was willing to pretend to be his lover, and they could convince Stone Resolve, this could work.
Iron will rubbed his hands together as he gave his plan the official Iron Will stamp of approval. To save his life, Iron Will's needed to find a mare, convince her to pretend to be his true love, convince his brother they were in love and then fake his death heroically protecting her from... something, and he had one afternoon to do it in.
This was a brilliant idea; what could possibly go wrong?
>>> To date or not to date Iron Will >>>