//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Hard Truths // Story: Take Two // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// Spike ran through the grassy streets of Ponyville, not sure where he was going or really thinking about it all that much. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from his…from Twilight and Rarity, from the tree house, from everything that was so wrong with the world! However, the odds against a bipedal creature getting around as quadruped finally won out a minute and a half into his escape. Spike’s unfamiliar body was sent tumbling into the grass and dirt when he turned a corner down a street while going at full speed. It was then he learned taking corners at a ninety degree angle while using hooves was harder than Applejack made it look. He did his best to ignore the guffaws and snickers that came from some of the younger colts, and was a little glad no one was coming to help him up for fear of somepony recognizing him despite the species change. If they did, then they would go get Twilight. But, the moment Spike stopped and had to right himself made him switch from simply running, to thinking about just where he could go to get help for Rarity, or at least protection from Twilight. Applejack was too far away…and Spike was pretty sure the farm pony wouldn’t believe him anyway. Twilight had been pretty good at hiding her older odd quirks from other ponies since they moved to Ponyville; and the newer ones she had gained didn’t paint her as unstable enough to try hypnotizing other ponies. In fact, Spike doubted any of the other girls would even listen to his worries, and just drag the ‘baby dragon’ back to Twilight’s place to be ‘cured’ of his ponification. He couldn’t think of anypony in town who’d be willing to help him, or be able to if it really came down to it. While Rainbow Dash could have probably flown him away, and Pinkie could have…done something Pinkie, the two of them would have just hauled him back to Twilight like Spike knew Applejack would. In fact, the only pony who might be willing to listen to him as all was… Princess Celestia! he realized with a smile. To top it off, all he would need to do is find some stationary and…mail it like every other normal pony, because that was what he was now. Maybe I should try going to Canterlot, the former dragon thought. It didn’t just have to be for protection either. It had been some time since he had talked to Princess Celestia except through letters; and their correspondence wasn’t all that great anyway. Since moving to Ponyville, he only sent two of them that didn’t involve Twilight’s studies to the princess, and one of them was just about the unicorn’s odd behavior that Celestia simply wrote off as Twilight growing up. For awhile, that had consoled Spike because Twilight had been acting more and more like his… “No!” Spike told himself as he stood up. Twilight wasn’t his mother! She was just a selfish unicorn who made him do chores and help with her research! At least I used to help with her research, the purple pony corrected himself. Aside from placing the odd order in the mail, all the tidying up of the library, and coming along on a few trips into the Everfree for herbs, Spike realized he didn’t really do all that much with Twilight anymore. Not compared to when they had been in Canterlot together at least. It was like...she didn't need him anymore. GAH! Stupid brain! Why do you keep going back to Twilight? This is about me, and I want to stay a pony, and she wants to turn me back! She even made Rarity turn against me with her magic! Any minute now, she was going to come around the corner, and drag him back to the library, and change him back. He needed to act fast! He needed to get to the train station, buy some tickets and… …find a way to buy train tickets without any bits to pay for them. The realization that his chances of getting to Canterlot before Twilight tracked him down were next to none made Spike’s back legs give out from under him, and left him without any strength to hold his head up. If he couldn’t get to Canterlot to tell Princess Celestia what was going on, then…he…well…he didn’t know what he could do. “Hey there Spike. You look sad. Is something wrong? Um, you are Spike, right?” The odd voice distracted the pony from his emotional fall, and he looked to see who was speaking to him. After flicking his head back to get the green mane out of his eyes, he blinked in confusion at the gray pegasus with the oddly arranged bright eyes. Spike had to think for a moment to match a name with the face. “Oh, you’re Sparkler’s mom, uh…Derpy, right?” he asked. It figured Sparkler's mom would have known about his condition. If she were anything like Twilight, the first words out of her mouth when they saw each other was 'how was your day' or some such thing. A giggle escaped from the mailmare’s mouth. “That’s what they call me alright,” the mare called Derpy told him before the look on her face went from amused to a more gentle one that reminded him of Twilight a little too much. “Now what’s wrong? You look sad.” “I-” “Wait!” the pegasus said before she placed a hoof over his mouth. “First thing’s first. You need something to cheer you up. Then you can tell me what’s wrong!” Spike looked at the mare with a raised eyebrow. “Something to cheer me up? Like what?” “Muffins of course!” she exclaimed. Chapter 5: Hard Truths “Think. Think. Think. How do I fix this, can I fix this? I can’t fix this!” Rarity looked at the scene in front of her with a bit of morbid fascination. It was like when somepony saw a train wreck about to happen, but were unable to look away. So she just stared as the unicorn curled up into a little ball as she petted her own tail while muttering to herself. It was a rather disturbing sight. Still, she didn’t want to interrupt Twilight’s…thought process. After all, Rarity knew her own path to inspiration sometimes got a little crooked. Never quite as messed up crazy as Twilight apparently preferred, but still crooked. “What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to fix this? This has never happened before. He never said things like that to me before. Did he always feel this way? Why did he always feel this way? Why didn’t I see he felt this way? Did I not look hard enough? Did I not love him enough? Why didn’t I love him enough? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” the unicorn panted out from her position on the floor. Fluttershy leaned in to whisper in the white unicorn’s ear. “Um, Rarity, shouldn’t we do something?” The questioning pegasus got a hesitant glance from unicorn. “Dear, you know how Twilight is with her schedules, just give her fifteen minutes and-” “But she’s been like this for over half an hour,” Fluttershy replied hesitantly. “Spike hates me. Do they all hate me? Of course they all hate me. Why wouldn’t they hate me? I hate me.” A look up at the clock confirmed the assessment, and then Rarity turned back to regard her panicky friend. “Oh…well then, I supposed we should do something,” she said before trotting over to Twilight and poking her a few times. “Twilight-dear, I um…I think you might be blowing this a little out of proportion. Why, when I still lived in Manehattan, my sister Sweetie Belle and I-” “Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed as she jumped up to her knees and looked over to Rarity. The rather terrified and pleading, but definitely manic look in the purple unicorn’s eyes made the fashionista take a step back. “Rarity! I’m sorry,” she continued in a way that made her seem…rather…eccentric, “I didn’t want to. I didn’t mean to! She made me! She-” Okay, drastic measures time, she told herself. Once again, thanks to her own experiences, Rarity knew that sometimes a pony needed to take certain unladylike actions to save the panic-stricken from themselves. A hoof across the face from Rarity made Twilight stop talking long enough for the white unicorn to get in her face, and put few choice words in. “Now listen here! I’ve let you wallow around in your little pity party, and Spike has had enough time to cool off.” She paused for a moment to study Twilight and make sure she was still listening; and not getting angry or illuminating her eyes like that one time she had seen Twilight do. The mare was still breathing rather quickly, but her eyes were trained on Rarity without any hostile intent. “So you need to calm down and figure out what you are going to do with him.” Twilight reached up and put a hoof to her chest. Slowly, the purple unicorn’s breaths began to become further and further apart until Twilight was breathing at a much more normal pace. When it seemed she had finally got some control to her breath, Twilight looked at Rarity with eyes that said she was still on the brink of another episode. “But…he hates me Rarity.” The declaration made Rarity lick her lips as she tried to think up the right words to say. Simply consoling Twilight wasn’t going to do much if Spike was still in a foul mood when she found him.  Rarity didn’t want to think he would be, but…her disagreements with her own parents reminded her just how venomous a child could be towards their parental figure. She took a breath, and tried to but the words together properly in her mind before letting them out. Confidence here was the key, and a stumbling tongue did not project that very well. “Only for the moment dear,” the unicorn assured her. “But he’s never said that before Rarity,” Twilight told her in a pathetic tone. “Never! And…he… I thought letting him get more independent would be a good thing! I want him to be my son! Not some dragon I just keep around to do my work like before!” Yes, she did mention something to that effect about their time in Canterlot, Rarity thought to herself. Spike had too in fact, now that she thought about it. Only, Twilight seemed to have been ashamed of the fact, while Spike spoke like he was proud about helping Twilight with her studies. The little dragon liked to be useful, it was one of the reasons that Rarity agreed to his assistance every now and then. “I can’t take it if he’s going to hate me too!” Rarity rubbed the other mare on the shoulder in a soothing way. “Take it from the queen my dear, this is just a little teenage drama,” she assured Twilight. “It will pass.” “But-” “And, if you truly want to be the parent here,” she said before Twilight could get started on her mental breakdown again. “Then you’re going to have to be taking a little bit of that drama. And…well, if you’re not ready for that…then perhaps something else can be worked out. From what I understand, didn’t Princess Celestia-” “No!” The white unicorn blinked at Twilight’s declaration. It wasn’t said with much force, but it had more determination behind it than the whining Twilight had done earlier. She took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then let out slowly. “You’re right Rarity. I need to…I just…focus, come on Twilight, focus.” For her part, Rarity just stood silently to give emotional support as Twilight mumbled to herself. “Come on Twilight, you can do this. Remember the hospital? You kept from crying all those times. You kept it together then, keep it together now. It’s been awhile but, you can keep it together now.” After a few more breaths, Twilight looked back at Rarity with a determined face, but slightly trembling legs. “Okay Rarity, I’m ready. Let’s go find Spike.” “And then?” Rarity asked. The other unicorn took in another deep breath, and pushed a hoof away from her chest as she let it out. As she did, her knees stopped shaking. Back under control, she looked over to Rarity with a calm face. “What do you mean and then?” Deciding to stop beating around the bush, the white unicorn just straight out asked. “What do you plan on doing with him? You can’t just drag the colt back here and expect him to take his medicine just like that.” Twilight looked at Rarity for a moment, her eyes slowly turning to a frown. Still, Rarity could tell the magus seemed more annoyed than angry, so there seemed to be no threat of her being turned into a toad or some other awful thing. “Well actually, Spike doesn’t have to take anything. If it comes down to it, I can just dunk him in-” Without even waiting for her to finish, Rarity switched subjects. Arguing with stubborn ponies was like beating one’s head against a rock. One needed to make sure her horn impacted on a crack, and then spread it around. “Twilight, if you don’t mind me asking…what was all that about a hospital?” Twilight looked up at her with wide eyes for a moment, then flinched away. “W-W-What? Oh…that. Um, well…when I was younger, some frien-relatives were put in the hospital for a…condition they had,” she said in a sad tone after the panicked surprise from being asked something like that right out of the blue. As the unicorn averted her gaze from Rarity, the seamstress wrapped some of Twilight‘s pen and parchment in her magic. “I visited them as much as I could and when I did…it was just really hard for everypony. But I had to keep a smile up when I did it. Crying would have made them sad.” “Ah…what happened to them?” she asked. When Twilight flinched at her question and gulped, but didn’t do anything else, Rarity found herself emboldened and stepped forward, forcing the more powerful unicorn back. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled softly as the trembling in her legs increased and she sunk in on herself just the tiniest bit. Rarity raised an eyebrow, and Twilight shrunk back even more. “But Twilight, wouldn’t it be better to share this sort of thing with your friends? I mean, a burden shared by many helps with the weight and all that.” The old quote got a flinch out of the unicorn, but her body language didn’t become any more forthcoming. Twilight simply curled in on herself even more. “Rarity, I…can’t,” she said. “Please, I hate those memories. I don’t want to think about them anymore.” Rarity gave the mare a reassuring nuzzle, which she flinched away from at first. “Of course my dear, forget I said anything,” she told her friend before looking over to the pegasus who had been standing out of the line of fire. “Twilight,” the flying member of their little group spoke up, making Rarity turn herself around to look at Fluttershy; who had come in as per the instructions on the note that had been slipped to her. “Um…if you don’t mind me asking, why can’t Spike stay a pony?” “Muffins muffins making makin’ muffin muffins! Aaaaaaaaaand, they’re done!” the mailmare sang as the timer to her oven went off. Spike sighed to himself and shook his head as the gray pegasus stopped dancing in her kitchen and began to retrieve the baked goods. As the owner of the house kept herself busy, he looked back to the pony currently occupying the other half of the couch he was sitting on. Although Sparkler was no longer giving him her patented death glare, she didn’t seem to be in a good mood either as she read some magic instruction book that had been picked up earlier at the library. “Um…Sparkler, are you still mad about me calling your mom the wrong name?” he asked tentatively. The pink unicorn looked up from her book with a scowl on her face, then diverted her gaze from the dragon-turned-pony. “It’s…well, I’m fine with you now that you apologized, but…ugh! It just makes me so mad that my mom let’s ponies walk all over her so much that half the stupid town thinks that stupid nickname of hers is her real one!” “Awww, it’s no big deal Sparky.” As Ditzy set a napkin down before putting the try of muffins on the coffee table, Sparkler let out a cry of indignation and glared at the pegasus. “Mom! I’m not a little foal anymore! Stop calling me that! Especially when I’m with my friend!” While the Ditzy and the unicorn had their mother/daughter banter back and forth, Spike found himself looking at the muffins that were still cooling. “So…uh, anypony want to tell me how this is supposed to cheer me up?” Sparkler looked away from her mother and over to Spike the pony with a snaky smirk. “According to Mom, muffins fix everything. So I’m sure, by her logic, you’ll just eat one and get out of your funk.” “Well not really,” Ditzy said, drawing the two younger ponies attention. “You see, when I spotted Spike in the street, I saw he wouldn’t want to listen to anypony because he was too angry for the words to sink in. So I brought him back home to give him some time to cool off, and the smell of the baking muffins got his mind focused on food, rather than just going whatever had made him upset in the first place so he wouldn’t just let it run over and over again in his head. And now, after smelling the muffins cooking for so long, Spike’s subconsciously gotten himself so prepared to eat one that he’ll enjoy it and at least cheer up a little, allowing him to talk it out with somepony he trusts…that’s you Sparky.” Spike could only sit there, his mouth hanging open alongside Sparkler as Ditzy finished. It was a full three seconds before the former dragon could even find the correct words to voice what was going through his brain. “Sparkler…I think I understand where you get your brains from now.” “Um…yeah,” the unicorn managed to say as her mother snatched one of the muffins before flapping her wings to get a few inches off the ground. “It’s a mom thing,” Ditzy replied before she floated towards the stairs. “Now, I’ll leave you foals alone. I’ve got to get some rest before my shift at the delivery company starts. And Sparkler, no hanky panky in the house!” Hank what now? Spike asked himself while Sparkler let out an embarrassed cry of ‘Moooom’ before Ditzy left them alone. As soon as she was gone, Spike reached out for a muffin and touched it with his hooves…then sighed when he couldn’t pull it back out of the pan they were still in. “Sparkler, how do you do it?” “Do what?” she asked before her magic dropped the muffin into her waiting hoof for her to take a bite without having to deal with that magic tingle that came from having her glow make contact with her tongue. “That!” Spike exclaimed as he pointed to the muffin in her hoof, then tried to pick his own up multiple times. “Mom…Twilight said I could stay a pony if I could pick something up with just one hoof, that I could be with Rarity! But I couldn’t! And-” “Spike.” “-And-” “Spike!” “I-” “SPIKE!” Sparkler shouted right in his face, making the dragon turned pony let out a squeal of surprise before flailing backwards and falling from the couch. After letting the last of his dignity die, Spike picked himself off the ground and managed to pull himself back up on the couch where Sparkler had a muffin waiting for him in the grip of her magic. He reached out his hoof to take it, and then watched helplessly when it fell to the floor…only for the unicorn to catch it again and float it back up to him. Once it was level with his mouth, the light purple pony took a bite. The muffin was…good, but not as good as he was expecting it to be for some reason. It took a moment before Spike realized he was thinking it needed some sweetening, and despite his desire to add sapphires to the recipe, the thought was painfully shoved to the side when he understood that he would never be able to eat gems again. Everything else tasted dull in comparison. After a moment, Spike realized that Sparkler had never answered his question. “Sorry for freaking out on you. I just…I wanted to know how to pick stuff up with  hooves,” he mumbled. “Oh that,” she said before shrugging. “Same way we all get cutie marks, or pegasi walk on clouds, or earth ponies just know how crops should be tended, or unicorns just move stuff with our horns. It’s our instinctual magic common to all tribes. We just do it. You know, like breathing.” Then Sparkler let out a sigh and looked over to the pseudo-pony. “So…care to tell me what this is all about? What’s the deal with this staying a pony and being with Rarity manure?” After finishing the muffin that Sparkler was holding for him, Spike let out a sigh and explained things for her, telling Sparkler about how Twilight had managed to find a way to turn him back into a dragon, and Rarity…the cruel words she had said, that Twilight had obviously made her say. When he had finished, Sparkler gave him one of her most ‘I can’t believe this’ looks, and let out a sigh before finally breaking the silence. “Spike…how old is Rarity?” The question threw him a bit off guard. “Um…well…maybe…nineteen?” In truth, Spike had no idea as to the answer to that was. He assumed she was close to Twilight in age, but…now that he really thought about it, she would have had to been a little bit older if she had an established business. “Try twenty three,” the unicorn countered. “Now, how much else do you really know about her?” Spike frowned at the information Sparkler had given him. “Wait, how do you know how old she is?” As usual, Sparkler met his dissatisfaction with more of her own instead of an apologetic look. “Are you kidding?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “She’s a single mare with a successful business before thirty, and a gemstone cutie mark. She’s living my dream! Hay, she’s even got…well…let’s just say I look up to her, and leave it at that.” Sparkler looked away to grab another muffin from the tray. “Oh, that makes sense, I guess,” he mumbled before looking back towards the food for a few moments before Sparkler got him another muffin. Although he felt kind of sad for Sparkler if she was measuring herself against Rarity, the most beautiful, kind and generous unicorn who ever lived. “And what’s all this about your mom brainwashing Rarity into rejecting you?” she asked after a moment. “You can’t tell me you actually believe that!” The question made Spike slump over a little. “Well…” He paused in thought. Did he believe it? Twilight did have her…odd moments. Spike had seen one time when she stayed up for three days straight trying to decode a letter of text Celestia had given her until the princess had explained that the letter had no answer to it, and was merely designed to be a project she was meant to fail on her own before asking for help. By the third day, Twilight had been having conversations with the parchment and convinced that the truth of the test was that the coded letter was in fact the way the Equestrian language was supposed to look, and everything else was wrong. Although she had stopped short of hypnotizing everypony in the palace to agree with her way of thinking. With no other choice, the dragon-turned-pony relented with a long sigh. “I guess not,” he finally admitted before taking a bite from his floating muffin. “It’s just…when I first saw Rarity…I just…knew she and I would be together. It was love at first sight, it was destiny, it was-” “An infatuation,” Sparkler cut in, again, shattering Spike‘s mental picture. Before Spike could recover, she kept going. “I mean come on! I There’s no such thing as love at first sight Spike. There’s ‘wow that stallion is hot and I want him to bang my brain out’ kind of stuff, but that’s just you seeing some pony as attractive. Hay, you didn’t even know her at the time!” Spike deflated a little bit before mumbling, “But I do now.” At that point, Sparkler had to nod. “I’ll give you that one,” she agreed before her look became scrutinizing again. “And since you know her so well now, tell me… Has she ever looked at you as anything more than the foal of one of her friends, Spiky-wikey?” The special name Rarity had for him used in such a way made Spike flinch. Whenever Rarity had said that, it had sounded like a special name that only she called him. It was proof of their special bond. But with the way Sparkler had said it and that foal comment made it sound completely different. “My little Spikey-wikey,” Rarity’s voice resounded in his mind as she spoke to him like…a… Not like somepony she was interested in romantically, or even an equal that might possibly have a chance of one day being considered a romantic interest. If anything, it sounded almost as if she thought of his as… Well… Fluttershy gasped and rushed forward with wide eyes. “A baby dragon!” the pegasus said as she went from shy to exited in less than a second upon seeing Spike on Twilight’s back. …a pet. The thought made him shiver. Is that really what I am to… NO! Rarity values my help! She thinks of me like a pony and… “It’s just a crush Spike,” the unicorn’s words echoed in his head. “And that’s all, isn’t it?” he whispered to himself. At least, that was all she would ever see it as. The foolish infatuations of a foal. “To her, I’m just…Twilight’s…son.” Spike was pretty sure, had he been a dragon, the last word would have had him spitting fire. The touch of a hoof against the back of his coat brought Spike out of his introspection, and he found Sparkler putting one of her forelegs across his shoulders in a very clumsy hug. When he turned his head to look at her, she blushed a little and cleared her throat. “Sorry. Not good with this touchy-feely stuff like my mom is.” Spike cleared his own throat and turned his attention back towards the muffins that had cooled. “That’s okay, I’m not one for mushy stuff either,” he said to her. These days, he got more than enough of that ‘I love you’ junk from…Twilight. For what was going on the thirtieth time since the day began, Spike reached to pick up something in front of him. His hoof touched the muffin, and found it completely unresponsive. “…there’s something wrong with pony-me, isn’t there?” “I haven’t known your mom that long Spike, but Twilight really doesn’t seem like the type of pony who does stuff without a reason,” Sparkler told him as Spike gave up trying to grab the muffin and leaned back on the couch. Then, he looked at his bare flank for a minute, before collapsing back onto the couch all the way, where Sparkler was waiting for him. “So, what now?” she asked him in a soft tone. “I…” Spike sighed, not quite able to say the words. He knew what he had to do. He needed to go back, and talk to Twilight. The image of the purple unicorn looking at him with her terrified expression, it appeared in his mind again and the former dragon found himself sinking deeper into the pink unicorn’s embrace. “Can you give me a minute on that?” Rarity gulped as she watched Twilight glare at Fluttershy. The white unicorn wasn’t even aware she had backed up until she felt the table in the middle of the library impact her rump. Apparently, the sound of light jostle the unicorn bust underwent was enough to shake Twilight out of her frozen stare of cold rage. “What did you just call me?” “Well it’s just, you…um, I said…you…kind of remind me of a wild animal,” Fluttershy mumbled before she hid behind her mane as best she could, almost cowering as Twilight just stared at her with an open mouth. As she stood beside her, Rarity just gaped at the pegasus who had said such a thing to Twilight of all ponies. Quietly as she could, the unicorn slowly looked around for someplace to hide. Across the room, Fluttershy knelt down until she was shivering, and Twilight… The purple unicorn simply watcher her and…much to Rarity's surprise, softened. It was a strange sight. Five minutes ago, after Twilight had finished explaining to Fluttershy everything that was going on and why she had been so hard on the dragon, the pegasus had said that Twilight could have tried being nicer to Spike, or even let him stay a pony despite the impossible to overcome disabilities. The arch-mage of a unicorn had not taken the suggestion well. She had stiffened, and gave such a cold, even response to the suggestion that Rarity had practically felt the room’s temperature drop, starting them on the path that had let to the moment they were in. But, instead of the usual explosions that Twilight was known for when she was challenged, as Fluttershy’s fear grew…so did Twilight’s; until the later of the two finally spoke. “Are…Fluttershy, are you afraid of me?” the unicorn asked, her voice low and full of fear. After the pegasus managed to remove her face from her mane again, Fluttershy put on a thoughtful look, then let out a tiny sigh. “Well, maybe a little, or…a lot. But, I think you misunderstand what I said,” she went on. “You see, when I first bring an animal into my house from outside, it’s very…rowdy. But it’s not because the animal is bad, it’s just…used to being by itself, used to just getting its way. It has to get used to sharing with others and considering what they want.” “But I do consider what you all want!” Twilight argued, her voice pleading with the pegasus to understand. “I know Applejack wants her farm to succeed and her family to be happy more than anything in the world, but she can’t do that without all our help! I know Rainbow Dash wants to be the best flyer in Equestria, but joining the Wonderbolts will only make her miserable! It’s great that Pinkie Pie just wants to make other ponies happy, but she needs to stop relying on others to find her own self-worth, and Rarity…you don’t need to give us anything to prove our friendship, I’d love you even if I never got a single dress, cape, vest or scarf from you ever again. Your generosity is wonderful Rarity, but it is not a requirement for our friendship. “And Fluttershy,” she said, turning to the pegasus. “You’re the most kind and loving pony I’ve ever met! But…you just hide away in your house on the edge of town when you could be out with all of us, having so much more fun. Like…I know you have the most lovely singing voice in the world! You-” Before Twilight could even get another word in, Fluttershy stood rigid and let out a cry of surprised. “W-WHAT?” she exclaimed before crouching down, seemingly trying to melt into the ground. “Y-You’ve heard me sing?” The unicorn’s face brightened and she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! I’ve heard you sing while you were…feeding your animals the other day! Your voice is beautiful, and-and I know you like the Ponytones, and-Rarity is right here!” she exclaimed while pointing to the unicorn, her words slowing down as Fluttershy’s face became more and more terrified. “You…could join…them…Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” “I…it…you…singing…I…singing, it-you…know…about my…singing.” Using the clues of the few words she said, and the body language that spoke volumes louder, Rarity cleared her throat and drew Twilight’s attention away from the shivering pegasus. “I think what Fluttershy is trying to say dear, is that while she does enjoy singing,” Rarity began while making a mental note to ask her spa buddy about all of that later, “it isn’t something that she feels comfortable with in public.” “But, with some work, Fluttershy can overcome her stage fright, and…I know she’d love to join your new singing group Rarity!” In response, the white unicorn pushed down her fears of Twilight turning her into a toad for the moment. As silly as they were, seeing the girl as she had been just a few moments ago… Rarity didn’t want to know what would happen if she really snapped. “However, that isn’t your decision to make, is it darling?” Twilight’s “But!” was cut off with a raise of an eyebrow from Rarity, and after her gaze shifted between the unicorn and the pegasus before she lowered her head and let out a tiny sniffle. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I’ve been alone for so long. Locked away, just researching and…I just…I’m sorry if I scare you!” she sobbed as she shook her head. “I don’t mean to.” The tiny, squeak of a response from Twilight was quickly reciprocated. Fluttershy slowly approached the distraught unicorn, and wrapped her in a hug. “That’s okay Twilight,” the yellow pegasus told her. “Learning about friendship is what you’re here for, right?” The purple unicorn sat on her haunches for one…two…nearly three minutes before Rarity finally heard something from her. A tiny snicker escaped her nose, followed by a light giggle that erupted into a moment of laughter before she grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders and pushed her back to look the mare in the eyes. “Maybe I do still have some things I need to learn from you girls. “But right now, I need to go find my son,” Twilight said before looking over to Rarity, then back to Fluttershy as she continued to speak. “Today’s Pinkie’s day off from Sugarcube Corner, right?” While the pegasus gave a ‘no idea’ shrug, Rarity checked her mental calendar. Learning the usual schedules for her friends hadn’t been too hard, with the exception of a cyan pegasus, but despite her out there personality, Pinkie Pie did keep a basic one.  “I believe so. But, why do you want to see Pinkie?” “Just try and beat her in a game of hide and seek without magic and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” Spike didn’t know how long he sat on the couch beside the unicorn, but by the time he got up to leave, Ditzy had already left for her afternoon job, and the muffins had gotten cold. The clock on the wall said the time with 2:00PM, but since he had come in after Sparkler’s mom finished her morning mail route…or was it newspaper route? Some other job...maybe? He wasn’t sure. The former dragon shook his head. Well, considering the time, Spike knew he had been at the Do’s residence for too long. And, as much as he hated to admit it to himself, the longer he stayed, the longer he found himself thinking of the state Twilight had been in when he left her. Sure, she had been pretty harsh with him, but…was that really such a good excuse for his own actions towards her? After everything they’d done together, an entire lifetime of memories for him, all just thrown away for…what? A crush? Because Twilight was being bossy with him again? “Hey Sparkler,” the former dragon finally spoke, making the unicorn lift her head from the book she had been staring at for the past several minutes without turning a page. “Can you help me get home? I don’t think I’ll be able to open the door.” The unicorn levitated her book back onto the living room’s table and nodded. “No problem Spike,” she said before getting up and walking him out. “So…you going to ask Twilight if you can stay a pony? Cause…uh…okay, I got nothing to help you out on that front with.” Spike looked over to a mirror on the far side of the wall, and sighed at the pony staring back at him. The light purple pony who had a coat the same color as his old scales, and a mane that matched his old spikes. The muzzle still looked like it had a little ways to grow until it reached full stallion, but Spike was certain nopony would be mistaking him for a mare. The blank flank also stood out to him when he turned to look at his body from another angle. “No,” the dragon-to-be finally said, more to himself than to the unicorn beside him. “Would have been nice though.” “Eh, fitting in is overrated anyway,” Sparkler told him before opening the door to her house. “I know, right?” While the pink unicorn beside him let out a terrified scream and jumped to grab onto Spike’s neck, dragging them both down to the ground in a tangled mess, Spike had enough experience dealing with Pinkie’s…Pinkie-ness…or was perhaps just overdosed with it enough on a weekly basis that he managed to keep from screaming like a little filly when the party pony popped up behind them a second after the door was opened. It also helped that Sparkler had a stranglehold on his neck, preventing any sound from escaping, or air from entering. “There you are Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed as she picked him up out of Sparkler’s grip and gave the light purple pony a hug. “That was the longest anypony’s ever managed to hide from me before! Although…I think it was cheating to hide in a house, those are supposed to be off limits.” “Oh pony feathers, it’s the crazy one,” Sparkler mumbled as she loosened  her death grip enough for Spike to breathe, and eventually escape. Ignoring the unicorn, Pinkie reached into her poofy mane, and pulled out a rolled up scroll. “Twilight said to give you this when I find you so…here you go!” she exclaimed before handing him the parchment. Although a bit put off by the fact Twilight had just sent him a letter, obviously for Celestia, the oddity of the pink earth pony in front of him made him keep from blowing his stack. “Uh, Pinkie…I can’t send messages to Princess Celestia,” Spike told her as he looked at the letter. Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “Well duh! You’re a pony now, not a dragon,” she told him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Besides, the letter is for you, not Princess Celestia! If it was for Princess Celestia, I would have had to give it to Sparkler’s mom!” “Well, least she’s not calling her Derpy,” the unicorn mumbled. Tentatively, Spike reached out with his hooves, and stopped a second before he touched the letter. Without any other options, the former dragon sighed and looked over to the unicorn. “Can you give me a horn here?” he asked. A few seconds later, the letter unrolled in Sparkler’s magic, and Spike read the letter while the other pony averted her eyes. My Dearest Spike, If you’re reading this, then the first thing I want to say is, I’m sorry for everything. Since we came to Ponyville, I know I’ve been more difficult to deal with than what you're used to in the past. I’m more pushy, and even arrogant. I see a problem and I run to fix it, only looking at the end of everything without noticing who I hurt to get things done. I’m afraid it’s become a bad habit of mine. But I don’t want to make this about me trying to explain myself to you. I just need you to know something, why I am trying to get you to change back into a dragon. I don’t know where you encountered a blue flower in the past twenty-four hours, but that is the reason for your transformation. It transformed you into a pony, probably because in the eyes of other dragons, you are more pony than dragon. It’s like a joke, you see. But the joke is a sick one. The transformation isn’t complete, nor was it ever meant to be. Your dragon magic still exists, and you don’t have the magic of a pony. It’s why you can’t pick things up with your hooves, and lack a cutie mark, or anything else we have. I’m sorry I didn’t take the time to tell you this first. Like a fool, I didn’t trust in your ability to see reason, and reacted in fear of your bullheadedness. It’s not the only thing I’m afraid of either. Like I said, your dragon magic still exists, but your pony body is probably not immune to fire, or even able to excrete it. It terrifies me to think what may happen if Celestia sends you a message while you're in the state you’re in now. Please come home, or if Pinkie finds you in Canterlot, then tell Celestia you’ve been affected by poison joke. Hopefully, she knows the cure too. And if you are in Canterlot, then I just want to say I’m sorry I drove you away with my harsh actions. I just love you so much, and didn’t want to take the chance of you getting hurt. I know that’s no excuse, but it’s all I have. As for Rarity, I’m sorry to say that I know you had feelings for her, and I used them against you in such a way. If you hate me for that, then I understand, and to be honest, I more than deserve it for crushing your hopes before their time. Part of me wants to speak up in my defense of my actions with her, but getting back on your good side is nothing when compared with your physical well-being. So, please come home to the library so I can help you with the magical infection, if your still in Ponyville that is. I never meant to hurt you, and although I can’t ask for forgiveness, I do want you to know that I am sorry that I hurt you. The walk back to the library took longer than Spike had expected it to. While he found it easier to move at a trot, Spike needed the time it took to get from Ditzy’s house to Twilight’s place to get his head in order, to work out what he wanted…what he needed to say. So he took detours, scenic routes that went by every statue in town, and even managed to get lost for a few seconds in the village that was Ponyville. Since Sparkler had remained at her house at his request once he read the letter, Spike knocked on the door to his home. He gulped when the entryway opened on it’s own accord. It as an action he immediately regretted because of the letters in his mouth that he had taken out of the mailbox; more out of habit than anything really. One thing he would not miss about being a pony as having to carry things around in his teeth. The purple unicorn was waiting for him inside. As he crossed the threshold into her house, Spike dropped the mail onto the floor at what he saw. Despite it barely being past three in the afternoon, she looked incredibly worn out, more-so than he had ever seen her since they came to Ponyville. Twilight’s eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like the eyes hadn’t been the only part of her face fluids had leaked from. “Spike?” his mother called out to the pseudo-pony weakly. “I-” “I’m sorry!” Spike told her before she could get any further. “I-” the former dragon’s words were cut off as he had to look away when Twilight teleported over and wrapped her forelegs around him in a hug. “No! Don’t you apologize, d-don’t you dare,” she said before she broke into tears. “I, this is all my fault Spike. You have every right to be mad at me! I was so horrible to you!” The admittance simply stabbed at the lighter purple pony’s heart. “I…I should have known there was something…something,” he said before finally breaking down into tears. “I’m sorry I hurt you. What I said, I-I’m sorry!” Finally, with his words bringing back the memories of what had transpired the last time he had been in this room, Spike broke into tears as he sagged into his mother’s forelegs, and she her head on his shoulders. By some miracle, the two managed to remain standing, perfectly supporting the weight of the others. After it seemed he had no more tears to shed, and Twilight’s breathing had returned to normal, the unicorn was the first to speak. “So…are you going to…stay, with me?” “Of course I am.” The mare grip on him tightened. “Thank you. I…I love you Spike.” “I love you too, Mom.” Twilight nuzzled the slightly smaller pony for what felt like forever, but when she finally broke the embrace, the clock said only a few minutes had passed since Spike had walked into the tree. Holding him at forearms length, the unicorn drew in some breath through her nose, making a rather disturbing slurping sound as they had just spent the past several minute crying, and smiled at her son. “I have the cure ready, if you are. It’s upstairs, in the bath.” Spike couldn’t help but ask, “With bubbles?” “Of course it has bubbles Spike,” she mumbled with a roll of her eyes. Then, as she straightened herself back up, Twilight’s gaze fell to the mail that Spike had dropped on the way in. “What’s this?” she mumbled before picking up the letters with her magic and floating them over. “Just the mail…I kind of got it…habit, I guess,” he mumbled before looking over to where the bathroom was, then back to Twilight. As much as he hated to admit it, Spike was pretty sure he might need help getting in the tub. He did not trust his hooves on any kind of wet surface. But, when he looked over to Twilight and saw the concerned expression on her face as she scanned a letter floating in front of her face. “What’s wrong?” Her reply was almost breathless. “It’s…well, you remember that dragon from a few days back?” Twilight asked without waiting for an answer. “They um…finished apprising the value of his horde and selling off the antiquities.” The soon to be dragon couldn’t help but smile at hearing that news. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to listen to Twilight complain about the ‘substandard’ lab equipment she was forced to ‘get by with’ using the money Princess Celestia had given her. “So how much are we getting?” “Too much.” Spike frowned at Twilight’s…depressed reply. If anything, he thought news such as that would have at least brought a little cheer to his mother’s face. “What? What’s that supposed to mean, too much?” “Even,” Twilight began as she read the letter again, then looked up to Spike with an odd hopelessness in her eyes. “Even if it’s divided six ways, it’s…millions.” Then, she looked back down at the paper like it was her own death certificate. “Me and the girls…we’re rich.”