A figure in heavy armor walked slowly through the town of Ponyville, but it was not because of the armor that she kept a lagging pace, rather because of the two small girls who ran around her ankles. The figure was smiling but none could see it, not beneath the helmet that blocked the entirety of her face from view. She hadn’t felt the sun on her skin in a long time. She remembered when it had been warm and welcoming, whereas now it only brought searing pain.
She missed it.
One of the girls tripped over one of Letha’s large metal boots, stumbling and threatening to fall onto the coarse stone, but with impressive speed, speed that seemed unhindered by her attire, Letha grabbed the child around the waist with both hands and swung her into the air. The girl let out a squee of glee as she found herself weightless. Letha tossed her into the air and the girl laughed as she saw the world fall away. She enjoyed every moment of it. As she fell back down she knew her adopted mother would catch her. She always had.
Gentle hands caught her, soft despite the gauntlets. And she was tossed airborne again. She began to laugh and the second child began to pull on her mother’s boots. “Me next!” She shouted happily as she watched her sibling, sister in all but blood, fall back into mom’s ready hands. “Me next, Me next!” Letha caught her airborne daughter easily and lowered her to the ground. In a large sweeping motion she grabbed her other daughter and tossed her into the air. She giggled delightfully and Letha continued the game, giving each daughter equal time and attention.
From a fair distance Rarity and Spike watched the play, their own daughter running around their knees. Jumping lightly about, almost weightless. Spike grabbed her in big careful arms and pointed her in the direction of Letha, smiling as he did so. “What do you think Kiri? Want me to toss you like that?” He said with a big grin.
Kiri backed up as best she could in his grasp, pushing herself closer to his shoulder. “N-no.” She said, panicked. “You know I don’t like heights Dad!”
“Oh, here we gooooo.” Spike smiled and grabbed Kiri by either side, winding up to throw her into the air. “Hope you’re ready Kiri.”
“Aaaaaah!” Kiri screamed, her voice tinged with equal parts panic and glee as she felt her father's muscles tense. “Moooooom!”
Rarity smiled to herself as she worked on the small jewelry that rested on the table, letting Spike continue his charade for a moment before she cut in. “Stop teasing our daughter Spikey Wikey, you know she’s scared of heights.”
“Alright then.” Spike said in false defeat. “I guess I’ll let you stay on the ground for now…” Spike deposited her safely onto the cobblestone, where she shook from adrenaline and fear. “Say… you aren’t scared of… ice cream are you?!” He said suddenly, the shivers from his daughter disappearing almost instantly.
“NO!” She shouted happily. “Race you inside!” She ran in through the door and disappeared inside. Spike smiled to himself and began to follow when Rarity stopped him. He paused at the table outside their house as she held out a hoof. She finished stringing the gem she was working on, then she looked to Spike.
“How do you think Letha survived that fall?” She asked softly, her voice low enough that no one could hear her. “Even if that armor cushioned her fall somehow, it looks far too heavy to swim in. Certainly not with whatever air she managed to breath in before hand anyway. So how…how do you think she...” Rarity let her words drift off, unsure how to continue the thought.
“I don’t know.” Spike said, kneeling on the bench across the table from his wife. “I thought she was as good as dead when she hit that water. I don’t know anything that could’ve survived that.” Rarity shook her head at the answer, clearly not liking the breadth of the mystery. “But, what I do know is… those kids are pretty happy to see her.”
Rarity looked at Letha and smiled again, “Yes… they certainly are.”
Spike took a moment to appreciate the scene before he got off the bench. “Well, I’d better get in there and make sure our daughter isn’t tearing the house apart trying to get that ice cream. Give me a shout if you need anything.” Spike turned to head inside.
“Will do.” Spike had just touched the door knob when his wife’s next words shot a chill down his spine. “Wait... is that… Shining?”
Spike whirled around to see the self same captain of the guard that his wife had spotted heading for Letha. He began to make pace towards them when his daughter came outside. “Dad? I thought we were getting ice cream?”
Spike kept his pace as he called back to his daughter. “Stay with Mom for a minute Kiri. I’ll be right back.” He kept walking until he was side by side with Shining Armor, both of them only a few feet from Letha, who seemed to be sensing an approaching interaction. “I thought you and Twilight wouldn’t be back for a few days still.” Spike said, keeping his eyes facing Letha.
“There was a change of plans, we came back early.” Shining offered. “Flash tells me you let a strange creature past the gate without so much as a simple blood check?”
“Her daughters were here, I wasn’t going to just-”
“You should’ve followed procedure. I know she’d want to see her kids but we need to make sure she’s clean first. We’re operating on the front lines here, we can’t risk an infection at any cost.”
“Sir!” Flash Sentry caught up to the group. Appearing as if from thin air and falling into step with them. “It’s not Mr. Spike’s fault sir. I let it,” Flash paused, regretting his choice of words. “Sorry, I meant… I let her in. I fully accept responsibility.”
“Calm down Flash, I’m not here to string anyone up. I just wish you’d followed procedure. She’s just going to go see Twilight, Twilight is going to make sure that she isn’t a vampire sent here to destroy us and then we’ll all get on with our lives. Okay? That’s all.”
Spike and Flash slowed their steps, letting Shining move ahead of them. They glanced at each other, and then to Shining Armor who was, for all intents and purposes, repeating what he had just said to Spike and Flash. Letha nodded along, slowly, and when he finished he began to lead the way back the way he had come, back towards the castle.
As Letha passed by Spike she stopped. She knelt down in front of her kids carefully, slowly, and looked them in the eyes. “I need you girls to stay with Spike okay, Mommy’s gonna go talk to the princess.”
“What’s a princess?” Asked one of them almost immediately. “Is it like a jarl? Are you gonna fight with them? You said you wouldn’t fight anymore Mommy. You promised!”
“I’m not gonna fight with her. I’m gonna chat with her and then do a little bit of work and then we’ll get a house here. Just like I did in Whiterun, you remember?”
“Oh yea…” She responded, walking slowly over to Spike. “Okay momma! We’ll see you after you get a house!”
“Yea!” Shouted the other one. “Try and get one near the park! It’s so pretty there!”
“Of course girls, I’ll try my best.” Letha stood up from her crouch and placed a hand on Spike’s shoulder. her voice was low and Spike had to strain to hear it. “Don’t let anything happen to them.”
“Of course, you’ll only be gone a few minutes though, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.” Spike wasn’t sure why they were whispering, only that Letha had started it. Shining Armor stood nearby waiting.
“Yea…” Letha responded, taking her hand off Spike’s shoulder. “Just a couple minutes.” She walked up to Shining Armor who turned around and began to lead the way once again, Letha just behind him. Flash dispersed to the front gate, taking up his position there, leaving only Spike and the girls.
He began to lead them back to the house, his mind full of questions about the exchange that had just taken place. “We’re about to have some ice cream girls, you want some?”
“Ice cream!” They shouted in unison before running off towards the house. Spike trailed behind, his pace weighed down by his thoughts. Letha had seemed worried about something, but he couldn’t place what she would be worried about.
He eventually shrugged it off and went inside the house, Rarity following him in. Spike served everyone a small bowl full of ice cream and handed them around, everyone enjoying the treat that they had. He left the ice cream out, so it would be soft when Letha returned.
Yet… even after everyone had finished their bowls. Even when the kids had started running around playing again, even when the sun had passed it’s noon time glare, Letha didn’t return. Spike placed the ice cream back into the icebox, the chilling enchantment cooling it down as he laid it to rest inside. He leaned out the front door, watching the road, waiting.
He wondered about what was going on, about what had happened. He worried that Shining Armor had been justified in his worries about Letha. She’d been gone far too long. Had she gotten into a fight with Twilight? That didn’t seem plausible. He didn’t know much about Letha other than that she probably should’ve died but she hadn’t. What he did know was that Twilight could handle herself against god like beings with ease. Letha, for all her armor, didn’t seem the type to pick a losing battle.
As Spike was enraptured in his thoughts he didn’t hear Fluttershy approach, but he knew she was there before she spoke. She coughed lightly to let him know. She hated scaring people, and always did her best to avoid it. When Spike turned to face her she got the recognition that he knew she was there.
“What’s the matter Spike?” She asked softly, looking out into the road. Trying to spot what had kept his attention. There was nothing there though and so she looked back to Spike, whose face betrayed no clues to help her solve the problem. Instead, she waited for him to offer an answer. And, after a moment, he did.
“Letha isn’t back yet.” He said simply, nodding to the road.
“Oh dear… where’d she go? Maybe we can try and find her. I hope she didn’t get lost in town, she’s only been here less than a day after all and I didn't give her a map.”
“I don’t think she’s lost, Fluttershy. She went to see Twilight and I think that Shining Armor would’ve-”
“Oh dear.” Fluttershy cut in, Spike was shocked by the simple fact that she’d interrupted someone. It made him pause, speechless, as Fluttershy continued. “Oh dear oh dear oh dear. We’ve got to go and make sure she’s alright!” She sputtered, already heading out towards the road to follow it to the castle.
“Fluttershy? Hey Fluttershy what’s the matter? What’s going on?”
She turned to face Spike and looked for all the world like she was trying to say something, but holding herself back at the same time. “I can’t tell you!” She said at last, “I made a Pinkie Promise!” She began to pick up pace and ran down the road, maneuvering as best she could between carts and pedestrians, the adrenaline making her forget about her wings again.
Panic began to settle into Spike’s bones and he felt his pace picking up, he felt his feet move faster and faster but he wasn’t running towards the castle, not yet. He was running back to his house. He peaked in through the door and saw Rarity sitting in a chair watching the children run around. “I’m going to see Twilight!” He blurted hurriedly before he began to pull his head back out of the home. “I’ll be right back!”
“Spike? What’s the matter? Spike?!” But Spike was running too quickly to answer. He would’ve had to shout at this point and he didn’t even know what he would say. So instead he ran. He ran and ran until the traffic became slimmer and slimmer and he ran until he could see the castle hanging just ahead of him.
He paused at the archway and inhaled deeply through his nose, catching his breath. He looked around but found no sign of Fluttershy. No sign at all until, that is, he spotted the two guards positioned at the entrance looking curiously down a hallway. Barely thinking Spike followed their sight, causing them to blink in surprise as he ran past.
He heard clashing echoes that sounded almost ethereal and he heard shouts from three different voices that intermingled with each other in confusing patterns. He ran through the castle seeking the clamor. A voice in his head berated him, told him that he had no reason to run like this. What did he even think he could do? But he pushed it away, the sound of his heart beat all but drowning out the voice in its manic erratic song.
It was true, he didn’t know what he was going to do. He didn’t know what he could do. But he did know one thing. He would help. He would help as best he could.