That was the beginning of our friendship. A week later we were going out. The Crusaders nearly killed me when they found out but well, something just clicked with Diamond. I couldn't explain it, it just felt right. I pulled myself from the past and glanced at my best friend as he argued with Shot about...something. I didn't really care.
"Unca Spike!"
I felt a weight latch onto my tail. I chuckled as I pulled it up until a pair of bright green eyes were staring back at me. Darla grinned back, her teeth still chattering from the cold outside. She was one hundred pounds of energy and sugar. Her coat was the same alabaster as her mother's and her mane was a curly mass of blonde, all corralled by twin pink bows. She was an earth pony like her father. Though she had all the spunk and joy her mother used to have at that age, with twice the energy.
"What's up squirt?" Pip asked as he ruffled her mane. He loved the kid as much as I did.
"Nothing~" she sang," Guess what?"
"What?" I asked.
"Daddy's taking me to the zoo." Her grin got wider. "I asked if Mommy could come. Daddy said no but then I said please. Like a lot and now she can go!" She detached from my tail and ran in a circle with a squealing giggle. The scene melted my heart.
"Darla, don't run indoors."
"Sorry Daddy," the energy puff skidded to a stop and looked sheepishly at the floor.
Pip and I looked at the source of the voice. Button Mash stood there. He was almost my height and was easily as massive as Big Macintosh, a friend of mine's brother. He wore a simple grey pea coat and black newsboy cap to block out the cold. Pip scowled at him, I just waved.
"Mash."
"Spike," he nodded," Pip."
"Didn't think you were in town," Pip said as he turned on the stool.
"Had to take care of some business," he said, his voice was cold. "Decided to take Darla to the zoo and well you get what happened." It was a little known fact that Button Mash did not like us and the feeling was more than a little mutual. That friendship had went up in smoke ages ago.
"What's going on out here?"
"Mommy!" Darla rushed Sweetie Belle as she stepped out of her back office. She caught the filly in her magic and nuzzled her with a happy grin. I noticed Pip smile fondly at the scene out of the corner of my eyes, not one those suave smiles mind you or his usual smirk. No this was his dorky smile, a genuine smile.
"Darla? What are you doing here?"
Button stepped forward. "I was going to take her to the zoo but she insisted we bring you along. And you know how I can never say no to my little girl." The chill in his voice melted when turned to his daughter. For all his faults, and its a hell of a list, he cared for Darla. Fought tooth and hoof to get full custody too.
"Really," Sweetie kept her attention focused on her filly. She refused to act sour in her daughter's presence. "What are you two doing here honey?"
"Daddy had to take care of some work!" Darla squeaked. "Can you go Mommy huh, huh?" She turned The Look on Sweetie Belle. Ha! The look the mare had patented had been perfected by her daughter.
"Of course sweetie," she said," Shot do you have it until I get back?"
"I got it boss," he waved a hoof," Have fun."
"Alright just let me get my coat." She set the filly down and went into her office. Darla followed close on her heels. Button Mash sighed, or growled as he watched them go.
"I swear she doesn't need to blatantly ignore me."
"Better than the alternative," I said as I raised my mug to my lips," For you anyway." I stared hard at him as he turned a glare at me. Sweetie and Darla came in a few seconds later. Button and I broke eye contact as he turned to follow them to the door. He held the door open for Sweetie who proceeded to open the other for herself. She wouldn't give him an inch. He sighed and followed after. Darla rushed back in a moment later and hugged my tail.
"Bye Unca Spike!" She nuzzled Pip who returned the gesture. "Bye Mr. Pipsqueak!" Darla ran back out the door.
Poor kid," Shot said as he set the last of the bottles on the counter. "It's going be hard for her when she comes to terms with her parents never getting back together."
"Yeah," I said as I stared at the doors. I drained my mug. "Hate to drink and run but I've got an early day tomorrow. Prose, Diamond and I are going to go see the theatre tomorrow morning." I laid out a few bits for the cider.
Shot scooped them up," Good luck."
"See ya Spike." Pip caught me before I turned to leave. "And be careful alright mate."
I smiled a tired sort of smile at him," I will." I hope.
____________________________________________________________________________
The first thing I thought as we entered the theatre was, big. It was massive. There was enough room in here to fill a hoofball stadium. I stared at the stage, already imagining the scenes with vivid clarity.
"Okay so I was thinking we start auditions in say a week," Diamond said as she walked out onto the stage with Prose. "Its a little rushed but I want to get this ball rolling as soon as possible. My secretary is already securing a few actors that are interested in the many roles. I was thinking we call in Pièce de Résistance and Coco Pommel for the costume designs. And I'd like them to make any modifications they see fit to them. There have been a few modifications to the writing to make the job easier for the actors."
"You modified my book?" I asked, my head whipping to the pink earth pony. She never so much as flinched as she stared right back.
"Yes," she said evenly," They're miner and yes you will get to look over the script. Any complaints I will consider. Don't worry there were very few changes to it, and even then they were minuscule at best."
"Great," Prose said," So you really don't need us here do you."
"Things are already in motion so yes." She smiled at the mousy pegasus. "But you are both allowed to look in whenever you see fit."
"I want to be there for the auditions." Both glanced my way. "I know how to gauge a performance well enough. The Manehatten Newsletter has asked me to do a few columns for last fall's Cruel and Aria Glaze. They think highly of my opinion in the theatre."
"I read it," Diamond said as she waved a hoof through the air," You were soft in your opinion. I watched the same show when it came to Canterlot. Soliloquy is a solid actress but her voice is much too soft, as well Aurora's rendition of Scirco was much too brash. I've been at this as long as you've been writing Mr. Dragon." A familiar tension rose between us. Nothing angry or sad. No this was a challenge.
Prose looked frantically between us as we just stared at each other. Finally I broke the contact. "Very well I'll leave it to your good judgment but I will still be there, to comment you know."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," she sniffed. "Well then I believe that is enough for now." She pulled out two thick paperback books. She handed one to me and the other to Prose. "Here these are for you. Please look over it." We left the theatre and I walked Prose back to her office.
"So," she said as she broke the silence," The hell was that?"
I looked down at the mare, who wore a 'you better tell me' look on her face. I sighed," Don't worry it won't be a problem." She stopped me.
"Listen if this is hard for you we can just cut it off now." She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Tell her we aren't interested." I looked at her in surprise.
"You're insane," I said, quirking an eyebrow. "You do realize that is a dumb move. I thought editors kept writers from doing dump stuff."
"True they do," she nodded. "But friends look out for each other."
I smiled down at her. "I'll be ok."
"If you're sure." Just then snow started to fall. We looked up at the white sky. The first snow of the year. Wow it was pretty. We carried on to her office building just making small talk. When we arrived she tapped my bag. "Look it over as soon as you can. If there is anything you want changed let me know."
"Will do." I gave her a hug goodbye.
I decided to fly around for a bit, clear my head. Though the snowfall started getting heavy. Had to start building up a flame to keep warm. Around four I returned to the apartment. I decided to fly straight in through the balcony and used my key to get in. Some days you just don't want to bother with the elevator. When I arrived the phone was ringing off the hook.
I picked it up. "Spike of Squeak and Spike speaking. How may I direct your call?"
"Oh darling I just heard the news!" I had to hold the phone away from my ear as it was assaulted with enough decibels to destroy my ear drums. After I got the ringing out of my ear I put it back to my twitching fins.
"Rarity tone it down. You nearly blew out my eardrums. Again."
A sheepish laugh sounded from the other end. I pulled the script out and set bit on the counter. I took a seat, curled my tail around the receiver to hold it to my ear, and opened the first page to the thick paperback. I began reading
"Sorry darling. Sweetie Belle just told me Diamond Tiara was there in Manehatten and directing your play no less. I'm so sorry dear."
I shrugged as I scanned the lines. "That's life for you. Takes every chance it can to throw a curveball at you. The thing is, it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. So how's Poulis?" I really didn't want to talk about it right then.
"Oh it is delightful darling," she gushed," Simply delightful. Its such a shame you and Sweetie couldn't join me. But duty before pleasure. We arrived ahead of schedule and wouldn't you know it. Princess Luna was here as well. We ran into her at the Rue de Rivoli."
"Luna in Prance," I laughed at that. So gamer girl is going international. "How's that going?"
"She's here for some game release." Rarity huffed. "I tried to get her to agree to attend the fashion show but she simply laughed, calling it 'frivolous'. I mean really. She has the figure of a top model and all the poise. Ohhhh, I would kill to get her on a runway."
"Awww," I said with a snicker. "Someone's got a crush."
"Very funny Spikey." I could hear her nose going in the air. "But my- ahem- barn door as 'twere does not swing that way."
"I've got a scarring childhood experience that says otherwise," I deadpanned.
A groan sounded from the other end. "Spikey must you hold that over my head. I was out of my skull with vodka, can't we simply bury that horrid memory."
I flipped another page and chuckled. "Then I wouldn't have anything to poke fun at you for. If it makes you feel any better Twilight's wings still go stiff every time I remind her."
Rarity shuddered on the other end. "Twilight is a dear friend, I dare say one of my best, but the last thing I need to know anything about is her...arousals."
"On that note any hot stallions on you're end?" I grabbed a pin and marked one of the modifications I caught and continued reading.
"None worth mentioning." She sighed. "You know I'm happy that Rainbow and Twilight have gotten together but I find myself a little, well jealous."
"You'll find someone Rares." I marked another modification. "I could try to set you up if you want. Damian's nice, though I don't know what your opinion on griffins is."
"Thank you dear but I shall decline on that. Though I greatly appreciate the offer." She yawned. "Well darling I need to get that much needed beauty sleep. We will talk when I get back next week. And don't think you've avoided this Diamond Tiara business." Damn. "We will be talking about it in length when I return. Good night."
"Good night Rarity." I hung the phone up. I turned back to the script and continued reading. The slamming of the door broke me out of the text, and Pip walked in.
"Hey mate." I waved at him as he hung his coat up. "When did you get in?"
"Been here since about four."
He whistled. "Wow been reading that for the last twelve hours then?" I glanced up at him in bewilderment then at the clock. Sure enough it was half past three A.M. Damn I'd been sitting here for that long. I rubbed my eyes with a claw and shut the script.
"Must have lost track of time." I stretched and yawned. "How was the club tonight?"
Pip just shrugged and went to the frig. "That's the weird thing we had barely anyone there tonight." He pulled out the tea jug and a pair of glasses and poured us both a generous amount. Didn't realize how thirsty I was until he did so. He pushed one over to me and I took a deep draught from it.
"On a Saturday night?" I asked as I set the empty glass on the counter. "Maybe its the snow."
"Nope." He shook his head. "I checked the other clubs around twelve, they were jumping. The sign was on too. So that rules that out." That is more than a little odd. "Then I found out what had happened. Someone had written a scathing article about the club. Brewce showed me it."
What?! "Who?"
"Libel Quell." That puffed up moron? My eyebrows went sky-high. "Yeah, bucking hell right. He liked the club first time he came by. Then this happens." That was going kill the revenue. Sure we had regulars all during the week but they never showed up during the weekend and that was where our profit came from.
"How'd Sweetie take this?"
"I had to stop her from hunting him down and gelding the jackass." He downed the rest of his tea then poured himself another glass. He was sober, that meant he was pissed. Pip never wore his emotions on his sleeve, he hid them but he had signs. "And given the mood she was already in after having to deal with Button..." He trailed off. "Then to make the night all the more enchanting Bigwig stopped by and made another offer." He swirled the liquid in his glass and pursed his lips.
"You think he paid off Libel don't you."
"I don't just think I know the guy did. He's going to ruin the club if he keeps this up. Then we'll have to sell." he drained the glass again and set it in the sink. "Sweetie broke one of the bottles before I could stop her and threatened to shove it up his fat flank if he didn't leave right that second." He shivered. "Mate she was dead serious too. I think if he hadn't started for the door she'd have killed him. Then right before he left he told us we'd regret this. Sweetie just broke down right there."
"We'll pull through Pip," I reassured him. "We've been through worse."
"I don't know mate," Pip looked up, slumping. "This time I think we're in real trouble." He sighed. "Spike Button's filing for full custody."
"What?!" I roared. The glass in the apartment shook. "He cant do that!" I seethed between clenched teeth.
"Apparently he can, I saw the paperwork myself. Sweetie's been hiding it from us. Didn't want us to worry. My guess is she's hiding it from Rarity too." He shook his head and looked away. "I've never seen her like this mate."
I snapped my jaw shut, a growl rumbling deep in my chest. A familiar urge settled in my belly and this time I listened to it. Without a word I stood up and made for the balcony window.
"What are you doing?" Pip asked as he followed me.
"What's it look like," I hissed in a very reptilian way. "I'm going hunting." I pulled the doors open. Wind and snow rushed past me. I didn't even feel the biting cold, I just focused on remembering Button Mash's scent.
"You can't kill him!" Pip shouted over the howling wind as he pulled at my tail. Now earth pony strength was considerable. A stallion like Pip might not look all that strong but he did work out and I've seen him lift a carriage before. But pitted against an enraged dragon, not even Big Macintosh could compare. "You'll deprive Darla of a father."
"I grew up without a father and I turned out alright," I said, undeterred by his attempts to stop me. I focused on the Mash's scent, I could smell him on the wind. "Besides I can get away with it. 'Enraged dragon kills sleaze'. They'll chock it up as a freak accident and go about their merry way." My wings snapped out and I tensed up for the jump. I was done talking.