Study of a Winning Pony
Chapter 23: Doing the Right Thing
There are days where having virtually instantaneous communications with the princesses lead to issues.
"Twilight!” Rainbow had burst in this morning and was shaking me. “I need to send a letter to Luna right now!” She looked around frantically. "Where's Spike!?" Not even bothering to wait for an answer, she zipped right up the library stairs. Being a mare of action, she had probably decided to go searching for Spike herself.
Despite my curiosity, I couldn’t help but feel irritated over the sudden interruption in my day. Still, I had to wonder what was so important that Rainbow Dash had felt the need to come storming into the library. I really hoped that I didn't need to save Equestria again. Dealing with another apocalypse was not something I needed right now.
Determined to get to the bottom of this, I teleported upstairs. She was giving a scroll to Spike.
"Hurry!" Her wings fluttered anxiously. "Send it, send it now!"
Spike took in a breath to send it to Princess Luna. I quickly seized the scroll and yanked it away in time to keep it from being sent.
Rainbow Dash turned a scowl on me. "Hey, what gives!?"
"Rainbow, you can't just send mail to the princesses." I waved the scroll at her. "Not unless it's an emergency ... or a friendship report," I amended. "So I want to know if we’ve got a real emergency on our hooves, or if this is some kind of super important, just-has-to-get-to-the-princesses-now emergency friendship report before we send this off."
"Do emergency friendship reports exist?" Spike asked, sounding less than convinced.
"No," I said firmly. "Not unless something happens like me learning something so important about friendship that I gain enlightenment and become some sort of divine being."
Spike raised an eyebrow at that. “You’re joking about that, right?”
I nodded. “Yes.” I frowned, thinking it over. “Probably. Look, with the way my life has been going over the last couple of years, I can’t completely rule anything out.”
"Hello!" Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof on the floor. “Think we could get on with the dragonfire and send my letter already?” She made a grab for the scroll, but I pulled it out of her reach.
"Just tell me why this is so important first and then I'll let you send it," I said.
Rainbow Dash groaned and ran her hoof down her face. “Fiiine! Cloud got arrested in Cloudsdale, and I wanna use that favor Luna owes me to get her off the hook.”
“What? What happened? Why is she in jail?” Rainbow wanted to use her favor to help get Cloud out of jail? The princess had given each of the Element Bearers a boon after we had freed her, and a personal favor from one of the most powerful beings in Equestria was no small thing. That was a chip Rainbow Dash could cash in for any number of important things.
Rainbow Dash let out a deep-throated sigh. “The dumbflank hit on Luna. So she had her arrested, or something dumb like that. Whatever, just send the letter to help her out already.”
Wait, Princess Luna had met Cloud Kicker in Cloudsdale? It had only been the previous night that Princess Luna had dropped in to receive my impromptu report. Were these two events linked? It would seem to stretch credulity that they weren’t. Especially after some of Princess Luna’s more personal questions about Cloud Kicker. But how were these two events related? A creeping suspicion within me wondered if my entire project had been towards a different goal than what I had been told. I didn’t have enough information to know exactly what was going on, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be happy with why I had gone through so much trouble with this project.
“Is that all you know?” I opened the scroll to see exactly what she had written. To my consternation, Rainbow Dash’s chicken scratch writing had degraded to something approaching some obscure or lost language in her haste.
“Yeah, I just got word from some pegasi flying in from Cloudsdale,” Rainbow Dash said impatiently. “S’why I wanna get Cloud off the hook before she gets herself banished or sent to the palace dungeons forever.”
“Both of those things are unlikely to happen.” I brought the scroll to my desk and laid out a new scroll to write on. “At least I don’t think Luna would banish somepony over something like this.”
“Well, I don’t want one of my friends in jail anyways.” She looked over my shoulder. “What’re you doing? I already wrote my letter. Just send it already.”
“I’m not sending a letter to the princess with bad penmareship or bad grammar,” I said firmly. I mean really, Rainbow Dash hadn’t even written the proper titles one should use when addressing a princess for something like a pardon. Or for something like anything. “And taking the time to make sure your letter is written correctly will really help make a good impression on Princess Luna and increase the chances she will accept your request. Trust me.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled something under her breath, but otherwise let me rewrite her letter. I could have sat down and helped her write it herself, but with her desire for speed, I figured it was best to go ahead and write for her. We could always work on the quality of her writing and how one was supposed to write to a princess at a less pressing time.
I took a moment from writing to look Rainbow Dash in the eyes. “Now are you really sure about using your boon with Princess Luna like this? I mean it’s possible that Cloud is just going to spend a couple of days in prison and that’s it, and even you admitted that you don’t know everything that is going on. Also, you could do a lot with a favor from a princess. Probably even get into the Wonderbolts.”
She snorted. “No way, if I’m gonna get into the Wonderbolts, it’s gonna be because I’m totally awesome enough to be a Wonderbolt. And if I can’t use something like this to help a friend I’ve known since Flight Camp, then what use is it?”
I wondered what it was exactly that drew such loyalty from Rainbow Dash towards Cloud Kicker. Rainbow Dash was, of course, the most loyal pony around, but that didn’t mean she would go quite this far out of her way for anypony. It seemed that Cloud Kicker really did mean something to Rainbow Dash. Of course, I would go to great lengths for any of my friends, I could understand where she was coming from.
“It’s your call then.” I finished the rewrite and sealed it up. “If Cloud means that much to you as a friend, then I’ll support you.” I gave the letter to Spike.
Rainbow Dash let out a relieved sigh as Spike sent the letter with a burst of dragonfire. “Thanks, Twi. That’s a huuuge weight off my shoulders.”
I wrapped a leg around Spike’s shoulders. “Well you can thank Spike for the fast mailing.”
Spike looked down at the ground and scuffed his foot on the floor. “Aw, shucks, it isn’t anything big.”
“It’s still pretty cool, little guy.” Rainbow Dash playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Not just anypony—anydragon—whatever, can do what you do.” She looked to me. “So when are we gonna get a reply back?”
“Hard to say,” I admitted. “It depends on exactly how busy Princess Luna is right now and when she reads the letter.” On reflection, we really needed to develop a system for how important my letters to the princesses were. I always read their letters right away when I got them, but the princesses were, well, the princesses. They had priorities and responsibilities.
Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed groan. “Great, waiting. I hate waiting. Meanwhile, my friend is rotting in a cell somewhere.”
“I’m sure she won’t be in trouble for too much longer,” I assured her. “This should all get resolved in less than a day, if I had to guess.”
She sighed. “Guess that’s something. Can you find me if you get a letter back or anything? I have to get back to work.”
I went about putting my writing supplies back in their proper places. “Sure thing. I’ll come right away if I get word.” I knew from personal experience how torturous waiting on important news could be, especially where somepony you cared about was concerned.
Rainbow Dash took off towards the window. “Cool, see you two later.”
I waved as she left. “Bye, Dash.”
Spike waved too. “Yeah, see you later.”
With Rainbow Dash gone, I had to wonder how this latest event was going to affect the report I was about to write.
It had not taken long for Spike’s pet phoenix to hatch, and that meant it was time to take the chick to see Fluttershy. Best to make sure we were feeding him right, in addition to other concerns. After all, Spike needed gems in his diet, and that wasn’t something I had exactly expected when he had hatched. So a creature such as a phoenix might have other unusual eating habits too. I would make sure to send a letter to Princess Celestia after we visited Fluttershy. Might as well cover all my bases for information. I had already added some books to my reading list that should help on this topic.
“It’s so cool having a pet of my own, you know that, Twilight?” Spike beamed at the little baby phoenix that was now perched on his talons.
“I bet.” I looked back to Spike. It always was a bit awkward facing him when he was sitting on my back. “But you realize that a pet is a huge responsibility, right? You’re going to have to feed, water, groom, and take care of all of his other needs.”
“Don’t worry, I got this.” He chuckled to himself. “I take care of you, don’t I?”
“Oh, ha-ha, Spike.” I rolled my eyes. “I can take care of myself, you know.”
“How many times do I have to remind you to eat every week?” Spike asked.
I kept trotting along the path to Fluttershy’s home, both the physical and verbal paths we were traveling being familiar to me. “Just sometimes.”
“More like all the time,” Spike shot back. “Not to mention reminding you to sleep. Or when you’re supposed to meet your friends. Or—”
“I get it, Spike,” I said, trying to put good humor forward instead of irritation. To be fair, Spike did help me out a lot. He would probably be fine with taking care of a pet. Thus far, he had handled every responsibility I had given him. "And point made, you're ready to have a pet now. I just wanted to be sure that you understood what you're getting into."
"Yeah, yeah." Spike tickled Peewee under the chin. "I've got this. I promise."
We reached Fluttershy’s cottage, and I knocked on the door. After a few moments, she opened the door and gave us a smile.
“Oh, hello, Twilight, Spike," she said. "I wasn't expecting you." Her eyes turned to Spike and Peewee. "Oh my, is that what I think it is?" She stepped outside to get a better look at Peewee.
Spike's mouth split into a big grin. "If you're thinking it's a phoenix then you'd be right." He held out his new pet for Fluttershy. "Say hello, Peewee."
The baby phoenix gave a happy little chirp.
"Oh, he's so cute." Fluttershy gave the bird a gentle little pat to the head. "Wherever did you find him?"
Spike's grin became all the prouder. "It's a pretty crazy story.”
“Oh?” She opened the door wider for us. “How about you come on in then? I could make a fresh pot of tea for if you like. You can tell me the story while I do that.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said as I stepped inside.
Fluttershy went to her kitchen, and we followed her. She put a kettle onto the stove, and Spike recounted the story about the dragon migration and how he came to own Peewee. More than a little bit of me was proud of Spike for all that he had gone through. There was a lot of anxiety in there, too, but in the end it had all turned out alright.
“Wow, that is quite the story, Spike.” Fluttershy smiled, but I noticed a hint of tension to it.
Spike grinned. “Mhm, and now I’ve got a new pet! He’s great! We’re gonna have so much fun together.”
“We thought we would ask you about taking care of a newborn phoenix,” I said. “I remember you said that the princess sent you some reading material about phoenixes, and that you talked about Philomena with her.”
“I see.” Fluttershy picked up the teapot. “How about we sit in the dining room to drink? We have some things to talk about.”
“That would be fine,” I said.
I had to wonder why Fluttershy was acting so skittish all of a sudden. I would have figured she would be over the moon at the idea of Spike getting a pet. She had literally dragged Rainbow Dash to her cottage so that she could help her select a pet. What was different here?
We sat down at Fluttershy’s dining room table. Fluttershy poured all of us a cup of tea. “Now then, how much do you two know about phoenixes?” Fluttershy said as she sat down.
Spike shrugged. “Not much.”
“Quite a bit from my readings.” I sipped at my tea. It was a pretty mild brew. Fluttershy never seemed to like her teas too strong. “Though not much on actually raising one. I’ll be fixing that here soon, but I figured it would be good to talk to you about it first. You gave a lot of useful advice for Owlicious”
“Thank you, Twilight.” Fluttershy stirred her tea for a moment. “So did you know that phoenixes are sapient?”
I worked to recall what I did know about the fiery birds. “I do remember that. Philomena did seem pretty intelligent considering she played a big prank on all of us.”
“Great, so Peewee’s going to be really smart.” Spike said, petting the bird. “Who's a smart bird? You are, you are!”
“Yes.” Fluttershy chewed on her lower lip. “Now, you said that Peewee’s parents had been driven off by those bullies, but they and the rest of his family were otherwise okay?”
Spike frowned. “Yeah, why?”
I had a sinking feeling about where this conversation was going and that Spike wasn’t going to like it.
My friend took a long moment before answering. “Well, Spike, you need to understand that family is really important. Everyone should be with their family whenever possible. Especially sapient creatures that are social like phoenixes.”
Spike blinked a couple of times and then drew Peewee to his chest to hug him. “But Peewee is with his family. We’re his family.”
“I know, but...” Fluttershy let out a long breath. “Peewee should be with his parents and siblings. At least if we can find them again. It’s only right.”
“B-but I can take care of him!” Spike protested. “I’m really good with helping, and chores, and everything! I’m really responsible and help Twilight with everything around the library. I can raise Peewee. Promise.”
“I’m sure you could, Spike.” Fluttershy placed a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “But we need to think about what is in Peewee’s best interests here, and that is taking him back to his family. That is where he belongs.”
He scowled at Fluttershy. “Princess Celestia gets to have a pet phoenix. Why can’t I?”
"That’s a bit different," Fluttershy said gently. "Philomena is an adult and can make her own decisions, but Peewee is still a baby."
Rather than argue with Fluttershy, Spike turned to me with a begging frown. "You're not gonna let her take Peewee away from me, are you, Twilight?"
This was not the scenario I had imagined getting myself into when I had come to see Fluttershy, to say the least. After the long journey to follow the dragon migration and seeing just how happy Spike was at the idea of having a pet, I hadn't really thought all the implications through. Now I was looking at either making one of my best friends unhappy with me or really hurting Spike's feelings. Just looking at him I could tell that taking Peewee back to his family was going to devastate him. The thing was that Fluttershy knew what she was talking about when it came to animals. If she said that Peewee needed to go back to his parents, then it was probably true.
Probably sensing my reluctance, Fluttershy spoke in a serious tone to me. "Twilight, I want you to do the right thing here. I realize it isn't easy, but Peewee deserves to grow up with his family."
Spike slammed a fist onto the table, knocking over his teacup in the process. "We are his family! This isn’t any different from how Twilight came to be my big sister. She hatched me and helped raise me. How is this any different?"
I winced at that. This was becoming very personal to Spike. I needed to head this off before it became any worse.
“Spike,” Fluttershy said in her compassionate tone. “How would you feel if someone took you from Twilight, said they were your family now? I bet it wouldn’t feel very good.”
“I know that this isn’t what you’re going to want to hear, but Fluttershy is probably right,” I said, trying to hit the right balance between authority and compassion. “Peewee belongs with his family. Part of this situation is my fault for not considering that when we first picked him up, but things were a bit hectic after we ran away from those other dragons. For that, I’m sorry, but sometimes we need to own up and do what needs to be done.”
Spike sniffled and his voice cracked when he spoke. “This isn’t fair. I just got him.”
“I know, I know.” I nuzzled Spike. “And I’m really, really sorry that this is hurting you. Trust me, I’m not wild about this either.”
Fluttershy gave him an encouraging smile. “Maybe once he’s all grown up he will come and visit you? That would be really nice.”
“Maybe,” Spike said, sounding less than convinced.
“We could always get you another pet after we take Peewee back,” I offered.
Spike scowled and hugged Peewee closer. “I don’t want another pet, I want Peewee.”
“I’m sorry, but this is just the way it has to be,” I said more firmly.
“It’s not fair.” Spike rubbed at his eyes.
“No, no it isn’t.” I drew him into a hug. “Sometimes life isn’t. Trust me, I know all about that.”
“I know it hurts,” Fluttershy said. “But sometimes you need to do something that hurts because it’s what you have to do.”
Spike didn’t reply and he just hugged and stroked Peewee. It seemed that my number one assistant had lost all the fight in him. It couldn’t have been easy on him to have two adults telling him to do something he really didn’t want to do. Still, I was going to give him what support I could in this difficult moment. I could do that much for him, at least.
“If you want, I can take Peewee back for you,” I said. “You don’t have to go through that.” It might be a bit difficult to find the phoenix nest again, but with my magic, I should be able to manage it.
“No, I want to come.” Spike’s shoulders slumped. “I want to be able to say goodbye when we take him back.” He continued absent-mindedly petting Peewee.
“That’s very brave of you, Spike.” I gave him another nuzzle. “I’ll try and make it up to you later.”
“I’ll come along too.” Fluttershy bit her lip. “When did you want to go? It might be best to get right on that. I’m sure Peewee’s parents are very worried about him, and this won’t become easier on anyone the longer we wait.”
“It might be best to wait a couple of days. We already got back from a big trip yesterday.” I turned back to Spike. “You going to be okay with that?”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
Great, after days of misery, I finally get one real ray of sunshine and hope, and it gets snuffed out just like that.
After a couple of days where Spike seemed to work in as much bonding time as he could with Peewee, the four of us headed out to take the baby phoenix back to his parents. I led the way, considering I had actually been to the forest Peewee had come from and Spike was, little surprise, in dour spirits. The goal of our journey made the trip a subdued one. Fluttershy and I struck up a couple of conversations along the way, but they had been stilted and usually ended awkwardly. It was difficult to be too happy with Spike being so glum. I would need to find some way to make all this up to him, somehow.
Fluttershy ducked under a branch that hung over the trail we were using. "So, at least the weather is nice."
Seeing that Fluttershy was taking refuge in the old fallback of talking about the weather, I nodded. "That is true. Given how my last couple of weeks have gone, I would have expected it to be raining or hailing." I snorted. "Or have a straight up natural disaster like a tornado."
"Oh dear, has it been that bad?" Fluttershy asked. "I know those bullies Sticks and Stones had hurt you, but has everything been that rough?"
I sighed. "More or less. It's just..." I caught myself before I could say more about the issues I had dealt with over the couple of weeks. My gaze turned to Spike, who was sitting right on my back. Peewee sat on his shoulder. Spike hadn't let anypony else hold him since we started.
I didn't want him hearing about things like what I had found out about Amethyst quite yet. He certainly didn't need to have that dumped on him at a time like this.
Great, yet another moment where I was sounding like my parents. I wondered if I was going to become just as good as my parents at creating excuses to delay revealing the truth.
Spike must have noticed my glance, because he immediately frowned back at me. "Yeah, I get it. You don't want to talk around me," he said bitterly. He hopped off my back. "I'll walk on ahead. Whatever."
"Spike, stop." I groaned and rubbed my forehead. "How about we sit down for a few minutes to take a break?" I knew I could use some time getting my head together. I was trying to stay strong for Spike and be tolerant of his general grouchiness, but it was wearing on me.
"Alright then." Fluttershy looked around. "Over there in that clearing looks like a nice place."
"Whatever." Spike started walking towards the clearing. "I'll just be ... standing around, I guess." He grumbled something else under his breath and eventually stopped to sit under one of the trees surrounding the clearing. There he stroked Peewee along the head and whispered something to the phoenix that I couldn't hear.
I sighed and hung my head. "Sorry about Spike being moody."
"Oh, it's alright. I understand he's upset about this." She made a soft sigh. "I know it's the right thing to do, but that doesn't make it any easier."
"You're telling me." I rubbed my face. I felt just felt so tired and worn out all of a sudden. "It's going to take forever to make this up to him. No kid likes losing their pet. Whatever the reason might be."
"Oh, it won't be that bad," she tried to reassure me. "Spike is really mature. I’m sure he’ll come around."
I walked over to one of the other trees by the clearing, one well away from Spike. I got the sense that he really wanted his space right now. Neither Fluttershy nor I were his favorite ponies at the moment. "Maybe, but he's never had a pet before."
"Oh dear," Fluttershy sat down with me by the tree. "That's going to make it harder. I could get him another pet. I’m really good at that.”
“That is something, at least,” I said. “Though Spike didn’t seem too keen on the idea when I suggested it to him. Maybe I’ll ask him again once he’s had some time to cool down.”
“That might help,” Fluttershy said with a nod. “I wish I could do more to help, but..."
"I know, I know. It's just a bad situation all around." I let out frustrated groan. "There has been a lot of that going around."
"Twilight?" she asked gently. "Is there something else bothering you?"
"You could say that." I said grudgingly. "Mainly because it's true. I've been getting kicked around a lot recently."
"Twilight, you're one of my very best friends." She put one of her hooves on mine. "If something's wrong, you can always tell me and I'll be there to help."
"If you really don't mind." I had been wanting to talk to Fluttershy for a bit now. As Dash had said, she really is a good listener when you have a problem, and boy did I have problems. "Though this is the kind of stuff I don't really want getting spread around. It's ... heavy."
"Twilight, you know I'd never give away your secrets," she said reassuringly.
I leaned back against the tree, feeling a bit guilty over thinking, however briefly, that Fluttershy might not be able to keep a secret. "Sorry, it's just that I've been through a lot the past few weeks."
She wrapped a gentle wing around me. "I understand."
Realizing that Spike wasn't that far away, I cast a privacy spell around Fluttershy and myself. The air shimmered a bit as the spell went up. That done, I leaned into Fluttershy's warm embrace. "Where to even start?" I shook my head. "There’s so much to cover."
Fluttershy gave me a small little nuzzle. "Start with the thing that's bothering you the least, and work your way up to the big stuff. That should be easier on you, I think."
That seemed logical enough. There was a good chance that we wouldn't get very far if we started with the biggest stuff first. "Okay then. So, there is the whole research project I've been doing with Cloud. But you know the basics about that. Just ... Luna came by the previous night, and well, she said it was over. She asked me a few questions, I answered them as best I could, and then she said was satisfied. Just like that, it was over. I still have to write a paper, but I don't expect much trouble with that."
"Oh. Well that's good, isn't it?" she asked.
"I guess. Maybe." I sighed. "But something is off about it. Um, did you hear the news from Cloudsdale about Cloud?"
Fluttershy shuffled uncomfortably in place. "Er, yes. That. I did." She looked away from me and towards one of the neighboring trees.
"Er, right." I remembered that the subject tended to make her uncomfortable. Still, I wanted to explain what I was feeling to her. "She was arrested the same night Luna came to see me. I'm not exactly sure how, but I think it's related."
Fluttershy wrung her hooves. "Is she okay? Have you heard anything? Luna said she owes us a favor, right? I should do something to help Cloud..."
I held up a hoof to stop her. "Dash already used her favor to get Cloud out of jail. Most likely she'll be just fine." At least that had been one crisis solved. I still wasn't sure about Rainbow Dash using her favor like that. It seemed more prudent to me to find out exactly what had happened and see what sort of punishment Cloud might have been facing. Shame Rainbow Dash didn't have much in the way of patience, but it was her favor with Princess Luna to use as she liked.
Though on second thought, why had Fluttershy also seemed willing to use her own favor for Cloud Kicker? Rainbow Dash I could readily understand considering the two of them were friends. But I hadn't ever seen Fluttershy and Cloud Kicker even exchange a word before. Maybe it was related to what had happened at Flight Camp? Something had occurred there that had made everypony I spoke to about it uncomfortable. Maybe they had been friends at Flight Camp before something happened? They did have mutual friends in Rainbow Dash and Ditzy Doo.
It was a shame I couldn't just ask Fluttershy about it. That would have been the most expedient way to find the truth, but I had the feeling that would cause Fluttershy to clam up.
"Oh. Alright." She sighed, though if it was out of relief or sadness I couldn't tell. "Well, that's good then."
"Probably. Dash was certainly relieved." I shook my head. "Every time I think I have Cloud down, something new like this comes up. It's frustrating."
Instead of giving me words of encouragement like I had expected, Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around herself and remained silent.
"Great, and now I've made you uncomfortable," I groaned. It seemed that I had pressed too hard already on the Cloud Kicker front. "Sorry about that."
"Can we please not talk about her any more?" She asked so softly that I almost thought I had imagined it.
"Sure." I looked away from her. "Forget about it." This talk was sure going great.
Neither of us spoke for a time. Spike had found a log to sit on and was still petting Peewee while talking about something with him. At least that was my guess given the way he emphatically waved his free arm around. I could only guess what he was talking to Peewee about. Probably nothing happy considering his current troubles.
"There were other things bothering you, right?" Fluttershy asked, nearly startling me by suddenly breaking the silence.
"Y-yes." I cleared my throat. "Though I should warn you that Cloud was probably the thing that bothered me the least at the moment. From here it only gets heavier."
She grimaced at that. "Oh dear..."
"I've been getting into those change everything about your life type of issues."
"That sounds rather ... large," she said.
"That’s one way to put it." Considering how well this talk had gone thus far, I was not sure I wanted to continue. "If you don't want me bothering you with something like that, I'd understand."
"No no," Fluttershy gave me a comforting squeeze with her wing. "I would be delighted to help in any way you need."
"If you're sure..." She nodded. "I'm pretty sure this isn't true, but..." I took a breath to steady myself. "There is a remote, distant possibility that my big brother is Dinky's father."
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh my goodness!"
I held up my hooves. "Remember, it's a remote possibility. All I really have to support the theory is that my big brother was in the same school as Ditzy when Dinky was conceived, and vaguely fits the description of the stallion she was with, but it could all just be coincidence. Unicorns with a white coat aren't exactly uncommon in Canterlot."
While I knew this was a sensitive topic for Ditzy, I figured it was at least somewhat okay to talk to Fluttershy about it considering the two of them were friends. Fluttershy must have known at least as much as I did about Dinky's parentage, and I needed to talk to somepony about this. A mutual friend seemed as safe a bet as any.
Fluttershy bit on her lower lip. "That's still a very big deal, Twilight. If there is a chance that it's true..."
"I know, I know." I groaned and ruffled my mane in frustration. "It's been eating me up inside not telling anypony about it."
"Then you need to find out for sure, for your own peace of mind, if nothing else." She gave me another comforting nuzzle. "And if it's true, then Derpy would want to know. Certainly Dinky would too. Everypony wants to know who their parents are."
"You're probably right." I nuzzled her, feeling reassured by the contact. "But how do I go about something like that? 'Hey Ditzy, mind if I take a blood sample from Dinky on the remote chance my big brother knocked you up?' "
Fluttershy winced. "Oh. I guess that does make it a bit complicated."
"More than a little bit." It wouldn't exactly be kind to raise Ditzy's hopes of finding Dinky's father only to then immediately crush them just for my peace of mind. That didn't even get into the unlikely chance that it was true. "I don't want to turn their whole world upside down. They haven't done anything to deserve that."
"Well..." Fluttershy seemed to struggle with what to say. "I suppose you could always ask. Or try to find a spell. Or ... well, I don't know what. But I know that you'll do the right thing. You're really smart and good at coming up with answers for problems."
"Shame this isn't as easy or clear-cut as math or physics." I leaned my head back against the tree while I thought. "I guess the right thing to do is find out for certain."
"Sometimes you have to be direct, because there's no delicate way to do it," she said with gentle firmness. "Sometimes my animals don’t want to take their medicine, but I have to make them take it for their own good. Even if neither of us like it."
"That is true," I agreed. "Probably best not to delay too long on that. It's not going to get any easier with time."
Fluttershy gave me a smile. "Then it seems you know what to do."
I nodded. "I'll start looking into it when we get back." While I still felt a lot of trepidation, I did feel at least a bit better now that I had a course in mind. Sure, there were a lot of steps I still had to work out, but it was a lot better than being paralyzed by indecision.
"What else is there?" she asked, probably sensing that I was ready to move on.
"Right, this is where we start getting into the heavy stuff." I took a few seconds to steady myself and decide how best to make my next statement. "I have two half-sisters that I didn't know about until a few days ago."
"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hooves. "Twilight, that's..."
I let my head hang. "Yeah, it's nuts. Turns out my parents have been having extramarital affairs that I didn't even know about. Each of them had a mare to the side that they were involved with. Have been since before I was born. All those years they were open about it with one another ... but never with me."
“Oh dear.” She drew me into a closer hug. “I—I don't know what to say. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling.”
I leaned against her and let her support me. “It's been pretty rough. I have trouble even wrapping my head around the idea. All these years they've been hiding this from me."
Fluttershy puckered her lips in thought. "That is ... yes. While it was probably wrong of them to keep everything secret from you, I certainly wouldn't expect your parents to discuss all the details of their personal lives with you. Especially when you were younger. I mean look how much it's upsetting you right now. Imagine if they had told you when you were still a filly."
"I probably wouldn't have handled it well, no." I sighed and laid my head on her shoulder. "I've just been trying to pull myself together so that I can think about it rationally. It was one thing for my parents to have lied to me about sleeping around, it was another thing entirely with my siblings. I can understand the point about them being allowed to run their personal lives how they want to as long as they aren’t hurting anypony, but I should have been told that I had sisters out there at some point."
"Yes, they probably should have told you by the time you became an adult," she said. "Though I imagine it was hard for them to bring this up."
"I guess." I shrugged. "There is so much to wrap my head around. And all at once."
"That is why we're talking about it right now." Fluttershy gave me a nuzzle that helped calm me down. "It is a lot to adjust to. We're so used to seeing parents one way, and then..."
"Yes, exactly." I nodded. "I just never imagined all of this. My parents always seemed so happy and normal ... by my standards anyways. My life is a bit crazy if you haven't noticed."
"I understand." She gave my leg a gentle pat. "I know it must be very upsetting for you. Anypony would have at least some trouble with something like this."
I sighed, remembering how I had reacted once I had found the truth of everything. "Yeah, I didn't take it well when I found out."
Fluttershy's mouth turned into a concerned frown. "I hope you didn't do anything you’ll regret."
"Um." All the embarrassing moments of my conduct when I had returned to Sparkle Manor after meeting Vinyl Scratch came to the forefront of my mind. "I kind of went in and confronted my parents when I found out about my first half-sister. Loudly."
Fluttershy let out a patiently understanding sigh. “Oh no...”
"It wasn’t my best move, no," I admitted. "We were talking things through about their relationship and one of my half-sisters, Vinyl Scratch, and then... I found out they had lied to me about my other half-sister, Amethyst." I swallowed when my throat feeling tight. "She wasn't stillborn like my parents had told me. They had given her up for adoption when they found out she was illegitimate."
Fluttershy’s jaw dropped. “They lied to you about that?”
I nodded, sniffling as I continued speaking. "That was ... I couldn't take that."
"Oh. I..." It took her a few seconds to go on. "Twilight, I know I should tell you that there's no excuse for losing your temper, but..."
I wrapped my forelegs around myself. "How are you supposed to react to something like that? They gave her away to be an orphan because—because of politics!"
"I don't know." She hugged me all the tighter. It didn't end the pain, but it helped. "I wish I had the answers for you, but I don't."
My chest heaved as I started sobbing. I couldn't hold it back anymore. Not after coming out with the truth to Fluttershy. All I could do was cry into her shoulder while she held me.
"Shhh." Fluttershy stroked my mane while cooing softly. "Everything will be alright."
"How is this going to be alright?" I choked out between sobs.
"It will," she assured me.
"I feel like such a mess," I said. "It's like everything is falling apart. I'm not even sure where to go from here, right now."
"It'll be alright, Twilight. I promise." Fluttershy kept stroking my mane. "I'm here for you. And while I know it hurts right now, I also know that you're strong enough to get through this. You can deal with anything you put your mind to."
"Right now all it does is hurt. I can sort out some of that stuff, but all of it together?" I shook my head.
She gently shushed me and rocked me in place. I wasn't sure how long we sat there while I bawled my eyes out. All I could do was sob and hold onto the gentle warmth of Fluttershy.
"Sorry," I eventually managed to croak out. My crying was slowing now, and I was regaining control of my emotions. That was something at least. "I kind of dumped all of that on you."
"It's alright, Twilight," she said. "It seems like you really needed that, and I’m happy to help."
"Thanks for understanding." I nuzzled her. "I've always liked that about you."
Fluttershy returned my nuzzle. "You're very nice too, Twilight."
"Ugh." I wiped at my nose, not wanting to think about what was coming out of it. "Still going to need to figure out what I'm doing."
She pulled a handkerchief out from her saddlebags and helped wipe my nose. It made me feel like a little filly when she did that, but I knew she was only trying to help me. "I'm sure you'll find the right answers."
"I'll have to figure something out," I said. "I can't avoid my parents forever. And I want to see Amethyst at some point."
"Do you know where she is?" Fluttershy asked.
I let out an exhausted breath. "Sort of. Princess Celestia gave me her address. Though I haven't looked at it yet. The princess told me not to go find her until I was ready." I waved at myself. "Call me crazy, but being an emotional wreck and crying at the drop of a hat isn't exactly ready to me."
"I'm sure you'll get there." My nose cleaned up, Fluttershy moved to wiping at my eyes. "And I think that is good advice the princess gave you. Meeting your sister needs to be done in just the right way. You don't want to overturn her entire life if you can help it."
I sighed and nodded. “That is the conclusion I came to.”
“I know you're strong enough to handle this, Twilight.” She gave me a smile. “You always have been.”
“Okay, okay, I get it already.” I grinned at her. “You think I can handle all of this. Point taken.”
“Oh, sorry.” Fluttershy’s smile turned into a sheepish one. “Was I repeating myself? I was just trying so hard to think of something to say that would make everything better and...” She trailed off and gave a helpless shrug.
I chuckled. “It's fine, Fluttershy, really. I know you’re just trying to help. And really, I do feel better now.”
“You do?” she asked.
“Yep, I feel a lot more confident about moving forward now.” I leaned back against her and stared out at the empty meadow. “And it means a whole lot to me that you're here for me. Being able to get a lot of this off my chest with you really helped.”
“Of course I'm here for you.” Her gaze went out to the meadow with mine. “You're one of my best friends.”
“Right back at you.” I nuzzled her, enjoying the feel of her soft fur. “Don't know what I would do without you.”
“I didn't do anything all that special,” Fluttershy said. “I only did what any good friend would have.”
“It was special to me.” I felt my cheeks start to burn.
“Well, I was just glad to be able to help.” Her attention turned to where Spike was now glumly sitting on a fallen log. “Though maybe we should get going now? If you’re ready, that is. I'm sure Spike is getting impatient.”
I felt some of the weight that had just been pulled off my chest return as I remembered Spike and Peewee. “You’re probably right. We should get going again.” I dropped the privacy spell and stood up.
Fluttershy stood with me and stretched out her wings. “Right, this is bad enough on him without delaying it.”
It took a bit of work to find out where Peewee's family was. I suppose it shouldn't have been much of a surprise that the old nest was abandoned after what had happened with those adolescent dragons. I couldn't imagine they felt all that safe knowing that a whole gang of dragons had found their nest with the intention of smashing their eggs. Shame that meant we were going to have to go through more work to reunite Peewee with his family. Thankfully I had a good tracking spell to help us out. By using Peewee as a focus for the spell, I was able to get a lock onto his parents. I do so love it when I can use my spells for something practical.
Following my tracking spell, we entered another section of the woods. I could feel we were close when Fluttershy said, "I think that might be their nest over there." She pointed and I saw a nest with a pair of bright red birds in it. We weren't close enough to get a good enough look to be completely sure, but it seemed a safe bet that this part of our journey was about at an end.
Spike let out a tired sigh and hopped off my back. "Fine, let’s get this over with." His grumpiness had turned to tired defeatism over the day. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
"I'm sorry about this, Spike," I said. "But this is just something we have to do."
Spike petted Peewee, not even bothering to look up as me. "So you keep telling me."
Fluttershy and I exchanged a worried glance. Neither one of us wanted to hurt Spike, but what else could we do? Peewee needed to go back to his parents, Fluttershy had made that clear. It was probably best to just plow forward and get this out of the way. At least then I could concentrate on making this up to him somehow.
Fluttershy place a hoof on Spike shoulder. "I wanted you to know that you're being very brave. This is a very difficult thing we're making you do, but someday you'll see that we did the right thing." She nuzzled him. "And I’m sure when Peewee grows up he’ll come looking for you to be your friend. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Yeah, I guess," Spike said, sounding less than convinced. The promise of a reward years in the future while giving up something very important to you now could be a difficult thing even for an adult, much less a child. Spike was pretty mature for his age, but he still had a lot of growing up to do. “Just gonna be waiting for a long time.”
I kept near Spike as we walked up towards the nest. As we approached, the phoenix parents swiveled their heads to look at us. They both started squawking angrily. That caused me to have a feeling this wasn't going to be as easy as I had hoped.
Spike approached the tree the nest was sitting in. He gave his would-be pet a final, forlorn look before holding up Peewee. "So, I'm, we're here to return Peewee to you." He flinched as the squawking became all the louder and the phoenixes' plumage stood on end.
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "What!? No, we haven't kidnapped your baby! Well, um, not on purpose anyways. It's all a big misunderstanding really. We’re here to return little Peewee to you." The phoenixes gave series of harsh and angry squawks that made Fluttershy flatten her ears to her head. "We understand that Spike and Twilight sort of kidnapped your baby, but they were only trying to help."
There were another series of angry squawks from the phoenixes. I wasn't exactly happy that I was missing out on half a conversation, but the smart move seemed to be to let Fluttershy do her thing. Dealing with animals was her specialty.
Whatever the avians said caused Fluttershy to frown. "Now there isn't any need to use that sort of language. My friends didn't know exactly what they were doing and are trying to fix it. I think that means a lot. Don't you?"
That got a grudging silence from the phoenixes. At least they weren't trying to set us on fire. That is generally a good sign that relations were improving.
Spike took another step forward. "Yeah, so..." He looked down at Peewee and petted him. "I guess you want your kid back now. I guess I can understand that."
Sensing that Spike needed me, I wrapped a leg around his shoulder to give him comfort during this difficult moment for him. "You're doing the right thing, Spike. I know this isn't easy for you, but..." I thought hard on what the best thing to say here was. I owed him that much at a time like this. “The thing is that when you love someone, sometimes the best thing to do is to let them go.”
Saying that gave me a bit of empathy for what my parents must have felt when I had moved to Ponyville. Even if Ponyville wasn't that far from Canterlot, it wasn't exactly in casual or spontaneous visit distance either. It was probably even harder with Shining, considering that being in the Guard took him all over Equestria and beyond. While those things were significantly different to the current situation, they were similar enough to make me think of how I was now playing a similar role with Spike.
Spike took one last forlorn look at Peewee before he lifted the baby phoenix up to his parents. "Here you go," he said reluctantly.
One of the phoenix parents swooped down from the nest and carefully picked Peewee up from Spike's claws. Quickly enough, Peewee was returned to the nest where a hooffull of other phoenix chicks were now happily chirping. Peewee's parents nuzzled him and I couldn't help but feel some warmth at the family reunion.
Spike rubbed at one of his eyes and wrapped his other arm around my foreleg. "Make sure to take care of him, okay? He means a lot to me. Just, you know, if you need anything you can always drop by my place for anything. Or if you just want to visit, that be cool too. We live in the library in Ponyville." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Wait, would you even know how to get to Ponyville? I mean it’s over about that way.” He waved vaguely, but then sighed to himself. “Right, this might be a problem.”
“I’ll tell them where they can find you,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“Thanks.” Spike scuffed his foot in the dirt. “So I guess this is goodbye, Peewee. I’ll miss you.”
Peewee and his parents chirped at Spike, and Fluttershy leaned her head down to say to Spike, “He’ll miss you too, and says he will come see you someday. His parents said you can come by anytime, too.”
I nodded. “And who knows, maybe we can come back here now and again.”
That brought a smile to Spike’s face. “That would be cool.”
“We’d better get going,” I said while looking up at the sky to gauge about how late in the day we were. “We’ve got a long trip back.”
Spike sighed and nodded. “Yeah, guess so.” He gave Peewee a final wave of goodbye. “See you later, Peewee.”
The sun had been lowered by the time we returned to Ponyville. Spike had been mostly silent for the second half of our trip, and I hadn't wanted to push him at this juncture. It was probably going to take him time to absorb everything that had happened. This was the first time he had gone through anything like this, and I wasn't going to pretend it didn't hurt.
Fluttershy had tried a couple of times to comfort Spike, but after less than receptive signals from him she had probably picked up that Spike wanted to be left alone for a bit.
So our largely silent trip came to an end when we arrived at the library. "At least we’re back home, finally," I said. It felt good to be back after what had been a long and tiring trip. Something that had started out so promising had ended pretty terribly. Figures one of the few things that looked like it was going to turn out for the best was just going to give me more of an emotional beating I really didn't need at the moment.
"Yeah, I guess." Spike hopped off my back and opened the door. "I think I might just go straight to bed," he said as he stepped into the library. "I'm tired."
Fluttershy fluttered in after Spike. "Oh, I was going to make us some sandwiches. I thought you both might like something to eat after everything."
I smiled at her. "That sounds nice. I'm pretty hungry now. Spike, how about you get cleaned up first before heading to bed? We're all a bit dirty after such a long trip. You might decide you want something to eat after you do that."
Spike sighed. "Fine, whatever." He slowly made his way up the stairs. "I'll be back down whenever."
Fluttershy frowned as she watched him leave. "I hope he'll be alright. I know how hard it is to say goodbye to a pet, even when it's the right thing to do."
"Me too. This wasn't fair to him." I shook my head as I thought everything that had happened. It was probably going to be a bit before Spike got over this. "And he was really looking forward to finally having a pet."
"He can come by anytime he wants to get a new pet." Fluttershy trotted into the kitchen. "There are dozens of animals at my house that would love an opportunity to become someone's pet. When he’s ready, I’d love to help him."
"Maybe." I followed her into the kitchen. "Might be a bit before he's emotionally ready for that, though. And I don't want to push another one on him until he is ready for it."
"Of course." Fluttershy glanced at the record player I had sitting on a stand in the kitchen. "Would you mind putting on some music? I like to listen while I work in the kitchen."
"Sure." I glanced through the albums I had organized under the record player. "Any type of music in particular?"
Fluttershy began pulling out supplies to make a sandwich. "Do you have that new Ponytones record Rarity gave us?"
I looked through the alphabetized albums. "Yep, I have it right ... here!" I pulled the album and put it onto the record player and started it up. "That should help lighten the mood."
Fluttershy's head bobbed to the joyous music. "Thank you very much, Twilight." She went about laying out some slices of bread on the counter. "It always makes cooking seem like less of a chore when I can listen to music."
"Of course." I opened a couple of cabinets to see what we could eat in addition to the sandwiches. Maybe now would be a good time to add a few small gems to Spike's sandwich? He could use the morale boost. "Want any help there? We would get everything done faster working together."
"That would be nice, but I can handle it myself." Fluttershy's rump swayed in time with the music.
"Liking the music?" I asked with a grin. There was something I liked about watching her move and sway.
"Oh yes, it's very nice." She placed some lettuce and cheese on the bread, her hips still moving with the beats.
"The Ponytones are really good." I found my own rump swaying as I pulled out some crackers and a pouch filled with some powdered gems.
Fluttershy finished up the sandwiches and put them on a plate. "I really enjoy their music."
I grinned at her. "So I can tell."
"Hm?" She looked back and noticed that she was shaking her rump right in front of me. Her face flushed and she stopped moving. "Oh ... oh my ... I'm so sorry! I was just really enjoying the music."
I smiled, though I felt embarrassed doing so. "Nothing wrong with enjoying music; kinda the point."
"I know, but I didn't even think about the fact that you were ... um ... that is..." Fluttershy's face became all the redder.
Fluttershy's blushing caused me to start blushing. There was something about her flush face that made my heart beat all the harder. "That I'm what?"
"Er ... there." She cleared her throat. "Where you could see ... um ... yes." The smile she gave me looked strained at the edges.
"I-I didn't mind!" I said hastily. "I mean it was nice. You swaying your hips is fine. I mean you're fine. That is everything about you is fine." I was overcome by a laugh. "Is it hot in here all of a sudden? Because it's feeling hot in here all of a sudden."
"Um ... yes." Fluttershy turned her head to block her face with her mane. "A little bit. Sorry."
"Don't be!" I insisted. "You were just dancing a bit, and, um, it was kind of nice." I gave her a smile that I hoped was encouraging. I liked seeing Fluttershy enjoying herself. She was usually so reserved in her behavior. Watching her get into the mood was a welcome change.
Fluttershy stared at me for a long moment before she said, "It was?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "I mean it's nice seeing you enjoying yourself. And..." My heart beat all the harder. I had to fight against my nerves to keep speaking. "I think I liked watching." Having started, the words kept flowing out of my mouth. "That is to say, I like spending time with you. And, and you're really pretty. And I like you. Certainly as a friend, and..."
Fluttershy's blush reasserted itself. "T-Twilight, what are you...?"
What exactly was I doing? Was I really doing this? For so long I hadn't entertained thoughts like these. Not when I had always known that I was always going to end up in an arranged marriage. Now I wondered if I had to stick with what I had thought was always expected of me. My parents had certainly not been paragons of noble virtue. Why couldn't I seek happiness for the sake of it? It wasn't exactly ideal, but it wasn't like I had to get married. On thinking about it, there were plenty of nobles who never got married. It wasn't to the best advantage to one's family, of course, but even my parents had said they wanted me to be happy.
Then Fluttershy was so nice, caring, and attractive. She was good looking enough that she was a supermodel at one point. Also, she had been really supportive and kind to me recently, and I enjoyed her company. Then there was the fact that even Princess Celestia had advised me to find a special somepony if I wanted one, and how else could I discover if I wanted one if I didn't go out there and find out?
I summoned my courage. "W-would you, if you like to, I would really like it if..." I took a deep breath to steady myself. "Would you go out with me?" I put on the best smile I could. There it was, I had put it out there.
"Oh ... oh dear." Fluttershy looked away from me. "Um ... I don't know ... that probably wouldn't be ... that is..."
I kept myself from grimacing. Needless to say, that had not been the answer I had wanted to hear. Maybe I had come on too strong and quickly? I didn't have much, well any, experience at this type of thing.
"Come on, we could go on a date later to have some fun. It would be like all those other times we hung out as friends," I reasoned. "Only with romantic connotations this time. It's almost exactly the same, only with significantly greater emotional investments."
She shuffled in place. "I really don't think..."
"Besides, a bunch of our other friends are dating now," I continued. "Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are dating now. And Rarity and Applejack are basically a thing. You and I being together would create some really good symmetry."
"S-symmetry?"
"Exactly!" I nodded. "All of the Elements of Harmony dating one of the others. How perfect could that be?"
"Well, yes, but, um... " She took a deep breath and blurted out, "I don't really like you that way!" She winced and looked down, refusing to make eye contact with me. "Er, sorry."
It felt as though something was clutching my chest. Had I done something wrong? This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
"I-I wasn't expecting head-over-hooves romantic feelings right away," I countered. "We could try a date or two, see what happens. Ponies do that type of thing all the time, right?" That sounded reasonable to me anyways. You couldn't know for certain about something unless you tried it. It was better than having a closed mind, I was sure.
"Twilight." Fluttershy rubbed at one of her forelegs. "I think of you as a friend, not ... that."
"Oh." My ears fell flat to my head at the rejection. She really didn't have those types of feelings for me. Worse still, I had placed her in a very awkward situation, and after all the help she had given me as of late. "Sorry. This is all my fault, I shouldn't have... I don't know. Maybe I was projecting. I should have known better than to do something like this. I'm not very good at the whole romance thing." I lowered my head and looked away from her. "You hadn't given any indication that you were interested and it wasn't fair for me to dump something like this on you. I was being stupid. I should know better. Forget about it."
My eyes started stinging and I closed them. The two of us not looking at one another had at least one advantage. She couldn't see me crying like some overwrought little filly.
"No, it wasn't. I..." She looked towards the exit. "I should go. Sorry."
"Right, it's been a long day." I blinked against the stinging in my eyes and turned away from her. I was being so stupid. I shouldn't I have done what I had. No matter how much I might have thought I liked Fluttershy.
Fluttershy's shoulders slumped as she made her way to the door, but before she could leave Spike came walking down the stairs.
He looked from Fluttershy to the kitchen where I stood. I looked away from him; I didn't need him to see me cry on top of everything. He didn't need this after all he had already been though.
Spike's eyes narrowed. "Hey, what's going on here?"
Knowing that I needed to do damage control, I quickly swiped at my eyes and trotted over to him. "Nothing, Spike. We were just having a talk, is all." I nodded to Fluttershy, and she took the signal to make a hasty exit. "It's just--something dumb, I guess. Don't worry about it."
Spike's scowl turned into a concerned frown. "Have you been crying?"
I tried to think of the right thing to say, wavered between telling the truth, deflecting the question, taking some other course… but I just felt so tired. Instead I wrapped Spike up in a hug. "Yes, Spike, I have. Just ... No more questions for now. Leave it for tomorrow, please. I'll answer your questions then." I squeezed him. "Right now what I would like is to have someone be here for me. Okay?"
He hugged me back. "Okay."