//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: Twilight's Oddities // by FleetingChance //------------------------------// Chapter Two – “Twilight have you seen Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked upon seeing her the next morning in the castle just outside of Ponyville. The castle was officially Princess Twilight Sparkle’s home and ruling place, but she often shared it with the Mane Six. In fact each of the Mane Six were given a room upon the castle’s creation to do with it as they pleased. Pinkie Pie kept hers as a party room and an office where she planned the many parties she was often hired to make. Fluttershy usually just used hers to keep some extra supplies and a couple beds for her animals and for herself. Applejack had turned hers into a storage room for the extra apple cider she often needed. She was also the only one that kept her room under lock and key, mainly because of Rainbow Dash’s strange addiction to the stuff. Rainbow Dash had made her room into a work out room since all of the rooms in her house in Cloudsdale had been taken up by her foals. Rarity’s room was the only one that still looked original to the castle, since she was rarely in it, she didn’t bother to fix it. However being Rarity she did spruce it up to suit her constant need for fashion. Since the castle was Twilight Sparkle and Spike’s house she had more rooms to herself than the other Mane Six did. She had a huge library she was often in, a magic and potions lab, a study, and her personal room. Spike had several rooms to himself as well. One was devoted to gems and precious minerals, the other was his own private study, his own bedroom, and then another room he kept to himself. Twilight didn’t care that he had this secret room, all she cared was that he kept it clean. Twilight shrugged. “She might be with Spike. They have been hanging out with each other quite a lot since you’ve been gone.” This struck Rarity. Her little sister hanging out with an adolescent dragon? Sure she had found it endearing that he had a crush on her for such a long time, but with her little sister? She wasn’t too sure about this. “Is…is she safe with Spike?” “Why do you ask that?” Twilight turned to look at the white coated mare. She was just starting to show signs of the foal she was carrying. “It’s just…Spike’s an adolescent dragon now. What if he has a…dragon urge and hurts Sweetie Belle?” Rarity said placing the dress she had been working on down. Twilight was taken aback. Spike would never hurt another living being let alone that. “Are you suggesting Spike would force himself on her?” Rarity quickly waved her well-manicured hooves in front of her. “No darling. I’m just worried about her. Spike is going through changes and he’s a dragon after all. He might do something he can’t help. We don’t fully understand dragons, Twilight. Fancy Pants said that when he was going through adolescence he was really hard on his parents. Now imagine that with spike, but doubled.” Twilight thought about this. Spike had been acting off for several weeks now, he hadn’t been acting like the usual sweet dragon she had raised. “Now that you say that, Spike has been acting a little different. Last week he had refused to send a letter to Celestia for no apparent reason. I had to send it to her myself.” “How does he act with Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked concerned. “He actually treats her pretty well,” Twilight said folding her tail around her as she sat at the table studying a new book she had just gotten. “He brought her over here the other day and we had lunch together and I taught Sweetie Belle a few new spells. She’s gotten pretty good at levitation and she’s working on teleportation. A few more lessons and she’ll have teleportation down and we’ll start working on transfiguring apples and such.” Rarity was shocked. She had only been in Canterlot for three months and now she came back to Sweetie Bell studying alongside Twilight Sparkle. She wasn’t sure what was more shocking, the fact her little sister was already better than her a magic or that she was seeing Spike. A hint of jealousy pinged in her heart, but she quickly pressed it down. She was married with a foal on the way, why would she be jealous that he had moved on? “That’s good,” she said softly returning to her work. Moments later Owlowiscious came swooping through the window Twilight kept open for her. Landing on the table beside Twilight she spun around revealing a letter on her back. “Oh?” she said pulling the letter off her back. Opening it she saw it was from Applejack. “Oh Applejack needs help with Sweet Apple Acers. With Big Mac expecting his third foal any day now and Applebloom away at the engineers convention she can’t do it all. Oh and she’s pregnant again.” “She is? Why haven’t I heard of this?” Rarity asked slightly insulted. “She just found out two weeks ago and she hasn’t had time to tell many ponies,” Twilight saved her place in the book and levitated it back onto the currently reading bookshelf. “Now let’s head to Sweet Apple Acers,” Getting to the door Rarity followed after her. Spike sat with Sweetie Belle on the grass a couple strides away from the sidewalk. Her lyric book was open so that he could look and see what was written inside. Spike looked it over amazed to find all the songs that she had written. They were all so good, it was a surprise that she hadn’t gotten noticed yet. “Have you ever thought about entering these?” Sweetie Belle turned to look at him. “Entering these in what?” Spike shrugged. “Entering these in a contest or something? I’m sure Twilight knows someone. You’re her student I am sure she would mind sending some in.” “Oh I couldn’t do that, Twilight already has so much on her hooves,” Sweetie Belle said turning back to her book. “It’d be simple enough to do. If you don’t want to ask her, what about asking Rarity?” A little ping of longing rang in his heart. He shook it off, it was impossible to be involved with a mare that never noticed him. Sweetie Belle scrunched up his muzzle and looked to him with a disgusted look. “I wouldn’t do that. Rarity is too busy with her life to notice me. Do you know how many letters I’ve sent to her that she’s never responded to? Yeah I know she’s busy, but couldn’t she at least send a letter back saying something? I’m really starting to wonder if she’s living up to her Element of Harmony.” Spike looked at her shocked. He never knew Sweetie Belle held resentment towards her daughter. “It isn’t a good idea to say that in this Kingdom,” Spike said carefully. “Well what do you expect me to say? That Rarity is a great sister? No she isn’t, sure in the past she has been nice, but I’ve always lived in her shadow. Rarity this, Rarity that, Rarity is so great. My parents used to brag about how she holds an Element of Harmony and how she’s friends with a princess and gets to meet the ruler of Equestria herself,” by this time Sweetie Belle was standing up her face red with anger. “What have they said about me? Diddly squat. Sure they’ve complemented my Cutie Mark and was happy when I finally got it, but they’ve never seen my achievements. That’s all because of my ‘should be an Alicorn herself’ sister!” she shouted with tears streaming down her face. Spike got up and wiped the tears away. “It’s going to be okay, talk to Twilight.” “Don’t you ever feel like you’re living in somepony’s shadow?” Sweetie Belle said placing a hoof on his arm. “Yeah I do at times and it’s to be expected when your mom is an Alicorn Princess, but I’ve learned to cope with it. Plus Twilight always gave me the credit when it was mine and always respected me,” his cheeks flushed when he realized he had called Twilight mom. Sweetie Belle paused for a moment realizing it too. “Do you see Twilight as your mom?” Spike gave a tiny bit of nervous laughter. “Sometimes, she was the one that hatched me. Usually dragon customs say that whoever hatches the egg is the mother or father, even if they weren’t the ones to lay the egg. It jumps between seeing her a mom and seeing her as an older sister. Either way I think of her as family.” Sweetie Belle smiled. “That’s sweet.” Spike smiled back, but it slowly faded when a feeling pinged through his heart. He could simply kiss her right now, but what if she didn’t feel the same? Kissing her would possibly make things awkward between them and he didn’t want to do that. He let go of her face and sat back down. “Have you ever thought about making a song called Spike the Awesome Dragon?” Sweetie Belle smirked. “You have an ego just as big as Scootaloo’s,” she said sitting down beside him. Pulling out her book again she began to right. “Ah just told you,” Applejack said bucking a bunch of apples down. “Ah didn’t have time to tell anypony. Plus you never reply back to letters.” “I do to!” Rarity asked slightly insulted. “That ain’t what your sister said,” Applejack watched Twilight levitate the apples into the back of the wagon. ”Ah overheard her talking to Applebloom one night and she said you haven’t replied back to her for nearly two months. Now what do you think that does to a little filly?” Rarity looked away and bit her lip. She never considered what she had done to her little sister by not replying to letters. “She should have notified me.” “Don’t go puttin the blame on Sweetie Belle,” Applejack pointed her hoof at her. “Ah am pretty sure you had more than enough time to send them letters to them important ponies.” Rarity’s face burnt with embarrassment. “Now have ya even bothered to see her since you have been back?” “I have only been back a day! I haven’t found—” “Don’t you say you haven’t found the time. You should always make time for your own kin,” Applejack closed the back of the wagon and helped Twilight hitch up to the wagon. Rarity just stood there in the orchard with anger in her heart. How dare she accuse me? I’ve been busy with work and raising my foal! “Don’t go gettin angry at me. You only have one foal, I have three with one on the way,” Applejack said making Rarity jump. “I have three and I still make time for Big Mac and Applebloom.” Rarity gave a dissatisfied “Humph!” and cantered out of Sweet Apple Acers with her mascara running. Twilight turned to look at where Rarity had been. “Don’t you think that was a little harsh?” “No. Rarity is getting too used to the posh life up in Canterlot,” Applejack said opening a gate for Twilight. “She needs to realize not everything will go her way and her actions have consequences, be it good or bad.” “You said something about Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked making a mental note to ask Spike later. “Yeah, she’s having trouble accepting that Rarity has changed. Rarity just doesn’t have the amount of free time that she used to have a couple years back. On Rarity’s end she needs to make time for her kin, but she gets too absorbed in what she’s doing.” “When did you become a family therapist?” Twilight said with a smirk. Applejack grinned. “That what happens when you have a husband and three foals.” She helped Twilight pull the wagon into the barn and over the chute where the apples were to drop in. Instead of Applejack climbing under there like she usually did Twilight went to undo it herself. Getting under the wagon she immediately jumped backwards with a loud scream. Pinkie Pie popped out startling both of them. “Surprise!” Applejack was leaning against a hay bale slowing her breath. “You darn near gave me a heart attack!” “That was my plan! The foal needs to know the element of surprise!” Pinkie Pie said climbing out from under the wagon as the apples fell down the chute. Twilight drew a hoof down her face. “Don’t you need to worry about your own foal?” “Nope! He’s pretty content with this sorta stuff. Yesterday he wouldn’t let me sit still for a minute,” Pinkie Pie said. Twilight looked down at saw Pinkie Pie’s stomach was already round with pregnancy. It seemed every one of her friends were pregnant except for her. She made another mental note to see if Fluttershy and Discord had managed to conceive a foal yet. “Pinkie, why are you here?” Applejack asked leaning off of the hay bale. “Oh yeah! We’re going to go get lunch and wanted to know if you wanted to come with us,” Pinkie said referring to her husband Pokey Pierce. “Sure, I could go for lunch. This foal has been me crave the oddest things,” Applejack said. “Let me just go ask if the foals or Caramel wants something,” she said stepping into the house. Moments later she came back. “Let’s go.” Twilight walked out behind her and with Pinkie bouncing behind her. She locked the barn door and made her way down to the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres.