//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Love Is Never a Mistake // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Unable to sleep, Adora Belle tossed in her bed. Shining Armor. The brave and noble knight in all of the stories her mother told her. Shining Armor, the good pony. Shining Armor, who loved Mommy more than anything else in the whole wide world. But Shining Armor had left and it was all Adora’s fault. She had been holding it in for a long time now, it hurt like nothing else had ever hurt her before. She had driven Mommy and Shining Armor, the noble knight, apart. Rolling over once more, Adora sighed. She slipped from her bed with an easy silence and landed upon the floor with a soft, muffled whump, her long tail slapping the ground like a soggy noodle. She slithered over the floor, trying to be as sneaky as possible, like when she used to sneak up on Daddy, trying to scare him. Daddy was always good fun to scare. She slipped from her room and made her way down the hall, past the sleeping alicorns. Living in the past wasn’t so different from living in the future. They had all lived together while waiting for the end to come. Lifting her head, Adora paused. No, things were different. Celestia’s snoring wasn’t quite as loud as it would become. For now, it only sounded like a chuffing steam engine of some sort, or perhaps a flatulent dragon. With each inhale, Celestia let out a raspberry sound as her lips flapped. Prowling down the hall, Adora smiled. She liked being sneaky. It felt good. Sneaky Time was fun time. Sneaky Time was playing hide and go seek in the Fortress. Sneaky Time was turning into a pillow or a stuffed animal and then hiding in plain site as those looking for you walked right past you. Adora was allowed to have Sneaky Time but it had to end when somepony shouted, “Alle, Alle, auch sind frie!” the magic words invented by Daddy that meant that Sneaky Time for a good little draconequus was over and it was time to behave. Adora realised that nopony right now knew the magic words. She froze in place. This did not mean that playtime would never end; no, it meant that Adora had to decide when to be good. She wasn’t certain if she was the best judge for this, she knew that sometimes, her playful nature got the best of her. Flashing a shark-like smile, Adora slithered through Spike’s door. Spike would be able to help. Spike always knew what to do and Adora had been told time and time again, if she was in trouble, find Spike and he would help. “Spike!” Adora hissed in a loud, yet hushed whisper. As a draconequus, she could perform all manner of contrary acts that would have been impossible for somepony else. “Spike, wake up!” Adora poked the little dragon and heard a grunt. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Spike asked in a sleepy voice. “I can’t sleep,” Adora replied. She poked Spike again, then again, and then once more for good measure. Each poke was a poke of love and affection, as well as being a motivator to get up. “What to do you want?” Spike asked, opening his eyes and looking at the enormous serpentine figure looming over him. “Stop poking me, I’m awake.” “We have to get Mommy and Shining Armor back together.” Adora lifted Spike up out of the bed and gave him a squeeze as she cradled him in her forelegs. “It’s my fault that they don’t love each other any more.” Spike blinked and was now very much awake. “We need to go and find Shining Armor. We need to go and find him and we need to tell him how important it is for him to love Mommy and for them to be together. And I need you to help me do it because I know that you know where Shining Armor is.” Adora set Spike down upon the bed and looked him in the eye, her nose touching his nose. “Adora, this is a bad idea, such a bad idea—” “Please?” Adora turned on the charm, trying to look as sad as possible. “What if he doesn’t want to come back with us?” Spike asked. “Then we make him come back with us, for his own good, and for the good of Mommy. If they don’t love each other, the universe might break,” Adora replied. Oh bother. Spike, feeling overwhelmed, didn’t know what to say. “Shining Armor isn’t going to want to come back with us if we go to him. He’s just going to contact the other princesses, they’ll come, and we’ll get in trouble, and everything will be worse.” “Then we can’t let him contact the princesses and we can’t let him stop us.” Adora’s pink, fuzzy eyebrows furrowed and her long rabbit ear drooped down. “We have to fix this. I have to fix this. If you can’t help me, then I’ll do it alone.” Spike paused. He had specific instructions to look after Adora, given to him by Twilight Sparkle. Twilight might have crazy discorded eyes, but she was still Twilight Sparkle, and she had trusted him as her number one assistant. “Shining Armor has powerful magic,” Spike said. “I can deal with that.” Adora looked down at the little dragon. “So you’ll help me?” Knowing that he was dooming himself, Spike nodded. He couldn’t get into that much trouble for following orders, could he? He thought about this for a moment, knowing there was something wrong with this line of reasoning, but he couldn’t put his claw on what it was. “Adora, can you fly us to Canterlot?” Spike asked. The draconequus nodded. “Yup. I think so. Where is Canterlot?” “I’ll show you when we get outside,” Spike replied. “But first, we need to pack a few things for the trip.” Adora landed on the roof of the house Spike had pointed out, not making a single sound. Spike, clinging to Adora’s back, couldn’t help but notice that Adora didn’t quite float like Discord did. She had to fly… if one could call it flying. To Spike, it looked more like Adora was swimming through the air. Spike could hear Adora’s muffled, heavy breathing. He looked around in the darkness. There were very few lights on in the houses, and most of the light came from street lamps. This was a place that Spike knew. He had grown up here, when he and Twilight weren’t in Canterlot Castle. Twilight’s parent’s house was one of the places he considered home. “Shining Armor’s bedroom is directly below us. The window is right under the edge of the roof… he always sleeps with his window open, even in the dead of winter. Twilight says it’s because Shining Armor is a stinky pony.” There was a giggle in the darkness as Adora made her way to the edge of the roof with Spike still clinging to her back. Spike, scared out of his mind, knew this was a bad idea, but he didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t let Adora go off on her own, and, truth be told, he knew that Shining Armor and Cadance had to be brought back together somehow. Standing on the edge of the roof, Adora craned her long neck around to have a look. The window was open and in the faint light, Adora could see Shining Armor, sound asleep in the bed. Reaching around, she grabbed Spike, lifted him from her back, and then eased him in through the window. She slithered in after him as Spike stood beside the bed, his eyes wide and staring. Spike asked himself, Am I really about to participate in a ponynapping? In the bed, Shining Armor snorted and his eyes opened. His horn flashed for a moment, glowing bright, and Spike almost screamed like a filly. Adora reached out with her eagle talons, and, touching one claw to Shining Armor’s horn, put an end to his magic. “What are you doing?” Shining Armor demanded as he shook his head, his horn spilling out magenta sparks. Yes, Spike said to himself. He was about to participate in a ponynapping. “Adora, hold him down, but don’t hurt him.” “Sorry,” Adora said, apologising as she tossed her long body over Shining Armor, pinning him down. She ignored his kicking and his struggles as Spike reached into his napsack. She watched as Spike pulled out a roll of gaffer’s tape. She gave Spike a nod as she wrapped her paw and her talons around Shining Armor’s muzzle, silencing him and keeping him still. Wincing, cringing, Spike wrapped the gaffer's tape over Shining Armor’s mouth, but was careful not to cover Shining Armor’s nostrils. “I’m really sorry, Shining Armor, but there is a future at stake and I can’t let you leave Cadance.” Spike went to work taping Shining Armor’s legs together. When Spike was done trussing Shining Armor up, Spike realised that his life was probably over. He wondered what life in a dungeon would be like. There was no turning back now. “Adora, we need to go… Twilight Velvet is a light sleeper.” The draconequus nodded and dropped her body low so Spike could climb up on her back. She lifted Shining Armor in her forelegs, holding him close, giving him an apologetic squeeze as he thrashed against his restraints. When Spike was sitting right between her wings, Adora slipped out the window, and into the night. “Spike, I’m getting tired,” Adora whined as her wings fluttered. “Shining Armor is too heavy!” The draconequus was struggling to remain in the air and tears glimmered in her pink and yellow eyes. Panicked, Spike wondered what would happen if Adora suddenly couldn’t fly any more. He couldn’t see very well, but there was enough moonlight to see a few details. He peered at the mountain on which Canterlot sat atop of. “There!” Spike cried as he pointed. “There’s a ledge!” His stomach lurched as Adora banked and headed for the ledge. He wasn’t certain they would make it, she was dropping fast. He felt her mismatched wings slashing at the air as she struggled to remain airborne. A moment later, they hit the ledge, crashing into it. Spike rolled away. Adora collapsed like a big pile of noodle. Meanwhile, Shining Armor skidded to a halt, bouncing over several rocks and bumping into a lone pine tree that called this ledge home. “Ouchie.” Adora lifted her head and looked around. Spike, one durable dragon, lifted himself up, but that was a mistake. His head was swimmy. He sat back down, rubbing his head, and felt panic grip him when he saw a flash of magenta light, followed by ripping sounds. “You horrible, no good, wretched, vile, hideous pink monstrosity!” Shining Armor shouted. “How dare you come into my parent’s home and steal me away out of my own bed after what you did to Cadance and I.” Spike, turning his head, watched Adora drop, going limp and covering her face. He felt a pain in his stomach, a stabbing sensation, followed by a twitching in his muscles. “You disgusting pink mutant!” Spike heard a pained whimper. “You took away my magic!” Spike felt dizzy and far too hot. “And you made Spike wrap me up in tape!” Oh, something was wrong. Spike did not feel well. “I’m gonna make certain you spend a thousand years as a stone statue for this!” Spike could hear Adora’s plaintive whimpers, something about the sound hurt him. “It didn’t do much for that wretched traitor that you call your father, but it’s a start!” Spike heard a screaming sob. Something inside of him broke. He heard a roaring sound. A terrible roaring sound. A terrible, fierce roaring sound. It took Spike a moment, but he realised that the roaring sound was him. Claws out, Spike advanced on Shining Armor, wisps of smoke trailing from his nostrils. “You get away from her,” Spike growled as he stomped forwards. Sparks flew from his mouth as he spoke. He could see Shining Armor’s eyes go wide with fear. “YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!” Shining Armor backed away, only stopping when his rump bumped into the pine tree. “She worships and adores you… when we were flying up to Canterlot, she told me how Cadance told her stories… and every story had a knight in shining armor… YOU! You were her knight in shining armor. She loves you and adores you… you’re her hero… and look WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO HER!” Spike bellowed. “She wanted you back with Cadance so the two of you could be happy… HOW DO YOU THINK CADANCE WOULD FEEL IF SHE HEARD YOU SAYING WHAT YOU SAID?” Spike flexed his claws as his vision turned a scary shade of red. There was a sound in his ears, a sound like a swarm of bees. Shining Armor recoiled as if he had been struck. His jaw dropped, leaving his mouth open, and Shining Armor tried to make a reply. His eyes remained locked on Spike and a terrified expression was plastered to Shining Armor’s face. Realising what he had done, what he had said, the words that had come out of his mouth, the terrible things he had said to Cadance’s daughter, Shining Armor felt as though he was going to throw up at any second. He staggered forwards. “I’m sorry Adora… I don’t know what came over me—” “STAY AWAY!” Spike belched out a gout of flame that arced over Shining Armor’s head, scorching away Shining Armor’s eyebrows, leaving even more of Shining Armor’s face bald and hairless. “I’m sorry… I made a terrible mistake… let me make it better,” Shining Armor said as the heartbreaking sounds of sobbing filled his ears. Sobbing that he had caused. There was a brilliant flash of light and the night was suddenly as bright as day. Confused, Shining Armor blinked, trying to figure out what was going on, and then he heard a booming voice. “I TOLD YOU SHE WAS DANGEROUS! LOOK AT THE DISSENT AND THE CHAOS SHE HAS SOWN!” Looking up, Shining Armor saw Princess Celestia, just as Celestia was entering into a dive. Beside Celestia, Twilight Sparkle hovered in the air. Luna was raising a shield. And Cadance… Cadance was screaming for Celestia to stop. Shining Armor’s singed ears perked at the sounds of Cadance’s pleading, shrieking cries. Knowing that he needed to atone for his mistake, Shining Armor threw himself over Adora’s body as Spike whirled around to face Celestia. Shining Armor summoned his shield spell, not knowing how well it would work against alicorns. As he did this, he realised that he might not be able to win back Adora’s trust after the awful things he had said, but at least he could be her knight in shining armor. He could be the pony she had heard stories about. He could be Cadance’s champion. Throwing everything he had into his shield spell, he hoped that he could earn Cadance, Adora, and Spike’s forgiveness.