//------------------------------//
// The Night Before (Pt. 2) 
// Story: Earning Freedom 
// by Daxisle 
//------------------------------//






The Night Before Pt. 2




The evening are was cool and crisp, small sections of wind hitting the Sin's bear pelt as he traveled behind Shade to the Castle proper. According to the bat pony, there was an old mine shaft hidden beneath the the structure that would take them directly to the "foal factory" just beyond the guard barracks.

Sin, not wanting to spend any more time around Uppity's friends, agreed to accompany his associate and meet Uppity back at the hotel. The unicorn, on the other hand, had a different idea on the matter and vouched to join them in the excavation of the Canterlot Catacombs.

"So, why did you want to come with us down here?" Sin asked as he walked up the stairs.

"Because this sounds like fun, every time we're together, we're usually sitting around and talking or arguing. Doing something exciting seems way over due for us."

She had a good point, their... relationship was rather dull, and this would be a good chance to see how Uppity would handle some hard walking and hiking.

The trio approached the entrance and were immediately greeted by a wall of spears and golden clad guards of all races baring their approach. "Well, that's not good."

Shade's ear twitched in annoyance and he lowered his body, ready to pounce. Sin immediately placed his hoof on the pony's back to stop him from the stupid thing he was about to do and suggested a more diplomatic approach. As luck would have it, a naked Shining Armor approached from the other side, demanding to know what was going on.

His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw the two pegasi on the other side of his soldiers. "You!" He growled pushing through. "What do you want?"

Sin began to speak, but Uppity cut him off. "Good afternoon, Captain. I invited Sin her to my office. He'd seen Cupid's defamation of the wall in town square and wanted to help me build a case for prosecution."

Shining tilted his head, looking legitimately confused. "Prosecution?" The orange unicorn nodded and explained that he may have been able to give her some perspective on the law that would push through the emotional appeal of freedom of both speech and expression.

Sin was unsure how to feel about that, if she was really planning on using him to put somepony in prison or if she was just saying that to get by the guard. Words would be had either way.

"Alright, ugh." Cried the Captain as he reached for his head, nursing a head ache. "And what about him?" He pointed to Shade with his free hoof.

"He's here with Sin."

Teeth clenched, Shining looked like he wanted to argue, but was too busy fighting the headache to make anything of it. "You alright, Captain?" Sin asked, genuinely concerned for his health. Shining's wedding was tomorrow, he looked to be getting a little too stressed out about something.

"I'm fine!" He grunted, a few seconds later, a look of relief came over him and he visibly relaxed. "I'm fine, just a migraine."

Figuring Shining would know better than he would, Sin let the issue die and followed Uppity as she ascended the final few stairs. "I know you and I haven't always seen eye to eye, I want to genuinely congratulate you on getting married. Cadance seems like a wonderful mare." 

It wasn't his typical shpeal of artifice to appear the good guy, Sin was sincere in his well wishes for Shining's accomplishment. At first, the guard captain wasn't sure how to handle the compliment, but settled on an unsure thank you. Uppity followed suit and wished he and Cadance all the luck in the world.

"Plow her good, capi'n." Was all Shade could manage before he too walked past, the three were stopped as the Alicorn in question wondered out of front gates, bearing an uncharacteristically irritated scowl.

"Shining, what's going on out here?" Cadance demanded, her tone shrill and annoyed.

Shining immediately switched to simp mode, his stance turning submissive and ears splaying against his skull. "Sorry, Cadance, I was just talking to Uppity and-"

"Shining, I love you, I really do, but I can't have you running off like this. The wedding tomorrow, and we've still got a lot to do tonight." She snapped.

Sin and Uppity pressed their lips and looked away. "She seems cranky."

"Big day tomorrow."

But the scolding didn't end there. Sin felt legitimate sympathy for the white unicorn at the tongue thrashing he was getting and was half tempted to tell his aggressor to calm her teats. As much as he didn't like submissive behavior, this was just getting hard to watch.

"Never mind, let's just get back to the dinning hall." The Pink alicorn groaned as she stomped off in a huff. Shining looked around at his guards who each averted his eyes until he found Sin and Uppity. Both offered the best faces of sympathy they could, but the fact was there was nothing either could do. "Shining, are you coming?" Sighing, the alibaster stallion groaned and turned to go back to follow his wife to be.

"Poor girl, she must be having a tough time."

Sin quirked a brow. "Her? How about him? Shining just got the dressing down of a life time and you're worried about Cadance?"

"Where's Cadance?" Shade asked looking around. Both Sin and Uppity furrowed their brows at him, motioning to where she was just standing. "That wasn't her, dunno who that was."

"Shade, how was that not her? You've both seen her and talked to her before." Sin argued. Uppity gave her two cents of agreement, stating that she'd been around the royal pony enough to recognize her when she saw her.

Shade rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I don't really care anyways. C'mon, let's find the foal factory!"





Exiting the last train for the night, Spike gulped upon looking towards the castle. He knew Twilight was there, and his reception would most likely be anything but pleasant.

He tore his eyes away from the distant structure and observed the force-field that surrounded the city. The Gigantic pink bubble was a bit of a shock, initially putting the drake on edge that something was wrong, but no pony else seemed near as bothered by it, so he kept to himself. The city appeared well enough, but the squads of patrolling guards at the train station did set off some bells for concern.

Steadying himself with a sigh, the drake began his trek through the white city, his eyes continually darting around to the night guard who'd taken residence at almost every street corner he passed. They were subtle about it, but he could easily see their golden eyes tracking him.

'Dude, what the buck is going on here?'

Spike didn't know, this was an unprecedented occurrence that he felt he should have been informed about. Was this part of the reason for the wedding's hasty announcement? No, a security risk would cause an event like this to be pushed back, right? What possible reason could there be for this much security, anyways? There were three Alicorns in Canterlot right now plus Twilight and Shining Armor for good measure, nothing in their right mind would try to set foot or hoof here and think about causing trouble.

He didn't know, and his thinking wasn't getting him anywhere, but it was a nice distraction for him to dwell on as he finally reached the castle gates. What nice was the wall of night pegasi that circled the drake as he set foot into the darkened court yard. Some flew around, holding spears at the ready to scewer, other were bearing thier teeth like predators ready for the kill. Spike felt a little afraid of the night guard, but he was more apathetic to them. As far as they could see, there was just a purple dragon looking at them through half lidded, bored eyes.

He didn't have time for this, it was 8 o'clock and he needed to find Twilight.

"Can you get out of my way, please?" He asked with a flat monotone. Some guards quirked a brow, taken aback by his collected demand but didn't move.

"State your business!" Shot one of the flying lunar pegasi, the only one who didn't look like a blood thirsty mantacore.

Maintaining his calm, the dragon explained that he was here to see Twilight Sparkle. Frowning, the pegasus guard captain lowed himself to the ground and eyed Spike for a moment. "You're that dragon of hers, aren't ya?" He asked, the dragon scowled but nodded, and the pegasus licked his fang as he began thinking about what to do. "I'm sorry, but we can't let you into the castle under the Princess's order. Gale, fetch our mistress, she'll know what to do."

One of the pegasi slammed his hoof to his chest in salute before dashing off to his duty. 

'Princess's order? I knew Twilight was mad, but damn.'

Spike wasn't too inclined to agree. Yea he was kinda an ass hole, but to be bared from the castle for that? Seriously?

'Don't forego beating yourself up too much, you're still an ass hole.'

Still though...

Eventually, the lunar alicorn descended from one of the higher towers, every hostile pony around immediatly doing a 180 and bowing with their faces in the dirt, Spike didn't however, he didn't even give a friendly nod.

"Spike, this is most unexpected." Luna greeted, dismissing her guards. "Our sister was under the impression your attendence would not be so, I am glad to see you've changed your mind."

"Why am I not allowed in?" The dragon asked, forsaking formalities. Luna's eyes narrowed, irritated that her greeting went unanswered. "Look, I just need to talk to Twilight and-"

"You will not be speaking to her tonight!" The lunar alicorn declared, silencing his words. "Twilight Sparkle is distraught over you, young one. We have heard what you did, and we are ashamed of you!"

'Who's 'we'?'

What?

'Every time you see her, she always uses plural when referring to herself, as if there's more than one of her. Why?'

We're being denied entry talk to Twilight and see the wedding, and that's what you're focusing on? 

'Well, it's been bothering me ever since we first met her.'

Wow. Okay, you've lost talking privileges for the day.

"Look, I know I've messed up, but I'm trying to fix it." The drake complained, forcing as much desperation into his voice as he could while maintaining a sense of dignity. Luna looked unconvinced, so taking a page out of their own book, Spike appealed to emotion and justice. "Can I at least come in and explain my side of the story? It's not really fair to keep me out without hearing the other side, right?"

His words didn't even seem to register with the impassive alicorn, just as Spike was about to go into some more questionable methods of manipulation, Luna sighed and agreed. However, the dragon was restricted to keep within ten feet of her at all times and was not permited to speak with Twilight or any of her friends for the night. It wasn't ideal, but it was a start. 

Spike could be patient and wait one more night to speak with his adoptive mother, if she had gone to these lengths to keep him away, than maybe space was what she needed right now. Besides, there were a few questions he wanted to ask about the giant shield and beefed guard in the city, and Luna may be a bit more forthcoming about answering his questions than Celestia would.





"You guys find anything?!" Shade yelled, his voice echoing off of the stone catacomb walls that dug deep beneath Canterlot. Sin grumbled, standing by the bright orange glow of Uppity's horn. How was he supposed to "find anything" when his sight radius was about twenty feet in any given direction? Shade's serpentine retinas and echolation hearing were ideal for these kinds of conditions, night vision plus... that thing where the reverberation of sounds would tell his ears where everything was.

'Sonar?'

Yea, that. Sin was a normal pegasus pony, had it not been for Uppity, whom he was now very glad insisted she come, he'd be wandering around in complete darkness. Hell, the three of them had been wandering around in these caves for the past two hours, and as expected there wasn't a single trace of Shade's imaginary foal factory.

The only reason the Federalist hadn't given up on the failed quest was due to how much fun Uppity was having with the entire thing. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, just exploring the underground tunnels. It didn't have much to offer besides the odd gem and glowing stone, but each discovery made her eyes light up with foalish excitement. Like everything that wasn't a boring grey stalagmite was some lost treasure just waiting to be discovered.

"Sin?!" Shade barked.

The aforementioned sighed. "Nothing yet!"

Thank Milikki there was a rail way system here. Story went that this was a mine where unicorns sought to reap all of the gems and sell them for profit. He didn't care about that, it was more about having a solid track back to the surface, assuming the unexplained breaks in the tracks didn't make them lose their way. Of course, Sin wasn't about to leave that to chance, and carved arrows into the floor that would point them to the entrance.

Old miners trick he picked up from one of the mercenaries who worked in the miner division of Triple M, continually self made direction marks that always point to the exit.

"ooh, Sin look!" Uppity proclaimed before taking off farther down the cave. Sin tilted his head at a faint shine that sparkled off in the vein's distance. He'd cautioned the unicorn about issues like low oxygen and cave creatures that may inhabit the mine, but she was much to excited about prospecting to pay him much mind.

"Oh wow!" She gawked in silent appreciation. As he grew closer, the Federalist came to realize what she was looking at and was rather impressed himself. The cave wall was giving a perfect and un-distorted reflection of both of them. No cracks, no slight warps or edges, it was almost as if nature had carved the stone with the sole intent of allowing the onlooker to examine themselves.

"Hmmm, I wonder if this was what the stories were always talking about." Uppity asked as she placed her hoof against the rock.

"Stories?" Asked Sin.

The unicorn nodded and told him about some folklore of the Canterlot Catacombs being haunted by the spirits of miners who'd lost their lives down here. "Legends say that if anypony comes down here, they'll hear strange noises that sound like a foal crying."

Sin just gave her a sideways glance but kept his mouth shut. He'd heard stories about poltergeist infestations before, nothing official of course since ghosts were hard to prove, but he'd always taken them with a grain of salt. It wasn't that he didn't believe in ghosts 100%, but he had always been skeptical since the stories he'd heard always sounded exaggerated.

"What was that?" Uppity gasped, looking around the small cavern in which they stood, the orange glow of her horn intensifying with her fear.

"What was what?" The Oaken pony asked, his skepticism peaked but giving some humorous looks around. He hadn't heard anything besides the sounds of their own breathing, though that's when something did give a slight echo from the surrounding walls. It was faint, almost impossible to hear, but he knew there was something.

It sounded like small and dim cryies and moans of some kind. Almost like a... filly crying?

'You know, maybe we should leave.'

What? You scared of weird noises underground?

'No, weird noises are fine, but ghosts? I'm not interested in dealing with ghosts.'

And that delicious little bit of information was put under the folder marked "silent black mail".

Still though, there was no denying it, there was the odd sound of what appeared to be a few hick up sobbing. Sin strained his ears to see if he could find some indication to where it was coming from, but with the echo of the cavern, it was almost impossible to tell.

"Sin! I'm scared!" The District attorney cried, latching onto his neck and burying her eyes into the crook of his chin. The stallion would have called her out on feigning fear until he'd felt Uppity's body trembling against his. She was legitimately terrified right now. Seeing her distraught, Sin attempted to coax her into leaving with him, but Uppity refused to let him go.

A mix of irritation and panic rose through the pegasus' chest. She was obviously scared, so the logical thing to do would be to leave, yet she wouldn't let up, how were they supposed to go if she-

'Oh for the love of Northwood, hug her and comfort her! Tapio's beard, this is just getting embarrassing.'

Here's a thought, maybe I don't want to. Maybe I'm tired? Maybe walking for hours through inclines and declines on twisted and swollen hooves and legs is leaving me in a little pain and I'd like to get some ice on them? Maybe-

'Maybe someone's trying to dodge the fact they like holding a mare in the dark because they don't know what they are doing? You should really know better than to lie to me, dude. I know everything that goes on in this little head of yours. Now you've got a golden oppertunity right here and you're going to take it. You've drawn this out long enough!'

.... You sure? I could drag it out a bit longer if I-

'Dammit Sin! Pick up your hoof, stroke her mane and tell the mare everything will be alright!'

Stealing his resolve, Sin lifted his hoof and gently patted Uppity's back with an almost awkwardly robotic fluidity. "There, there."

'What the fuck did I just say?'

Waiting to see if his motions would have the desired affect, Sin felt his stomach twist when Uppity's grip only tightened around him. There was no way he could deny what the situation called for, no matter how uncomfortable and ridiculously vulnerable it made him feel. He slowly placed a little more weight onto the mare and lifted his other leg, bringing it up behind her back giving her a gentle squeeze.

As he held her, he felt the unicorn's trembling lessen more and more until it was barely noticeable. He relaxed a little, allowing himself to place alittle more weight forward. She wasn't going to move and he wasn't going to fall.

His self-consciousness was screaming at him to stop, that he had no idea what he was doing and would most likely make an idiot out of himself, but the more Sin held the mare, the more calm and at peace he was with such consequences. Uppity was a decent and kind pony, even if he did manage to mess this up, it's not like she'd hold it against him.

Gingerly, he raised his bandaged hoof and slowly began stroking the unicorns luscious purple mane. It was soft, silky even, like silk sheet threads intertwined into a single beautiful purple braid. "Shhh, everything's fine. It's alright, everything's alright." He cooed, swelling with pride as the mare's trembling ceased and she melted into him.

'Success! Praise be to the Centaur, there may yet be hope for thine soul!'

Sin didn't even bother registering the comment, his attention was too focused on the mare in his legs. He felt something strange brewing in his chest, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling, matter of fact, it was quite warm and soothing. He fought it at first, not liking the forign feeling but just as quickly resigned to let it flow it's course. He had an idea of what it was, and in order to fully realize this moment, he'd need to embrace it.

He felt Uppity nuzzle into his neck and with wide eyed realization, Sin suddenly felt something in him shift. So many empty spaces in mind began to fill, dark and bitter thoughts fled his mind, plan and consequences of the future abandoned him, just like last time. This is what it felt like to be vulnerable to another. There was only the here and now, only the warm mare who trembled and sought comfort from a pony who she loved... and... was falling in love with her. Was this it? Was this the feelings that everyone often called "love"?

Maybe, it was warm and inviting, de-stressing and overall pleasant. He kinda didn't want it to stop and didn't care that they'd have to. Sin just wanted to make Uppity feel better, feel safe and secure, and as she farther relaxed into him, he could feel a sense of humble pride well in his chest. Feeling her shift, Sin loosed his grip a little and allowed her to lift her head.

His mind went blank as she stared at him. Magenta eyes full of wonder, curiosity, intrigue and uncertainty. Slowly, she lifted her hoof up to his cheek and pushed up on the straps of his goggles, removing the dark tint from his eyes.

Without those, there was nothing left. Ever last defensive measure he had was gone, and with it, the entirety of his capability for thought. Her eyes were so captivating, so open and inviting. There was nothing else here, just the dark pink irises and the warm orange glow that illuminated them.

In an all too cruel show of will, Uppity closed her eyes and looked down. "Sin..."

"Yea?"

In a surprising twist of fate, it was now Uppity that seemed unsure of herself. Her eyes were averted, her hooves fidgeting nervously as she bit her lip. "I- I don't know what I'm doing right now."

Sin had to hold himself back from laughing at the irony, settling instead to be humbly honest. "And you think I do?"

Uppity chuckled warmly, easing the tension in the air. It brought warmth to his heart to see her smile. "It's just, I've never felt this way about anypony before, and... I'm scared that you'll... leave me." She confessed, turning the volitile warmth into a cool confession. "I've seen what happens to my co-workers and, I don't want that. I-"

With no active thought on his part, Sin's hoof moved to cover Uppity's mouth, leaving the mare to stare at him in wonder. "You know I'm not that kind of stallion." He slowly moved his hoof down, allowing her to respond but there were no words to come, patiently he waited for her to speak, free of any judgement. She didn't, instead she began lifting her head to meet his own, her eyes closing as she grow closer. To his surprise, Sin returned the motion, anticipation building as he slowly leaned down to share his first real moment of romantic intimacy. 

He felt her lips on his and his entire body almost turned to jello, it was a rush of chemicals in the brain that sent sparks through his extremities. A gentle suction pulled at him and he returned the gesture. It only lasted a second or two, but to both ponies, it might as well have been an hour. An hour of passion, excitement and a bliss that neither of them thought possible.

"Et Too, Sin?"

Both ponies bodies tensed at the disturbance, Sin being the first to regain proper thinking facilities sigh and turned to see Shade leaning on the cave wall, watching the two with a mix of interest and judgement.

'Worst. Timing. Ever.'

"Well, if you're just going to sit around and cannoodle with your foal friend there, than you guys can just go." The bat pony hmphed as he turned away. "No wonder we haven't found the factory yet, my friend is too busy making snoo snoo!"





"So, you're saying that while you were angry with Cadance and Shining for not giving you enough advanced notice, the reason you'd lashed out at our sister's student was due to her trying to guilt you for working too much." Luna carefully said, working through what she was told.

Spike nodded from his place in the lunar dining room. "It's my fault though, I said I wouldn't be able to go without even checking with my boss to see if he'd let me. I was out of line for all the things I've said." He placed a hand over his eyes, resting his arm on the large chair. "I said she didn't have a real job, when her job was to protect Equestria as she's done twice. I don't know what came over me, I was just irritated I guess."

Luna took a sip of her tea, as she pondered over the dragon's words. She was feeling much better now, better than she was before Twilight and her sister cast the tantabus and the Nightmare out of her. She wasn't near as excitable and whimsical, she had grown to see goals and aspirations. Have meaningful friendships again, and this would be the start of her first outside of her sister.

"Spike, we believe that there is more to it than you are leading on." She pointed out bluntly. "Ponies, or dragons as the case may be, do not just snap as you are suggesting. There must have been other factors that lead to this lashing out, yes?"

Spike nodded, emphisizing his point about them butting heads over the past month over the use of his time. It was nice at first, being constantly told he worked too much and should take some time off to spend some of it with Twilight and her friends. Showed that they wanted him around, you know? But after a week or so, it became a grueling test on the dragon's patience. Unlike Twilight, he had to face a daily grind that worked his nerves and his energy. He liked the job, he really did, but it left him stressed out and exhausted after an eight to ten hour work shift. He just didn't have the energy to constantly endure Twilight's constant prodding and pushing to when they'd spend more time together.

He figured that it all just came to a boiling climax when the issue of the wedding came up.

Luna just sat there and nodded patiently, waiting for him to finish his tale. "We see, forgive us, but you glossed over that detail as if it wasn't important. When it was very important indeed." She took another sip, letting her words hang in the air for a moment.

"I feel bad, I really do, Princess. I it hurts knowing I'd hurt her this much. I don't want her to be sad or angry over me and what I've done, but we've just grown apart, you know? I'm moving out, staying in the library is setting up false expectations from both of us. It isn't fair to her that I'm there when I'm not around. I think if we just give each other some space, we can make a more healthy and positive relationship."

Quirking a brow, Luna nodded her head from side to side. "That is a wise decision, Spike. I'm curious though, do you believe she will be alright with it?"

The dragon slumped, he'd thought long and hard about this on the train ride up and no matter what alternatives he proposed that kept him in the library, the problem would remain the same. "There's not really any choice. She's Twilight, my mother, the mare who sees me as a son and wants to act as such. I love her, I really do, but I've got different interests now, different responsibilities that make our schedule incompatible. It's causing her stress and it's causing me stress. My job keeps me busy and tired, I just don't have the time or energy that I used to. I think it has a lot to do with her introversion, she wants somepony to spend time with her."

"I understand where she's coming from, but I get all of my socialization at work and that leaves me pretty much out of energy to talk. I may sound mean for saying this, but she needs to spend more time with her friends outside of just me. Get out of the library and what not. I... I just don't have the time for her right now."

It was a crushing thing to admit, but it was true. He didn't have the time that she needed, and it must have felt like rejection to her. Rejection was never taken well, even by the most accepting of ponies, and after enough rejection, lashing out was inevitable. Him leaving was the ultimate rejection, but it was a solid one that would leave both of them in peace and finality instead of wondering what would happen tomorrow.

The conversation continued on, Luna explaining what she thought and Spike answering as calmly and coherently as possible. The lunar godesses attitude towards him changed dramatically. She empathized with him, Celestia was often an overbearing sister to her, often acting more as a mother than a sibling. As she continued to speak, it was kinda scary how much of a parallel there was between herself and Spike... with one major difference.

"You are wiser than I was, a thousand years ago." Luna sighed, finishing off the rest of her tea and giving the drake a stern and imposing glare. "Just remember not to forget her. She loves you and missed you when you were away, her dreams were often about the day you'd return. Twilight Sparkle is a lonesome mare, despite her growing knowledge of friendship. We ask that you be more gentle with her in the future."

Closing his eyes, Spike nodded and made a silent promise to himself to be more careful with how he treated his mother in the future. He was her main support pillar that kept her loneliness away, now that he was leaving she'd have to rely more on the friends that didn't live with her. It was going to be hard on her, but he was confident that she'd grow through it.

The conversation was pretty much over after that. Luna had forbade Spike from going into the Solar Wing of the castle as that's where Twilight was and offered him a room in the Lunar Wing. He'd be able to see Twilight before and after the wedding should she choose to speak to him. For right now though, he'd need to fine tune everything he was going to say to her once he got the chance.