//------------------------------// // Eleven and Twelve Days Later // Story: The Days Passed // by SilverEyedWolf //------------------------------// Eight days after she last had seen Spike, Fluttershy was watering her garden and humming to herself. She’d talked once more with Rarity, who seemed to be reconstructing herself and was starting to bounce back. The only other visitor in that time had been Twilight, who had come over with an ‘Apple-Family style apple pie’ from Spike. “I had no idea how despondent he was,” Twilight had cried, almost furious. “The stubborn hard-head refused to tell me anything! He just kept saying he was fine, or he was better! I could have helped,” she had grumped. Still, she’d given her thanks along with Spike’s, then went back to, “Force the fool to feel better, or be scorched trying!” Fluttershy had tried to talk Twilight out of it, but the Princess wasn’t willing to let her little brother just sit and stew, so she’d folded and asked one of her birds to bring Spike a letter, detailing refuge at her cottage should he need it. So, she was only mildly surprised when he appeared over a tree, flying towards her and landing beside her garden; thankfully, a ways from her tomatoes. “Heya, Fluttershy,” he said, smiling wearily at her. “Hi, Spike. Twilight getting to you?” He nodded, and she smiled back at him. “That’s okay. She’s just worried about you, but we both know how she can worry sometimes.” They nodded, Spike snickering at a memory, and Fluttershy giggling quietly at his snickering. “She’ll get better, I promise.” She waved a foreleg at her garden, smiling at him. “Want to help me get rid of some of these weeds?” Spike walked over, standing on two legs to thread his way between the rows. Reaching her, he peered at the plants. “… Which ones are the weeds?” “… O-Oh. Maybe you’d help me with the chickens, instead?” Spike shook his head. “No, I can do this. Just… The weeds are the ones without edible parts, right?” “Well, yes, but they’re not all as obvious as that. Really, Spike, wouldn’t you feed the chickens and ducks instead?” He glared at the greenery for another moment, then nodded. “The feed’s in the shed beside the house. One pitcher only, please.” He nodded, walking over to the shed and pulling it open. Digging around, he found an open bag and a plastic pitcher sitting inside it. Filling it, he left the shack and walked over to the coop, pouring it in the large dry bowl. Walking back, he tossed the pitcher into the same bag, then closed the door. Hu-uh. Done, then. He walked back over to Fluttershy, who had finished the row she’d been on. Moving back, he noticed she only had one more row. Instead of bothering her about something to do again, he elected to sit at the end of the row and watch her finish up. She moved gracefully down the aisle towards him, nosing aside leaves to check their roots, for both weeds and infesters. He watched her move carefully between two larger plants, leaning over to snag at a dandelion growing unseen. Biting the flower’s stem, she tossed the dirty roots over her shoulder, munching thoughtlessly on the dandelion as she checked the rest of the row. Not paying attention, she bumped into Spike’s leg as she finished searching the vegetables. Looking over, she smiled up at him as she swallowed the rest of the tiny snack. Chuckling, Spike reached over and took her chin in in his paw, lifting her head. Confused, she blushed at him as he ran his thumb over her lips, the top of it barely visible over her muzzle. “Spike?” she asked softly. Pulling the limb away, he showed her the crumbles of mud on his digit. “You had some mud on your nose,” he chuckled, laughing when she reached up a hoof and pushed it to her snout, eyes wide. “And your hooves, I’m sure.” She pulled the hoof away, revealing a neat circle of mud around her face. Laughing, Spike set to work dusting the dirt off of her, using both paws to clean her faster. “There,” he said with a nod, smiling at her. “Clean.” She almost pressed her hooves to her cheeks, attempting to hide her small blush, but she pushed away the muddy limbs mentally. “Th-Thank you, Spike.” He nodded down at her. “Now what?” “Hmm… Would you like to help me mend a fence? Or maybe…” They spent the rest of the day like that; Fluttershy finding chores for him to help with, and he doing what he could to assist her. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, “So, this is your life, huh?” Spike asked, scribbling away on a paper detailing an order for medical supplies. “Take care of your animals in the morning, lunch, take care of your garden, fix up the ‘homestead’, dinner, then paperwork?” “It’s not as set in stone as that,” Fluttershy said, sipping at the cooled tea she’d made them. “And most of the time I eat a light lunch. A vegetable or two as I look to the cottage. Lunch was mostly for your benefit.” “Oh,” he said, pausing in his scribbling to meet her eyes. “Thank you, then. The cucumber salad was tasty.” She dipped her head, then went back to looking over some letters some of the busier citizens of town had sent to her. Looking over the last one she’d opened, she sighed. “Spike, what are you doing tomorrow morning?” “Huh? Um, nothing that I know of. Why, what’s up?” “Would you mind going into the forest with me tonight?” Spike sat up straight, gazing steadily at her. “… The Everfree? Why are you going in there?” She waved the letter she had been reading. “This is from one of the unicorns in town. He knows I travel into the forest for certain medicinal supplies, so sometimes he pays me to grab some stuff for him.” Spike nodded, following easily enough. “Well, he’s got an urgent experiment, and needs fresh Jasper roots for one of his alchemical experiments.” Frowning, Spike pawed through his mental card catalogue, installed by Twilight’s ceaseless study. After a moment, he spoke up. “What would he need a numbing agent for?” Fluttershy looked at him, shocked. “But… How do you know what Jasper root does, and not know what garden weeds look like?” Spike chuckled, running a claw along his neck. “Twilight only taught me the alchemical herbs. She never talked about the ones ponies eat.” “Oh…” Fluttershy shook her head, smiling as she envisioned her friend lecturing the young Dragon on herbs, and their chemical properties. She returned to the letter, scanning it for information. “The letter says a few of his lab assistants have a horrible stomachache, and he needs it to… ‘Nullify the caustic effects of a previous concoction on the stomach linings of several of my assistants…’.” She skimped back through the letter. “He also asked me to look for any Ginger or Mint, but says he has his own supplies if we can’t find those.” Spike thought about it, looking out the window. He and Twilight had been through the forest a couple of times themselves, after the same sort of thing. Going through the forest with another one of his friends wouldn’t be that big of a deal… “Sure, I’ll go with you. Let me run home and let Twilight know, get some of our gathering equipment. I’m sure she’ll want me to keep an eye out for some thing or another.” Fluttershy shifted in her chair, letting her hair dip in front of her muzzle for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Carefully slipping the lock of hair behind an ear, she raised her eyes to Spike’s. “I… Uhm, I thought you were… avoiding Twilight.” He stared blankly back for a moment, before shaking his head hard enough for his spines to flop against his jaws. “Right, right… I’d honestly forgot…” He scratched at his chin, thoughts distant for a moment, before he shrugged. “I guess she’ll miss out. Do you have some extra gathering stuff I can borrow?” Fluttershy looked over at her cabinet, taking stock mentally. “I’m sure I don’t have anything up to Twilight’s standards, but I’ve got an extra burlap sack or two.” “Oh, alright,” he said, surprised. “I’m used to heavy gloves and plastic bags, but if your unicorn doesn’t mind…” “He’s never complained,” she murmured. “I don’t think he uses any of my herbs in his magical experiments, just medicinal.” Spike snickered a bit. “Yeah, Twi stopped messing with that after she made her coat fall out that one time.” Fluttershy stared over at him, eyes and mouth wide open. “What, she never told you that one?” ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, “Make sure you ask her about it next time you guys meet up,” Spike said as he shifted the small bundle tied to his back. They stood on the beginnings of the path to Zecora’s; a short walk from Fluttershy’s house, it was the one Twilight, and thus Spike, was used to. “I don’t know. I doubt she wants Rainbow or Pinkie to know about it.” “Exactly,” Spike muttered with a grin, looking around the vegetation of the forest. Fluttershy smiled, shaking her head. “No need to be mean to her, Spike,” Fluttershy gently chastised. “She’s only worried.” “Yeah, I know.” He sighed, picking up a rock and looking into the brush. “I’m not really mad at her. More like pettily annoyed?” He shrugged, before tossing the stone at a clump of bushes. A larger critter took flight, running almost quietly through the woods. “Infant Bugbear,” Spike muttered, glaring after it. “Alright ‘Shy, I guess I’m set to go. Ready?” She nodded, taking up the space beside him. They stayed slow, walking companionably, with quiet chatter trailing after them. Spike and Fluttershy both kept their eyes mostly on the forest around them, watching the trees and bushes for rustling or breaking branches. They stayed unmolested as they threaded their way towards what Twilight jokingly referred to as “The Jumping Point”, a smaller trail marked only by the parting of the trees. “Oh, I don’t like that grass. It always makes me super itchy.” Fluttershy frowned at it, as though her gaze alone might be enough to will it away. “Well, you could always just do what Twilight and I do.” Spike looked down at her, an amused smile playing along his snout. “What does Twilight usually do?” With a smile, he lowered himself, so that he was touching the ground with his belly. Shifting the extra bags around, he fashioned a small cushion over one of his lower spikes, creating a sizable gap. With a gentle wiggle of his hips, he twitched his head towards his back. “Hop on.” Fluttershy stared at him, flabbergasted. “Oh, come on. I used to ride on Twilight all the time, and I’ve had a pony-back ride from each of the girls, at one point. Several from you, yourself.” His tail swished across the ground. “I’m big enough to reciprocate, now. And hay, I’ll even bet you’re lighter than Twi, being a pegasus.” “But the grass will still reach you…” Fluttershy mumbled, looking into her hair. “Yeah, but all it does is tickle my scales. Really ‘Shy, it’s okay.” He smiled up at her, as encouragingly as he could. “… Will you let me know if I get too heavy?” “Of course.” She moved over to him, fidgeting for a second before raising her forehooves and setting them gently on his back. She moved her hooves over his hide, testing it, before bending her rear legs and hopping onto the burlap cushion. Spike waited for her to find her balance, before slowly standing up. She shifted to one side, but corrected herself. Placing her hooves carefully on either side of his spine, she nodded to him when he turned his head. “I th-think I’m ready,” she muttered, clamping onto his suddenly too skinny hips with her legs. “Relax, Flutters. If Twi can do it without falling off more than once, you can too.” “Wait, how many times…” She cut herself off with a small ‘eep’ as he started forward, clamping harder for a moment as his legs jostled her from side to side. He was slow, and had learned how to walk like this with Twilight, so he managed to ‘catch’ her when she tilted to one side too far. Still, her legs started trembling as her muscles threatened to cramp, her eyes closed just as tightly. With a sigh, she let go, waiting for the ground to rise up and greet her as she imagined herself falling. After a moment, she opened her eyelids, looking around at the mid-height vegetation she was now on eye-level with. “See?” he said. “Twi always said it made her feel real small, for some reason. I always felt much bigger, myself.” Fluttershy nodded, looking around with new appreciation for the forest. “Can you always see these flowers?” she asked as they passed a particularly dull bush, the sparkling violet flowers turned to the sky. “Yeah, I can now. Twilight said they were called Noctus Liliaceae, but I made fun of her until she just started calling them Night Lilies.” Fluttershy giggled. “They remind me of Twilight and Luna.” Spike stumbled a bit, the tips of his ears coloring red. “I wouldn’t say anything like that to Twi,” he warned. “She’d get mad at me for saying something I haven’t actually said.” “… Oh. But…” Spike shrugged carefully, trying to keep Fluttershy steady on his shoulders. “I trust you,” Spike said. “Anyone else would tease or harass her about it, but I know you won’t say anything.” Fluttershy blushed as Spike stopped, sniffing the air. “We’re close to the creek. Where’s Jasper supposed to grow?” “Riverside, and it blooms in the moonlight.” She looked down at the still tall grass. “I guess I’ll have to fly to do any collecting myself…” “Don’t worry about it,” Spike told her as he set off again, walking out of the tallest of the grass and into the small clearing, densely populated with various herbs. “Twilight just uses her magic, but if you hold the bag I can still pick and pass the stuff. Jasper, Ginger and Mint, right?” “Yes, but really, I can…” “Me too,” he quipped, with a soft smile. He stopped, peering closely at a couple of shoots growing out of the grass. Pulling at them, he slowly unearthed the ‘root’, a large clump of ginger rhizome. “And if they’re all this easy, I’ll be done in no time,” he said, shaking the excess dirt away and walking to the small stream where he washed the rest of it in the clear water. “Here,” he said, handing it over his shoulder. The rest of the time was spent with Fluttershy acting as a lookout, directing Spike to the larger clumps of herbs as she saw them. It would have been a quick task, if not for the Jasper Root. The only reliable way to tell it from the rest of the herbage was the reddish bloom, which only opened in direct moonlight. With the stroke of Midnight, signaled only by instinct, eight blooms unfolded as the moon finally cleared the canopy of the unforgiving forest. “There we go,” Spike muttered, walking over to a dense patch of the flower. “Now we just…” Pulling, he unearthed the round tuber known as Jasper root. Carefully, he washed it in the stream, before wrapping it in several large leaves growing nearby and passing it back. “Urgh, I hate this,” he muttered, clenching and tensing his paws as they slowly numbed. “Stupid numb plant…” “I think this should be enough,” Fluttershy murmured, hefting the quarter empty bag. “Plenty of everything, with the Jasper being that size.” “Alright then, let’s get out of here,” Spike said, whipping his eyes around as several of the night birds called out. “I hate being out here at night…” A soft whooping noise floated towards them, and they froze. “Was that…?” Fluttershy started, only to freeze as Spike lifted his hand, staring hard into the undergrowth. Slowly, Spike spread his wings, inhaling deeply. She felt the muscles underneath her hooves spasm, and then she realized there was a sudden, strong smell of lemons drifting through the air. Arching his neck, Spike spat onto the ground in front of them, before clacking his teeth sharply together. Fluttershy was surprised to see a small spark jump from his incisors, and land in the puddle. With a sharp movement of air, the saliva ignited, sending a dancing light around the small clearing. Fluttershy gasped as something flew over, landing roughly on a tree in front of them. The large creature whooped again, its glassy eyes blinking in the sudden light. Its ears swiveled, the right one coming to bear on them before the left. The bulbous growth trembled as the large, flat mouth opened again, the bulging tongue sampling the air as it vocalized again. The pair stood still, neither daring to breath as the thing gazed stupidly around the clearing. They stared until the creature shot its clawed wings to either side, taking off over the canopy and towards the deeper woods. Still, they waited another few, precious moments before drawing in ragged, harsh breaths. “I’ve never seen a Kreelix that size before,” Fluttershy gasped, shaking as adrenaline coursed through her veins. “I have,” Spike murmured. “Once. It was fighting a Manticore for the beast’s kill. And it was winning.” Shaking his head, Spike stomped out the fire he’d set. “Fluttershy, do you think you can hold onto me and our haul if I run?” She squeaked, before tucking the bag of plants between them and grabbing onto Spike’s ribs as tightly as she could. “Keep your head down,” he muttered in a low whisper. She nodded into his shoulder, tucking her head into the vacancy between her chest and his back. “Ready?” His back legs bent and tensed as she nodded. With a short leap, Spike dove into the grass, running through the foliage as a loud screech filled the air. A crash sounded from the canopy above, and the ground behind them shook. Spike flinched as something swiped through the air, a stinging letting him know that the thing had gotten the tip of his tail, but the adrenaline masked the severity of it. For now. Jumping up, Spike spread his wings enough to get himself a little extra distance, sailing over the grass. The monster screeched, barreling through the growth, its previous wing speed hampered by the trees, forced to scuttle on its large claws and tiny legs. Spike could hear it getting further away, and he almost had time to cheer before one of his wings clipped a low branch. He twirled from the force, landing on his side. Digging into the ground, he pushed away just as the creature plunged its teeth into the ground he’d just been laying on. Pushing out his talons, he grabbed the bark of the tree he was flying towards, spitting a ball of fire towards the beast before he took off. The Kreelix howled, but not in anger or hurt. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw the thing lapping at the fiery oil splattered across the path. “Spike, they eat magic!” Fluttershy squealed from his back. With a huff, he turned his eyes back to the path, sprinting as quickly as he felt safe. The monster behind them screeched again, and they both heard the sundering of branches as it tore itself through the trees. Heavy leather flapping announced its presence over them. Spike grinned when he spotted the main path. His neck prickled, and he slammed his claws into the ground just as the beast threw itself between two massive branches. Jumping, he snagged one of the wings in his claws. The Kreelix screamed as his talons tore through the bat-like wings, and flailed wildly to throw him off. Spike gouged at the thing’s torso with his back legs, before kicking off of it as it lunged towards him with its teeth. He found himself flying through the air, spinning. He flung his wings open, beating at the air as he used the momentum as a take-off. “Which way to town?” he called over his shoulder, straining to turn to his left. “Straight now!” the pony on his back called, pointing at a glittering of lights. Keeping low, Spike tucked his legs to his torso and pumped his wings as Rainbow had taught him, going for speed over technique. Soon, Fluttershy was going faster than she ever had, save the rides Rainbow Dash had given her as a filly. Soon enough, she was topping even that speed. Spike didn’t stop as they broke from the Everfree, straining as he glided for the lights of town. Tilting a wing, he steered toward the tall tree standing near the middle of town. “Hope Twi has the balcony doors open!” Spike called over the rushing air, flaring his wings and letting his body droop in the air, attempting to create the necessary drag to brake. With a clattering of his talons, Spike entered the library, skidding into one of the bookshelves next to Twilight’s bed and toppling it over onto himself. There was a brief silence. With a pop and a bit of purple light, Twilight appeared in the middle of the room, wide-eyed and twitching. “What!?” she sputtered, looking at the bookshelf. “It is entirely too late for this nonsense, Rainbow Dash!” Spike stood, shuffling quickly over to the doors and slamming them, staring up at the sky. “Heya, Twi.” “Spike?” “Oh, hello Twilight.” “Fluttershy!?” Spike let out a breath, sagging to the floor. “I don’t think it followed us out,” he murmured, laughing breathlessly. “It stayed in the forest, we’re good…” The Kreelix smashed against the glass, screeching through the doors at the trio. Twilight screeched back and grabbed a heavy vase with her magic, flinging it straight through the glass and into the thing’s face. It gurgled, clawing at the ponies. Twilight launched another object at it, a large dictionary she kept at her bedside shelf, and it took off, flapping lopsidedly back towards the Everfree. Breathing heavily, Twilight looked over at the duo. Fluttershy still clung to Spike’s back, both of them plastered with leaves, grass, and tree sap; Spike’s tail was bleeding slightly, and a large amount of his scales were scuffed by the rough run through the forest; Fluttershy’s hair was an unruly mess, and her eyes were bloodshot from the tears that joined her snot in moisturizing her face. “You guys are a mess,” Twilight quipped, a few of her hairs shot off into random directions, her own eyes bloodshot from sleepless studying. The three of them looked at each other, Spike bending his neck over his shoulder, then giggled at each other. “I’m going to make us some hot chocolate,” Spike said, bending his legs and letting Fluttershy off. “Want any, Twi?