//------------------------------// // A week of change // Story: Leave of absence // by Stormhoof //------------------------------// Spike woke up to the sound of his rumbling stomach, he knew he had to get some food,and fast. Thinking back to what Rarity told him about locating gems he reviewed the techniques he should use in his head *Flashback* "Now spike you must remember,The ground will likely be dense,and if you knock on it hard enough" Rarity said tapping a spot on the ground with her hoof, causing a gentle and hollow 'thunk' sound "It should be hollow, and the dirt on top of the denser earth will be very fine, just try to remember that as well" Spike thought a moment" Ok, dense earth,hollow noise, and fine dust...but...Remind me again why you are teaching me this?" He said looking up at her "Why Spike it is the least I can do, this way even though you can't have your fire ruby you can at least know how to get some gems if other food is scarce." She said looking about the dusty ridge they had climbed to. Clearing her throat she began to speak in a more serious, slightly concerned tone "That point aside, you worried Twilight,Rainbow, and I when you went on that migration. This way you can acquire gems in a survival situation so...Please remember it Spike... None of us know what we would do without you." *End Flashback* Spike smiled, Rarity was right,and now it was time to put it to the test. Leaving his cave he pulled a blanket of moss over the entrance, hoping it would deter any intruders. He walked up a slope to a dirt strewn area and looked around,seeing that much of it had very loose dirt on the top, he had obviously hit the jackpot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight walked into the spa with a weak smile on her face, hoping to herself that none could tell she had been crying that morning or the night before. Fluttershy was talking with Pinkie Pie as they both took a mudbath, and Rarity was getting herself a hooficure by lotus. Waving her hoof she said "Hey girls,how's it going?" doing her best not to sound upset. Rarity was the first to respond "Oh darling we are doing wonderful, Aloe and Lotus have had a slow day so we are getting the royal treatment!" she said Continuing "Please dear come join me, we have a long day of pampering ahead of us and YOU are running behind". Walking over she took the seat opposite to Rarity saying "Yeah, Don't wanna fall behind I guess" Laughing nervously. After about an hour both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had rinsed off and joined them. As much as she tried Twilight could not bring herself to relax, Having had almost no sleep and still flooding her mind with ways to make Spike want to come back she simply sighed. "Girls...Maybe I shouldn't have come today...I don't think relaxing will be very possible given everything that has happened lately" Twilight said closing her eyes. Both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy remained quiet, Rarity however spoke up in an uncharacteristically blunt manner "Darling...either you stay and enjoy the spa, or we all leave with you, Simply put, None of us are idiots and we see how much the extra work at the library is taking a toll on you. I invited you here to relax and you will do just that." she finished turning to Lotus with a smile, "Lotus, could you perhaps see if you have any of that Vanilla-lavendar massage oil back in stock? I believe I will pass on the usual Orchid-clove today" She smiled warmly as Lotus quickly ran out to check, turning back to Twilight. "And crying too much before going to sleep is terribly bad for you, you MUST stop that as well" This time retaining her usual posh tone. Her words set Twilight aback quite a bit as she began to reply. "What!? how did you know!? I...I mean...How would you know if I did?" She stumbled over her words and was met with Raritys warm smile. "Twilight, your eyes are as red as the fireruby Spike gave me, Might I suggest crying in the shower? It makes it so much harder to detect darling" Rarity said calmly, offering another smile. Twilight shrank back a little, and sighed saying "Well...I know I was harsh on Spike and with how busy the library is getting I am getting terribly stressed. I don't think I can run the library much longer if this keeps up...I need help" She finished lowering her head avoiding their gazes. Fluttershy quietly spoke as she looked upon the purple unicorn, her ever-present warm smile upon her "Well, If you want, I could help in the later half of the day...My animals are generally fine as long as I feed them in the morning...So...I could come by to help...If you want that is..." Said the Yellow pegasi, hoping to be of some comfort. "Oh Oh Oh!! And I can help in the mornings! The Cakes found a second babysitter so I will be free allll morning and I could help with just about anything,and-I-do-mean-anything-I-mean-I-can-dust-clean-organise-and-do-all-the-stuff-Spike-did-and-you-would-be-able-to-go-about-yournormalpacewithoutbeingstressed!!!" Pinkie Pie said quickly,so quickly Twilight barely caught any of it,but she managed to pick out the important bits by herself. For the first time since receiving Spikes reply, Twilight managed to smile, she looked at her friends around her,giving each of them a nod, just as Lotus returned from the back room. "Mees Rarity I 'Ave found ze Massage oil you wanted, ve 'ave plenty in stock" Lotus said, Smiling at the four mares before her. Rarity simply gave a nod, and without a moments hesitation Lotus continued the hooficure she had interrupted to go search the back stock. Thankfully for Twilight, she managed to push the thoughts of her missing assistant to the back of her mind long enough to enjoy the rest of the day at the spa. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spike panted heavily, He had been hard at work digging up and hauling gems, filling a small corner of his cave he grabbed a random emerald to snack on. His claws were caked in dirt and were sore. Sitting down on the stone he had been using as a bed he tried to relax, he had enough gems to last him a few days. He looked over to what was left of the parchment twilight sparkle had sent him, curiously eying it. Shaking his head he turned to a bare corner in his cave, He had to keep himself occupied. Standing up he left the cave, setting his mind to a new task. He cave would be no good to him if some angry creature stumbled upon it, So he set about finding branches to weave together to make a door. Of course an obvious door would be a terrible Idea, so he covered the mouth of his cave with a thick blanket of moss. His door was primitive at best, but it gave him something to do that would keep his mind off Ponyville. After finally attaching the door he looked up at the sky to see the sun was about to set. Time had rushed by quickly and his idle tasks of the day had left him exhausted. he found another large rock and tore the moss from its surface, rolling it up for a makeshift pillow. Before he could even think for a moment about the days events, he fell asleep. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rest of the week had flown by, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie would help Twilight when They had the time. But each day had gotten harder. Twilight had been sending her friendship reports with Owlicious since spike had been unavailable. By the end of each day the library would be a mess, and she would spend hours picking books up and putting them in their proper place, almost collapsing by the time she would get to bed. Meanwhile, across the Everfree Forest, Spike was still making additions to his cave, eating piles of gems at a time. He had to go gem hunting 3 times throughout the week, as his appetite had grown immensely. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Later in the morning Spike woke up, he felt stiff, and tired. He looked down and could have sworn he was a bit taller. His scales were shedding as well and he was hungry. Reaching over to grab a gem he was shocked when on his first grab he had scratched a small groove into the surface. Grinning to himself he helped himself to the gems, Perhaps an all-gem diet would prove to be a healthy change from grass,flowers and donuts. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Authors note:Terribly sorry for the long wait. this chapter is a little rough But hopefully I will have time to edit later on... Enjoy. I have been dreadfully busy and have not had time to put much work into this, I wanted to make the chapter longer but hopefully this will do.