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Prologue1,521 words
Chapter One2,841 words

Chapter One

Spike's New Plushie

Chapter One

While Spike thought on how to figure out what he wanted to do for the day, Fluttershy returned to her home and got to work on the dragon’s special request. As she entered, Fluttershy confronted Angel regarding her mended friend. Sitting her on the desk and turning to face the young bunny, she explained, “Now Angel, don’t try to hurt or mess around with my tiny friend again, please? She’s very fragile, and can’t take such rough housing.”

The bunny looked at her with a scowl and crossed his arms momentarily before nodding his furry head and flopping his cute ears in compliance. Fluttershy sighed at his understanding, turned to a small sewing machine and opened some drawers to slowly slip some fabrics out, most white in color and some regal purple. Setting them on the side, she then got some stuffing out only to realize she didn’t have enough.

“Oh, drat,” she muttered. “I’ll have to visit Rarity to get more.” Heading for the door, she instructed Angel, “Take care of the house while I’m gone.” Before leaving, she peered her gaze to him as he started creeping towards the miniature doll. She stopped him with, “And no touching her either, okay?”

Angel hastily placed his paws behind his back and frantically shook his head with a guilty smirk. After seeing her walk away, he turned to the plushie with angry eyes only to bow in disappointment, hop off the stand and sleep for a bit on the couch till Fluttershy returned.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy trotted through the town, took in the daily sights and relished at all the delightful citizens that inhabited the general marketing area. Upon reaching her destination, she planned on simply waltzing in as she normally did. After all, she was only there to buy what she needed, not idle conversation. She didn’t need to knock, but upon yanking the door knob, the mare found it to be locked. The blinds on the windows were down, and the sign indicating the shop was closed hung on top. Not a very good place to hang something like that as most ponies didn’t see it at first. When she knocked a few times, nopony answered. “Is she out today?” Fluttershy asked herself. “If she is, where could she be?”

shrugging it off, Fluttershy decided to go home. However, before she turned to do so, a small, low voice from beyond the door stopped the mare in her tracks. She turned back around and asked, “I-is... someone in there?” No answer came, only the usual sounds of chit chat in the distance was heard. She asked again, “H-hello...?”

Then, a rough clicking noise occurred, and the door creaked itself open. Fluttershy cautiously entered, hoping nopony considered her actions to be trespassing. A light shined from above illuminating fragments of dust that wafted by the pegasus as she continued through the darkness. Nothing but the floorboards could be seen. Everything else all around her was pure shadow, the thickest of its kind. “R-Rarity? Are you in here?”

“Yes,” her friend said. “I’m sorry for the lack of light, but I can't allow you to see what I’m doing. The last thing I need is somepony blabbing about it to the wrong individual.”

“W-what are you doing, if it’s alright to ask?”

Rarity walked forward and into the low light. She seemed to be perfectly content and explained, “I’m making something, it must remain a secret. Otherwise, the being I’m basing it off of, so to speak, might get the wrong impression of me... Was there something you needed, darling?”

Fluttershy looked through the haze a bit before bringing herself to request, “Oh, um... Yes, cotton, I need it for-” Remembering Spike might not want Rarity to know he’d like a doll made in her physical form, Fluttershy stopped herself from releasing too much information. “Actually, it doesn’t matter. I just need it for something special.”

Rarity lowered her head and asked, “You need that... Of all things, it’s the one item I’m running out of during this little project of mine. More of a challenge, really...” Huffing at the typicality of Fluttershy’s needs, she magically brought some sailing through the air and reluctantly gave it to her friend. “Just... If there’s any left over, please return it to me. I’m running out, you see.”

Fluttershy nodded with a happy, though slightly scared smile and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll try not to use it all.”

As she turned to leave, she tripped over what felt like rolls of polyester fibers. Looking back while on the floor, she saw them to be a lighter shade than Rarity’s mane, and wondered what she could be using them for. Her friend quickly slid them away while giving an awkward laugh. “Darn things, lying around... Uh, have a nice day, Fluttershy!” The door opened with Rarity's aura, and the pegasus felt herself be lifted up and was sent through the entryway.

Once set down, Fluttershy looked back to see the door slam shut and heard it lock hastily. “Well that was weird,” she muttered while getting to her hooves. “I’m not sure, but I think I can guess at what Rarity’s doing... but it couldn’t be... If it is, this must be a dozy of a coincidence. Me and her making... at the same time...?” Placing her hoof over her muzzle, Fluttershy pondered on it a bit more. Lingering questions lofted through her head, but the answers would be revealed at a later date. For then, she needed to return home when she realized, “Oh, I didn’t pay Rarity for the supplies... Oh well, I’ll get it to her after I’ve finished with Spike's request.”

While she made her way to the little hut, Rarity watched from the window with the blinds lowered marginally in order to keep herself hidden to a certain degree. The second Fluttershy left her sights, she continued with her work within the darkness. With her magic, she lifted a small, diamond shaped jewel up and whispered to herself, “That was too close... Any light at all will ruin these frail shards, and then all the work I’ve done will be for nothing. Pure Iridescence Crystals, when hidden in the dark permanently become the absolute and divinely perfect shade of green, just the color I want...”

She hoisted the rolls of fabrics Fluttershy tripped over and looked them over. “I wish finding the corrective hue was easier. All of these are either too bright or too silhouette...” Tossing them aside and placing her crystal back in its pile gently, Rarity lowered her frame to rest a bit. “This is turning out to be more obsessive than I thought, but I must get it right. It will be perfect... He will be perfect.”

While Rarity resumed her diligent work, Fluttershy came home to find Angel on the couch, and her plushie undamaged. Once the bunny awoke to see Fluttershy simper, he yawned and hopped to the sewing desk ready to assist his friend just as he did with the first doll she made. “Oh, Angel. Thank you, but really, if you’re still feeling tired, you don’t have to help if you don’t really want to.”

Angel shook his head indicating he was well rested and ready to help, so Fluttershy accepted. Angel did normal things like handing her soft materials and pulling on the edges while she carefully lined the parts that needed to be cut and edited. The mane was the hardest; getting it to keep that swirling state was almost impossible. Sweat formed on her head during the craft work, and Fluttershy started panting at the rigorous tussle. After a good deal of time and effort had passed, she gave in and placed one of the needles down while Angel swabbed her forehead with a cloth.

“I think I’ve got the mane down now... I’ll continue and finish this up tomorrow, okay Angel Bunny?” The helper nodded his head while the exhausted pony warily went to bed. Just before leaving the scene entirely, she stopped Angel from attempting to play with her plushie once more by saying, “Stay away from her.” He lowered his head and gave a high pitched sighed, then returned to the couch to watch Fluttershy retreat to her room for the night.

Back at the tree house, Spike sat at Twilight’s research desk reading up on Daring Do when Twilight transported herself from Canterlot right behind him. As she did, Spike heard her give a stressed grunt. “At least I won’t have to worry about tomorrow.”

He leaned over his chair and asked, “Oh good, you told her to give you a break then?”

“Well, I asked her if it would be alright, and at first I thought she’d tell me no... but amazingly, the princess just said she’d cool off with the constant alerts for a while.”

“How long’s a while?”

Twilight placed the summit of her hoof on her lower lip, curious about that as well and claimed, “I don’t really know...” She stepped up the stairs and Spike followed, still holding the book under his arm. “Anyways, I had to help her with the botanical garden, which wasn’t fun at all.” After they got in, Twilight laid down on her bed and briefly spread her wings for comfort. “I was required to create a melody that soothed the entire wildlife habitat before it grew out of control and took over the city.”

The dragon laid down with wide eyes, eager to hear more and begged, “Keep going, this is getting good!”

“Alright, alright. The music was comprised of enchanted lutes and flutes performing an old song I heard my uncle play when I was much younger. It always put me to sleep. Almost instantly, once I began playing with my magic, the plants stopped their havoc and rested on the floor, just before breaking through the roof, too. I thought I’d run out of time, but luckily, no real damage was inflicted on the structure.”

“What made them go berserk?” Spike questioned.

“Oh, Princess Celestia got a letter, along with a package with some sort of chemical inside. It was initially designed to help the trees grow, but it was more potent than what she expected. One drop was all it took to make every biennial being go bonkers! That’s where I came in. Celestia saw it as a good opportunity to test me on my magic, so she called me in for the job.”

Spike blinked a few times before stating, “That’s just mean...”

“She’s done worse, you know." Twilight looked at herself in the mirror across the room, then said, "Sometimes, I feel like I’m just her play thing, somepony she can toy with for a good laugh here and there. Then, other times, I truly think of myself as one of her closest friends, really dear to her heart...” For a minute or so, the two then sat in silence. Spike laid on his back gazing at the swirling lines of wood above while Twilight gave several exhausted yawns. After enough time had passed, Twilight turned to her associate and asked, “You feeling tired? Wanna call it a day?”

Spike looked at the Daring Do book on his belly, got up and placed it on a nearby table before answering, “Sure... You know, I’ve been lonely with you being gone all week...”

The alicorn gave a flattered grin and offered, “Well, how about tomorrow, you and I go out for lunch or something?”

He nodded and said, with a tired voice, “Sounds good.” Spike climbed back into his bed and quickly fell asleep. As for Twilight, she stayed up a bit more to write down some final log entries. After that, she went to bed as well.

During the evening, Spike and Twilight slept well, but Spike was awakened to an embarrassing incident. He stirred awake to the sounds of knocking and the door opening. As his head lifted and looked around the room, his gaze fell upon Twilight’s bed only for him to realize she wasn’t in it, which meant one thing in his mind. He jumped up with shock and said, “Oh no!”

Jogging down the stairs, he wished he hadn’t forgotten about his and Fluttershy’s arrangement. Though Twilight would understand, of course, he still preferred it be kept a personal secret. Looking around the corner, the dragon saw Twilight and Fluttershy in the lobby sitting at the round table talking, but the plushie didn't appear to be with them. “Maybe she left it at home,” Spike wondered. As he entered, the dragon found out that hypothesis was invalid. His doll was merely sitting behind Twilight’s body, out of his sight. Twilight turned her head around with a teasing stare and began, “Morning, sleepy head.” The toy was lifted up into the air and dangled there while Fluttershy chuckled lightly at the act. “Is this yours?”

Spike blushed wildly and looked from the pegasus to Twilight and lied, “N-no... Why would you think that?”

Putting it down, Twilight explained, “Spike, Fluttershy told me all about this. It’s alright if you want your very own Rarity plushie. Heck, I might want one made of myself; we were just talking about that.”

She floated it over to Spike with a smile, and Fluttershy said, “Sorry Spike, but I didn’t expect Twilight to answer. I won’t tell anypony else about her, I swear.”

The dragon nodded and said, “It’s just something to look at whenever I feel lonely or miss her, you know?”

He looked down at Rarity’s identical doll and became astounded at how well Fluttershy had made her. The mane remained expertly prepared, and the colors matcher her’s without hardly any flaw. It was remarkable to Spike, and the blue button eyes looked so cute, he almost felt himself give a slight squeal of excitement. Before he could thank her yet again, the dragon glanced back up at Fluttershy just to hear her say, “You’re welcome." He shut his quaking lips and nodded respectably with a happy grin. As he returned to the room, looking over the Rarity doll once more, he couldn’t help but to hug it and give her a light peck on the head.

Placing her on the stand, he thought about venturing back down to the lobby and talking with Twilight and their guest for a few minutes, but before he did so, he turned back around to face his plushie. She simply looked at him coyly, with those adorable, buttoned eyes. Spike slowly approached it again and gave it one last kiss, then said, “I just couldn’t resist.” After petting her mane kindly with a content smirk spread across his cheeks, he left it in peace.

As for Rarity, back at the Carousel Boutique, she was finishing up what she was doing, but the mare needed one last thing before her project was officially complete. She decided to visit Twilight’s house to retrieve it. After she knocked and was shown in, the unicorn explained, “I just need to see Spikey for a bit. Is he around?” At that time, Spike was returning to the lobby, and became a bit stunned to see Rarity so suddenly and out of the blue. “Ah! There you are. I need you to do something for me, really quickly.”

Spike looked around and said, “Uh, s-sure Rarity... What is it?”

He watched as her enchantment brought forth a camera along with orbs of brightly shimmering light, two to be exact that floated right above their heads while giving quite a bit of distance from each other. She instructed the dragon to stand perfectly still. “Just like that...” Upon the flash being taken, and a photo of Spike being developed, Rarity held it up and asked, “You’re alright with at least three more, each of your sides and a back shot, correct?”

Spike merely nodded while Twilight looked at Fluttershy with bewilderment. Her friend simply shrugged letting the alicorn know she hardly had a clue of what this was for. After Rarity finished up with her work, she thanked Spike for his help, bid Fluttershy and Twilight goodbye, and left without much more to be said. The three agreed this was most odd and completely random, and without an explanation, all three would eventually lead themselves into a veiled investigation. Only Fluttershy had an actual idea on why Rarity would need full body pictures of Spike, but without any actual and hard evidence to hold anything together, she decided not to offer her theory.

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