ACT II: VI – A Party of Themes
Spike’s Temporary Stay
Act II
"Loyalty to Mediocrity"
~VI~
A PARTY OF THEMES
“Cheers to the farm!” Applejack held up her mug.
“Cheers to the farm.” Spike bumped his mug into her – precious liquids spilling over the rim and onto the brown grass below – before gulping down its contents.
The breeze was faint against their fur and scales, with a few clouds blocking the sky to the eyes of the ones down below. Off in orange glow of the horizon a certain red-coated pony had his hind legs smashing into a tree.
“Funny how things turn out.”
“How do you mean, D?”
Spike groaned at Applejack taking his ridiculous alias seriously. “I came here with an imaginary weight in my head and a will to despise you all. Now here I am, having a pleasant drink with a pony who is a friend, while on a job that I enjoy.”
Applejack have a haughty chuckle. “What can I say? I’ve got a knack for making anypony or dragon into friends.”
“I thought that was suppose to be Pinkie’s trait.”
“We like to share.”
The winds kept flowing passed the lands and ruffling the leaves on their approach. Grass gave the smallest of all hustles, and the breathes the came from the pony and dragon no longer weighed down the current like they used to.
“Mind if I go a little deep here, Applejack?”
“You know I’m always all ears.”
“It’s kinda weird to have lost my depression over that one night we spent talking.”
“How… how do you mean?”
“I’ve always had it plaguing my mind since I was little. Mind you, it was good to have in the wild, as I needed to type of thoughts to keep me on guard to the ponies and other creatures around me. It gave me the desire to learn and read a lot, for I felt I needed to find an answer to my life.
“I thought traveling would help me find the answer that plagued me from within, but I only ended up descending into that made-up world in my head. Thus, I was worried about what ponies thought about me, what they might say about me, that I kept my distance and my worries.
“But after that talk… it's all gone. I don’t worry so much anymore, and I enjoy the sight of the farm every morning. But that tainted glow that added a little something to everything – that made me so curious about everything – is kinda gone.
“I don’t worry anymore. But I also don’t desire much anymore.” Spike turned to see if Applejack understand the words that rambled out from him. “I just kinda am now, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
She kept quiet as the winds continued to blow. Then, a sigh. “Ya sure are an emotional one.”
“Please don’t say that.”
“And you like to look to deeply into stuff.” She took off her stetson and looked into his eyes. “Look, there’s a change going on in you that I can feel. I say ride it out and see what happens – maybe you’re just at peace with yourself, and who knows how long that will last.
“Besides. Maybe those desires will come back to you, just wait a little while and see.”
The two leaned back onto the wooden fence and basked in the presence of one-another’s company. Even in silence peace could achieve in just knowing someone stands close, and that their in no rush leave. Any words; any actions could be said or done, and they’d still be close and they’d still be honest.
“Yeah…” Spike chuckled. “You’re probably right.”
Spike and Applejack spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the orange glow of the distant sun, speaking few words on just about anything.
Luna’s orb began it's descent in the twilit sky to the horizon, just as it's larger sister orb rose to take the sky once more and paint all that loomed below in its orange glow. The very same glow that attacked the closed eyelids of Spike the Dragon.
Though an orange glow wasn’t the only thing that greeted him when he rose from his bed and opened his door for the usual morning stretches: Applejack had walked up the little ramp and was standing on his porch.
“Mornin—” He yawned a yawn that pierced the heavens “–sorry about that. Morning, Applejack.”
“And a morning to you too,” she said with the nod of the head, which then went to dig through her tail; a letter being produced. Many speculate that the hairs wrap around items such as bits and letters, but a definite answer as to how ponies hold items in such places is unknown.
A letter was placed into an awaiting claw. “What’s this all about?”
“I’m here to crack a deal with you,” Applejack started. “You can spend the day working on the farm like usual, or”— she wiggled her brows with a smirk –“you can deliver this letter for me and I’ll still cover your wages.”
Spike inched his head back. “So this is your way of getting me out of my shell.”
She nodded.
“Alright, I’ll bite. Who’s the letter for?”
“The baker of Sugarcube Corner.”
“... you chose the hardest one for me to deal with?”
“Quit yer worrying – just a simple talk between you two and everything should clear up. Besides, if I were you, I’d want my name to flow around decently by the town folks, so that I wouldn’t get hassled when I try visiting other places.”
Applejack had a way of conveying others that the others lacked. It’s never a question of someone’s ideals, morals, or past deeds that she gets others to do as she liked. No. She used what was in your best interest: the thing capable of convincing almost everyone.
“You got me,” Spike sighed out. “I’ll go get it down and over with.” He went to take a step, though an outstretched hoof barred his path.
“I don’t want it delivered just yet.” Her eye shone from under her hat. “Say, at around sun-down?”
“... what do you have planned?”
Applejack began to walk away from the building with a smirk accompanying her features. Of course, once she and the drake got close, she would start pulling these kind of games. “Oh nothing, just make sure you show up on time.”
Spike rolled his eyes and went back to his home, flopping down onto his bed. Waking up early to get ready and go somewhere, then realize that you don’t have to is one of the best feelings out there. A day is free for the taking, and anything may be imprinted upon it.
It could be spent doing serious work like arranging a platoon.
Or spent lazed about on a bed with a book in claw. Spike opened Romantic Suffering to the first page and began to delve into a new world.
The sun settled for a graceful descent to the mountainous horizons at the edge of Ponyville; its inhabitants checking off the ends of their checklist before retreating to the coziness that was their homes.
Though a certain dragon was ambling through the town and mingling with the rest of denizens who were still outside. Lazed about on park benches or chatting with one-another on street corners.
Eyes would wander to the spiky tail that hovered just above the ground, lips moving close to ears and whispers being made. Though no frowns were to be found nor did any eyes suggest a kind of fate.
Only curiosity of the dragon with green scales. Such a creature was a rare sight to see, the only other being a smaller dragon with purple scales. If only they knew the twist, that both the beings were the same.
An orange glow captured Sugarcube corner and shone its presence onto the dragon, who held a claw before his eyes. A piece of paper hung on the door, reading the words ‘closed for occasion.’
Spike examined the letter in his claw, while the other rapped against the door. “Hello? It’s uh, that one dragon that stopped by before. You know, the one that was kinda a prick?” He knew well how to get himself re-invited to places.
Something hard fell to the floor on the other side of the door. “Hello? Anyone there? I’m coming in, please don’t shoot.”
Pulling back the door and stepping into the bakery, the door whipped close behind him, a mist of darkness covering the area despite their being windows in the establishment. Hushes and whispers mingled in with the black.
Oh… Applejack. You didn’t—
Light flickered on and confetti exploded into the air, covering the manes of the ponies sprouting out from wooden barrels. “Suprise!”
A banner unrolled from the ceiling and sprange along the side with a blue aura holding its right corners, the words upon it reading ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Dragon with No Name!!’. The ends of it flew onto pair of hooks prodding from the ceiling.
The dragon’s mouth hung open, his empty eyes blinking. Had this occurred a week ago, steam would’ve arose out from his nostrils and his tail would’ve been out the door in a hurry. But now, he couldn’t help but smile, release a small laugh to unleash the tension from within, and go enjoy himself.
“A party for me?” he asked, coming before the six who were stepping out from their barrels. “Don’t you six have better things to do? Go save the world or somthin.”
They laughed both at the joke, and if some worries of there’s was just simply a worry. “We’ve been doing enough of that lately,” Rainbow said, “it's time for us to have a little jam. And what better a way than to have one for the newest drake in town?”
“And besides,” Pinkie emerged from the dragon's side, causing him to believe for a moment, that he had grown a pink tumor. “Everyone get’s a party”– she slid up his length until her lips met his ears –“And I mean… everyone.” That last part came out longer than it should've.
She backflipped off his back.
“And why is that?” Spike asked.
“Because everyone deserves at least one party in their life.”
The view of the pink pony walking to the table filled with sweets and punched filled Spike’s vision, the floor being the next thing to do so. “Huh.”
“So now everyone,” Pinkie began, carrying two cups of punch, “let's… have… A…. PARTY!”
Cheers roamed out from the mouths ponies occupying the room whom dispersed to achieve in the very same mouth, the treats and drinks of their own desires. The place felt bigger than what it looked, especially when cleared of most tables.
There weren’t too many ponies about, maneilly the six Spike had known a little too well, and a few background ponies that have been catching the eye of Spike. Still, there was enough space that the air wasn’t hard to breath, nor to overclock the brain with thoughts of appearances that don’t really matter.
Spike was helping himself to the cake resting upon the pink covered table, when he turned around, he was greeted with a face that was as white as snow, and stirred a content from his heart as faint as a cloud.
“Why hello!” Rarity said as her hooves came to a stop before him. “I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know you, and I’d figured it be fit to do it now, seeing as how you are the guest of honor.”
That’s a mouthful.
“Pleasure’s all mine, Ms…?”
“Rarity.”
Spike bent down onto a knee, so that the two were on the same eye-level. “Unfortunately, I do not posses a name that I could share with you, though I doubt any name I could come up with would be as elegant as yours. So please, call me whatever you feel would be fitting.”
There’s no way in Tartarus that I would ever normally ever talk like this. A thought then came to the drake faking his own way of articulation. Wait, Rarity never talks so sophisticated with her regular friends, but because I introduce myself bs-ing every word, does that mean she’ll expect me to do that always?
Don’t know about that, Spike. Mares changed over the years, the prime case being the slipping mental state of Applejack. So maybe Rarity is just doing this as a formal greeting to prove herself.
The said mare had her brows raised in either suspicion or in wonder. “My my. I’ve met a few dragons in my lifetime, and only one the kinder, but none who could word himself so properly. But, for the sake of others, let’s just talk normally.”
Spike cracked a smile. “Gladly.”
Rarity turned her body around and kept her eyes fixated on the ceiling fan. “Now, what nickname could I bestow upon you?”
The lips of Spike separated so much as to show a few teeth.
She whipped back around. “Only kidding! Now, how does the name… nickname… sss… hmm.”
The dragon green in color with purple spines prodding along his back brought his lips back together and so subtle narrowed his eyes. Never before had the word S striated such small walls of fire inside the dragon, for if they are followed by pike, the drake himself may blow a load.
And not in the good way.
“How about Stich?!”
Stich. Stich? Wasn’t there an alien by that name that almost died once? The name itself wasn’t terrible, nor were the ponies around this town with coming up a good names for a dragon. The prime example being Spike.
“That sounds like it’ll stick, so you may call me that, Miss Rarity,” Spike rose from the floor and made the necessary steps to reach the dance floor.
“Oh wait, Mr. Stich!”
The drake cocked an eye back, turning his head so that half of his face could be seen by her. “Yes?”
Rarity was fidgeting with her hooves and found trouble apparently in looking up at the dragon, like his gaze could see every stream of her subconscious. “It's not often that a dragon appears in town and is friendly to boot. I hear you’ve been helping out of the farm with Applejack, and you don’t wish any harm to ponies in this town.”
The only thing preventing Spike for questioning her morals on dragons was that she sounded sincere in her words, so much, that her thoughts just came jumbled out. A dragon being friendly by itself is a unique case to pony kind, but to suffer the prejudice daily was becoming a nit on the bottom to the drake.
What was worse?
Ponies being in wonder that a strange dragon is actually settling in with pony kind?
Or.
That this dragon talks and acts like that one baby dragon that had lived here long ago?
Spike rathered to not choose at all.
“And, in light of that information, I was if I could propose an offer to you.”
That got Spike to turn around. “Oh?”
“You see, not many creatures are bipedal around here – we ponies can stand on two hooves for only so long. But you! You, I can see, can bring a new change to the whole fashion game.”
“Fashion?” The dragon looked down at his average looking self. “You sure you got the right dragon in mind?”
“I only know two, though I do wish I knew where the other was.” She shook the thought out from her head. “But yes. If you wouldn’t be opposed to do so, I would love to have you down by the boutique sometime to make a set of clothes and jackets for you.”
A dragon walking out of a forest all cut and bloodied up.
Another walks out wearing a full article of clothes on his being.
Which is most strange out of the two?
“Well, that certainly sounds dandy, Rarity.” Spike scratched at his neck and averted his gaze. “But my hoard isn’t the biggest one around, so I have to start converting what bits I have; I’m sure you understand.”
Even if it was just for a second, Rarity’s face took on a weight of menochony on hearing about a dragon as kind as Stich unable to achieve the finer things in life. Of course the feature faded away a second later, but her chest seemed to weigh her down for the rest of the evening.
“So… Um…” Rarity clutched her eyes shut and inhaled deeply before reopening them. “I hope this come off as rather brash, but… would you say it's become a habit for you not to get what you desire?”
“Er…” His pupils dilated. “I guess. Though I’m content with what I have now, for its more than a dragon like me is worth, but like every other dragon we have our desires.” Spike placed his cup back onto the table with his claw shooting to grab another, though it halted halfway. “But I don’t let that stuff plague my mind anymore… seems like a waste of time to me now.”
The claw took the same cup from before and replenished the emptiness with a sweet purple liquid that raised just to the rim, which in turn, raised to a pair of scaly lips. A satisfied sigh coming afterwards.
Green horizontal iris traced the snow-white hoof to same stack of cups resting on the table. Lapis caught sight of the hoof stretching to its own accord and promptly asked for the one hoof the smack the other off the table, with the mouth asked to giggled the nervous tension that had built in sight of the green iris away.
“You’ll have to excuse me tonight, Stitches,” hooves returned to the floor with the one giving the slightest of trembles, “I had the flu not too long ago and I’m afraid I’m still recovering in body and in mind.”
The shakey hoof dashed underneath the clothed table.
“R-Right.”
Party Goers walked from table to table indulging in the sweet tooth that always came out of the gums once Pinkie had announced a party was to be had. Hooves smacking down in the corner to the constant change of colors showed how ponies didn’t worry about appearances when fun was to be had.
Even the ponies outside had drinks tucked in between their hooves as their eyes reflected the glow of the lowering sun. A soft smile tugging at their lips as they sat, and words that traveled to the ears that made the new bearers glad that it was heard.
Back at the middle of the room was the dragon and marshmallow pony leaning against the clothed table. One had a smile that was constantly wavering, and another with a blue eye that couldn’t stop eyeing the sweetness that wasn’t cupcake.
But the one resting on the very top of the stand was a no no to be eaten, for a blue feather had somehow fallen upon the cream.
“Would you like to know something, Stich?”
Do I even have a choice?
“... sure.”
“I don’t like taking medicine anymore once I found out how it's given out depending on class.”
“And what do you mean by that?”
“Ponies that are of too low of status, meaning that their income isn’t to an average, are unable to afford medicine for themselves or their foals. Even average pony folk at risk! For they may not get the stronger medication they need because the pony next in line just so happens to hail from Canterlot.
“And so, I simply cannot accept that, so that’s why I’ve stop taking medicine in order to spite that system.”
It’s always good to have a drink whenever talking to someone: it gives the claws something to do, the body to be hydrated – but most importantly, it allows the drinker a few seconds to think on anything before being asked to answer.
What the heck happened to Rarity while I was away? I’ve been there to witness her many boycotts when I used to help her around the boutique, but never anything to this level.
The cup was drained past the lips that proceeded to exhale. Is this even the same Rarity? Before I ran away, she had no problem splitting those lips to preach what was right and wrong for me to have – like she knew better on what I was allowed to have.
Then there was that day, when she discovered my developing hoard...
“I think that’s a terrific idea, Rarity.” He winked and waved a thumbs up. “Definitely an idea worth dying for.”
“Why do I get the impression that you’re trying to make a joke out of all this?”
“Sorry.” He lowered his head so that his eyes could meet hers. “It's just that machine and a talented pony like doctor is the reason why I even made it alive out of the farm, so you’ll have forgive me not joining in your hatred of them.”
She sighed, then proceeded to shake her head. “That’s fine. No, I get it.”
The surface of the table began to vibrated with the legs beginning to inch around. It was getting to the point that the floor was being scratched. Something's wrong with Rarity, and it isn’t just mentally. I wanna ask her about the hoof, but, I can’t get my own claw to stop shaking when I go to ask.
“I’m sorry for going off on you like that, Darling.” That caught the dragon’s ears and pulled the eyes back over. “Hearing about a dragon like yourself forced to live the style in which you do now, I cannot help but feel sorrow prick my heart at the thought of a kind dragon suffering the way you do.”
“But I wouldn’t really call what I’m going through stuff—”
“I get that’s the way you feel, dear. But it still affects me in a bad manner, so much, that I feel I need to help you in some way. So please, forget about the bits and come visit my boutique sometime and we’ll come up with a great sense of clothes for you.”
The dragon’s shoulder slumped slightly. “We’ve only just met, Rarity. Not only is what you’re saying beyond the normal bounds of logic, but it isn’t just right for me to take things from you.”
“But it's not a problem!”
If Rarity changed the subject to something involving a bed, would Spike still think it a problem?
“That’s… that’s enough, Rarity.” Spike began to breath the tension out through his mouth, with small shivering racking about his body. “I simply can’t do-do something like that.”
Reject. Rejection. Take. Take it all. Love? Love? Take it all. Take it all.
No. No. no.
“But please!” Rarity threw up her hooves which both began to shiver in the open air, gaining a few eye to look from all around the room. “This favour is more so for myself than it is for you, so please, accept it.”
Is she trying to be generous or a cu… er, I can’t say that.
Claws shaking as much as the hooves clutched both of them and lowered them to the floor with their noses coming to meet. “Look, Rarity. I’ll figure out some way we can work this out – maybe I’ll work for you for a week or something like that.” He stood back up to his full height. “But please, let’s discuss this some other time, okay?”
The mare closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. “Okay, Darling. But I expect for you to keep your word.”
The drake too closed his own. “Yes. I’ll come around soon.”
Her eyes reopened. “Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to use the little mares room.”
She trotted off the the doors in the distant background where ponies were gathered up, acting as a good camouflage for the drake to dipski out from the tables and sprint out the open door displaying the darkening sky.
Spike leapt past the steps and rolled in-between two ponies amidst conversation, who both looked down to their invader of privacy. “Even, ladies. Hope I wasn’t… Rainbow Dash?”
The cyan mare gave a good look over before cracking a smile and extending a hoof.
“You look to be having fun.” The claw wrapped around the hoof and the body it was attached to rose up. “Leaving already?”
“I think Aj would give me trouble if I left before all the other guests.”
“It is bad manners for the guest of honor to leave without thanking the host.”
“So Applejack told you about the letter.”
“How else were we supposed to trick you into coming?”
“... you were on this too, weren’t you?”
“We all were.” Dash looked over to the butterscotch mare standing in the dragon’s shadow. “Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”
“I-I might of had a hoof in it, but I sure didn’t do it to offend y-you.”
Spike turned around to the pegasus standing behind him, mouth kept agape and eyes filled with a scared curiosity. “It's no…”
Fluttershy sat on the floor with her face hiding behind the strands of her pink mane, while her body had a slight shiver despite there being not a breeze. Yet it appeared the space within his shadow was chilling enough.
Spike rose his claw before his eyes so that they could bear witness to their trembling state, talons refusing to keep still and the breath that refused to keep constant. With a sigh to expel the nervous tension, Spike bent his knees.
“I’m not offended,” he tried carefully with his voice, “just surprised. So that means you did a good job.”
His shivering claw went forth to before her body, where her lone eye came across it, a brow rising slowly at the talon’s twitches.
A hoof of yellow stretched out from its safety to claim the surface of the claw, the thousand strands of fur brushing against the scales; releasing the blockage the clogged the dragon’s chest.
“Please take a deep breath.”
The walls of Fluttershy’s cottage came in fours and boxed the duo in. A set of stairs shot up and towards the unreachable roof that was gigantic in size, with Fluttershy now resting atop the stairs.
Spike stepped forth onto the step, reaching out a claw to that pinnacle of help resting just above. Step after step, help seemed so close. Step after step, maybe she would come down to save him.
Step after step, Spike began to fall.
“A deep breath, can you take one for me?”
As Spike lay on the floor with rays of light blinding his eyes and shadowing the mare, he still reached out to that distant hope, even if it would only lead him to despair. Still, air collected within his lun and was kept there, as the beatings of the heart becoming something to felt, and those stresses and fears to disappear.
The exhaled air took away with the things festering in Spike’s core, though it would only be so long until they developed once more. But for the time being, that beautiful smile spreading across that furry face was Spike’s current sight.
“Do you feel better now?” Fluttershy asked as she came out from her mane.
“M-Much.” Spike rose up with his head faced down. “T-Thank you.”
Spike felt the pair of wings fluttering from behind his back. “Wow, Fluttershy! I didn’t expect you to adjust so quickly to having a dragon back in Ponyville.” Dash came closer to the mare. “Were you practicing on that plushie like I said?”
Pink strands of hair gliding through the air as the head they were attached to shook.
“Then what gives?” Dash landed on the ground. “The last dragon we had to deal with close to the badlands had us pulling your head out from the sand. I know this one isn’t much bigger, but he’s certainly more bigger than Spike!”
Hoofs shot up to her cyan lips as Dash turned around. “Opps. You didn’t hear anything.”
Spike’s right shoulder dropped as his faced displayed his tired annoyance. “Riiight.”
Though Fluttershy had even risked a hoof to touch his scales to her own accord; none of her friends were at risked, and she could probably outfly him as well. That’s why both the dragon’s and pony’s eyes were on hers.
“Well, this isn’t my first time meeting him.”
The two recoiled their head and raised a brow, though only one of their hearts was pumping at twice the speed.
Spike gulped.
“That didn’t come out right!” Fluttershy explained, rising up into four hooves. “When he first collapsed at the barn doors, Applejack couldn’t properly diagnose what was wrong with him. So she brought me over to look over his wounds.
“He was covered gnashes and had many opening pierced onto his scales, where traces of timberwolf wolf saliva and dirt mixed, which lowered his white cell count.” Fluttershy looked up to the dragon with a small smile “You’re lucky that you came to us when you did; I don’t think you would’ve made it another day.
“Even more so, you should be thankful that you’re a dragon – no pony would’ve made it as far as you did, or survive the wounds that you had.”
The dragon peacefully sighed as his heart slowed in pace. “Never been grateful for being born a dragon, but now you’ve given me one.”
“Wow…” Dash said with a lazy smile. “That came out real subtle.”
All Spike could do was shrug his shoulders with a smile persistent on his lips. No longer could the sun been seen in the distance, but the rising moon shared its glow to those below it, as it took its rightful place in the sky.
“Um… Mr. Dragon.”
Spike looked down to Fluttershy.
“If you ever come across free time – and you have nothing else better to do– you can come down to my cottage just off the Everfree. Maybe we can have some tea, and, talk, about certain things.”
Her tone wasn’t overly carefully; she didn’t speak like somepony with therapeutic tenacity. It was like she was trying to whisper the words to his ear alone; that some secret she poses was meant strictly for the dragon with no name.
Her offer seems harmless enough. Though just what is it she wants to tell me, that she can’t tell to Rainbow? The two were talking out here fine enough, so I doubt any rifts separated the two while I was away.
“Sure… Fluttershy, was it?”
“Oh come on!” Dash exclaimed, stepping next to the drake. “Don’t act like you don’t already know all of our names – is only makes you look more suspicious.”
Words that would have no affect on others were now sending balls of tension to rack around in Spike’s mind. It were like Dash and Fluttershy had already known his secret but kept the charade going for his sake, but dropped innocent hints like these just to torment him.
To know of his dirty secret, but allow him the constant mental struggle that they also may not. To fully play into his character to keep his lie on-going, or to simply give up this silly little game and allow the world to know.
How dumb would Spike look playing too much into character to ponies who already knew his secret?
“And to what, am I suspicious to?” Spike asked, talons pressed against his temple.
“Well…” Rainbow hovered above the ground and rested her hooves upon his shoulder, bringing her lips closer and closer to his ears. “You want everypony thinking you’re a good dragon, right?”
Spike rolled his eyes and shrugged off her hooves.
Dash’s hooves slid off his shoulder and lost her balance in the air, wings adjusting just as she fell forward. “You’re not going to garner a fanclub acting like that.” she turned around. “Trust me, I would know: I have one.”
“That’s still on—” Spike bit his tongue and suffered a spear to the chest.
Rainbow’s flew closer to the drake as her neck stretched out, both of her brows were narrowed. Fluttershy sat behind the oncoming threat, mouth slightly open, yet with eyes that told of something else.
“What was it…” Dash’s nose pressed into his with eyes threatening to overtake his. “You were about to say, Dragon.”
“That…” Talons pinching together; heart pumping too fast; brain overloaded. “That we still need to get it on.”
Dash’s recoiled back and Fluttershy popped up.
“We’re supposed to hang out sometime, but we never ended up doing—” his voice cracked “–so. Isn’t now the best time to ask you, to see, if maybe, you’d want get drinks and talk?”
Cyan wings kept the mare suspend in the air and in her disbelief. “Talk?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Spike brighten up, bending forth so that their faces met. “Like when we were walking back and having those deep talks. We should do that again only with drinks!”
I sound like a buckin’ idiot!
Indeed Spike sounded like a fool. Both in mind and speech. But hey.
“You drink?”
Rainbow bought it.
“Come on!” Spike said, looking around for some strange reason. “I’m a wanderer! I’ve had my drinks underneath a twilit sky, by a fire roasting in the forest.”
“But have you had the good stuff?”
“I’ve… I’ve had a lot of stuff. But you know what, Rainbow Dash? Show me the good stuff.”
Dash looked him up and down, eyes examining every scales on his body as if to see there was some kind of gap; like a break in the amoror. “Alright.” Her eyes stared into hers with an unreadable expression. “You’ve got a deal.”
Spike sighed as he hunched forward as if the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders.
“How does tomorrow night sound.”
“Fantastic.”
A cyan hoof presented itself before his waist, causing Spike a sigh as he met the hoof with his claw, giving it a firm shake.
“Alright! This is going to be so cool – I even have a fun game we can play.”
Those closed eyes somehow became tighter. “Can’t wait. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a drink.”
The breeze swept into the air the collecting filth that had gathered on the ground over the night, such an effect being caught by an emerald eye. A claw held claim to a cup and was responsible for bringing it forth to his lips.
The dragon was leant against the wall with eyes taking in the ponies dancing in the middle of the room, to those who kept to the edges with fellow ponies by their sides. Usually more effort would’ve been placed in trying to conceal himself better, but Rarity had apparently collapsed upstairs after her twentieth drink.
Hopefully she’ll forget about that conversation we had and the appointment we made.
From the hooves gliding across the floor to becoming joint with another's hooves, both bringing one another closer so their faces could meet. Ponies rose up into two hooves and held each other closer as their paces met the song’s slow embrace.
Their eyes would glance to the wall, eyes taking the smallest notice ment of the dragon by his lonesome. They took in the patches of dirt clinging to his scales as their mouths would whisper into their partner’s ear.
It were only quick glances, though the weight of the eyes bore down into the dragon’s sanity. All alone he stood, what a wonder that must be? Do all dragons look like he, for we cannot see if he is attractive for his race.
A dragon who hails from a race of strength, known to unleash fire to burn armies to ashes spread across grassy plains, now standing in a town filled with a race below him, yet he was brought to weakness by their stares.
Ponies were casted into the glow casted by the overhanging disco ball, while the dragon wallowed in the darkness just out of the glow’s reach. He clenched his eyes as well as his cup, taking a breath to drain those talking voices from his mind.
When the world reloaded by the opening crack of the eye, a box of size towered over the mare who was huffing to keep it leveled. With a crack of the eyebrow, the drake walked over to the mare behind the counter, placing his two claws underneath the cardboard.
“Here, allow me.” With a light groan the box raised higher into the air. “This going to the kitchen?”
No words came from behind his back, all expect for an exasperated breath.
“Not the kitchen then?”
He could hear the mane wagging in the air, creating its own breeze.
“You know I can’t see you, right?”
“To… To the kitchen, please.”
“Alrighty.” The dragon walled with his head leant left of the box, careful not to bump into the cup covered counter to his right, or the packed shelves to his left. The door awaited him at the end, as his back pressed into it.
“You… sure are strong.”
“Not really.” Spike said as he looked around the open kitchen, spotless with even a shine emitting from the floor. “Wow, this is like, super clean. Weren’t all the foods and drinks prepared back here?”
“They were. You can set the box at the corner there, just by the door if you will.”
Squeaky voice… Pinkie? But I don’t remember Pinke ever talking like that.
Walking over and setting the box in the corner, the drake reeled back his shoulders until a crack pop came. He turned around to find a pink mare with a fluffy mane, yet a straighten tail. “Pink…
“-ie,” she finished with a small, so small smile. “That’s my name, but,” she drew a breath, “you can call me pink if that’s easier.”
A wave of sadness chilled up the lengths of the sea of purple scales as the emerald eyes felt the same awakening of that sea. “Pinkie. I’ll call you Pinkie.”
The smile grew, but not by much. “Thank you.”
“For carrying that box?” Spike pointed his snout to the thing behind him.
“That too.”
The pound’s worth of saliva gathering in the dragon’s mouth was gulped back to fight away the heart that couldn’t stop beating against its cage. The pedestal that held the drake close to the spreaded clouds which allowed golden rays of light was swiped away from his feet, and he fell to the abyss of guilt that had been waiting to catch his fall.
No longer did hooves reach out to him with letters of sadness at the grief he faced, or did mouths speak of endless apologies to the suffering they inflicted upon him.
Spike was just a hollow of the drake he thought himself to be.
All because he made this pink mare sad.
“Pinkie.” Spike stepped forward, trembling claws reaching to the messenger bag clinging to his back. “I have something for you.”
He withdrew the letter. “But first, I have to know. On days and nights such like these, do you still like to laugh?”
That question didn’t bring any surprisement to the mare’s pale face like the dragon thought it would, for she only sat back on her haunches; that smile growing an inch. “Can’t say that I do.”
“T-Then this letter is for you.” His claw brought forth the letter to the mare, who took it into the grasp of her hoof. In taking the letter she tore off the purple seal, shaking the parchment over her hoof until the paper inside slipped out.
The air of the room was heavy enough to slide Spike’s eyes to a close, where a fiery cloud was burning behind their lids. Pressing his back against the cabinet to keep himself from fainting, the drake couldn’t repress a small groan. “Pinkie… Miss Pinkie a Pie.”
His ears picked up no traces of the paper being unfolded. “Hmm?”
“How I was… the way I acted when we first met… I’m sorry…”
“What time would that be?”
The cloud grew bigger in size as the ends of his claw suffered a great chill. “When me and Rainbow came to your shop, and I said I wouldn’t be your friend: it was rude of me to say.”
“That’s okay,” the mare said, as the paper crimped open. “I forgive you.”
Spike’s eyes slid open as the world was basked in a shaky blur, with the drake feeling as if he were suspended in the air. “T-Thank you.” Silence overhung in the air, weighing more heavily upon their shoulders. “S-Say, what does the letter say? If you don’t mind my asking.”
Finally, the mare allowed a chuckle. “It says to please forgive the jerk standing in front of me.”
A chuckle too escaped the confines of his mouth, a smile spreading all on its own. “That’s Applejack for you. Oh boy, has tonight been a weird one.”
“Yeah.” Pinkie allowed another chuckle which helped to free herself from the shackles of passiveness. “With the way you were talking, to this very room feeling… weird.”
“Tell me about it,” Spike added in. “Honestly though, I better get going. This party has been a great fun and I thank you for inviting me, but my eyes are starting to close on their own, and I have a big day awaiting me tomorrow.”
“Don’t we all,” Pinkie chimed in with a sorrow smile. “But thank you for showing up. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen all my friends act so honestly.”
“I’d say everyone was more weird than they were honest.”
“Ponies acting weird,” she exhaled a breath, “is just another way for them to express themselves; sometimes they just can’t come out and say what’s wrong with them.”
“So they beg to indulge you in clothes and then refuse eat or drink anything?”
“Rarity just unable to be honest with herself, nor with any of us. So it makes me glad for her to express whatever she has going on.”
When did Pinkie start talking like this? No bouncing off the walls; no asking to become my friend. Her voice is striking a chord deep within me, and I can’t help but feel something for her.
“I guess I can’t really say anything on this topic – it wasn’t long ago that my passive aggressiveness was just creating more enemies than friends, casting me into this… this hollow shell of the kid I once was.”
As soon as the words left his lips did their meaning become a realization in the dragon’s head, sending a claw to scratch behind it. “Heheh. That came out a little more edgier than I had planned. Please forget that I said anything?”
The mare gave a single chuckle. “I’m just glad you gave me an honest answer. I was worried, that when we first met, that you didn’t like me very much – that you wouldn’t come to trust me with much.”
Pinkie raised her head so that their eyes could truly meet. “I’m glad to see that I was wrong.”
Those blue orbs created a shine of sincerement that disallowed those who stared into them to be pulled away. “In a way,” Spike said, eyes still captured by hers, “so am I. Though I better get going.”
Pinkie only nodded her head as she retreated back into the corner, digging into the box and shuffling around the contents inside. “Maybe laughter isn’t such a bad thing, just as long as it isn’t directed to your friends.”
Spike paid her a quick glance, eyes cathing her rear bouncing up and down as she disappeared further into the box. Small streams of laughter slithered out of the box, basking the ground underneath in a chilled shadow as they made they’re way to Spike’s foot.
The muscles in his thighs went numb as his body began to shake. Shoulder trying to break free of the hold as the laughter trailed over his face, causing his eyes to clench close and the dragon to take ragged breath.
Laughter. Laughs. Giggles. Chuckles. Talons wouldn't stop jerking; shoulders unable to stop shaking. The stream of white light from the window basking the dragon in its presence, as those eyes and mouths hid away in the darkness – both parts focused and laughing at him.
Laugh at Spike the Dragon.
Die of laughter at the dragon with no name.
The world shattered apart as the dragon opened his eyes to bear witness to Pinkie only humming to the box. Yet that realization didn’t stop him from busting out of the door, well on his way to the exit.
The music had ponies tapping their hooves fast against the floor, clapping their forehooves to the beat. Stallions spun mares onto other stallions; vice versa being the case just to keep in pace with the music.
As Spike slid in-between couples and keeping his foot from being stepped upon, he was blindsided in the mare who fell against his chest. “Ohh! So at the change of the chorus, everypony changes their dance partner. Isn't’ that interesting… it's you!”
“Twilight?” Spike said, ponies pressing into his back as he was the only one stationary in the crowd. “It is you. What are you doing dancing?”
Her response was to take the claws hanging by his sides and to raised them into the air with her hooves. “We’re disrupting the crowd – start moving your feet!”
“But I don’t dance.”
“You’re bipedal: you’ll look the most natural out of the lot regardless of what you do.”
As usual, it was pointless to refute logic when it came to Twilight. So it was only a matter of ignoring her words and heading to the door. Unfortunately, it was her hip bumping into his that caused his feet to shuffle.
He stumbled though he caught his balance, his body already in a movement, just starting to come align with style the music was casting upon his dancing soul. With a groan, his feet moved on their own.
“See?” Twilight said while tilting her head. “You’ll do fine.”
“R-Right.”
Her hooves began to stomp, so too did his begin to do so. Her shoulders slid up and down, matching the rising and falling of the pitch. “So what did you think of the party we threw for you?”
“Packed, with a touch of oddity, but I can’t say that I’m not having fun.”
Twilight smiled as she began to fall backwards, hoof wisping in the air and falling back with her. This caused Spike’s eyes to widen as he reached out to the hoof and press his talons down upon the fur, though with this extra support, Twilight merely struck her other forehoof to the disco ball; her other hind hoof parting slightly from the floor.
Spike groaned as he used her counterbalance to mimic her, claw shooting into the opposite side of the room. Soon the ponies of the room were reenacting the scene, shouting the words: “Hiyah!”
A pull from equal parties brought them close together once more, returning them to try any dance style they pleased.
“So,” Twilight began as her head came just before his chest, “how have you been enjoying that book so far?”
“Already knowing how the tale comes to an end kinda kills any suspense,” Spike said, not sure what to do with his other claw until it came by itself to rest behind her back, just inches away from her fur. “Though I’m picking up on things hidden away in the small things – characters saying things that relate to their themes, and most of the time, the cause of their deaths..”
The crowd shifted right and left as hooves clamped against the floor. Only problem is that bi-pedals steps tend to cover a larger distance than the rest, hence while Twilight’s foot didn’t nearly cover the same ground as he and began to fall to the left.
Before her feet could fully trip off the ground a force pulled up her forehooves and glided her hind over the extra distance, dropping them off in front of the talons attached to a nervously chuckling dragon. “Looks like I still have a lot to learn from our dance practice.”
Twilight giggled as her hooves went from being clutched by his claws to resting upon his sides. His eyes snapped to each one as a cough served to hide the aforementioned action. “Your claws… if we’re to keep in rhythm with one another, then you should probably put your claws on my sides as well.”
To consciously touch a mare and have their individual strands of fur rub against his set of scales caused a lump to be created in the drake’s throat, not going away regardless of how much he swallowed and tugged at his neck.
Contact with other ponies doesn’t hold a high significance among the inhabitants of Ponyville, for they all gave hugs dailey and shook hooves quite frequently. While her frame was nice enough to not be skin and bones, yet give away an aura of delicacy – surely Twilight wouldn’t consider a simple touch of something more.
Placing a claw upon her fragile shoulders made her face burn up in a state of uneasiness, confirming to the drake that the claws guiding her body to step left and right are to be held responsible for increasing their bond from something more than familiar strangers.
“Say.” The hoofs on Spike’ side began to softly direct his feet, forward and back. “Are you Elements always this friendly to newcomers?”
“I don’t know how, but Pinkie always seems to have the energy to throw a party for every newcomers who comes into town. Heck! Sometimes she even throws parties for fillies and colts who had their first tooth pulled out.”
“That… interesting to know. But I was asking, more so, for my case.” That prompted Twilight to slightly tilt her head. “You see, you Elements, are kinda a big deal in this nation. Bearers of a magic powerful enough to encase villains such as Discord in stone!” He shook his head to better arrange the flow of thoughts running in his head.
“What I mean to say is, you six are practically heros who many would like to meet.” He ended the sentence with a tint of pain in his voice. “Schoolers would love to study your skills and magic; towns would love to have you over and speak to large crowds – all there just for you! Most heroes are borderline celebrities, as it is in your case, but I have to ask…”
The hooves slipped away from the length of Spike’s sides as Twilight lowered down onto all fours. “What is it you want to say?”
“Why is it, that ponies as high in publicity as you are,” his claws slid off from the fur that brought them comfort, “would care so much about a dragon like me, who just so happened to wander into town.”
The reasoning why the dragon would ask such a question propping deeply into their relationship seemed to be lost on the mare, but even more so, on the dragon himself. Does he desire the answer as to gather knowledge that could be used against the mares in attempt for revenge, or did he want it for what she might say may hold some value as he sees himself?
Did moe questions exist that dragon had yet to probe himself about, or did none of these question matter for the question came out without any real depth to it.
“To be honest.” Partygoers stomped their hooves past the duo, not allowing what it was stopping them to stop the pleasure that all this dancing brought on. “It has to due with you being an interesting dragon.”
The same excuse as Applejack. Twilight told of the same lie, once again holding back some truth that the dragon’s essence longed to hear.
“Though after Applejack told me that you were a bit hostile at first glance, I knew that a dragon coming into pony society was going to have a hard time accepting our ways of life. So when you showed up at my library, I actually got to see what you like, and I don’t fully know why, but I wanted to help you in some way.
“Which lead to that awkward conversation. Since then, I’ve been kinda curious about another dragon who could read.”
Dancers wore their annoyance on their faces as they danced around the standing duo, some even shuffling in-between the two, causing a distance between the two. “The first one being Spike, right!” He called from across the crowd forming in-front of him.
Twilight’s expression changed to display the sudden remembrance of her long lost friend. She was being pressed back by the ponies with some coming to take up the gap. A sea of glow sticks and hooves hid away the lavender mare, though Spike caught sight of her face before she was concussed by the oncoming waves.
She was trying to yell something to him as her mouth opened as far as it could, while a single teardrop fell from her eyes. Whatever her words were was lost to the pounding beat of the music, the mare being lost in the sea filled with please.
The oncoming wave had hooves and bodies pressing against the drake, causing him to stumble out from the swarm as it only grew bigger in size. Louder music blared out from the speakers as the DJ flipped on over another track.
The lights began to dim and the glow stick became brighter, casting a neon glow to the smiles being worn by everypony.
Though the neon glow caught in no sight, of a dragon smiling. For he disappeared into the small darkness at the entrance of the sweet shop, stepping out into the embrace of a silver glow from a Princess that had threaten to expose him.
Still, taking in her gift was better than having something pound in your head every two seconds. The roads of Ponyville were barren of ponies with only streetlamps to assist Luna in assuring ponies the proper paths home.
Spike took the dirt trail leading up to the farmlands with only his thoughts as company. When the blow of the breeze and the sounds of footsteps are the only thing to be heard, it allowed for the dragon’s thoughts to flow more easily.
He had a drinking date with Rainbow tomorrow, with some sorts of deep talks inbound. Getting himself out of that would result in more of Rainbow’s questioning, plus constant reminders of the dragon breaking his word.
Somehow, Rarity had talked him in into having a pair of clothes stitched for him. Funny how the mare whom thought he was a annoying, greedy dragon, was now offering highly-valued items for free to him.
No unkind words ever came from Fluttershy over a cup of tea. Though it seemed to have any words come from her first require tea to be served. Maybe she just doesn’t like to leave her house to help out her friends?
Then there was Pinkie. She laughed, it wasn’t at him, and that’s all that there is to that.
And that dance with Twilight caused Spike’s claws to curl. An unlikely occurrence that served in a way for Twilight to believe that they had gotten close in some way. Ideas of coming to pay the dragon a visit could now be justified in a way, allowing the mare to even get closer to him.
“And that just can’t happen,” Spike growled under his breath as his expression came to darken, his talons digging into the scales of his palm. “I’ve had it long in my mind, that one day, when I acquired what it is that I seek, that I would have my revenge upon the six.”
To become a villain that would stand in the way of the six, making them question their wills and morals as they fight the dragon they once loved. Such hesitation allowing the dragon to beat them all thoroughly and throw them down onto the ground, with the world gasping at their display.
And the Dragon with no name. No. Spike the Dragon would be the one towering over them.
“That would all be too easy!” His talons pressed harder into the palm until they pierced through, blood trickling out from his claw and dripping onto the dirt below. “That very well may be my final goal, but it won’t be my only.”
A baby dragon not fully comforted as he undergoes a big change in his life.
Words becomes misused and shared, shattering the ideal of trust.
Questions of being are torn apart like jokes some just can’t understand, only until they’ve experienced a similar pain. Yet a sense of being is crumbled up like a paper with questions deemed unworthy of answers.
Is it then that the dragon seeked to bring about suffering so that the Elements could understand empathy? In a town where griffons and donkeys are accepted, where parades are thrown for groups that need it the most – isn’t then, the concept of understanding one another already established in this town?
“I haven’t been in this town long enough to assess what it is that seems lost on most of the town’s folks. All that chatter that I once heard, joint laughter and giggles, hugs and handshakes.”
Talons popped out from the bloody holes that they had made and rose to cup the dragon’s forehead. Blood dripped down onto his temple and sped away down onto his nose and to both sides of his eyes.
“All seem so… superficial to me now. A whole stream of warmth enjoyment that everypony seemed to be in, all but me. Everytime I tried to get into that flow some kind of force always repelled me out.”
The claw slid down from the temple and covered his eyes with their presence, blood still pouring from the holes, falling down onto his cheek until they met the ends of his lips. A smile arose at the touch, lifting the blood along with it.
“My exploration of the world made it clear to me that such companionship will never be come to known to me.” Streams of chuckles bounced off from within his inner-cheeks. “Becoming a loner is the life for me! Time is mine to acquire knowledge; time is mine to train my body; time is mine to become a character of power!”
Did the dragon than opt-in for exposing those that the world as the sacred embodiment of harmony? To show all the depths of the malice that they hide underneath the masks that they wear.
To expose the greed of the one who made him feel guilt about coming to posses thing of his own, while she lavished in the gifts brought to her by many a lovers.
Allow the world to see the laziness and cowardice that had the one friend – the one mare that seemed to understand and listen – that was nowhere to be seen when he needed her most?
“Now this flow is getting closer to what it is I seek from this town! To bring a light to the ones who used the shadows of their light to cast upon me a great darkness that tainted my heart and mind.”
A key of gold formed in the white space where a black keyhole hovered in the space. Something lacked in-between the distance of the two which was the key to connecting them both.
What was it that could make sense of the sudden insanity that struck the dragon? That missing line that connected what it was that the dragon seeked.
To bring shame unto the mare that had laughed on everything that made the dragon who he was? Gather all the ponies around to laugh at her, to giggle at what it was her body and soul combined and clung to?
Or to conflict with the one that brought the greatest of all suffering? The one who destroyed his very notion of being; set on fire his reasoning for existing; shown to all for how useless he was. To such a mare that was once the protector of his heart, was the one to slow the beat that gave him life.
“I lost everything when I left this town. My eyes cried as I ran away from my home; my mind lost to thoughts of despair, brought on by those whom I once loved, which subdued me in isolated self-doubt. I wandered and wandered, from forest to city, searching for an answer to clear away all that had plagued me.
“Yet it seems, that all this time, that my answers and vengeance lied in the very town that brought on the questions, as well as death of Spike which, I! The dragon with no name, is here to avenge.”
The claw fell from the face to hang by his side, blood dripping and mixing into the dirt once more, as the faded talon ahead began to step forward. “To show them the depths of their flaws and place them into that isolation of self-doubt, hearing of their misery as they unable to understand their own suffering.
Both claws opened up to the world and invited it onto the dragon’s being. “To toss their pitiful forms onto the stage of the world, showing the lot the reality of these fantasies!”
The bloodied claw whipped around so that its palm faced the eyes of the drake; its blood draining down the length of his wrist. “Then to stand before them all, as they come to wonder to dealt them this fate, only to realize it was the dragon they inflicted worse upon.”
As the drake came to see the blood dripping from his elbow did his eyes lose that glint of madness. “To face the dragon, that once, had been loved.”
His claws came to his sides as a sudden sadness encapsulated the dragon with its melancholic touch.
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interesting chapter to say the least
Fantastic chapter, don't think It could be any better
Sooooo, is AJ not forgiven? Kinda confused as to who Spike is planning revenge on.
Everything is getting really vague. Its hard to understand whats going on. We don't know the event, the aftermath of it, or the personality changes of the main 6. With all that context almost goes out the window. I understand hints in writing and show don't tell, but you need to throw the readers a bone every now and again.
7486663
7486006
My apologizes about that strange ending there that barely tells anything about what the hell is going on. I haven't had time nor will to sit down and edit the story, so things like these are bound to crop up. I'll explain what I can in this comment, as well as in the next chapter.
Sometime after the events of the Crystal Empire, a strange awaking happens within Spike's being that he doesn't understand, yet has a vague understanding of. This awakening causes changes in Spike, which brings out a bad side in each of the mane six, even if at the time, they didn't see it as such.
The next chapter will explain some of what had happened in the past; just who is the dragon that walks the town now, and why is mental process is faulty.
P.S. Applejack is forgiven.
7486663
It's funny you say that now, of all times, right after we finally get our first indications of what happened and how it changed a few characters.
Spike started building a horde. Then, when this was discovered, there was no friend that reacted supportively. We know Rarity criticized him for being selfish, and Pinkie either on purpose or accidentally brought a crowd and was "having fun" by making the whole thing seem silly... which means laughing at it. And Fluttershy didn't help at all, perhaps scared of Spike's dragon-ness.
So he ran away.
Sorta puts Luna into perspective. She saw him as being slightly mistreated by his friends, who were mean to him because of his new habit, so he ran away. It's something that's really easy to look at and say "this isn't a big deal, what they did to you, even if it was wrong, and you way overreacted, and hurt them far more than the paltry pain of having your new habit being made fun of."
(But, really, this broke most of them, Spike is as broke as any of the main six.)
But we still don't know what Twilight did... but what it was clearly felt like she treated him like this was unacceptable because it wasn't part of his service to her. At least, I really hope it's founded and doesn't feel like he is massively overreacting.
And even by the time of the beginning I'd season four, possibly every interaction(certainly most of them) were either Spike wanting something and being shown he was wrong because of it, or doing something for someone else. So if he had something new that was neither of those things, but it's treated as the first thing...
Not to mention that this is an instinctive dragon thing, so it might feel like an incredibly important thing for him, that hurts all the more when his friends react badly to it.
One thing that's bizarre, though, is that the three ponies that we learned what was going on when Spike left are all clearly punishing themselves for their actions. Fluttershy is forcing herself to be sociable to the dragon, Pinkie seems broken (although apparently she is at least usually her perky self) and Rarity is refusing medical treatment due to overreacting to chastising Spike for his horde... and at the end Spike is still doing the villain thing where he says he will show them the pain he had... when they're already in pain. He's either not noticing or ignoring it.
This was the most surreal and tense party I can remember reading, and I sorta like it.
The end was the only part that was bewildering because he left the party without me noticing at first, so I thought it was wield that he was doing the villain rant while dancing with Twilight until I reread.
7494381 It wasn't exactly stated that Spike builds a hoard, but that something within him awakens.
I noticed B has changed his style of writing and chose not to edit this chapter, what do you think of his choices?
7495422
Hm. It might be true that a horde is not all that happened, but he does specifically think of a "horde" when he's thinking about what Rarity said to him. That only tells me there is yet more mystery to what happened to Spike!
And... mostly he just didn't edit and didn't go back for crazy revisions? Like I said, the party felt tense, and occasionally it was detached. If that wasn't intended then we have a problem.
There are authors out there that just churn words out and do maybe a cursory check. It's a skill you have to learn, but this wasn't really that awful... but there are yet limitations to it, but it's definitely a way to write, though.
Also I guess now's a time to ask: what's up with the similarity for your usernames?
7495919 Regal and I have a... weird relationship. There's the possibility I know the guy in real life, but he won't say who he is. Lil' bugger.
To be honest, I didn't edit this chapter one bit. So what you guys read was the steaming first-draft, also the first draft of a new writing style I'm trying it. A bit purple prosy, but a little more writing with it, and I may become proficient with it. Only issue I have is that editing with this new style is a pain, costing an extra two weeks of editing for a chapter to be complete.
If you check my latest blog post, you can read more about the dilemma there.
This chapter was supposed to be tense, but I don't think it nearly hit the mark it was supposed to. The detachment feel is supposed to be there, as if we're coming away from Spike's character...
Please post your full review of the chapter so that I may correct any plot mistakes, or implement better things into the next chapter. And again, thank you for reading.
I am very much enjoying the story.
This story is definitely interesting, but the grammar and missing words are intensely draining on my interest of this story. Do you perhaps have an editor or proofreader? If not, I definitely suggest either getting one, or trying to fix this story. I'd be happy to help if need be, but only on the basis that you will definitely continue the story.
7590982 I wrote the chapter while I was going through a bit of a of writer's block, and just didn't have the will to edit the thing. I have an editor at the moment, but life and school has him mostly tied up. But if you're more then willing, I'd love to have you on to help edit, as I'm most needing of one.
7591140
Now, I'd be happy to help, but just a heads up, I wasn't referring to just this chapter.
7591282 Yeah... not exactly the best writer alout of the crop. Could use a grammar lesson ( or a millon)
Hmm...
7648915 I will be getting cover art drawn for the story soon, but I have to agree, that this piece fits the feels.
7650899 Hmm? Any particular reason you'd like that to happen?
horse noises
Guess Who's Back?
Oh shit, did I put that there?
Very, very interesting, I won't lie, though something really confusing...at any rate, very great job.
7891507 she doesn't now it's him