Smoke & Mirrors

by Doctah WAAwee

Playtime

Sunshine.

If any word could describe the outside of the tree library. That word would be "Sunshine."

Spike, true to his word, brought Spider outside to have a walk around town. Though, three little fillies insisted that they come along for the ride. They stopped at the post office so Spike could get something.

"Having fun up there?" Sweetie Belle asked Applebloom, who was currently sitting atop of Spider's shoulders.

"Yer siree! I'm happier than an apple in apple pie!" chirped the young voice of Applebloom. Her two friends looked like ants from the view she had.

An unimpressed scoff sounded from Amias's left side. "Oh please, you think that's impressive? Try getting a personal V.I.P flight from Rainbow Dash! Then talk."

"Oh come on Scootaloo! Think of it from our perspective: we don't have wings. Flying isn't really a boon we have. We don't have a natural sense to the prolific heights pegasi deal with on a regular basis." said Sweetie Belle from Amias's right side.

Scootaloo only looked at her with a blank expression, "you lost me at "perspective", whatever that means."

Sweetie only sighed. She brought her head down to her hoof and rested it on her forehead for a couple seconds.

"...We can't fly, so we're not used to heights." Sweetie reiterated.

"Oh. Well why didn't you say that?"

"Force of habit."

Another blank look greeted her answer.

"...I do it a lot."

"You really gotta stop hanging out around Twilight so much."

"I have to start learning about magic somewhere."

"And besides" a new voice sounded from above the two, "we all know you want to be here more than ah do." Applebloom joked from her position on Spider's shoulders.

"Pshh!" another scoff came from her, "yeah, right."

"Yes you do~" added Sweetie Belle, "we all know you think it would be "Rad" to get a ride from him."

"Ha!" exclaimed Applebloom.

Scootaloo looked towards her friends direction with a annoyed expression, "that's not funny!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Hit a nerve?" Sweetie asked. A smug look on her face.

"I'm not even gonna try to understand that!"

"Come on!" Applebloom said between fits of laughs, "even Spidah thinks it's funny!" after she said this, Applebloom moved so her chest rested on Spider's head. Her face was completely upside down and looking straight into his eyes, "Isn't that right, boy?"

Spider only let out a playful snicker before reaching behind Applebloom's ears and scratching. Her response was a cute little giggle before giving him an Eskimo kiss and moving her head back to the top of his. Nuzzling the top of his head while he scratched. His long nails proving to be quite useful.

"Why can't all humans be like you..." Applebloom said drearily as the scratching started to lull her to sleep. Her eyes growing heavy as she used his head for a pillow.

'Oh, they will be...'

Some ponies who passed by couldn't help but "daww" at the scene. A very select few had humans accompanying them. They huddled closer to them at the scene of adorableness in front of them. Some of the humans responded by wrapping one arm around their masters.

"Spike was right about Spider being special. But...something's bugging me a little..." Scootaloo said as she watched Spider smile and scratch behind Applebloom's ear.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked as she watched the same thing.

"This is the first time I've seen a human smile...but it feels like this is natural for them."

Sweetie arches her brow (that popped into existence just for that specific facial expression) and looked around to the other humans surrounding them.

"I...I feel it too!" Sweetie exclaimed.

"You...you do? I thought I was being crazy or something."

Sweetie pointed her hoof to a random human, leashed to a bench. The human looked male, had brown eyes, black hair, and white skin. He looked at ongoing ponies and other humans that passed by him, nothing special.

"Imagine that human smiling." Sweetie said to Scootaloo. When she heard that, she instantly imagined the humans face in her mind. Then she imagined him smiling...

"That's...that's freaky!" She exclaimed. The human in her mind changed from a random animal...to something more pony-like. That simple smile made him look...sapient. Like you could hold a conversation with him about how the weather was, or how awesome Rainbow Dash was, or how awesome the Wonderbolts are, anything actually.

"What's freaky?" A voice sounded from the post office they waited at. Spike came out of the building with a rolled up paper in his hand and a curious look on his face.

Scootaloo turned to him and pointed to the human she imagined smile, "Imagine that human smile."

Spike looked to the human in question and squinted his eyes, "yeah..." he says.

"And does that smile seem...out of place?" Sweetie asked.

Spike's eyes widened as he thought about Sweetie's question. The human's smiling face reminded him of Spider, and how he would smile like it was natural for him...

"No...it seems like it belongs there. I thought that Spider was a special case, but now that I see another human doing it-"

Spike's sentence was cut short as he locked eyes with the human he stared at during his thinking. Spike sheepishly smiled before slowly raised his claws and waiving them.

The human turned his attention from the dova's eyes, to his waiving hand. He followed the claw waiving left and right, before looking down at his own hand.

"Weird..." Spike said as he stopped waiving at the human. He turned around, only for his line of sight to be turned towards the top of Spider's head, "Is...Applebloom asleep on top of Spider's head?"

Both Sweetie and Scootaloo looked up Spider's form to see Applebloom peacefully snoring atop of his head.

"How did that happen?" Spike asked as they started walking away from the post office. The three fillies had school today, so Spike decided to just walk them to school with Amias in tow. Sweetie tried to regale Spike on the groups interesting conversation before Spike came in, but a glare from Scootaloo turned that into a "oh, it just happened."

"Shouldn't we wake her up before we go to school?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ehh, let her enjoy it." Spike said as they walked to the school. It wasn't a very exciting walk, the only sounds that could be heard came from the other residents of Ponyvillie, getting ready for the day. Opening up shops, saying hi to neighbors, throwing away yesterdays trash, and other mundane things.

After a couple of minutes walking, the group finally saw the school coming into view...

And the colts and fillies who mingled outside of the school caught a view of Spider.

Soon, a horde of multicolored miniature ponies swarmed the group.

"Is that your human!?" asked one of the many schoolkids in the group.

"Umm...well technically he doesn't have an owner-" Spike tried to answer. But he could barely get the response out before another question was asked.

"So he's a stray?"

"Well...no-"

"Can we have a turn on him like Applebloom!?"

"Uhh-umm-"

The rapid barrage of questions was halted when another older, mature sounding voice came from the inside of the school.

"Now, now kids. It's time to go inside, you can talk to them later."

The kids looked back to see Cheerilee walking towards the group of amassed hyperactivity. The kids groaned and obeyed. Sullenly walking into the school with heads drooping like malnourished flowers.

Spike brushed the sweat he seemed to have accumulated during that debacle, "whew, thanks Cheerilee. I don't think I could have handled anymore of that."

A giggle from the school teacher rang out, "anytime Spike...would you care to introduce me to your new friend that Applebloom is resting on?"

"She's still asleep?" Scootaloo asked as she looked up to Amias's head. Applebloom was still snoring atop of the humans head, "boy, she must be a heavy sleeper."

As soon as she said those words, Murphy decided to rear his ugly head.

"Huh-what! Who said that!?" Applebloom shouted out, suddenly waking up from her deep slumber. Her sudden movement threw off her balance, and she started to fall off Spider. But before anyone could try to catch her, he suddenly turned around and caught her moments before she hit the ground.

"Thank goodness..." Cheerilee said as she walked over to Applebloom. Who was still confused as to what actually happened, "Dear, are you alright?" she asked.

Applebloom looked around for a second in a daze. Before she looked up to see Amias looking down at her in worry. She smiled and hugged the human, "Thanks tah Spidah ah am!"

"Way to go bro." Spike congratulated the human. He put out his tiny fist in Spider's direction. What happened next both amazed and terrified Chreerilee at the same time.

Amias brought his fist up to Spike's performed the sacred bro fist. They then rubbed their palms together, intertwined there fingers, then separated. Performing a "dap."

Spike snickered when he saw the look on Cheerilee's face when they finished. Her mix of amazement and terror looked like she reached orgasm and witnessed a murder at the same time, and her face reciprocated that.

"So, the rumors are true. He is..."special."" Cheerilee said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, don't be like that. He's really nice once you get to know him!" Scootaloo said. Cheerilee just gave the human an uneasy look.

"I'll take your word for it. Anyway, we have a special guest coming to class today. I want you three fillies in here."

"Who is she?" The three fillies asked in unison

"Why do you automatically assume the pony's a she?" Spike asked the CMC.

"Well...it just slipped out." Sweetie admitted. The other two nodded, agreeing with her.

"Oh."

"Well, it's a surprise. Come inside and find out girls." Cheerilee said to the group as she walked inside the schoolhouse.

The CMC said their goodbyes to the group, and gave Spider a big goodbye hug.

---

After the girls hugged Amias and went inside the schoolhouse, Spike grabbed his leash and started walking. To where, he didn't know.

Amias looked around to see the towns residents. A few smiles here and there, some waves in Spike's direction, and a couple of ponies looking at him in amazement...

Or, what they thought was him.

In reality, Spike was grasping at nothing. During the entire walk to the schoolhouse and post office, he was walking throughout the town. Watching and observing the current "humans" that resided in Equestria. Seeing how the world has changed since...

Something deep inside of him felt bad that he refrained from actually interacting with the little ponies. Again, the connection with his illusion sending him the happy interactions the little ponies had with "him." But he had other things to do.

'How do humans still exist in this world? None of the books in the library even mention the possibility, or ask the question of where humans come from...'

The ebony cloaked being pondered as to what his next course of action was, he needed information...

Then, an idea struck him. There must be human medical ponies in the town. He probably wouldn't be standing here if one didn't exist in this town.

He decided to find the hospital that took care of him and his brethren when he "convinced" the handlers to bring them to this town.

Amias's body suddenly morphed into a billowing cloud of black smoke. The cloud moving through the mass of ponies, sifting through the minds of the blissfully ignorant ponies to find the location of the medical center.

When he found the location, he made his way towards the "vet."

---

*Chirp* *Chirp*

Birds sang in the trees as Spike and Spider enjoyed a cold snow-cone on a bench. Spike got Ruby Red Cherry--with actual rubies in it, and for Spider Spike got plain Blueberry.

"Kinda missing the cold in the treehouse, y'know?" Spike said as he munched on a cold ruby.

Spider licked his snow cone with delight. Spike rested the side of his head on Spider's hip, careful not to poke him with his spines. Most of the ponies looked at the scene with happy smiles on their faces. Some ponies though looked at the duo with confusion. Word travels fast in the little town. They knew of Spider and his "special" condition. That doesn't mean they're used to it yet.

"Twilight almost never goes out anymore. Ever since she turned into an alicorn, it's always "royal duties" this and "work" that...she never has time for me anymore."

Spider wrapped his arm around Spike's back. When he looked up, he saw Spider's kind smile radiating from his face. To which Spike returned.

"At least I got you. Maybe I could convince Twilight and Fluttershy to let me keep you..."

The sound of a school bell ringing in the distance caught Spike's attention.

"Oh hey! The girls are out of school! Promised them we could have some more time together after school..."

Spike stood up on the bench and hopped off. He didn't have to tug at Spider's leash, the human stood up and followed the dragon back to the school house.

"Almost forgot Spider, I have to tell you the time Pinkie volunteered to ring the school bell..."

---

Lyra Heartstrings.

This name is synonymous with everything human related in the town of ponyvillie. Amias flipped through her profile, stored in the hospitals archives. Sneaking in was child's play for the dark specter-like being.

'4'3 standing on all fours, blood type: AB+, date of employment: 12/13/01. Degrees: Masters in...'

*Flip*

*Flip*

*Flip*

'A lot'

'This pony will be useful for our plans...Get her.'

'Yes..we will get her.'

---

"That'll be thirty Bits ma'am" the humble store owner said to his latest customer. The mare put the thirty bits on the counter, picked up her human food, and bid the kind stallion goodbye.

"Say hi to Dex, alright?" the clerk added.

"Will do Brown Bag!" the mare replied.

*Dingalingaling!*

The sound of the entrance bell sounded as the mare trotted out of the store. When she walked towards her human to untie him from the bench, she saw him stare at his hand for no apparent reason.

"Dex?" she calls out to her human. When she did, his attention shifted from his hand to his master.

"Dexy what are you-" her sentence became lodged in her throat as Dex did something that...baffled her.

Dex started waiving at her.

Author's Note:

Brown Bag, LOL! And if any of you are wondering...no, it's not intentional. I'm pretty freaked that those similarities exist. Complete accident. Ignore this if you don't pick it up.

Spidahman Spidahman! Does whatever a Spidah can! Spins a web, any size! Catches thieves, just like flies! LOOK OUT! Here comes the Spidahman!

Comments

[Clay]

This is the first time I ever get to say this.

FIRST!!! HA! WOOO!

You updated quicker than last time thank you.

-Clay the Draconequus

[Doctah WAAwee]

3673108 Welcome bro.

[Max Caulfield]

3673108 SHIT! Beat out just, again!

...I shall return next update for my reveeennnnnngggeeeee.

NYAHAHAHAHA!!!

[GodOFInsaNity666]

U should finish this man, because it is fantastic
U don't find that many F*ck u celestia stories

[Ignis Mortis et Doloris]

DAMN YOU MURPHY!

[Cynical Brony]

3674057 There is one where a dude punches Celestia in the face.

[Lord vonsithen]

You must upload more I almost fo....holy cow why is the steam logo in the social media area any way upload more

[IkioStar]

3674720 Actually there are three. ...plus more probably, but three of 'em stand out.

[Thule]

3674720 Was it this one?

Just waiting for humans breaking out in an impromptu magical musical on their way to Celestia (if she was the reason for the humans ''empty'' minds) like this...

I've wept for those who suffer long
But how I weep for those who've gone
Into rooms of grief and questioned wrong
But keep on killing

It's in the soul to feel such things
But weak to watch without speaking
Oh what mercy sadness brings
If Harmony be willing

There is a train that's heading straight
To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate
And on the way, child and man,
And woman wait, watch and wait
For redemption day

Fire rages in the streets
And swallows everything it meets
It's just an image often seen
On television
Come leaders, come you Mare of great
Let us hear you pontificate
Your many virtues laid to waste
And we aren't listening

There is a train that's heading straight
To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate
And on the way, child and man,
And woman wait, watch and wait
For redemption day

What do you have for us today?
Throw us a bone but save the plate
On why we waited til so late
Was there no oil to excavate
No riches in trade for the fate
Of every person who died in hate
Throw us a bone, you Mare of great

There is a train that's heading straight
To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate
And on the way, child and man,
And woman wait, watch and wait
For redemption day

It's buried in the countryside
It's exploding in the shells at night
It's everywhere a baby cries
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom

[Cynical Brony]

3685451 Nope. It was TD.

[Ninjahzzzz]

Is our protagonist here forcing a mental evolution/Metamorphosis in the humans?........Honestly it seems somewhat feasible,And they just learn like babies

[Doctah WAAwee]

3691269 No hints.