Respect the Scales
“Alright, take a deep breath and let it out slowly.”
Raj complied, shivering a bit at contact with the cold disc of the stethoscope. “Again?”
“Please.”
Raj repeated the action while Twilight hummed, nodding slightly to herself. She pulled the buds out of her ears and said “Well, your lungs sound normal as far as I can tell. No crackling, good inflation. There doesn't seem to be any lingering effects of the poison in your system and the other injuries you've sustained appear to be healing on their own. Now, I don't have the tools needed to test your blood, but from my observations and your own testimony, I feel comfortable giving you a clean bill of health.”
“Good. I'm just glad you didn't have me turn my head and cough.”
She furrowed her brow “Is that a procedure where you're from? Is it important, should I do it?”
“No no, that's fine. You don't- no, it's okay.” He replied with a sheepish smile. “So what is all this stuff anyway? Kinda looks like a mad scientist lab down here.” He gestured at the assemblage of vaguely-scientific equipment scattered around the basement.”
“Well, I don't know about 'mad' exactly, but it's used for measuring aetheric fields and tracking astronomical movements. I still have a few tools left over from when I was trying to make sense of Pinkie Pie.” She nudged a hoof against a colander dressed with wires.
“Is that a name, Pinkie Pie?”
“Yeah, she's... well, I'm sure you'll meet her eventually. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's get some breakfast, then we can dig into some studying.” She started up the steps to the rest of the library.
They entered onto the first floor and saw a scaly, purple creature standing on a chair at the kitchen table. Twilight smiled “Oh, hi Spike. I didn't hear you come in.”
Spike snapped his gaze at Twilight and his eyes widened. “Twilight, you're back!” shouted the little purple creature, his tail sweeping back and forth.
“Of course I am. What did you-OOF!” She staggered back as the small lizard leaped up and wrapped her neck in a tight hug. “Spike, what's-”
“I was so worried! What happened?” He looked up at her to see her tense and gasping for air.
Twilight lowered him to the ground where he obligingly peeled himself off her neck. She coughed lightly and said “Nothing happened Spike. Well, that's not true, some unexpected things did happen, but nothing I couldn't handle. Sorry if you were worried.”
His concern melted into and angry scowl “But... you were gone for three days! I went looking for you, I talked to everypony in town!”
Twilight simpered “I left a note.” She floated a slip of paper off of the refrigerator over to them.
“All this says is 'Left for research. Hayfries are in the oven.' This doesn't help.” He dropped the page and gave her a sharp glare. “I thought something serious had happened. I was about to send a message to Princess Celestia. I was so worried, I set my basket on fire in my sleep!”
Twilight's eyes widened “But you haven't night-fired since-”
“I know, that's how upset I was. I mean, I'm happy you're okay, but you couldn't have come home for a second to say 'oh hey Spike, I know I just up and disappeared without saying anything to you, but I'm actually just fine'. You can teleport, you could have done that at any time!”
“Uh, it was for a good cause. I made a really important discovery. I found something, an alien! Here, in Equestria! Over there.” She pointed a hoof in Raj's direction in a transparent attempt to shift Spike's attention.
Raj looked down at the purple creature and waved weakly. “Um, hello.”
Spike raised and eyebrow and waddled up to him, eyes narrowed in appraisal. He rubbed his chin and said “Really? It doesn't look like an alien, it looks like some sort of shaved ape. Is that what you were doing Twilight, shaving monkeys out in the woods?”
“Hey, I'm not a monkey. I'm a Human you little prick.”
“Rajrishi.” Twilight hissed
“A human? Never heard of you. And I read a lot.”
Raj crossed his arms “Yeah, and what are you supposed to be? Some sort of fat gecko?”
“Rajrishi!” Twilight repeated, much more insistent.
“I'm a dragon.” Spike said, his tone low.
Raj crouched down, looking him in the eye. “Really, a dragon huh? I thought dragons were supposed to be ferocious and majestic.”
“Yeah, we are. You know what else we're supposed to do?” He muttered.
“Have wings? Be lithe and dangerous? Be voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch?”
“No, we're supposed to breath FIRE.” Spike pursed his lips and shot a thin gout of emerald flames onto the tip of Raj's boot.
Rajrishi yelped and hopped back, cursing as he stomped at the green fire stoked on his foot and ended up losing his balance. He crashed to the ground and started swatting and blowing at his burning limb.
Twilight grabbed a nearby vase in her horngrip and flung it at Rajrishi's foot, splashing him with water and scattering wilted flowers everywhere.
Before she could ask, Rajrishi held up a hand and said “I'm fine, didn't burn through. I'm fine.”
Twilight nodded and then turned her attention on Spike, who had rolled onto his back giggling. She grit her teeth and growled his name, low and threatening “Spiike...” The little dragon went stock still and then was hiked into the air by the nape of his neck. She lifted him level with her face and quietly asked “What is the second rule of the library?”
“Never mis-shelve?”
“Second rule Spike.” she re-stated.
“No fire under any circumstances.” He replied with resignation.
“Correct. Now, what did you just do?”
Spike shot a look at Raj's heat blackened foot and said “Shot fire. At somepony.”
“Yes, you did Spike. Rajrishi could have been seriously hurt!”
“Oh, come on Twilight. That fire wasn't even hot enough to boil water. It would've died out in a second.”
“I don't care Spike! There is never an excuse for that kind of behavior. Ever. Until further notice, you are confined to the library, and you can forget about getting any more comic books.”
He pointed a claw at Rajrishi “But he started it!”
“No excuses Spike. As much as it pains me to deny reading material to anypony, I can't let something like this go. Rajrishi is going to be staying with us for a while-”
“He will?”
“I will?” he asked as well.
“Not now, both of you.” she shouted before resuming her scowl at the dragon. “Now apologize.”
The little dragon clenched his claws and stomped over Raj as heavily as his stumpy legs would allow. He looked him in the eye, crossed his arms and mumbled “...'m sorry.”
Twilight nudged his back “Better.”
“I'm sorry okay. I'm sorry I set you on fire. It was wrong.”
Twilight nodded “Good. Now then, Rajrishi, do you have anything to say to Spike?”
“Yeah, I do. These are the only boots I have you little jerk. If they wear out on me I'm gonna-”
“RAJRISHI!”
“Fine, fine. I'm sorry I called you names Spike.”
“Good, good.” Twilight let out a pleased sigh “Now then, moving on. Apparently, I need to go let some ponies around town know that I'm back. Spike, can I rely on you to make enough food for the both of you before I get back?”
“Sure Twilight.” He answered, sounding defeated.
She grabbed a saddlebag in her magic and settled it on her back “Great. Now I'm trusting you two to be able to get along while I'm out. Think of it as a bonding experience. I'm sure once you two get past this little misunderstanding, you'll be fast friends.”
“Yeah, friends.” Raj cast a sideways look at the little dragon “Right.”
She shouldered the door open and said “I'm off, back in an hour or so.”
She slammed the door behind her and left the two of them there. Spike glared at the door angrily for a second before looking up at Rajrishi. Raj looked down at him and said plainly “You ever set me on fire like that again and I will spread you across the wall like jelly.”
“Try it monkey-boy, and the only thing left of you will be a scorched outline and a bad stink.”
Rajrishi stared at him for a few moments before he nodded and replied “Alright, I think we understand each other.”
“Good. You hungry?”
“Like you wouldn't believe.” He started to the kitchen with a low gurgle from his gut.
“Alright. Sit down, you'll just mess it up.”
Raj complied and watched Spike plod about the room, preparing a big saucepan of oatmeal porridge. He poured the oats out and set them on the stove, lighting the fire beneath with a puff of green breath. He then grabbed a frilly apron and tied it around his waist and neck.
“An apron? Seriously?” Raj asked, grinning.
“What? I'm cooking and I don't want to get dirty, that's what the thing is for Rajamashi.”
“Rajrishi, my name is Rajrishi. God, that wasn't even close.” he mocked.
“Bite me, your name is goofy.”
Rajrishi scowled “Hey, my name is elegant and beautiful, it means 'King's Sage' and was chosen for me by Guru Granth Sahib in a temple that has stood for more than a hundred years.” He crossed his arms “What about you? You're named after something that hurts to step on. Real noble.”
The little dragon poured oats and water into a pan, giving it a stir as it rapidly rose to a boil. “Wait, your name means something else? That's dumb.”
“You're dumb.” Raj replied as maturely as he could.
Spike grabbed a clawful of brown sugar and tossed it into the pot. “Why pick a name that means something different than what it is. Just be named for that thing. You're not going to name a foal something like 'Dirtrock' and then tell ponies that it actually means 'Skyfire'. Just name the kid Skyfire. Why mess around with something as confusing as double meanings like that?”
Rajrishi opened up his mouth to reply, but wasn't able to come up with anything sound. He sighed and said “Look, if my name is hard for you to say, then just call me Raj, alright?”
Spike moved the pot and set it on a cool burner. “Alright, Raj. That's much easier. You should just tell ponies that's your name.” He hopped off his stool.
Rajrishi groused silently to himself for a moment before trying to change the subject “So, what are you exactly? Twilight's brother, maybe her kid?”
Spike's eyebrow lifted “No, I'm her assistant. And a dragon. How would that even work?'
“Look man, I don't know. Twilight's a wizard or something, I don't know what that means she can do. I have no idea if this is common or not. I don't know how this crap works..”
Spike smirked “Well, when a mommy dragon and a daddy dragon love each other VERY much, the daddy dragon will-”
Raj pointed at him “No, shutup. I refuse.”
Spike snorted and laughed while Raj leaned back in his seat, trying not to be amused as well. He was saved when a ruffle of feathers sounded and a small, brown owl landed on the table and hooted at them.
“And now there's an owl. See, this crap is what I'm talking about. I have no idea if this is normal. Back home, if an owl was in my house for any reason, I would freak out. I'd try and scare it away with a broom, get an eye gouged out, and have the lamest mutilation story ever.”
“Hey, Owlowiscious wouldn't do that. He'd never hurt anypony.”
“Who.” Said the owl on the table.
“You, we're talking about you. You'd never hurt anypony, right Owlowiscious?”
“Who.” Said exactly who you think.
“I don't know. Him, you wouldn't hurt him!” shouted Spike, gesturing at Rajrishi.
The owl turned his way and stared blankly. Raj looked down at him and said “This happens a lot, doesn't it little guy.” The owl shrugged and flapped away to a corner of the library. Raj looked at the dragon again and said “You can say Owlowiscious , but you can't say Rajrishi?”
“Rajamataj.” he said with a smarmy grin.
“Now you're doing it on purpose.”
“Yeah, yeah I am.” he smiled and dumped some of the porridge into a bowl. He slid it across the table “Here, eat up. Milk's in the fridge.”
Raj caught it and looked at him quizzically. “Where's yours?”
“I ate already, that's for you. Tell Twilight there's some for her too.” He yawned “I'm going to bed.”
“It's nine in the morning.”
Spike scowled “I was up all night, looking for Twilight.”
“Oh, right.” he stirred his oatmeal “Thanks, I guess. I'm just kinda surprised.”
Spike looked at him intently for a moment and sighed “I do what Twilight tells me Raj. I trust her, I love her like family. So I don't like when she comes home hurt.”
Raj looked away and asked “How?”
“I notice a lot more than ponies think, like a limp that wasn't there before or cuts under her coat. I don't know what you guys were doing, if I need to, Twilight will tell me. If she says you're important, then you are.” He crossed his arms “But I don't care how important you are, if you hurt her, I'll... well I don't know what I'll do, but it'll be bad. Twilight will forgive me eventually, but I won't forgive myself if I let something happen to her. Understand?”
Raj looked at the little dragon again, suddenly finding the chubby creature a little more imposing. “I think I do Spike.”
He slumped a bit “Good. When Twilight gets back tell her that Owlowiscious puked a bunch of mice into her bed. I didn't clean it up.” and he waddled into the other room and upstairs.
Raj took a bite of his oatmeal and decided that, no, he wasn't going to tell her that.
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can you kill Spike off he is annoying
Hm, having read through it, you have a pretty interesting story going on. Raj is both an interesting and frustrating individual (at times I want to cheer for him and his tenacity, at times I want to whack him upside the head for being an insufferable, stubborn oaf), and following his adventures has been entertaining.
I also like the fact you established pretty early that the magic of the Everfree/Equestria has been seeping in to him and ... changing ... him to an unknown degree (something he should really bring up with Twilight, now that he is aware of her occupation and that she might be able to provide some answers and whether that's dangerous long-term or not), because otherwise I was getting ready to complain that a simple human has no business doing a quarter of the stuff he was accomplishing with a mere staff, however sturdy, so it was good to see the point being brought up and addressed by the story.
The Apple family arc was ... both interesting and slightly frustrating. Delving in to Raj's mind and his butting heads with Applejack did a good job at exposing his personality to us and some of the reasons he has for going about things the way he does (I think it's also safe to say he is obsessed to an almost dangerous degree), and provided some altogether emotionally powerful scenes. Both of the are stubborn as mules, so it was interesting watching them but heads and reading the conversations that came from it - you captured AJ pretty well.
The Diamond dog business I am somewhat more torn about - the way they stormed the tunnels was incredibly foolish, when the proper thing to do was contact authorities. I can sort of get Raj not really thinking twice on it (he really should know better, but on the other hand he doesn't really know how Equestria works and what might be summoned, and I suppose he might have assumed the local government doesn't have what it takes to be effective in handling the case ... plus he is a stubborn oaf), but danging - Applejack should have known better.
Yeah, the first time she went to report the dogs, the officials only gave them a stern talking to ... but the situation has really escalated and become dangerous since then. She doesn't even have to wrestle with the bureaucracy - just go to Twilight, who can then simply call upon her brother, who can assign a whole company of Royal Guards to scour the dang caves. Or hell, at least grab Twilight herself before storming the tunnels - she'd be a tremendous asset if it came to blows, or for extracting Granny - she could simply teleport her out of the dog clutches.
On the other hand ... Applejack is as stubborn as a mule herself (and not nearly as level-head as many try to assume she is), so I can kinda see her deciding this is an Apple issue that has to be settled by Apples (and a thought otherwise never even entering her mind, despite how much sense it would make and how much easier it would be as result, kinda like in Applebuck season) ...
So yeah, I guess it's less the writing itself I have a bone to pick with, than with Applejack over being a gosh-darn bullheaded fool (which is indeed in character for her), considering how many lives were ultimately put in increased danger simply because she never went to knock on to the library's door. But yeah, I can see that being in character for her, so ... gah (And I guess it would make for a considerably less tense story if the raid on the dog lair involved an enraged Twilight in the front, blasting a path through the tunnels with the dogs being unable to do much about it, heh).
---
As for the second arc, my interest is piqued. After all, him searching for a way home has been largely at the core of this story, and now that Twilight has gotten involved (I'm surprised she kept herself away for as long as she did, heh), I imagine we can look towards some eventual explanations and progress on the front - I'm certainly looking towards some exposition on that front. Besides, watching Twilight and Raj interact is pretty amusing (she was even excited about the prospect of hostile aliens invading, ha!).
It was also, frankly, good to see Raj finally lose a fight - you have been laying on his awesomeness in combat perhaps a wee bit too thick, him wading through anything and everything thrown his way, so having him face an enemy that would have beaten and killed him without Twilight's extensive intervention (the Naga) was, in its own way, a very welcome change of pace.
And Spike's interactions with him in the end (and his integrity whe it comes to Twilight - someone give the little guy a medal, his speech in the end was impressive) were highly amusing. I have a feeling they will get along rather fine, after that conversation.
Looking towards to more, has been a good rise thus far, and it feels like we are touching the juicy bits (stuff related to the Arch).
5442480
Hot damn, you wrote me a novel.
I love to see comments like this; long form things that really go into detail and critique. Seeing someone drawing conclusions from my writing, especially when they're different from my own, is probably my favorite part of writing fanfiction. Also, when I screw something up, I like to be called on it. It keeps me from making the same mistake again. Thank you Skydrake.
"Owlowiscious" is a moronic official spelling for his name. It's supposed to be a play on the name, "Aloysius", which sounds similar. It should be spelled "Owloysius", but what can you do?
Also, I knew how to Spell Owlowiscious's name in season 2. Mainly because I love Puns. Me spelling it correctly was unintentional.
So Raj is a Sikh? I know very little of the religion itself except that it forbid the cutting of hair after some sacrament is taken, so if he is an actual observer that means he was running around a forest with years of hair for half a month with no way to properly take care of it and I know from experience how not fun long hair is when you are constantly sweating and have no access to modern luxuries(such as running water), so the fact that he never complained to much about that is kind of metal.
I like your Spike. He's a dick.
6484123
But in a good way.
(He's a dick, but a respectable dick. There's zero douche in there. At least, so far.)
This is very very funny
When a man, and a man, and another man, and thirty-seven female krogan all love each other very, VERY much. The end result is THIS guuy
tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Mdb38cfba3b2d22b2e6d92ea8d7347c9co0&pid=15.1
*turns into a laughing heap for 10 minutes where he nearly dies of laughter and his face turns blue and red*
*raises hand*
No, I'm bein' honest here! I actually already knew how to spell that!! Basic rules of the english language. Thats one subject I excell greatly in. Except for my handwriting..... that could use some work.........
https://youtu.be/B34DmsMxUlA