Too Young

by Swordoath

Affected and Unaffected

"I can't fix this!" Quinn exclaimed in frustration, slamming the book shut. "It's been nearly an hour, and I am absolutely sure I made it correctly."

"Does this mean no more smelly goo?" Asked Rainbow Dash from his side.

"No, none of that." The distressed boy sighed, rubbing his temples. He mentally re-ran the experiment in his head, thinking to himself, I don't understand. It worked fine on the flower. Granted, a whole different species, but still, what am I missing?

No answer came to mind. Having no option but to report back to the others, he packed his things, grasping the new base youth potion in his hand. He left Zecora's hut as he'd found it, and proceeded back into town, Rainbow Dash directly in front of him. As he walked a buzzing built up in the back of his mind, and he began to stumble and trip over his own feet. It wasn't until he neared the town's fountain did he completely collapse from nausea. He stumbled over, allowing the age potion to roll out of his hand, onto fountain's side. Rainbow dash noticed this and doubled back for him, a concerned look on her face.

"Are you sick?" She inquired.

He groaned, shifting into a sitting position on the fountain's side. "I'm... I'm fine. Really, I just-"

Eyes suddenly widening, he turned away from the filly to relieve the contents of his stomach. His hand brushed against the bottle, knocking the vessel into the water, where the loose cork was freed, and the contents mixed with that of the water fixture's. Quinn shook his head violently, and wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand. He felt better, aside from the taste in his mouth.

Rainbow patted his side gently. "Better?" She asked, then "Ew."

"Yeah, mostly. Where's the..." He trailed off, seeing the cork of his bottle floating in the fountain. He then let loose a short stream of words, ones that should never be said in front of any decent company, especially a young filly.
---

Meanwhile, Zack did the same. Spike had just undergone a massive growth spurt, akin to that of the one on his birthday a few months ago. Spike was now just a head shorter than him, and not too pleased with the recent development.

"What do I do?" He said, failing at keeping the panic out of his tone. "Last time this happened I wrecked half the town!" Zack slapped him across the face. "Ow! What was that for?"

He shrugged. "Works in the movies. Seriously, just calm down. You're not feeling all greedy, right? You aren't taking anything that shines and hoarding it, like last time. You 're still acting normal. I'm pretty sure half of that ordeal was a mental thing. You're fine."

"Then why were you doing that thing you guys do when you get freaked out? What do you call it... swearing?"

"You just scared the bejesus out of me, that's why!"

"Oh. Right," Spike said, cheeks reddening a bit. "Think it'll scare the girls?"

"Doubt it. Still mostly you. Just don't run in screaming like you did to me, and I'm sure-"

"AAAHH!" came a shout from the doorway. A pink tail whipped around the frame as Pinkie ran, terrified of the dragon in the room. Spike glared at Zack, then slowly walked out of the room to calm the little filly down.

"Hey, hey," he said in what he thought was a soothing voice. It was a lot deeper, so he was unsure whether it came off as such. "Don't worry. It's me, Spike."

"No you're not! He's smaller!" Argued the filly from beneath the sofa.

"I, uh, got taller. That's all." he replied, looking down underneath.

"Liar!" Pinkie exclaimed, running out to the stairwell door. She brushed past AppleJack and Rarity on her way.

The two first looked after Pinkie, then at Spike. For a moment, nopony, or dragon, moved. Then AppleJack spoke up.

"Why're you so big?"

"I, uh," he struggled to find an explanation. "I ate my vegetables?"

The fillies made an 'o' with their mouths.

"Can..." Rarity asked timidly. "Can I see one of your scales?"

Spike was caught off guard by this question, but complied, pulling out a loose one from his elbow and handing it to her. The small unicorn took hold of it with a small amount of awe, marveling at the glimmering object in her hooves. "It's so pretty," she said, regarding it as if it were made of diamond. "Can I keep it?"

"I... sure. Just don't throw it or anything, okay?" It wasn't a sharp or jagged scale, and it wasn't as if she would try to eat it. "And could you do me a favor?"

The filly nodded furiously.

"Tell the other girls I'm not a monster."

"Why do they think you're a monster?" AppleJack asked the dragon.

"I just scared Pinkie Pie a bit, and I don't want her frightening the others. Please?"

"Okay!" Rarity said, bounding up the stairs, AppleJack right on her tail.

Zack stepped in, slowly clapping for his younger friend. "That was well handled."

"Do you ever stop and think, 'Hm, maybe I should help him out?'" Spike replied in an annoyed tone.

Before Zack could defend himself against the verbal dig, front door slammed open. Quinn, who was breathing heavily, let down Rainbow Dash from his back before noting Spike's appearance. "That... That's... hah... Not good..."

Rainbow Dash took one look at the dragon before running upstairs. Spike made to call after her, but was stopped by the recovering boy. "Bigger problems," he said between breaths. "Much bigger problems."

Author's Note:

Shoot. I almost forgot to put something mildly witty in the author's no-

Comments

[DynamiteTwinPow]

Loved the Story! You're amazing! You did an amazing job!