Chapter 5: Something Rotten in Denmare
Spike had to take a few breaths and convince himself he wasn’t dreaming. It had already been three days since the amazing events in Twilight’s library, but it still felt surreal. Here he was, laying next to Rarity in bed, the pony he’d had a crush on for years, now his loving girlfriend. Rarity was still asleep, taking deep slow breaths that ended with little sights. Even when she was asleep, Rarity managed to look beautiful and refined.
Carefully, Spike slipped out of the covers and wandered over to the window as the sun rose over Ponyville. That was the only thing that had not been perfect the last three days, his sleep. For some reason he hadn’t been able to sleep through the night. He’d woken up twice last night, both times feeling a strange panic. But then Rarity’s smooth breathing would be enough to convince him everything was fine and lull him back to sleep.
“Hmmmnnnmmnnnn.” Rarity let out a long deep sigh and turned over in bed. It would be another couple hours before she woke up. It had taken her a night to adjust to having Spike there next to her and getting the covers adjusted to the extra shape had taken a little practice. It had left Rarity needing a little extra sleep. Spike could try to catch another hour, but he didn’t feel at all tired and decided it was easier to just start up his day.
After getting freshened up, he decided to check in on Twilight. She’d been manically studying the gem ever since she had access to it and it was playing havoc with her sleep cycle. She’d insisted that Spike focus on time with Rarity and his new duties, but he worried about her when she got like this. It wasn’t like every waking moment was with Rarity either. Most of her time was spent working on outfits for the princesses and lemurs. Most of their time had been in the mornings and evenings, with promises that much more would be available after the coronation. Everyone was busy with details of the coronation. It certainly was a lot of trouble for what everyone insisted was a formality.
Spike padded along the road that led to the Golden Oak library and arrived just in time to see a sphere of green magic envelope the whole house. She was still at it. He gave a knock and walked inside to find Twilight furiously writing in her notebook. She hadn’t seemed to notice his entrance. “Hey Twilight...Twilight!”
“Ah!” She teleported three feet back in shock. “Oh, hello Spike. What are you doing here? You shouldn’t sacrifice your...” she let out a long yawn, “you’re Rarity time for my sake.” Twilight had bags under her eyes, and looked as though she would slump over at any minute.
“Rarity’s asleep, which is what you should be. Were you up all night again?”
“Don’t worry about me Spike. I’ll go to bed soon. I just need to finish this last test.” She yawned again and took a few more notes. “I almost have the magic down. The gem normally only works when you look into the light, but alicorn magic can transmute that into a field, and even a blind pony would be affected then. But I still can’t figure out why it only works for ponies. I haven’t been able to deconstruct the magical effect. There’s probably something about the gem’s material that’s important but I don’t have the expertaaaawwwwwwwhhhhh.” Another yawn overpowered Twilight mid-sentence and her quill started to wobble too much to write.
“Come on Twilight, time to get to bed.” Spike put an arm around her shoulders and started to guide her upstairs.
“I still have so much to understand. Need to see if…*yawn* there are other possible transmutations.”
“I know, and you’ll have lots of time to do that once you’ve had some sleep.” He guided her up the last few steps
“Mmmm have to talk to Luna...and see if…”
“Well you might be able to talk to her if you have a good dream.” He pulled the covers back on her bed.
Spike had played this game many times before and despite her protests, Twilight followed his lead and crawled into bed. Spike pulled the covers halfway up her mane. “Sweet dreams, Twilight.”
“Mmm goodnight Spike. Just be sure to wake me up beforr…” and she was out. Spike brushed a little of her mane out of her face and smiled before tiptoeing away, locking the door behind him.
Back outside, he spent a little time wandering around Ponyville to watch people begin their day. It was the only time of day where you wouldn’t see a large number of lemurs. The wise lemurs were not early risers, and after initially prancing all around Ponyville, seemed to have become happier spending most of their time indoors. Spike had heard more than half of the little furballs had taken up residence in the Rich mansion, including the prince and his two advisers. The past two days, Ponyville had tended to be lemur-free until 11AM.
By the time most of Ponyville was up and running, Spike walked back to Rarity’s boutique and headed for the kitchen to start a kettle for tea and to cook up some pancakes. He’d whisked the batter into just the right consistency when Rarity wandered in, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes every other step. “Mmmm, good morning Spikey. Ooh you’re making me breakfast? Such a gentleman.” She sidled up to him and kissed his cheek.
“Uhh, it’s...the least I can do.” He replied, blushing furiously. “I make breakfast for Twilight all the time when she’s lost in her studies.”
Rarity giggled and poured herself some tea while Spike poured batter onto the griddle. “Well Twilight has been a lucky girl and I’m glad you have let me in on the secret. Ohhh this breakfast will be the only solace I get today. With the coronation tomorrow I am in quite a crunch to finish up the prince’s royal outfit. I think we may have to skip date night tonight.”
Spike flipped the pancakes over on the griddle. “I understand. At least all this coronation stuff is finally over tomorrow.”
“Yes, it will be a glorious occasion. And I promise, after that we’ll have a day just the two of us. Besides, I’m sure the Royal Dragon can find something to occupy himself.” She smiled slyly at Spike as he brought the pancakes over to the table.
Spike allowed himself a little smile at the mention of his new title. The same night that Rarity had discovered her love for him, Celestia and Luna had both realized they had not been acknowledging Spike’s capabilities. They and the lemurs had collectively decided he should have his own royal position befitting his draconic heritage. So now he was the Royal Dragon of Equestria, along with a couple dozen other titles the lemurs had granted him with ‘protector’ ‘defender’ ‘scholar’ and various other honorifics. It also came with a red cape.
His official duties so far had been to supervise some of the coronation preparations, and check on them first hand in some cases. “I’m sure I’ll be able to occupy myself somehow.” He replied to Rarity, who giggled in response. The two chatted warmly and sipped tea until all the pancakes were gone. Rarity locked herself into her work room and Spike put on his cape to begin his royal duties.
He made his way to Sugarcube Corner, where the Cakes had been working with Pinkie Pie to make all the necessary treats for the upcoming coronation. He needed to check on their progress to make sure everything was going smoothly. They’d temporarily closed the shop to usual traffic so they could focus on the coronation baking, but Pinkie Pie had made sure to start each day designing a special treat for Spike, and when Pinkie put her energy into creative treats, it led to some of the most wondrous desserts ever.
As he walked through the door, the Cakes were dashing around, putting various pastries into storage boxes. Pinkie Pie poked her head out of the door with a spot of whipped cream on her nose. “The key lime is ready! Oh! Hi Spike!” She quickly licked her nose clean and walked over to the counter. “So, how is the Royal Dragon feeling today?” She leaned forward and winked conspiratorially.
“Oh I can’t complain.” Spike smiled back in anticipation. “Though I am a little bit hungry.”
“Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.” Pinkie replied. “I might have something to solve that.” She tugged him into the kitchen and sat him down at a small table then snuck off to retrieve her dish. Spike marveled at the two dozen key lime pies on the nearby counter and thought to himself that the coronation was going to be one of the biggest parties in Ponyville history.
Pinkie soon returned with a covered platter she set in front of Spike. “For the Royal Dragon’s approval, I present, citrine upside down cake!” She pulled off the platter top to reveal the golden spongy cake topped with the eponymous crystals.
“Oh wow, this looks amazing.” He picked up a fork and guided a healthy portion to his mouth. His eyes closed as he savored the flavor. The cake was sweet, flavored with a little pineapple, which blended perfectly with the sweet and tart flavor of the citrine. “Mmmm Pinkie.” He took another bite before continuing. “I think this is the best treat you’ve made so far.”
Pinkie’s eyes sparkled with joy. “I’m so so glad! I have to guess at how gems will taste. I mean, yeah, I taste them myself just in case, but they all taste icky and I mean why wouldn’t they, ponies can’t eat rocks, except for a few special exceptions, so I don’t know how they’ll taste for you and worry it will be the wrong flavor.
“No no, you do an amazing job. You’re probably the best cook for dragons in Equestria.”
“Ooh, thank you Spike. Maybe the Royal Dragon will need a royal cook, as long as I can still plan parties.”
“Hehe, that sounds good to me Pinkie.” The idea tickled him quite a bit. He did have a royal title now. Maybe a Royal Dragon would be entitled to a castle and royal cook. He got lost in thought as he finished the rest of the dessert, imagining a throne for himself and a second nearby for Rarity, perhaps with a few extra ponies to feed them grapes and gems.
After he was done with his treat, Pinkie gave Spike an update on their progress and confirmed all the treats necessary would be ready in time for the coronation. After that Spike made his way towards the spa. Normally full of ponies, the lemurs had all taken a liking to the place and monopolized its services. As part of his royal duties, Spike needed to make sure everything was at the highest quality at the spa. Spike had taken quite a liking to his daily inspections.
“Ahh Mister Spike.” Aloe smiled at her most important customer as he came in. “Will Sir be wanting his complimentary Dragon Special today?”
“Oh yes, definitely.” Spike grinned. After setting his cape aside in a changing room, he made his way for a nice healthy steam. The spa set aside a steam room just for Spike because he had a significantly higher heat tolerance. Turning the thermostat all the way up, Spike leaned back and gave a long happy sigh. He allowed himself to fantasize a bit more about the idea of a castle and servants, all befitting hte Royal Dragon. Celestia had hundreds of guards and servants that attended to her. Surely his title would warrant a dozen ponies or so. He’d have to ask about that when he had a chance.
After a while, Spike emerged from the steam room in a giant cloud, remembering to set the thermostat down to levels that wouldn’t scald ponies. After that he was given a special claw filing and then headed over to get a mud bath to make his scales glisten. There he met a familiar face, who was in the middle of sinking into his own tub of mud.
“Hey Meesis, looks like I’m right on time.” Spike moved to the mud bath tub next to the lemur. Meesis had been visiting the spa on a daily basis and always ended up running into Spike. Spike didn’t quite see him as a friend, but was pleasant to talk to as they both enjoyed the amenities at the spa. It helped Meesis was one of the few lemurs that didn’t sound inherently obnoxious to Spike. He’d confided about this fact to Meesis the previous day, which had made the lemur laugh and suggest his West Lemurian accent must be more pleasant overall.
The two relaxed in silence for a while, cucumbers over their eyes and a mass of seaweed applied to their faces. Once Spike began to get a little bored he looked in Meesis’ general direction. “You know I never asked, what is your job here in Equestria? Are you part of all this annexation stuff?”
“Oh yes, in a certain manner.” He replied back, picking one of the cucumbers from his eye and munching on it casually. “I’m a monetary scholar. I’m part of the project to fix the Equestrian currency.”
“Fix?” Spike picked his cucumbers off to get a look at Meesis. “What’s broken about things now?”
“Well the main thing is the money itself. Bits you see, they’re made of gold, which is no good as a currency.”
“I don’t understand, what’s wrong with gold?” Spike noted that dragons at least seemed to favor it as the one he met in the Everfree Forest had a pile of it mixed in with gems.
“There’s nothing wrong with gold itself. It’s beautiful, but as money...you see the thing you base your money on needs to have inherent value, meaning it needs to be rare. And that’s the problem, there’s just way too much gold in Equestria. I mean, I learned in Canterlot there is a unicorn whose name is Gold Digger. She knows a spell that lets her locate gold underground and she can just dig it right up.”
By then their bath was over so they both got out of the mud baths and rinsed themselves clean with water. Meesis looked like a wrung out washcloth after that, but started to puff back up when he got his hands on a blowdryer. “I mean, you can buy a pound of gold in Equestria for two hundred bits, and two hundred bits weigh only a quarter of a pound.” He yelled over the sound of the dryer. “It’s inflation you see? You’re assigning more value than the coins really have.”
Once dry, they both laid down on some mats to get back massages. “So the gold isn’t worth enough to justify the coins, they might as well be mangoes.”
“Oooooh” Spike groaned as Aloe worked out a knot in his shoulder. “What do mangoes have to do with it?”
“It’s a lemur saying, for something being worthless.” Mangoes are everywhere in Lemuria. Bland, boring fruit, but it keeps you fed. No one sells mangoes, because if you need to eat one, there will be a tree within a hundred feet that you can climb to get one for yourself. Gold isn’t quite that plentiful, but there’s so much of it it just won’t work for a proper currency. In Lemuria we use these blue pearls that only can be found in this one cove...but with all the expected growth in Equestria, the pearls might be too rare, which can be problematic as well.”
Meesis rattled off a few other thoughts about money as their massages finished up. Spike wasn’t sure he understood much of the arguments, but Meesis liked talking about it and Spike didn’t want to ruin a perfect spa day by asking questions and getting even more complicated explanations. He waved goodbye to the lemur and moved on to his next visit in the park.
The Ponyville Flyer’s Club had been started two days earlier. The club didn’t have a specific role in the upcoming coronation, but was designed for a longer term purpose. Because lemurs were more comfortable climbing than walking they were not always good at covering long distances. Earth ponies and unicorns had selflessly offered to give them rides to help with this. Pegasi wanted to help too, but a lot of lemurs were wary of falling off a pegasus back while in flight. The club was allowing pegasi to practice so they could offer safe flying for the lemurs. For the time being, they had been practicing with sacks of flour.
Spike arrived at the park and looked up to see about two dozen pegasi doing slow gentle circles around the sky. Rainbow Dash noticed Spike on one of her passes and paused in mid flight. “I’ll be right back guys, keep up the good work.”
Naturally, because it had to do with flying, Rainbow Dash had volunteered to lead up the Flyer’s Club and get everyone prepared, though Spike had found it ironic the fastest flyer in Ponyville was assigned to teach people how to fly gently enough not to lose a passenger. But Rainbow had seemed to adapt to the new flying requirement. She descended towards Spike in large circles and gently landed with a last minute flutter of her wings, the sack of flour on her back undisturbed.
“Hey Spike, how’s it going?” She looked up at the other fliers and cried out. “That’s it, Blossomforth, nice and slow and gentle like that!” She looked back at Spike. “Here for an update?”
“Uh, yeah I guess so.” Spike had always felt a little odd inspecting the Flyer’s Club. It was the slowest he’d ever seen Rainbow Dash fly, but she insisted the slow pace didn’t bother her, along with some commentary of the best flyer in Equestria could adapt to the kind of flying that was needed. “Anything new to report?”
“Not really.” Rainbow tilted her head to recall the day’s events. “We’ve had three more dropped sacks today, though two were from a certain blonde pony that doesn’t watch where she’s going. Otherwise we’re doing great and everyone should be ready for real lemurs by the end of the week.”
“Good to hear. But uh, if you want me to talk to the lemurs about anything, or you have any thoughts, let me know.”
“Aye aye, Spike. I’ll see you tomorrow at the coronation, yeah?” She offered a quick salute then trotted forward to get a running start before carefully taking off. She ascended in slow carefully circles and rejoined the other fliers. Spike resolved to talk to the lemurs about the flyer’s club and giving the pegasi time to cut loose when not carrying passengers. He could mention that the same time he asked about his possible castle.
He moved on to his last stop of the day at the schoolhouse. The students had been preparing a play based on Lemurian history that they’d perform during the coronation. Spike had never seen their rehearsals. They rehearsed in the mornings and worked on their costumes and set pieces in the afternoons. Spike didn’t want to think how far back the students would be in their studies after working nearly a week on nothing but this play, but like everyone else, the students seemed driven to make the coronation stand out.
As Spike arrived, he saw Twilight was there as well, talking with Cheerilee. She had been offering advice for the play, Meerca had revealed it was a good excuse so Twilight was able to read the history scrolls he’d provided the school. Spike passed by a gaggle of fillies and colts that were all dressed up in their costumes and chatting happily to each other, then waved over to Cheerilee and Twilight.
“Hello Spike. I was just updating Twilight on things. We did our final dress rehearsal today and everything looks perfect for tomorrow.”
Spike thanked Cheerilee and decided to walk Twilight back to her home. “I hope you got a good day’s rest.” He said with a grin.
“Yes, and thank you for getting me there Spike. I know I get carried away and I need to be more careful with myself. It’s a good thing my visitor arrived today. I would still be sleeping if she hadn’t knocked on my door an hour ago.”
“You have a visitor?”
“I was trying to explain to you about it when I fell asleep I think. I’ve hit a wall with studying the gem. I can’t seem to figure out why the magic only affects ponies, or how the magic is created in the first place. So I sent a message to an expert to see if I could get some further insight.”
“An expert?” Spike tried to think of who Twilight could possibly get expertise from, aside from Celestia herself, and she was already in town and wouldn’t need a message sent. “Is this someone I would know?”
“Oh, I think you’ve met at least once before.” Twilight grinned, seeming to enjoy watching the gears turn in Spike’s head as they approached the library. Spike opened the door and wandered inside, still not sure who it could be. Once he saw her, he whacked his head.
“Oh, of course!”
“Hey.” Maud said.
“Hello again Maud.” Twilight said as she walked in and shut the door behind her. “Thanks again for coming all the way to Ponyville to help me out. Were you able to learn anything about the gem while I was gone?”
“Yes. It’s a rock.” Maud replied.
“Ah.” Twilight gave her an odd smile. “Right...but is there any special or strange about it?”
“No. It’s a standard cyclosilicate with chromium impurity. It’s definitely magical, but compositionally it’s a normal rock.”
Twilight sighed. “Well, I know more about it than I did before. Thank you Maud. I appreciate the help.”
“Thank you, Twilight.” She said in her even tone. “Helping lemurs is the most important thing I could do.”
Twilight smiled, understanding Maud’s enthusiasm didn’t always come through. “I’ll be sure to let the prince know you helped me out. Pinkie Pie is probably still at Sugarcube Corner, I know you’ll want to pay her a visit before you head home. Oh! And I just remembered, I found a book on geology that you might be interested in. Let me get that for you.” Twilight walked up to her room to retrieve the book and Spike found himself alone with Maud.
“So...lemurs are great, huh?” Some part of Spike still couldn’t believe how enthusiastic everyone was about them, gem or not.
“Yes, lemurs are great.” Maud replied. But then she added, “Boulder says they’re dangerous and shouldn’t be trusted. We had a fight about it.”
“Uh, well, I hope you two make up soon.” Spike replied slowly.
“Thank you, we've been through worse. We'll figurethings out.”
Twilight returned and gave the book to Maud, who said her goodbyes and made her way to visit Pinkie Pie. Once she was gone Twilight wandered back over to her scroll to add more notes concerning the gem. “I was really hoping Maud was going to discover the gem was special in some way and that would be the clue that told me how to replicate its effects. But it looks like I have a lot more digging to do.”
Spike moved over to Twilight’s side and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you solved a spell even Starswirl couldn’t get right. I’m sure you’ll figure this out eventually. If you want, you could have Maud come in tomorrow and have another look. Maybe the gem’s power will give her some new insights about things.”
Twilight gave Spike a weak smile. “I wish that could work Spike, but Maud has to leave tonight to get back to her studies. Even if the gem could work twice for the same pony, she doesn’t have time to help. I just have to work from the assumption that the gem’s composition isn’t important and see what comes from that.”
Spike nodded along, but then something Twilight had said made him stop short. “Twilight, did you say the gem can’t work twice?”
“....but maybe the composition is important, but not for being extraordinary but for being a gem...oh sorry did you say something Spike?” She was already getting deep into her own thoughts as she did more pondering about the gem.
“Uh, no, nevermind. I should get back and check in on Rarity.”
“Alright Spike. I’ll see you tomorrow during the coronation. It’s going to be a long day so be sure to rest up.” Twilight turned back to her scroll and jotted down a series of new hypotheses. Spike took his leave and wandered back towards Rarity’s. She would still be working on clothes most likely, which meant he’d be stuck with just his thoughts for now, and they were very unsettled.
That phrase kept passing through his mind. “Even if the gem could work twice for the same pony…” but if the gem only worked once...Rarity had been exposed to the gem already when the lemurs first came to Ponyville. If it only worked once that would mean the night she realized she loved him...but that was impossible. Twilight had obviously misspoken. If she had discovered the gem only worked once she’d have told him.
She’d definitely just misspoken...right?
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Not much happened, but it was a good overview of how the Lemurs are occupying the town.
Now that I think about it, it's a bit strange that Twilight and Rarity seem to be basically conspiring and lying to keep Spike happy, particularly since neither seem to think much of it given how flawlessly they lie. Or maybe they're suggestible enough under the gem that they believe the lie when prepped by the lemurs.
Glad to see another chapter, but I feel like there's a few issues. The flyers clubs, overlooks saddles and the fact lemurs would be able to hold on. While I have no doubt lemurs wouldn't care about ponies time doing it this way seems like busy work. Why not learn by flying with lemur passengers at like Fluttershy height?
Second, they knew Spike was coming and planned for it. So if the gem wasn't able to make Rarity act like that, then why was the light show needed. Why not just tell her to behave that way? Spike didn't run into Rarity between the gem unveiling and him leaving town. They could have claimed she had been eager for him to come back, been talkingabout him constantly
7476856
Both with Rarity and the new "Royal Dragon" title they claimed that the gem was the reason they'd "realized" things. The point is to motivate him to think the gem is a good idea, so that he's less likely to be suspicious because all these things he likes depend (allegedly) upon the gem helping them "see the light". It makes perfect sense for them to try manipulating him that way.
Come on Spike, you are not that stupid.
You know something is wrong, just say something bad about a Lemur and watch the reaction.
I wonder if Twilight will figure out how the gem can affect the lemurs themselves?
7484632 doubt it. Right now she has no interest in that and if the spell is broken presumably the lemurs will hightail it out
7529989 Eh, Twilight is very curious and tracks down data from every angle, a trait the lemurs still encourage, since they want to learn more about their gem as well. Presumably if Twilight finds some old ward in the spell lattice preventing the lemurs from being "enlightened," she would happily repair such an oversight immediately for the benefit of her lemur masters.
7530899 she's probably been ordered to report when she finds out the issue
7530976 I'm sure she has, and I can just see her coming in and reporting "Oh, by the way, I found some weird little spell-structure that was preventing lemurs from being enlightened. I realized that was in error of course, so I corrected the mistake immediately. Now Equestria will be even stronger with the power of magically enlightened lemurs to guide it!"
7530985 I'm not sure Twilight in her current state of mind is capable of believing that lemurs can become better than they are.
7550573 But the lemurs have also told Twilight that the magic gem makes everyone wiser.
It's like that ancient philosophical conundrum: Could God create a microwave hot pocket so hot that he couldn't eat it?