Later, in the Forest
Eventually, Spike had to stop running.
He came to a small stream and mechanically leaned down to take a drink.
Flinching, he averted his eyes from the spined monstrosity he still was as he slurped at the water.
Shaking himself, he stepped over the stream and into a small meadow. Its yellow flowers seemed familiar to him, and a cloud of butterflies swarmed around him as he carefully made his way into the meadow.
He sat there as the small pastel insects flew around him, many finding seats on the new thorns growing from the plates covering his back and sides.
“You don't want to do that,” he gently rumbled, the words sounding like boulders grinding against themselves in some massive box. Briefly, the cloud of insects rose from him. “I'm not safe, not anymore.”
The butterflies ignored his words, settling back on him.
He sat there for a while, wreathed in pink, watching as a group of fat bumblebees flew lazily from flower to flower.
His head perked suddenly, a voice reaching his ears he needed to hear, needed to never hear again, calling his name in the far distance.
Standing quickly, he exited the meadow, leaving behind only a swarm of butterflies and a patch of squashed flowers.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤Some Hours Ago¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
“Spike!”
No answering call.
“Spi~i~ike!”
Still, nothing answered her.
Sniffling, Fluttershy drug herself closer to the forest, passing just beneath the boughs of the trees now.
She cried out as her rear leg twinged, the dislocated limb roaring as she clipped her hoof on some root she hadn't seen. Panting, she gathered her breath to call into the forest again.
“Fluttershy!”
She jerked and looked wildly over her shoulder, afraid for a second that the Ursa had revived and called out to her for some reason. Her heart slowed when she saw Twilight swooping onto the road, looking at the balled up bear as she galloped to her friend.
“Fluttershy, what-”
Fluttershy shook her head and latched onto Twilight's neck. “Twilight, I ne-need you to do so-so-something for m-m-me-e really qu-quick.”
Astounded at the firm tone, Twilight looked down at Fluttershy with wide eyes, nodding.
“M-my l-l-left leg needs to b-b-be p-put back in i-its socket.”
Twilight flinched, but looked down at her friend, intent on in her need.
Snapping a twig from a nearby tree, Twilight floated it into Fluttershy's mouth. Leaning down, she wrapped her wings and forelegs around Fluttershy as she gripped the limb in her magic, breathing deeply.
Fluttershy heard a very wet popping, and fought for her consciousness as the pain threatened to sweep her away. Shaking it off, she spat out the piece of wood, distinct flat teeth marks showing around the tree limb.
“Th-thank you,” she whispered, returning Twilight’s hug. She then pushed away, standing and trotting towards the forest.
A purple haze surrounded her, and she felt herself lifted as she turned back to a severe looking Twilight. “Fluttershy, what happened here? Why is there an extremely bloodied Ursa sitting over there, what happened to you, where's Spike… What happened?”
Sniffling, Fluttershy shook her head and gave Twilight a quick rundown of the Ursa's sudden attack, Spike's transformation, a tear-filled recount of her own fear when the massive claw had stroked her, and Spike's flight into the forest.
At some point Rainbow and Applejack had shown up, the farmer restraining her marefriend from interrupting several times as Fluttershy filled them in.
Twilight nodded, then turned to the other two. “Applejack, I need you two to run to town and get Pinkie Pie,” she said, worry creasing her face. “Rainbow, I need you to fetch Rarity, then start flying a pattern over the Everfree, see if you can spot Spike. He's the size of an Ursa Major now, so he shouldn't be too hard to spot-”
“His scales are darker now,” Fluttershy spoke up. “They're a black-green, the last time I saw. I think he'll be camouflaged pretty well.”
Twilight swore under her breath, a word that the three of them never would have guess her to know. “Still, search pattern. Don't approach him, just give a whistle and I'll be there.”
The two nodded and took off, Dash becoming nothing more than a rainbow blur as Applejack sprinted away. Fluttershy moved to take off as well, but Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“Fluttershy, I need you to help me with the bear,” she said gently. “We need to know why it was in town, and why it attacked you two.”
Fluttershy shook her head, glaring at the Ursa. “I don't want to talk to her right now,” she almost growled. “I am not e-even close to in th-th-the mood ri-ight now.”
“And I can understand that, 'Shy,” Twilight said, wrapping a wing around the pegasus. “But if there's a problem, then sending the Ursa back into the forest will just make something like this happen again. We have to fix why she came out here, or she'll just come back.”
Fluttershy scowled before shaking her head and walking over to the bear.
After a minute of brusque coaxing, the bear slowly related to them that it was looking for a new place to move its cave to, and had thought the ponies nearby would be easy prey.
Fluttershy didn't need to say much to convince it to relocate in another direction.
After slowly getting to its feet, the Ursa limped into the forest, taking an angle to its path to avoid Spike's trail, a clear tunnel of broken limbs and churned dirt.
Twilight still had asked her to wait until at least Rainbow Dash got back, to help her search over the forest. Twilight was surprised when Fluttershy shook her head, pointing into the forest itself.
“I'm going in there after him, Twilight. There's no guarantee that anyone can see him through the canopy, even someone with my eyes. I'm going to follow him.”
Twilight looked into the darkness of the Everfree, chewing on her lip as she pondered Fluttershy's words.
“Alright, but I'm coming with you. I can use my magic to mask us a bit, and we can hopefully just fly through the forest without anything touching us.” Fluttershy spread her wings, crouching to lift off. With a sigh, Twilight raised her hoof again. “We still need to wait on the others-”
A rainbow contrail blasted overhead, quickly taking up a gridded pattern and flying lines far above the forest's canopy.
“There's Dash, surely AJ won't be far behind,” Twilight muttered, turning around when she didn't hear a response. “Fluttershy?” A twig in the forest snapped, and she sighed.
Quickly conjuring a map, she wrote hurried instructions for the earth ponies and set the map to levitate in the air as a fixed point, then spread her wings and gave chase to her yellow friend.
“Ponyfeathers,” she muttered under her breath.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤Currently¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Fluttershy's hooves clattered across the ground, her wings pumping absently as she poured on what speed she had. Twilight flew above her, plenty of space available from the dragon's passing. Fluttershy jumped, passing over a small tree that had crashed down in the wake of the rampaging beast.
He's not a beast, he's Spike!
She shook her head, dismissing the tears that tried to form again as she lowered her head, attempting to gain even a little more speed.
“Clearing ahead!” Twilight called down. “There's something big in the middle, might be him!”
Fluttershy stumbled a bit, her wings flapping to keep her momentum.
“Spike!” she called forward, panting as she strained to raise her voice as much as she was capable. “Spike, please, please stop!”
The dark figure paused just into the trees on the other side of the clearing, long enough for the duo to reach the beginning of the yellow wildflowers that filled the gap in the trees. Fluttershy jumped over a large stream of water, landing on the other side even as the figure in the trees turned away.
“Spike!” she screamed, planting her feet and putting all of her feeling, all of her power into her throat. Everything paused, the wind dying even as her voice faintly echoed through the trees.
The dark splotch among the trees turned back to her, and she shivered as the sunlight glinted off its, no, his eyes. She looked up into eyes she recognized, full of pain and a little surprise.
“Wow, Fluttershy,” he spoke, his voice massive and deep and soft with emotion. “Rainbow would be proud.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she grinned up at him. “Anything I need to do, S-Spike,” she said, taking a few steps forward. “I need yo-you to h-hear me, ri-ri-right n-now, so I'll b-be as loud a-as I can for you.”
He shifted back, and she froze. “Please stay,” she whispered, her smile withering even as she tried to keep it plastered on. “Please don't run.”
Slowly, he leaned forward, extending a foreleg. The dark green limb reached out to her, displaying the tremendous amount of spines that now literally covered the back of his leg. He turned it slowly, letting the light glint off of the fractured scales.
“I can't stay here, 'Shy,” he rumbled. “I'm just made for hurting ponies now. It happened again Fluttershy, and I couldn't stop it, and now I'm worse than I was the first time. Now I'm some... thing made of razor blades and teeth, and I can still taste that Ursa's blood...”
He trailed off as she made her way to his limb, standing just below his reach. Slowly, she reached up and pushed on the bottom of his thumb, flipping over his claw. The palm was smooth, wrinkled hide, like the thickest leather from Giffonstone. She ran her hoof over the thick skin, reveling at the warmth and smoothness of it.
“Fluttershy, I'm a monster,” he whispered.
She laid her head in his palm, nuzzling into the middle of his claw. Hopping, she laid in the claw and curled into a ball.
Slowly, he lifted her to his face, looking closely at the pegasus. Once she got close enough, she lifted her head, nuzzled into his lips, and kissed him.
“Spike, you're just as soft as I remember you.”
He looked away, but her tapping hoof had his attention back on her.
“You protected me, Spike. You protected yourself,” she said, sitting in his palm and looking into his eyes, those eyes she recognized. “You're no more a monster than AJ was when she killed those vines trying to get into her house, or when Mr. Cake defended his family against the Tantabus. Or when Pinkie-”
“Fluttershy, I can still taste her,” he said, lifting up his other claw and displaying a messy splotch of dark brown. “I can still-”
“So does AJ, sometimes,” she interrupted. “You remember when we had to fight those timber wolves? She bit into one then, threw it away. She came to me afterwards, asked me if making an animal bleed made me feel guilty, even if I'd ever accidentally killed an animal before.”
She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hoof.
“Spike, I've had blood in my mouth before,” she admitted, laying on his palm. “I stitch up the hurt ones, and sometimes I need my wings for handling bandages and medicines. I've even had to stitch up Harry a few times, because he gets territorial with the manticores sometimes. You're not the only one with blood on your teeth, Spike, and many of my animals are carnivores, so I even know those who enjoy it.”
He stared down at her for minutes, just trying to crunch some unfathomable number in his mind and seemingly reaching blank.
“Fluttershy, there's no way you can forgive me this easily,” he said as she shook his head, starting to move her away. “I seriously hurt another living thing, surely-”
She flew back up, back to his muzzle, hugging the front very carefully. “I know that it hurts you,” she said, just loud enough to hear. “And I know that you're sorry for it, and won't ever do it again on purpose. And...” she turned her head, whispering something that made his ear twitch.
“Sorry Fluttershy, too quiet,” he chuckled, then started to ask what she had said before she turned and called out her words.
“I love you!”
He stared down at her, his heart skipping beats as he looked at the tiny pony flying in front of his muzzle, tears of pain staining both of their eyes.
Gently, he brought both of his palms up and pulled her forward, laying a gentle kiss on top of her head before pulling her to his unarmored chest, and pressing her gently to his heart. Lifting her up, he released her and nodded.
“I'm ready to head back.”
Slowly, he pushed the flying Fluttershy towards the tunnel he had carved through the forest, seeing Twilight and giving her an awkward smile as he walked across the field of flowers.
“You grew a little since I last saw you,” Twilight joked as she wiped tears away from her eyes. “Hope that isn't permanent.”
He frowned at her, then looked down at the ground, a good fifty feet at least. Looking over his back, he measured himself around thrice that length to the tip of his tail.
“Don't worry,” she said, calling to get his attention. “It seems like the magic your body uses to keep yourself smaller got burned up in the transformation. You just need to let your magical pool refill, and you should be your normal size again.”
Spike blinked slowly. “Are you saying this is my normal size, and my body keeps me small?”
She shook her head, scowling in thought. “It's more like your magic keeps your body at a manageable size for your resources, but it dumped all of your magic into growth to fight the Ursa. As a matter of fact, you should start losing mass as soon as you start regaining your magic.”
He nodded slowly, sure he was missing something but not sure what. “That will be soon?”
Twilight thought for a second, her expression falling. “Well, I think draconic mages regain their pool slowly… I'll have to do a refresher when I get to my library, but it might be a while.”
He sighed slowly, nodding. “I can deal with this for a week or so… I can sleep in AJ's barn, I think she'll be okay with it,” he muttered, trailing off.
“Uhm, if the weather's going to be clear, you can sleep in my yard?” Fluttershy volunteered. “The animals tell me it's very soft, and smells very nice in the morning...”
He smiled down at her, giving her head another gentle kiss. “Thank you, Fluttershy, I'll take you up on that. Barring rain, of course.”
She smiled up at him, and he smiled down at her, and Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around, flying down the wide tunnel in the trees.
“Goggle at each other later, weirdos! Let's get home for now,” she called behind her.
With a start, Fluttershy swooped into the passage, Spike bringing up the rear.
Even with his mass already having come through, the tree branches seemed to tug at his spines, and Spike started to rub up against them when a strange itching overcame his scales. Stopping, he moved towards one already downed tree and rubbed his back against it, scraping away the itching that took over his back and sides.
Moving through the trees became much easier after that, and Spike wondered what had changed.
Looking ahead, he saw something flash at the top of his line of sight, and he looked up at a rainbow streak. He shook his head, calling forward, “Twilight, you might want to call off the hunt, Rainbow's still looking.”
She gasped and looked up, starting to shimmy her way through the canopy.
Reaching forward, Spike cradled the alicorn in a fist and pushed it up through the trees, letting her fly into the sky. Looking down, he motioned forward with his nose, and the two lovers moved through the trees. Looking ahead, they both saw a nearing opening in the woods, and the three ponies standing in the opening.
“Hey, you should go let them know,” Spike whispered, nudging Fluttershy forward with his nose.
She nodded and shot forward, landing in front of the three while Spike slowly paced forward. Reaching a certain point he was sure they wouldn't be able to see him yet, he sat and waited for some sign from his marefriend.
Quickly enough she raised a wing to him and gestured, and he stood to walk forward. Slowly he walked into the daylight, feeling their stares as he moved out of the forest.
“Celestia, Spike,” Applejack murmured, both her and Pinkie Pie moving up to look closer at him. He shied away, and they stopped moving. “I heard that you'd gone feral again, but-”
She stopped talking when he flinched, slapping a hoof over her mouth and looking apologetically up at him. “I'm-”
“No,” he muttered, shaking his head and smiling at her, a bit melancholically. “It's okay, I understand. It's true, even.”
She shook her head, taking a digit of his claw and holding it close. “I still hurt your feelings, talking without thinking, and I'm sorry.”
He nodded, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, twitching at a soft grinding sound. Pulling his claw back, he looked at a dark powder now coating his palm.
“Oh, Spike! Your thorns are disappearing!” Pinkie called, trotting up and looking closer at his legs. Reaching up, she gingerly poked one with her hoof, watching it turn to powder. She ran her limb over a larger bit of his leg, wiping it clean of the dark thorns. The lower layer of the top of the limb looked like it had been shined, a bright emerald green instead of the almost-black forest green his scales had looked like.
He picked up his claw to run over his other leg, but a blue glow stopped him. He looked over at Rarity, who currently had her face in her hooves. Quickly, her magic moved over his arms and back, clearing every single scale. Slowly, he moved to her, lowering himself to her level and using a claw to pull away a leg, looking worriedly at the white unicorn.
She gave a watery chuckle, then a hiccup.
“You always did worry too much more about me than yourself, Spike darling,” she said, her voice wavering as she tried vainly to scrape away her tears. Her face was unadorned by make-up, and her hair hung limply off to the left of her face.
“Hello, dear,” he said, gently. “Do you remember what I always asked when I'd find you, off crying somewhere no-one could see?”
She laughed and nodded, letting her hooves fall from her face and grasping him around the muzzle in a sort of hug.”Yes darling, I do. Careful though; you're no longer the fly to my spider, dear Spike.”
Leaning over, he nuzzled her, then pulled Fluttershy over and rubbed his now-smooth cheeks against both of them.
Grinning, Applejack grabbed a smiling Pinkie and both of them moved to wrap their hooves around the front of his muzzle, almost completing the group hug.
A light weight landed on top of Spike's head, and his sight was enveloped by lilac as a set of wings enveloped his head. A moment later, he felt a set of hooves on his back, then a set of flanks as the pony sat between his shoulder blades.
“This is all you guys, mushy weirdos,” a scratchy voice called.
Chuckling, Spike reached underneath one of Twilight's wings to wipe at a tear.
“Thanks guys,” he croaked out. “I love you lot, you know that?”
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I dunno, these last two chapters have been kind of meh for me. The whole "oh woe is me, I'm a monster now and everyone should stay away from me" thing is such an old cliche it just doesn't have any emotion to it. Especially in this case since we all know he's been through this once before, came out of it just fine, and is far more in control this time.
The rest of the story has felt really natural, and that gave it a lot of emotional appeal. But this whole random monster attack into cliche reaction just came across like a really forced attempt to make people emotionally invested in the characters.
Just imagining what spike looks like in these last 2 chapters (all big mean and spiky) and it just sounds and feels awsome
7927145 yea he's turned into godzilla before, but the situation is different. He nearly killed something this time, and since he was conscience near the end he was fully aware of how monstrous he was thanks to fluttershy's reaction. Spike does not want to be a dragon. His meeting with dragons and the creation of his dragon code cements that he wants to be something better than greedy and feral. Also I believe this encounter was more for fluttershy than spike. She's deathly afraid of dragons giant, scary, could eat a whole pony in one bite dragons.(spike is all those things right now) So her confronting her fears (and confession
Eee!) Is a really benifical experience for the story to show the characters growth for eachother.
Nice!
7927145 I can honestly say that I write 'stream-of-conscious' style, so there is no planning, no "this will make people feel this", nothing like that. I will admit, I was feeling like the story was starting to 'bluuuueh', so this was an attempt to refresh it for myself. Next chapter should read better, as its more of how the story started. Ya know, x thing happened, they deal with it.
Anyhow, enough excuse giving and yada yadas, I hope the next one's better for ya.
Great story! I just found it and already read through all of them. hope you will continue it fast :D
7928217 I thinks it been great so far!
I hope u come out with some new chapters for this story
8006993 I will, just in a downswing right now and everything I write looks like crap. More will come, promise
I cant wait because this is a good story
Great work, love the story!
Huh, that's actually a correct use of "goggle" as a verb. I didn't even know it COULD be used as one.