Chapter 4
Spike moaned as her felt his consciousness return to him. For a few brief moments, he entertained the idea that the whole thing had been nothing but a dream. He felt the warmth. Had it all been a nightmare?
Then he opened his eyes. It was Apple Bloom. He wasn’t home.
No... he was home now. Applejack had taken him. This was home now. The castle... he couldn’t stay there. At least not right now.
Spike expected himself to start crying again, but he didn’t. Had he finally just gotten used to this horrible feeling? Or was it because Apple Bloom was sleeping in the same bed?
...He was sleeping in the same bed as a filly!
He felt his face heat up as he began scooting back. Unfortunately, that just woke Apple Bloom up.
“Spike? Spike! Oh, Spike, I’m so sorry!”
Spike stopped, his embarrassment forgotten. Apple Bloom had been crying, and was crying again.
Before he could process this any further, the filly wrapped her forelegs around him, pulling him into a hug. Spike’s face heated up again, but not for long. Apple Bloom’s sobs made quick work of any anxiety.
“Spike... I’m sorry this happened. I’m sorry...”
Spike didn’t know what to do. He felt sad, angry, and even happy, all at once.
Twilight was gone, and that empty feeling was still latching onto him. It felt horrible, it was eating away at him.
Who was Apple Bloom to be sorry? All Twilight was to her was a teacher! She’s sorry? What about him? She didn’t understand...
But there she was, hugging him tightly. He had somepony to be there for him, somepony who cared about him.
Somepony who didn’t understand...
Spike clutched his head. Apple Bloom let go and looked at him. “Spike?”
“...I have a headache... and a stomachache.”
Apple Bloom leapt to her hooves. “I’ll get some medicine!” She rushed out of the room, hurrying to wherever the Apples kept their medicine.
Spike was glad. He needed a moment to think. But his thoughts eluded him, as if he was chasing something forever out of reach. He didn’t know what he was even trying to think of.
“Spike?”
He jumped. It was Applejack, looking at him with concern. He felt his headache increase. Why couldn’t she go away.
“I’ve been through what you’ve been through, Spike, when I was about your age.” That got any of the protest he had been about to voice to stop. “I know it’s hard, Spike. I know yer feelin’s are jumbled together tighter than a knot. I know the world seems big an’ scary now that yer mom’s gone. But ya need to go on.”
He looked at her.
“Let me guess. Yer belly an’ head are hurtin’?”
He nodded.
“I’ll bet it’s because you haven’t had anythin’ ta ear or drink in... well, nearly a day now. Those memories we pulled out of ya said the last thing ya had to eat was a snack before you boarded the train back to Canterlot. Ya need to eat, and drink.”
Spike absorbed all the words. He realized that she was right, he hadn’t eaten in a long time. And now that Applejack mentioned it, he was hungry. Or at least, he was aware he needed food.
“So come downstairs fer breakfast, and yer gonna eat yer fill. I mean it, Spike. I ain’t gonna let you ruin yerself after the Princess trusted me with you.”
Spike nodded.
He was surprised when that seemed to distress Applejack. The cowpony crossed the room and wrapped her forelegs around him.
“You know I love you, Spike. Don’t ya?”
Spike nodded.
“Don’t ya?”
“...Yes.” Spike almost didn’t recognize his own voice, it sounded so cracked. Still, he pushed forward. “I’m...” What? What was he?
Applejack didn’t ask for an answer, she just rubbed the top of his head to soothe him. “I know it’s hard figurin’ things out. Eat first, think later.” She pulled apart. “Let’s get some food in that belly, then we can talk.”
Shining Armor and Princess Cadance were having their morning breakfast in their private chambers, the only discomfort being their unborn foal’s occasional kick, when the messenger from Canterlot entered.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Princess Luna ordered this high priority.”
“Well, let’s hear it, then,” Shining Armor said, a little annoyed that what little private time he had with his wife was being interrupted.
The messenger shuffled a little. Shining Armor was about to chastise him for the breach in discipline when he spoke. “Princess Twilight Sparkle has been killed.” A long silence hung over the table as the pair looked at him like they were trying to figure out whether they heard him right. He went on. “From what I understand, the traitor Starlight Glimmer is to blame. The details are classified.”
There was more silence. Cadance’s look slowly turned to one of horror. She opened her mouth to speak, but Shining Armor beat her to it.
“You really should pay more attention to what is said to you.”
The messenger was startled. “E-excuse me.”
“You had to have misheard the Princess. My sister is not dead.”
“No, I’m sure that’s right. I was told personally...”
“No, you weren’t.” Shining Armor’s front hooves slammed onto the table, causing every piece of tableware to jump, as well as the other two ponies to recoil back. “Don’t tell me that again. Twiley is just fine. You misheard.”
“But...”
“I’m sure her being dead is a cover story for one of Celestia’s plans, probably something to catch Starlight,” Shining Armor said.
At that, Cadance brightened, hope entering her face. “Yes...”
“We’ll depart for Canterlot immediately,” Shining Armor said, “and we’ll get this straightened out.”
He dragged himself down to breakfast with Applejack by his side. They were only stopped by Apple Bloom, who had the medicine but was stopped by Applejack, who instructed her to wait and see if a good meal would solve the problem.
Once he arrived, it was clear the Apple Family had gone all out on breakfast. Chocolate-chip pancakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, there was nothing they couldn’t cook that wasn’t at the table. It was a transparent attempt to cheer him up, or at least get him to eat.
He sat as Granny Smith slid him a plate with everything on it. “You eat every bite, hear?”
Spike nodded, picking up a fork. He placed it in something on the plate, tore it off, and put it in his mouth. He hardly saw what he was eating, he simply followed instructions and emptied his plate.
The Apples sat down and started eating as well. It was Apple Bloom who spoke first. “So... what’s gonna happen now?
“I don’t rightly know, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Princess Celestia’s gonna announce to everypony in the kingdom what happened today, an’ go from there. Spike’s gonna stay with us fer a while, but I figure either Twi’s parents, or Shinin’ Armor will take him before too long.”
“And what about Starlight? What are they gonna do to her?” Apple Bloom asked.
Granny Smith scoffed. “I hope they lock her up good. No way somepony that killed Twi should be roamin’ free.”
“Now, Granny,” Applejack said, “I don’t think Twi would approve...”
“Maybe not, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true. That gal had a good head on her, but if she would honestly say that Starlight should still be runnin’ around...”
“Granny...”
“Can you honestly say you disagree with me?”
“Uh, well... look, I think this ain’t appropriate for right now...”
“Have you heard anything?”
The entire family stopped talking and looked at Spike. He had stopped eating on hearing Twilight’s name and had listened to the next few words closely.
“Spike, you should be eatin’ right...”
“Did you hear anything?” he repeared.
Applejack shuffled a bit before she spoke. “When Big Mac went and got your stuff last night, he heard that they found a lawyer to represent Starlight. They still haven’t set a court date yet, but...”
A loud snap caused the Apples to jump. Spike had split his fork in his grip and had barely realized it. His look was murderous. “They... she...”
“Spike, Spike,” Applejack said quickly, coming around the table and putting her forelegs around him. “Spike, I know you’re angry right now, but you have nothin’ to fret. No matter how good her lawyer is, Starlight’s not gettin’ outta this without serious consequences. She’s gettin’ either locked up or banished, and no matter what she’s never usin’ magic again.”
There was a pause, and to her great relief Spike calmed down. She went on.
“The way this works is everypony needs a lawyer. It doesn’t mean Starlight’s gonna get off, I promise.”
There was a pause. Nothing happened. Slowly, she pulled away and looked Spike dead in the eye. The dragon still had anger in his eyes, but there were the other emotions too. Sadness, loss... he was back to feeling like a jumbled mess.
“Keep eatin’, Spike. Once yer belly’s full, we can talk some more.”
Applejack backed away, then turned and retrieved another for for Spike, offering it to him. After some silence, the dragon took it and went back to eating.
The rest of the meal passed in silence, a rare occasion in the Apple household. While it was the simple matter of not wanting to risk angering Spike again with a careless comment, for Applejack it was something else.
She remembered back to the memory pulled from Spike’s head. The one that showed him decimating Starlight. Even not seeing all of Spike from that perspective, it was clear his body had undergone a radical change through anger. Those large fists that beat the rogue Unicorn were too big to be his.
She remembered that ill-fated birthday, years ago, when Spike had grown to a horrifying size due to his greed. He could do the same for anger, apparently...
And with that, it weighed in on her. She had agreed to take care of someone that she had no clue how to. She had no clue about dragon biology, or their needs, or anything.
What if she couldn’t care for Spike? What if nopony could?
She felt fear rise up in her chest. What was going to happen to Spike when he got older? She knew dragons lived a lot longer than ponies. Would he be provided for after she was gone? Well, the Apples always looked after their kin, and Spike was as good as family... but what if he got too big? What if he couldn’t live in pony society forever?
It suddenly occurred to her that these were questions Twilight had to have been asking herself for years.
In a way, that soothed some of her doubts. Twilight was... had been, she reminded herself with a twinge of sadness... a smart pony, and an organized one. She probably had a guide or a plan for caring for Spike somewhere. She just had to go back to the castle and look.
A knock at the door interrupted any further thoughts. Before any other Apple could respond, Applejack was on her hooves. “I’ll get that,” she said, walking to the front door.
She collected herself a bit, making sure she looked presentable. She put on a welcoming smale before opening the door.
Her smile faded as she saw who it was. Prince Blueblood himself, flanked by two royal guards.
“Hello, my lady, is this Sweet Apple Acres?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said flatly.
“And are you Applejack?”
“I am.”
“You’re currently in loco parentis for Spike?”
Applejack crossed eyes. “I’m in what now?”
Blueblood sighed. “You have legal custody of him?”
“Oh. Yes, I do.”
“Excellent, I’m here for three reasons concerning him. No need to invite me in, I won’t be staying long.”
Applejack decided not to tell him that she wasn’t planning on inviting him in anyway.
“I have been named the judge on Starlight Glimmer’s case,” he explained. “My first order of business is checking the evidence submitted. I understand you had a run-in with her a few months ago?”
“That’s right,” her tone got less flat. “I already let them yank a memory outta me.”
“We’re aware, we have it on file. I came here to ask if there was anything else you wished to submit for evidence.”
“Not that I can think of,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “Didn’t see her again ‘til she was on the floor bleedin’.”
“Well, if you think of anything, come by Princess Twilight’s Castle. I’ll be staying there a few days. I...” his words were cut off in a yawn. “My apologies, as you can guess, I didn’t sleep a wink last night. Now, onto my second order of business.”
“Yes?” Applejack asked, truly looking at Blueblood now. She hadn’t noticed in her annoyance, but the prince did look tired. While he was still perfectly groomed, the bags under his eyes were evident.
“We have the results on the initial hearing on Spike. We’ve deemed him not at fault and see no reason to bring any criminal charges forth.”
Blueblood levitated a piece of parchment forward, but Applejack was too stunned to take it. “Wait, criminal charges? Spike?”
“It was a mere formality,” the prince explained, “but Spike still beat a pony within an inch of her life, and crippled her for life. Such an action required us to consider bringing criminal charges forward. But not to worry, after seeing the memory it only took us ten minutes to decide not to press charges.”
The words calmed Applejack down. She took the parchment, talking around it. “Well, that’s good. Wonderin’ why it even took that long, but...”
“We were mostly worried about how the public would react.”
Once again, Applejack found herself stunned. “Wh... why? Spike only beat Starlight ‘cause she killed his mama.”
“Indeed, which is why it was so quick for us to decide on a not guilty,” Blueblood nodded. “But... well, Spike still gave Starlight lasting injuries, beyond when she was already down for the count. With him connected to the royal family, we worried that he’d been seen as getting off due to connections. Not to worry, though, we’ve decided anypony who would think to accuse Spike would only succeed in making themselves look bad, especially with all the crimes Starlight committed.”
Applejack nodded, but a spike of fear still went through her as it occurred to her how easily this could have ended badly.
“And that brings me to my final order of business.”
“Yes?”
“It’s the question of his inheritance.”
“Ah. Ya mean Twilight left Spike something?”
“Oh yes. In fact, she left him just about everything, barring a few things going to other loved ones. It will be made clearer what possessions go where after the funeral, but I’m here to alert you to one thing specifically: her position.”
Applejack blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Princess Twilight might have had a new position, but it isn’t going away because she’s gone. It was to go to her child, or an heir she deemed worthy of the throne. As she had neither, there is question as to whether that means Spike gets the title.”
“Spike... like a prince?”
“Not like a prince, a prince. But that’s to be decided soon enough. Auntie Luna seems to think he should get it, and I believe Auntie Celestia does as well. But there are a few issues with it.”
“Like what?”
“Well, the very fact that he’s not a pony has people wondering if he should have a position of power at all. Adding to that the fact that there was no named successor has a lot of opportunists jumping to try and take it.”
“What? But... Spike has every right to that throne. He was as good as Twilight’s son!”
“That’s what Auntie says, but there’s still resistance. The fact that he wasn’t legally her son is one of them. And they’re already rolling out some dirty tricks. That includes his transformation when dealing with Starlight. Some are saying a prince that can’t control their anger isn’t much good.”
“What? But... he...”
Blueblood could only give her a sympathetic look. “Auntie Luna got mad at those too. She wanted me to assure you that she’d handle it. We won’t seriously consider anyone until after the funeral anyway, so you’ll be allowed your grieving time.”
“I see... thank ya kindly, you’ve been a big help.”
“I can see this is a lot to take in. I’ll be taking my leave then, just as soon as you sign this.” He floated another parchment up to her. “This will allow you access to Spike’s trust fund.”
Applejack was only shocked momentarily. Of course Twilight would be prepared for this. She looked the papers over, then signed. Blueblood handed her the bankcard.
“I understand the other Bearers will come by to visit Spike. Let them know they can testify anything extra as long as I’m in town. Three days.”
Applejack just nodded.
“You have a nice day... well, as nice as you can, under the circumstances.”
Blueblood left, leaving Applejack sitting in the front room of the Apple Family Home, to lost in worry to even move.
Eventually he looked at he parchment at her hooves. She didn’t understand half the legal mumbo-jumbo, but it was at least clear it was exactly what the prince said it was. No pressing charges... at least, not legally.
The nobles would hound him. That was stupid, Spike wouldn’t hurt a fly unless they hurt him first. He was a sweet boy. Not perfect, no, but what child didn’t make mistakes? Still, if he was getting attacked by politicians...
Sweet Celestia, she had no clue what to do.
She took a deep breath and went back into the dining room. There was so much that was going on, and for the first time ever, she didn’t feel like she could handle everything. Twilight being gone, Spike being her responsibility...
No... not my responsibility... our responsibility. The others... they’ll be with me.
The others would be by later, she was sure of it. The whole town might be by later, to check on Spike. No matter what was coming next, Spike needed to know he had support.
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
1,092 users online
1,804,638 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Glad to see this back....still curious as to how the info will get to the human word.
Yessssssss
I'm glad this isn't dead.....is it?
Hey there. Thanks greatly for getting the next chapter up. It took a while, but was well worth the wait. As usual, wonderful job on the exchanges, emotional content and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I particularly liked how well you handled Blueblood. Though I hope Cadance won't end up miscarrying because of the bad news. Even if it would be a lot less damage to the Crystal Empire, there has already been ONE death in this story. As usual, I will definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.
Luna, let me tell you about a little story called Fallout: Equestria... ...and what the zebras did to you there.
I've read another fic with Twilight in turn having basically the exact same reaction to news of Shining's death. Makes this even harder to read.
Good to see another decent Blueblood, even as just a plot device at this point.
Yay, it's back! This was a great chapter, too! Interested to see what becomes of Starlight and Spike...
Once Shining and Cadance can't deny what happened to Twilight anymore, there is going to be much crying from both of them; then much anger directed at Starlight Glimmer.
So... Spike's a Prince now? That's good. But he got it because Twilight died, and that's bad. But he now has a sweet new castle to himself, which is good. But every moment he's there will remind him of Twilight, which is bad. But she left some gem frosted yogurt in the fridge, which is good. Yet the gems are comprised of malachite. Which is bad.
Starlight pretty much has enmity with all of Equestria just from killing Twilight. I'd also like to say that the moment Spike already has family ties with the Sparkles and the Royal Family since he got hatched.
7384476
What Luna meant was that aside from Zebras, as they have Cutie Marks or something close enough to them, Starlights spell would literally be useless against all other races.
7384476
Luna was referring to the cutie markless races. As in all the ones her equalizing spell wouldn't work on. Zebras, however, as evidenced by Zecora, do have them.
7384644 I like to imagine that after they cry, they both demand to know where she is, and once they see her condition, they ask who did it, and first they have a shocked face, and afterwords, Cadence starts crying and explains its because she feels sorry for how Spike had to watch his mother die.
Some are quick to call a fic dead.
Great chapter again! The heavy feelings are well handled. I look forward for the next part.
Its a minor thing, but I'm relieved to see Blueblood seems to be neutral, rather than the show's overblown pompous jerk. I prefer him as just official rather than annoying. Huh, so Spike could become Prince Spike? I just hope he's treated with proper respect eventually (not like how that awful season 5 episode did). The idea of passing Twilight's title on never occurred to me, especially with how unique Twilight's position was (Element of Magic, compared to the other alicorns' more concrete leadership roles). The Crystal Empire would probably happily worship Prince Spike even more.
Speaking of that place, ouch, I see Shining and Cadance are in the denial phase. When they find out for sure... well, wonder if either of them will join the "lynch Starlight" line. Though aside from grief over Twilight, sounds like Spike is in for a lot more trouble. At least Twilight probably wrote down detailed instructions for everything.
I can practically hear the ticking of the time bomb inside Shining Armor.
7386120 That makes TWO of us.
Maaaaybe Celestia should look into putting Starlight into protective custody, just in case.
Not so much for HER sake, as for Shining's.
OR anypony else's who wants to see her dead.
7386120 Yeah, that's gonna get ugly real fast.
On a lighter note, it's nice to see Blueblood being portrayed as not a complete ass...
7384710 The castle is also made out of gems... which is bad.
So who's going to tell the CHS 7 what happened to Twilight? It would be a matter of time before Sunset and her friends find out what happened.
I have to say their are very few fic's i can think of dealing with the fact that Twilight being a Princess means Spike could be considered a Prince. Very interested to see where that plot goes.
I think the story has it's sadness to it and u hit the fact how much Twilight affected everyone close to her lives but here's a idea u can use it if u like or don't but have Twilight visit each one of the main five spike and Applebloom to say some final words to them each and have a dragon who's the king of all dragon's who can cast magic stronger then anyone else come and talk with spike about anger growth and to give his sympathy to them
7732677 That is not the only fic to use the term, really.
I'm really liking this story, I can hardly wait to see how it plays out in the future.
“Did you hear anything?” he repeated.
Applejack backed away, then turned and retrieved another fork for Spike, offering it to him.
I'm going to assume that's a type of pet rodent!
Also: I'm already relieved Blueblood isn't put in a purely antagonistic, and more importantly random purely antagonistic role. Now there just needs to be more than power-hungry StupidEvil nobles and I'm happy.
Seriously, Princess Twilight was born in Canterlot. She's one of theirs, in a sense. Apart from Ponyville, Canterlot should be the place with the most outrage and grief.
I think you ment he
Right. That's one thing that went wrong for him in Princess Spike. He's still just a child, so anxiety and stress from several ponies going at him about politics & etc. would be torture. He may be supportive and quick-witted, but he's not really ruler-material.
Now that's not true AppleBloom lost both I doubt and spikes mental state keep he'd be able to think clearly.
Now that's not true Apple Bloom lost both her parents but I don't and Spike State of mind he would even remember that.
WHAT DO YOU JUST SAID! https://tenor.com/search/fbi-gifs
Poor him, entered the first stage of the Duel
Give it to Rainbow, she's smart but she act fool.
*Sobiet music intesifies*