• Published 9th Feb 2016
  • 14,575 Views, 1,896 Comments

The Story of Twilight Glow - Jeweled Pen



What if Twilight had been born an earth pony and not a unicorn? No school for gifted unicorns, no burst of magic when she got her cutie mark and, most importantly, no student of Celestia. What fate awaits Equestria?

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S2 Ch 17: Chocolate Moose

“Well, I’m happy at least one of us finds this amusing,” Twilight said flatly, glaring at Tirek. The centaur was laughing heartily, lounging on his cot.

“Oh, you cannot see the irony? Your ‘great and powerful’ ruler making a fool of herself in such a manner? Truly you ponies lack proper appreciation,” he said with a shake of his head. “Tell me, what other insanity has she sprung?”

“A whole month of Nightmare Night? Not much. Thankfully she’s only doing it in the castle, but… well...”

“Like lemmings...”

“Yep. Now all over Equestria ponies are trying to make THEIR city the grandest of all. I hear Manehatten has created a haunted house that takes up an entire sky scraper. It’s madness. And her highness is… well...”

“Reveling in it?”

“I don’t get it! I had this WHOLE speech I was preparing! How even though they were scared of her, that was part of the fun! That it was all PRETEND fear, like reading a scary book or--”

“Please, cease. I do not need your speech. And apparently, neither does she.”

“UGH! But I have been fretting over it! For weeks! It’s just… ever since that train incident! It’s all… guh.”

“Train incident?” Tirek asked, his voice filled with amusement.

“Oh, right. Dragon… attack. Was all over the papers. The way Nightmare Moon stopped it and protected all of her ponies. It was, well. Probably the biggest positive article on her I’ve seen! And ponies are eating it up. Suddenly she’s not as scary. And all of this, just… she’s doing WELL! Ponies are warming up to her. It’s so, it just, they are like...” She flailed her hooves around. “GAH!”

“And you weren’t the cause?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… it feels… weird. You know? I can’t believe she’s okay with this. I know her. It… it almost feels like she’s a fake. Or a clone. You know?” she asked, shaking her head. “But she’s not. But I just… I don’t know. It’s weird. She went from almost killing Spike to becoming this playful, fun and almost light hearted ruler.”

“… Playful?”

“Okay, fine. But she’s less… angry, all the time. She’s doing amazing, all things considered. It feels… good.”

“Of course ponies are warming up to her.”

“Oh?”

“She is true power, in the most literal sense. The most powerful pony in existence, at this time. Ponies would, of course, find that attractive. Power always, eventually, lures ponies in.”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Is this going to be another ‘join me and become the darkness’ level of speeches? Because I have a list of the different ones you could try. Have you tried the ‘Join me, and your loved ones would be safe’ approach? I hear its quite effective. I have a whole notebook based on ‘but then who will keep them safe from me?’ responses.”

He scowled at her. “You are but an earth pony, you have never tasted true power. If you had, if you were to feel even a fraction of the power that your ruler feels, if you were one of these ‘alicorns’, you would never be able to resist the draw. Power is all that truly matters, and the rest of your kingdom now understands that.”

“Ugh. No. For one, I’ll never taste that kind of power. Alicorns aren’t just made. And two, even if I did, I wouldn’t want it. What could I do with anything like that?”

“Stop Nightmare Moon?” he asked with a wicked smile.

Twilight snorted. “Please. The elements couldn’t stop her, and they are the most powerful relic we have. What could I possibly do to stop her?” she asked, shaking her head. “No. Power doesn’t have to corrupt. But it often falls into the hooves of those who are corrupt. That distinction is important.”

He snorted. “Oh? Do you believe if YOU were to have such power, you would never become like her? Like I? Like Discord?”

“… No. I think I would. I think, eventually, I would become just as corrupt and terrible as either of you.”

The centaur’s smile vanished. “You do?”

“Of course. I’m hardly the epitome of good pony kind. I’m a bit greedy. Also, my ego is huge. Every time I release a new book, I spend days reading over every review like, a dozen times. I’ve been selfish plenty of times. I get distracted easily, fall too far into my work, I--”

“Enough! I do not need your lecture on your failings as well. But you can add ‘blabbermouth’ to that list,” he said with a snort.

“My point is, I don’t want that kind of power because I don’t want to be that kind of pony. I have plenty of flaws. And they’re big enough I can see them. If I had that power, they would be on display for everypony to see. Worse, they would likely affect other ponies, not just me. And I don’t want that. Though, this is a moot point.”

Tirek laughed. “True enough. You’ll never have such power. If you did, you’d sing a different note.”

“I’m scared I would,” she said with a sigh. “Though, that does bring another issue to mind.” She reached into her bag, pulling out a small stack of paper neatly bound together. “Here is the first rough draft. I’d like you to look over it, and tell me if there’s anything in it you hate, want me to add or remove.” She held it out to him.

Tirek took it, staring at the cover. A grin formed on his lips and he gripped it firmly in both hands and--

“And here’s a second for when you decide to tear that one in half to prove how much more important you are.”

The smile vanished and Tirek’s second hand let the book go.

“And a third for when you tear apart the second to try and prove a point that you do not truly care.”

Tirek frowned and tossed the book onto his cot besides him. “Very well, little pony. You’ve made your point.”

“Are you sure? Because Moondancer said she’ll make as many copies as I need to--”

“I will read your silly book. Though I do not care, nor do I see why you would.”

“Of course I care. This is a way for ponies to understand you. To get to know you.”

“And you think this will make them, heh, be less afraid of me?”

“Perhaps. And maybe, one day, you’ll understand who we are and we can be more than just captor and captive. Or, at least, have more visitors than just me.”

The centaur merely sighed. “You dream fanciful, but useless, dreams, little pony. I tire of this conversation.”

Twilight nodded, before turning and trotting away. She stopped halfway up the steps and shook her head. “Sometimes, Tirek… dreams are all we have left.”

------

“Peak-a-boo!” Pinkie said, before flipping on the lights, making the shade disappear.

Two little foals sat in their crib, staring in wonderment.

“Where’d the shade go? Where’s the shade?” And then she turned the light off and the shade reappeared. “There’s the shade!”

The foals squealed in delight at the sight of the strange creature again.

“Ummm… Pinkie? Are you sure that won’t give them nightmares?” Mr. Cake asked, eying the shadowy creature.

“Nonsense!” Pinkie said heartily, grinning at the Shade. “Besides, it’s Rarity’s friend. They’d NEVER do anything to hurt them, would you?”

The Shade didn’t move, it just stared back.

“See?”

“Uh huh… either way. The cupcakes are ready,” Mr. Cake said. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked.

“Of course. What could be better than the scariest cupcakes delivered personally by a shade? Besides, it gives them that nice taste of darkness!” Pinkie said happily, before motioning for the shade to follow her. The creature did. “Thanks a lot for helping us with this, I know Rarity has a lot of work for you to do, it’s really nice of you to help us with this, too.”

The creature didn’t make a sound, merely following her, flickering in and out of existence whenever it passed through the light.

“But I can just tell that you’re a great pony behind all that doom and gloom! I can’t imagine why ponies find you so scary,” the earth pony said before stopping in front of a dozen huge boxes. Inside each box were a few dozen of the BEST cupcakes in the theme of Nightmare Night. She licked her lips, before shaking her head and flipping off the light so the shade would appear. “Okay, so each one has the address on it. These two are going to Manehatten, address is on them. These three are going to Canterlot. And this one is going to Appleoosa! This is the most important one. It has buffalo shapes on it! Thanks! You got all that?”

The shade didn’t say a word, merely stepping forward and gripping the stack in its hooves, only to disappear with it a moment later. Once it was gone, the light flipped on and Mrs. Cake stared at her. “I don’t know HOW you can be so… close with that thing. They creep the bejeebus out of me,” she said with a shudder.

“Who? The shade? Ehhhhh. You get used to them. They’re just really hard to get to laugh. I’ve been trying my hardest with that one, but I can’t even get it to form a smile!”

“It… doesn’t… have a mouth?” Mrs. Cake said, staring.

“It can smile with its eyes! Probably,” Pinkie said with a shrug. “Either way, I will get a smile!”

“Of… course? Oh, about your Nightmare Night party. Are you sure it’s a good idea? I looked over the plan and… well...”

“Yes?” she asked.

“Are you sure hosting it at the library is such a good idea? That’s a lot of ponies and… well...”

“I mean, where else would I host it? Besides, Trixie said it was fine. In fact, she’s SUPER excited to host everypony in Ponyville! So long as I do the decorations. And take care of the food. And she doesn’t have to really do anything but put on one of her shows. But other than that, she’s giddy about the whole thing!”

“… I see,” Mrs. Cake said flatly, staring at the mare with a cocked eye. “I mean… it just seems like...”

“It’ll be fine, I promise. Besides, I’ve never hosted a party with wereponies AND vampire ponies AND Trixie, all at the same time! It’ll be a blast!”

------

Trixie paced around the library. “Blast blast blast!” she said angrily, glancing over to her stage. That stupid pink pony of… of PINKIE-NESS! Trixie hadn’t put more than two seconds of thought into having a party here, what did she care? It was a public space. Ponies walked in all the time and caused all kinds of havoc. Sometimes they broke things. But it wasn’t HER problem.

But now she was going to be putting on a show for the WHOLE TOWN. Many of who didn’t even like her! AND SHE DIDN’T HAVE HER MAGIC ANYMORE! How was she going to do this? How could she POSSIBLY do this? Distracting fillies and colts? Easy.

But these were grown ponies! How was she going to put on a magic show WITHOUT magic? One to take away the breathes of others! One to amaze! One that truly showed how Great and Amazing she was? And no, she definitely was NOT panicking. Or worried. Or scared. Or anything silly like that. “GAHHHH!” she screamed, banging her head on her desk. “Stupid… stupid… there has to be SOME kind of magic… amazing magic...” she muttered, before taking off her hat and staring at it. “I, the Great and Powerful Trixie cannot allow herself to be shown up. EVER! There has to be at least some… way I can...” Slowly, her eyes glanced over to a small tome with an image of a blue flower on the cover. She chuckled gently, picking it up.

“Hmmmm. There… is, I suppose, one type of magic I can still perform… and I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, know just the assistant...”

------

Spike stared into the shop, his eyes glancing down at the small bag of bits he carried. Slowly, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The unicorn behind the counter glanced up from her magazine and put on her best service smile. “Hello! Welcome to Daisy’s Confectioneries! Is there anything...” The mare trailed off and stared at him. “Wait… aren’t you that dragon who...”

The small dragon tensed up.

“I think Nightmare Moon’s like… pet or something? Or her assistant’s pet?”

“Err… yeah. Something like that,” he said with a light chuckle.

“Cool. Why isn’t she with you?”

“Oh, this is a personal visit,” he said quickly. “I uhhh… wanna buy some gifts for some friends,” he mumbled, walking forward and putting the bag on the counter. He’d wanted to purchase himself something nice but his mind kept going back to how big he’d gotten. How selfish and greedy he’d felt. It was just the start, but what if it happened again?

Besides. The thought of seeing them happy meant a lot more to him than any fancy jewel ever could.

The mare nodded. “Mmm hmmm...” she said before counting the bits out. “So… all of these bits? Or…?”

“Yes, all of them. I really don’t want any change back. Really.”

“Oh, okay,” the mare said, before nodding. “I have just the thing. One second!” she said, turning and trotting back to the back room. Her voice came out a moment later. “I have to say, I didn’t expect to see a dragon in my shop today! Granted, I never expect to see a dragon, any day. Were you here for that dragon attack on Hearts and Hooves day?”

“Err… y-yeah,” Spike said, coughing. “It was… something else.”

“I’ll say. My cousin’s coltfriend’s brother was there. According to him, Nightmare Moon just ran up and held the dragon back all by herself while everypony escaped, before vanquishing it with a wave of her hoof. Incredible, isn’t she?”

“Huh? Oh… yeah. She’s… pretty amazing?”

“Yup. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I miss Celestia dearly. But I haven’t EVER seen Celestia take on a fully grown dragon. Why, it’s like a thing out of a book! It sure makes me feel better knowing our ruler is that kind of pony. I never really liked the dragons, to be honest. Always thought they were a bit troublesome. Why, my aunt’s fiance’s uncle’s best friend lived in a village out north a few years back. A dragon came and blocked out the sky with its smoky breath for weeks before they managed to get it to leave. It’s good to know that Nightmare Moon won’t just stand by and watch that happen, that she takes a more direct approach to dealing with things that cause all of us grief,” she said happily. “Err, no offense.”

“No, a lot of dragons are jerks,” Spike said with a shrug. “It’s fine.”

“Ah, here we go!” the mare said, trotting back out, a baker’s dozen packages in her magic. “Will this be enough?” she asked, giving a big grin.

“Err… that’s plenty. What are they?”

“Chocolate Moose,” she said, before plopping one down and opening it. Inside, was a sculpture of a moose. To his amazement, it started to walk across the counter, doing a few quick laps before she herded it back into its box. “Enchanted with a simple movement charm, as well as a simple cleanliness charm and anti-melting charm. As long as you give them within the month, they’ll be fine,” she said happily. “Would you like them delivered?”

He blinked and opened his mouth, before stopping. He wanted to give them to his friends, but now that he thought about it, what if they tried to give him something in return? What if it started another cycle of greed and selfishness. But… there were a few ponies he wanted to give them to. He gave a nod. “Deliver them, please.”

The mare nodded and then pulled out a notebook. “Okay, please put the addresses and names right here, and any notes you want to give them, okay?”

He nodded, before stopping. “I’ll, uhhh, deliver three on my own.”

“That’s fine, dear.”

He nodded, staring. He supposed those seven ponies were his friends. That left six more. He perked up and decided to send an extra to Fluttershy, one marked for ‘D’. After all, he supposed he did owe the spirit his life. He could send two to Twilight’s family.

Which still left three more. He supposed he could have one. Two more… He chewed on the end of the pen before perking up, an idea jumping to his mind. “Actually, I’ll be taking five with me. Here!”

The mare nodded, then frowned when she looked over the list. “Well, there’s seven names and addresses here. What about the last one?”

“Oh, it’s for you, thanks for helping me select a gift!”

The mare stopped, staring at the dragon. She was so stunned she could only stammer out a small good bye when he raced out the door with his haul. She finally sighed. “What a wonderful creature… maybe the dragons aren’t as bad as I thought...” she mumbled, staring at the remaining boxes.

------

“Oh Spikey-Wikey… you didn’t need to do this,” Rarity said, smiling at the small package.

“Spike, those bits were for you, not for you to get us something,” Moondancer said, shaking her head.

Twilight couldn’t say anything, all she could do was smile in spite of herself. After the incident on the train, she was worried he wouldn’t be the dragon she’d come to know. So caring and kind, so helpful. But she slowly picked up the package in both her hooves. “Thank you, Spike. This is incredibly generous. I… really don’t know what to say,” she finally said.

“You don’t need to say anything. It’s a gift, right? So… I just wanted to get you all something. For everything. And because you’re my friends. So just… accept them. Okay?”

The three shared looks, before giving nods.

He let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks! Bye!” he said, before running off. He felt a soft, warm glow in his heart though. The smiles on their faces. And more importantly, he’d seen pride in the eyes of Twilight. She was proud of him, and he knew it even without her saying it. He’d done a good thing. A great thing. And he wanted to do even more. He carried the last one through the castle, a happy grin on his face. He soon nodded to the guards, making his way deep down, into the dungeons.

When he neared the bottom, he heard a groan. “Ugh. Have you come again to torment me, bard?” Tirek’s voice echoed through the dungeons.

“Not her!” Spike called.

The centaur glanced over, confusion soon replaced with amusement. “Ah. Did she send you? Too busy to come herself? I can… hm?” he asked, eying the package.

Spike walked forward, sliding the package between the bars. “Here. It’s a gift.”

“… A gift? Why? What do you want in return?”

“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “I wanted to give you a gift, as thanks for helping Twilight.”

“Helping her? Please. I’ve merely been amusing her. It was--”

“She enjoyed it. She likes that kind of stuff, learning, listening. It’s kind of boring, but it makes her happy. So thanks for humoring her,” Spike interrupted, cutting the centaur off. He then turned and made his way back towards the stairs. “I won’t keep bothering you. I just wanted to say thanks! So bye!”

Tirek stared at the dragon, watching him go up the stairs. He then, slowly, reached out and grabbed the gift, opening it to reveal the chocolate moose inside. He gave a light snort. The day a dragon, of all things, would give a gift. He never thought he’d see such an oddity. He sighed, watching the small confectionery trot around his cell.

Then, slowly, he reached out to grab the book Twilight had left. He was bored, anyway. He might as well amuse himself.

------

Spike sat on Twilight’s bed, licking his lips and slowly beginning to unwrap the last moose. He’d given a lot of gifts today, it was time for him to earn his reward. This whole gift giving thing was pretty nice, maybe he should try and get more bits so he could give more bits. And the occasional gift for himself.

There was a light knock on the door, making him pause. He gave a light growl of frustration, but got to his claws and walked to the door, pulling it open. “Twilight’s not here, she’s--” The words caught in his throat and he stared at the pony, no, ALICORN outside the door.

The ruler stared down at him and he barely resisted the urge to pee himself. Those cold, cruel eyes glaring down at him. Finally, she spoke. “Hello… dragon. I see you are still… here.”

“Y-yes?” he said softly, wishing he was anywhere but here.

“Even after the ordeal with the train, she hasn’t moved you somewhere less… close. A shame.”

Spike gulped. Was he going to die? He felt like he was going to die. “T-Twilight is with, umm, R-Rarity and Moondancer. S-she should be b-back soon.”

The ruler nodded, glaring at him. “I see. Very well. I will procure her assistance then. Good… day.”

Spike didn’t know WHY he said what he said next. It just came out. “Err, what do you need help with? Maybe I can help?”

The alicorn paused in mid turn, before glancing back to him. “What aid could you possibly give me, dragon?”

“I don’t know. I’m told I’m pretty smart and a really good pony. If I was one.”

Nightmare Moon just stared, trying to wrap her head around that statement. Finally, she spoke up again. “You are not a pony.”

“But I am a pony assistant,” he added quickly.

“An assistant to a pony, that does not...” She trailed off before sighing. “Oh, very well. It is not as if you could do any worse. May we come in?”

“Sure,” he said, moving aside so the alicorn could come inside. Once her back was to him, he reached up and nervously chewed on the tips of his claws. Nightmare Moon WAS IN THEIR ROOM! Where was Twilight when he needed her?! Why did he offer to HELP her of all ponies? GO AWAY!

Instead, he walked to the bed and hopped on it, standing so he could look her in the eye. “Soooo… err. What’s wrong? It must be pretty important if you’re here, right?”

“Yes. No. We are just… unsure. This celebration. It...” The ruler trailed off. “Nightmare Night. It is… ponies are to be… frightened. Yes? That is the goal?”

“Yep. Well, and to wear silly costumes and get free candy. I’m looking forward to that part.”

“Yes. That is… understandable. But… why? Is not one’s goal to not be frightened?”

“Errr… I guess...”

“So why do ponies wish to be frightened? Why must we pretend to… enjoy these games?”

“Uhhhhhh...” Spike trailed off. To be honest, he didn’t know. Finally he came up with what he felt was a logical conclusion. “Because it’s not real?”

“Not real?”

“Yeah. Like the boogy mare. Or the scale shiverer. It’s a made up story to scare ponies. But none of it’s real. It’s all supposed to like, give adults a way to scare foals into doing what they want. You know?”

The ruler nodded. “And so… the goal is to… scare the foals into submission?”

“Yeah!” Spike said with a nod.

“We… see. Yes. We suppose that makes sense. But why the candy, then?”

“Ummm… so the foals know it’s not really serious and get something out of it?”

“… Yes. Yes, of course. That all makes sense,” the ruler said, relaxing a little. “So they are not truly scared of us. Just of the… pretend monsters.”

“Exactly!” Spike said with a nod. He then eyed the alicorn. She did still seem a bit upset. Nervous.

Then his eyes drifted down. Slowly, he bent down and picked up the last box, holding it out. “Here. I think you could use this more than me.”

“… What?” the alicorn asked. She took it in her magic, opening it slowly. She stared in bewilderment at the moose within. “It’s… a toy?”

“It’s a candy.”

“… Why would we desire candy?”

He shrugged. “It’s a gift, take it or leave it.”

The alicorn stared at it for the longest time. Finally, she turned to Spike. “We tried to kill you. If not for… our bard and Discord, we would have. Why would you give us a gift?”

“… I don’t know. It feels good to make other ponies feel happy? Do you want it or not?”

The alicorn stared at him, then back at the chocolate. For a long moment there was silence and the dragon began to worry he might have overstepped his bounds. Finally, she shook her head and turned, heading towards the exit. “We… would like it. Thank you, Spike. For this gift.”

“Err, yeah, anytime,” he said, watching her go and sighing. He plopped down onto his butt and eyed where his treat had been. He thought he’d feel bad, losing his last one. But he really didn’t. It felt good to give like that. And even if she was a terrible, scary, mean, nasty pony, he really felt she needed it then. Even more than he did. Though he still wished he’d kept one more for himself.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted, galloping into the room, her gift balanced on her back. Her worry quickly turned to relief when she saw him sitting on the bed. “Oh, thank heavens, you’re okay.” She trotted over, lightly tossing the package on the bed.

“Err… yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I saw Nightmare Moon coming down from my room, I thought she’d… I mean...”

“Oh, no, she was just asking for some advice. She didn’t do anything to me.”

“Oh… oh thank goodness,” the earth pony said, hopping onto the bed and sitting next to him. “Done giving out all your gifts?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It felt nice.”

She gave a light chuckle. “That was a really nice thing you did, Spike. Using your first bits on other ponies.”

“Eh, it wasn’t a big deal,” he said with a shrug. “If I want anything, I can usually just get it from the kitchen. You ponies put too much value on stuff, anyway.”

The earth pony chuckled, before glancing to her gift, reaching out a hoof to begin unwrapping it. “You’re an amazing dragon, Spike. And a wonderful assistant. And you know what? I think you’ve learned a lot about ponies since coming here.” She finished opening it, revealing the moose within. “But I think there’s one important pony tradition you’ve yet to have experienced.”

Spike eyed the moose hungrily, before shaking his head and turning back up to her. “Huh? What’s that?”

“Gifted chocolate is delicious, but there’s one thing even better.”

“Oh?”

“Chocolate shared with a friend,” she said, catching the moose in her hooves and snapping off one of the horns. Instantly, the movement charm ended and the chocolate treat went still.

Spike took the chocolate and smiled up at her. “I think I’ll like this tradition.”

“I thought you might.”

Author's Note:

And here it is, the last post of the week! Whew, I almsot wasn't able to get this one done. But eeee, I have! :D I hope you're all enjoying it...

>.>

To be honest, I think Spikey-wikey is sweeter than any chocolate.

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