The discovery that a filly Twilight knew, whom she had spent time with, was living on her own, presented a problem. And there was only one proper response to problems; research.
Alone with her thoughts, Twilight felt the oppressive weight of the day’s events. Her eyelids started to droop and visions of a nice soft pillow danced in her head. The sensible thing to do would be to get some sleep and tackle her new task in the morning.
But she was working on a clock. The longer she forcibly confined Scootaloo to the guest room, the less she was able to rationalize it. Faced with that kind of pressure, Twilight shut her eyes and flared her horn.
Sleep was a regenerative process. No spell could adequately replace the effects of a good night’s rest, and no magic could overcome the body’s need for it. But there were spells that could temporarily alleviate her tiredness. Twilight turned her focus inward, feeling her neurons firing as she prepared one of the more potent ones.
Casting spells on yourself was dangerous, and mental manipulation only increased that risk. Cast too often, the Red Eye spell could lead to paranoia and even brain damage.
Even if it worked perfectly, she was still circumventing her own body’s pain threshold in order to push past her limits—limits that existed for a reason. Before she went ahead, she reminded herself that the spell was a Grogarian bargain and the bill would come due. A thought later and she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but not too satisfied about it.
She spent the night poring through counseling texts and familiarizing herself with Equestria’s foal protection laws and procedures. Come morning, she had amassed a working knowledge of foster care, as well as a rudimentary understanding of commonly-accepted theories of orphan psychology.
With Twilight gone, Scootaloo found herself trapped in a very comfortable cage. She stared at the tray of food, the apple plump and the cupcake practically glistening. Part of her wanted to hold onto her stubbornness and throw Twilight’s food away. A different, hungrier part of her relished the thought of her first cupcake in weeks. Hunger won. I still don’t owe her anything; she locked me in here!
Having accepted the food, she had no rationalization for refusing the shower and the bed. Besides, Scootaloo had grown used to taking advantage of opportunities where she could find them. She availed herself of the chance to scrub the dirt out of her hooves and wash her mane. As the hot water cascaded down she took another look at her burnt hoof. It didn’t look any better, but Scootaloo still had more important things to worry about.
The sun’s first light peaked through the windows and Spike recognized his cue to get up. To his surprise, instead of the normal quiet of the early morning, he found Twilight wide awake and apparently knee deep in another research project. “Morning, Twi.” Spike took another look around, noticing the piles of books and the stack of paper to Twilight’s right. “Were you up all night?”
Twilight opened her mouth but quickly closed it. “Yeah. Something came up,” she said, corralling a small stack of books and pulling them toward her, away from Spike’s gaze.
The vague but urgent phrase and furtive gesture set off Spike’s internal alarms. He peered closely at Twilight. “You look good,” he said tersely.
“Spike—”
“You promised you wouldn’t do this kind of thing anymore Twilight!”
After all they’d been through since she hatched him, Spike could read Twilight like an open book, just like she could read him. He knew that something was wrong, and he knew that she knew that he knew—probably from the look of trepidation on his face that he wasn’t even bothering to control—so he wasn’t surprised when she tried to reassure him.“Spike, I’m fine.”
Spike refused to be placated. His voice grew hard. “It’s dangerous, Twilight. You taught me that! Just because you feel fine doesn’t mean you are. That’s the whole point of the spell!”
“Scootaloo needs my help. I needed a clear head.”
The statement put Spike’s righteous indignation on hold. “Wait, Scootaloo is in trouble? What’s wrong?”
Twilight stuttered and looked down at her notes. “I promised her I wouldn’t say anything. She’s determined to deal with her problems alone.”
Now Spike was dealing with two friends who needed his help, he put his concern for Twilight aside. “Do you know where she is now? Is she OK?”
“She’s fine. She’s in the guest room on the first floor.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“I don’t know Spike, I know you two are friends, but—”
“This isn’t about being friends Twilight.” Spike took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “I was eight years old before I even met another dragon, and when I did they weren’t exactly the kind of creatures I wanted to get to know better. I know a little bit about what it’s like to feel alone.”
Twilight recoiled, and Spike could see the hurt flash across Twilight’s face. “How come you never said anything?” she said, breathless.
A pang of guilt stabbed at him and he quickly set about explaining his comment.“Because you do a great job of making me feel wanted, all of you do. It’s not your fault you’re not a dragon. I didn’t mean that I’m lonely, I just think maybe I know a little bit about how Scootaloo is feeling.”
Spike saw Twilight’s relief and he too breathed easier. “Well I certainly can’t get through to her, so maybe you should give it a try.” Twilight levitated a blue amulet from her desk over to Spike.
The young dragon plucked the amulet out of the air with a quick wave of his claw and fastened its gold chain around his neck. “What’s this for?”
“You’ll need it to get past the shield I put around her room.”
“You locked her in the guest room?”
Twilighted nodded, “I needed to be sure she wouldn’t run away.”
“Talk about starting off on the wrong hoof,” Spike muttered as he turned toward the staircase. “And don’t think we’re finished either.”
After coming home from another long, dreary day in the military, I open up fimfiction and discover you have published a new chapter. You don't know how much that brightens up my day!
Dreadnought
"When did you become an expert on foal laws and orphan psychology?"
"Last night."
Well at least she is still anticipating Scootaloo running away again. Hopefully she will get Scootaloo's burn looked at soon.
8125629
Given it's Twilight, that could apply to just about any subject.
I like your Spike. No-nonsense, far more down to earth than Twilight, and just snarky enough to maybe sometimes nag common sense back into her.
...So short, but good quality. MORE PLEASE
Now Spike is the dragon wearing the pants in the house.
precious scales what was it you needed again? I didn't quite hear you.
A jacket
Just a jacket, what color and size?
any color and make it one size fits all
any other requirements?
He needs a straight jacket for Twilight...
WUT?
!
I'm so in trouble
So.... How is Twilight going to make sure Scootaloo doesn't steal the amulet from Spike?
Dreadnought
Spike's jump from "Scootaloo is in trouble" to "I can empathize with the orphan" is jarring. With Twilight keeping her cards in her hoof, Spike shouldn't have enough details to make that jump that quickly, or without comment.
Put it another way. Twilight says she won't give Spike details, but then the scene plays out as if Spike had all those details anyway.
8125749 your inserting the orphan part yourself. Twilight only said that Scootaloo was determined to solve her own problems, and Spike kinda gets what that feels like. I stand by it.
8125782 I will rephrase. Spike is acting as if he knows that Scootaloo's problem is long-standing, deeply personal, emotionally damaging, and is similar to his own adopted family life. He has no way to know that Scootaloo's problem is any of these things and not something transient, like fallout from a failed crusade.
8125860 again, I think you're reading too much into that scene. He knows a friends in trouble and doesn't think she can ask for help. Spike guesses this might be similar to how he feels sometimes as the only dragon he knows.
I'll conceded its a bit jarring
8125929 8125860 also he knows it was serious enough for twilight to take the magic equivalent of meth, so theres that.
I feel like Spike would still question what she means by running away. Still intrigued though.
The plot thickens
:) Yay updates, really hope Twilight notices her hoofs been like that, really don't want something bad happen to it. Maybe Spike will pass it along?
Not bad, I'm still enjoying this and looking forward to where you go with it. If it comes to Twilight adopting her, I'd love to see her show her trump card at the CPS office, something I rarely see authors do, she either plays it or pretends it doesn't exist.
I was hoping that Spike's experience with ambivalently being Twilight's family would be part of this story. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
See, that the kind of close communication I love to see with, Twilight and Spike. Great job and awesome update!
Another glorious chapter!
I wish that I had a tad bit more to say, but I'm currently at a loss as for "what" I would type about, so I'll just say the standard "Good job, and see you next chapter!"
I don't know if this'll be a Scootadopt story, but, I feel I'll like it either way.
Well, one, Scootaloo better get that hoof looked at. There's no way it's not infected, and I know she doesn't want to lose it.
8125742 I was thinking the same thing myself.
...Twilight, you do know what coffee is, right? Seriously, pulling an all-nighter isn't that big of a deal.
Raylan, your chapters seriously need to be longer. I don't even mean that as in "they feel very short." I mean they are not structurally efficient. Chapters are sequential: They need to accomplish something conclusive that moves the plot forward.
Nothing of consequence actually happens in this chapter: Twilight stays up all night and studies, but doesn't gain any insight into how she should handle the situation. Scootaloo eats food, showers and goes to bed, but is otherwise in the same place as before and still considers herself a prisoner. Spike decides to talk to her in the morning, but the conversation doesn't take place. There is no narrative reason to stop where you did, it just cuts off.
I'm pointing this out because everything about this story is very well done, except the chapter structure, so it's probably something you want to work on.
Is there a missing "don't" here, or is Spike being a creeper?
8127872 This type of comment is exactly why I wrote this blog post
So it is in that spirit that I say, I hear you and I understand where you're coming from.
However it is also in that spirit that I say dial back the "respect my authority" vibe. My chapters are pretty short in this one, in part because it helps me get them out quicker. It is functionally identical to release several short chapters as it is to release 2-3 longer ones.
8128003
Wait, I'm an authority? Since when?
Look, I didn't mean to come across as disparaging. I pretty much love this story so far - heck, I don't even bother critiquing stories I don't like. I'm just saying, your writing is excellent except for this one glaring flaw, so that may be something you kinda want to take under consideration.
I do not think so. Or rather, the length is not really the point. I do prefer much longer chapters, but I wouldn't mind terribly if you kept writing these thousand word increments if only the plot was paced to match that.
8129395 fair point I get what you're saying. i can't promise future chapters will be longer, but I'll try to have them be more impactfull.
This has finally made it from my 'Quick Checks' to my 'Read Later' and now, to 'Tracking'. I await the next chapter.
Come morning, she had amassed a working knowledge of foster care, as well as a rudimentary understanding of commonly-accepted theories of orphan psychology.
One problem I have with that, though: Every human being, or in this case pony, is an individual and has a different way of thinking. Even the common theories will not work at times, and you need to be creative in order to match and help a particular person, something that can be- depending on the subject- difficult or easier for someone with a rudimentary understanding of said theories. Nothing is absolutely universal.
8235872
But there 'text book cases' and 'symptoms of X' that mean that even as individuals. There's a case / text book out there that explains what they are going through, what they have, and how to deal with it.
No one is really "unique" in that they are "the only one" 99.9999999% of the time. Rather anything a person does or goes through. Has some book or another going into it.