The next day was Saturday, a grayer Saturday than usual
Spike sat quietly on the bed Lyra and Bon-Bon prepared for him, looking around in the unfamiliar room. Everything was of very good taste: cream-colored wallpaper decorated with patterns of blue candies intercalated with mint-green lyres, a plain desk in the corner with a small chair; and the bed was big, with pink and blue sheets that reminded Spike of Bon-Bon’s mane.
But as much as he tried to focus on the small details, his mind constantly went back to what happened to him minutes ago. Separated out of nowhere from the pony who raised him because somepony said he was being mistreated? What? Was this some kind of sick joke or something? And the worst part was that the ponies who supposedly were protecting him forbid him to communicate with Twilight by any chance and ask her what the hay was going on.
“Are you comfortable my friend?” Asked Lyra getting into the room. “I’m not going to ask you if you’re okay because obviously not, but hey, Bonnie have just made chocolate if you want some.”
Then Lyra levitated a cup to him with her magic. Spike thanked the gesture and accepted the chocolate in silence. He took a sip, and it was wonderful, it was the perfect balance between sweet and bitter, and the temperature was just, right not too hot but warm; precisely what he needed.
“Thank you! This is just great, I don’t want to sound too flattering but this is the best chocolate I ever had!”
“I know, right?” Said Lyra relieved to see the boy smiling even if it was a little. “Bonnie is an artist for chocolate no matter if it’s in truffles, bars or drinkable. And I can told you by experience that a cup of hot chocolate is just the right thing after a bad day. Especially Bonnie’s.”
Spike agreed while drinking.
“Thank you Lyra” he said again, returning the empty cup to the unicorn.
“Whenever you want kid.” Said Lyra. “You know? Between us I fell in love with Bonnie first by the stomach and then by the heart, ha-ha!”
Spike couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You’ll see how everything ends right” assured Lyra giving Spike a small hug. “Before you know it, you’ll be with Twilight again.”
“I hope so. And I hope I don’t bother you…”
“Don’t worry about that kid, on the contrary we’re more than happy to have you even if it’s only for a little while!” Said the minty unicorn. “Why don’t you try to sleep? I know it’s still too early but I can say you had a long day.”
“You’re right, and maybe everything will be better in the morning.” Agreed Spike yawning.
But then Bon-Bon entered to the room.
“Yeah, go to sleep but not before I change those sheets. We haven’t had guests in a while and I’m pretty those need a wash.”
“Let me do it! I always do it at home!” Offered Spike as diligent as he was.
But Bon-Bon gently rejected him.
“It’s okay, Spike, like Lyra said you had a long day so let us pamper you for today.”
Spike obeyed and watched how Bon-Bon changed the sheets making sure the bed was comfortable enough for their young guest. Again Spike lowered his head ashamed since he didn’t wanted to be a bother.
But as soon as she finished, Bon-Bon noticed the dragon’s mood and smiled to him.
“Don’t worry Spike, you’re not bothering anypony. Lyra and I do this because we want to and also hope that you enjoy the time we’ll spend together.”
Spike smiled back to her.
“Oh, well, thank you Bon-Bon. I guess you two are right, I could use a rest.”
The cream-coated pony winked an eye to him and left the room followed by Lyra.
“Good night kid.”
“Sweet dreams!”
Spike yawned.
“Good night.”
And he fell asleep almost immediately. Hopefully everything will go better the next morning.
The next day was Saturday, a grayer Saturday than usual.
It was common knowledge that the day reflected how the Princess was feeling, and a day that started with gray cloudy sky with cold winds was never a good sign.
But Twilight Sparkle didn’t mind, she didn’t even noticed when it when Celestia raised the sun, she couldn’t sleep the whole night thinking about Spike, her dear Spike. And suddenly the door violently opened letting pass Princess Celestia.
“Good morning Twilight Sparkle” greeted Celestia coldly.
Twilight sighed and pulled a couple of chairs with her magic, Celestia accepted the seat and waited while Twilight sat silently on her chair and sighed.
“Well, I’m waiting” Said the Monarch of Equestria.
“I don’t know what happened” said Twilight softly lowering her head.
Celestia frowned.
“I’m not in the mood for that kind of answer Twilight Sparkle. How do you think I felt when in the middle of my daily audiences a letter from Spike comes out of nowhere saying that some strange ponies were trying to force him out of his home? Not to mention that then I received a letter from the ponies who supposedly tried to foalnap him were nothing less than agents from the Child Protection Agency fulfilling their duty. Now tell me what happened and if you say that you don’t know I promise I’ll…”
“BUT I TRULY DON’T KNOW!” Cried Twilight. “I DON’T KNOW, I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED!”
The lavender unicorn’s attack of crying was enough to soften Celestia, who offered her wing to cry. Twilight then cried under Celestia’s wing for a few minutes.
“Sorry if I overreacted Twilight, is just that this caught off guard”
“I only care about Spike, is he okay? Where is him? Why did they took him away from me? DO YOU THINK I’VE BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP? I SPENT THE WHOLE NIGHT WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED, AND…”
She began to cry again and Celestia hugged her harder.
“Feeling better?”
Twilight nodded.
“Again I don’t really know what happened, but I can’t even communicate with him. All I have is a letter that says I have to go to a hearing in three weeks. They say I mistreated Spike but I assure you, it’s a lie! We get along just fine and we argue from time to time but he’s happy most of the time… I don’t understand what’s happening, all I want is Spike back!”
Now calmed Celestia nodded.
“Yes, one more time sorry for overreacting my faithful student. It seems that this is just a big misunderstanding but first of all we need to speak with the plaintiff, don’t you think? Before I came here I sent a couple of soldiers to get her. They’ll be here any minute now.”
Somepony knocked the door.
“Perfect timing!” Said Celestia. “Please come in!”
Two soldiers in golden armor escorted a very angry Cheerilee to the library and proceed to retire in silence while the teacher stood there with the librarian and the Princess.
“Cheerilee! You did this to us? WHY?” Asked Twilight furiously.
“And do you really have to ask?!” Said Cheerilee angrily. “How can you be Celestia’s student if it seems like you have flowers growing in your brain?!”
Princess Celestia sent her a warning-glare, but the teacher just shook her head bravely.
“Oh don’t you dare to scold me Your Highness. Listen carefully: I love children, I live for them so if there’s something I cannot tolerate is child abuse. Yesterday when I went to the grocery store I found Spike doing the monthly shopping. I mean, what kind of irresponsible pony sends a nine-year-old all by himself with that kind of money?! It’s a kid, something can happen to him! Okay, I know we’re in Ponyville and everypony can trust in each other but still that’s something I can’t ignore. Second, he was about to carry all those bags all the way back to the library, so I volunteered to help him, but again, he’s just a kid. Why was he taking care of something you should, huh? Third: he seemed like he was used to do it.”
Celestia’s expression turned cold again as she was glaring at Twilight; and unfortunately for the librarian, Cheerilee was only starting:
“Then he told me he was the one who did all the housework, all the cleaning, dusting, cooking, laundry… all by himself! Oh, but if that wasn’t bad enough, he showed me his to-do-list, a very long one and it seemed that once he finished here, he still had to take care of even more chores that your friends gave him. Why is he doing all this instead of go to school and play with other kids as he should? So yeah, I called the social services and I’m glad they took him away from you. And you know what’s worst? That he is too innocent to realize how wrong is all this.”
Celestia turned to Twilight that felt her somehow threatening.
“I presume he never knew better, right?”
Twilight gulped.
“But… Spike was happy, he’s just happy to help and…”
“It seems that all this time he’s been taking care of you instead of you taking care of him” said Cheerilee angrily. “I only regret I didn’t realize until now.”
The Princess nodded drily.
“I see. Thank you Miss Cheerilee. You can go now.”
The teacher bowed to Celestia and retired quietly. Then Celestia glared at Twilight, who shrank in fear in a corner.
“I’m not going to lie, this is no misunderstanding Twilight. I’m furious, but mostly with me since I was the one who thought you were ready to take care of Spike. Since you hatched his egg I felt a very strong connection between the two of you, but I never thought it could drive you to this poisonous relationship you two had. At first everything seemed fine, he was another son for your parents and a new playmate for Shining Armor and you, when did this happened? When he turned into your servant instead of your little brother?”
Twilight shook her head.
“I’ve always tried to do my best to take care of him!”
“As the teacher said, it seems like he was the one taking care of you. Give that to-do-list. Now.”
Twilight obeyed, and as soon as Celestia finished with the list, she just stared to Twilight in disappointment.
“All the housework, and take care of the library even if that’s your job. No, I wish I realized sooner what was really going on; but this is clearly a case of child exploitation; and the worst part is that it’s not only you but your friends as well. None of you ever considered this was wrong?”
“But Spike… had never complaint about this…”
“In Canterlot he attended to school regularly. Why not in here?”
Twilight gulped.
“Because… because…”
Those magenta eyes usually peaceful and playful seemed now like two dangerous flames.
“Answer me!” Demanded the Princess.
“…because I realized he was more useful in the library!” Cried Twilight.
That was enough, Celestia had to use all her self-control to not hurt Twilight right in there. But she managed to control herself by taking a deep breath.
“You have no idea how lucky you are that I decided to not interfere with this cases when the Family Court was invented two hundred years ago; if it was for me you’ll be already… but no, forget it. As I said, I recognize this is mostly my fault and I have no choice but deal with my own stupidity. But Twilight, this is what’s going to happen: they’ll take Spike away from you, there’s no doubt of that. And even if I wanted to, I cannot help you this time. I really hope they keep him as far as possible from you.”
So Celestia left leaving Twilight in tears, hopefully at this point she would understand what she have done. It wasn’t that Twilight was bad or something, but she proved to be incapable to raise a child, and the worst part was that Celestia thought everything was okay for a very long time.
“Damn it, how could I be that stupid? Having this whole situation right in front of me and I didn’t even realized.”
That day Spike woke up really late, and even if it had been a while since he slept that much, he still felt exhausted for all that happened last night. He look around and sighed, so it wasn’t a dream after all; in fact in his dreams he was with his beloved friends as nothing had happened. But no, it did happened.
Luckily for the young dragon, Lyra and Bon-Bon seemed understanding and kind enough, but what Spike needed more than anything at that moment was to see his friends and especially his older sister.
However, he better got up and went to the dining room, where Lyra was reading the paper while Bon-Bon was finishing with the breakfast.
“Hi kid, did you have a good sleep?” Asked the minty unicorn.
“I wish I had” sighed Spike.
Lyra didn’t know what to say, but then Bon-Bon entered carrying three platers of chocolate-chip pancakes.
“Morning Spike, are you hungry?”
“Yes thank you.” Said Spike. “So… chocolate again?”
Bon-Bon smiled to him.
“Shall I remind you I have a chocolate store? Anyway, eat as much as you want, I still have more if you want to.”
Spike thanked to the cream-coated mare and finished his breakfast in less than five minutes. It was like the chocolate from last night, sweet and warm; precisely what he needed at the moment.
“So now what?” Asked the dragon as he finished his breakfast.
“What you mean with ‘what’?” Asked Bon-Bon. “It’s Saturday, what you usually do on weekends?”
“I don’t know, help Twilight with her readings or Applejack, or Fluttershy… actually I help whoever who needs me. Why?”
Bon-Bon frowned and exchanged a worried look with Lyra, who seemed as worried as she was. However, Bon-Bon knew exactly what to do so she nodded to her wife like saying she’ll take care of the situation
“I see.” Said the chocolatier. “You know, Saturday is one of my busiest days on the store, why don’t you come with me?”
“Sure!” Smiled Spike.
Lyra raised an eyebrow but Bon-Bon winked an eye to her, so she stayed quiet. So Bon-Bon and Spike left Lyra doing the dishes and headed to Bon-Bon’s candy store.
“So, how can I help?” Asked Spike willingly to anything.
“Help me with the mixture while I put the candies on the counter.” Said Bon-Bon giving a bowl to Spike.
Spike obeyed happy to help while Bon-Bon waited in silence staring to the door. And suddenly, it opened letting pass Piipsqueak, Feather Weight, Snips and Snails coming for their dose of sugar for the weekend. It never failed, the kids were her more loyal customers.
“Hi Bon-Bon! The usual please!” Said Snips putting a bag of bits on the counter.
“Sure thing!” Smiled Bon-Bon selecting a few chocolates of all shapes and putting them into a small paper bag. Then she took a tray of freshly made cherry-stuffed truffles. “Also, I just made these, what do you say? Want to try some for free?”
“Seriously?” Asked Rumble.
“Just like that?” Asked Snails scratching his head.
Bon-Bon nodded.
“With only one condition: can you invite Spike to play with you for the day?”
“Spike?”
“The dragon?”
“Sure! He’s pretty cool!”
Bon-Bon nodded again.
“Precisely. Spike, can you come to the counter please?”
“Yes?” Asked Spike walking to the chocolatier.
“Go play with them. Okay?”
Spike seemed genuinely surprised but accepted without thinking too much about it, and the other kids of course welcomed the baby dragon with excitement. So the group of colts plus one left happily leaving Bon-Bon staring at the door with a disapproving frown.
“I promised not to judge but not play with other kids? This is wrong.”
I was visibly wincing at how Celestia tore into Twilight.
Your gramma is better then mine, that's for sure. You are missing a few Words but's all. Also, I don't feel bad for Twilight but I feel bad for Spike.
Still think celestia needs to shut the hell up like i said before she made a child take care of a child and she judges twilight who had the social maturity of a lemon at the time she hatched spike now thats child abuse thatd be like a mother having a kid and having a 12 year old raise it. She's also the one who sent twilight to ponyvile to quote on quote make friends and fight her estranged sister which coulda got her hurt or worse ... yah celestia your no winner yourself. I hope twilight let's it slip about how she was pretty much groomed to be a weapon by celestia since childhood she's been used against nightmare moon , a dragon , discord , chrysalis , sombra. I hope they go after her for raising child soldiers.
This is one of those cases where the wrong may have been done by the caretaker (Twilight) but neither her nor Spike knew any better, or if Twilight did know better she also showed care for Spike when she could, and Spike could have easily been doing what he was out of love/appreciation for Twilight and her friends.
Cheerilee was right to be concerned, but she should have talked with both Twilight and Spike before getting CPS involved, as Twilight has always seemed like she would be one to never intentionally do anything bad to Spike and same with her friends. This is the main issue I have with things like CPS, they can take a kid from a loving home just cause of one mistake or whatever and do more harm then good because they think they know what is "best for the children".
Not a bad little fic I wil admit. Not deserving of that many down votes. Despite the few spelling and grammar problems it's still a decent read. All the characters are in my opinion likeable and understandable, even the ones in the wrong. Can't wait to see how this progresses, hopefully Spike and his friends can make up, but if you do do that, make it believable, and don't skimp out just cause it's what we want.
8276437
I second this.
As a teacher she had a duty to report to the cps. Or at least you do in the uk.
Been a few cases over the years where teachers ingnored it and bad stuff has happened. Been hammered into there contracts and training now. You suspect something? Even if it's probably a misunderstanding. Report it.
Somebody else's job to see if it's actually abuse.
8277193
Dammit I hate to say it but you're right. Teachers DO have that in their contracts now, don't they?
8276437
Indeed. The only character I have a hard time sympathizing with is Celestia. She largely created this problem herself and while she does say she blames herself her rage at Twilight seems too extreme considering she should be kicking herself more then Twilight.
This is a interesting fic. If a bit light on substance. I was wondering if you would at all be angry if I uses this as inspiration for my own version of this story?
8276081
This. She's horrible. She even barely kept herself from hurting Twilight. This Celestia is a horrible, horrible being who should not be a princess.
8276437
Likeable? What? Most of them are horrible. I feel the most for Twilight. Bonnie and Lyra are okay. The rest can jump off a bridge.
Edit: Okay, calmed down a bit. I'm still angry at most of the characters, and if this goes on, I don't think I'll enjoy any of what's to come.
8276081
There is one more thing to consider. Remember Spike At Your Service? Where Twilight was swamped with reading assignments, to the point she didn't notice her surroundings anymore?
Who gave her that assignment again..? Oh right. Celestia.
Celestia is the reason Twilight doesn't have any free time for Spike.
8278608
Twilight is the student of Celestia, sure they have their own schedule, but not sure if Cherilee even tested Spike. And even so if he should be a little behind, it's not reason to take him from his family.
Sure, he have some labor but it's not that bad... I don't see Cherilee having problems with Apple Bloom and i'm sure that she help AJ a little if the episode when DT was punished is a idea of her daily chores.
8278763
Good point. Are they going to take Apple Bloom away from her family next?
On the other hand, Twilight in this story is very out of character as it is. She supposedly thinks it's more important for Spike to do housework than learn anything. Let that sink in.
8278697
You are right that Twilight would not stop loving Spike, and no i do not believe Twilight would punish Spike simply for slacking off.
That's not the problem. The problem is that Spike seems to have it in his head that that is the case. Both the incident with Owluisious and the nightmare door hint that Spike see's being Twilight's assistant as being far more then a simple job and that if he isn't useful to Twilight she will get rid of him. I know full well Twilight wouldn't do that, but Spike seems to think she would.
In regards to the brainwashing thing. The brainwashing is simply the result of the problem. The solution for it isn't for them to convince Spike he's been brainwashed or to take him away. Twilight's mistakes are largely the result of ignorance. So the best solution is for Twilight to be made aware of her mistakes and re-adjust her and Spike's lifestyle to be more like a normal child.
Removing him permanently should only be done if Twilight is either unwilling to change or unable. And given her distress at having Spike taken away it seems more then likely she would be willing to make what ever changes she had to too get him back.
8278777
That makes more sense.
Another thing that has to change is Celestia's treatment of Twilight. Like I noted above, her schedule often doesn't permit much in the way of housekeeping, and Celestia is the one who ultimately sets Twilight's assignments.
That doesn't change what a horrible being Celestia here is, of course. She shouldn't be anywhere near her student or Spike or anyone, really. She doesn't deserve it.
8278876
Maybe both of their 'Out of character' things is from stress? That is the mild option, that in stress they do bad choices.
Is that or say that they are like that or the author just decide to put them in a bad light.
8278660
Sure go ahead. In fact I took inspiration from another story as well
8279117
Thanks. When using another story for inspiration I always like to ask first just in case.
Celestia should give Twilight a lighter workload. I didn't know Spike attended school in Canterlot.
You ever go back and re-do chapter one?
So pretty much everyone who's closest to Spike is all to blame?
FINALLY a story that points out simply because Spike is happy being a used doesn't make it right
I mean if he's not taught any different then how can he know its wrong?
8278706
Celestia is the one who put a newborn under the care of a mere child. You don't do that with a baby, but with a pet.
8290213
Celestia doesn't care about either of them. She didn't care about Spike before and now, she's ready to physically harm Twilight because she dared to make her look bad in the eyes of other ponies.
She may be satisfied if Twilight and her friends publicy debase themselves and grovel for Spike's forgiveness. Maybe.
With how out of character Celestia and Cerilee are acting I'm half expecting them to secretly be Changeling doubles sent by Chrysalis to tear Twilight and Spike apart from each other.
8296711
That would actually be a pretty good twist.
Not bad. I am genuinely surprised how real it treats the situation. I know there are some people saying that Celestia seems out of character for how harsh she acted to Twilight and admittedly the part that describes her wanting to assault Twilight was kinda pushing it, but I can understand the lashing out in anger. Twilight was he prized pupil, she knew and taught her since she was little, she's incredibly knowledgable and adept at magic, making her all the more proud to be her teacher. So to find that her prized student was guilty of such a serious act only made it all the more shocking and disappointing, she didn't know what to think of her. I just hope Twilight can a second chance. If she was truly unaware that she was being so horrible to Spike, even if Spike himself had believed Twilight never mistreated him she needs a chance to prove that she can change and be the proper guardian Spike deserved. There's also alot of grammer errors that really need to work on. The story is great and I'll definitely stick around, but consistant grammer problems can be a turn off for some people.
Man Twilight is getting basically TOUNGELASHED!!
Grammar only matters to me if it is so bad that the story becomes unreadable. I like the plot and I can still understand the point the characters are trying to get across so this story gets a thumbs up from me.
Where is he
8296711
That’d be a great twist
8290260
It’s true though
8276081
That’d be great too