Growing Gains
"Princess Twilight Sparkle?"
The mail stallion looked up from his roster sheet to the purple dragon standing in the open doorway of the Castle of Friendship.
Spike just looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Uh... No, I'm her assistant. If you have a package, I can sign for it."
The Stallion either ignored his look or didn't care, because he smiled and gave Spike the clipboard and quill, which Spike used to scrawl his name on the first free line.
A wrapped book was pulled from the mail-pony's saddle bags, placed promptly in the purple dragon's paws. Almost immediately the mail pony left, on to greener pastures. His next delivery was at Sweet Apple Acres.
Spike smiled and brought the book inside, closing the door behind him. Walking up to the map table, he set it down and sat back in the smallest throne amongst the septuplet of thrones. Pulling out the last edition of Power Ponies, he kept reading; He was trying to make sure that he remembered everything for the comic book tomorrow. Also, it was a REALLY good one.
He was at it for a while before he finished the comic again, at which point he simply did chores around the castle, Waiting impatiently for Twilight to come home.
Spike was very disappointed when Twilight didn't come home until it was getting dark with saddlebags full to the brim with fruits and vegetables. At that point he was lying on his throne upside down, wishing he had a painted wall to watch dry. He supposed he could have found a book to read, but... The only person who came close to reading as many books as Twilight from the library was Spike.
When she walked through the inner doors, he eagerly sat up straight and looked at her expectantly.
Twilight giggled at him and turned for the kitchens.
"Give me just a moment to put all this stuff away, Spike. I'm sorry I took so long. I decided I might as well restock on food while I was out."
Spike looked over her full saddlebags again with a raised eyebrow while they walked.
"Did you need to buy the entire market? I'm sure other families need some food this season too."
Twilight gave her assistant the stink eye,smirking.
"I know you're being sarcastic, but there was plenty of food at the Market today. Scarlet Tomato had an overabundance of tomatoes and they were on sale. How could I NOT take advantage of it?"
When they reached the kitchen, Twilight put away everything away into various cupboards and the fridge.
Spike pretended he was patient, but he was just the opposite. He stood there, rocking on his feet back and forth while waiting for Twilight to talk to him.
After what seemed like Aeons, Twilight finally turned back to leave the kitchen, and saw Spike still standing there. She blinked. "What?"
Spike looked like he was ready to claw his face off.
Twilight chuckled at his expression and started walking, patting spike on the shoulder as she went.
"Just kidding. I asked around to collect data and came up with a number I'm sure you'll be happy with. I'll give you 15 bits a month. How does that sound?"
Spike quickly caught up and walked by her side, looking up at her as they walked. "Like I need more money. How about 30?"
Twilight grinned down at her number one assistant. "I'm not a market stall, Mister. No haggling. 15 is my final offer. Take it or leave it."
Spike rolled his eyes. "Gee, I dunno Twilight, when you say it like that. Getting paid for working seems like a hassle, better leave it."
Twilight's grin turned mischievous, then into a poker face as she walked ahead of Spike, picking up the pace to imply the conversation was over.
"If you insist." Twilight retorted.
Spike's eyes widened. "Take it! Take it!" he shouted at her as he sprinted forward to catch up again.
Twilight's mirthful laugh filled the corridors as she stopped outside of a door.
"Alright, alright, I was joking. "
Spike looked up at her expectantly "Do I get it now?"
"What? No. Do you realize how dark it is outside? Why do you think I brought you to your room."
Spike looked up and realized where they were. "Oh... Please?"
Twilight shook her head firmly.
"You may have scary claws, razor sharp teeth, and a fire breath, but I wouldn't care if you had the Magic of Princess Celestia herself. I don't want you outside after dark. Around 80% of all crimes take place after the sun sets, you know," she stated factually.
Spike's expression turned quizzical.
"But crime in Ponyville is virtually non-existent."
Twilight glared down at him.
"Virtually being the keyword here. Besides, you need your sleep. You can buy your comic tomorrow, okay? Promise."
"Pinkie Promise?"
Twilight rolled her eyes and went through the motions of crossing her chest and putting a hoof on her closed eye.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Spike finally relented and yawned. He chuckled to himself. "Wow, guess I was tired anyways. Goodnight, Twi," he opened his bedroom door.
Twilight kissed him on the cheek and giggled at his disgusted expression, before turning and walking away. "Goodnight Spike, I love you. Sweet dreams."
And they were sweet. Spike drifted off to Power Pony-filled dreams.
Before he slept he thought, tomorrow is going to be a good day.
~*~*~*~*~
The following day was not a good day.
Spike woke, for the first time in years without the sunrise. When he did wake, it was already noon, and he could tell because it was light outside, yet the sun wasn't in his eyes.
But that wasn't the weirdest thing. Even half asleep, he could tell he felt pretty sore. It felt like someone had strapped him to the torture device that stretched out your limbs. His legs and arms even felt longer and heavier, which he thought was a very weird side effect of sleep.
Sitting up, the day only got weirder. The room felt... different. Off somehow. He looked down at the blankets covering his lower half but couldn't tell anything different. But looking around the room, everything seemed out of place since yesterday. It felt almost as if everything was lower to the ground.
Did Rainbow prank him by shaving the legs off his bedroom appliances or something?
Spike pushed the covers off of him completely and scooted to the edge of the bed, pushing himself off. He landed on his feet and wobbled; his sense of balance completely out the window for reasons he didn't understand, spike fell forward and instinctively put his hands out to catch himself.
He did, but as he did so his eyes bulged. His arms were much, much longer than they used to be. Swiftly pushing himself to his feet, Spike looked at his arms with both awe and trepidation, turning them this way at that. He quickly looked at the rest of his body to see if it was normal
It wasn't.
Spike's legs were just as long as his arms now, adding to his height by a couple of feet. His core and chest were also taller giving him a ganglier appearance. The spines on his back were longer from what he could see, and his tail had shot out a foot more. Spike suspected that if he could see his reflection, he would notice his head was somehow different, too.
It wasn't nearly as big as he had looked before when he was corrupted by greed, but was still a lot bigger than he was. If he had to say, Spike thought he'd be about eye level with Twilight now, but still smaller than Big Mac, Celestia, or Luna.
This is... Bizarre. Why am I like this? I haven't been like this since my greed made me steal stuff...
Suddenly, Spike became horrified. What if that was happening again?!
He quickly rushed for the door
Only for it to open when he got to it. Twilight stood on the other side, doorknob caught in her magical glow. Her eyes became as big as saucers as she looked at her favorite Dragon.
"S-spike?!"
The drake in question grabbed and shook Twilight.
"TWILIGHT, HELP! I'M A SINNER!" he wailed.
Twilight blinked and would have shook her head to clear her mind had she not been shaken already. She put a hoof on his chest.
"Spike, breathe! We can't find out what's wrong if you keep acting crazy."
It took an enormous amount of effort, but Spike stopped shaking twilight, and eventually let go of her all together. He copied Twilight's usual breathing technique. To his surprise he actually felt a lot more calm.
Twilight's mind in the meantime, while not erratic, was far from calm. Her analytical mode was in overdrive, trying to think of what could have happened. Would he not have freaked out, she would have already accused him of stealing and hoarding again.
But as it is, I don't see anything in his room. I suppose he could have hid everything elsewhere. He did say he was a sinner... Greed. I suppose the only way to find out...
"Spike," she said, moving her hoof to his shoulder. "I need you to be completely honest with me, okay? Did. You. Steal. Again?"
Spike looked down at his claws and clenched them.
"I-I-I don't know! When I went to sleep last night just fine, and when I woke up... I was like this! D-did I sleep steal?"
Twilight was pretty sure he wasn't lying. On top of that, Spike had never shown signs of sleepwalking before. She didn't know if that could just start at any age, but she found the idea highly unlikely.
What else could it be, though?
She sighed to herself. Normally she loved a good puzzle, but not when it involved the pain of her closest... Friend.
She blinked. No, Spike was more than a friend. Just like her 5 friends weren't just friends. They were family. But Spike... He was even more so. What even was he to her? A brother? A son? And more importantly, where did these thoughts come from? Never before had she contemplated their relationship. He was Spike and she was Twilight, and that was it, but now she couldn't help but wonder exactly what they had.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she decided to focus on the now; her number one assistant was in trouble, and it was up to her to try and fix it.
"Come on, Spike. I don't think you stole in your sleep, but we're going to get to the bottom of this, I promise you."
The 'promise' reminded him of last night, when she Pinkie Promised to let him buy his comic tomorrow, but he pushed that aside. This was much more important. Spike did not want to rampage and destroy the town again. It was destroyed enough without his help.
"Where are we going?"
"Fluttershy's."
~*~*~*~*~
Spike and Twilight were sitting on Fluttershy's couch with tea in their hands and magical aura respectively. The buttercream colored pegasus herself was sitting in a comfortable chair, cradling her own cup while still shaking a little.
Spike rubbed the back of his neck with a free hand.
"I'm really sorry about startling you, Fluttershy. I know you weren't expecting me to be as big as you now."
Fluttershy managed to put on a kind smile, and took a sip of her tea to calm her nerves. She stopped shaking a little, the warm liquid flowing through her.
"Oh, that's okay, Spike.... I know you didn't mean to."
Twilight coughed and set her cup down on the coffee table.
"Actually, that's what we came over here to talk about. Might as well address the elephant in the room."
Fluttershy blinked and tilted her head.
"Why do we need to bring Jerry into this?"
Twilight's face scrunched up with confusion, until a baby pachyderm bounded over at the mention of her name. When she reached Fluttershy, she trumpeted her horn proudly. Fluttershy giggled and pet the baby elephant affectionately.
Spike was still a little upset over recent events to laugh, but Twilight found it slightly amusing, covering a smile with her hoof. She cleared her throat and tried again.
"Seriously, though. Spike is bigger and we don't know why. You remember the last time he got bigger, right?"
The animal caretaker nodded, sending Jerry the Oddly Named Female Elephant away as she did so. "He stole a bunch of stuff for his hoard and grew out of control because of dragon greed."
Twilight nodded affirmatively.
"Right, except this time he went to bed last night, and when he woke up... He was like this with no hoard to be found!"
Fluttershy hmmed, unsure of why exactly they had come to her.
"That sounds very odd twilight, but, um... Why did you come to me? I still don't know much about dragons that I haven't learned from Spike..."
Twilight sighed and lowered her head.
"I know, but you're still the best with animals in all of Equestria, even sapient ones."
Fluttershy blushed at the compliment and hid behind her long pink mane..
"Well, um, I don't know about all of Equestria, but..."
"And I just don't know what to do... I mean, what if it is his dragon greed?"
"What if it's not?" Fluttershy pointed out. "This time, he didn't wake up on a pile of stuff, so maybe he's just growing up? Uh, For real this time?"
Twilight blinked and look over at the oddly silent Spike, who was fidgeting with his cup while they talked. It was quite the growth spurt, but maybe that was normal in dragons. He also wasn't near as big as he was last time, so it was feasible that he was just getting a little bigger naturally. Spike looked up from his cup to her eyes, and she shot him a smile before turning back to Fluttershy.
"I suppose that's a possibility. It's also the best working theory we have since he doesn't remember stealing anything."
Spike contemplated it for a moment. Was he really just... not a baby dragon anymore? Ponies and other races had to grow up little bits at a time, but nopony knew what dragon biology was like.
The trio sat in companionable silence for a time before a thought struck Twilight. A terrifying thought.
"Oh no! I promised him an allowance. What if I give it to him, and he gets even bigger and starts hoarding again! I didn't even think of that! What if it's not safe to give him money?"
Spike looked up, a tad upset at that.
"But Twilight, you Pinkie Promised..."
Twilight looked guilty and upset herself. "I know Spike, and breaking a promise is one of the fastest ways to lose a friend—"
"FOREEEEVERRRRRR!"
All three of them jumped, startled at the sudden entrance of Pinkie Pie from a birdhouse hole that was way too small for her to possibly fit through and still obey the laws of reality.
But this was Pinkie Pie, so that didn't matter.
Fluttershy looked the worst as she clutched her chest with a hoof.
"U-um... P-pinkie, how long have you been in my b-birdhouse?"
Pinkie popped out of the bird house entirely and sat on the floor, since everywhere else was taken. "Since yesterday. I had it off, so I thought, hey, I've never been a bird before! How does it feel to be a bird? So I broke into your house and slept in your Birdhouse for a day. Duh!" She grimaced. "The birdseed you put in here was not very good." That out of the way, she quickly rounded on Twilight, a glare on her face.
"If you break a Pinkie Promise, I will do unspeakable things to you... And don't ask me what! They're unspeakable because I don't know what they are yet!"
Twilight's coat looked like it got a few shades paler, and she gulped nervously.
"Surely there are some rules or conditions about Pinkie Promises that allow them to be wavered in times of extreme conditions? Like the sudden possibility of catastrophe?"
Pinkie's eyes narrowed for a second, causing Twilight to sweat, before returning to their normal wide and expressive selves. A grin returned to her face.
"Yep! But Twilight, why not just give him the bits and find out? You'll never know if you don't try!"
Spike looked hopeful at that. "Yeah! What she said!"
Twilight sat for a period of time uncomfortably, mulling it over, before finally groaning and nodding.
"Alright, I guess that makes sense. I'll give him the allowance."
Spike's expression lit up with glee.
"On one condition!"
And it fell.
Twilight turned to Spike, poking him in the chest with a hoof.
"You have to prove to me that you can handle having the money without being greedy or grabby. We'll work out the terms when we get home."
Spike's face lit up again.
"That doesn't sound too hard to me. Alright!"
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't have to break her Pinkie Promise. She stood up and turned to Fluttershy.
"Glad that's over. Thanks for having us Fluttershy. I'll see you Thursday for the picnic with the girls?"
Fluttershy nodded with a smile, very glad that she was able to help out a friend.
"Of course. See you later, Twilight. And good luck Spike!"
They both left for the Castle of Friendship.
~*~*~*~*~
"Here's the deal Spike. Take this bag of 15 bits," Twilight hovered said bag over to him.
Spike quickly snatched it out of the air with a predatory grin, sniffing the large velvet bag before releasing a heavenly sigh. He could already tell it was made by Rarity. A deep royal purple with highlights of green dashed here in there, and his name was stitched on it in a very elegant and familiar style. Also, it smelled like her.
Twilight looked at him oddly for a second before placing a much heftier burlap sack on the table in the map room.
"This bag contains 100 bits. If this bag is still here and full in the morning, then I'll let you both keep the money you have, and give you more in the future. However, if it's gone, we'll just assume that your dragon greed overpowers your self-control. At that point your allowance will be suspended indefinitely, and you'll ask me to buy you things again. Is that clear?"
Spike saluted. He was still a little upset at not being able to buy the comic book again today, but he reasoned that it was for a good cause. As much as he wanted the book, he also wanted to not cause thousands in financial damage again.
"Yes ma'am!" Twilight smiled, having a good feeling about the situation.
"Then you are dismissed."
Spike relaxed the salute and walked to his room, ready to show that sack of gold just who was boss around here.
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,016 users online
1,487,354 hits today, 2,073,628 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.®
Okay, I was hoping it wouldn't take long for something more to happen, and it did. There are many interesting possibilities for this, and I look forward to watching them play out.
I noticed a couple issues, though.
Eons, not aeons, and there's no need for the capitalization.
And that I feel is a poor choice of words. The word "sinner" usually has religious implications, so to have Spike refer to himself as one without there being anything religious going on in the story just feels incredibly jarring. My first thought when I read that was "Wow, that came out of nowhere!" You might do without the caps lock as well, but I'm not really sure what the rules are concerning that.
That's about it, then. See you next time.
8320312
I found the word "sinner" to be functional to the comedy here... it IS biblically overblown considered the circumstances, but that's just the point. Any other word in its place wouldn't really have sold Spike's panic.
Looks like this is going to be an interesting story! Nice work, Trenton!
8320331
Oh. Was it supposed to be comical? It didn't really come off that way to me. With that in mind, I'm not entirely sure how serious the tone is supposed to be.
I did like the joke later on with the elephant.
Will the Cutie Mark Crusaders also be going through puberty?
I really love the premise you're working with here.
even more interesting
lets hope Spike can control himself
8320331
8320389
It was meant to be dramatic, not comedic.
8320492
Maybe. If not I'll think about making a story about it specifically. This one is a Spike focus though.
8320537
Thanks!
Why can't Twilight inform Ember of this?
This is coming along very nicely! I'm enjoying the relaxed slice of life feel. Relaxed though it may be, the pace is nice, not sluggish at all, and is pleasantly interesting. Looking forward to more. Nice work!
Twilight making Spike's initial allowance 15 bits a months seems rather odd. Especially considering Twilight herself noted that Applebloom's 20 a months seemed low, and that Spike did more work then Applebloom. Personally I expected her to offer him at least 25 a month.
I'm definitely looking forward to more of this. Spike growing up is a favored topic of mine.
And Spike gets less than Apple Bloom? Dang. Is this one where Spike works full time for Twilight, basically?
8320670
y tho
8320832
Thanks!
8321366
I don't remember saying Applebloom was a little low in Twilight's mind. I said she didn't have enough data to make sure. Also, I'm going out on a limb and assuming that working on a farm in the heat is quite a bit worse than taking care of house hold chores, even for a home as large as the Castle of Friendship.
8321876
Working full time sounds kinda harsh.
THird chapter and chapter one and two edits coming out sometime today!
Ok, how silly is this story supposed to be? Is this a completely absurd farce? Lines like this suggest it must be, as they do not belong at all in Equestria... yet I find myself not finding any of this amusing. There is no real set-up to anything.
And some are tonally wrong for the character for whom they're associated. Jokes like the 'elephant in the room' feel forced when dealing with someone like Fluttershy. That sort of humor would work with Discord, Pinkie... or the Warner Brothers... but not Flutters.
And for others, it's taken too far:
That's more of a threat than a joke. It's not funny.
8324817
Welp. I appreciate your input and I'll try harder to think of what jokes can work where in the future, but there's not a whole lot I can do about this other than continue writing and try to figure out who would say what in any situation. I'm sorry you're not having a good time with this one, but I'm trying the best I can for a first attempt. Thank you for pointing these out.
8324817
Isn't a story about exploring traits of certain characters? The 'Elephant in the room' joke is a perfect example of Fluttershy's innocence to a joke, which is well within her character bounds, but enough to add so she's not just a carbon copy of the show. If that's the end goal for writing a character then about 60% of fics on this site are doing something wrong. Almost every 'joke' you pointed out I can easily see the aforementioned character saying or unknowingly propagating, given some space in regards to the target audience. The build up is a bit spotty, I'll give you that. However, the substance of the jokes don't seem out of place at all
only 15 bits? since he's cleaning a castle alone most the time i think he would get at least 20. not counting his assitant duties and putting up with crazey twilight. and quick question. why did twilight not go stright to zecora? She's the one who told them of spikes greed growth, why bother with fluttershy when they already went through this song and dance already.
8454939
Good point. I don't know why Zecora didn't come to me. Too late now LOL