Comics and Curiosities
Once again, the light against his eyes and his internal clock simply weren't enough to make Spike wake up at his usual time. He briefly considered what he read about how teenagers slept more to assist in their development and then considered going back to sleep. Spike thought of just going up to sleep and ignoring Twilight.
What woke him up was the lavender mare herself squeezing him tightly with a bright smile on her face. Spike drearily rubbed an eye and wrapped the other arm around her to reciprocate the hug as he sat up. "Twi? Not that I'm complaining, but what's this?"
Twilight pulled back with sparkling eyes. "The bag's still there, Spike. I'm extremely proud of you," she glanced down at the bits she could see under him, spread out over the mattress that he wasn't laying on anymore. She read that dragons liked sleeping on their hoard, so that wasn't too surprising, but she made a mental note not to touch his money without washing it first.
Twilight knew she’d seen him sweat before.
Spike got a big grin on his face as he took in what she had said. "That's awesome! I was awake for like, four hours after you sent me off and I didn't even feel anything!"
Twilight tilted her head, a quizzical expression on her face. "Nothing?"
"Nope."
Twilight's eyes gleamed as she released him and teleported away in a pop. After a few seconds — that Spike used debating whether to shower and eat before going to the comic store — she reappeared with a flash of light in front of his bed, writing on a piece of parchment.
"That is simply fascinating! I hypothesize that a dragon grows more and more resistant to their greedy natures as they get older. This would also explain why that green dragon in the Everfree Forest you saw had such a small hoard, and why we don't see dragons on the regular trying to tear Canterlot apart for all the gold it uses in its architecture. I suspect a dragon regards his or her hoard with the pride that they accumulated it over a large period of time through the hard work of either finding unclaimed mines, abandoned ruins, or as payment for something. This would also explain why I haven't read anything about theft in the very few dragon books in the world! Oh, Spike, this is amazing! I could write an entire book on my own just by watching you grow up!" She gave a squee as she pranced in place excitedly. "In fact, I think I will!"
Spike smiled at his guardians excitement, and pushed himself off the bed completely. He gathered the bits he laid down and pushed them into the decorated bag Twilight gave him yesterday - He would really have to thank Rarity for making it - and looked back at her.
"That's great, Twilight, really. But, uhhh... I've kinda been waiting for three days to buy this comic book, sooo..."
"Oh! Right, erm, sorry," She chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with a forehoof. "I'll get out of your hair now. I gotta go pick up Starlight from the train station anyways. Have fun, Spike!"
Spike grinned and walked for the door. "Will do!"
~*~*~*~*~
It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. On days like this, kids like him... Should be buying comic books! Well, young adults like him now, he mused.
He also wondered why he had the gut feeling he was going to have a bad time.
As Spike walked through ponyville, he garnered quite a few stares, but he couldn't really blame them. He was looking quite different. Spike and Twilight had been living in Ponyville for a few years now, and the entire town was used to seeing Equestria's Friendliest Dragon out and about, but never like this. Quite a few of his friends around town said hello, and most of them commented on his new appearance.
"Lookin' good Spike!"
"Thanks Vinyl!"
"Wow, Spike! Don't you look bigger!"
"Thanks for noticing, Cherilee!"
"Hey, Spike! Something's different about you... Oh, you have new glasses!"
"I... Don't wear glasses, Derpy."
"OH NO! SPIKE IS GETTING BIGGER AGAIN! THE HORROR, THE HORROR! EVERYPONY RUN!"
The flower trio bolted, making Spike feel pretty bad, but he couldn't blame them for thinking that. The last two times he had grown larger than a few feet tall, he caused property damage. The first was only the magic school's roof during Twilight's entrance exam and his hatching; the second time however was entirely his fault, and he destroyed many a business as he wandered through town grabbing everything in sight. He was just glad that not too many people heard them. Hopefully after they saw him walking through town a few times, they'd realize he wasn't a threat. Then again, maybe not... They had fainted to a bunny stampede of all things.
He was brought out of his musings by a truly terrifying sight: Ponyville's own infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo stopped her scooter and unstrapped her helmet as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom jumped out of the wagon it was pulling.
"Wow, Spike. Y'all look massive. What the hay happened?" Applebloom asked as she approached, for once looking up at the drake. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were in step on either side of her.
"Yeah! You look wicked cool now! Not that you didn't look cool before, but now you actually look like you could be menacing or something!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
Sweetie Belle just stared with an open jaw for the most part.
Spike smiled and put a hand to his chest proudly. "We can't tell for sure, but I'm probably growing up... For real this time. I don't think I'm a baby dragon anymore."
Scootaloo tilted her head. "Wait, so you're like, a toddler dragon now, or are you like a kid dragon now?"
"Or a preteen? Or a teenager?" Applebloom helpfully added.
Spike blinked and rubbed the back of his neck with a claw. "I'm... Not entirely sure. I know I'm small, but I've already been a toddler like anypony else. Maybe baby dragon was a misnomer, and-"
"A misnomenclature what now?" Applebloom asked.
Sweetie Belle finally spoke up. "Misnomer. It means that the name originally given to the term doesn't really describe it at all, or actively suggests the opposite.... How did you even get that confused with a word with two more syllables?"
Scootaloo looked at her white coated friend, seeing an opportunity for some teasing. "What are you, a dictionary?"
Sweetie Belle, used to being called a dictionary at this point, simply rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, words like 'dodo' and 'chicken' occasionally becoming clear before falling silent again and focusing on Spike, who was starting to speak again.
"Right, anyways, if I had to guess, preteen or really young teenager. I think young adult definitely fits," Or at least, he hoped it did. "I don't really feel very different, though."
Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Well y'aint just gonna change overnight, Spike."
Scootaloo gave Applebloom a blank stare, before pointing at Spike.
"Oh for cryin' out- I meant mentally!" she exclaimed, exasperated.
Spike scratched at his chin. "I suppose that's true... Guess we'll just have to see how it goes."
Scootaloo nudged her fellow crusaders. "Well, it was great talking to you Spike, but we gotta go crusading."
"Huh?" Spike asked, scratching his head. "But all three of you have your Cutie Marks already... What are you going to do?" It was true. Three similar shield symbols were stamped on their flanks with very slight differences.
"True, true, but we still have the most fun crusading anyway. Now we just do it to find fun new things to do. And this time, we're becoming Cutie Mark Crusader Medical Waste Disposal Specialists... Wanna help-"
He immediately turned and continued his trek to the comic shop, both to get out of there as soon as he could, and also so they couldn't see the etch of horror written on his face. "Welp, sounds like fun but I gotta go too. Later!"
"Bye, Spike!" Applebloom and Scootaloo said in unision. They glanced at Sweetie Belle, who was still staring at Spike with an odd expression. They shared a look and got sly grins on their faces.
"Gee Sweetie Belle," Applebloom nudged their friend in the ribs, immediately grabbing her attention. "You sure like starin' at Spike."
Scootaloo nudged her from the other side teasingly. "Sure seemed pretty quiet around him, too."
Sweetie's face progressively got redder, until the two fillies sang in unison, "You liiike him!" at which point she could stand against Big Macintosh in a contest for "Reddest pony in Ponyville."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"DO NOT!"
"DO TOO!"
Sweetie Belle looked down at her hooves in embarrassment and curled her tail around them protectively (Unintentionally causing three heart attacks in the immediate vicinity in the process), before finally relinquishing. "Okay, fine, maybe a little..." she mumbled. Her redness levels had ascended beyond that of a fireruby.
Her two friends hugged her with massive smiles on their faces, giggling.
"Don' worry, Sweetie Belle. We'll find a way to get you two together. Crusaders Promise," Applebloom Swore. Scootaloo nodded.
Sweetie Belle gulped nervously. "I'm not sure if that's inspiring, or terrifying..."
~*~*~*~*~
Finally, finally, Spike got to the comic book and magazine store and entered, giving a sigh of pleasure as he smelled the sweet smell of comics. The decent sized interior was painted a thick beige, had no windows, and was cooled by a single overhead fan spinning overhead. Besides the showing glass window at the front, the only light came from blinded windows on the walls and back.
Having been here many times before, Spike walked through the building down familiar book stands, albeit from a new perspective: He could now see the top shelves whereas before he would have hat to be a few feet away from to be able to clearly see the top shelp. Whistling all the while, he came upon the Power Ponies section and smiled. There was one copy of the newest edition left. He quickly grabbed it and started back the way he came.
But something distracted him. As he was looking around, enjoying his new height, he saw something he never had before thanks to it. A different kind of magazine. A scantily clad pegasus mare was on the cover, and the title said "Playmare." It was different because ponies usually didn't wear clothes, and when they did it was either to make a fashion statement, or to be... erotic.
Spike gaped and looked around furtively to make sure no one was watching him. No one else was inside the store besides him and an acne ridden young stallion, who was 19 if he had to guess, he had never seen before here flipping through a comic at the purchase counter boredly. He never saw anything like this here before either. He gulped before walking over to it and picked the magazine up curiously. Opening it, he flushed and closed it again. He walked up to the counter with the two items and set them both on the counter.
The stallion looked up from the comic book to Spike's and the adult magazine. He rose an eyebrow and looked up to Spike himself. "Are you even old enough to buy this?"
Spike wasn't a very good liar, but he tried for it anyways. He tried to act enraged. "Are you saying I look like a child? Do you even know how a dragon is supposed to look at any given age?"
The stallion gave Spike a nonplussed look, and glanced at the comic again. "Ahuh... Then who's this for?"
Spike blustered and blushed again. He was calling his bluff. "A man can have different interests."
The stallion just stared at Spike for a few seconds. It was quite obvious he wasn't believing Spike. He sighed and shook his head. "You know what, dude, I don't even care. They don't pay me enough for this. 6 for the comic, 7 for the magazine."
Spike grinned and fished the bag out of his scales pocket, placing thirteen bits on the counter. He picked up the magazine, hid it inside the comic book and walked out of the store while the stallion pocketed the money.
The young drake's heart was beating a mile a minute. He knew what this was; he wasn't stupid or naive, nor innocent to many difficult and mature topics — a result of living with a librarian who also made an excellent teacher and had a very expansive selection of books to read — but this was still a new to him. Even for Spike, this was pretty compulsive. He didn't know why he picked up the magazine and he didn't know why he lied.
Spike looked down at the stupid thing, nestled between the pages of the comic book. He flushed again and the grin fell from his face. What would Twilight say about him buying something like this? He suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of shame. Curiosity had gotten the better of him. The dragon looked down sadly to the ground. He knew what Twilight would say. She would be furious. Tears pooled at his eyes as he imagined his guardians complete disappointment in him.
He wiped his eyes before anypony in town could see him crying and ask what was wrong. He clutched the comic book/magazine duo to his chest tightly and quickly went home, filled with determination. Spike vowed that as soon as he got home, he would throw it away.
... after looking through all the pages. He did buy it after all.
~*~*~*~*~
When Spike got home, he was immediately accosted by Starlight Glimmer in the Map Room. He made sure that no visible parts of the magazine were visible, only the comic book was, as he greeted her. "Hey, Starlight! How was your trip?"
Starlight grinned excitedly. "Amazing! I tell you, Spike, the Crystal Empire never gets old. And visiting Sunburst always leaves me... Bursting with excitement," She chuckled at her own pun, as good punners should oft do.
Spike grin turned nervous. "Sounds great! Can't wait to hear more about it, but I gotta go, like, now, so maybe in a little bit heheh..."
Starlight looked down at his claws and pointed at it with a smile. "Hey, is that the new Power Ponies? Strange, it seems a bit thicker than they usually are, doesn't it?"
Spike gulped and really, really hoped that was the only odd thing she noticed about it. "I don't know but I intend to find out! I'll let you read it after as usual, but I really, really want to read it now so, you know, if we're done talking..."
She nodded and walked off to find Twilight. "That's fine, Spike. I'll just talk to Twilight. I know how excited you can get over those. Have fun."
~*~*~*~*~
Later that night after reading the comic, Spike was looking at the magazine with wide eyes, flipping to a new page every few moments. The things he saw made his head spin, and he was having difficulty breathing. Mares posed in a variety of sultry poses, drawing his gaze to places normally covered in polite company. The models were gorgeous, but none of them looked quite as appealing as Rarity in his opinion.
Rarity... Spike wondered what she would look like in these kind of poses, and imagined it for a second, before rapidly shaking his head. "No!" He would not think of Rarity like that. She wasn't just some toy for his sick pleasures. She was a loving and kind individual who didn't deserve to be objectified like the mares he was seeing now. He had way too much respect for her to even begin to think about breaking her trust like that.
He was broken out of his mental whirlpool when the door started to open. Panicking, Spike immediately shoved it under his pillow as fast as he could.
Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough. When Twilight barged in, she saw him quickly stuff something underneath the pillow, and got an extremely suspicious look on her face.
"Spike... What are you hiding?" she said slowly, approaching.
"N-nothing!" he panicked, guilt plain on his face.
Twilight's expression became stern. "Don't lie to me Spike. Please. Don't we have a better relationship than that? You shouldn't have to feel like you need to lie to me," her look turned sad, upset that he distrusted her that much.
Spike's eyes brimmed with tears as he slowly reached underneath the pillow, pulling the adult magazine out and handing it to Twilight, who grasped it in her magic, sitting down. She looked over the cover and opened it up, looking at a couple of pages before closing it again. She looked up at Spike and he immediately closed his eyes, unable to bear to see her reaction to his folly.
"Spike, where did you get this?"
He gulped. "T-the comic b-book s-s-store..."
He could hear Twilight's sigh and opened his eye. He immediately regretted it as he saw the look of absolute betrayal on Twilight's face.
"Spike... I'm so disappointed in you. What possessed you to do this?"
That was it. It was over. He could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces. He thought about what he would need to pack when she kicked him out. What would he take? Could he survive on his own? Pinkie, Cheese Sandwich, Applejack... They all left when they were young, and he was older than they were when they left by a couple of years! Surely he could make it too. This couldn't be the end. But he would miss Twilight so much...
Twilight continued. "Why did you steal this? I thought you were over your greed."
Spike blinked and wiped tears out of his eyes, sniffling. "W-what? No, I bought it... It was s-s-seven b-bits."
Twilight's expression relaxed. "Oh. Good. I was really worried there for a second," she gave him a smile and handed the magazine back with her magic.
Spike took it, and looked down at the cover, extremely confused. He blinked again and tried to understand what just happened.
Spike.exe has stopped working.
Eventually he looked back up at her smile. "W-what? You were mad because you thought I stole it?"
Twilight nodded, smile never wavering. "Well... Yeah, what did you think I was mad about?"
Spike looked at the purple mare inanely. "Me buying it in the first place!"
A snicker escaped the alicorn. Then a giggle. Then full a full blown blithe hurricane, complete with gales of laughter. She wiped a tear out of her eye. "You thought I'd be upset with you for being curious? Jeeze, Spike, you really are still a child. You should know I'd never be mad at you over something like this."
"B-but what if it was what you assumed and I s-stole it?"
Twilight shook her head. "I was a little disappointed Spike, but I thought you really couldn't help yourself. I wasn't mad."
Noticing the tears in his eyes for the first time, Twilight pursed her lips. He was shaking too. Was he actually this upset over it? She quickly stood and wrapped her forehooves around him tenderly, at which point Spike started bawling, leaning into the embrace. She hushed him gently, rocking him all the while as she climbed into bed with him.
"Shhh. It's okay. I'm sorry I laughed. I didn't realized how upset you were. It's okay, okay? You know I could never hate you. I love you Spike, with all my heart. And that's unconditionally."
Eventually, with the help of Twilight's soothing words and enough tears to fill a swimming pool, Spike calmed down and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. His eyes felt puffy and sore and he felt emotionally drained. Spike just wanted to sleep. He let go of Twilight, who withdrew with a gentle smile on her face.
"Better?"
Spike sniffed one final time. "Y-yeah... I... I'm pretty tired. I think I want to get some sleep."
Twilight patted his shoulder and got off of Spike's bed, wandering over to the door. "Alright. Just remember that if you need to talk about anything, I'll always be there for you, okay?"
It hurt Spike to smile after frowning so much, but he did it anyways. "Yeah."
Before she closed the door, Spike spoke up.
"A-and Twilight?"
Twilight turned back to him. "Yes, Spike?"
He fumbled with his blanket and looked down, blushing. "I love you, too."
Twilight's gentle smile turned into a beam, and she closed the door to let him rest.
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good chapter
and I do like Sweetie having a crush on Spike
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Sweetie/Spike? Okay. We don't have enough good stories of that nature, so I can run with it. The actual conversation between Spike and the CMC felt kinda stiff, though. Mostly jokes I felt like I've heard plenty of times before, and that Do not/do too thing which I've become rather tired of seeing. That's a bit of a personal gripe, though.
I like that Twilight was more upset at potential theft than anything, but it feels odd that she didn't ask to clarify that. I might be nitpicking at this point.
Sorry if I seem overly critical most of the time. I have an easier time spotting things that bug me than I do spotting things I like. I'm still very interested to see where this story is going.
Awww, supportive momma-Twi is great. This was actually an interesting turnout! Go Spike!
Much less awkward than when my parents discovered my browsing history a few years back
I think Spike needs to experience the horror of voice breaks
It'll be 3000+ issues of that magazine.
Plus Sweetie Belle looks to me eye-humping on Spike.
I'd personally rather you stray away from stuff like drinking stealing drugs etc anything that would have Spike be punished, not sure why but I've always hated punishment in stories :/ but I love comedy :D
Also I'd love a scene where Spike calls Twi Mom or Mama
Awww this is precious~!!
Mama Twilight for the win!
8324000
Knowing Twilight, her prefered method will be to have an entire presentation prepared in the morning. No doubt with references and carefully cited sources.
"I was saving this for when you got a bit larger Spike. Your body is going through changes and you'll grow curious, so it'll be better if we're open about this sort of thing from the start."
*A magenta glow pulls down a whiteboard, already covered in diagrams.*
"Save any questions until the end please! The pancakes smell delicious, by the way."
8322107
MY bad on the Twilight thinking 20 was low, guess i miss interpreted that part. Sorry. Honestly it's sometimes hard to tell who has the more demanding work load between between Applebloom and Spike. Spike works inside rather then outside but the flip of that is it seems like Spike works more hours.
8324120
All of the yes. I can totally see Twilight doing this.
Nice chapter! I like how both Spike and Twilight dealt with that particular pubescent bump in the road. I'm glad we got Spike's inner thoughts on objectifying via thinking of Rarity, but it might've been nice to have Twilight teach him/him learn through books/through somepony else that objectifying mares you don't know is very important too. It's okay to ogle dirty magazines/porn because that's pretty much their job and they consented to it, but what about random mares in the street? Maybe a few chapters down the line, you could have him learn that, while his hormones are probably going nuts right now, it's not an excuse to ogle strangers in the streets, as it makes them feel very uncomfortable. I don't know, maybe that'd be too redundant.
Maybe you could have his thoughts stray to mating, say when just going about his day, including when he doesn't want to, like when he's hanging out with the mane six (or whoever he strictly considers friends/like family) and feels embarrassed about having his thoughts go to that and worrying if his face is all red. No need to stray into *cough*random boner territory*cough* or anything quite that graphic, but just the embarrassment of thinking such thoughts at inappropriate times.
You could also have him go through changes in his scales that embarrass him, some sort of dragon equivalent to acne. Not just spots, but something that conveys how our society finds acne gross as well as unpleasant to look at (some people do, though it's not very nice of them). Maybe near constant localized shedding of skin (like a snake) or scales?
Another thought would be to have him wonder if he's 'too mature' for Sweetie Belle once he finds out she likes him and he considers dating her. Not in a physical age mind you, since in this chapter it says he's around preteen age, but more mental maturity. Spike acts kid-like sometimes, but he's now growing to explore more adult things, while Sweetie Belle still acts a bit childish yet. Nothing wrong with either of their mental maturities for their age, but I could see a scene where he wants to do something more mature (like have a discussion, do a crossword puzzle, doesn't want to go on a crusade with her cause it's dangerous/way too silly, walk around a mud puddle instead of spash in it, etc.) but she wants to do something more fun. They could work it out in the end of course, but it would just be interesting to explore that polarity a bit.
P.s Sorry for the comment length, guess I got a bit carried away!
So I'm curious as if to this was intentional or just what got typed. Presuming "Playmare" is the equivalent of "Playboy" why isn't it "Playcolt/Playstallion"?
8324707
))
Ah, I see. Great to see another's perspective! I've been taking out the trash every week for around $5, since I could remember, but I never considered it "allowance", more "job wages". When my parents and I say "communism", I'm referring to what I hear the more...typical route, where children get a set amount, every week, regardless of chores, good behavior, or any of that. As in, if Spike were to dust shelves, transcribe letters, sweep the castle, and polish the chandelier in a week..he gets twenty bits. Twilight and her friends leave the castle for a week and make a public announcement so nopony comes by for advice, so Spike eats gems and reads Power Ponies comics all week....he gets twenty bits. Ergo, communism. ((Or, better yet, we could delve into the flaws of this practice further by hiring, let's say, Scootaloo, as a second assistant and pay them both the same amount, regardless of work done...but I think I've already rambled enough, haha.
And that's awesome that you work in Biology! (I'd love to hear more about it, if you have the time...possibly in messaging or across e-mail.) (Has nothing else to say...*dabs*)
8322555
No, it's very good you point these things out. I don't want anything becoming stale. I'll see what I can do.
8322569
Glad I don't know that feel!
8322610
Great idea. Ha. Hahaha. MWAHAHAHHAHAH!
8324000
They'll be having a talk within the next few chapters about a multitude of topics, that included.
8324369
Excellent ideas. I had a few of the same and I think I know where this is going a bit better now.
8326551
See, I thought this too, but "Playstallion and Playcolt both just don't sound as good as Playmare. Let's just assume that with with the skewed gender ratios, Playmare is the only one that exists in this universe and it covered females. That's not to say that pornography catering to females doesn't exist, but it doesn't hold the "Play" title.
I know I promised to edit yesterday, but the wifi I was bumming off of went out. My friend got it turned back on today, so I'll be doing that today. I also have a brand new chapter ready to be edited and published, but I gotta wait for my prereader to get on. (Without him, This story would be like, 10-20% more grammatically incorrect.) So be on the look out for that. I'll post it when I'm done with the edits of the chapters if its pre-read before then.
Love seeing some Mama Twi.
I see you Undertale reference! I like it!
It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. On days like this, kids like him... Should be buying comic books! Well, young adults like him now, he mused.
He also wondered why he had the gut feeling he was going to have a bad time
Its a beautiful day outside, birds are singing, flowers are blooming, on days like this, kids. Like. You. Should be BURNING IN HELL
(Megalovania starts)