Maintaining Harmony

by DiabloGuapo

Growing Pains

It was another typical day in Ponyville. Celestia’s sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful azure, and the pegasi had placed fluffy, white clouds over the town. Everypony was going about their daily business. Applejack was, of course, tending to the apple orchards. Fluttershy was currently helping a bird who had hurt its wing. Rainbow Dash was showing off some of her new tricks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. While Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were impressed, Scootaloo was bursting with enthusiasm. Twilight Sparkle was currently writing a paper on the study of pre-classical runes. Pinkie Pie was hosting a birthday party for a colt in Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight Sparkle had given Spike some time off, so naturally he was at Carousel Boutique helping Rarity. Spike was acting as a mobile pincushion following the mare of his dreams as she assembled another outfit.

“Hhhmmm… oh yes, that looks divine! Now, how about… perhaps… Spike, could you please fetch me the purple sash over on the table?” Rarity asked the young dragon as she evaluated her progress. Spike immediately ran to the table littered with various materials on it, searching for the requested sash. He found it, but he also found that it was under a sleeping, white Persian cat. Spike grunted in frustration, because he knew that Opalescence was a stubborn cat and wouldn’t relinquish the sash without a fight.

“Okay, Opal. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Spike address the cat. The cat just yawn at him and turned her back towards him. Spike sighed, “The hard way it is.”

Rarity was humming to herself as she placed a necklace on the mannequin when Spike had returned with the sash. As she turned to take the sash from him, she was slightly surprised at what she saw. Spike was hold the sash neatly folded in his arms, but he had an angry, hissing cat clinging on to the side of his face scratching at his scales. Spike didn’t look very amused.

“Oh, Opal. Get down from there at once,” she ordered her foul-tempered cat. The unicorn’s horn glowed with a blue aura was she used her magic to simultaneously remove her cat from the dragon’s face and to take the sash from the dragon’s arms. The cat was placed on the floor, which then walked away in a huff to find a new napping spot. “I’m terribly sorry about that, Spike. Are you alright?”

“Nah, don’t worry about. Thick scales, remember,” he said pointing to the pins in his back. Rarity smiled and nodded at his comment at turned back to her work. She was indeed grateful for his thick scales, but today she took extra care where she placed those pins in his back. She had noticed the two marks on his back which Twilight told her that were causing him pain from time to time. She was reluctant to use Spike as a pincushion today, but he insisted that he was fine. “There! All done. Another masterpiece!”

Spike stood beside Rarity as they both admired her finished work. It was a midnight blue dress with silver trim. The purple sash was elegantly draped around it, and an amethyst necklace completed the ensemble. After her final inspection of her dress, Rarity used her magic to tidy up. She pulled the pins one by one out of Spike’s back and returned them to their container. Not long after she had finished cleaning did she notice that Spike was cringing. She was about to brush it off as another of Spike’s sporadic spasms, but then he suddenly cringed again.

“Spike? Are you all right, dear?” she asked, her brows knitted with concern.

“Yeah,” he said with a groan. “It’s just my back again. It…” His words were cut off by a hiss of pain. Rarity stepped forward with increasing worry. She had seen him wince before due to the pain his back, but this time it was different. The intervals between spasms of pain were shortening, and his reaction to them was intensifying. Another spasm struck and Spike was forced to his knees, breathing quickly. Rarity tried to think of what should she do, but her train of thought was disrupted by the sound of a bell ringing. Rarity looked to the front door and saw that the local mailpony had arrived.

“A letter for a Miss Rarity,” the gray pegasus with a blond mane happily announced. She pulled a fancy looking envelop from her bag a presented it to the fashonita.

“Oh, um, could you please leave it on the counter there? I’m kind of busy at the moment.” Rarity couldn’t be bothered with a letter now. The mailmare nodded happily and placed the letter down. As she turned to leave, her wing accidently knocked over one of Rarity’s mannequins.

“Oops, my bad. Let me help with…”

“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll take care of it.”

“Well, okay then. See you later.”

Rarity sighed with relief as the mare left, and then returned her attention to Spike. Before she could ask him how he was doing, the door opened again. Rarity saw her sister and her friends walk in, still in the middle of a conversation.

“…and then Rainbow Dash swooped down and…” the orange pegasus excitedly gabbed.

“Yes, we know, Scootaloo. We were there too,” replied Apple Bloom, a little annoyed. Their talking soon ceased as they saw Spike.

“Hey, Sis. What’s wrong with Spike?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Oh, well, he…” Rarity didn’t quite know how to answer the girls. Spike’s face was straining in discomfort, and he was on all fours.

“My back…Feels like…something’s cramped up…” Spike groaned in between spasms. It felt like a highly strung coil was trying to unwind itself in his back. Spike couldn’t tell which felt worse; the coiled up feeling or the uncoiling. Oddly enough, he actually felt relief when it tried to stretch itself out, but the stretching felt like it was tearing something. With each spasm, the sensations magnified.

“Girls, I need you to run and get Twi…” Rarity began to say, but she was cut off by a shout of pain from Spike. The four ponies watched Spike with fear and concern as he panted. He would growl as his back stretched, and then quickly gasp afterwards. With only one final groan, he arched his back one last time, and then two wings bursts forth from his back. The four observing ponies gasped with shock. For a moment, Spike stood there on all fours with his new wings extended, blood dripping from them. His eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious to the floor.

“Spikey-Wikey!” Rarity cried as she ran to the fallen dragon. The three fillies remained where they were, too afraid to move. Rarity ignored the fact that his blood was getting on her coat as she check to see if he was alive. He was breathing, and the blood that was spilt seemed to be only a small amount that was caught between his wings and the surface. However, Rarity was still worried sick.

“I-Is he going to be okay, Sis?” Sweetie Belle timidly asked.

“Yes, I think so,” the elder sister reassured. She looked up from the unconscious dragon to the three frightened Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Sweetie Belle, bring me some wash cloths. Apple Bloom, fetch me a bowl of water. Scootaloo, go and get Twilight.” When the three hesitated, Rarity firmly, but calmly, ordered, “Go now. Hurry!”

“R-Right,” the three said as they sped off. Scootaloo rushed outside, put her helmet on, and raced towards Golden Oaks Library on her scooter. Her little wings buzzed furiously to propel her as fast as she could. Even though it was only a few minutes, it felt like hours to Scootaloo. She felt like Spike’s life depended on her getting his caretaker to him as soon as possible.

“Twilight!” Scootaloo shouted as she rushed into the library. The sudden noise caused Twilight Sparkle to jump and make a large mark with her quill on the parchment that she was writing on.

“Scootaloo! You scared me to half to death. What’s…” Before she could finish, the frantic pegasus ran up to her with a urgent look on her face.

“Come on! We gotta go now! Spike’s hurt! He’s at Rarity’s…” the filly spoke, her words running into each other. Twilight Sparkle’s heart skipped a beat, and her breath was caught in her throat when she heard the words “Spike’s hurt.” The lavender unicorn ran out with the orange filly following her.

When Twilight arrived, she saw Rarity sitting down by Spike, gently cleaning him as Apple Bloom and Sweetie watched on with worried looks. She also noticed that what Rarity appeared to be cleaning were wings. They were little bit larger than Scootaloo’s, and they had green a membrane, like the scales on his belly or his ear-frills. Rarity looked up to her friend with a small smile, even though she was slightly messy. Twilight returned the smile as she walked over to them, and then she turned her attention back to her number one assistant.

“Spike?” she said softly as she gently caressed his head. He stirred a little at her touch and voice.

“…Mommy…” he mumbled half conscious, and then he fell back asleep. Twilight smiled and lifted him carefully onto her back with her magic.

“It’s okay Spike. Let’s get you home, big boy,” she said soothingly as she headed towards the door. When they had left, Rarity began to clean up the mess.

“You girls can run along, now. I’ll tidy up,” Rarity dismissed them as she picked up the soiled wash cloths.

“Wow, we gotta tell everpony ‘bout this!” exclaimed Apple Bloom as the three ran out the door. With the ordeal of Spike growing wings and cleaning, Rarity completely forgot about the letter on the counter.

Comments

[DiabloGuapo]

I did say that I was going somewhere with Spike's back. Well, here it is.

[Trickquestion]

Not quite as elegant as a butterfly emerging from it's cocoon, but I suppose wings are wings...

Another excellent chapter!