• Published 20th Nov 2012
  • 5,937 Views, 258 Comments

Baser Instinct - Styrofoam



For years, Spike has tried to suppress his natural draconic instinct. However, what happens when...

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Concerning Equestrian Parties

A low moan erupted from the dark interior of Ponyville’s only quills and sofas shop. Inside, a dark figure paced back and forth, making a well-worn path along the old wooden floor. The figure sighed as he stopped his fevered pacing to stare at a scroll which was lying on a nearby table.

“Ruined…” Davenport Inkfeather moaned, his head buried in his hooves. “I am ruined… My family’s livelihood, our business… Gone.” Looking up, his large green eyes studied the aged walls of the room around him. Generation after generation of Inkfeathers had been born, lived, and died within these very walls. All of them had worked hard to ensure that the next generation of shopkeepers would have a strong foundation in running the family business—too bad that all of their efforts had come to naught.

How could I have forgotten that that dragon was a close friend of Princess Celestia?’ Davenport groaned to himself. He had honestly been stupid. Everypony knew about the heroism of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. The tales of their dragon friend were less widespread, but the showdown at the Crystal Empire still was a hot topic among some circles. Davenport could imagine the lynch mobs already, surrounding his beloved Quills and Sofas with torches in their mouths. He’d be run out of town by morning.

He’d be run out of town for being right. It confused the stallion to no end why the majority of the ponies around him could not see the truth. In the end the dragon would only sow discord and disharmony among them, even more so than the disgusting donkeys and the heathen zebra. Sure, it had started out as harmless and ‘cute,’ but Davenport knew that would change in a hundred years. The shopkeeper figured that the mere thought of living in a town that housed a creature more than a hundred hooves tall with teeth the size of full grown stallions would turn more than a few ponies over to his point of view. At this thought, he turned away and sighed. Well, that would be a problem for future members of The Few.

He, Davenport, taking into account the words of Prince Blueblood, may have a week left in town at the most before some bureaucrat sent from Golden Banner knocks on his door with an inquiry. The stallion hoped that he could meet that pony with a straight face when she or he arrived. An Inkfeather always faced the worst with both honor and dignity. The family business would be lost and its name besmirched, but he could still uphold the family dignity. However, through all of his worries about the future, Davenport was befuddled over one thing. Why would a royal such as Prince Blueblood write to a lowly shopkeeper such as him about a subject that is obviously unpopular in his Aunts’ eyes? It made no sense in any which way he tried to think about it. Still, there was one positive thing about this whole mess. Thanks to the dragon’s letter to Celestia, nopony now could stop the fateful encounter that had occured earlier that afternoon from leaking to the public. But the stallion did at least have one friend—no matter how mysterious his reasons—or rather lifeline: Prince Blueblood.

Davenport spent the rest of the night racking his brain at ways in which he could use this to his advantage.


Spike’s spirits were on cloud nine as he walked home from the Carousel Boutique. A dreamy fanged smile was plastered all over his face, and a quiet sort of happiness filled his heart. How else could he feel? Earlier that night, his longtime crush Rarity had accepted his asking her out on a date—the one thing he had fantasized about during the last few years but never really thought would actually happen.

As the dragon approached the library, he noticed the multicolored lights flashing through its windows and the blaring music echoing outside. Almost instinctively, Spike knew that there was only one reason why the normally quiet library had suddenly been converted into party central—Pinkie Pie. Grinning from ear to ear, he rushed the rest of the way to the front door. However, before he could touch the knob, the door swung open.

“Hiya, Spike!” Pinkie called out, before giving him a wink. “Where ya been you big silly? We’ve been celebrating your and Twilight’s Pre-Midsummer-Moon-Party-Party for like over an hour now, and you weren’t here! Do you know how totally almost-not-fun it is to throw a party for somepony, and that somepony isn’t there to enjoy it?” Somehow Spike found himself being pushed indoors by Pinkie, and he had no idea how Pinkie even got behind him. “But now it’s totally okay because you’re here!”

The surprisingly strong pink earth pony stopped pushing him forward, and Spike stared around at the room. Streamers of various color hung from the ceiling, and tables were piled high with sugary treats from Sugarcube Corner. Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all standing in the far corner talking excitedly with each other.

“Well, don’t just stand there!” Pinkie Pie chided him. “Go ahead and enjoy yourself. Try the cupcakes; they’re amethyst this time.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, Pinkie,” Spike laughed. In a flash, the purple dragon appeared in front of a plate of equally violet jewel studded cupcakes. “Gems…” he drooled before grabbing the top cupcake and stuffing it into his mouth.

“And where exactly have you been all this time?” a voice behind him growled.

Spike spun around, his jaws still full of half-chewed treats. “Twifugth?”

Twilight only raised a suspicious eyebrow and waited for him to swallow before speaking. “You’ve been acting weird lately, Spike. First, I find your old basket which I thought you had thrown out years ago. Then, you start writing mysterious letters to ponies and refusing to tell anypony what you’ve written, and now you disappear for hours at a time. Spike…” At this, her hard frown dropped to reveal a more concerned expression. “I am only bringing this up because I’m concerned about you. I want to know what’s been happening with you lately.”

Spike gulped. He had wanted to put off this explanation until a much more convenient time—that is, a time where he and Twilight had a chance to be alone and especially not before his big date with Rarity—but fate seemed to deem otherwise. Of course, the Quills and Sofas situation had been taken care of, but how exactly does one tell another: “Oh yeah, Twilight, by the way I’ve been having strange fits where I blackout and snap back into focus finding myself doing things that I never would have done if I had full control of my actions. Plus, remember my old basket? The one that you wanted me to throw out—twice? Well, that basket is still in my room. Guess I have a problem with my hording again, right? Heh heh.”

Oh well,’ Spike thought. ‘Here goes everything… I’d be lucky if Twi doesn’t quarantine me. And I’m sure that the Midsummer Moon Gala is off, now that Twilight would be focused on finding out more about what’s wrong with me. I could kiss that chance with Rarity goodbye now…’ Spike sighed, before mentally slapping himself. Here he was being absolutely selfish. Who knows exactly what was truly wrong with him? Maybe it was something as mundane as growing up, or maybe it could be something so serious that it could endanger the lives of his friends and every pony in Ponyville. It had happened before. Spike didn’t want it to ever happen again.

“Twi, I-“

“Hey! Why all the long faces? Cheer up, guys! It’s a party!” Pinkie Pie snuck up behind the two and embraced both of their heads in a tight hug.

“Pinkie! Spike was just about to tell me something important!” Twilight groaned, trying to escape Pinkie Pie’s iron grip.

“It’s okay, Twi. I’ll tell you later,” Spike whispered.

“No, you’ll tell me now!” Twilight stomped her hoof.

“I know… I know…” Spike begged. “But after the party…please.”

Twilight sighed before finally giving in. “Fine. But you will tell me exactly what’s going on right after everypony leaves, got it?”

“Yeah, Mom, I got it,” Spike said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Hey guys! Are you having a group conversation over there and forgot to invite us?” Rainbow Dash asked, trailing Fluttershy behind her.

“Um, Rainbow Dash? M-maybe they were having a private discussion? It would be awfully rude for us to interrupt…” Fluttershy squeaked from her position halfway hidden behind Rainbow.

“Private, schmrivate…” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “It can’t be private because Pinkie Pie is standing right there behind them! Besides, I’m bored out of my head over there in the corner with Applejack constantly complaining about how Twilight is planning to ‘steal and corrupt her brother with her fancy Canterlot ways.’ I need something interesting to do before I keel over!” She cried.

“Wait? AJ’s mad at Twi? What for?” Spike asked, brushing a few crumbs away from his mouth.

“Well…” began Twilight uncomfortably. “It’s the-”

"It’s the fact that she’s just usin’ mah big brother to make herself look good in front of those high falootin’ frou-frou Canterlot ponies!” Applejack interrupted from all the way across the room, somehow easily making her voice heard above Pinkie’s party music. Curiously, Spike noticed that her face was more red now than orange. “Ya don’t even genuinely like him, Twilight. Y’all just need some warm body to sit up there all night and look pretty. “

“Hey!” Twilight yelled, a little offended. “ I am not using your brother just for his aesthetically pleasing facial features! He did say yes, you know.”

“Only because ya guilt tripped him to say it!” Applejack shot back. Her accusing hoof pointed straight in the violet unicorn’s direction. “Big Mac’s always been mighty sensitive to the feelings of other ponies. With you mopin’ all over the place back there, what else would he say?”

“I wasn’t moping-”

“STTTOOOPPP!” Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped into the fray, screaming and madly waving her forearms up and down. Everypony and dragon abruptly ceased whatever she or he was doing at that moment—all except Fluttershy, who was quietly threatening to tear up into Rainbow Dash’s side and Rainbow’s awkward attempts at comforting.

The pink party pony took a second to send a glare to both Twilight and Applejack, which made both of them shrink a little bit in shame. “You two are two of my bestest friends ever,” Pinkie started, “And you’re fighting, and you’re fighting at a party that I worked really really hard on because I didn’t want you and Spike to forget about us while you’re having so much fun up in Canterlot tomorrow because forgetting about us would make us really sad so I worked really hard on this, but I think it didn’t work anyway because now you two are fighting and that makes me sad because you aren’t enjoying the party, and then Twilight and Spike just may stay in Canterlot now, and then we’ll never ever ever all be friends or have any adventures again, and when I think about it, it all makes me just…” Pinkie burst into a literal waterfall of tears and ran to the nearest pony for comfort.

Rainbow Dash saw her coming from a canterlength away. “No, no, no, Pinkie, please! I already got Fluttershy on one side of me, and-”

Bam! Pinkie Pie collided with the cyan pegasus and threw her arms around her neck, sobbing openly. Now with two distressed ponies on either side of her, Rainbow Dash said nothing but gave the ceiling an irritated “Why me?” look.

“Oh, sweet Celestia…” Applejack facehoofed. “Pinkie… Me and Twilight are not goin’ to stop being friends just because we get mad at each other from time to time.”

Pinkie sniffed from her position on Rainbow’s side.

“Of course, Pinkie, don’t be silly,” added Twilight. She saddled over to Applejack and threw a forearm over the orange earth mare’s neck. Applejack made a move to protest before Twilight gave her a sharp look. The earth pony sighed in defeat, and Twilight took the chance to continue. “See? We’re hugging right now. The very best of friends, we’re not angry at all.”

Pinkie Pie turned her head cautiously to glance over at her two friends. She sniffed again. “Really?”

Neither Twilight nor Applejack were very good liars—or in Applejack’s case, nearly unable to lie at all—so they each responded with too wide, obviously forced smiles. Unfortunately these clearly false smiles didn’t fool Pinkie Pie. Even though the pink pony may be a tad on the “flighty” side, she was not an idiot.

Pinkie narrowed her baby blue eyes, and Twilight and Applejack started to sweat buckets under her suspicious gaze. “Okie dokie loki…” she said slowly, backing away. The two ponies under Pinkie’s temporary spotlight each let out long held breaths, but the damage had already been done. The general mood was ruined. However, it was surprisingly Fluttershy who turned the atmosphere from gray to sunny skies again simply due to the fact that the room had quieted down so much that her friends could finally hear her.

“Oh, I do so hate hearing raised voices. I wish Rarity was here. She usually knows how to stop-EEP!” The yellow pegasus suddenly realized that all eyes were resting upon her while she was talking to herself. Predictably, she drew back, bumping against the punch table. “O-oh my…. Y-you girls didn’t hear me, did you?”

As if an invisible dam had burst, everypony abruptly felt the need to smile.

“Yeah, I think we did. Sorry, Fluttershy.” Twilight fought to force back her laughter. “But that reminds me. Rarity is indeed missing. Has anypony seen Rarity today?”

At the mention of Rarity’s name, Spike felt a spark of electricity shoot through him. With all of the commotion after he arrived back at the library, he’d nearly forgotten what had happened earlier today. The dreamy smile returned to his face as he exhaled deeply before answering Twilight’s question. “Yeah, I’ve seen her, Twi. I just left the boutique before coming home. Rarity won’t have time to come the party though; she’s finishing our outfits for the gala tomorrow.”

Everypony in the room seemed to accept this answer, but Twilight’s ever discerning mind caught onto a particular word he’d said. “Spike…” Twilight said. “What exactly did you mean by ‘our’ outfits?”

Spike’s face broke out into an extremely eager grin. Here it comes! He had wanted to surprise them all tomorrow with the beautiful Rarity upon his arm, but letting them all know tonight wasn’t exactly bad either. “Well, Rarity and I are both going to the gala, together. I asked her out today, and she said yes!” There was a silence as the dragon watched everypony’s jaw drop simultaneously.

It was Applejack who finally broke it.“So…so Rarity actually agreed to go on a date with y’all?” she questioned.

Spike nodded vigorously, and Applejack’s green eyes only widened in response.

“Ah-Ah see…” she replied simply.

The others said nothing at all, and at this, Spike started to worry. The thought had never come across his mind before, and he had never imagined it would. However, as he looked around at his silent group of friends, that horrible thought suddenly emerged and bounced around in his head. What if his friends didn’t approve of his relationship with Rarity—or even with anypony else for that matter? Of course, they had teased him about the subject of Rarity for years, but that was before the fashionista had ever shown concrete signs of being equally interested in him. Now it was obvious that she had shown signs of liking him back, and this was an entirely different ball game. What if his friends accepted his being there with them but not to his having relationships with ponies?

That would be hard to take from the ponies whom he had come to love and trust these past few years. Would he have to spend his life alone to be accepted by his friends? Even if he were to find a dragoness somewhere, Spike doubted that she would want to live near ponies. And he couldn’t forget about Rarity. The white unicorn put much more stock in what other ponies thought than Spike did. As soon as she’d hear about her friends’ negative reactions, she would put a stop to everything he knew.

Spike exhaled. He prepared himself for the worst. “So…you guys don’t like it?”

“What? Aw, course not, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she came to sit beside the dragon. “It’s just that we’re all surprised, that’s all. Honestly, Ah never figured Rarity would do that. I pictured her sometimes shallower than a week old puddle, but Ah guess she’s proven me wrong.” Applejack smiled. “And Ah wish y’all have a nice date up there in Canterlot. Rarity’s plum crazy about Canterlot so Ah’m sure you’re gonna have a good time.”

Spike smiled in return before he yelped as he was grabbed from behind and forced to endure a painful noogie. “Yeah kid,” Rainbow grinned as the dragon tenderly rubbed his head. “You actually asked Rarity out; I didn’t know you had it in ya.”

“Congratulations, Spike,” Fluttershy grinned. “Like Applejack said, I really hope you have a wonderful time tomorrow at the gala.”

Spike’s heart felt as if it had dislodged itself and floated to the very top of his chest. After his recent experiences with Davenport Inkfeather, his ominous selective amnesia, and just his general feelings of being nearly something of an outsider in Equestrian society, his friends couldn’t know the full extent of the power their uplifting words had. They might never know. “Thanks, guys,” Spike said. The expression was simple, but it was enough.

“Spike…” Applejack and Fluttershy parted to reveal a smiling, but slightly teary eyed Twilight. “You’ve really grown up, haven’t you? I-I had no idea. I’m sorry for ganging up on you earlier; I must’ve read the signs wrong. It’s obvious that you were nervous about asking out Rarity.” The dragon was taken aback when Twilight pulled him in for a hug. A little bubble of guilt welled up within him. He had to tell Twilight the truth sooner or later—all of this secrecy was getting to him.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” Pinkie screamed, her hands flew to her head. “Spike asked Rarity out! Do you guys know what this means?” Everypony looked at each other confused then back at Pinkie and shook their heads.

Pinkie Pie laughed. “Oh you silly billies… That means that this party is now a Pre-Midsummer-Moon-Congratulations-Spike-You’re-the-Dragon-Party-Party! Come on, everypony!”