Sorority

by Knight of Cerebus

Daring Doo, Dash and the Dragon

The library's silence hung across the two ponies like a calming safety blanket, the occasional crackle of pages being flipped through and the swish of a baby dragon's broom occasionally punctuating the atmosphere. Twilight Sparkle lay beside the entrance to the library upstairs, her head buried deep in a colourfully illustrated hardcover book; one she hadn't picked up in over eleven years. Not twenty hoofs away from her, Rainbow Dash was apparently reflecting her pose and intents, though her magenta eyes told a different story. Twilight's dragon hatchling assistant, Spike, was making his way around the library in lazy, deliberate circles, sweeping up dirt into an ever increasing mound and then leaving each circle's pile in anticipation of the creation of a Master Pile. He watched Twilight and Rainbow curiously, at first noting the vacant expression on the pegasus' face, and then the emotions of contentment, pause, curiosity and concern that played in order across his other friend's face.

"Everything alright Rainbow Dash?" The pegasus jumped at these words, slamming her copy of Daring Do and the Jurassic Catastrophe shut in her ascension. Her eyes made a show of looking everywhere but at the lavender mare in front of her.

"What? Of course I'm okay! Wh-why wouldn't I be okay?!" She ran a hoof down her prismatic mane in a gesture that wished it were cool but landed upon self-conscious.

Twilight levelled her best deadpan stare at Rainbow, one that had been honed by years of pushing past a mischievous solar princess' millennia-old poker faces. "You've been reading the same page for ten minutes."

Rainbow blushed. "I don't want to miss anything okay?! It's a complicated story! It's deep and--and insightful! Yeah! And I don't want to miss any of the, uh, symbolism and catatonia!" Dash mentally facehoofed as the fib brought back memories of a bear who plays seashells and collects volleyballs came racing to the front of her mind.

"Catharsis." Was Twilight's bemused reply. "Well alright then Rainbow. If you need to cancel on me for any reason you just have to say, even if it's because you left Pinkie Pie with access to a spare canned Tornado wind. Again."

The Junior Speedster champion let that particular comment slide, biting back any number of replies about enchanted dolls and stopping time for the sake of Twilight's guilt/inferiority/self-doubt/whatever complex. That mare took friendly jostling as open criticism, which usually meant either an impending mental breakdown or a magical break through that would revolutionize ponykind for generations to come. Or sulking and eating copious amounts of ice cream. That one was rare.

"Nah, it's cool. We're cool. Everything's cool." Dash said with certainty, flashing her trademark 'I got this' smirk and following through with her 'how could you ever doubt me?' finisher.

"Well alright then. I'll let you get back to the deep and poetic narrative of the Daring Doo Adventure Series For Young Mares." Rainbow couldn't help but reply to that one.

"I could be practicing my Daredevil Tailspin right now, ya know. Joking! Joking!" She cut off Twilight's look of hurt concern before it could develop into an unneeded apology. For a pony who loved using sarcasm so much, Twilight sure sucked at detecting it.

"Daring's just discovering Ahuizotl's secret island. I wouldn't leave ya hanging just to go work on some stunt Twilight."

The room fell into a comfortable silence once more. The cyan cloud kicker tried to stay focused. Really! She did! It was just that she kept thinking back to her camping trip every time she tried to focus. Rainbow checked the clock before remembering Twilight deactivated them every time she wanted to focus on reading. That would explain the all nighters she was forever pulling, Dash supposed.

"Hey Twilight, you mind telling me the time?" Dash whispered.

"You're not bored are yo--" Dash showed Twilight her progress irritably. Like everything else, she read quite quickly, typically taking her only a day to read through a volume of whatever she had her hooves on at the moment.

"Have a little faith Twi!" Twilight gave a happy nod and trotted off to find a time piece. She was sure she kept one in her basement.....

This left Dash to stare at the page irritably, trying to will herself to focus on Daring about to be pounced by velociraptors.

"Come on brain, read!" She grunted under her breath. What she needed was someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't keep things from her to protect her friends like Applebloom or ask too many questions like Sweetie Belle. She needed someone honest, even brutally so. Someone dependable, someone with experience with this kind of thing. Someone like...

"Spike!" It was the baby dragon's turn to jump on the spot, sending his dirt flying in all directions. He sighed before looking to see Dash collect the room's dirt hoard in a tornado and settle it in his beloved Master Pile in the centre with a whoosh.

"I got it covered." She explained nonchalantly.

"Something you want to talk about Rainbow Dash?" The drake began uncertainly, before his eyes widened in panic. "I'm really really sorry I took your Element Dash! Twilight made me and she was having a rough day and please please don't schedule a thunderstorm on my birthday like you did when Snails stuck bubblegum in your wings!" he cowered slightly at the mere possibility of the pegasus' legendary grudge.

"What? No!" She replied indignantly. "It's just....Twilight's not a very good sister is she?" The dragon got a funny look in his eyes. If Dash had enjoyed Ponymon as much as Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy, she would have said Spike was preparing to use Outrage. Rainbow had about ten seconds to explain herself, and she took them. "She works you half to death and cracks joes whenever you're bummered out and she doesn't really even notice how you feel about you two."

"Of course she works me half to death! I asked her to! You ever think maybe I like being busy?! Or like I feel I owe her something since, oh, say, I wouldn't be alive without her! Was she cracking jokes during my growth spurt, even when I was crazy with greed and stealing from her friends?! How about when I wanted to know where I came from?! Who was it who poked fun at me?! Oh that's right, you! She spends time every time she's in Canterlot trying to learn more about who my family was these days, just because I asked! She's always there for me when I ask her to be, even if I don't deserve it! And even if she doesn't say it, I know she thinks I'm like her little brother! She--! She just--!"

Well that could've gone better. Twilight probably heard all that. The Changelings probably heard all that. Now Rainbow had a dragon on the verge of tears to comfort, and she'd ruined their little heart to heart in about ten seconds flat. She put a hoof to her forehead.

"Wow I really bucked this up. Ugh, look. I really don't know what it's like between you and Twi, that's kinda looking pretty obvious right now. It's just--" Don't say it Rainbow. You're a tough pony! You're tough and tough ponies don't worry and--"I guess I'm worried I'm a bad sister." Spike grew confused.

"You have a sister?"

"While I went camping with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo asked me to be her big sister. She spent all that time out there trying to be tough and cool for me, and she got lost trying to be tough. She could've drowned! And she did it just to impress me! And all this time I...I thought she was just a fan, you know?" Spike raised a claw to answer, but the racer cut him off.

"I can't stop thinking about how she wants me to be so cool all the time. Hay, I want me to be cool all the time. But being cool means not getting all mushy, and not getting mushy means I can't like, I don't, help her with her homework or hug her when those punks in school are teasing her for being a blank flank or that other junk a good sister would do." She gave a defeated grunt. Spike scratched his head with a claw. This wan't really something he had any knowledge of. Unless....

"You remember those dragons I thought were so cool?" Spike shuffled a foot at the memory. Learning that your species thus far had tried to shun, eat or bully him was not a pleasant reality for the baby drake, but he had come to terms as best he could.

"...Yeah?"

"And how cool Gilda tried to be?"

"Tries. She was having a nasty day that day. Her parents had just split and she was working overtime to pay extra rent and--Yeah, yeah she does try to be cool." Spike didn't need to know about what she and Cloud Kicker had dubbed The Great Gilda Drama Saga.

"But they weren't really being cool were they? And what about Spitfire? She was cool wasn't she?"

Rainbow balked. "She was coo--She's the most awesome pony in Equestria! After me, of course." Dash added hastily.

"And was she mean? Did she not care? 'Cause it looked like she was pretty worried about Fluttershy to me."

"Yeah...hey, yeah, you're right!" This was going awesome! Spike was right! She had to go find Scootaloo! But first she had to--

"Hey Spike?"

"Yeah Rainbow?"

"What I said earlier...you know, about Twilight? I'm really-- what I'm trying to say is-- ugh I'm just a featherbrain!"

"Well you didn't need to tell me that." He quipped.

"Hey! You say some pretty stupid things too! What about Winter Wrap Up or when Fluttershy was trying to raise her wind speed?! Ah hay, look, I suck at apologies. What I'm trying to say is, thanks Spike. You're a pretty sharp little kid sometimes."

"....And?" She noticed the way he raised his eye brow and tapped his foot like a waiting school marm. He took after his big sister in a lot of ways. Funny she hadn't noticed before.

"And Twilight is a good big sister." She sighed. Apologizing sucked. Apologizing was admitting you were wrong, and a future Wonderbolt couldn't go around being wrong all the time. "Can you tell Twilight I'll be back in a sec?I have to go see some little pegasus filly I know..."

"Sure thing Rainbow." She flew off in a blurr, the whoosh of air she created causing currents to suck at the books surrounding the door, the pages crinkling in the breeze. Spike turned to go scoop up the dirt pile she'd made, before the whooshing sound returned to his field of hearing. Rainbow poked her head through the door.

"Hey Spike? You're a pretty cool little dude yourself, ya know? If you ever want to talk..."

"I'll keep that in mind." And like a hurricane of avoiding awkward warm and fuzzy moments, she was gone in a flash. Spike noticed his dirt pile had disappeared with a start, before watching it levitate out into the kitchen, no doubt heading for the trash. "How long have you been listening?"

"Long enough to know I have a very clever little brother." Twilight telekinetically pulled him into a hug, causing the infant drake to blush.

"Aww come on Twi, you're embarrassing me." He tried to push his way out of the hug for a moment before relenting and returning the display of affection.

"She's kind of right though. I didn't even bring you to my own birthday party. I should let you go out and play with your friends more." She looked down guiltily, the old doubts and insecurities welling up again. He gave a deadpan look.

"It was my own fault for bingeing on ice cream before the party. I know you wanted to bring me, that's good enough. Besides, you didn't invite Shining Armor either."

"I still could be a better sister." She raised a hoof to his coming protest. Nopony interrupt Twilight Sparkle in Summarization Mode. "I should really make some more time for you and your friends. Celestia will understand."

Spike's jaw hung open for a moment. "Who are you and what have you done with Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight took no notice of his comment. She was entering 'I'm so clever power trip' mode, he could tell.

"I'll be sharing the Magic of Friendship with my family, wouldn't I? Oh I should write her a letter to see if it's okay...maybe if I were to write a little report on your time in Ponyville...." This was the crazy mare he knew and loved. 'Little' meant 'sixteen pages' and 'time in Ponyville' meant 'biography of Spike as a friend'. But that....actually made sense when he thought about it. Celestia was always wanting Twilight to take more initiative in making friends and maintaining friendships, not studying magic and literature. She'd probably be pretty impressed after all. "Now come on," she broke him from his thought process, "I think I know a certain little dragon who's earned himself a nice bowl of ice cream while we wait for Rainbow Dash."

Dear Princess Celestia,

Being a sister is really hard! Kids are crazy, I tell ya. But ya know what? I was a pretty crazy kid myself once, and when Scootaloo said she was scared to be afraid in front of me I knew there was a little kid like me in there, too. I never thought about having a sister before. Hay, I was glad I didn't when I saw what Sweetie Belle's little shouting match with her did to Rarity. But I gotta say that being a sister's just about the coolest thing in the world, and maybe if I'm half as good a sister as I am a flier, Scootaloo will think so to. Anyway, I gotta get back to reading. Twilight has the new Daring Do! I'll be sure to sneak it to you sometime if you want.

PS: Twilight says please please please don't banish Spike for her request. Don't take it personally, you know she only says it 'cause she loves you.

You loyal subject and fan, Rainbow Dash

Author's Note:

Spike and Rainbow Dash really need more screen time together. Which is another way of saying Spike needs more screen time (Yay Crystal Empire!). I know some people don't like lots of floating dialogue, but Law of Narrative Casualty states that adding a bunch of pointless descriptors between the lines of speech would be in bad taste, and I must concur. As for why I use two hyphens instead of an em-dash, this was written entirely on an iPad (In one session, no less) which lacks the em-dash as a type of punctuation. Hope the story is everything you want it to be, please like, fave comment blah blah blah and no reference jokes this time! A first for anything I've ever written!

Comments

[Knight of Cerebus]

Why do I always seem to get a single dislike? Did I piss somebody off and they keep a grudge?

[BringBackSonicSatAM]

1789818 No, I think it's because it's a bit difficult to read this story when there's a crossout line covering the entire story and author's note.

[Knight of Cerebus]

1790436 oh. Fail.

[Knight of Cerebus]

1790436 funnily enough, it only looked like the first paragraph was struck through from my perspective. Anyway, hope it's all fixed.

[Swashbucklist]

Any well-written story about bonding between Spike and Rainbow Dash is gold in my eyes (yes, even shipping). And we even get some extra Twilight & Spike bonding. You're one of the few authors I've seen who understands Spike and Twilight have a sibling bond, not a mother-son bond, and for that I tip my fedora to you.

The only things I take issue with are when Twilight says, "Your friends" and when Dash points out Spike's actions during Winter Wrap-Up. Twilight should have said, "Our friends." Otherwise, she suggests that the Elements of Harmony aren't his closest friends. And Spike wasn't really a jerk during Winter Wrap-Up. He needed sleep and his teasing was harmless. When Twilight ran away crying, he realized the seriousness of her distress and shoved naps to the back of his mind to help her get involved, then continued working through the night. I would say he was quite admirable during that episode (still bothers me that the mane six laughed at him and did nothing to prevent him from falling unconscious into a freezing cold lake, and didn't even care that he got sick; they were absolutely horrible in that episode).

Also, Spike already is getting more screen time. Not only in Crystal Empire, but in Too Many Pinkie Pies and Magic Duel is he being treated like the main character he is, with just as much importance, maturity, and involvement as the ponies.

[Knight of Cerebus]

1792066 Keep in mind Dash's argument was supposed to be weak there. You know how Rainbow gets when she's defensive . As far as the sibling bond goes, I'm personally happy to see any relation between the two short of SpiLight, but I thank ye right kindly for the words of encouragement. By "you friends" I actually meant the ponies his age, like Snips, Snails and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If you think I should be more referring to the Element Bearers in that sentence, I can make the change, but Dash's clumsy, flailing accusations I'm going to remain adamant on. I will say I think Spike's treatment in Winter Wrap Up was karmic, as regardless of how he meant it he still was pretty darn mean to poor old Twilight, but seeing as Spike's your favourite character by all appearances I can see where you're coming from.

[Swashbucklist]

1793577 Karmic?? He could have drowned! Should he seriously be punished for harmless sibling teasing? Emphasis on harmless. It's a part of their relationship that probably takes place every day. If karma was that merciless, he'd be in a body cast by now, and Twilight wouldn't be in very good shape either.

As for the other ponies Spike's age, the most interaction he's had with them was dancing with Sweetie Belle, trying to take Scootaloo's scooter, being present while Apple Bloom's ailment was being researched, getting bowled into by Snips and Snails before he tried to explain a very simple concept to them ... eh, I'm not gonna pick out everything; it's clear enough that his interaction with them has been is meager in comparison with that of the Element bearers. I can't picture him sinking to their level of maturity when he interacts so much more easily with the older ponies. So yeah, I think you should edit, but only if you think so too.

[Knight of Cerebus]

1793747 You honestly believe Twilight would have let Spike drown? Give best pony a bit of credit man! As for karma, I don't know if you have a young brother, but I do, and I know several friends who are likewise. Teasing my younger brother when he wants to play COD and we're live streaming Pink Floyd from New York on the computer is fair game, but teasing him about losing his girlfriend because we moved to Ontario sure isn't. There are certain lines you don't cross when jostling your family, and Spike deserved a little cold for that, methinks. If I ever made my brother feel the way Spike did to Twilight that episode, I'd probably deserve a dunk in a thawing river too.

As for the other thing, I'm fixing it as we speak.

[Duplex Fields]

1793819
1792066
I personally don't believe Spike got dunked at Winter Wrap-Up, unless it was from someone trying to rescue him from the ice and accidentally knocking him off; however, snoozing on bare ice isn't going to do wonders for a pseudoreptile's health. In my mind, they had a good laugh, then went to rescue him, only to find that he'd begun to get hypothermic.

Then again, Twilight's speed at dispensing justice to foals who enrage Ursas and dispatching excess Pinkies does make one wonder about her level of empathy and her position under the laws of Equestria.

[Knight of Cerebus]

1874855 The painful justice of moustaches? Destroying creatures that were obviously set up to be non-sentient? I don't think you convince me on Twilight's empathy with such weak evidence.

[Duplex Fields]

1875383
The first Pinkie clone wept when she was asked to make the same decision Pinkie herself had faced: which fun thing do I do next? She used language in a more meaningful manner than a nonsentient "chatbot"-style fake mind, in my opinion. A full-grown mare in body, a child in mind, worthy of the law's protection. Ponyslaughter.

[Knight of Cerebus]

1879162 The first Pinkie clone showed a reduced emotional spectrum from Pinkie herself, but was still more intelligible than the others. By the time Pinkie was done cloning, that clone along with all the others was completely mindless beyond the objective to have as much fun with friends as possible. That was how it was intended to be interpreted, or do you really think the writers intended to have the mane character and a role model to children everywhere unknowingly murder an innocent pony because she was getting on the town's nerves?

[Duplex Fields]

1899140
Is it any less disturbing if Clone One unknowingly split her mind to a level that could be considered suicide? And if this were true, wouldn't reducing the number of clones return some capacity to those remaining? And if any of this were the case, wouldn't any test of intelligence be sufficient to find the real Pinkie when thirty-nine clones existed?

The only "safe" ways out of this are to assume that each Pinkie clone was in some way not "real" (which I believe to be the writers' intended interpretation) or to assume that they still each exist in the mirror pool somehow. Perhaps all reflection clones come from the same essence, maintained by the mirror pool like heads of a hydra. Perhaps they're sterile, and only by attempting to impregnate each could one biologically ascertain which Pinkie was Pinkie all along. Perhaps, like a holodeck character, they fade at a certain distance from the pool.

Twilight's explanation could have included a bit of dialogue to make this go away:
: It says here that "the reflections will last a year and a day, and then fade away."
: But Ponyville won't last a week!

[Knight of Cerebus]

1899876 It should be noted the Pinkie clone willing did this to herself. Does it count as suicide to reduce yourself to a series of basal intellects? Consider that as all the clones of Pinkie Pie got happier, she got sadder. My "safe" interpretation is that all the clones were merely an aspect of Pinkie Pie: specifically, the desire to have fun with her friends. Notice Pinkie Pie became abruptly and extremely depressed shortly after the clones took shape and began experiencing fun for her. When Twilight banished them to the mirror pool (which is in and of itself open to interpretation), I assume they reintegrated into Pinkie, who noticeably brightened to her old self at the end of the episode. Additionally, the "watching paint dry" test seems to have been a perfectly effective intelligence test. But feel free to interpret the episode as is; I merely point out that it cannot be used as an effective argument for Twilight lacking empathy given how vague the scenario is.

[Cromegas_Flare]

Read through this... didn't like it. Can't find a reason other than it's just my opinion. Can't say it was bad, so that's worth something.

[Knight of Cerebus]

4558614 Not a very helpful comment, but I can understand not liking it. I wrote it in two hours and published it as much as an experiment as anything else, so if it feels rushed or incomplete, it's because it kinda is. If you can think of anything constructive to add, do tell, and thank you for taking the time to comment.

[Cromegas_Flare]

4558638
When I wake up and have a more clear thought process... I do my best to make the time to do so. As of right now, I am at high risk of saying something completely offensive and rude... or more importantly... Inaccurate. So once I get through the cool down of... some other matters... you'll have a more in depth reviewish like comment.

[goaway]

I found it rather sweet, and completely agree that Spike needs more screen-time. Season Four really gave him the short end of the stick (he only seemed to be there to screw up). Anyway, I enjoyed this.

[Knight of Cerebus]

5011491 Cheers. I wrote this about two years ago and in the span of two hours, so it's hardly up to par. But I do like it and it did okay, all told.

[goaway]

5011499

You're welcome.

[GleamingKyler111]

The previous section is on the oldest fic still around.

"-you can go to any FIMfic you want!" She replied again, literally.

"What's a," He shook his head, "no, nevermind."

He thought about a different conversational topic.

Then, he got an idea.

Future Stuff P3
1a1 Thora goes to meet NMM and finds out Nightmare Moon is actually called Moonmare Night. 1a2 Thora heads back home and has a flashback to when they become an infiltrator. (Nightmare Night is still called Nightmare Night.)