Assistant to Knight to Lover
My Number One Lover
B_25
Everyone in the throne room was silent.
And they should be, too, for talking was seen as a crime among the guards and all in its ranks. The stallions dressed in gold steel stood tall along the red carpet, tall and still, silent and strong. They held no weapons.
“So the village of Inland has been overtaken then?” the voice of regality cut through the silence but drew no gaze. Princess Twilight Sparkle sat upon her throne, an open scroll held in her magic. “And what of our retaliation?”
“Waning, your highness,” the captain said, standing on the carpet. He stood before the steps leading up to the throne, his helmet tucked between his legs. “Only thirty able stallions are still fighting as we speak. Twenty injured are en route to the castle. Ten are…”
Twilight lowered the scroll to the captain.
“...deceased.”
“Then please have my signed letters sent to their families at once.” Twilight gazed over to mare standing next to her throne. “And you. Go at once to retrieve Spike the Dragon.”
“The k-knight?” the mare replied. “But princess, he’s still in recovery as—”
“Silence.” Twilight rose from her throne, towering over the smaller mare. “You were given an order. Obey.”
The mare whimpered but bow. With as much grace as her trembling hooves could afford, she walked down the steps and along the red carpet, passing through massive doors that led out into the hallway.
“Your majesty,” the captain said, turning his head back from the leaving mare to the throne. “May I ask for our next set of orders?”
Twilight, instead of sitting down, chose to stand tall over all of her guards. “You may. Our next course of action is to take the village back from the dragons.”
The captain, despite his duty and his training, gulped at hearing those words. He turned his head away from the princess to the side of the room, looking through the stained glass at the midnight sky.
A bolt of thunder sliced through the sky, illuminating the mountains and their severed tops. At once, everything returned to darkness, and a second later, rain pelted against the glass.
Then came the clanking of metal from beyond the hall.
The guards in line had trouble looking straight. Some risked letting their gaze wander slightly left, catching the opening of the throne room. A tall and cloaked figure stood on the carpeted, slouched somewhat and holding its side with a claw.
The figure in attention walked along the carpet. Spike stopped at the foot of the steps. Pulling back his hood, he kneeled, head bowed. “You summoned for me, your majesty?”
“That I have,” Twilight Sparkle said, lifting a foreleg. “Now rise and face me.”
Spike rose to his full height, able to look directly into the princess’s eyes. “What do you need of me?”
Twilight stood still for a second, eyes straight on his face. It was like they were struggling to look at the rest of his body, at how tightly he clutched his right arm to his body. “Before that, how are your injuries?”
“My arm still hurts like a—”
“Are you still able to hold a sword?”
Spike blinked. “Excuse me?”
“The village of Inland has been captured by your kind once more.” Twilight stepped back only for her rump to fall into the cold seat of her throne. “The ponies I sent have failed to—”
“You sent ponies against a band of dragons?!” Spike exclaimed, shaking his head. “Are you crazy? You already know your guards aren’t strong enough to—”
“Defeat? I’m quite aware.” Twilight flicked her hoof in his direction. “But they are able to delay their advances until you are well enough to fight.” She narrowed her eyes as she dropped her hoof. “And you will not interrupt this princess again, understand?”
“Like heck I won’t!” Spike threw his left claw to the side. “You and I both know that this arm is one blow away from being broken. You can’t just keep throwing guards out there until I get better—I’m only one dragon, Twilight!”
“And what would you have me do?” Twilight replied, turning her head. “Let the dragons overtake the towns as they get closer to Canterlot? You do understand all is lost if that happens, correct?”
“They’re still a long way from making that happen!” Spike fired back. “I’m not saying we need to fire back, but we don’t need to keep going out in these constant assaults! We’re losing far too many lives just to keep the remaining dragons back.”
“And we’re also losing far too many innocents in the meantime!” Twilight shot up from her throne, walking to the edge of the small platform. “Those who stand before me here, who have enlisted with me, all have pledged their lives to me. They understand the risks and have accepted their deaths should it come.”
She turned. “The ponies out there? They just want to live. What’s happening to them, they didn’t agree to. It’s a matter as simple as that.”
“And as for me?”
“You made the same pledge, did you not?”
Spike growled, looking down at his right arm. “Twilight, I can’t do this.”
“Is this a matter of can’t or won’t?” Twilight said, drawing his gaze back on her again. “You’re a strong dragon, Spike, the only kind and the only one we have. We can’t afford to have you act like a coward—not when so many lives dependant on you.”
Spike shook his head. “This isn’t a matter of me being afraid, Twilight! I’m telling you, we don’t have enough troops to take back the lands, and I’m far too weak to be covering for other ponies.”
“So what do you suggest then?” Twilight replied, walking back and forth on her platform. “Just let the ponies there suffer because our dragon is being a wimp instead of a knight.”
“Are you seriously calling me a wimp!?” Spike outright yelled. “After all that I have done for this kingdom; after all that I have done for you? Do you know that every dragon from here on out will consider me the greatest traitor to have ever lived, to have killed his own kind for their enemy?”
“We’re not the ones trying to take over their lands.”
“That doesn’t matter!” Spike shouted back. “You don’t get to call me a wimp after all the training I’ve been through, all the dragons I’ve killed for you, all the pain I’ve endured for you.” He let his claw fall back on his arm. “You make me do this, and I may not come back alive. That’s not a matter of me being a wimp. It’s honesty. I know what I’m going against, and I don’t have enough to win.”
“Then you will do your best,” Princess Twilight Sparkle said, “or you won’t be coming back at all.”
The throne room was silent after that.
Twilight Sparkle stood in her bedroom, naked and alone, standing in front of her mirror. She gazed longingly at her image, at her brushed fur and neatly kept bangs, the latter matted down by the weight of her crown.
And then, with a flash of magic, a spell swept across her body.
The first thing Twilight saw was the black bags underneath her eyes. Her eyes, once bright enough to glint in the darkness, were covered by thin red veins. Immediately she couldn’t stand. She fell to her hooves as any and all strength left her body.
Laying on the floor, Twilight tucked her hooves against her belly, curling herself tightly together. She whimpered and cried, all without making a sound, and when she peeked at her hooves, they wouldn’t stop trembling.
Twilight didn’t bother getting up.
She slept on the floor.
“Permission to enter?”
Twilight’s eyes shot open. Looking around, she was once again on her throne, fur brushed and mane clean, eyes bright and aurora strangely kind. She would have to change that before anyone entered her presence.
“You may enter!” Twilight shouted back more so in command, making sure her back was straight, and her gaze was straighter. “I trust you bring a report on the battle?”
The doors to the throne room slid slowly open. A group of stallions entered the room, walking as straight across the carpet as they could, though, by the look of their legs, each was about to collapse on the spot.
I should let them just take a seat there, Twilight thought to herself, but quickly closed her eyes. No. I can’t give away composure.
The group of guards finally reached the base of the steps.
“You may report sitting down,” Twilight instructed, and if she wasn’t around, she imagined each of them would have cracked a smile. Following her word, all the stallions fell onto their plated flanks. “Do you bear the status of Inland.”
The guards looked to their captain, who gulped in response. “That we do, your majesty. The village lays within our claim.”
Twilight wanted nothing more than to drop her shoulders and sigh in relief. “That’s rather good tidings. Tell me, captain, what has you uneased?” Her gaze swept across the guard to notice that were more than she had sent out. “Did your numbers grow during your assault?”
“That we did, your majesty,” the captain said, bowing his head. “The dragons had some of our guards captured in some makeshift camp. It seemed they intended to… cook and eat their prisoners.”
Twilight couldn’t hold back a grimace.
“Honestly speaking, princess, were it not for Spike, none of us would be here right now.”
Twilight had blinked. It occurred to her that something was off about these guards. During her fight yesterday with her former number one assistant, she had tried to forget about him to ease her mind, but now, with her present eyes, she could not see her dragon.
“I see that Spike is not among you,” Twilight said, and despite her best effort, her voice had caught on something. “What is his current whereabouts?”
The guards and the captain included went silent. They lowered their heads, doing their best to bow.
Twilight blinked as her heart began to race. She did her best to keep still, all so very quiet, fighting the adrenaline flooding through her veins and the fears beating into her brain. She didn’t want to think about it. She did not want to believe it.
“S-Spike,” Twilight barely got out as her voice wavered, “where is my Spike? Please, what is his current—”
“Right here, your highness.”
Twilight looked up from the guards to the end of the throne room. Spike stood between the open doors, cloak missing and the rest of his body naked—a sword strapped over his back.
“S-Spike!” Twilight said with a squeak in her voice but quickly caught herself. “Where have you been? You were supposed to appear before me as soon as your mission was completed!”
Spike strolled across the carpet. “Sorry, but there were complications.”
“Complications?” Twilight huffed. “Right. Such as…”
Twilight lost her voice as her gaze became fixated on his body. Spike was walking, more so limping, and in her eyes and inside her mind, she had no idea how he was still even standing. Blood leaked down his chest to his stomach—whether it was his blood or someone else’s was anyone’s guess.
Scrapes laid down his legs with flesh peeking from beyond his scales. His every step produce a crack unbearable on the ears. Twilight herself could not keep herself contained at his pain and injury, almost coming to shout when he went to kneel.
“Inland now belongs to us,” Spike said simply, head lowered. “And we won’t be seeing the next band of dragons for a very long time.”
Twilight blinked. “You mean…”
Spike rose his head enough for his eyes to look up into her—his sharp gaze penetrating her facade. “I killed them all.”
Twilight wanted to say something, anything, but her voice caught in her throat. What could she say to the baby dragon that she had made a knight? Should she be proud of his feat after the way she treated him?
The feelings she had were not directed so much at him as they were at herself. Guilty and regret mixing into a horrible sensation she dared not to describe. It was her that had pushed him this far, questioning his honor and his strength, even when it left him at death’s door upon his return.
But it was a course of action she couldn’t have avoided, right?
All doubt was removed when she gazed at his left arm. She just noticed now the cloth draped over it—only it hung close to his side than it should have.
“Spike?” Twilight squeaked out, her foreleg shaking as she pointed at his left arm. “D-Did something happen to your…”
Spike stood to his full height. Without breaking eye contact with her, he placed his other claw to the arm like had done the night before—with his claw coming entirely against his side.
“Lost in a fight with their leader.”
“T-That's… not exactly true,” the captain spoke up, causing everyone to look at him. “I was… I was foolish and charged at their leader from behind.” He shivered at an invisible breeze. “I thought I could take him by surprise, then maybe… maybe… maybe…”
With the claw he still had, Spike bumped the top of the captain’s head. “Nice going, dumbo. I was trying to save your job.”
The captain only fell to his belly. “Please forgive me, Spike! I didn’t mean for you to lose… to lose… lose…”
“Eh.” Spike used the same claw to rub the back of the captain’s neck. “Don’t sweat it. I’m sure I can still get a lot of stuff done with my left arm. And besides.” Spike rose to his feet again, staring down the princess. “It’s not his fault entirely to begin with, right?”
Twilight failed to respond.
“You have your victory,” Spike stated, taking a step back. “Now can I leave to recover?”
Twilight didn’t have any words to say from up on her throne. With a held breath, she nodded her head, and while trying to suppress any tears from leaving her eyes, watched as he turned around and limped along the carpet.
She wanted to call out to him. To shout, to cry, to run toward him, leaping onto his body and holding him as tightly as she could. Twilight did not see a wounded knight leaving her throne room—she saw her Spikey growing further away.
“...your highness?” the voice of the captain snapped Twilight from her trance. “Do you still wish to discuss the matters of the report?”
Twilight looked down at the captain, the poor wounded stallion. “That… won't’ be necessary for today. You and your stallions have done well. Take this and the following week to recover.”
“That is, er, generous of you, your highness.” The captain, along with his guards, rose to their hooves. “And as for the report itself?”
“See that a written form of it is left in my personal quarters by tomorrow night.” Twilight rose from her seat and went down the steps, passing the guards as she went along the carpet. “You are all dismissed.”
She didn’t bother looking back.
Twilight Sparkle had left at once to find her former number-one assistant. Her first destination was the medic district of the castle, filled with stallions and mares lying on beds, bandages and casts affixed to their limbs and skin.
As she strolled through the many rooms, she was always saluted and praised, smiled at or receiving no facial expression at all from those still on duty. But there was no dragon to be found—only the talks of one to be heard.
“I’m telling you,” a young stallion began from his bed, a white wrap over his right eye, “a dragon saved my life! A dragon of all creatures.”
“Didn’t a dragon take out your eye?”
“What? No!” The stallion turned slightly in his bed, facing the mare in the bed next to him. “Well, I mean, a dragon did take my eye. But this other dragon socked him right after, like POW.” He clapped his hooves together. “When he was done, that dragon picked me up and brought me back to camp—dude was bleeding worst than I was.”
“You’re talking about that Spike guy, aren’t ya?”
“Purple scales?”
“That’s the one.”
“Oh, no way!” The stallion rolled back onto his bed. “Does he go to the castle?”
“He lives here, dufus.”
“That’s awesome.” The stallion chuckled. “I owe that guy my thanks. As soon I get my discharge, I’m paying that dragon a visit.”
Twilight had sighed and gone further about the halls. No doctor or nurse had seen him from yesterday, all of which started to worry Twilight. She kept exploring the castle for a trace of her dragon when, by chance, while she was strolling along the library, she caught sight of a figure outside a window—a lone dragon lying on the grass.
Twilight quickly rushed through the corridors of towering bookshelves—slowing down and standing tall when in sight of ponies—until reaching the doors to the courtyard. Pushing them back with her hooves, she stepped into the outside, a breeze sweeping across her fur.
Twilight was quiet as she approached the dragon. Spike was lying in the shade of a tree, body fully extended, an arm tucked behind his head. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow.
“...Spike?”
Spike stirred from his sleep, eyes slowly blinking. It took him a while to adjust to his surroundings, and slightly longer to adjust to her presence hovering above his head. “Nngh. Oh, hey Twi.”
He kicked his feet down and arched his back, immediately wincing as he did so. “Ek! Bad idea.” His dark emerald eyes settled on her muzzle once more, and then he lost his smile. “Oh, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight frowned. “You don’t have to say like that.”
“Sorry.” Spike inhaled sharply, adding bass to his voice. “What can I do for her majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle, on this sunny day?”
“Drop the act, Spike. I just want to talk.”
“Can’t we just do that when we’re back in the throne room?” Spike replied, letting his eyes drift shut. “You can order me around as much as you want in there, but out here, this is the only time I get to relax… and recover.”
Twilight winced at that last part. “I’m not here to yell at you, Spike. I’m… here to make sure that you’re okay.”
“I’m okay,” he said. “I’ll be even better once you go away. So now shoo!”
“Spike, this isn’t funny.” Twilight lowered to her knees, so her muzzle was by his cheek. “None of the doctors said they saw you this morning. Why haven’t you had your…”
“Lack of an arm checked out?” Spike answered for her. “Doesn’t take a doctor to diagnose that one.”
“But what if—”
“It’s not going to infected.” Spike opened his eyes and stared into hers. “After big-bad-blue tore my arm out with his teeth, I blew some fire on was left on my stub and, boom!, wound closed.”
Twilight clenched her eyes at the imagery. “S-So, your arm was… torn from its socket?”
“Yeah. Big dude had me pinned when he did it.” Spike exhaled heavily and did not begin his tale again for another few seconds. “He… he almost had me too. Must have seen how much I’d been relying on my right arm, because he took me from the left, slamming me straight into the ground.“
“Were you scared?”
Spike opened his eyes to look up at her. “Of course I was. Grim Reaper himself was holding me down.” He chuckled, letting his gaze fall to where his left-arm was supposed to be. “Gave me the stint on being a dragon killer and all that. Latched his jaw around my arm and kept tugging at it, again and again, making sure that I could… that I could feel the bone and flesh slowly ripping out from my socket.”
Twilight had stopped breathing during the retelling.
“Eventually, he tore the arm out and pulled back.” Spike chuckled. “Guess he wanted me to see how it looked from inside his mouth. Just a shame he didn’t go for my head first.” He glanced to the right of him, where his sheath laid on the grass. “Left himself exposed long enough to drive my blade straight into his heart.”
“You were able to stab him even after all that?”
“I was screaming while I did so,” Spike replied, “but if I kept focusing on how bad my arm hurt, well, I wouldn’t be here today.” Spike then arched an eyebrow. “Wait, why do you care so much? Do I gotta write a report on this or somethin’?”
“I… Spike…” Twilight sighed, shuffling closer toward him. “You do know that I care for you, right? That I’m concerned for you?”
“Really?” Spike replied. “You were concerned even when you sent me out last night, against my will? That was care when you called me a coward and a wimp?”
“I was a princess then, Spike,” Twilight had said with an edge to her tone. “Right now, I’m your friend. Best friend.”
“You’re always a princess, Twilight.” Spike sat up on the grass, looking forward. “And we’re not friends anymore. I’m your knight. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“And where’s this coming from all of a sudden?!” Twilight exclaimed as she raised to her hooves, coming in front of him. “We’ve been best friends since the day you were born! You’re throwing all that away because of what duty made both of us do?”
“It wasn’t duty that made me lose my arm, Twilight!” Spike bent forward, growling before her muzzle. “It was you. Not Twilight the Princess, but Twilight Sparkle, my once best friend.” He turned to spit—blood tainting his saliva. “You can spin it whatever way you like, but what happened to me, what happened to those guards—it’s all on you.”
“Everything is on me!” Twilight exclaimed, stomping a hoof. “Do you think I like have the weight of the world on my shoulders? Of having to send guards to their deaths, of having to live up to the image of Celestia and Luna, to have to keep sending my best friend into danger again and again!?”
“Oh, stuff it!” Spike waved his one claw. “That’s the stuff you tell yourself to feel better, to pity yourself. Last I check, you’re not killing members of your own species, of being called a traitor by both friends and foes. Don’t you ever wonder how hard it is to be killing the very thing that you are!?”
“Then why don’t you just go and change sides!?” Twilight exclaimed as her voice cracked. “You’re always complaining about how hard everything is, so why don’t you just go make it easier for yourself!”
Spike leaned back immediately. “T-Twilight? What are you… what are you saying?”
Twilight hated herself. She always hated herself when she got this way. Tall and proud and feeling full of power, her words strong and her voice harsh, able to command and destroy all in its path. The time she felt the greatest was also the moment she needed to shut up most of all.
“What I’m saying is that you should go off and be happy!” Twilight stomped her hoof into the ground, biting her bottom lip to suppress that which she felt. “You’re an outsider here, right? Always whining about how ponies think about you? Guess what, my guards can’t be more proud to have you standing next to them—especially the ones whose lives you saved.”
Spike kept silent, turning his head.
“And you also know what? I’m proud of you as well.” Twilight shook her head and closed her eyes. “And I wasn’t, at least at first. I didn’t want to send you out there, fighting. Especially against your own kind. But you’re not the only one that got forced into a position they didn’t want to be in.”
Spike looked back at her.
“But at the same time, I can’t force you to keep doing this, to keep staying here.” Twilight sighed and stepped back. “I am proud of the dragon you’ve become, and of everything you’ve done for us ponies. But I also realize that you have nothing tethering you here.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“All you have is me, Spike,” Twilight said, dropping her head. “And obviously, you don’t love me anymore. If you truly hate fighting, if you truly hate being with me, working with me, then it makes sense for you to leave, for you to be… free.”
“That’s it?” Spike said, struggling to his feet. “You think this all because I hate where I am, that I hate you?” He shook his head and threw his sole claw out. “I don’t hate what I do, even if it scares me at times. And I don’t hate you, Twi, I just hate the princess you’ve become!”
“And there’s no way to fix that.” Twilight stood tall, but since they were on level ground, she came only to his hip. “I’m the princess this land needs to keep itself together. I do what I do to—”
“Oh cut that out!” Spike stepped forward, causing the smaller mare to quiver. “You’re just hiding behind a role because you’re scared! You said it yourself that I’m the best you got, but when was the last time you’ve trusted me with making any kind of decision?”
“Because you aren’t ready to make those kinds of decisions!”
“And when will I be ready?” Spike twisted to the side. “Will it be when I lose my other arm because of you? Face it, you need help, but you’re too scared to show anyone that you’re weak.”
“I am not weak!” Twilight cried out, though she sunk when Spike hovered over her. “I am strong… I have to be strong…” She shook her head, rising to her hooves and throwing herself at his hip. “It’s you that’s causing all these problems! It’s you that wasn’t strong enough to win that battle. It was because you were weak that you lost your arm!”
“What did you just say to me!??” Spike bent forward, his massive figure crashing toward her. His muzzle smashed into her own. “After all that I’ve done for you... after I’ve lost my arm for you, you still have the guts to say something like that?!”
“I told you just to go!” Twilight screamed back into his face. “You’re the ones making ponies doubt my ability as a princess. You’re the one that’s making me doubt myself!” She pushed herself, and thus, him forward. “So go! Be free! Recover.”
Spike stared at her for a second. Then he rose, body rising into the air. “I can’t believe you. Are you really dismissing me?”
“As both my assistant and my knight, you are dismissed.” Twilight waved a hoof dismissively. “Now go. Your services have been appreciated. We’ll find a way to make things work without you.”
Spike stared at her for a couple seconds more, exhaling heavily into the breeze. Both of them were on edge and fueled by rage, one not of hatred, but of unjust sadness. He finally took a step back, shaking his head. “After all these years, you really did forget.”
Twilight snickered. “Forget what?”
“Out of all my fears, only one truly scares me.” Spike took a step back, turning around until his back faced her. “I had countless nightmares about it, and yet, it was always you to assuage them.” He chuckled, draping his one claw over his face. “And here you are, making that fear a reality.”
Twilight didn’t understand what he was saying at first, but as he began to disappear further into the courtyard, she remembered. Oh, Celestia how she remembered. King Sombra. Dark magic. Fears of abandonment mixed with feelings of uselessness: all of which left Spike without sleep for countless nights.
Even worse was the realization was the constant revelations. Spike was now long out of sight, but right next to her hooves was his sword, long and sheathed, big enough to fit his frame and heavy enough only to be carried by a dragon.
Twilight stared at the sword and did not move for a very long time.
“Nnnngh. Cooooome on!” Twilight clenched her eyes and scrunched her muzzle, struggling to keep her back straight—or up for that matter. “Aaaaaaalmost theeeere!”
Twilight had the sword strapped to her back, but really, that wasn’t a proper description. She had her head down as the hilt rested on her neck, the blade traveling down her back and stretching well beyond her tail, supported by a small dose of purple magic.
She was currently in the individual quarters for her guards—the end of the hall blocked off for the dragon who needed the most space. Twilight had no idea how Spike carried a sword double her weight and height, and despite their previous fight, had a lot more respect for his ability to walk unhindered by it.
When Twilight reached his door, she didn’t stop, knocking on its wood. It was late, the night sky visible in the windows high above the hall. She was worried he may have been asleep, or even worse, gone without a goodbye.
Just how did things go so wrong? Twilight thought to herself. I wanted to make sure that he was okay! That I was sorry for pushing him so far, and what do I do? Make him feel even worse and try to send him away.
Twilight would have berated herself more in thought when the door suddenly opened. Spike stood in the crack of the door, leaning against the wall, his purple scales pale. “Twi-light?”
“Spike?” Twilight shook her head to clear her thoughts, focusing her eyes on his body. “Oh, my! You look horrible!”
“I’m—”
“You open this door right now!” Twilight leaned to the right, letting the sword fall off her back and onto the floor. “Are you hurt? Where does the pain feel like it’s coming from?”
“I don’t have to tell you about any of that,” Spike replied, going to close the door. “I’ll be out of your mane by tomorrow afternoon. Until then, just please, please leave me alone.”
Twilight almost did it. She almost abided by his request by this time. She’d done before when he said he wasn’t fit to fight, but now, seeing him here, so close and in need, she wasn’t about to let the actions of her past dictate the choices of her present. “No. I don’t care about what happened between us, Spike. You’re hurt.”
“And that didn’t matter before?”
“It matter before and it matters now.” Twilight pushed her barrel into the door, fighting only to make it budge by an inch. “I was just too caught up in the matters of the crown to do the right thing about it.”
“And you think helping now is going to change things?”
“I don’t,” Twilight replied. “But I don’t care what happens after this. I left you once before, Spike, even though I promised I never would. So you can lock me out, but I’ll be here still, leaning against your door.”
If she was being honest, Twilight wasn’t expecting the door to actually shut. She stepped back for a second, huffing and sighing, shaking her head and turning around. She sat down and against the door—making good on her promise for a total of a second.
Click! The door swung open behind her, and with all support lost, she rolled backward and right between the feet of her dragon. She was on her back, facing up, staring at the towering dragon--just when did he get so tall and so strong?
“You weren’t kidding about waiting.”
Twilight giggled nervously. She made sure to flick her tail to between her legs. “I wasn’t about to break my word again.” She started to her hooves. “Besides, if there’s one thing we both still share, it’s how stubborn we are.”
“You got that right.” Spike lowered his free claw to before her muzzle. “Need a hand?”
“Uhm.” Twilight slowly took his claw, feeling his digits wrap around her foreleg, pulling her up from the ground. “T-Thank you.”
“First time I got one of those in a while,” Spike said, which only caused for Twilight to look down at his hand. She wasn’t yelling or even looking angry, and in suffering an influx of regret, Spike let go of her hoof and rubbed the back of his neck. “Er. You’re welcome.”
Twilight lifted her head, smiling. “So where’s your bed? Unless you wanna be patched standing up.”
“Think I’ll pass on that one.” Spike nudged his head over his right shoulder. “First door on the right is the bedroom. Come, follow me.”
Spike began to stumble down the hall, using his right claw on the wall to support himself. Twilight shot forth immediately to help but stopped when something glinted in the corner of her eye. She looked over her shoulder to the ajar door, and in its crack, she saw the hilt of the long sword shining in the moonlight.
Leaving Spike, Twilight went to the door, and with a slam of her body, pushed the door shut. With an even bigger smile, she turned around, racing down the hall until she caught up with the dragon. There, she came under his side, getting him to rely his weight unto her.
“Here.” Twilight pressed more into his side. “Lean on me.”
“Ha.” Spike kept looking ahead. “You know I can’t ride your back anymore, right? Kinda got big and tall.”
“And I don’t care.” Twilight looked up at him though he kept facing forward. “You’re still my dragon, and it’s my job… and was my job to take good care of you.” She sighed and looked away. “Then again, I guess I never did my job well, did I?”
“Don’t say that.” Spike finally glanced down at her, and their eyes met. “You were the best friend a dragon could ask for. We… had our fights, and sometimes you made me feel left out----but I had my faults too.”
Twilight kept their eyes locked. “So then, I supported you well back when?”
“That you did.”
Twilight bit her bottom lip. “Then do you think you can trust me again? Can you trust me to support you, right here, right now?”
Spike looked forward after those words this time, coming still in his movement. A second or two passed, and then, in a strained matter and movement, brought his claw from the wall to Twilight’s neck----the softness of her fur rubbing his palm.
Twilight turned to stare at the claw, then tracing the arm, the only arm left on her dragon. When she reached his face, he was staring forward, expression stern yet features soft. His emerald eyes shone through the thick darkness of the hall as if leading the way.
“The bedroom is in here,” the voice came come from above Twilight. She’d been staring at her dragon that she almost walked straight into a door. They paused before it. “Here, let me get the----”
“L-Let me do it!” Twilight yammered just as she felt hard, firm grip leave her neck. “You just keep holding onto me.”
Spike arched a brow. “Really Twi? You don’t think I’m able to open a door.”
“Of course you can open a door, Spike.” Twilight didn’t have a good reason to stop him other than she did not want him to let go of her. With a glow of her magic, the knob turned, and the door pushed opened. “I just don’t want you straining yourself, okay? You’ve been doing enough of that lately.”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“Trust me, Spike.” Twilight stepped into the room with Spike had her side. “I know.”
The two shuffled across the room in the darkness. A light came from a single window, one the size of a wall, stained glass filtering condensed moonlight. Pony and dragon could not be seen beyond their silhouettes----that, and the glow of their eyes.
“Do you, uh, mind taking a seat on the bed?”
Spike stared at her for a second, then doing as he was told. His extensive and slender frame fell down onto the mattress. He hunched forward, gazing down at the alicorn standing before him. “Now what?”
“Just… do your best to relax.” Twilight closed her eye as her horn glowed purple. Bandages and bottles appeared in a flash, levitating in her magic’s hold. She opened her eyes. “I’m going to do my best to make you feel better.”
Twilight wasn’t expecting Spike to nod his head but smiled when he did so. Her gaze then settled on his exposed front, taking the sights from his chest to his chiseled abdomen, and without knowing why, feeling heat radiate from her cheeks.
“Hmm. Some of your cuts still seem stained.” A tinted bottle of rubbing alcohol floated forward, turning upside down at its destination. The cap twisted off, liquid spilling onto a cloth, which then moved forward and pressed against his scales.
“Nnnngh.” Spike split his lips and bared his fangs.
“I know, I know, it stings.” Twilight didn’t stop rubbing the cloth down his chest, reaching his abdomen. “It hurts now so it won’t hurt so much later. You understand that, right?”
Spike averted his gaze. “Sure.”
Twilight let that slide. She was too busy focusing on his stomach, or rather, the slash that cut across it----scales regrowing in its wake. “Oh, Spike. How’d you get this one?”
Spike glanced down. “That? Heh. Turned out I wasn’t the only dragon who could hold a sword.” He chuckled at the memory. “But I am the only one who can use one well enough. The dragon that did this went horizontal. Me? I went vertical.”
Twilight winced at the imagery. Battle and war were no strangers to her psyche. She’d read the reports, seen the photos, and experienced it all already. But the idea that it was her Spikey being exposed to all this----it did not sit well with her at all.
The two continued on in silence. Twilight summoned stitches and closed any wound she could, much to the groans of her former assistant, but he had since stopped whining. She’s worked from head to his feet, seeing all the damage she had put him through.
Twilight was glad they had stopped talking, or else her voice would have cracked.
“Are you…” Twilight’s throat constricted around the words. She swallowed, trying to loosen her muscles. “Feeling okay, Spike?”
“A bit better now.”
“How… about your arm?”
“Sore.”
“I meant your other one.”
Spike looked down at her, blinking. “It’s… also sore.”
Twilight cocked her head. “Really?”
“To be honest with you, it still feels like it’s there.” Spike sat up straight and slightly turned, displaying the cloak covering his left side. “It’s heavy. It’s so heavy that it weighs me down.” He looked toward the door. “I went to pick up my blade with it once. And I couldn’t… I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t feel anything.”
“Oh Spike,” Twilight said, and not giving him a second to react, stretched up onto his bed. She threw her forelegs over his shoulder, her back ones on the mattress between his thighs. She nuzzled the side of his cheek while she hugged him tightly. “You… I… sorry. I am just so sorry.”
Spike turned his head, feeling softness draped along his body.
“You don’t know how b-badly I wanted to say sorry.” Twilight whimpered. “Not just for this but everything.” She rested her muzzle on his shoulder. “I’m a princess, and you are my knight, and we’re both bound by duty.” Something stung the corners of her eyes. “And… after a while, I’d forgotten I was sending my little dragon into danger.”
Spike didn’t respond to her first, and at the same time, he didn’t push her away either. In fact, his arm soon came over her, slipping around her waist. “You don’t have to be sorry.”
Twilight pulled back from over his shoulder until she was staring at his face. He wore a kind expression. “But why?”
“Because all that stuff doesn’t matter to me.” Spike raised his claw to her face, cupping her cheek. “Sure. Fighting sucks. Watching ponies die suck even more. I’m constantly in pain, killing my own kind, and you know what? All that doesn’t affect me too much.”
“So why keep doing it?” Twilight asked in a pleading tone. “Why keep fighting if none of it matters to you?”
“Simple,” Spike said. “Because I live to serve my princess.”
Twilight blinked. It didn’t make sense. She shook her head. “But you hate me! Why go fighting for somepony you hate?!”
“Because I didn’t hate you, Twilight.” Spike swept strands of mane out from her eyes, smiling gently. “I just hated what you were becoming. Now before you start, I understand that you have to be a princess. There was just one part that bugged me more than anything else.”
“And what was that?”
“That you started acting like a princess around me.” Spike lowered his head. “You were distant and cold. We never had any time together. Every time we did end up meeting, you always treated me like a servant… instead of a friend.”
“Spike…” Twilight also lowered her head, the lifelong friends ashamed of themselves, foreheads touching slightly. “So this is how you felt all this time? You weren’t mad about having to fight, but on having me leave you?”
“Yeah.” Spike inhaled deeply and exhaled sharply. “It’s why I got so, so mad when you sent me away. You know better than that, Twi. No dragon is scarier than my biggest fear.”
“Me leaving you.”
The words hung in the air for quite some time. Neither body dared moved. Their bodies were inches apart, their head pressing together. It was such a surreal and fragile moment, one that could easily be shattered by misinterpretation----one wrong word, one wrong action, one wrong ending.
“You were my biggest fear too.”
Spike lifted his eyes to look at her. “What?”
“You’ve been my knight for a very long time now,” Twilight continued, unable to raise her eyes just yet, “and you were my assistant for much longer. I’ve always loved you, Spike, but since you were always around, I never had to think about a world without you.”
“Because I would never leave you.”
“And you don’t control over that.” Twilight swallowed. “No matter the battle, you always came back. You’re our best chances against dragons because you are one. But there was always a chance you could lose one day, and even though I knew that, I never truly realized it until this morning.”
Spike kept silent.
“Listen, Spike, losing me may scare you.” Twilight lifted her eyes as well, showing him the tears running down her cheeks. “B-But… losing you w-would scare me even more.”
Spike blinked, and in a split-second, did something he wasn’t expecting. He leaned forward, cutting the distance from him and his mare, and wrapping his arm against her waist again, took her lips against his own.
And by the time he realized what he had done, his eyes went wide. He was staring into Twilight’s bright purple eyes. She looked just as surprised as him. They kept looking at one another, lips touching, each still.
And Spike was glad. He wasn’t being pushed away or yelled at, or having the guards called on him. Courage had lasted him the kiss, but now that he was here, he couldn’t do much more. He just kept staring at this beautiful mare in his hold----moaning when she closed her eyes and pressed forward.
Twilight’s lips. Soft and furry. They pressed against his own, rubbing along his scales, kissing him. They were so full of warmth, so passionate, so set on him. Spike let his eyes drift shut as he too pressed forward, meshing their lips together.
Spike didn’t know how it happened, why it happened, or why it kept happening----but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care if even tried to. All he wanted was more, more of her. To have the softness of her body draped over his own, the warmth of her skin warming the coolness of his scales.
He’d been cold, scared, alone for too many nights. How had he forgotten the times before? His little basket at the foot of her bed, the two friends, never more than a few feet apart. They were still close. Same castle, but halls and hearts apart.
As the kiss deepened, their lungs cried for air. The two pulled away, their bright eyes opening in the midnight----each locked on the other. They just stared and stared, each without words. This night could have gone endless amount of ways, and in none of those fears did this possibility exist.
“Spike…” Twilight sat back a little, relying her weight on his one arm. “How long?”
Spike was stumped for words. In his grasp was his princess, his mare and his friend, warm and soft his touch, not trying to leave it. “You know I love you, Twilight, ever since the day we first met.”
“But that was a different kind of love, Spike.” Twilight dipped her head. “That was a platonic love we both shared. But that? That was shattered by the kiss.”
“Er, sorry about that.”
“Really? That’s your plan? Kiss me so suddenly then say sorry?”
“I was actually going to apologize for the breath.” Spike sighed. “If I, uh, knew this was going to lead to, well, that----I would’ve popped a few breath mints.”
“Oh, Spike.” Twilight leaned forward and rubbed their snouts together, giggling. “You’re still just a kid underneath all that armor, aren’t you?”
“Ha. I guess so.” Spike rubbed his snout against hers, enjoying the wave of warmth that followed her every exhale. “Look Twi, I know I may look a bit different from before----”
“And thank your growth-spurt and training for that.”
“Har-har.” Spike bared his fangs playfully, making her giggle. “But underneath all that fighting and training and all that other stuff, I haven’t changed much on the inside. I’m still just a kid, Twilight. Even with all the stuff I’ve seen and done, I don’t feel like I ever really grew up.”
Twilight stopped her giggling, coming to smile. “You don’t have to worry, Spike. I know the feeling pretty well.” Her eyes looked directly up. “Because I worry about it every day. I worry for when somepony will just… kick the throne doors open, declare me a fake, and take the crown off from my head.”
Spike smiled in response to her fear, earning him a deadly look from her. “You don’t have to worry about anyone doing that, Twi. I’d just kick the door, BAM!, right back into their ugly faces.”
“Spike!” Twilight giggled, half-angry and half-happy. “You can’t just do something like that.”
“Oh yeah?” Spike replied, raising his claw along her lower back. “And who’s gonna stop me. I’d kick that door, beat any guard who got in my ways, then get on my knees before you and beg for a pardon.”
“Oh, you.” Twilight blushed at feeling his claw travel along her body. “We’ve been dating for a few minutes, and already, you’re trying to court royal favors from me.”
“Because you’re my princess,” Spike replied, “even if you don’t feel like a real one. But, uh, are we technically dating?”
“Duh! Of course, we are.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Unless you were hoping to kiss a princess and just get away with it. Tell me, am I a part of some bucket list?”
“Never.” Spike did, however, look away. “Just wasn’t expecting for you too, you know, say yes. At least, to continue to say yes.”
“Spike, you kissed me.” Twilight leaned forward, stealing a quick kiss from his lips. “And I kissed back. What more do you need than that?”
“I, uh, I don’t know.” Spike had turned to face her again after the kiss, looking into her eyes. “I just figured a mare like you could always do better. Didn’t think I stood a chance in the matter.”
“You’re a goofball.”
“What?”
“You’re a goofball!” Twilight exclaimed, giggling. “You’ve wanted to be close to me all this time but didn’t think you stood a chance? Is that why you continued to serve me, even after all I put you through?”
“Well, I mean, assistant’s honor and----”
“Spike.”
“It’s because I loved you,” Spike finally said. “Told you I’m just a kid. Everything I’ve ever done was because I loved you. Nothing more and nothing less. Even the arm was for you.”
Twilight pulled back her hooves and placed them on his chest, looking to where his left arm was supposed to be. She lowered her muzzle to it, biting on the cloak.
“But I’m not sure you’ll want me, Twilight.” Spike looked away and closed his eyes, exhaling. “I’m not exactly the best choice for a princess for you to be with. Doesn’t help we’re at war with dragons and I’m pretty much me. Not only that, but I’m damaged, I don’t have much----”
Spike stopped when this cloak whipped in the air. Looking over, Spike saw Twilight staring at his side, or to be more exact, how his left shoulder just ended----not even a stub to commence what was previously there.
“Oh, come on, Twi.” Spike started to move his claw to the back of her head. “Don’t look at it. C’mon. Stop that!”
He went to pull back Twilight’s head but stopped. She had placed her lips on his closing, kissing his side. No groans, no moans, no expression but one: love. Pure love. Plain and simple. Expressed through her warm kisses as she traveled down his side.
“You don’t have to do that.” Spike pulled back his claw. “It’s gotta be disgusting and----”
“Mmmhm, Spike.” Twilight pulled away an inch and only for a second. “But I love you.” And she continued to kiss him, and Spike, having to be strong for such a long time, surrendered himself to weakness, to the full embrace of every sensation she was rendering unto him.
And that was that.