Chapters An Accident Waiting to Happen
Celestia's sun shone brightly through the window of the Golden Oaks Library where Ponyville's local librarian Twilight Sparkle and faithful assistant Spike the dragon took residance in. Twilight awoke to the smell of breakfast and the faint sound of her number one assistant Spike humming to himself. As she made her way down the steps and into the kitchen, she found a table filled with different foods such as toast and fruit salad set out for her. On the opposite side of the table, a plate of hay fries and and assortment of gems awaited the chef.
"Morning Twilight." The young dragon said as he gave her a warm smile.
"Hi Spike." She said returning the friendly gesture. 'Something seems different about him.' Twilight thought as she began to notice that Spike had his spines combed back a liitle nicer than usual. She also noticed that he had gotten his scales polished a bit. "So Spike, what's the occasion?" she inqiured.
"I'm finally gonna do it Twi." he started as they sat down "It's time I stopped hiding my feelings out of fear of rejection, so later today I'm going to invite Rarity to dinner at Aymard de Chouppes." Twilight almost choked on her tea "Aymard de Chouppes?! That's one of the most expensive restaurants in Ponyville! How did you ever get the bits to afford that place?"
Spike simply grinned "Rainbow Dash owes me money for a bet, I've been helping the Cakes clean up at Sugarcube Corner in my freetime, I helped Applejack out in the orchard, and lots of other small jobs all around Ponyville. That's what I've been doing for several months now to get enough bits for a couple of reservations at about 7:00 or so."
Twilight was surprised at the determination he displayed to make all this possible. "So when do you plan on going over there?" Twilight said finishing her last bite of salad. "Knowing Rarity she'll probably take 2 hours just to get ready."
Spike chuckled at the joke. "Yeah, well I was planning on leaving at about 3:00, sound good?"
Twilight was proud at how much he had grown over the past three years since they moved to Ponyville. About two years ago, he had a big growth spurt which now gave him about a head and half over Big Mac on all fours. Soon after that his wings had sprouted and were big enough to hold his weight and he could now fly as he pleases.
"That sounds great Spike." Twilight said as they both finished they're meals. She wondered how things would go between him and Rarity. "Things will turn out well, I'm sure." she said to herself, having the utmost of confidence that her assistant would succeed.
(~)
It was around 2:55 in the afternoon as Spike made his way over to the Carousel Boutique. He had a little spring in his step as he walked through the market picking up a bouquet of tulips for Rarity, knowing how much she liked them. As he neared the Boutique, he noticed a familiar pink-maned pony shopping in the market for supplies. "Hey Fluttershy!" Spike said as he walked towards her.
"Oh, hi Spike! What brings you here today?" replied the happy mare. "You seem to have made the extra effort to look good, is there some sort of special occasion?"
Spike blushed. "Yeah, you could say that..." Now Fluttershy was interested.
"So what's going on today?" she asked with a slight bit of enthusiasm to find out the answer. "Today I plan on asking Rarity to dinner at Aymard de Chouppes." Fluttershy was surprised to say the least. "Oh my, that must cost a lot of bits."
Spike sighed, "It did." Regaining his composure, he confidently continued, "But it will all be worth it when all is said and done, I have no doubt." Fluttershy was happy to see her close friend so confident about doing what he was doing.
"Well, good luck Spike!" He looked at a nearby clock and saw that it read 2:59. "AAAAHHH!! Gotta go Fluttershy!" And with that he zoomed off.
"I hope everything works out ok..." She thought aloud as she began to head back to her cottage."He seems awfully excited about this."
(~)
Only steps away from the boutique Spike began to doubt himself. What if she doesn't feel the same way?" He started to calm himself down. "No, you can do this. Just knock on the door and ask her to dinner, simple as that." However when he was about knock, he began to hear voices inside."I really shouldn't but...maybe just this once." He put his head to the door and listened closely.
"Rarity, ever since I met you in Canterlot those few years ago, I knew you were the the one for me." Who is this guy?!?! Spike panicked as he felt tears welling up in his eyes. His worst fears were confirmed when the the stallion inside popped the. question "Rarity, will marry me?" He soon heard an ecstatic Rarity screaming "OH YESYESYESYES!!!!!!!! How could I say no to you Fancy Pants?" Spike's heart sank to the ground. "I knew you wouldn't." Replied a rather happy Fancy Pants.
He couldn't take it anymore, his thoughts a jumbled mess. "How could she do this to me, weren't my hints obvious enough, wasnt me being a good friend and helping her enough for her to see?! Wasn't me being her fucking WALKING PIN CUSHION ENOUGH FOR HER?!?! Spike was enraged and depressed as he couldn't find the will to keep his ear to the door. He ran to the only place he knew where he would be away from anypony. He began to dash away away but not before bumping right into the door handle causing a loud thump. He ran off as fast as he could towards the Everfree dropping everything.Rarity came and opened up the door to see a final glimpse of a pointed purple tail dissappear down the road. As she saw looked down she saw something that made her begin to sob, a bouquet of tulips and reservations to Aymard de Chouppes. "Oh Spike, I thought you would be over me by now..."
(~)
Spike was no longer thinking as he ran as fast as his legs would take him. He was nearing the forest with speeds that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. However right before he reached the forest, he was spotted by none other than the element of kindness herself. She soon realized where he was headed and went after him.
"Spike, please don't go in there!" He plunged into the forest, completely ignoring her plea. Reluctantly, she continued the chase after him in the hopes that he would calm down and talk. "Spike, please just talk to me!" Not being able to keep up with him, she soon lost sight of Spike. "Oh my, maybe I should get the others? No, that would take to long. But should I really go by myself?" Concerned more Spike's safety than hers, she decided to go alone in hopes of finding him. And with that she dove head first into the Everfree Forest.
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Rarity was practically flying down the streets of Ponyville, running to the one person that may know where Spike could have gone.'I thought it was just a little childhood crush! I didn't even take into account that he may still have feelings for me!' she thought to silently as she blasted through the market, leaving many confused ponies in her wake. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' she scolded herself for not realizing sooner that his affections for her were not only not shrinking but actually growing LARGER than before. Memories of Spike's birthday two years ago came rushing back. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that she was the only reason he was able to turn back into his former self, his memory of making her happy. She pondered how to explain this to Twilight, let alone what her reaction would be. Rarity approached the Golden Oaks Library and pounded on the door. "Twilight open up, I have to talk to you!!!" A confused Twilight opened up the door.
"Rarity? What are you doing here?" Twilight could have sworn Spike said he was going to Rarity's at 3:00, did he forget? "Where's Spike?"
"That's just it darling, he had come over to the boutique and well...h...he o-overheard me and my coltfriend talking. Then, he proposed." Rarity was hesitant to continue. "And I said yes." She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
Twilight sat there dumbstruck, questions flooding her mind. 'How long has she been seeing someone? ' she thought 'and why didn't she say anything to us?' "Did you know?"
"Know what Twilight?" Rarity nervously replied
"Did you know about Spike's feelings?" She was practically oozing rage now
Rarity knew the answer, she simply couldn't find the courage to answer. After a seconds of akward silence she finally answered "I...I..y-yes I knew,but Twilight please understa-" her thoughts were abrubptly interrupted by a swift bitch slap from Twilight
Twilight was on fire...literally, her mane and tale were flaming with rage. "YOU KNEW ABOUT HIM AND YOU JUST SAT BY LEADING HIM ON?!?!?!?!?!?!" Twilight could not believe her dear friend and the element of generosity lead him on like she did. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D USE HIM LIKE THAT!!!" Twilight went from exploding to yelling "Why didn't you just tell him Rarity?!?!?!"
Rarity began to sob. "I'm sorry Twil-
"Save it Rarity, we're going to gather up the rest of the people who actually care about his well being and look for him. And I swear with Celestia as my witness when I say if there is so much as a SCRATCH on him, I'm holding you personally responsible do you hear me?!" Rarity nodded as she cowarded in fear of her friend. "Good then lets go." Twilight stormed out, Rarity following her like a puppy.
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Spike had been running for Celestia knows how long, and finally slowed down enough for an exausted Fluttershy to catch up. "Spike, *huff* please *huff* stop running *huff* from me." Fluttershy said as she lay on the ground heaving
Spike's knees buckled as he fell to the ground. "Why are you still *huff* following me?" All he wanted right now was to be alone and wallow in my own self-pity. At least I know what to wallow in.
"Because I was concerned for you Spike, I didn't want you to get hurt out here in the everfree, with all the cockatrices, hydras and a lot of other...dangerous...creatures..." She screamed and hid in fear when she realised just where they were at. However her fear didn't last long as she soon heard soft sobbing behind a nearby tree. She walked around to see a depressed Spike with his face stuffed in his hands.
"Why? Why is this happening to me?" Spike asked her crying rivers as he looked at her through red, puffy eyes
She seemed lost in those emerald eyes, not knowing what to say. "Spike, can you please tell me what happened? I cant help you very well of I dont know."
"O-ok fluttershy." He said, slowly regaining his composure "I told you earlier how I was going to ask rarity to......" Spike explaining what had happened, all while trying to hold back the dam full of tears that were threating to break through the more he talked about it. Finally he finished.
Fluttershy had know idea what to see say, she wasn't quite sure if she heard Spike right. "I didn't even know Rarity and Fancy Pants were seeing eachother. Rarity never mentioned him in our spa visits." Fluttershy wracked her head in the hopes of a way to fix this without anypony getting hurt. "I'm so sorry things happened that way." She tried to give him a hug but he backed away, his expression turning from sadness to anger. "Spike?" She asked timidly, fear starting to enter her mind.
"Why am I not good enough for her? After everything I did for her, and she just throws me to the curb? Doesn't she care at all?" He wondered how stupid he could have been to be wasting three years of his life trying to chase after her. "I helped her in every way I can, take on dogs three times my size and all I get is a "thank you for trying darling", she sticks needles in my ass and she says "thanks see you tomorrow" well I'm sick of it. Sick of wasting my time on a mare that doesn't give TWO SHITS ABOUT HOW I FEEL!" Spike hit a tree, it fell over after one punch.
"Umm...Spike, please calm down, all the creatures will know we're here." He either didn't hear her or didn't care. He continued his rampage, knocking down tree after tree, roaring and setting things on fire. "Spike please!" she shouted. He simply roared at her her and kept going. This did not go on for much longer, a four headed hydra who was aware of it's "visitors" began to rise from it's hell hole of a home. Fluttershy screamed in terror.
Spike, finally acknowledged her presence and looked over at what she was screaming at. He looked the hydra right in the eyes as they stood off, each waiting for the other to make a move. After a full minute, Spike charged. He threw a punch at the body. The hydra dodged him and one it's heads tried to bite Spike. It made full contact with his arm but his scales protected him for the most part. The hydra's head threw Spike into a tree, leaving him dazed.
Watching it all go down from the base of a tree was a cowering Fluttershy. She helplessly watched as they went back and forth, neither one of them gaining any ground. The hydra would charge Spike, he would dodge and jump on top of it. Spike would try to throw a punch, and the hydra would bite at him. She tried looking for a safe escape without alerting the hydra, but the opportunity never came.
Spike couldn't seem to beat this thing. He kept trying and trying but he kept on missing the openings, and he was starting to run out of stamina. He looked around to see if there was anything that might give him an upper-hand on this thing. He saw a phoenix nest in a tree that was several meters away. 'I don't like playing dirty but if I want to get away without getting severely injured, I'm gonna have to use whatever is available.' Just as he had prepared to slam the hydra, it threw him in the air hundreds of feet away. He soon lost sight of the his enemy after something else seemed to catch it's attention. He flew back fast and found it almost as quickly as he had lost it. Seeing that his opponent didn't notice him come back he quickly charged into him. The hydra was knocked into the tree with the phoenix nest. Thoroughly pissed off the male phoenix came downto find the perpetrator. As nimble and quick as he was the hydra couldn't seem to get a hit in on him. "That will keep him occupied long enough for us to get out of here." He realized quick what was missing. 'Where's Fluttershy?' Spike had looked around for a couple seconds and was about to look elsewhere when he saw something that made his heart nearly stop. "FLUTTERSHY!!!"
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Fluttershy continued to watch from behind a tree, wondering when this nightmare was going to end. 'Why did this happen? All I tried to do is help Spike.' Her thoughts interrupted by a the sound of Spike screaming. She looked out from behind the tree to see Spike running at the the hydra, only for it to pick him up and throw him with an insane amount of force. "Spike!!!!!" She yelled. The hydra just now seemed to notice her. She sat there shaking in fear as she heard large footsteps coming closer to her spot. thump...thump..thump and then silence. She looked over and saw she was face to face with the creature that had matched her dragon friend perfectly in combat. She ran from her hiding spot. This however, only seemed to amuse it. It liked it when it's prey ran It let out a large roar bringing Fluttershy to her knees, covering her ears to escape. the deafening shriek. She tried to make a break for it, but was quickly brought down after she felt a large scaly hand grab her wing wing and bring her to the ground. Her wing no longer functional, she tried to run but didn't get far before feeling a searing pain in one of her hind legs and felt a foot making heavy contact with her flank. She could barely breathe. Thinking was nearly impossible. She cralled over to a bush in a sad attempt to escape. The hydra brought down It's head to finish her off. As she prepared for the end to come she closed her eyes and braced herself....but the end never came. She opened her eyes to see her purple and green colored friend kick his enemy into a tree. What came down was a less than happy male Phoenix. The firey bird came down and began clawing at it's face and body. Once he saw the hydra was "occupied" was about to leave when he noticed something out of place.
"Fluttershy?" He asked
"Spike..." was all she could say and he couldn't hear her. It looked like he was going to leave when he saw her.
"FLUTTERSHY!!!!" He yelled as he sprinted at speeds rivaling that of Rainbow Dash.
She had opened her mouth to speak but what a had come out was a barely audible squeek. "I've got to get you out of here!" Spike picked her up and started running in the direction opposite of the way they came. He nearly dropped her several times, tripping over the thick underbrush while steadily pushing towards the entrance of the forest.
'Gotta get her out of here, gotta get her to safety.' he thought, beggining to notice that energy and conciusness were slowly slipping from his grasp. 'This is all my fault! If I hadn't been so immature we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!' His pace slowed the loss of adrenaline starting to have a serious effect on him. The edge of the forest was in sight. 'I cant stop now. I'm almost there.' He stumbled out of the forest and collapsed, still making sure he didn't hurt the already injured mare in his arms. "I'm sorry Fluttershy..." were the last words he uttered before he blacked out.
(~)
Applejack was out on the farm bucking apples as usual, enjoying the fine evening. Judging by the sun, she guessed it was about 5:00, indicating that it was getting to be dinner time. Just as she began to head back, Applejack heard a bit of rustling and a loud thump thumpcoming from the direction of the Everfree. She prepared herself for combat, for anything she might encounter. But when she came around her row of trees, nothing could have prepared for what she saw. "SPIKE! FLUTTERSHY!" She galloped over to them. "Spike! Spike! What happened?! Come on now stay with me!" She said, trying to slap him awake. She then turned over to Fluttershy, who had appeared to have the worst wounds. "Hold on 'Shy, I'll get you some help!" Applejack turned around and sprinted to her house as fast as her legs. could carry her. 'What in the world happened ta those two?'
(~)
*beep* *beep* *beep* Was the sound that confused Fluttershy as she regained consciousness. 'I thought I was in the forest.' She looked down at herself, she saw a cast on her leg and on her wing. Terrifying memories of the hydra came rishing back to her. She wondered how she got in the hospital in the first place. It still felt like something was missing. She came to the realization that Spike wasn't there. She tried getting up, but after only a few inches she winced in pain. Seeing that she wasn't going anywhere, she decided to wait until morning to find out how she got there. Without any other distractions around her in the room, she easily drifted into sleep. She found herself walking around her cottage feeding her animals in the bright afternoon sun. She had just finished giving food to the chickens when she heard rustling near the forest 'Oh no, did one of my chickens run off again?' She looked for the footprints of a chicken, but what she found was entirely different. It appeared to be the footprint of a giant crocodile or alligator. 'What kind of animal is this?' she thought 'Maybe if I follow it I can find out what it is.' Fluttershy had worked with bears enough to know how to deal with large animals. Wiih the best in mind she floated into the forest following the tracks she eecognized the shape but she just couldn't put her hoof on it. She followed the tracks as thw forest around her grew progressively darker and thicker. She eventually reached a clearing where the tracks ended at a large rock. As Fluttershy investigated the faint sound of weeping could be heard. She hesitantly flew around the rock to find a small creature, though it looked familiar. "Are you okay there little guy?" The animal looked at her and after a few seconds she recognized it. "Spike?!" How did you get so small?" He looked her in the eye and asked her with tears streaming down his face "Why doesn't she love me? Why won't she love me?" Upon hearing this she stepped back scrunched her brow, trying to gather a response. "Who are you talking about?" Ignoring her Spike still cried. His cries soon turned to yells. His yells into screams. "WHY DOESN'T SHE LOVE ME?!?!?!" He let out a mighty bellow as he grew right before her eyes. Spike's form then started to churn and morph until her friend turned into a mighty hydra. Once again too afraid to move Fluttershy sat there quaking in fear. The hydra roared and brought down it's heads to strike. Just before the heads could reach her, she felt the sensation of falling and just like that she found herself awake and panting. She gazed around the room to make sure everything was in the same place as before. She came to the apparent conclusion that it would be a long night.
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Slowly the beautiful sunrise began creeping across the horizon. After bearing though the night with no sleep, Fluttershy sat up in her bed with bags sagging from her eyes and her mane was tangled and rustled. Looking around the room she saw that Twilight was reading a book, as was Rainbow. The books they were reading however differed immensely. The cover of Twilight's read The Study of Pegasi: Biology and Skeletal Structure . Rainbow Dash, however, had the latest daring do book in her hooves, Daring Do in: The Mystery of the Golden Statue . Applejack was lying on the ground, daydreaming about who knows what. Above her on the bench sat Rarity who was sketching something down on paper, another dress design no doubt. Pinkie Pie was to the farthest left. She just sat there starting at the ground and Fluttershy couldn't help but notice that her mane was slightly deflated. That was the case until Pinkie noticed she was awake, at which point she started bouncing across the room like a pinball yelling things like, "OHMYGOSHGUYSFLUTTERSHY'SAWAKE!" and "GUYS WHAT ARE WAITING FOR? LETS THROW A PARTY!!!!!!!". Eventually they had to get several nurses to get her to calm down. After all the commotion was over, Twilight spoke up. "How are you feeling Fluttershy? We were all worried sick about you."
She thought to herself and pondered recent events. Not wanting her friends to over worry, she gave Twilight a simple, " I'm okay everybody, thanks for your concern but I'm alright now." Twilight however, wouldn't have it.
"Are you sure Fluttershy? If you do good that's great, but you must be in some sort of pain now right?"
To be honest Fluttershy was in pain, severe pain in fact. Her wing was in a cast and folded inward in a less than comfortable position, and her side was still sore from the wound she got. Her head panged and throbbed and she did't feel like she would be able to even stand until after a long recovery. But again, she simply gave her friends less to worry about. " No really girls, I'm okay." She just didn't feel the need to burden her friends with more worry about her health. 'After all, they already have someone else to worry about.' She thought, her eyes glazed and off in the distance as her mind drifted to that of the drake that had saved her.
She was torn as for her feelings towards Spike. Part of her wanted to be grateful to him for saving them both from certain death. Even still, ever since Iron Will's program, she always had that dormant side to her that wanted to resent and hate anyone who caused her something so much as a small inconvenience. But even if Fluttershy wanted to, she couldn't hate anyone, especially Spike. He would come over and help if she asked and even if he had a minor slip up, he would apologize until he was sure everything was alright. It wasn't always sunshine and hapiness though and Spike couldn't help out all the time between helping Twilight and trying to advance on Rarity. There were times back in the cottage when she would find an animal limping out of the Everfree, barely escaping a timberwolf chasing behind it. After working for hours eventually the animal would take it's final breath, despite her efforts to keep it safe. No matter how many times it happens, she wil always have that same cold feeling of failure wash over her.Even in spite of her many successes, she would weep into the arms of her animals, cry until she couldn't cry anymore. She thought of hiring an assistant herself but realised that no one really suited for the job except her and Spike. What made it worse was that those extra hands could mean the difference in a situation of injury for one of her animals. With Spike on the forfront of her mind she asked Twilight how Spike was doing.
"The nurses got him bandaged up and as soon as he was allowed to he left. He went to the library and went straight to the basement. He won't say anything and won't come out. He only eats if I teleport the food in there. The last thing he said to me was to tell you that he's sorry."
In truth, this news came of no surprise to Fluttershy. It was obvious why he is in the the state he is. After having his heart broken by someone close to him, he then endagered and caused the injury of another close firend and has given him grief and guilt the likes of which he hasn't experienced before in his life. Understanding this gave Fluttershy even more reason to be worried.
*****
Spike sat in the cold and dark of the basement in the library. There was a light, he just chose not to turn it on. Without him cleaning it on a regular basis like he used to the basement, and for all he knew the rest of the treehouse, had become unsustained and dirty. The air was a bit thicker than usual and often caused him to sneeze. Dust clouded any surfaces and the room smelled like whoever lived in it hadn't bathed in three weeks. And in the corner sat a dragon whose guillt and anger was only matched by his regret. Insomni and malnutrition plagued him. He only ate as much as he had to, sometimes not even that much. His face pale and covered in streaks that were what was left of his many fallen tears. He did not allow himself to anything pleasure related. He ate, slept, and thought, nothing else.
'How could I have done this? I know better than this...but I guess I'm still just as small as I was then, and just as immature to. Twilight always said that things happen for a reason but I can't understand why something like this would happen' Once again too tired to internally scold himself anymore he curled in a ball and tried to get to sleep, though he knew there wouldn't be much sleep if any.