A Spiked Life

Chapter 10 - Twilight gone 'nanas
by LightningStrike34

Spike's Perspective
"Um... Twilight? Are you okay?" I asked fervently. Twilight screamed out as her horn started glowing brightly, "Where is it?! WHERE?! WHERE'S THE LADYBUG?!"

I threw up my arms in alarm, "Whoa whoa whoa! Where's the fire girl? Jeez Louise, calm down."
After reevaluating what she said I asked confused, "Ladybug? You mean the little red beetle thing with black spots? Why would you be freaking out over this?"

Twilight growled angrily as her mane frizzled up even more, "Freaking out? FREAKING OUT?! I am not freaking out! I am perfectly justified in my reaction Spike! Perfectly... Justified."

Twilight gave out an awkward laugh as I pressed her for info, "Okay Miss Purplecorn, please elaborate on how and why you should be acting like this about some stupid bugs."

Twilight looked like she was going to implode from her tense behavior saying, "They are not just 'some stupid bugs', they were an infestation, an infestation that gave me night terrors every night since then. I still remember the day it all started."

The Sparkle Residence (10 years prior)

After Twilight had returned home with her parents when she finished her entrance exam not only were her parents ecstatic that their daughter had passed with flying colors but also that the Princess herself had decided to take her on as her own personal protégé, Twilight had been losing her mind since not only had she earned her cutie mark but also the idea that the princess would be teaching her magic made her incredibly flustered.

"I can't believe this, it's like a dream come true! Somepony pinch me I must be dreaming." After Twilight said this she felt a slight pinch on her left cheek, "AH!" She cried as the sounds of a familiar laugh rang through the household, "You asked for it, didn't you sis?" The young colt replied as Twilight growled angrily, "It's not funny, Shining!"

Shining rolled his eyes, "Oh come on Twiley, It's just a little harmless fun. Stop being such a party pooper."

Twilight Velvet sighed, "Now, now you two, I think I had raised you to be a little better than this. We came back home to celebrate your sister's accomplishment, not to see you two bicker. Now, what do we saaaaay?"

The two foals sighed, "We're sorry."

Twilight giggled, "Good, now that we're done with that, why don't you show them what you bought honey?"
Soon after Velvet finished speaking, Night Light pulled out a jar containing two above average sized ladybugs.

Sparkle was confused, "Ladybugs? Why did you buy ladybugs?"

Night Light responded, "Well, I had accidentally bumped into a street merchant on my way back from work earlier in the day and I'd managed to get a good deal for them, he said they were an uncommon variant of Ladybug most ponies don't know about and was really eager to sell them off. Not sure why though."

Velvet interjected, "In any case, we have decided you're both old enough to be responsible having a pet and we made our choice here."

Night Light set the jar down on the living room coffee table and said, "Anyways, have fun you two, I'm going to bed. It's not everyday you get turned into a plant you know."

Twilight nervously chuckled as Night Light headed off to bed yawning as Velvet spoke up, "I'm going to head in as well," She looked at her daughter in concern, "Twilight honey? Please try to be careful, Ladybugs are very fragile creatures. I don't want to have to see you in tears because of an accident okay?"

The filly responded, "Don't worry mom, I'll be very careful."

When Twilight Velvet had left to go upstairs to rest, Twilight Sparkle was busy looking at the jar with glee as her brother spoke up, "Hey Twilight? Did you know that the spots on a Ladybug's back are actually extra eyes?" Shining Armor had a cheeky grin on his face as Twilight pouted, "That's a lie and you know it big brother!"

The colt's smirk grew in size as he said, "Do you really know that to be true?"

Twilight shuddered at the thought, "N-no..."

Shining chuckled, "Thought so Twiley, I'm gonna go make myself a sandwich. You have fun with your little 'pet project'." He chuckled and left the room as Twilight looked at the jar again with a look of curiousity in her eyes.

"If I remember correctly from my biology class, ladybugs eat leaves for food." Twilight hummed as she noticed a flower sitting in a vase as she got an idea, "I'm sure mom and dad won't be angry with me if I just feed them one little leaf right? It'll be fine, it will all be okay." Opening the jar, Twilight lowered the leaf down to the Ladybugs as they began to eat.

~10~

"It's not okay, NOT OKAY AT ALL!" the lavender filly shouted as the room in front of her was swarming with Ladybugs as far as the eye could see, no matter where you looked there was nothing but a sea of red and black as far as the eye could see as the filly began to hyperventilate uncontrollably.

Even her normally calm and collected older brother started freaking out as he tried to get rid of the red menace as quickly as possible but it didn't do any good, once the bugs had set upon eating all the food in their home they began to divide into more and more and more ladybugs until you couldn't even see three steps in front of your face.

"Twilight!" Shining Armor cried out in alarm, "Everytime I boot one swarm out they just keep coming back in bigger and bigger swarms! I don't know what to do, I've tried everything I can!"

"Have you tried calling pest control?! Maybe they can handle this?" Twilight replied in a similar manner

"They live on the other side of town! Do you really think they can help us with- with this?!"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY BETTER IDEAS!?" Twilight shouted angrily

Shining replied cautiously, "W-well, did you check to see any labels on the jar?"

Twilight and Shining rushed over to the coffee table and looked over every inch of the jar until Twilight found a note underneath the lid detailing the bug in perfect detail, reading the note it said the ladybugs were a variant called Duplibugs that once fed enough nutrients begin to divide like cells quicker than a Parasprite multiplies.

"What's a Parasprite?" Shining asked but shut his question down, "You know what, never mind! We have bigger problems to deal with here, like getting rid of all of these Duplibugs!"

Golden Oaks Library (Present Day)
"And then.._" Twilight continued before cutting her off

"Whoa whoa whoa, whoa! You're saying that you actually experienced ALL of that on the same day you got accepted as a protégé for royalty? That sounds incredibly ironic don't you think, you experience one of the worlds greatest wishes only to experience one of the worlds worst nightmares?"

Twilight replied before being cut off by a knock at the door, "Well, when you put it like that it does sound pretty kar-"

A feminine voice called out from the door as she spoke, "Hey, Twilight. It's your super duperiffic best frienderino, Let me iiiiiin."