Twilight's Secret

Spike was speechless at first, unsure what to say. Twilight was so battered, and bruised. Her body was covered in bruises, and her whole body was visibly shaking.

He never thought in a million years he'd see her like this. It terrified and angered the young dragon.

“Twilight...!”, he ran over to her, worried.

“Spike...you heard it all...?”, asked Twilight, fearfully. She struggled to sit up. Spike helped her very gently, he was afraid to touch her almost, not wanting to hurt her more. She seemed so delicate.

“Why didn't you tell me?! Or our friends? Or Princess Celestia?!”, demanded Spike, worriedly.

“I wanted too...but I couldn't”, Twilight started, she flinched then, hurting bad.

“Twilight! Take it easy...just lay down”, Spike fretted.

Twilight blinked tears from her eyes, the pain in her broken wing the worst. She breathed shakily, as she struggled to climb onto her bed.

“I'm sorry Spike...you shouldn't have heard any of that”, she cried then, tearfully. Spike looked at her shocked. She had just been hurt...and all she cared about was Spike seeing it?

“Twilight...! Don't worry about me...you're the one who was hurt!”, he cried, urgently.

“I'll be fine...”, Twilight sighed weakly, lay down weakly, still shaking.

“No you won't! Not until we get help!”, Spike glared, worried.

Twilight's ears perked, and her heart sunk.

“No, Spike! You can't tell anypony!”, she cried, urgently.

“What?! But Twilight...”, Spike started.

“Please Spike...he told me...if I tell anypony, he knows how to remove the Crystal Heart”, Twilight explained.

“What?!”, Spike looked shocked.

“If it wasn't for that...I would have went to our friends...but..”, Twilight's ears folded back, as she looked down.

“But Twilight...what if he's just saying that stuff?”, asked Spike, worriedly.

“I can't chance it, Spike. The Crystal Empire, Shining Armor, Cadence, my niece...all of Equestria”, Twilight said, grimly.

“Twilight...”, Spike looked at her, horrified. She was truly broken. Broken by fear.

Spike clenched his fists then, his claws digging into his palms.

“How long?”, he asked, shakily.

“What...?”, Twilight looked at him weakly.

“How long has he been doing this to you!?”, demanded Spike, raising his voice a bit.

To his horror, Twilight flinched at his tone.

“Twilight...no! I'm not yelling at you...”, Spike cried, as he hurried to her side.

“I'm sorry Spike, I know you're not. For...two years...”, Twilight answered him, still shaking.

Spike glared...for two years, Twilight suffered. Suffered in silence. And had the fate of Equestria on her shoulders.

He couldn't let this continue...Twilight was like a mother to him.

“Spike...promise me. Promise me you won't say anything”, pleaded Twilight.

“I promise, Twilight...”, Spike crossed his fingers behind his back.

He didn't want to lie to Twilight, but at the same time he knew he had to get her help.

“Just try and get some rest...”, Spike gently tucked Twilight in. Twilight was still shaking, but she felt somewhat soothed by his presence.

Spike watched her drift into a restless sleep.

“I can't keep that kind of promise...I'm sorry, Twilight”, he said quietly. He hurried out.

Downstairs, Flash was seeing Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy off.

“...Like I said, her wing is not doing so good today, so she really needs her rest”, he explained.

“Well if her wing's THAT bad, why isn't she in the hospital?”, demanded Rainbow Dash.

“I was going to take her there right now, but then you all showed up”, Flash shot back.

“We're just really worried about her...”, Fluttershy explained, softly.

“Well you don't have to!”, Flash snapped then. Fluttershy flinched, tears sparkling in her eyes.

“HEY! Nopony talks to Fluttershy like that! She might be more sensitive while pregnant, but I'm not! I'm more angry!”, Rainbow yelled, she even snorted, ready for a fight.

The difference between their hormones was night and day.

“Easy, RD...”, Applejack pulled her back by her tail, gently.

“Excuse our friend, as you can see, she has hormones...”, Rarity started.

“IT'S NOT MY HORMONES!”, Rainbow yelled in her face, the volume so loud that it straightened Rarity's mane.

“Whoa nelly...take it down a notch, Rainbow”, Applejack pulled her away more.

“What is with you, AJ?! We know what this jerk is doing to Twilight!”, Rainbow growled, the two had backed away, while the rest continued talking to Flash.

“If we really want to see Twilight, we got to be nicer...let Rarity and the rest handle it”, Applejack explained.

Rainbow glared, impatient.

“...so you see, we're just very worried about our friend, and we'd be oh so grateful if you'd let us just see her”, Rarity said.

“Even if it's just for a few minutes! Or a minute! Or half a minute! Or...”, Pinkie babbled.

“We won't bother anypony”, Fluttershy added, quietly.

Flash stood firm. He had to put on a better act.

“I'm sorry, but she really isn't feeling well. I apologize for my rudeness, but I'm just worried about her”, he said, in the kindest tone he could make.

Rarity and Pinkie both glared, while Fluttershy looked down, sadly.

“Are you kidd!-”, Pinkie started to yell, when Rarity grabbed her, covering her mouth with her hoof.

“We understand, thank you anyway. We'll come back another time..”, Rarity said, they walked away.

Flash glared, and closed the door.

“Well?!”, demanded Rainbow, anxiously.

“No good...”, Rarity replied.

“We should just barge in there! There's five of us!”, Pinkie shouted, frustrated.

“We're being too nice! I'm getting in there, even if I have to use the Sonic Rainboom!”, Rainbow growled.

“In your condition? Rainbow Dash, you know you can't...”, Fluttershy pointed out, worried.

Rainbow's ears folded back, a look of frustration on her face, as she looked at her swollen belly.

“What do we do then?! Twilight's our friend! We can't just abandon her!”, Rainbow cried.

“Since Princess Celestia isn't back yet, we go to Princess Luna. Tonight”, Applejack said.

Flash walked down the corridor, he sighed, annoyed.

“It took forever to get rid of them”, he complained.

He then paused, seeing Spike standing in the middle of the hall. The little dragon was glaring, his fists clenched.

“Oh hey Spike, how's my buddy doing?”, Flash faked a smile, as he trotted over.

Spike glared.

“I'm NOT your buddy”, he growled. Flash frowned at him.

“What's got your tail in a knot?”, he asked.

“I saw what you did to Twilight...and as long as I'm around, nopony....NOPONY treats her like that!”, Spike snapped.

“Oh, and what are YOU gonna do about it?”, Flash asked, he smirked evilly.

“I'm gonna...gonna...”, Spike panicked, but then he glared and tried to breathe fire at Flash.

But only a weak little green flame came out.

Flash glared, he then picked Spike up by the tail.

“Hey! Put me down!”, Spike yelled, as Flash walked out onto the balcony. It was a 30 feet drop.

“What are you doing?!”, Spike panicked, scared. Flash held him over the balcony's edge.

Spike's heart sunk, as his eyes grew wide in fear, seeing how far down it was. Nopony was there, it was just the ground, some trees and a fountain.

“You're not around anymore”, Flash sneered, he then let go of Spike.

Spike screamed, as he tried to grab anything, but continued to fall. Flash glared, and walked back inside.

Spike landed in the fountain, water splashing everywhere.

Spike surfaced, gasping for air. He climbed out, groaning. His head hurt bad, and so did both of his legs.

“I gotta...save Twilight...”, Spike struggled to stand, but then yelled out in pain, collapsing back down.

Both of his legs were broken.

“No...! Come on!”, Spike tried again, but his legs hurt too much. He would normally be screaming in pain, but all he could think about was saving Twilight.

His worry for her distracted him from the majority of the pain.

His heart sunk, being a child dragon, he panicked.

“Oh no...I'm gonna be stuck here...forever! And Twilight...!”, Spike panicked, when suddenly he heard somepony entering the courtyard.

“Oh...its a public courtyard...”, Spike blushed, embarrassed.

“Hey! Help!”, he called, urgently.

To his relief and happiness, it was somepony he knew.

“Spike?! What happened to you?!”, MoonDancer galloped over, worried. She was wearing her mane like Twilight's, wearing her dark gray sweater.

“MoonDancer...thank Celestia! Twilight's in trouble...!”, Spike started, he winced in pain.

MoonDancer blinked, and then she suddenly frowned.

“Oh..I see”, was all she said. She then turned her back on Spike.

“MoonDancer?!”, Spike cried, panicked.

Ever since Twilight married Flash, she had distanced herself from everypony due to the abuse. And couldn't tell anyone why.

MoonDancer, having been bitter towards Twilight in the past, was the most hurt about it all. Of course she was oblivious to the what was really happening.

“Now she needs my help? She didn't seem to need it for the passed two years”, MoonDancer snorted.

“No, you don't understand! Twilight's in trouble! She hasn't been purposely ignoring you!”, Spike started.

MoonDancer blinked then.

“How did you break your legs?”, she asked, mildly concerned.

“MoonDancer, listen! Flash has been hurting Twilight!”, Spike yelled.

“Oh that's rich...did she come up with that herself?”, MoonDancer snapped.

“I'm SERIOUS! Flash has been abusing Twilight all this time! She couldn't even tell her friends in Ponyville, or Princess Celestia! Not even her family! She didn't even tell me until I found out!”, Spike yelled, urgently.

MoonDancer starred at the young dragon. She noticed his head had a bump on it, and he was even crying at this point.

Her ears folded back...was this..true?

“Please...! She needs help...!”, Spike sobbed, tears in his eyes.

MoonDancer hesitated, but she kept getting a sinking feeling.

“Where is she...?”, she asked.

In the castle, Twilight sat on her bed, her head low. It was dark in the room.

The door suddenly opened. Twilight flinched, thinking it was Flash, she didn't even turn to look.

“Twilight...?”, MoonDancer's soft voice caught her ear. Twilight's heart skipped a beat...she hadn't heard her old friend's voice in so long.

She turned to look. MoonDancer stood there, an unconscious Spike on her back.

“MoonDancer....!?”, cried Twilight.

MoonDancer walked over, and gently set Spike in his bed. She got a good look at Twilight, and her heart sunk.

Twilight was all bruised, and she was visibly shaking. And her wing...it was a gruesome sight. It was twisted in an unnatural way, some feathers have even fallen off.

“It's true...you really are...”, MoonDancer's heart sunk, tears appearing in her eyes.

Twilight felt such relief fill her, seeing MoonDancer here. It was the same relief she felt when seeing her friends in Ponyville again.

Her eyes filled with tears.

She got off the bed, and limped over. MoonDancer didn't make her walk over, she rushed over, and the two ponies hugged.

Twilight instantly broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Why?! Twilight, why didn't you tell me?! Or anypony?! Your brother! Princess Cadence!”, asked MoonDancer, crying herself. She stroked Twilight's mane gently.

“I...I couldn't! Flash knows a way to remove the Crystal Heart...”, Twilight went on to explain his threats to MoonDancer, in between sobbing.

“You had all this on your shoulders...?”, cried MoonDancer, once Twilight finished.

“I couldn't risk any of that happening...so...I suffered in silence”, replied Twilight, still crying.

Spike stirred weakly then.

“Twilight!”, he went to move, but winced.

“Spike...! What happened?!”, cried Twilight, fearfully.

“Flash threw him off the balcony...”, replied MoonDancer.

Twilight's heart sunk...Spike must have confronted Flash.

“Twilight...I know you're scared. But you're my best friend. I won't let this continue. We have to go to Princess Celestia”, MoonDancer said, firmly.

“We're not taking no for an answer!”, Spike added, clutching his legs.

“I know...and you're both right. We have to go to the princess”, Twilight said then.

Spike blinked, shocked she agreed so quickly. But also relieved.

“Really?”, he asked, glad.

“Yes...because I can't let you get hurt again, Spike...”, Twilight replied.

“And...not just for you”, she added.

“For your sake too”, MoonDancer said.

Twilight's ears folded back, she closed her eyes, a grim look on her face, as she sat down, turning her back to them.

“Twilight...?”, asked MoonDancer, worried.

“It's...not just me...”, Twilight started, weakly. Spike looked at her, confused.

“I thought I could continue to suffer in silence...to protect the Crystal Empire, and all of Equestria...but things have changed...”, Twilight explained.

“Because of Spike getting hurt?”, asked MoonDancer.

“That...and...”, Twilight looked at them.

“I'm pregnant...”, she revealed then, grimly.