A gift most precious.
Twilight Sparkle sat in her castle’s library, humming a merry little tune as books floated all around her. She loved reshelving day. It was her way to unwind. The door on the far side of the room creaked open to allow Spike entrance. The little drake looked positively exhausted.
“Morning, Spike.” Twilight greeted him.
“Hey Twi.” He grumbled as he plopped down in one of the chairs, resting his head on the table.
“Something wrong Spike?” Twilight asked, momentarily halting the parade of floating books.
“I didn’t sleep very well. I just kept having this aching itch on my back. No matter how much I tried wriggling or scratching it wouldn’t go away.”
As if to emphasise his words he suddenly started to rub his back against the chair.
“Ugh, there it is again!”
Growing concerned, Twilight put her books down and trotted over to the little drake. “Let me see.”
Spike paused his scratching attempt and turned his back to her so she could get a better look. Twilight immediately noted two small, discolored lumps on Spikes upper back, at the bottom of his Scapulae.
“That’s odd, you have two bumps on your back.”
“Huh? What are they?”
“I don’t know. They don’t look like insect bites.” Twilight said studiously.
“Could it be some kind of freaky disease?” Spike asked with mounting panic.
“I don’t know. Ponies don’t exactly know a lot about dragon anatomy. But lucky for us we know just who to ask.”
“Who?”
“Why Ember of course. Take a letter spike.”
“Of course!” Spike exclaimed with a smile as he pulled a quill, parchment and inkwell seemingly out of nowhere. “She would definitely know. Okay Twi, fire away.”
“Dear Dragonlord Ember,
I write to you because I have concerns about Spike. He has developed strange itchy lumps on his back, and we have no idea as to what caused them. Is this some sort of dragon disease? Should we take precautions? Please advise.
Awaiting your swift reply, your friend
Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike finished writing and rolled up the scroll, sending it away on a breath of green fire.
“Now all we need to do is wait.” Twilight said with a small smile. “Shall we get some breakfast in the meantime?”
“Sounds good to me.” Spike replied as they moved out of the library.
It was a little later during a nice breakfast of grass pancakes that Embers reply arrived. Instead of Spike burping up the letter as per usual, it instead arrived in a whisp of blue smoke. No doubt from Embers own fire. Twilight quickly scooped up the scroll in her telekinesis and began to read.
“What’s it say?” Spike asked worriedly.
“There's no cause for alarm, Spike. In fact, there's cause for celebration. Your wings have started to grow in.” Twilight said with a beaming smile.
“Really? Awesome!” Spike cheered.
“Congratulations, Spike. You’re growing up.” Twilight said, giving the little dragon a one legged hug.
Spike hugged her back with a smile, then his eyes went wide and he took of with a run “I gotta go tell Rarity!”
Twilight rolled her eyes with a smirk and started floating the dishes over to the kitchen as Spike vanished out the door.
The summer sun shone brightly in the sky as Spike made his way through Ponyville towards Carousel Boutique. Upon arrival he pushed against the door, only for it to remain closed.
“That’s odd.” He said to himself, then peered in through the windows.
The shop was dark, with nopony in sight. Spike moved around back to check there, only to run into the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Hey guys, have you seen Rarity?”
“She’s over in canterlot for the weekend Spike.” Said Sweetie Belle.
“Oh.” Spike replied deflatedly. He then noticed that the CMC were looking rather dejected themselves.
“Is something wrong? Why the long faces?”
It was Scootaloo who spoke up first. “I… just got back from the doctors.”
“Are you sick? Is it contagious?”
“No it’s…. it’s not that. I went in for a checkup with a wing specialist. Apparently I have, what did he call it.. plum roots magic.”
“Pluma rudis magicae” Sweetie Belle corrected.
“Yeah that.”
“What does that mean?” Spike asked with a confused expression.
“What it means is… if my wing magic doesn’t develop soon, I’ll be too old. And that means I will never... be able to fly.” She started to tear up, despite her best efforts not to cry.
“Thats terrible.” Spike said, suddenly feeling very awkward. Here he was, starting to grow his own wings, and one of his best friends just had her worst fears confirmed. That she might never fly at all. He didn’t feel like sharing the news with others anymore. In fact he didn't feel cheerful at all. Replaced with concern for his friend.
“Isn’t there anything we can do? He asked.
“The doctor said no.”
“Well, doctors don’t know everything, right? Maybe Twilight knows a solution. Why don’t we go and ask her.”
“Hay yeah,” Said Applebloom.”Ahm sure Twilight can figure this out Scoot.”
“Maybe.” The little pegasus said, rubbing her eyes.
“It’s worth a try.” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
With their course of action decided, the four of them trotted over to the castle of friendship, finding Twilight once more in her library, reshelving books.
“Welcome back, Spike, oh, hey girls.” Twilight greeted them as they entered the Library. “What brings you here?”
“Scootaloo needs your help Twilight.”
“Whatever with?”
“Scootaloo’s been diagnosed with ‘pluma rudis magicae’. The doctors say there’s nothing they can do. We were wondering if you perhaps knew a solution.” Spike explained.
“Pluma rudis magicae?” Twilight repeated as she floated over several medical books, flipping through their indexes.
“Poison, pony flu, papercuts,” She winced, “petrification, aha, here it is. Pluma rudis magicae, a rare condition where a pegasus colt or fillies magic does not develop sufficiently to empower their wings and feathers to achieve flight. Most ponies afflicted with the condition grow out of it, however a small select few do not. If a pony does not grow out of it before their twelfth birthday, the condition becomes permanent due to the bodies ley-system having fully matured at this point.”
“My birthday is at the end of the week.” Scootaloo said quietly. Her eyes growing glassy with tears again “And I’m still unable to fly.”
“Is there anything y’all can do Twilight? You’re like, the smartest pony ever.” Said Applebloom.
Twilight let out a sad sigh. “I’m so sorry girls. But there is no known cure for Scootaloo’s condition. All I can say is keep trying to fly. You still have a little time. Maybe if you stimulate your wings enough it just might work.”
“Come on scoots, let’s keep trying.” Applebloom said as she all but dragged the little pegasus out of the library. Sweetie Belle followed suit.
“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do for her Twilight? Isn’t there some spell or something you could cast? You’re an Alicorn for Celestia’s sake.” Spike said once the CMC were out of earshot.
“I’m sorry Spike, but even us Alicorns can’t just wave our horns and fix everything, no matter how much we might want to.”
“Yeah, I suppose not.” Spike said sadly as he too left the library. Then an idea popped into his head.
“But maybe there’s someone who can.” he said to himself with determination as he started to run.
♫"There’s music in the treetops, and there's music in the vale. And all around the music fills the sky."♫ Fluttershy sang to herself as she carried a small bag of chicken feed into her backyard. Her song was accompanied by a virtual orchestra of birds, perched on top of her cottage and in the branches of the surrounding trees. With practiced ease she opened the bag and tilted it, spilling the contents into a neat little heap. Immediately her chickens came running.
“Here you go little chickens. Don’t eat it all at once, or you might get a tummy ache.”
She trot back inside to dispose of the empty bag when there was a knock on her front door.
“Goodness, who could that be?” She pondered aloud as she pushed the top half of her dutch door open. “Hello?”
“Hey Fluttershy.” Came a familiar voice from below.
“Oh, hi Spike, what brings you here?”
“I was hoping you could help me. I kinda need to talk to Discord. Has he been around lately?”
“Discord? Whatever for?”
“I just need to ask him something. It’s kinda important.”
“I see. He hasn’t been by in a while, but I can contact him if it’s that important to you.”
“Would you please?” Spike said, giving her his best puppydog eyes.
“I can’t be sure when exactly he will show up. You best continue with your day. I’m sure he’ll drop by whenever he can.” She said apologetically.
“That’s okay. Thanks Fluttershy.” Spike waved goodbye as he ran off.
It was almost three days later, and Spike was busy running an errand for Twilight. Namely delivering her monthly order of quills to the proprietor of quills and sofas, when suddenly the entire store transformed into a medieval weapons shop.
“Hail to thee Garbunkle, mighty wizard. Did you require the aid of Captain Wuzz for another guy's night adventure?” came the voice of Discord, who appeared in place of the shopkeeper, resplendent in his Captain Wuzz costume.
“Uhh, no. This is about something else. Though we really should schedule another guy's night sometime soon.” Said Spike, who found himself wearing his Garbunkle outfit and with staff in claw.
“I see. So what pray tell do you need me for?” Discord said while snapping his eagle claw, turning the quills and sofas store back to normal.
“Is there somewhere private we could talk?”
Discord snapped his lion paw and he and Spike vanished. Only to reappear as a pair of funny looking goldfish in the aquarium in the waiting room of Colgate’s dental practise.
“Private enough?” Discord asked. His voice sounding strangely distorted underwater. As if he was gargling.
“This was NOT what I had in mind.” Spike huffed, blowing bubbles.
“Oh fine.” Discord said cheekily, snapping a fin.
The pair vanished in a flash, only to appear on a hilltop just outside Ponyville.
“Now then, what is it you want, Spike? I was in the middle of some excellent chaos when Fluttershy called me.”
“I need a favor. A BIG favor.”
“Oh? You have caught my attention.” Discord replied, summoning a camera, directional microphone, and a whole plethora of other spy equipment. All aimed at Spike. “What is it you want from me Spike?”
“It’s not a favor for me personally, its for the cutie mark crusaders.”
No sooner had Spike finished talking or Discord snapped his claw once more. At the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, one of the apple trees transformed into a tall observatory. But instead of pointing skywards, the large telescope in the dome was pointed forwards, directly at the CMC clubhouse. Inside, discord appeared, peering through the telescope. Spike appeared behind him, slightly disoriented.
“Oh, what are those three little rascals upto this time? They create such wonderful chaos without even trying.” Discord said with glee.
“You… like, the crusaders?” Spike asked, mildly bemused.
“Oh yes, why I’m an honorary crusader myself. They even gave me this..” Discord said, summoning a tiny crusader cape around his neck. “Those three are positively delightful.”
“Great, then you surely won’t mind helping them.”
“It would help if you finally explained what this is all about Spike.”
“I was getting to that, but you interrupted me.”
“Sorry, force of habit. Let’s hear it” Discord said as one of his ears enlarged.
“You know how Scootaloo has problems flying, right?” Discord nodded. “Well it turns out she has some rare condition called Pluma rudis magicae. There’s something wrong with her wing magic. What it comes down to is, if she doesn’t manage to fly by tomorrow, she will never ever, ever fly.”
“Let me guess, you want ME, to fix her magic for her.”
“I asked Twilight if she could do it, but she said it was beyond her. But you can rip the very fabric of reality, surely you could fix Scoots magic?”
“I’m sorry, Spike, but I can’t.” Discord said with genuine regret.
“Wha… but, but you’re the master of chaos. You can do anything.”
“It’s true that I can do pretty much anything I please, but I can’t simply replace a ponies innate magic, Spike. Chaos magic is far to unstable and volatile to replace or supplement pony magic. If I tried, poor little Scootaloo would likely explode, twice.”
Spike’s shoulders sagged. He peered through the telescope at the crusaders clubhouse. Scootaloo was at the foot of the steps. Flapping her little wings as hard as she could while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were shouting encouragement at her. Scootaloo’s face was a mask of Determination mixed with desperation. Briefly her wings lifted her a couple of inches into the air, but she immediately wobbled and crashed back down to the ground. There had to be some way to fix this. His back itched and he reached back to try and scratch it. Then he had an epiphany.
“Then what about my magic?”
“What?” Discord said flabbergasted.
“My wings have started to grow.” Spike said pointing to the two bumps on his back. “Can you give my wing magic to Scootaloo?”
Discords expression turned strangely serious. “Do you realise what it is you’re asking me to do, Spike?”
“Yes.”
“You do understand that if I give your magic to her, your wings will stop growing. And this arrangement would be permanent. Once your magic integrates with that of Scootaloo, not even I can pull it back out again. You would be forever ground bound. A wingless dragon for the rest of your life.”
“It’s not that big a deal.” Spike said. “I’ve gone my whole life without wings so far, so I don’t know what I’m missing anyway. It’s not that big a thing to me. But to Scootaloo, flying is everything. It’s her dream. She’s spent so much time working her flanks off to try and get better. For her to never get to fly, that would be too cruel. If sacrificing my wings can help make her dreams a reality, then that’s a small price to pay.” He finished, folding his arms with determination.
Discord stared at the little drake. “You would have made a great bearer for the element of generosity, you know that?”
Spike rubbed one of his head fins in embarrassment, not looking him in the eye.
“Alright then, Spike. I’ll do it.” Discord said. “Ready?”
Spike gave a nod. “Oh and Discord, don’t tell anypony. Especially not Scootaloo. She would only feel guilty.”
Discord gave a nod. "Mum's the word." Then snapped both claws. The little lumps on spikes back vanished in a tiny sphere of green light that shot off into the distance towards the crusaders clubhouse. Spike hopped over and peered through the telescope.
Scootaloo was panting for breath. She grit her teeth and spread her wings. She had to keep trying. She had to fly. She had to. She started to flap her wings once again. Her muscles ached and burned. She beat her wings harder. None of the crusaders noticed the tiny ball of light that zoomed towards them and struck Scootaloo. Suddenly her wings tingled, and she rocketed into the sky.
“Whut tha….” Exclaimed Applebloom. Sweetie belle just stared, wide eyed, her mouth hanging open
Scootaloo herself was in shock. It wasn’t until she punched through a cloud and in doing so throwing Rainbow Dash, who had been napping on top, off it, that she came to her senses.
“I .. I’m flying? I’m flying.”
“Hey, who knocked me off my cloud.” Dash voice rang out.
Scootaloo turned sharply, barrel rolled and then zoomed over to the prismatic pegasus. Hovering in front of her with a smile that threatened to split her face in half.
“Scootaloo?” Dash’ face was a picture of confusion. “You… you’re flying?
“I’m flying.” said the little filly. Her eyes starting to water.
“You’re flying!” Dash shouted with glee.
“I’m flying!” Scootaloo yelled, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks as Dash enveloped her in a crushing hug.
Back at Discords apple tree observatory, spike pulled away from the telescope with a smile, wiping a claw across his own eyes.
“Happy birthday, Scootaloo.”
The birthday party that Pinkie Pie threw Scootaloo the next day was off the hook. It was almost as Epic as Rainbow’s birthaversary. There was punch and cake and snacks of all kinds. More games than you could shake a pinata bat at, and a live band. It was a great spectacle. But to Spike, who was sitting on a bench at the outskirts of the festivities with a glass of punch in his claw, the best thing was watching Scootaloo zoom through the sky with the happiest smile in the universe plastered on her face.
“That was a really noble thing you did, Spike.”
Spike looked up to see Twilight, who sat down next to him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he shrugged
“I’m talking about this.” Twilight said as she tapped him lightly on the back with a hoof. “You sacrificed your own wings for her, didn’t you?”
“How did you figure it out?”
“It wasn’t that hard. Your bumps vanished, on the same day Scootaloo suddenly manages to finally fly. And then I heard from Fluttershy that you were looking for Discord earlier this week. It's kind of obvious what happened.”
“When you put it that way.” He said sheepishly.
“Are you sure you're okay with this though?”
Spike nodded. “It’s like I told Discord. I never had wings before, so I won't miss them, and I don’t mind being on the ground. Besides, this,” he waved a claw at Scootaloo who did another flyby, “seeing her so happy, that’s worth more than anything.”
Twilight hugged him tightly. “I’m so proud of you, Spike. More than I could ever put into words.”
Spike hugged her back, then suddenly gave her a smirk. “Does that mean I can have some extra rubies for dessert?”
Twilight chuckled even as she rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Sure, whatever you want, Spike. Whatever you want.”
