Communication About the Fears Within Is Divine
Friends Triumph Over Fears
Everything Will Be Okay
B_25
“But darrrrrling,” Rarity began while stomping her hoof on the wooden porch, “no pony has seen you leave this barn in a week! You simply owe to yourself, not to mention the rest of us, with a night out at the spa!” She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes for good effect. “We'll have the place to ourselves, isn't that just divine?”
“S-Sure does, Rares.” Applejack awkwardly smiled at her friend, pawing at the door's archway. “And I'd love to come out, but life has just been so... busy! Yeah busy! That's why I can't come out tonight.”
Rarity blinked. “Busy?”
“Yup!”
“At ten o'clock?”
“Yup.”
“At night?”
“That's my story, and I'm keeping to it.”
Rarity narrowed her eyes as she stepped toward her friend. Her eyes squinted harder with every step, every contact of wood squeaking out into the night, every inch of distance crossed between the two making Applejack sweat all the more as she stepped back from the open door.
“Applejack darling,” Rarity began as her hoof carried over the door's archway, just a foot away from the face of her friend, “you're a terrible liar, you know that, right?”
“S-Sure make for a terrible Element of Honesty if I was one.”
“So then why are you lying to me right now, then?”
The others present on the porch decided that now would be a good time to make themselves know. Rainbow took charge by hovering behind, putting her hooves around her shoulders and pulling her gently back outside. “What's up with you!? You go super detective when somepony skips out on spa time?”
Rarity glared up at her. “I only go detectivewhen my friends are lying to me!”
The two glared at each other.
“Are you girls sure now's a good time to be arguing?” Fluttershy said as she walked up to the two, separately them gently with her hooves. “Rarity's just upset because something doesn't feel right to her.” She then looked over at the door. “And Applejack hasn't had the chance to tell us exactly what she's busy about.”
Everyone looked at each other and stood about in thought for a moment.
“What if the thing she's super busy about is also super embarrassing!?” Pinkie bounced to the center of the porch, earning everyone gaze as she looked at them all. “Like throwing a party with her other friends because her family is gone on vacation and she didn't want to invite us! Or maybe she's doing a photo shoot with Winona and doesn't want anyone to interfere!”
“Is that true!?” Rainbow shot her head in the direction of Applejack. “Did you ditch us just to hang out with other ponies, because if so, then that's totallyuncool.”
Fluttershy stepped in Rainbow's way, mouth open as she was about to say something when, suddenly, a thought struck her, and she turned over to Applejack instead. “If you are doing a photo shoot with Winona, could you please send me some photos when you're done?”
“Maybe Applejack is just blowing us off because she never liked spa time to begin with!” Rarity stomped her hoof and looked at the door. “Isn't it so, darling?”
Chatter, theories, and frustration continued from the four at increasing volumes, Rainbow coming face to face with Rarity when their theories conflicted. Pinkie enjoyed spinning her ideas to Fluttershy, who gently declined them all.
Tempest Shadow stood before the porch, hooves on grass instead of wood as she watched the group of friends from afar. Her head was cocked left and her eyebrow arched high, unsure if this scenario was the prime example of the 'friendship' that had been sold to her by Princess Twilight.
Her gaze lingered on the group of friends. After the defeat of the Storm King, she had decided to learn more about the very magic that had bested her: the magic of friendship. Each of the girls was accommodating to her presence—Rarity had made her clothes, and Pinkie asked her to help make sweets. Everyone enjoyed her wisdom during their weekly spa sessions.
She was eternally grateful for her enemies forgiveness, and after a while, even more so for her new friends' acceptance of her. Even though Tempest was getting comfortable talking back to the girls and making jokes, she still had difficulty in standing up to them in times like these.
Tempest continue to watch the friends bicker with a bitter-sweet smile, when, her ears stood up upon hearing crashing sound above. She looked up to the second story of the Apple's house, squinting upon seeing a small silhouette in the window above the porch. It was a creature of short stature, looking back down at her in absolute silence.
Tempest opened her mouth to speak but stopped when the creature pulled the blinds over the window.
“There's someone up there,” Tempest said under her breath, shaking her head upon realizing she had said that aloud. She looked back to the girls to see them all looking to her, forcing her with no other choice but to explain herself. “I just saw someone upstairs looking down at me.” She blinked and waved her hooves. “Or at least I think so!”
The four mares stared at her for a moment.
They then looked over to Applejack.
“I thought your family was out for the week,” Rarity said upon turning around, not moving from her place. “So just who do you have upstairs?”
Applejack sighed before dipping her head. “Alright, alright! You got me.” She looked back up. “Y'all have to promise not to tell a soul about this, ya hear?” Applejack waited for a moment, and after a while, each mare present nodded their head. She then took off her hat and held it over her chest, stepping outside once more and closing the door behind her with her tail. “I'm trusting you girls here, okay?”
She paid a glare Tempest's way, which made the latter gulp.
“Everypony here is cool, Aj!” Rainbow brought her wings to her sides, landing on the porch once more. “Now hurry up and spill the beans.”
“It's Spike,” Applejack said. “He's been here all week now, mostly has himself locked away in Applebloom's room. I've been to scared too go into town in fear of leaving the poor critter alone by himself for too long.”
“My Spikey-Wikey?” Rarity cried as she placed her hoof on her chest. “What's he doing here? He was supposed to go to Canterlot with Twilight to compose the official documentation on Storm King incident.”
Tempest shuddered at hearing his name again. She shook her head and looked back up at the window.
“The boy wouldn't go,” Applejack continued, “got quiet whenever the topic of Canterlot came up, and outright refused to go when Twilight was summoned. She's been mighty worried about him as well, but he won't up to anything she tries.” Applejack rubbed the side of her head. “Ended up leaving him here with me. Figured some alone time away from everything would do him a lick of good.” She then looked up. “Though the boy hasn't said much since coming here, so I ain't exactly sure just how much good we're doing him.”
Tempest looked back down after hearing the words, shaking her head and stepping on the porch, attracting the attention of everyone present as she opened her mouth to speak and—
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
All girls stopped in their movement, each blinking as the yell came to a close. Applejack didn't hesitate to act as she turned around and threw open the door, running into the home while yelling up to the stairs: “Spike! Spike, I'm here! What's wrong!?”
All of the girls quickly followed.
Applejack knocked the back of her hoof against the door.
“Spike!” she yelled as she slammed on the door some more. “What was with that yell? C'mon, open this door.” A few more knocks at the door. “Please, Spike. Everyone out here is worried about ya.”
The knocks grew louder as the seconds ticked by. More hooves joined into the fray as they slammed against the door, voices joining in concern and comfort for the creature on the other side, the pony not to do so was Tempest as she stood a few feet behind the act.
Then, the handle of the door clicked, and all the hooves ceased in their knocking.
“S-She stays outside!” the voice on the other side croaked, growing more distant from the door as the shuffling of sheets were heard. “Everyone but h-her can come in, please, o-okay?!”
The girls looked at each other in confusion, their gazes lingering on the other until, finally, they all looked to Tempest and understood the meaning behind the words spoken. They went to say something, but the tall unicorn shook her head. “It's okay. He's bound to trust you girls more than some stranger.”
“But you're not some stranger,” Pinkie said as she stepped toward her, “you're our friend. Everypony's friend!”
“That may be so,” Tempest replied while nodding her head in the direction of the door, “but he needs his family more than he needs a friend.” She smiled softly at them all. “I'm not in a rush to get to the spa or go home, so go on and go help him.”
The girls spend a few more moments glancing at Tempest, before nodding their heads and entering the room. Rarity was the first to enter, each sob a stab at her heart, spotting the creature in pain curled up on the bed, who had his knees held to his stomach and his eyes clenched with tears.
“My poor Spikey-Wikey!” Rarity cried when she could contain herself no longer, dashing across the room to the side of the bed. There, she wrapped her hooves around his tiny figure and brought him close to her warm chest, lightly kissing his scaly head and rubbing a hoof along his spines. “Whatever was the matter to make you cry out so loud and so horribly!?”
Spike opened his mouth to answer, but every attempt at words was met with sobs instead, and after a few moments, pushed his face into her coat and bawled his eyes out into her fur. Rarity didn't back away from the embrace, opting instead to hold the baby dragon closer and hush him gently.
“It's okay, my Spikey-Wikey.” She kissed the bridge of his nose as his sobs began to die down, hushing every so often when it seemed appropriate; going so far as to whisper into his ear: “Everything will be alright, just calm down. Everything is okay. Your friends are here.”
The rest of the girls stood around the bed, keeping silent as the baby dragon stopped crying.
“See?” Rarity said as she pulled back, looking down into his eyes with a smile. “We have you now. No harm will come to our dearest Spike while we're around.” She looked to the rest of the ponies present, Spike then doing the same.“Isn't that right, girls?”
Each girl said their personal replies and nodded their head. Even Tempest bowed her head in respect from outside the room.
“Are you feeling better now?” Rarity posed the question a few moments after his sobs had stopped, still rubbing the back of his spines even when he nodded his head. “That makes me glad to hear, darling. If you don't mind my asking, it seems you were asleep when we first came here... did perhaps have a nightmare?”
“I... I had a small one,” Spike muttered as he pulled himself out from her embrace, sitting away from everyone at the center of the bed. “It scared me because of how real it felt... but I'm okay now. It was silly of me to be scared of a dream in a first place.”
“Silly to be scared!?” Rainbow repeated aloud and caught everyone's gaze. She didn't care about that fact as she hopped onto the bed, coming closer to the drake as the mattress sunk under the weight of her hooves. “Dude, being silly is something you choose to do. There ain't a pony alive that chooses to be scared.”
“But... but it was only a dream....”
“Then it must have been a totally scary dream if it has you shaken up!” Rainbow reached out a forehoof to his shoulders, only stopping herself halfway upon realizing what she was about to do. She looked to each of her friends present, and instead of finding them giggling at her girlish attempt saw that they all were smiling and some were nodding their heads.
Rainbow nodded back to them and, in wrapping her hooves around the baby dragon's neck, brought his face to her chest and gently rubbed his back. “The only time you're being silly is when you don't tell your friends what's making you scared.” She pulled back to face him. “It's nothing to be ashamed of, okay?” It took a moment, but Spike nodded his head.
Rainbow grinned and gave him a nookie. “Thatta boy.”
Fluttershy was next to come to the bed, sitting on its side to give the baby dragon some space. “Now that you're feeling better, do you think you would be able to tell us what happened in your dream?”
Spike was silent.
“I know it was super scary,” she continued, “but sometimes, when you tell other ponies scary stuff, it becomes less scary! Maybe we can even help you get through whatever happened if you let us.”
Spike was silent with his arms crossed, but uncrossed them after a moment and lowered his head. “It was about the invasion, all your girls and the princess were there, even the Storm King and... her. The storm hit Canterlot with me right next to it.” He hiccuped at the memory. “Twilight, Celestia, Cadence and Luna ran to come save me, b-but then the S-Storm K-King a-attacked them, and when the storm s-settled, T-Twilight and e-everyone were g-gone but me!”
Spike broke into sobs and tears once more.
Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack didn't hesitate to jump on the bed and console the baby dragon, each wrapping their hooves around his body and stroking his fins and spines with their hooves. They let him weep openly on their fur, not caring about anything else but assuaging the poor dragon's fear.
“I know it may not be much, but I know how you feel, sugarcube.” Applejack took off her hat and placed it on his head, helping to calm down his sobs as he looked up to her from under the rim of the Stetson. “The whole way back to Canterlot I was thinking about what would happen if we lost, if we did our best and it still wasn't enough to save Equestria.”
“I know what you mean,” Fluttershy spoke up, nuzzling the side of Spike's head. “I was so scared of not being able to help your girls because I was too afraid to fight. I was worried you all might get... hurt while I was hiding like a scaredy-cat.”
“You aren't the only who was afraid, darling!” Rarity said while dabbing his eyes with her hoof, soaking up any lingering tears as his sobs died into the occasional hiccup. “I'm certainly not the strongest pony on our team, so I was worried about not measuring up when it came time to act. But, of course, I approach Fluttershy with these thoughts, and she made me feel better about them.”
“It's essential that everypony is there for each other,” Fluttershy continued, “so that nopony has to deal with these kinds of feelings on their own. We're your friends, Spike, and we'll always be there whenever you need somepony to talk.”
“I don't know what to say,” Spike said, wrapping his arms around each of their forehooves and rubbing his face against them in affection. “Thank you, girls. You don't know how badly I needed this.”
“I'm just sorry we didn't catch this sooner,” Fluttershy added in, pulling back to face him. “We heard that you were acting odd but didn't think to check up on you. This should have happened sooner.”
Spike went to speak when another voice did so for him.
“If anyone is sorry, it's me,” Tempest said as she stepped into the room, coming to sit before the end of the bed, so she was on everyone's eye-level. “They may have been only orders, but I was the pony that brought so much hurt to this wonderful land, who hurt everyone in this room...” she looked to Spike directly, who did not avert his gaze upon seeing the glint in her eyes. “...and who caused you such terrible nightmares about your best friend.”
Tempest bowed her head. “You have every right to be angry with me, to even hate me, and there's nothing I can do to stop you.”
Everyone looked to Spike, except Tempest, who still had her head bowed in shame. Each girl was worried what the baby dragon would say next, but couldn't have expected what came from him.
“It wasn't your fault, Tempest,” Spike said as she stood from the bed and the mares embrace, walking across slowly with a gentle smile on his lips. “You were just trying to get your horn back after ponies spent their whole life making fun of you for not having one. You were just doing what you were told, and, when you were given a chance to do right, you didn't hesitate to sacrifice yourself for Twilight.”
He hopped down from the bed and ran into the tall mare, throwing his claws around her barrel and snuggling his face against her violet fur. “I should have been having nightmares about the friend I almost did lose.”
Tempest didn't know how to respond to those words, unsure how to respond to such an intimate hug. But after a few more moments, the meaning of those precious words rang clear in her head, and she couldn't help but but wrap her hooves around his body and kiss his cheek—which made him blush at the contact—and nuzzle the back of his head, whispering into his ear: ”Thank you so much for saying that, Spike. I've never had a friend care so much for me before.”
“Now both of you do,” said the rest of the girls, each one joining in the embrace and laughing all the while.
With the friends together in a group hug, the night didn't seem as lonely to them anymore.
