Spike
It was just another Autumn afternoon as a chill swept through the relatively quiet town of Ponyville. Residents were tending the markets as ponies and creatures of many shapes and sizes engaged in social banter among friends and family. The seasonal stalls were lining up with customers even more so than normal with today being Friday after the fillies and colts were out of school for the day. Ponyville was bustling with life as families and individuals alike filled the town's market square visiting snack stalls and booths alike to grab a treat or two. Funnel cake was becoming especially popular this time of year.
The amount of traffic stores received on Friday was usually an annoyance, but Spike didn't mind none. Usually. Most of the time it gave the violet and green drake a moment to greet friends of his that happened to pass by as he stood in line or made his way through crowds. But sometimes, every once in a while, especially this time of year, it would send his frustration and anger over the threshold and all the dragon knew would be fire and wrath until his fury dissipated in twenty minutes or after he had time to calm down. But, today the dragon would not let anything sway his mood.
Spike had been planning this day for the past few months and he could no longer hold his anticipation. After the dragon woke up inside his room at the Castle of Friendship this morning he scrounged up a list of what he would need for tonight's long awaited Horror Movie Mashup that was airing this evening on television and went to work at gathering every item possible. Twilight had given Spike this day and the following off so he and Starlight Glimmer could enjoy the movie marathon all night and into the early hours of the morning without it affecting their work.
Having spent most of his morning and early afternoon shopping for popcorn, drinks and other sorts of sugary and salty treats in preparation for tonight Spike headed back to the castle for some light food and a little relaxation before he had to start preparing dinner for Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Tempest Shadow and himself. Well. At least that was the plan anyway.
"What the fuck, Twilight! C'mon! You promised me the day off," Spike groaned, crossing his violet scaled arms over his red t-shirt in frustration as he glared at his sister, Twilight Sparkle, with sharp emerald eyes. Though the young dragon was now at an equal height of seven foot five with his sister, it didn't give Spike any advantage over Twilight in terms of negotiation.
"I know, Spike. And I apologize for asking you to work on your free time," Twilight, the mulberry alicorn, said sincerely as she walked to the door that lead into her laboratory, her hooves clopping with each step. Her steps and footing were even and her posture was becoming more regal as she slowly got used to her stature as a Ruler of Equestria over the years. Much liker her mentor and predecessor, Lady Celestia, she towered over most ponies and ruled with benevolence and sincerity with a warmth that rivaled the sun. Though unlike her royal position, and much to the displeasure of nobles and upper crust alike, Twilight chose to dress in a custom business attire that matched her dark-blue mane and tail. Twilight's suit had a patch that matched her cutie mark on it's shoulders and had golden accents and buttons with matching cuff links that went along with her tiara and horseshoes. She felt it helped give and maintain a more professional atmosphere. It was also rather stylish. even if it went against traditional royal garments. Though that didn't mean she never wore her gown. "Unfortunately, my presence is requested in Canterlot for a few days to assist both, Celestia and Luna with a project of ours."
A snort of smoke from his nostrils was Spike's response. Understandably so as his patience was being tested. Spike began drumming his claws against his scales: a visual representation of someone expressing their impatience with another.
Twilight's wings fidgeted in place behind her as she twirled the rose and violet streaks in her main with a finger, averting her gaze from her assistant, brother and best friend. "I really am sorry for putting this on you at the last possible moment, Spike. But, could you do it for me? Please?" Twilight smiled sheepishly as she looked back at Spike.
An eye ridge was raised as Spike shot Twilight a look. He was about to say the most powerful of words in today's, and yesterday's, arsenal, "No", but when Spike looked into his sister's twinkling eyes his resolve faltered. With a sigh and a grumble to himself along the lines of "Mares and their fucking puppy dog eyes", Spike had reluctantly agreed. "Fine. I'll clean, dust and organize your laboratory," he jabbed Twilight in the chest with one of his claws. "You're lucky I love you, Twilight."
Twilight smiled and gave her little brother a quick, but not any less affectionate, hug. "Thank you, Spike. You really are the best assistant a mare can ask for. I'll even bring you back a fire ruby from that gem vendor in Canterlot's market square if it'll help."
Clap! Spike smacked his clawed hands together and licked his lips. That had got him smiling. "Now you're speaking my language, Twilight. Consider it good as done," Spike gestured a claw toward the door. "Give me the run down of what's going down, dearest sister of mine."
A chuckle escaped Twilight at how quickly Spike's attitude changed after being bribed with a fire ruby. She surmised it had something to do with the dragon's subconscious and instinctual greed that his species is known for, but the thought was dismissed almost as fast as it appeared. Twilight pushed opened the door to her laboratory and led Spike inside. Six rows of desks lined the lab with stacks upon stacks of papers and various pieces of science equipment throughout the room. Out of all the machines Twilight kept inside her lab only a handful on the first row were active and running; soft beeps and the sound of gears working in tandom. A glass tank of sorts contained a swirling dark lavender and raspberry colored smoke that twisted and turned in no specific pattern while giving off a pink glow akin to Twilight's own magic.
"It's pretty straightforward. I need the floors mopped and counters wiped down," Twilight gestures to the furthest of the five rows with her right hand and sweeps her hand to the second closest. "The papers stay in their relative sections in these rows, but need to be tidied up a bit. Just stack them evenly in a pile on their own row. I have to sort through and file them later anyway so don't worry about mixing them up 'too' much. If you can avoid it though that would help. I would also like the beakers, tubes and other glassware washed as well. The row you don't have to mess with all that much is this first row here -" Twilight pointed to the closest row to them that was right against the wall "- with the Mana Observer."
"Hmmm," Spike hummed and scratched his chin in thought. His serpentine eyes caught a glimpse of open notebooks laid open. Unlike the other rows this one was absolutely littered with papers and graphs that signified a particular mulberry alicorn, perhaps one that was of royalty and might pertain to friendship, had been in the middle of some heavy research. "You just want me to leave everything where it is and just clean the glass windows of the Observer, right?"
"Right. That's all that needs done on row one. Just be careful around the glass panes on the Mana Observer. I can't pick up the two-inch panes I ordered until Monday morning and the current glass is no stronger than a window, which is why Rainbow Dash isn't allowed in here currently. I am not too concerned over the loss of my stray magic inside since it can easily be replaced and safely contained in another container," Twilight's smile faded and her expression became more serious. "I would, however, wish to avoid discovering what my magic essence in it's rawest state would do if it came into contact with someone other than I," Twilight took a few steps closer to Spike until they were not but a few feet apart and looked him in the eye. "Or 'somedragon'."
Though Twilight had hardened her expression on the outside Spike could see the concern in her eyes. He could feel his sister's gaze settle onto the three scars that had been permanently scratched into the left side of his face in a similar fashion to Tempest Shadow's own. He had been gifted those scars three years ago from Smolder after the two had gotten into a fight. Though it had been years since the altercation it always feels fresh for Twilight.
"Twi'," Spike closed the distance between himself and his sister and wrapped Twilight in his arms. "I'll be okay. I'm a big dragon these days. Seriously, I'm twenty-seven, so don't worry about me. Just go help Lady Celestia and Lady Luna with their little project, or whatever, and I'll clean up around here. Ya know, hold the fort and whatnot. If anything does happens around here you'll be the first to know, okay?"
It was a delayed reaction on her part for not expecting a hug at that moment, but despite the brief reluctance at first Twilight wrapped her own arms around her number one assistant and held him as tightly as she could. "Thank you, Spike. I love you," Twilight lightly pecked Spike's scarred cheek and patted his shoulder before walking out of the laboratory and leaving Spike to his own devices.
It was now a quarter shy of four o'clock according to Spike's wristwatch and the dragon had quite a few things to do within the next few hours. He needed to sort the laboratory, which would take around two hours or so to do, and have dinner ready for everyone else in the castle, which would also take a nice amount of time to prepare, cook and all. If he prepped the main dish now and let it slowly bake in the oven he could come back and get started on the laboratory for Twilight and that would spare him a couple hours of time so he can shower and get everything ready for his movie marathon before it started at ten o'clock. In complete and utter agreement with himself, Spike made his way to the kitchen to start tonight's dinner.
A few minutes of traversing the crystalline halls of the castle and Spike now found himself in the castle's kitchen. Squeeeeeak. The door to the refrigerator creaked as Spike swung it open to raid the fridge of its contents. Peering into the fridge Spike found that a few ingredients he was going to need to make dinner was toward the back of the fridge. Of course. Unfortunately that meant Spike was going to have to get down and into the fridge and reach all the way towards the back to grab what he needs. So focused on trying to reach into the depths of of the fridge to grab the needed ingredients, Spike did not hear hoofsteps approaching from behind.
"Whatcha' doin', Spike!?" A mare shouted directly into his ear.
"Ahh-" Spike shot up in surprise and slammed his head spines against the interior of the fridge with a sounding thud "-Geez, Starlight!" Despite having been surprised by one of his castlemates, Spike was able to pull out some the ingredients he needed. "Can't you mares just give me a break!"
Starlight Glimmer chuckled and leaned her body against the crystal island behind them. "What fun would that be?" Starlight mocked. "If you just stopped being so easy to torment then maybe 'the mares', as you put it, might decide to leave you alone," she sarcastically remarked.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You girls are going to kill me one day," groaned Spike as he pulled out the ingredients he was looking for and shut the fridge door with his spaded tail. "And if you must know I'm prepping dinner now so I can have it all ready for tonight," He walked around Starlight Glimmer and set his ingredients on the other side of the island, catching a quick glance at the soft-pink, more specifically 'heliotrope', mare. "Like the shirt by the way. Goes pretty well with your violet and teal mane."
Starlight looked down to acknowledge her attire; a teal button-up dress shirt and grey pants. "Thanks. I thought it went pretty well with these sweet ashen-white pants I bought last week. There was a two-for-one sale at Barnyard Bargains I could not pass up and these babies are comfy!" She looked around the room before leaning towards Spike and lowering her voice down to a whisper. "Please don't tell, Rarity."
A chuckle escaped Spike. He knew all to well how Rarity can get when it comes to clothing. She wanted her friends to have the best possible attire Equestria had ever known and if she had to make it, so be it. However, despite how off-putting Rarity's pride for tailoring can be to some, she has the utmost respect for one's choice in fashion... Or at least she has gotten better at faking it. Though that doesn't mean she won't try and change your mind. "My lips are sealed, as long you can wait until roughly eight forty to eat."
"Hmmm," Starlight thought to herself for a moment, drumming her fingers on the countertop as seconds flew by. "That depends. What's on the menu, hot stuff?"
"Chicken Parmesan for me and Eggplant Parmesan for you girls."
A deep and irritated sigh escaped Starlight. "You're killing me, Talls," she whined, crossing her arms in protest. "You are too good at cooking to make anyone wait that long for their favorite dish. But I suppose I can wait. Just this once."
Spike grabbed a few bowls and a cutting board from a nearby cabinet and began chopping and dicing vegetables. "Careful, Glim-Glam. The adult in you is starting to show," Spike taunted, smirking at his castlemate.
"Oh-ho! I'll getcha for that one, Scales," Starlight countered with a giggle. She pointed a finger at Spike and gave him a playful yet predatory grin. "I'll get you tomorrow. Just watch your back, Spikey-boy."
"Wouldn't have it any other way, Starlight."
A moment passed as Starlight thought to herself for moment, her nails tapping against the counter the sounds of Spike dicing vegetables providing the ambiance. "Tell you what, Spike. I'm going to go walk around town for a whi-"
"Whoa," Spike interrupted Starlight before she could continue. "Walking? How much did someone have to pay you to do that?" Spike quipped, smiling smugly at the light pink unicorn.
Starlight's left eye visibly twitched in irritation as she leered at Spike. "Anyway... I'm going to go get Trixie and Tempest. The three of us are going to just chill around town. If you could message me when dinner is done, we'd appreciate it greatly."
Another chuckle escaped Spike. He loved poking fun at his friends and getting a reaction out of them. It was by far one of his greatest pastimes. Of course, that would cause them to poke back, but that's how he liked it. "Okay. See ya' later, Starlight," Spike replied with a smile as he threw some freshly diced vegetables into a bowl and got back to making dinner.
And with Starlight gone that left Spike to himself to finish putting together both sets of dishes and put them in the oven to cook until roughly eight thirty. A magical timer was set as well and would not start the oven until it went off. With dinner practically finishing itself, as long as he remembers to come back around eight thirty to check on everything, Spike went to the laboratory to get started on his task from Twilight.
"Alrighty. You can do this. I know you don't want to but It's gotta be done," Spike said to nobody in particular. "It is five thirty-two. You have amethysts in a large bowl by the Mana Observer to snack on as well as music to jam to," Spike nervously twiddled his fingers. "Just got to get started is all."
Spike stared at the messy state the laboratory was in. He looked from one table to the next until his gaze swept over the entire laboratory. Balls of crumpled paper littered the room. Dry chemical and coffee stains covered areas of the floor and and sections of the tables. Ink on the ceiling. INK on the CEILING! How even... It was a mess. A San Franciscolt public bathroom was cleaner than this on a good day. "For someone so organized I don't understand how she gets this messy sometimes," Spike breathed in and breathed out. He rubbed at his temples hoping to prevent the on oncoming headache he felt coming in. "All right let's just get this over with." And with that said he reluctantly began working.
He hated to admit it, but Spike was dragging his feet through the first twenty minutes of cleaning. Normally he's a decent hard working dragon that can get the job done. Currently he was lazily throwing trash into a bag and staring at some of the stains on the floor. But eventually his favorite band began playing through his headset and Spike was swinging and dancing to the tune of the music. Every twenty minutes of work he'd pop an amethyst into his mouth and he'd get back to banging his head and rocking out to Setting Stars that was blaring in his headset. Nothing but a drake, his music and his thoughts to pass the time while cleaning. Practically losing himself in it all.
The time quickly flew by for Spike as he cleaned up what was once a chaotic mess in Twilight's laboratory. Books were straightened neatly into stacks. Tables wiped squeaky clean. Trash picked up and discarded as well as the bags replaced with fresh ones. The fume hood was wiped and properly closed. And all areas specifically pointed out were left untouched. The only task that remained undone was for Spike to mop the floors until the crystal flooring beneath his feet shined brighter than the sun.
"Whew," Spike wiped some sweat of his brow with his free hand, the other holding a mop. He was standing by his bowl of amethysts in front of the Mana Observer admiring the work he had done thus far. "That was a doozy of cleanup. All I have to do now is mop and I have a good-" Spike was checking his wristwatch for the time, which showed exactly nine o'clock "-SHIT!" Spike cursed to the heavens as loud as he could. All the music jamming and extra work added up. There was no time to act. Spike quickly shoved the mop towards the wall and sprinted out of the laboratory as fast as he could to the kitchen, praying that he didn't burn tonight's dinner.
Fortune was upon Spike this evening as his dinner did not burn into a crispy blackness that would be inedible to the foulest of creatures. No, in fact, it was only crisp on the perimeter of both dishes with a very slightly overcooked middle. But none complaints were given as they all dined on their respective dishes. Compliments were said, anecdotes told, and Spike's good cooking consumed.
After dinner had successfully concluded and everyone had showered, or bathed in Trixie's case, they all gathered in one of the parlor rooms to commence with the tonight's entertainment whilst dressed in their respective nightly attire. Snacks, treats and drinks of several varieties had been arranged on a coffee table that ranged from candy to popcorn and soda to beer. Twas' a feast of treats and delights. An offering unto those that had claimed the surrounding furniture as their own.
"So the two of you just sit around and hang out while watching whatever movies just happen to be on?" Trixie, a blue-furred unicorn mare with a pale-blue, almost white, and light-blue mane asked, gesturing a hand towards the television displaying a black-and-white horror film. She was leaning against her friend Starlight Glimmer. Both mares had taken residence on a loveseat snuggling against one another in their sleep-wear.
"With snacks, Trixie," Spike added from the comfort of his couch. "With snacks."
Pssssk! "I'm not finding anything wrong with it," said Tempest Shadow, a taller than average, orchid-colored, unicorn mare with a broken horn, a mane the color of roses, and a single scar across her right eye. Tempest wore a white tank top and a pair of black and white pants. She had claimed a recliner and was currently lounging in all of it's reclining-greatness with a now open beer in hand. "A drink or two. Snacks and other shit," Tempest took a swig of her freshly opened beer, downing the liquid with a gulp and a complimentary aah to whatever force made said drink refreshingly ice cold. "Not to mention having great friends to relax with. Overall a good time."
Starlight Glimmer ran a hand through Trixie's mane, combing her fingers through the recently washed pale-blue hair. "We used to watch as many as we could until we crashed early the following morning. Eventually we figured out that the decent movies didn't start playing until around midnight, so we just kind of hung out and talked until something interesting came on," Starlight replied to Trixie's earlier question and placed a kiss upon the blue unicorn's forehead. "I'd like to think Spike and I became closer friends because of it."
"Please, you're practically an adopted sister, Glim-Glam."
"Aww," Starlight smiled as she continued to run her fingers through the silken strands of her marefriend's mane. "Thanks, Spike."
They all sat in relative silence for a while with only the sounds of someone chewing junk food or gulping down a beverage or two breaking away from a movie that happened to catch their eyes. It was cult classic film about a mare on the run from law enforcement because she stole a lot of bits from her employer so she can run away with her boyfriend. Due to bad weather conditions the mare is forced to stop at an old motel, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, amidst the rain. Unknown to the mare, however, the keeper of the motel, despite being a nice stallion, was-
"Psychotic," Tempest announced after the film's conclusion. She was still on her reclining throne with an ever-growing stack of beer cans to her left. "Been a while since I've seen this one."
"Ish a classhic," said Spike, his mouth full of chips and other snacks that rained onto the floor in a shower of crumbs as he spoke. Whoops. He swallowed the chewed mass in his mouth that was bits, pieces and parts of different candy, part corn and tortilla chip, part popcorn and part peanut brittle before speaking once again. "He, he. Sorry," the drake smiled sheepishly.
Trixie stared at Spike with blankly. Starlight, on the other hoof, was looking at spike with a mixture of disgust and intrigue. "Hey. You, uh, got enough food in there, Spike? Or did you get any in at all? Looks like most of it ended up on the floor rather than inside that big-ass mouth of yours."
Tempest snickered. Fire has been thrown and Spike held his claws up in defense. "Whoa, whoa. Geez, Trixie. You're lucky I'm fireproof or you would've had to take me to the burn ward," Spike quipped in rebuttal to the flame thrown his way from the blue showmare.
"You should probably clean that up before you forget, Spike," said Tempest. "You got quite the bit of crumbs on the floor."
Spike looked down at the floor in front of him and saw the mess of food that lay atop the crystal. It was as if every single snack they had at there current disposal had a great war with one another and this was all that remained from the carnage. It was a bloodbath. Heavy casualties on all sides and no survivors. The dragon gazed over the battlefield filled with the corpses of candy, chip, popcorn and brittle alike that were left out to rot under the harsh artificial lighting.
Spike sighed and stretched his arms before getting of the couch. He would give these soldiers the honorable funeral proceedings they deserved. Well... As honorable a broom and dust pan can be anyway. "Yeah, I might as well. I need to grab my bowl of amethysts I left in the lab along with the broom anyway. I'll be back in a bit."
And onward Spike went. Yet again on another short trek through the lavish halls of his home back to the laboratory to retrieve the goods and equipment he will need in the near foreseeable future. During the walk his mind wandered. Spike thought of many things, but mostly of his friends and the castle he calls home. 'Hard to believe that soon these empty halls will have ponies other than us walk through them. Guards, maids, other staff, guests, and whoever else ends up here. A lot is changing in a few weeks.'
It wasn't long before Spike had reached the door to the lab where his sweet gemstone treats had been. He was practically salivating as he pushed open the door with a claw and headed inside to reclaim the treasure within. "Fuck me to the moon and back!," Spike cursed loudly as all happiness had faded to make way for panic and anxiety the moment Spike set his sights on the Mana Observer. The bowl of Amethysts laid in front of Mana Observer where last he left them. To that extent the dragon was glad. But what had caused Spike to yell obscenities to a room with inanimate objects was a broken window pane on the Mana Observer. And the broom he was looking for that had it's handle partially through the broken window.
Spike looked over the scene repeatedly secretly hoping the shattered glass that littered the floor and table would somehow go back to being an unbroken window. Alas, to the dragon's misfortune, the tiny pieces of glass refused to magically repair themselves. "Twilight isn't going to like this at all. And I just cleaned this room, dammit all to Tartarus!," Spike said to himself. He sighed deeply and dejectedly grabbed the broom and dustpan to sweep up all the broken glass on the floor.
It took a few minutes to sweep the floor and wipe the table free of any and all shards of glass. Spike held the broom in claw and once again looked at the Mana Observer. "It's one thing for the glass to be broken, but Twilight's raw mana is the bigger problem," Spike looked around the room for signs of anything amiss. 'The magic should've dissipated. Normally when a spell is cancelled or stopped halfway through the mana that has gathered around the unicorn and their horn will just fade into nothing. However I cannot take any chances here. Nopony has thoroughly studied magic in it's most raw and unrefined state, let alone an alicorn's, due to the risks and dangers involved with magic in that state.' With his mind set and everything cleaned up, Spike snapped the dustpan onto the broom and grabbed his bowl of amethysts before leaving the laboratory. As the dragon exited the laboratory he used his tail to pull a lever right outside the door that put the lab into quarantine until his sister came back to deactivate it.
He'll have to send her a letter explaining what happened. Spike promised his sister as much. He wanted to berate himself for had he been paying attention earlier none of this would've happened. In the end the dragon knew that accidents happen and that there was no plausible way he would've known this would've happened. So far nobody was hurt and that's all that mattered. With his mind now somewhat at ease, Spike reluctantly began his 'hopefully' final walk back to the parlor room.
It was a long walk back to the parlor room. Or at least it felt that way to Spike as thoughts stirred in his head during the duration of his travel. He tried to move on forget about the incident at the lab, but something in his head kept a firm grip and continued to feed into the notions of unforeseen repercussions and Twilight's discontent with himself. 'The sooner I write this letter to Twilight the sooner I can hopefully be rid of these stupid-ass thoughts of mine,' Spike thought to himself. 'Of all things to get stuck on repeat why does it have to be this fucking shit llama of an incident. I need to put the rest of my mind at ease and knowing the letter has been sent to Twilight should be all the closure I need. For my sanity it better, because the more I keep telling myself to relax because it's not that big of a deal the angrier I seem to get.'
Shortly after Spike's battle with his inner demons did the dragon arrive at the door to his temporary sanctuary from insanity. He opened and closed the door to the parlor room and made his way to the couch that was practically chanting his name. In less than a minute Spike had his crumb-pocalyptic mess swept into a dust pan and put to the side to throw away later. The task that had taken longer than it should ever have needed to was finally completed and Spike had earned his stay on the sofa with his bowl of amethysts.
"You took you're sweet time getting back here," Trixie spoke from the confines of her shared blanket with Starlight. The two of them were wrapped in said blanket and snuggling one another on the loveseat. "We were wondering if you had gotten lost or decided to call it a night early."
Spike sank further into the sofa. Unfortunately for Spike one cannot sink themselves into a couch to the point where they disappear. Except Discord of course. But that doesn't mean he can't at least try. "Ugh,' Spike groaned as he sank an inch or two further into the couch. Not enough to disappear from existence but enough to feel as if he could. "I accidentally broke Twilight's Mana Observer she was experimenting with in the laboratory. Now I'm going to have to send her a letter about what happened and explain to her that I am okay." He threw an amethyst into his mouth and practically swallowed it whole. "AND she'll probably be back sometime tomorrow considering how much of a worrywart she's become since Smolder and I had that dumb fight."
"She isn't 'that' bad and you know it," Starlight chimed in, rolling her eyes at Spike.
Spike sighed. "I know, Starlight. I'm just a little disappointed in myself for breaking a part of Twilight's machine and possibly messing up her research.. again," He shrugged and held up his hands defensively with a small smile on his face. "In my defense, it was accidental as the well-being of our dinner was at stake."
"As much as I agree that our dinner, which was excellently made by the way, was a definite priority, you should message Twilight before it gets too late," Tempest suggested wisely.
"I also think that is a good idea," agreed Trixie. "Go ahead and send Sparkle a letter while it's fresh on your mind, Spike."
Spike groaned as he slunk further into the sofa. "Ugh. But that requires I get up and 'do something'," he whined.
"Think of it this way, Spike. You get it done now rather than later," said Starlight.
Despite being reluctant to get up from the sofa again, Spike sighed and rose from the comforts of his leather to write to his sister. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Might as well get this over with."
Grabbing an amethyst from the bowl, Spike popped the gem into his mouth and went on to write his sister a letter.
The night continued for a while longer as the group talked and enjoyed each other's company. Snacks, television, and overall merriment lasted until the early morning hours of the following day, The only thing "awake" currently was the television that blanketed the room, and it's participants, in blue light. Trixie and Starlight had fallen asleep entwined with one another on the loveseat with a blanket halfway on the floor. Tempest had passed out with a beer in her hand fully reclined on her "throne". And lastly was Spike whom was fully covered head-to-toe with an extra large lavender blanket.
However despite the serenity, nobody noticed the flash of light that saturated the room for a brief moment with a vibrant purple.
Twilight
Dear Twilight,
Hey. Sorry to write to you so late, Twilight, but I'm just doing what I promised and writing you. During my time cleaning the lab I accidentally broke one of the glass panes to the Mana Observer with my broom and the raw magic had dissipated. I am fine, so don't worry about me. I have cleaned up the glass, and put the lab in quarantine until the time in which you return. I am so sorry for ruining your experiment. I can give you the full rundown when you return or in another letter if you wish. And again, I am sooo sorry for what happened.
Love, Spike
Twilight sighed as she rolled up the letter Spike had sent to her last night, stuffing the parchment into one of her suit pockets. "I knew something was going to happen. I could just feel it."
She stood just before the golden doors that lead into her castle as the light of the morning sun shone on her crystal fortress, the walls glistening in the daylight. Birds were singing their melodies as they flew by in the cool breeze. All seemed at peace. Except for Twilight, whose thoughts were on her Mana Observer and Spike. Spike being the primary focus.
Deciding not to dwell on things longer than they needed to be, Twilight headed inside and began the search for her friends. Her search through the castle didn't take long as she found Starlight, Trixie, and Tempest in the parlor room drinking coffee and chatting among one another. Starlight and Trixie were clad in pajamas and had pretty severe bedhead, their manes sticking this way and that way. Tempest, on the other hoof, was in casual wear and didn't seem to have anything wrong with her appearance, though the smell of beer was quite noticeable.
"Good morning, girls," Twilight greeted with a warm smile. "Did you all have fun last night?"
There was a mixture of grumbles and slurps of coffee as a response from the sleepy and groggy group. Though fortunately for Twilight Sparkle, she was fluent in the language of the freshly awoken.
Twilight chuckled. "Glad you all had a good time. Is, Spike, awake yet? I need to discuss this the letter he sent me yesterday evening?"
A particularly loud slurp of Tempest drinking her coffee caught Twilight's attention. "I wish he was. I had to make the coffee this morning. Instead of making coffee, the big guy is sleeping on the couch all covered up like a corpse," she said pointing in the direction of the couches behind Twilight.
"Yeah," Starlight joined in. " He swears he doesn't add anything extra to the coffee he makes, but it just tastes too good for their not to be a secret ingredient."
Trixie gave some affirming grumbles. She was the most recent of the three to wake up.
"Alright! I'll make all of you your stupid coffee," Spike shouted as he threw the blanket off of him in frustration having been woken up by his friend's commotion. Though he failed to notice his shout was way more feminine than normal.
The room grew instantly quiet as everyone immediately snapped their attention to where Spike was expecting to see a tall green and purple dragon, and instead ended up staring at another Twilight. This Twilight had one of Spike's favorite red t-shirts on that fit to well in areas and not enough in others, no pants, and a pair of white boxers with Celestia and Luna's cutie marks on them that barely fit this Twilight's hips.
Twilight's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she stared at what used to be her dragon assistant. No longer did his features have shiny scales, somewhat rounded spines, or any other features resembling that of a dragon. In comparison to his previous features he now had feathers, soft and silky fur, a sharp horn, and feminine equine features. Her equine features. Twilight's eyes scanned over "his" body multiple times trying to discern if what she was seeing was in fact reality.
Spike looked at his friends and their bemused faces. The confusion and shock he could read from their expressions was starting to make him feel uncomfortable, and the silence wasn't helping either. "What?"
Author's Note
Setting Stars = Starset. Great band. Highly recommend giving them a listen. My personal fav. songs are "Ricochet", "Starlight" and "Dark On Me". "Vessels" and "Transmissions" are amazing albums. Go give 'em a listen if you want :3
This is kind of a redo of Igniting the Torch which is another story I'm working on. The 1st chapter is great. The others...... Don't read 'em. I kinda slowly began rushing so I can have something put out and it didn't go well. I'm redoing the premise and all of that story except the first chapter. I'll rewrite the 2nd and 3rd chapter of that story at some point. And maybe get that on track.
RD TS
Lemme know what y'all think.
Story art made by me 2ish years ago. I'll redo it. Or not.
