Rewrite the Stars

“Well so much for resting and laying low.” A grumpy Spike said, slumping over the dining table as Starlight was in the kitchen making breakfast.

He was not pleased with the fact the sexling twins just took Rachel after what just happened! The dragon gets that he’s not in the girls’ good graces for the past events happening to Rachel…

But taking her outside now? After just having jumped??

“I’m sure she’s going to be fine with them,” Twilight said, trying to assure him. Patting on his shoulder a little. “Though I get why you’re worried.”

“Worried, frustrated…” He grunted before covering his face with his hands. “They don’t like me.” Spike groaned loudly.

“Who? Ruby and Gemcity?” Twilight asked before giving him a soft look. “They threw you out of nothing.”

“Oooh it’s somethings...a lot of somethings.” Spike murmured. “And it’s not just them either.”

Spike was on the Twins’ and Brimstone’s shitlist; his list of fuck-upery has seemed to be steadily climbing higher and higher. And all of them were staying, so all of them were going to be talking about….

He was starting to sweat bullets cause he realized that the Twins knew about Bouncer, Bob and Stick’s murder. Those two sex bugs have the biggest mouths he has seen from the many, many interactions with them, back when he used to visit his mate in Fillydelphia. Brimstone is a hard ass and responsible of getting rid of the fucking evidence!

“Spike, are you alright?” Twilight asked, seeing Spike looked a little more green.

“I think I'm gonna hurl.” Spike made a sound that was a mix of a groan and a whimper.

All that realization was hitting him harder than sixteen tons of bricks.

“Maybe some food might settle your stomach.” Spike stood alert at the sound of Brimstone suddenly coming out of nowhere. He whipped his head to the right and sitting six feet away from him was the stallion himself.

Calmly sipping a cup of coffee.

Spike didn’t realize he even entered the dining hall!

“Professor,” Twilight greeted, acting like that was nothing. “Have you gotten settled in?”

“Quite well, your highness.” Brimstone said. “I am sorry for not giving proper news of my arrival, and the twins.”

“Oh that’s fine really; I am quite curious about Rachel’s inner circle. What better way of getting to know one another.” She smiled as Starlight came in from the kitchen, levitating the breakfast out with her magic and setting it up for everypony.

“Hmm, yes.” the professor said, sliding his single eye over Spike's direction, his eye burning right into the dragon’s soul.

Can Spike survive these three days??

Spike gulped. “Oh yay.” he whimpered.

Brimstone looked at the dragon, taking note that there wasn’t Rachel or the twins around, “Girls kidnapped her again?” he asked Spike.

Spike nodded silently to the stallion.

“Bah, those two don’t know don’t know subtlety on times like this.” Brimstone grunted, shaking his head before telling Starlight thank you before grabbing his fork and dug into his eggs and began eating.

“Has Ruby and Gemcity always been like this?” Twilight asked Brimstone and Spike, to whoever would answer her. She then pushed Spike’s plate to him, trying to get him to eat.

“Loud? Boisterous? Overly sexualized? Yes.” Brimstone said. “However, despite their lifestyle, what they are and occupation, the twins have done well when it comes to Rachel.”

Spike grumbled something underneath his breath before grabbing his fork and dug into the eggs.

“What they are?” Starlight repeated those words but as a question. “They were called bugs earlier…”

“They’re called Sexlings, a species cousins to the changelings.” Spike said, knowing what they were.

Then realizing his mistake and dropping his fork.

“Sexlings??” Twilight’s eyes widened when he said that. She starts combing through her memory of what she learned about the Changelings. She couldn’t find anything on that subject. “Hmm, I might ask them a few questions. Spike, Brimstone, since you two~”

“I actually have something else in mind, if that is alright with you, Princess,” Brimstone said quickly. Trying to not have this rather uncomfortable discussion.

Thank you. Spike thought, he too did not want to discuss the twins anymore.

“Oh?” Twilight stopped for a second. “And what would that be?”

Brimstone cleared his throat. “From what I was told earlier, you have one of the members of the white mantle in the dungeons, is that correct?” Twilight nodded before he continued. “If it is alright with you, I would like to have a word with him, extract any useful information.”

“I’m actually working on that,” Starlight said. “I have ways of getting him to talk. About to go down there after breakfast.”

“I’ve heard of your tactics, Ms. Glimmer,” He said, which made Starlight’s ears flung back. “It is literally in my job description to snuff out the lies to find the truth. I would like to offer my services, along with borrowing Spike here.”

“Say what now?” Spike looked at Brimstone at that.

“Before I was the head of the Mother Cell Research Division and in charge of the settlement program, I had...offered my services to Princess Celestia as a member of one of the guards”

“You worked as a Canterlot Guard?” Twilight asked, now trying to remember if she had ever seen Brimstone before in the past.

“In another lifetime long ago. Even back then the Canterlot guards were the worst, so I left to pursue other opportunities.” Brimstone said. “So if you don’t mind….”

Twilight was about to say something before her phone rang. She dug into her skirt pocket before pulling it out. “Oh, it’s mom. Brimstone, he’s all yours.” she said before getting up from the table and headed off somewhere else to talk to her mom.

Starlight grunted, disappointed that she wasn’t the one to do it.

Brimstone was quick with his plate before standing up himself. “Come along, Spike.”

Spike shoved his eggs and toast down before getting up and following Brimstone.

Something told him that he was going to be the one getting interrogated.

The sun was getting on Rachel’s nerves. It was rather mild in temperature, but all and all pleasant, but she felt like she was going to boil. She wasn’t wearing anything that would make her sweat profusely - just what Gemcity picked out earlier, but she felt like she had on ten thick fur-lined coats, thrown into the oven and was being cooked alive.

“Hey, it's not that hot outside,” Gemcity said. “It’s really nice out.”

“It feels like a thousand degrees.” Rachel quips immediately with a groan. “Why can’t we do this tour thing later?”

“Rachel, you know that if you keep yourself locked in, you’ll give your attackers power, thinking that they got you scared.” Ruby sad, the twin walking either side of their human friend as they walked through the streets of Ponyville. It was the weekend so ponies were out enjoying their day. “Besides, we need to talk to you without Spike hovering over you.”

“Okay guys, I get it, you don’t like him.” Rachel said. “Yes he’s done some fucked up things but he’s a good guy.”

“How many times has he sent you to the hospital?” Ruby then asked, causing Rachel to stop walking.

“Excuse me?” She asked.

The twins stopped walking, looking at each other, looking around, deciding it was time to be more serious and dropped their unicorn form, revealing their sexling forms. They were cousins to the Changelings so they are shapeshifting bugs, instead of the colorful beetle or the traditional black and green scarab form, they have a more moth form mixed with pony features. They carry their traditional purple and teal colors with solid red eyes, sharp fangs poking out of their lips, both of them having a heart shaped patch of fur right smack on their breasts.

The sexlings twins stared down at their smaller friend. “You never mentioned that Spike sent you to the hospital before the empire.” Ruby said. “We had to learn it from Brimstone on the way here. What other incidents did he cause?” Ruby asked her.

Rachel shook her head and waved her hand. “What happened in the barn was an accident.”

“It seems he has caused a lot of accidents since moving in with him.” Gemcity said. “Barn, the empire~”

“Oh my fu~ guys Spike doesn’t hurt me on purpose. The barn, we both got drunk and things went overboard. The Empire, fucking Blueballs caused him to go into frenzy.” She snarled at them.

“Rachel, we’re just worried about you,” Ruby said. “Calm down will you, hon?”

“How can I calm down when everypony is viewing Spike as a bad guy? He's not a bad guy.” Rachel said, running her hand through her hair. “Yes, he’s a dragon, yes he’s not the most graceful but despite all that, he’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Was he the one that showed you the crystal heart?” Ruby asked, motioning to the scales on Rachel’s stomach, now covered up by the corset top.

“He didn’t fucking know that the Empire was going to be wiped off the face of the map just by me touching it. This isn’t his fault. None of this is.” She was trying not to raise her voice but her usual level of control was on a thin line. Still feeling the edge of last night’s attack, she doesn’t need to get any more aggravated. “And if you two girls are playing that card, reverse uno card here - You two never told me about what happened to Bouncer and his brothers. I had to hear it from that fucking cunt, Rarity.”

The twins stopped at that. They waited before ruby said, “That’s because Spike told us to not tell you. At the time we both thought~”

“That you didn’t need to worry about them.” Gemcity finished. “Honey, you get stressed and paranoid, so we thought~”

“Well you two thought wrong.” Rachel grunted. “I already got onto Spike about it.” She took a few deep breaths, trying to get herself to calm down. “Look, I get you two are worried about me, and that you don’t really agree with the choices he and I made.”

“He shouldn’t even drag you down to this.” Ruby said. “I know dragons are intense when it comes to relationships but what he did and after just seems to be a bad pattern forming with you. I mean seriously, you were in the freaking newspaper.”

“It does paint a bad picture.” Gemcity said. “Which is really unusual because you’re a great painter.”

“Guys, despite what he has done, Spike is a good guy, he’s not perfect by any means but he means everything to me.” Rachel said, folding her arms across her chest, still smoldering in the intense heat she was feeling. “Contrary to anyone’s belief, whenever I’m with him, I feel the safest. The most I ever felt in a long time.”

The girls looked around the area they were in. There were not many ponies out due to the news of last night reaching those in Ponyville. So there wasn’t any point eavesdropping them.

“We’re just….surprised that you’re so calm about him. We know dragons are carnivores and they hunt and eat meat,” Ruby said, “but he killed three ponies.”

She looked at the twins with a soft look. “I know...look it’s complicated, but can we please drop it?” Rachel asked them. Listening to this wasn’t what Rachel needed, though she knew the twins were going to bring it up the second they got the chance.

She then brushed her bangs out of her eyes before continuing. “I really am glad to see you guys again.”

The twins stared at Rachel for a moment before they sighed in unison.

“And we missed you.” they said as the three of them shared a hug.

“We’re just worried about you, that’s all.” Ruby said tenderly.

“Eew, you sweaty.” Gemcity said before pulling away.

“Uh rude ass,” Ruby grunted at her before realizing that Rachel was really sweating. She felt hot to touch. She moved her hand and pressed the back of her hand up against Rachel's forehead. “Rach, you’re burning up.”

“Of course I feel hot, it’s like a thousand fucking degrees out here.” Rachel responded, stepping back from the teal sexling.

“Not really,” Ruby said. “Let’s get you somewhere with an AC.”

“How about we head back to the castle?” Rachel asked, begging them. “I wanna sleep. I haven’t slept well and you know how bitchy I get when I don’t get proper sleep.”

“We will after food, we’re hungry.” Gemcity said as she and Ruby grabbed their sweaty, tired sister and dragged her to the nearest diner in town.

Though she was still tired, something about a large bowl of french fries and milkshakes seemed to lift some spirits up.

“Now you’re not so hangry anymore.” Gemcity giggled as she and Ruby shared a basket of nachos.

There was a long winding rocky staircase leading down to the dungeons below the Castle of Friendship. Though mostly used for storage, and where Spike stashes his collectables, it was never used for what it was intended for.

Inside one of those cells, they were finally getting a use for it.

Spike was leading Brimstone down, there wasn’t need for torches or lights from their cell phone because the walls around them were glowing, lighting their way down. The dragon had no idea what was going to happen with this interrogation.

Professor Brimstone was silent for a long minute during their descent, but he was heavily staring at the dragon.

It was starting to get a little uncomfortable for the dragon’s liking. He didn’t stop walking but he did turn his head slightly towards the red stallion.

“Sir?” he called out.

“I assume Rachel told you about my involvement in your case, right?” Brimstone asked. His expression was stoic and matter-of-fact.

Spike gulped. He was informed that Brimstone could tell if a person was lying, it was his special talent. And even if he has even the slightest clue that you are withholding anything but the truth, he’ll snuff you out until he gets to the truth.

Which meant that if he lied to Brimstone, it was not going to go well for him.

“She mentioned you were involved, yes,” Spike then said with a nod. “About that~”

“Then I do not have to tell you how this goes; you’ll answer the following questions I give you and it will be the truth.” Brimstone stated.

Even though Spike does have the capability to take the pony down easily, that thought never even crossed the dragon’s mind. He knows how much Brimstone means to Rachel and doesn’t want any chance of her leaving him.

And he also knew that he also holds Spike’s secret.

Spike didn’t want to take any chances with him.

“To get this out of the way, what we say as we head on down stays between the two of us. The Princess and your friends won’t know anything.”

“Worried more about the twins saying anything.” Spike muttered under his breath.

“They won’t. They have a fierce loyalty to Rachel so they won’t tell any soul.” he assured him. “But really, you should’ve seen this talk coming.”

That wasn’t putting any reassurance in Spike. The dragon waited before asking, “What do you want to know?” Spike asked him with uncertainty. “But if it’s all the same to you, can we not do this?”

“No.” The Professor grunted in response. “Now I’m not going to even ask how you manage to get three ponies out of the dungeons of Canterlot, I served enough time with the guards to know how extremely easy it would be to pull it off.”

Spike let out an awkward cough at that. His tail snaked around his leg out of that response as they walked down the long staircase.

“I will ask you this: what made you even think of committing such a heinous crime?” he asked the dragon then.

There wasn’t any response, which made Brimstone grunted..

It took a moment before Spike let out a sigh and said, “Because of what they did to Rachel back at the cruise.” he told the professor, stopping before turning around to face him. “Back on the cruise, I looked for Rachel after a misunderstanding we had. She was missing along with Bouncer and his brothers, along with Rarity~”

“Rarity was there?” Brimstone quickly stopped him.

“Guessing you don’t know the full story yourself then.” Spike said. “Rarity was the whole reason Bouncer, Bob, and Sticks attacked Rachel in that boiler room,” he stated. “She paid those three to attack her...once I saw Rach on the floor, unconscious and her clothes ripped…”.

Brimstone was quiet for a moment. Retaining the information was given to him. “Rachel told me she had an altercation on the cruise before, but never told me that it was actually a set up by one of your friends” He sighed in frustration and squeezed the bridge of his muzzle. “That child has a nasty problem with withholding vital information.”

When Brimstone said Your friends, it made Spike’s ears drop, hanging down.

The red stallion moved his hand over to rub his neck, twisting it so it would pop.

“Sir….I haven’t considered Rarity a friend in a long time.” Spike said, looking at him. “Rachel was willing to put what she did aside.”

“But you didn’t.”

Spike waited a moment before responding to that. “Oh trust me, how Rarity was being throughout that whole week and how she treated Rachel, finding out that it was her fault, I would’ve done something to her if it wasn’t the history we had.

“However, even that is reaching to it’s maxed limit of tolerance I have with that mare.”

“I’ll be asking more of her later, but right now she’s not the one I’m talking to.” Brimstone said. “So you weren’t able to let what happened in that boiler room alone. You broke three ponies out of the dungeons and put them in that gorge where you hunted them down. And judging by the wounds inflicted on what bodies were left, it was as if a ferocious beast mauled them.”

Spike flinched when Brimstone told him that, it hurt a lot when he was called that.

“Why weren’t you able to let it go?”

The dragon didn’t speak a while after the question was asked, he didn’t know how to go about explaining it. He knew that pony culture and dragon culture are vastly different and not a whole lot of ponies actually took time to know it. Though Brimstone has been the one to destroy the evidence for him, there are just things that can’t be explained.

“I...I just couldn’t.” Spike muttered softly then, telling this truth instead. “Seeing her on the ground, I couldn't stop thinking about what horrific things Bouncer and his brothers did to her. It didn’t matter if what I thought wasn’t true, they still hurt her.”

“I see.” Brimstone grunted before he started coughing. He stopped for a moment to take a handkerchief out of his pockets and covered his mouth with it. Coughing right into the white embroidered cloth.

“Apologies,” He said after he had stopped coughing.

“You alright?” Spike asked him curiously.

“It’s just stuffy the farther down we go. I’m alright, lad.” the professor said, pocketing the handkerchief. “One last question and we’re through.” He advises the purple dragon.

Spike nodded in understanding, glad that this talk was coming to an end. He was truly uncomfortable having it. The same discomfort he had when he admitted his crime to Rachel.

“Did you enjoy killing them?”

That put the dragon at a halt.