Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but smile as a wave of nostalgia thrilled through her; beyond the castle’s thick, crystalline walls, a storm was venting its fury on Ponyille. She listened intently – even comfortably ensconced inside the castle it sounded nasty to her – reminded of that first impromptu sleepover she’d shared at the Golden Oaks Library with Rarity and Applejack all those years ago when she’d first come to the village on Celestia’s instruction. Mind you, there wasn’t much chance of a falling tree taking out THESE windows, was there?
She would’ve loved to have been out there, of course – nothing better than getting up close and personal with her fellow ponies, solving friendship problems and having fun – but Twilight was equally delighted with the enforced isolation the storm had brought her. She could curl up on the sofa with a good book and a pot of tea. Her friends had noted that she took little time for herself these days, between various crises popping up and her duties as a princess, so she was determined to actually relax for once. “Now … where’s that book on advanced mathematics Luna loaned me?” Mulberry eyes scanned the shelves swiftly. It always helped to brush up on the fundamentals, didn’t it?
As she looked, Twilight's thoughts wandered to her friends and she hoped that, wherever they were, they were safe; no doubt, Fluttershy would be at home tending to the scared pack of animals that usually came her way whenever the weather got a little rough. Applejack and her family would be shoring up the defences around Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity would be at Carousel Boutique, most likely using the time profitably to design new wet-weather gear or something. Pinkie Pie, if she wasn’t comforting Gummy, would probably be at Sugarcube Corner baking up a batch of a treats for anypony stuck there.
Briefly, her thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash; as head of the weather team, she would be out there right now, safely marshalling the storm through Ponyville’s environs. Despite her brash demeanour, she wasn’t stupid. She would take every precaution in dealing with it. It wasn’t going to stop Twilight from being concerned about her welfare, though.
Trying to concentrate on her reading, Twilight felt her ears pricking up at some subtle noise coming from outside the castle; at first, she suspected it was yet another example of her alicorn-enhanced senses messing with her – one night, she’d been unable to sleep due to a mysterious squeaking and several hours of searching had eventually revealed it to be nothing more than a solitary mouse taking up residence in her basement – but upon listening more intently, she became convinced that somepony was calling her name from outside the castle’s door.
Padding in the direction of the front door, book now forgotten on the table, she said, “Nopony would be crazy enough to be outside on a day like this.” Mentally, she amended that, “Except for Rainbow Dash.” Twilight wasn’t looking forward to exposing the nice, cosy interior to the squall beyond, but needs must. Whoever was out there, they were probably in dire need.
“Oh, Twilight, thank goodness,” said Rarity, practically barging her hostess out of the way as she sought the relative warmth of the castle’s lobby. Her normally immaculate alabaster coat was soaked through, she was shivering, and her patiently-applied mascara streamed down her face in great black waterfalls. Her saddle-bags weren’t in much better condition either. Twilight disappeared deeper into the castle and returned quickly with a towel for her. “Thank you, darling.”
“What were you doing out there, Rarity?” asked Twilight of her now slightly-drier friend. She hid a smile behind her hoof at how silly she looked with the black make-up now covering every inch of her face but her eyes. The towel, she noted, was completely covered in it, too. It’d probably be a nightmare to clean, but she could worry about that later.
“Our mutual friend from the weather team assured me that the storm wouldn’t be hitting until later,” Rarity said, a flash of annoyance crossing her muzzle as she examined the damage to her bags. “A shop at the edge of town had a sale on some delightful new threads from Canterlot, so I wanted to get them and get back to the Boutique so I could spend the evening trying out some new designs I’d been working on.” Rarity frowned. “You don’t mind me taking refuge here, do you, darling? I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
Twilight shook her head. “Of course it’s not a problem. Truth is, I’ve been bored out of my mind, so it’s nice to have some company.”
“Excellent!” Rarity clapped her hooves together excitedly. “It’s been too long since we’ve spent any time alone together. Oh, you can tell me all the latest gossip from the princesses! And maybe I can finally get you to try out that new mane-style I’ve been telling you about?” She paused suddenly, her eyes noting a conspicuous absence. “By the way, where’s Spike? In his room?”
That brought Twilight up short. She rounded on Rarity. “I thought he was with you, at the shop?”
“He was, yes.” Rarity thought for a moment, casting her mind back to the events from just before the storm hit. “He said he was going to come back here and get his comic.” The realisation of what that meant wasn’t slow in hitting her in the stomach. “Oh, no. Oh, dear.”
It was futile, they knew, but they searched the castle high and low, anyway; as they’d expected, there was absolutely no sign of the baby dragon anywhere. Out of breath and fretting, they met up back in the lobby. Twilight was practically hopping with worry. Utilising her sister-in-law’s patented breathing technique to try and calm herself, Twilight firmly set her jaw and said, “Where could he be?”
“Twilight, darling, please don’t get yourself worked up.” As smart as she was, as powerful and as resourceful as she was, Rarity knew that Twilight had the unfortunate habit of always going to the Worst-Case Scenario when anything went the slightest bit wrong. Keeping a cool and level head was palpably not her forte. Doubtless, she was now having visions of Spike lost and alone as the storm raged, being struck and vaporised by lightning, or getting swept away in a flood or something. “It’ll be okay.”
“How can you say that?” asked Twilight, snapping at Rarity’s seeming blitheness. “Spike’s out there-” she pointed a hoof at a point beyond the castle where they could still hear the storm expend its fury “-all by himself. A child.” She had to bite her lip to stop from adding, “My child.”
Rarity smiled benevolently at Twilight, their eyes locking. “He may still be a child, but he is not a baby. He is as bright and as ingenious as the pony who raised him, to say nothing of being as tough as, well, a dragon. If he was on his way back here or to Carousel Boutique when the storm struck, he will have found somewhere else to shelter. Fluttershy’s cottage, or Sugarcube Corner, with Octavia and Vinyl, to name just a few. In Ponyville, nopony is ever truly by themselves.”
Forcing out her long-held breath, Twilight succumbed to both Rarity’s words and her studious gaze. Recognising the truth of what she said, her expression softened. “You’re right.” The urge to get out there and look for him herself was overwhelming, but Twilight knew that she’d be doing neither of them any favours if she ended up getting hurt or killed herself in a vain search. All she could do was sit here, driving herself to illness worrying about him, and try to enjoy Rarity’s company. With a speed that would’ve impressed even Rainbow Dash, she darted toward the door and almost had a hoof on the knob when she felt something grab her tail. “What the-?”
Rarity, her horn ignited with a firm telekinetic grasp on the dock of Twilight’s tail, said calmly, “I understand how badly you wish you were out there with him, but you won’t do Spike or yourself any good if you blindly charge about Ponyville during the worst storm on record, will you?” She widened her eyes, waiting for Twilight’s answer as if she were a recalcitrant student. “Well?”
Conceding to Rarity’s superior wisdom did not come easily to Twilight, but finally she relented and admitted with a sigh, “No, you’re right, it won’t.” Once it was clear that she’d given up struggling, Rarity released Twilight from her grip. Forlornly, Twilight looked at the door once more, but she had to accept the fact that there was nothing she could do to help Spike.
They retreated to the living room; Rarity made some tea to help both sets of jangled nerves, and they chatted idly for an hour or so, though she could tell that Twilight’s heart just wasn’t in it. Whenever she heard a bolt of lightning, she practically jumped out of her seat. Rarity played the part of a stoic as best she could, but inside she was a mess. She’d never forgive herself if something happened to her little Spikey-Wikey. She tried asking about Starlight Glimmer and Trixie, Flurry Heart, the princesses, the upcoming gala, anything, really, that would take Twilight’s mind off things. All she got in return were short, curt answers.
Eventually, the rain began to ease off until it was nothing more than a gentle drizzle; Twilight, as alert as Opalescence when she heard the tin-opener hitting the can, was instantly out of her seat and rushing toward the door. The sight of the purple blur almost made Rarity dizzy, and she tried to follow behind her as quickly as she could but very few beings in Equestria could keep up with an alicorn in full flight.
Ponyville was a sodden, battered mess, but there were a few ponies out and about already, trying to put things to rights; assessing the damage to their houses, sweeping up their store-fronts, checking up on family and friends. Twilight would normally have stopped to chat, offer what help she could, but she had only one thing on her mind. Growing increasingly frantic as she dodged mops, buckets and townsfolkalike, she tried to keep a lid on her feelings. Nopony was going to be helped by her having a full-blown freak-out in the middle of town.
Finally, Twilight caught sight of purple scales glittering in the sun that was now emerging from behind thick, grey clouds.
Yelling in a mixture of relief and parental anger, Twilight caught the dragon’s attention by bellowing his name out. A few passers-by were startled by her volume and quickly made themselves scarce. If Luna had been nearby, even she would have found this application of the Royal Canterlot Voice a tad excessive. “Spike! Where the heck have you been?”
Unsure as to why Twilight looked so furious with him, Spike replied as nonchalantly as possible, “I was halfway back to the Boutique when the storm hit, so Fluttershy let me stay at her place to wait it out. Honestly, if I could have, I would’ve come straight back to the castle.”
Pacing around Spike, both agitated and unwilling to let her anger subside, Twilight said crossly, “I’ve been worried sick about you. You should’ve stayed with Rarity the entire time. D’you know what I’ve gone through in the past few hours? Afraid that you might’ve been hurt … or worse?”
“Twilight, you’re being a bit unfair,” said an out-of-breath Rarity who had just caught up with them and heard the end of Twilight’s speech.
Ignoring her, Twilight continued to rant at Spike, “From now on, I’m going to have to keep a much closer eye on you until I’m sure you can be trusted to actually follow simple instructions. I’ll need to re-think some of your privileges, too, such as how far out into town you’re allowed to go on your own. Get inside the castle. We’ll talk more later.”
Spike did as he was instructed. He paused at the threshold and said lamely, “I’m sorry, Twilight. I didn’t realise I was letting you down so badly.” He wanted to say much more, but he knew that there was no point in arguing with her once she’d made her mind up about something. Really, the only upshot was, if he was going to be spending more time grounded in his bedroom, he’d be able to finish reading his comics in peace. That is, unless Twilight had planned on giving him some extra chores by way of punishment.
Stomping toward the castle, Twilight found her path blocked by an incensed Rarity. She fluttered her wings in irritation, but Rarity held her ground. “Twilight, dear-” she was doing her best to keep her voice level “-I think you may have been just a mite harsh on him, don’t you agree?”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, then the conversation replayed itself in her mind. It didn’t take her long to realise that Spike hadn’t actually done anything wrong at all, had he? In fact, he’d been very sensible in going to the nearest available shelter, hadn’t he? She was angry because she didn’t know where he was, but that was hardly through his own fault. Tears formed in her eyes as she caught Rarity’s look of disapproval. She sat back on her hindlegs and dabbed at her eyes with a foreleg. She tried to speak but found herself too choked up to do so.
She felt Rarity’s legs encircle her. “It’s okay, dear. You were worried and we don’t always react sensibly when our emotions are fraught.” She suspected that she’d have been much the same if it had been Sweetie Belle who was out there. “Go and make it up to him.”
With a brittle smile, Twilight disengaged herself from Rarity and headed into the castle. Tentatively, she made her way to Spike’s room. The door was open, which was a good sign; he was lying on his bed, legs dangling over the edge, occasionally grinding his heels in frustration against the mattress. “Mind if I come in?” Twilight asked softly.
“It’s your castle,” Spike replied in a neutral tone.
“It’s our castle.” Twilight wavered in the threshold, not wanting to come in unless specifically invited. Falteringly, she said, “Look, I was being unreasonable and I wanted to apologise.”
Bitingly, Spike said, “No kidding?”
A little taken aback, Twilight tried to fight back more tears. “Okay, I deserved that.” She breathed out slowly, fully entered the room and approached the bed. “The way I acted … sure, it was over the top, but it came from a good place. You’re growing up, you’re getting wings, and I sometimes forget that you’re not a baby any more. You’re not even really a child now. In truth, I should be giving you more freedom to explore and make your own decisions, not less. It’s just … I still look at you and all I see is this tiny, fragile egg that needs my protection.”
Spike wanted to be angry still, but it just wasn’t possible looking into that face of genuine regret. His own eyes moistening, he felt his ire melt away in less than a moment. Yes, Twilight could be overbearing – even a trifle thoughtless – but she wasn’t malicious. “I really didn’t mean to make you worry.”
Twilight smiled and scooped the dragon up in her forelegs. “I know. I know you would’ve said something about where you were if you could have.”
“So,” Spike said, chancing his arm, “does this mean that I’m not grounded, then?”
Having to stifle a giggle that threatened to become a laughing fit, Twilight said with mock-anger, “You’d better not push your luck, mister.” She prodded his nose with the tip of her hoof. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
