Crouched high on the rafters of a shantytown hovel, a young lavender-coated mare with long ebon bangs interspersed with a stripe of purple, and a tall, male dragon with purple scales and green spikes protruding out of his head, eyed the shady cavern below them.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” the drake told the mare. His tone was thoughtful, the stray light bleeding through the split thatch ceiling framing his rough draconic features. He repeated his earlier statement, with a twinge of confidence. “You are going to be the death of me.”
“I won’t be the death of you, as much as that whom we might encounter down there,” the mare replied, sweeping her bangs out of her face. A comforting, if a bit sheepish, grin was flashed towards the drake.
“The outcome is the same,” he hissed out, clutching the wood beam under him with anxiety borne strength. “And should we die, let us remember whose idea it was to come here.”
“Come on, Spike!” Twilight whined, throwing herself into her mother’s chair and clacking her hooves together in front of her. “This is a great opportunity! We can’t just let this pass us by!”
“I beg to differ,” Spike replied. He lounged on a low-sitting couch, one claw interlaced with the silky fabrics of the furniture, with the other one being draped over the side as to hang over an oaken end table.
“Let us brainstorm,” he began imperiously. “—ideas which don’t require us to leave the house.” He let a keratin claw come down onto the table. “We could cook dinner for Mother.” Another claw followed. “We could read a story together.” The third one clacked with a resounding echo. “We could cook dinner for Mother, while reading a story together.”
Twilight fixed him with a flat stare, her pouting eyes boring into his scales. “You never want to do fun things anymore, Spike! When’s the last time we went out to explore the city?”
Spike brought a claw up to his chin in the draconic expression of thought. “Hmm, let me think… oh, that’s right! Yesterday.”
Claws rang out in nervous cadence while Twilight groaned, pushing her hooves through her hair. “Yesterday was forever ago! Didn’t you have fun?! Because I, for one, had had the time of my life.”
“We were arrested, Twilight. Mother had to come pick us up from the guard post! If that’s your idea of a fun time, we need to have a serious talk about your hobbies,” Spike challenged, holding her stare with a frustrated visage.
“It’s not my fault! I was just trying to get us out of the house, but you’re the one who fell into the pile of hay, right when that guard was walking by!”
Spike crossed his arms in denial, refusing to look at her, and it was then that she knew she had him. “You can’t tell me you didn’t feel alive,”she pressed, an encouraging smile on her face.
“I don’t need to ‘feel’ alive,” he replied. “I am alive. A state of being in which I would prefer to remain.”
“…You didn’t answer the question.”
“Fine!” he snapped, sitting up on the couch. “It was exhilarating. I had a smile on my face as the guards dragged us away in chains, like common market thieves!” His voice dripped with sarcasm, the couch underneath him becoming soaked with the imaginary liquid. “Does that make you happy?”
“It does, actually.” Twilight grinned mischievously. “Since I didn’t hear any kind of no anywhere in your statement, I take it that means you want to go…?”
Silence reigned over the small study before Spike spoke up again. “…Where would we be going?”
Twilight clacked her hooves happily in front of her before leaping down onto the floor. “I have reason to believe that, taking residence underneath the old museum, is a powerful vampire pony.”
He held her in a flat gaze. “And where, pray tell, did you come across that information?”
“In a book,” she replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Spike groaned, holding his head in his claws. “You want me to come with you, to explore under a museum, in search of a vampire pony, because of something you read in some book?”
“It’s not just some book,” she admonished, her stance adopting one akin to a professor readying to lecture their students. “It’s a highly regarded account written by none other than Princess Luna herself!”
Spike leered at her through a claw, before leaping to his feet. He went around the couch and towards the study door.
“W-wait, where are you going?”
“To down a bottle of wine!” was his reply, the sound of his feet going down the stairs.
Twilight rushed on after him. “But you're underage!”
“As if that ever stopped you.”
She flinched, as though she had been slapped in the face. A true and accurate retort if she had ever heard one.
Well, here we are, Twilight thought, uneasiness mixing in with excitement, brewing a strange yet powerful concoction of emotions within her.
Their journey through the bustling Jewel of Equestria—that being Canterlot—was a long and dangerous path, filled with many detours to avoid suspicious-looking ponies and the occasional scuffle with a rabid house cat. Time was spent and battle scars were acquired—in the form of small nicks and scratches—but they prevailed, ending up at their destination just outside of the museum. It was as soon as they had arrived that the first flaw in her plan made itself apparent: They had no way to get inside.
She hadn’t let that stop her, so with but a small bit of her child-like intuition, she had thought to perform a small topographical scan with her magic. Due to the sheer complexity of it, the spell had drained her magic reserves thoroughly, leaving her capable of little more than simple spells such as levitation, but she wasn’t worried. Even though it had been quite taxing, the consequential gain in knowledge was well worth the effort.
She had sensed a void in the ground around her, a space where there was no earth when there should have been. It seemed to be indicative of a cave system, and upon further inspection, her guess had been correct. Tracing her spell to the void had led them towards a dilapidated corner of manse, so worn down and abandoned-looking, that it looked strangely out of place compared to the relatively well-lived in houses surrounding it.
A hop, skip, jump, and a tumble found them navigated through the house and perched precariously upon a pair of rotting beams, gazing down into the endless depths of the cave entrance beneath them.
“Good thing we don’t have to remember then,” she concluded gently, grinning at Spike. He returned it in kind, though his looked more like a tense grimace than anything resembling a smile.
“Good thing…” he repeated unsteadily, tucking his head down and grappling the beam with both claws. “I-I suppose I’m ready as I’ll ever be.”
Twilight heard the faint crack in his voice, making her giggle. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!” With that, she took the leap of faith and tumbled down into the cave. If the whoosh of air and the snap of wood behind her meant anything, she guessed that Spike was right behind her.
Falling several meters, she met the ground legs-first with a grunt. Whatever she had landed on was definitely not stone, unless stone could grunt and was soft as a drake’s underbelly.
Spike wheezed beneath her, a pained look in his eyes. “H-how d-did yo-, you f-fall slower than me!” He coughed a harsh sound, rolling out from underneath her. “T-that doesn’t even make sense!”
Twilight giggled, bearing a hoof to caress Spike’s battered stomach. “Something to do with heavier objects falling faster than lighter ones, I would think,” she joked.
He swatted her hoof away with a claw before rising from the floor and dusting himself. “That’s a load of horse apples and you know it.” He leveled his claw at her in an accusing fashion, as though her statement was a crime equal to, say, foalnapping.
She snorted in amusement, her eyes meeting his. “Well it happened, so… I’m right and you're wrong.” Foal’s logic, but it still held true, and she was going to use it.
He spluttered, folding his arms defiantly over his chest, casting his gaze away as though looking at her was a sin. “Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Twilight.”
She rolled her eyes. Her magic spilled out of her horn into a tiny orb which, when finally stabilized, hovered above them, casting dull rays of illumination on everything. The room revealed itself in a hesitating fashion, the shadows retreating to the nooks and crannies between rocks.
Now bathed in light, Twilight examined her surroundings with bubbling excitement. The sides of the cavern rose up into a natural hallway, the shadows out of reach of her light beckoning them forwards.
With a shared nod, the two began their descent into the maw of the cave. Shadows played at the edges of their vision, threatening to eat them whole, but when they looked, nothing was there. Mind games, doled out by the mastermind of all psychological warfare, fear, ate at them as they continued onward. Only the comforting presence of each other—their breathing, walking, and talking—kept them from succumbing to it and running from the cave as fast as their legs would carry them.
“Remind me to never become a spelunker,” Spike said. “This place gives me the creeps.”
Twilight nodded in agreeance, coming closer to lean her head against Spike’s shoulder. The entire walk, she had found herself drifting closer to the drake. For comfort, she had thought, but her mind was telling her other things, if the fitful burning of her cheeks was anything to go by. Granted, it could have been the glass of wine she had drank before coming. At least, that’s what she told herself.
“It is a bit… spooky down here, I’ll admit.” She shivered slightly. Cold too. She took that as an opportunity to press more of herself into Spike’s side.
He looked at her with a side-long gaze, confusion and intrigue written all over his face. “Somepony’s touchy today.”
Twilight spared a glance into his eyes before continuing forwards. Her response was clipped and cool, belaying her discomfort and preference to silence when in the confines of cold, dark caves. “I’m cold.”
Silence filled the air for a moment, before Spike did something that made her nearly jump in surprise. “Is that better?” he asked, wrapping an arm over her withers.
She responded with a nod, feeling her cheeks crease slightly.
Soon, their walking brought them towards a source of light. Twilight dropped her spell, the walls widening out and morphing into the more recognizable structure of ponybuilt material. Jagged rock walls became smooth stone brick, and the ceiling lowered and copied the walls in style. A room was soon within view, though it was not at all what she was expecting.
A small island of sand sat in the middle, encircled by a small ring of stagnant, yet clear, water. Twisted bark rose out of the ground, spiraling upwards into several small branches, each one adorned with a beautiful arrangement of spade-shaped leaves. The whole room was illuminated as though there were a sun in the sky, yet no apparent source of light could be seen.
“...Is this what we were looking for, Twi?” That was the first time he had called her by her nickname the entire trip. For some reason, that was the thing that registered first, and not the out of place island in front of her.
“Does this look like a vampire pony to you, Spike?” she whispered. Just like all the books she had read in the past, their accord stated that she must whisper in such a situation. Plus, it just felt right.
“Not like anyone that I’ve ever seen,” he chuckled quietly. “Unless they all turn into little beach islands, that is.”
Twilight giggled into her hoof, waving Spike forwards. “C’mon Spike, let’s go check it out!” She dropped all pretense of cautiousness and galloped into the room, splashing through the water wildy. It coated her in a sheen of moisture that warmed her up. Tropical water.
The illogicity of the entire situation didn’t even cross her mind as she whirled around on the approaching drake. With a boisterous laugh, she slammed her front hooves down into the water, sending a veritable tsunami at Spike. He laughed in kind, taking the full brunt of the wave without a flinch, his own claws not sparing any mercy as he pelted her with his own splashes. Together, they danced around, throwing water this way and that in their little bout of foalishness.
It continued like that for several minutes before it began to die down, the playing tiring them out. Twilight panted, her throat taking turns between gulps of air to giggle uncontrollably. Spike fared no better, his hands grasping his sides as he inched his way up the artificial sandbar, laughing all the while.
Soon enough even that tapered out, the charged air around them settling into a more comfortable, peaceful thing. Happiness, if Twilight was to put a word to the feeling. Happiness. Her cheeks ached from the laughter, the muscles in complaint of the workout they had just been put through, but Twilight couldn't contain her smile any more than she had been able to contain her magic surge at Spike’s nativity.
She sat there, soaking in the feeling and storing it away deep within herself, so that she might never even dare to forget it.
“Hey Twi, I found something.” Spike’s voice brought her attention over to the drake, who was prodding at a small bottle. At closer inspection, the bottle contained a small paper.
Picking herself up, she trudged over to him, taking the bottle from his grasp and ignoring his forthcoming complaint. Peering into the foggy glass, she stuck a tendril of magic into the bottle and fished the little paper out with several small pushes.
Before she even had a chance to look at it, it was in Spike’s claws, his eyes dissecting the paper. She heard his breath hitch, and a sound which could only be poorly-concealed laughter left his mouth.
“Are you sure the book you were reading was credible, Twi?” he asked, handing the paper to her as he entered another fit of laughing.
Taking it into her grasp, she brought it within reading distance and scanned it.
Dearest Sister,
Vampire Ponies aren’t real. As the commoners say, get rekt!
Love,
Lulu
P.S: Mother and I constructed this little beach for you so that, should you ever want to be near the ocean, you need only come here. I know how much you love the ocean and the sound of the waves, so, should you be in the mood, naught but a thought will change the ceiling to the warm, sunny skies you so adore, and you will feel the gentle caress of the sea breeze on your face. I love you, sister. Happy Birthday!
Twilight gasped. This island, this place. It was Celestia’s. Or at least, it used to be. It didn’t look as though it saw much use. Even still, it’s location baffled her. Why was it here, under a museum of all places. It was something she would have to ask the Princess when she returned.
She found also that it didn’t bother her that the vampire pony wasn’t real. Truthfully, she was far to scared to deal with something like that.
Then, she remembered a small detail in the letter. The ceiling could change. Think about the ocean, think about the sky—
“Woah,” Spike said, breathlessly.
Woah Indeed, She couldn’t help but agree with him as the world around them changed, the walls shifting into ocean and sky, endlessly dragging on in all directions. The moisture-filled breeze kicked up little drops of water into her coat, the warm sand countering it with its grainy touch. Radiant sunlight filtered down through the palm tree above her, filling her body with energy.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d think they were truly on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Even still, she couldn’t help but be impressed by the attention to detail and magical prowess it must have taken to create something like this. Princess Luna and her mother most have put a great deal of time into it.
“It’s beautiful,” she muttered. Twisting her head to the side, she watched Spike. He was mesmerized. Fascinated eyes took in the artificial, yet real, environment around them. She felt her cheeks light up. She was staring.
Spike blinked several times, before looking towards her. His face creased into a gentle smile and he dragged himself over to her. “That it is,” was his simple response. He had heard her.
An arm wrapped itself around her, leaving her to gently place her head on his chest. His heart pumped with vigor, filling her ears with the sound of moving blood. His blood. It was comforting.
Her entire body shivered at his touch and she let a small smile reside on her face. Looking up and him, she popped the question that had been in the back of her mind the entire time.
“Spike…” she trailed off. His eyes shone under the summer sun. “How are we going to get out of here?”
Silent ambience filled her ears as she waited for Spike to compose a response. He chuckled, holding her tighter to him. “I don’t know, Twi. For now, I think we should just enjoy the moment.”
With that, he rested his chin on the crown of her head, pointing up at the sky as he began to talk about the clouds and their shapes.
Smiling, she rested her head back on his chest, eyes tracing the afternoon sky, picking out every cloud he was talking about. As she lay there, listening to his voice, she felt another feeling bubble in her chest.
If Twilight were asked to put a word to it, she would be able to call it one thing and one thing only.
Love.
Author's Note
Enjoy!
