The Stars That Bind Us

At the Cabin

The twins stood baffled by what they were currently seeing. They were in the guest bedroom, there were sounds of Igneous's infection squeals and laughter.

"Uh so should we stop him?" Gemcity asked.

"I kinda do but this has been the most entertained this baby has been since we've been babysitting." Ruby said.

The twins had put up a pole in the guest bedroom. To use for practicing their dances and entertaining the guards. Igneous had found himself playing with the pole. He keeps climbing up to the ceiling and slides down, each time he comes down he laughs and does it again.

He came down in a spin at one point and did it again, just a continuous loop of climbing and sliding up and down the stripper pole.

Ruby leans close to Gemcity. "You sterilized it after you used it last night, right?" She asked her twin.

"Of course, I'm ditzy, not stupid." Gemcity said before taking a few quick pictures on her phone of Igneous. At one point he slid halfway and stopped, his body twisting to where he hung upside down and burst into giggles. "Maybe he's a future pole dancer?"

"Rachel will fucking kill us if we-" they stopped talking when they heard the phone go off.

The girls both checked their phones, this time it was Gemcity's phone that had Rachel's name on the caller ID.

"It's Rachel, what are we going to do with Iggy?" Gemcity asked her twin quickly.

"Leave him be, we just won't let her view this." She motioned to the stripper pole.

The girls quickly left the bedroom but stood by the door to keep an eye on him before they answered.

"Hey girly!" They spoke in unison on the speaker. She wasn't video chatting which was fine and probably a good thing.

"Hey girls. I'm heading home. Spike's with me." Rachel says.

"Oh that's great!" Ruby said. She tried to sound pleased but part of her isn't.

"You finally got him to come back, that's good. Did ya kick his butt to do so?" Gemcity asked her.

Rachel paused for a moment to respond. "No, not really."

"Your ears are red, aren't they?" Ruby teases then.

"Shut up." Rachel sighed, causing the girls to giggle.

"Is that Iggy I'm hearing in the background? What's he doing that's making laugh so adorable?"

The twins looked at each other before one of them spoke. "One of the guards we learned went to clown college, he dropped out of course but he's performing some tricks and Iggy is loving it."

"That's good. So We'll be home soon. Your mother gave us the yacht back after I did her job, she had her workers modify a lot here including speed so it shouldn't take long."

"Does it look like a sex addict's wet dream?" Gemcity asked.

"Nope, just repaint the walls and engine. However I can smell that it's been used. The crewmates looked like they've been fed on, I dare not turn on any blacklights."

The twins glanced back inside the bedroom.

"Has Spike apologized for being a douchenozzle?" Ruby asked.

"He has and will continue to apologize for the foreseeable future. I'm glad he came to his senses, there's still a lot that needs to be discussed. I will be booking him with some appointments for him to go see someone. There's no way after being in that shit stain town and what happened with Rarity that his mind is unscathed."

"We've always known that he's a bit fucked up even before that." Gemcity said

As Ruby elbowed her, another voice popped up.

"I'm right here, you two." Spike's voice popped up. And he sounded annoyed.

"I did say that he was with me." Rachel responded.

"Hey purple douche, welcome back." The twins said in unison.

"You can stop that at any time, girls." Rachel now sounded annoyed with them. "We'll be home soon, I am sure you guys have missing days in Pon-E."

"Oh don't we do. Okay, we'll see you guys soon. Bye!" The twins said before hanging up. They turned back to continue watching Iggy climbing up and sliding down the pole with glee.

Rachel shoves the phone in her pockets, shaking her head. "Those two I swear," she muttered before turning to Spike. "Sorry." She apologized to him.

"It's okay, I'm used to those two by now." Spike sighed.

They were outside of the yacht on the deck, flying across the night sky on the course to Equestria. There was no way for Rachel to teleport all of them at once, risking being out cold for days.

The two sat on a heart shaped loveseat. Rachel originally had came outside alone to take care of political business calls, pausing a moment when Spike came out to her.

Her words, politics sucks.

"Did you hear that laugh in the background?" Rachel asked him with a smile, talking about Iggy.

Spike chuckled. "That was a laugh, I can't wait to hear more of that when I meet him… right?" Spike asked.

Ultimately it was Rachel's choice if he could meet his son. After what Spike had pulled on her, he wants to make sure he can do whatever it takes to earn her trust back.

"Well of course. Spike, that's the whole reason we're going home. We're going to him together. I want you to meet him." Rachel said assuring. "I'm not going to keep you from him."

Spike smiled softly. He then rubbed his hand, it brushed up against his broken horn and he winced. "Ow. Who knew broken horns hurt?"

"I can fix that, you know?" Rachel offered. Looking at his horn. Most of his injuries had cleared on its own, the right horn was still broken.

Spike shook his head. "You've done so much already. I can do it, it's just taking a bit."

"You sure? I don't mind."

Spike shook his head. "I'm sure." He gazed at her.

His eyes fixated at the ring around her neck. Spike knew if he ever wants her to wear it on her finger again, he would have to do everything he can to earn it.

Rachel felt her phone buzzed again. She let out a sigh before taking it out again

She read a series of texts and groans, head leaning back in the seat. "I hate politics." She whines.

One of the downsides of being Queen.

"Once we get situated, I'll take on that load… something I should've done years ago." Spike said. Then the realization hit him. "Ember's going to kick my ass."

She's going to whack him with that Bloodstone scepter until he's unconscious before handing it back to him. Spike just knows it.

"Well… You did anger a lot of creatures by leaving. You have already done the hardest part, the rest will come much easier." Rachel said. "Ember better not while I'm around." She grunted.

"I'm still going to have to face the consequences. I'm not really looking forward to it but I'll face them." Spike muttered.

Him leaving angered a lot of creatures; The Twins, Brimstone, Ember, no doubt the Princesses. Though he is resolving with Rachel, there is still a part of her that is angry about him leaving. They all had the right to be.

Rachel sees the look he had on her face. She hummed softly before looking down at her hooves. "You wanna know something?" She asked him.

"Hmm?"

Rachel extended her leg out, holding up her left taloned hoof. "I hate my hooves. I hate them with a burning passion." She admits.

Spike snickered. "What are you talking about?"

"I hate my hooves. Don't get me wrong, I look pretty much sexy all over, but my feet are ugly as fuck." She said, causing him to chuckle. "It's like the universe didn't know if I should have claws or hooves and gave me both as a compromise. I can't sneak around because you can hear me coming." She wiggled her hoof before lowering it down. "The only good thing these things are good for is kicking butt."

"And stomping beaks." He smirked.

"A highlight of this trip," she grinned, reminiscing the moment of Harpy. "I, however, doubt that I can dance with these things."

Spike raised a brow. "I saw you dance around the ring pretty well." Then an idea came to mind. He stood up before he turned and offered her his hand. "If you still think you can't dance, might as well find out."

Rachel smiled before grabbing his hand and pulled herself up. There was music already playing inside of the cabin area of the airship that they could hear.

Spike held her hand up and placed his freed hand on her waist.

They began to dance.