Hoof and Claw

by Inkblu

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Romance
Length: 2185

Spike learns the life behind his own.

Spike has been having dreams. Of ponies, magic and night. What do these mean? And how will it change Spike's life forever?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-20 09:12:07 UTC

Dawn

Hoof and Claw

The sun beamed in through the curved archways of the dusty masonry of Canterlot castle, highlighting rouge dust motes that floated by as they were stirred up by a flustered ambassador. The unicorn ambassador was hurrying to catch the Moon Princess before she retired for the day. As he approached the door, two pegasus guards threw out their wings and stopped him in his tracks.

“I have - an urgent message - for the Princess!” He managed to gasp out before he tumbled forward into the guards’ outstretched wings. The two pegasii let down their guard and let him pass. These were peaceful times and security around the castle was lax. Discord had been defeated a long time ago, passing into myth, leaving only a stone statue in the garden to remember the time of horror by.

The unicorn entered the tower with a creak of a hinge and a whisper of thanks to the guards.

“Spike! Wake up! Wake up! It’s Winter Wrap-Up Day!"

Spike awoke and opened his sleepy reptile eyes.

“Uh, Mummy?”

“Winter Wrap Up!”

“You’re not mummy.”

Spike heard her mumbling about cleaning up winter as he tried to close his eyes.

“Clean up winter?  Don’t they just use magic like we do in Canterlot?” Spike heard her mumbling excitably again as he contemplated his dream. It had seemed so real… so real...

“That’s ridiculous.” He muttered to himself as he went back to sleep. “I’m not back in Canterlot…”

“Mentor Luna? Are you in here?”  The purple unicorn trotted into the Princess’ private bedchambers.

“Spiked Feather! Has thou- I mean- Have you gotten back already?” Princess Luna rounded the four poster bed and looked at the unicorn in surprise. “The griffin provinces are three days away!”

“Princess Celestia sent Flash Dash instead. He’s quicker, and that treaty needs to be sent immediately. How is your –“Here the purple pony dropped his volume a tad or hundred “– secret project coming along?”

“Everything is going just fine, thank you, Feather.”

“Good to hear, Princess. When are you submitting the bill to Princess Celestia?”

“This afternoon, at lunch. She’ll be in a better mood then, the apple tart makes her agree on anything.”

“You want me to support you?”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from my faithful student. It’s important you learn real politics sometimes, not sending memos to other politicians. Anyway, I don’t want Tia to get angry at me. She does that when I keep secrets from her, and having you there might ‘soften’ her up a bit. You and her are good friends, right Feather? ”

“As you wish, my Princess.”

“Let us forget formalities for the moment.” Luna stepped gracefully over and nuzzled her student with her long, graceful neck. “I have not seen you for a while. You said in your letters that you having been studying dragonlore?”

“I was amongst the dragons for a time, yes. They taught me a great many things that I could add to your private library, your highness. Such as-“

“Hush, I don’t need to hear. Just write some notes and have them filed away. I can read them in my own time.” The Princess of the Night checked the large clock hanging on the wall.

“We have been here far too long. Lunch will already have started. We’ll have to be quick if we want the chefs to serve the apple tart my sister is so partial too.” Luna winked at Feather, and then ruffled his bright green mane. “Come, faithful student!”

Spike was asleep on something cold, hard and slippery.

“Urghhaaaaahhh!”

The baby dragon’s scales slid on the blue ice, leaving a large scrape down the tiny piece of frozen water.

“Twilight… help me!!”

He saw a purple unicorn on the bank rushing toward him just as he slipped under the freezing water.  Spike couldn’t swim, so he went straight under. Just as he thought that this was the end of him, and prayed to the dragon gods, Celestia and Luna to protect him, a purple aura surrounded his short tail and lifted him straight out.

“Oh Spike! Come on; let’s get you home into a nice warm bath.”

Spike rolled his eyes and let Twilight carry him home.

Morning

“Luna, pass the rolls, would you?”

“Of course dear sister.”

Luna lifted the red cane basket with her blue magic, passing it over the table to Celestia who was sitting next to her student, Sunny Sparkle. Sunny looked uneasy next to the huge white alicorn, as she had only been taken on a few days before. Feather smiled at Sunny reassuringly as Celestia offered her a tart. Sunny blushed and her yellow face grew orange. She smiled back at Feather, who winked.

“So, sister, I have something to propose to you. I’m sure you will be interested.”

“Ask away, Luna.”

Luna took a large scroll from Feather’s saddlebag which was hanging on the back of his chair. The scroll unravelled across the table to Celestia.

“Luna… what is this?”

“I have been contemplating… nopony is awake during my beautiful night. Nopony appreciates my stars, my moon. I was thinking… we could swap duties.”

“Luna! Ponies love your night! What about the astronomy guild or the fireworks club...or… or...”

“Sister! You do not know what it is like! Foals are afraid of my darkness. Monsters come out in the night; the very word ‘lunacy’ is used to describe something mad! You do not know what it is like.”

Feather looked to the night princess with concern. He saw a red flash in her eyes as she stared at her sister with hatred.

Celestia ushered Sunny out of the room with one wing.

“Luna. May we talk this through in private?” Celestia motioned toward the private room off to the side of the large dining hall.

“It would only be for a while, Celestia.”

Celestia motioned toward the door again, a cold stare on her regal face. The two alicorn sisters rose, and walked through the mahogany. The door slammed shut with golden magic.

Feather flipped through the pages of his sketch book as the conversation next door grew louder and more heated. Luna yelled something about a ‘festival proclaiming the horrors of night’, then Celestia screaming at her ‘to take up her fathers’ duty’. All was quiet for a few seconds. Feather knew something was wrong. He stared to walk toward the mahogany door.

Spike awoke, sweat pouring down his face. A fire was roaring in the grate, and night twinkled out from behind drawn curtains. It was hot and stuffy inside. Spike checked himself over. He was boiling! Dressed warmly in a gown and slippers, the heat had snuck its way in and stayed there. He ripped the clothes off and jumped out of the rocking chair. It creaked once. Spike sighed and went to open the door to let some fresh air in.

As Spike sat outside and stared into the endless array of the heavens, he thought about the drama that was playing about in his head. Night after night, the dreams had plagued his subconscious. And every time he woke up, a strange feeling of déjà vu overtook him. At the start they had been nothing more than snippets of life in Canterlot. Nowadays, they were vivid, almost real. Spike wanted answers. Now.

He crept upstairs to the bedroom. Twilight Sparkle was snoring softly, a large green book resting on her face. Spike read the battered cover as he went past: Daring Do and the Chamber of Truth.Spike moved the book off of Twilight’s face with care. Not enough care to stop Twilight waking up, though.

“Spike, what are you doing up at this time of night? It’s”- Twilight checked the alarm clock beside her bed- “five in the morning!? Get to bed.”

“I- I can’t sleep.”

“The dreams? Again, Spike? I thought I fixed those with the Quiet Sleep spell?”

“Didn’t work.”

“Obviously. Seeing as its a few hours until we need to get up anyway, why don’t we start our day. Then you and I won’t have to fall asleep all over again.”

Spike nodded- anything to avoid the dreams.

Later that day, once the sun had risen, the morning commuters dropped off their books, Twilight had her coffee, Twilight sat down to do some studying.

“Spike, could you get me all the books on dragonlore that we have in my private section? Thanks.”

Spike walked upstairs to Twilight’s private library was kept. After being sent to Ponyville, Celestia had sent along a large shipment of books that she thought would be useful to Twilight, much to the surprise of the local blonde mailmare, who had to make several trips to and from the post office to deliver them.

The little dragon soon found three very old and dusty books on dragonlore. He brought them downstairs to twilightlooked at the next book on the shelf, a small black volume that was dark with age. Twilight won't be needing this one, will she? Spike asked himself. He decided that Twilight had enough reading material for the moment and carried his load downstairs.

"Twilight, I got them."

"Thank you Spike. Wait- I have more books on dragons than this! Nevermind, I'll go do it myself."

The unicorn trotted up the stairs and came back wth several books following her with magic. She sat down and began to read.

"So.. want any lunch?"

"No thanks."

"Tea?"

"No."

"Coffee?"

"No."

"A sandw-"

"Spike! I am trying to read. Just go visit Rarity or somepony else."

Spike shut the door on Twilight, who was now attempting a complex transformation spell. He sighed and started to walk down the street to the botique... but before he could take another step he was knocked over by three fillies. They stopped and looked back at him.

"Sorry, Spike. Din' see ya there on the ground."

"Yeah. Wer're sorry Spike. Are you going to see my sister?"

"Spike. Hey.. what's up?"

"Aw, that's okay guys. I was just going to see if I could help Rarity with anything."

"Hey, A've got ahn idea! Spike should help us get our baking cutie marks at Sugarcube Corner!"

"Well, I am a pretty good baker. I make Twi's bread every Sunday." Spike looked with pride at the the Crusaders.

A collective "COOOOL!" went up from the three fillies as they walked with Spike to see if they could find Pinkie Pie, Master Baker and Party Maker.

Noon

-FIRST DRAFT OF CHAPTER 3-

Spike had lunch at Sugarcube corner. Apple Bloom's cupcakes were the only edible thing the Crusaders had managed to create. One thing was for sure, they were so delicious they took Spike's mind off the dreams while he was eating, quite a feat, seeing as how they had plagued his mind for so long.

After saying goodbye to the Crusaders who had run off to try soccer, (CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SOCCER PLAYERS YAY!) Spike wandered around Ponyville. We went to Rarty's boutique, but there was a sign on the door : Have gone to Canterlot for a couple of days to get more fabrics. ~Rarity

So Spike went to visit Zecora. The path thorugh the Everfree was as dreary as always, and even though the day was sunny, the Forest felt cold against his scales. He skirted around a patch of blue flowers, and knocked on Zecora's door. The zebra opened it.

"Why it's the little dragon Spike, the only reptile that I like. Come and be welcome, my little friend, you've traveled far from around the bend."

Spike smiled at Zecora. He and Twilight had often come around to see her, gaining more knowledge about the various plants of Equestria.

"Hi Zecora. I was just wondering, do you have anything for a good night's sleep?"

"I see the lines under your eyes. Staying up late is not very wise!"

"I can't help it, Zecora! I just keep having these dreams. And then I always wake up just when I get to an important part!"

"Are you having bad nightmares? Fear not, they are but empty scares. What you need is a sleeping potion, or a fresh-brewed bedtime lotion."

"That's just the thing, Zecora. They're not bad dreams!" Spike walked into her hut. "They're so.. what's the word Twi uses... vivid. It's like they're real."

Zecora pulled down a small vial from above her skin-pattern bed. The string attaching it to the celing broke and it landed on the sheets. A sweet odour came from it.

"This should help with sleep, little one. Just don't use too much, or no more fun. You'll be asleep for days and days, eventually you'll waste away."

"So how much should I use? Will this stop the dreams?"

"Use only as directed here, and sleepless nights will fade my dear. The dreams will not stop, I'm afraid, but your sleeptime it should aid."

"Thanks Zecora! I'll tell you how well it works later, okay?"

"Farewell, I hope you have a good sleep! And no more bad dreams, not a peep!"