Fallen Eagle

Chapter 57: We Want You to be Happy

Okay, so yeah, we've got ourselves a mini-chapter here folks. I didn't originally plan for this, but I took a small break from this story to start up on an unrelated story. That story isn't finished yet, but I got back onto the Fallen Eagle train a few days ago and got this scene written down. It was supposed to be the start of the ceremony chapter, but with how long it's been since I've updated, I decided to give you guys this mini chapter. Yeah it's short, but I'd rather let you guys know I'm still working on this story and I have not, and WILL NOT give up. Trust me, the next chapter is in the works and the first scene for that chapter is nearly complete. There are a few surprises in the next chapter, so be on the lookout.

WarHusky2000: Funny how things work out huh? Thanks for being a reader!

Gracie Ghost: I'm surprised a lot of people like my take on Discord! And I love chances to break the fourth wall, even getting Pinkie Pie in on the joke.

Nostalgia Cop: Court denies your case! *bangs gavel*

Dixie: She loves Ivan enough to know he'd never cheat on her. As for the prince, yeah I always wanted to see Luna as a mother to a colt :) The joke about Discord being rudely not invited to the last wedding I felt would work for his character. As for how Spike will react...

Monkeyboy0118: Thank you sir!

headreviewer mk2: A doormat can be evil yes. Those damn corners just waiting to trip you up. They're out to get us!

SkullReaper790: A little humor can make things better :)

Guest: It's ALWAYS a party when Discord shows up!

SquirtlePWN: So glad I could improve on making the descriptions not too long.

Furi-Schtiff-Poi: Thank you!

As usual, please read and review, even if this is just a mini-chapter.

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(Later that Night; Castle of Friendship)

"Spike!" Princess Twilight Sparkle's voice echoed around the empty corridors of her castle, searching for the ears of her dragon son. Spike was snoring peacefully back in his own bed, curled up with a pair of comic books strewn about his body and a Rarity plushie that Cadence had made him nearly a year prior. After the big reunion between everyone and the announcement of Princess Luna and Checkered Flag's colt, the rest of the day was a pretty lazy one for the large party of friends.

Nopony was in a real big rush to return home after breakfast, so Celestia graciously allowed them to stay in Canterlot Castle if only to relax and really just spend a whole day together after being apart for so long. Three and a half days doesn't seem like a long time, but to everyone involved, it felt like three decades. And yet, once the sun began to set thanks to Luna, everyone knew it was time to head home, even Cadence and Shining Armor who had their own kingdom to watch over. They were saddened that they couldn't stay for the ceremony for the rescue party, but the expecting couple promised to send their best wishes and possibly some gifts from the Crystal Empire upon their return.

With Princess Celestia's helping hooves, she bought out every seat for the late evening train ride to Ponyville so everyone returning would have a nice, quiet ride home. Discord offered to just teleport everyone home with a snap of his talons, but it was unanimously decided that a private train ride would help put everyone at ease. Spike and a few others questioned why Flash Sentry would be accompanying both Spike and Twilight back home, but Twilight explained that Princess Celestia wished to have a trustworthy guard to escort the two home safely after such a dangerous affair in Draconia. Spike obviously trusted the pegasus guard after what the two went through, but he was more concerned for his mom's feelings. Nevertheless, it didn't seem to bother her or anyone else after she explained the situation.

Upon entering the castle, Twilight practically ordered Spike to his room for more bedrest, claiming that he deserved a good nap in his own bed for helping bring Princess Luna back. It didn't take too much encouragement from his mom, but once Spike's eyes fell on his bed, it was like seeing an old friend. He tried to read a few comic books to pass the time while Twilight said she would make him a big hero's dinner, but he didn't even get past the first panel in his comic book before falling asleep. "Spike! Dinner's ready!" Twilight's voice called for him once again, this time sounding much closer than before. The purple and green drake stirred a bit, but his tired eyes stayed shut, refusing to obey. Twilight chuckled, knowing how tired Spike had been, and gently pushed open his bedroom door to see his peacefully sleeping form curled up. "Aww," she cooed, gently trotting over to his bed. "Hey, get up sleepyhead," Twilight shook his body gently.

"Mm, no. Spike sleeping," he mumbled, wiggling around and knocking one of his comic books onto the floor.

"Hehe, come on Spike. I made you a three layer gem cake," Twilight bribed. It was true, she had spent the past few hours of Spike's nap baking him a cake like she promised, but she wanted him out of bed as soon as possible. She grimaced a bit when Spike drooled a little at the sound of the sweet treat, but he still didn't wake up. "I know what'll wake you up," she smirked, leaning closer to his ear. "Oh Spiiiiike, Rarity's here with a gem cake," she teased. The alicorn took a step back, knowing what was going to happen.

"Rarity!?" Spike jolted awake, flinging the other comic book across the room. He jammed the Rarity plushie under his pillow on instinct. Spike was aware that Rarity knew of the toy, but she didn't have any problems with it; he was just a little paranoid of her seeing him with it. The only thing he could see, however, was his giggling mom covering her mouth with her hoof. "Oh haha mom," Spike crossed his arms as he climbed out of bed.

"Sorry Spike, but it was the only way I knew how to get you out of bed," Twilight quickly took the opportunity to hug her dragon son. Rolling his eyes, Spike gladly returned the hug, happy to be able to hug Twilight again. "It's good to be home, Spike," Twilight remarked.

"I know what you mean mom," Spike sighed.

"How's your wrist? Do you need any ice?" Twilight released her grip, taking a look at the bandage around her son's wrist that restricted its movement.

"Well I managed to hold my comic book for a few seconds before I fell asleep. So I'd say it's getting better."

"Ok good," Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Anyway, now that you're up, how about that cake?" She moved to the side to show Spike the open door. Spike began to drool again once his powerful reptilian nose inhaled the aroma of a freshly baked gem cake. Getting an idea to get back at Twilight for how she woke him up, Spike placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Race you there!" He suddenly blurted, shoving her aside and bolted for the door.

"Hey! Get back here mister!" Twilight laughed, willingly joining in the little race. It wasn't far to the kitchen/dining area from Spike's room, but still, Twilight was just glad to be back home with her baby dragon….even if she had ulterior motives awaiting him in the kitchen.

"No magic or wings!" Spike playfully called out when Twilight appeared out of thin air from a burst of magenta magic, galloping ahead of him.

"Race already started slowpoke!" Twilight turned back to stick her tongue out at the dragon. The two raced along the winding corridors of the castle until they closed in on the swinging door that led to the kitchen area. Spike had pulled up alongside his mom, only to leap onto the wall of the corridor and used his momentum to pull ahead of Twilight before jumping back in front of her.

"Haha! Never count the dragon out!" Spike teased as Twilight slowed her pace a bit at the surprising agility Spike possessed. She'd never really seen him use his newfound strength or speed since he'd grown at the previous year's Grand Galloping Gala. She was a proud mom.

"Careful of your wrist!" Her motherly instincts took over, sounding none to pleased at his reckless abandon to win a friendly little race. Spike simply turned around as he continued forward and stuck his snake-like tongue out at the alicorn, blowing her a raspberry.

"Cake, here I come!" Spike declared, skidding straight through the swinging door into the kitchen, stopping just at the breakfast table which was much smaller than the dining table. "And the winner claims his prize," Spike licked his lips, ogling the three-layer gemstone cake as if it were a mare's flank.

"Oh hey Spike, Twilight got you out of bed?" Spike froze, not remembering seeing anypony when he burst into the kitchen. Stepping back from the baked good, the drake peered around the kitchen, only to see the familiar orange fur of Flash Sentry as he scrubbed at some dishes in the sink. His armor was off as well, piled neatly on the counter close to the sink. The counter space was huge anyway, so it wasn't hurting anything.

"Flash?" Spike blinked, wondering if he was actually still dreaming. The swinging of the kitchen door alerted Spike away from his confusion as his alicorn mom trotted in. The mare was a little winded from the run, but she still held a happy smile on her face.

"Phew, I didn't realize how quick you can move, Spike," Twilight eagerly hugged the dragon. "But don't let me catch you exerting your wrist until it's healed!" She snapped. When he didn't say anything, Twilight looked over to see Flash drying up the last of the dishes. "Uh Flash, why are you washing the dishes?" Twilight asked.

"Well I helped you with the cake for Spike, so I thought I'd at least help out by cleaning everything while you got Spike out of bed," Flash grinned, wringing out the towel and tossing it into a nearby basket.

"Mom? Not that I don't like Flash, but I thought he was just taking us home?" Twilight's ears flatted against her head as a frown spread across her face. Upon hearing the question, the royal guard suddenly turned a little Fluttershy for the moment, averting his gaze from the mother/son duo and swinging his foreleg at the ground. "Woah, I didn't say anything wrong, did I?"

"No, of course not Spike," Twilight rubbed Spike's back with her wing. With a heavy sigh, Twilight pulled a chair out from the table. "Spike, can you please sit down? There's just a little something we need to discuss." Feeling a little worried but respectful of Twilight's wishes, Spike bit his lip and nodded, heading for the open chair while the purple mare cut a large chunk of cake for him and set it down on a plate.

Flash waited patiently until Twilight gave him the okay to join them at the table, not wanting to look too intruding. He and Twilight had discussed pretty much everything what they wanted to tell Spike whilst baking his cake, but Flash understood that it'd be better if Twilight explained the most important parts to the dragon. Nonetheless, he tried to break the ice, "Does the cake taste good?" He tried to muster up a smile despite how awkward he felt.

"Mhmm," Spike nodded slowly, crunching on a few gemstones. Twilight could tell just how uneasy Spike felt from how slowly he was eating gemstones.

"Okay, Spike?" Twilight gently placed a hoof on his good wrist. "We can't afford to sugarcoat this for you, but we weren't truthful with you when we said Princess Celestia ordered Flash to escort us home," she admitted with a shaky voice. The crunching of the gems ceased. "Remember how Celestia said she'd give Glock, Bat Fang, and Flash all a few days off to recuperate?"

"Yeah….."

"Well, Flash and I kind of took advantage of the princess' kindness. In fact, she doesn't even know that Flash is here right now, but I doubt she'd care with all that's happening with Princess Luna," Twilight began to ramble before catching herself. Spike shifted his gaze over the guard in question who was being completely silent at the moment, peeking up at the two. "And I just want to let you know that the cake wasn't a bribery for you. I really wanted to bake you a cake before Flash and I came to this decision."

Spike had a gut feeling at what his mom was getting at, but he stayed silent if only to not worry her by accidentally sounding upset. "Flash came back with us because we both felt like we should tell you together. Last night, we made a decision to give each other another chance at a relationship," Twilight explained, her voice in a bit of a higher pitch as she sped through the reveal. Twilight clenched her entire body, unsure of how Spike would react. She had a safe bet that it wouldn't be anger, but she still didn't want to worry him.

Flash on the other hoof held his head in his hooves. Spike already knew how he felt about wanting to fix things between he and Twilight, but the two never got the chance to have their stallion to dragon talk about it.

"Flash was really the one who wanted to come back with us because he felt you had the right to talk to him about any problems you might have," Twilight explained. "And it'd be better if he were here instead of me telling you alone." Silence befell the room. Spike quietly pushed his plate of half eaten cake away and licked his lips of frosting. Both Flash and Twilight braced themselves, unsure of what the dragon's response would be.

"Look Spike," Flash suddenly spoke up, only to have Spike hold up a hand to silence him.

"I kinda saw this coming," Spike admitted sheepishly. "Flash kind of alluded to it in Draconia that he wanted to do things right," he added. The two ponies exchanged glances before looking back at the dragon.

"Y-yeah, I told your mom of the little chat we had," Flash replied. "But look Spike, if you're not comfortable with this, then we won't try this."

"Exactly," Twilight nodded. "We only want to try this again if you're fine with it. We don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position."

"And we won't hold it against you if don't want this, Spike," Flash swore. "You're really the one who's most affected by this which is why we wanted to consult you before we even tried to get back together."

"Mom, I just have one question," Spike announced, still talking in a somewhat low voice.

"Anything Spike," Twilight squeezed his hand.

"Are you two," he emphasized, pointing between the mare and stallion, "comfortable with it?"

"Huh?" Both Twilight and Flash looked puzzled at his question. Both were expecting a little hesitation from the drake, not a question like that.

"I mean, are both of you 100% sure you want to try this again?" Spike turned his hand over and squeezed his mother's hoof.

"Y-yes, we are Spike," Twilight stuttered, still surprised yet a little proud at his inquisitiveness. "We both admitted to each other that we both were pretty bad at putting effort into our relationship." Flash nodded in agreement. "I never once tried to get Flash a transfer here so we could be closer."

"And I rarely came to visit, even though Twilight's related to Luna and Celestia by her brother marrying Cadence and they would've gladly given me some leave time," Flash agreed. "Letters just aren't the same as talking to your special somepony face to face."

"Precisely," Twilight said, conjuring up a tiny smile toward the stallion.

"Okay, but are you guys sure you want to try the long distance thing again? I didn't want to say anything last time, but I think that was a big reason why it didn't work out so well and that a few of our friends even forgot you were dating Flash, mom. I mean, I just want both of you to be happy too." The awkwardness in the room dissipated slightly; Twilight and Flash looked at each other again and shared a good chuckle. "Uh, what's so funny?" Spike asked, puzzled.

"Well, we pretty much didn't take our relationship seriously last time, Spike," Twilight replied.

"Yeah, so we wouldn't blame anypony for not taking it seriously either," Flash added with a shrug.

"But I have a transfer request written up and ready to send to Princess Celestia to allow Flash to stay here," Twilight's horn lit up, retrieving a scroll from her saddle bag near the door. "And if she allows it," Twilight moved her hoof to Spike's face, cupping his cheek, "Flash will be living with us." Spike's emerald eyes widened at the announcement, staring at the rolled up piece of parchment. The orange stallion got up from his seat and moved next to Twilight, wrapping his foreleg around her back.

"But Spike, we still want to know if you're comfortable with this," he reiterated, becoming a bit more talkative. "I promise you that I'm not trying to come in here and take all of Twilight's attention away from you. I don't even expect you to treat me any different, just as a friend is good enough. And I still want you to call me Flash if that's okay." He grinned hopefully. Spike opened his mouth to say something before his mom stepped up from her seat.

"Spike, this WILL be somewhat of an adjustment for all of us, but I give you my word that I will still love you as a son and make you a big part of my life. You were and always have been my little dragon, no force in Equestria will make me forget that." Twilight's eyes began to tear up at her words. Her love for Spike was strong. Being the good son that he was, Spike reached up with his thumb and brushed away a few of the tears falling down Twilight's face.

"I love you mom," he said, hugging her. Twilight cooed and returned the hug, squeezing the poor drake as hard as Pinkie Pie could. Flash stepped away, wanting to respect the mother/son bond between the two, but Spike reached up with his hand, motioning for the stallion to come forward. Hesitantly, Flash obliged, carefully hugging around Twilight as Spike pulled him closer. Spike suddenly grabbed the scroll from Twilight's magic, breathing fire on it before she could react. The scroll burnt up in a wisp of green fire and smoke, traveling directly to the Princess of the Sun.

"You've already adjusted your life to us as a mom and son," Spike pulled away, fighting a few tears of his own. "I think I can adjust to this for you two," he smiled, allowing tear droplets to slide down his scaly cheeks.

"Thank you Spike," Flash reached over and ruffled the spikes and spines on Spike's head. "Now then, when do we tell your friends?" He questioned just as a scroll burst into the room, bouncing off Flash's blue mane. Twilight giggled from Flash's reaction to being hit on the head, taking the scroll from the ground with her magic.

"I think we can tell them tomorrow," the alicorn scanned her eyes across the message from Princess Celestia. "I'd prefer to just spend time with you two tonight," she grinned, slicing up two more pieces of cake for her and Flash Sentry.

"Hey!" Flash exclaimed when Twilight smashed the cake against his muzzle, coating it in white frosting and gemstones. Both Twilight and Spike began laughing as the stallion wiped his nose and mouth clean. Flash grabbed Twilight's slice of cake and quickly smothered it all over her face, smirking at his payback. Soon, the two ponies and dragon were sharing a laugh after Twilight wiped most of her face with a towel and licked her muzzle clean. While Flash living in the castle would be much of an adjustment for all three, they were willing to put forth the effort and looking forward to where this chapter in their lives would take them.

End Chapter 57

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So, I really had fun writing this scene. I love every chance I get to have mother/son moments between Spike and Twilight. But I wanted this scene to be straight and to the point with both Flash and Twilight worrying more for Spike's esteem and feelings toward the situation. And while I know most people don't like FlashLight, I want to just say thank you to all of those who have expressed their distaste for the couple, but have been willing to give them a chance if only for this story. And for those who still don't like FlashLight, I also want to say thank you for at least being mature about your opinions.

As for the next chapter, I can't reveal what the surprises are, not even a hint. You'll have to wait and read :)