High Moon Ch. 45:

Of Talks and Letting Go

Cyclone hurried through the dark tunnel with Cinder lighting and leading the way for her. The clan’s mother was counting on her to get to the others to deliver the plastic as well as the message from Blaze. By the time she reached the curved path leading downward to the mansion, she was already running a bit short on breath, but Cyclone continued to push forward into the mansion behind Cinder.

Once in the parlor, Cyclone looked up the the wooden support beams to see Cinder flying around them and towards a door just left of the flight of stairs leading up the upper floors. Cyclone made her way over towards the doors, pushing them open before continuing to follow Cinder down the corridor.

It wasn’t long before she found herself pushing open another door that led out to another downward path towards the city ruins. She had no clue where the others could be. “Cinder,” Cyclone panted as the purple phoenix landed on her right shoulder. Cyclone took a moment to catch her breath as she couldn’t remember the last time she had ran that much before.

When she looked up again, Cyclone scanned over the city. Along with stone and rotten wood structures, Cyclone saw where that Mother Nature had slowly been reclaiming the land for herself. “Cinder,” Cyclone said, after being able to catch her breath, “Could you lead me to them? I’m still not familiar with this area.”

Cinder chirped and flew off in the direction that Cyclone assumed the others were in. Following behind closely, she hoped that Spike wouldn’t be too upset that she wouldn’t be able to tell him much beyond Blaze’s message.

Minutes later, Cyclone and Cinder finally arrived at the location the greenhouse was being built on. She rushed over towards the group with the green duffel bag still strapped firmly across her back.

As she approached the group, Cyclone was again out of breath, but managed to say that she had been asked to deliver the plastic rolls for Quill. Wolf told the Isis to go ahead and finish the greenhouse while Spike began questioning Cyclone on why Quill hadn’t come herself. Isis began using her magic to manipulate the plastic rolls and the wooden logs to create clear covers over the four-layer rows that comprised the greenhouse.

It was a only few moments more before the glow around Isis’ hands faded and the greenhouse was completed. Now all that was left was gathering soil so they could plant seeds, then adding in the plant-growth potion.

With the greenhouse fully built, Wolf consulted with Isis and Lily about what type of plants to seed, how many, and where. Meanwhile, Cyclone had told Spike about how his sister had been acting on her return, and how Blaze had put the dragoness to sleep before sending Cyclone out to get him and Frost..

Spike, of course, was upset at hearing something was wrong with his sister, and began unleashing a flurry of questions at Cyclone. She told him that that was all that Quill had said she could say, and that he’d have to wait until they got back. That didn’t stop Spike from trying to get more information out of the white dragoness, though. His continual questioning started making her more and more anxious. Veil, noticing her friend’s nervous jitter, snapped at the drake for throwing so many questions at Cyclone.

Spike apologized to Cyclone for the sudden barrage of questions, saying that he was only concerned about his sister’s condition. Cyclone waved off the drake’s apologies, knowing that she would do the same thing if Veil was in the same situation.

Upon hearing that one of his pack members was in some kind of pain, Wolf questioned Cyclone by what she meant, almost sounding as though he was barking an order at her. Isis was able to get her master to calm down enough to where he could at least start thinking straight again. It was Wolf’s turn to apologize to Cyclone, which was again waved off by the dragoness.

Now in a more controlled voice, Wolf asked Cyclone about Quill’s sudden change in condition. However, the only information that she was able to give was that Blaze had sent her and Cinder to get Spike and Frost, then bring him back to the temple.

After a moment of thought, Wolf told the two to follow Cyclone and Cinder back to see about Quill, and to take Isis. Isis asked her master if it was truly alright for her to leave with the greenhouse still slightly incomplete, but Wolf waved her off as there was something else in the city that he wanted to check with and that he didn’t need her on deck for it.

Veil wanted to go with Cyclone, just to make sure that Drake didn’t keep pestering Cyclone with questions, but Wolf stopped her when he said that he had a job for both her and Lily. With a slight growl, Veil did as she was told to, and said her goodbyes to Cyclone with another threat to Spike if he kept bothering Cyclone. Afterwards, she left with Wolf and Lily, heading off into a part of the city ruins she wasn’t familiar with.

With her master gone, and his silent words of trust, Isis quickly took lead of the group, and began taking them back to the temple. During the short trek towards the tunnels, Spike was so worried for his sister that Frost was starting to feel ill from it.

When she finally let the drake know of this, Spike let out a small volley of apologies towards the changeling mare, knowing that his worrying was not only bad for his health, but Frost’s as well. However, this forced Spike to ask Cyclone again regarding his sister’s condition, but he was again thwarted by Cyclone repeating, “Quill just told me to come get you. She didn’t want me to tell you.”

Frost knew something had to have been wrong with Quill for her not to be able to finish her task. After training with her the day before their tests, Frost could fully understand that Quill never stopped a task until it was finished, if the way she fought was any indication. Now however, upon sensing Cyclone’s worry for Quill, along with Spike’s, even Frost was having troubles keeping her emotions in check.

“Cyclone, please tell me what’s wrong with my sister?” Spike again questioned the white dragoness as he, Cyclone, Frost, the phoenixes, and Isis walked--or flew the in pet birds case--through the tunnel leading back to the temple.

“I-I’m sorry Spike,” Cyclone stuttered. She tried to hide in front of the sphinx to her right, however Isis seemed to be too busy with her own thoughts to notice her silent pleas of security. “You’re just going to have to wait until we’re in the temple. But what I can tell you is that it sounds pretty serious.”

“That’s only making me worry even more Cyclone,” Spike groaned as he began rubbing the back of his head in a nervous manner, tired of being left with oh-so-little information about his sister’s condition. “Cyclone please, I’m begging you.”

“I-I’m sorry Spike, I can’t. It isn’t my place to,” Cyclone forcefully said as she again tried to use Isis to hide her. The dragoness’ movement finally snapped Isis out of her thoughts. She then looked behind her to catch the knowing look in Frost’s eyes.

Both were none too surprised that the other was able to tell Cyclone was asked to keep Quill’s condition secret, and that it was a hard thing for her to do with Spike continuingly making her feel guilty about it. With a nod towards each other, both Isis and Frost moved to put an end to Spike’s constant questioning.

As Spike was again going to attempt to question the dragoness, Frost placed a hand on his shoulder. “Spike,” she started to gain his attention further, picking up her pace so she could walk alongside of him. “I know you’re worried about your sister, as I am, but you must trust Cyclone’s words until we are able to see otherwise.”

“Frost is right, Spike,” Isis added, placing a hand on Cyclone’s left shoulder to gently pull her closer. “Your sister entrusted Cyclone with the concealment of her condition most likely to prevent all of us from worrying over her. You do not want to force her to break this trust, do you?” she asked, holding an air of authority about her that reminded him of the few times he’d met Princess Luna.

Upon gazing into the sphinx's mixed red and blue eyes, Spike sighed and lowered his head to the ground. “No, I don’t.” Peewee, who was resting on Spike’s shoulder, tilted his head at Spike a little before nudging at one of his head-spines with his beak to get his attention. Spike looked up from the ground towards his pet, only to see that Peewee was giving him a small smile.

“Yeah, you guys are right,” he said with a calmer tone of voice before turning his attention back to Cyclone. “Hey, uh sorry for trying to get you to break your promise, Cyclone,” Spike said as he was rubbing the back of his head with a honest and apologetic tone of voice. “I was just so worried about Quill that I wasn’t thinking right.”

“That’s okay Spike,” Cyclone with a cheery tone in her voice that surprised the group a little. “I would have done the same thing for Veil if she was in the same situation.”

Frost began sensing waves of happiness coming from the dragoness as her expression continued to change into a happy one that left the others surprised. “I take it then that the two of you are close?” Isis asked, taking her hand off of the dragoness, but quickly was given a start when Cyclone suddenly wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Uh-huh,” Cyclone started, nuzzling into Isis’ soft black fur, careful not to accidentally undo the white cloth covering her breasts. “We’ve lived together for six years now. Veil protected me and kept me safe. I owe her my life.”

Isis continued to stare down at the short dragoness with a small hint of awkwardness, that soon faded away as she placed her arm around Cyclone’s neck. “I see, well I hope that you and I can grow just as close.”

“Sure,” Cyclone cheerfully said as they finally made their way towards the end of the tunnel where Cinder slowed her flight to land on Isis’ shoulder. Cyclone left the sphinx’s warm embrace so she could open of the slab door with the fire-stone Blaze gave her.

The moment the door opened, all four moved through, heading straight towards Blaze and Quill while the phoenixes flew to the table. Spike and Frost rushed to Blaze’s work table to examine the dragoness laying her head on the table. Knowing that his sister was a heavy sleeper, Spike turned towards the only one that could answer the many questions that were flying through his head.

“Blaze, what’s wrong with Quill?” Spike quickly asked, turning to the mare who appeared to have fallen asleep herself. “Blaze, why is she asleep? Quill doesn’t have ghost-heart like I do. Please tell me what is wrong with my sister,” he continued in a begging voice as Blaze woke up. “Cyclone said that she was sick or something but wouldn’t te-”

“Spike, calm down,” Frost sternly said after assuring herself that her lover was in fact merely sleeping. Knowing that it wasn’t helpful to question Blaze like that, Spike closed his eyes to use the meditation training to calm his nervous. Once Frost was sure that the drake had calmed down, she turned her attention towards Blaze while slowly stroking her lover’s head-spines. “Blaze, just what triggered all of this?”

Blaze only answered Frost’s question by sparking her horn to pull out a necklace from Quill’s hands. While Frost and Isis had no idea what the necklace had to do with Quill, Spike’s eyes widened in pure shock. Frost felt something she hadn’t expected from the drake after seeing a necklace, regardless of how well-crafted or pretty it was. Surprise, mixed with a slowly growing horror.

“Blaze… how did that… is that what I think it is?,” Spike said, reaching out to grab the Fire Ruby. He caressed the front of it, feeling the still-familiar contours of the heart-shaped gem. ‘This can’t be right, this can’t be the same one. Unless…’ If Spike’s eyes could have gotten wider, they would have. His gaze snapped from the ruby over to Blaze. “Blaze, did Quill kill Rarity?”

Blaze’s didn’t immediately, answer, stretching her arms after her short nap, then stopping mid-motion as her mind processed what Spike had said. She let out a short snort of laughter, before saying, “No, Spike, Quill killed nobody to get the necklace. From what she said, it was given to her freely. To return to you.”

Spike’s eyes slowly went back to the gem, still wide. That didn’t make any sense. The Fire Ruby Spike had given Rarity was one of her prized pieces, to hear her tell the story. She wore it to nearly every formal occasion that she found herself at. So it didn’t make any sense to Spike why she’d want to give it back.

“It’s true, Spike,” Quill said, also rousing herself, Blaze’s laughter having woke her up. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment, before continuing, “Rarity gave me that, wanting me to tell you that you deserved it far more than her. She was looking pretty rough, too. And something seemed off about her. She wasn’t acting like herself, basically.”

‘Well, that at least seems par for the course,’ Spike thought to himself dryly. “But that doesn’t make any sense, Quill. Why would she return this? And how could I possibly deserve it more?”

Quill rolled her eyes at her brother. “Couldn’t tell you - Rarity left rather quickly after handing it over. The other elements all seemed confused by it as well.” Quill thought for a moment. “Spike, you didn’t run into her the other day when you and Cyclone went into Ponyville, did you?”

Spike’s claw froze mid-stroke on the ruby, and he unconsciously looked at the white dragoness. When she shook her head slightly, Spike sighed. “Yeah, we did. Though nothing happened that would explain this.” Spike decided he had to watch his words here, the last thing he needed was for Quill to fly off the handle about Rarity’s outburst when he wouldn’t return to Ponyville.

Quill got up and moved around the table to Spike, pressing him for information. “Well apparently it was something! Come on, what happened?” She gripped her hands on Spike’s shoulders, forcing him to face her.

Spike thought for a moment, wondering what he could tell her that wouldn’t make her more upset at Rarity than she normally was. He sighed again, tossing the necklace over to the table. “Quill, nothing happened that concerns you or would explain this. I’m sorry, but that’s all I’m going to say.”

Quill looked at her brother’s eyes, searching them for a hint as to what happened. Finding nothing, she shook his shoulders lightly as she took in a breath through her teeth. “Since when do you keep secrets from me?” she asked, honestly feeling a little hurt.

Spike smiled and shook his head, putting his hands over his sister’s on his shoulders. “Quill, it’s nothing big. I promise. More importantly, Rarity said I deserve it more? I may have to return it to her.”

Quill went from curious to angry almost instantly. “And just why is that, Spike?!” she nearly shouted, shoving him back while Spike simply laughed. Still breathing hard, Quill pointed a claw at him, continuing, “She played with your heart for how long?! And you still think she’s worthy of anything from you?!”

‘Well, guess now’s as good a time as any,’ Spike chuckled to himself. Spike turned around get a grip of himself, taking in a deep breath. “Quill, Rarity’s not the only one that was playing with hearts.”

Spike took a moment to steady himself, toying with his hands. “Lemme ask you this Quill,” he started before turning to lock his eyes with Quill’s. “How long do you think I believed that lie I’ve been telling myself? How long did you honestly think that I thought I had a chance with her?”

“Spike, what are you talking about?” Quill asked, moving back towards the table to stand next to Frost. “What do you mean by Rarity wasn’t the only one playing with hearts?” Spike laughed to himself again, which only further annoyed and confused Quill. “Would you quit giggling to yourself and tell me what you mean?!”

“I believe I know what he is talking about,” Frost started with a slight frown on her face as she continued to watch Spike’s expression slowly change along with his emotions. Oddly, amusement became shame, and Frost had a feeling why. “This Rarity, she is not the only one that been tampering with another’s heart. You too have been toying with her heart, you’ve also been doing it in secret from the sense of things. Is that not correct?”

Quill whipped her head towards Frost with a look of pure disbelief at what her mare was implying. However, Frost’s words were only given truth when Spike again chuckled while nodding his head. “Yeah, I did,” Spike admitted while he rubbed the back of his neck with a look of shame on his face. The heavy secret that he had been carrying with him for so long had been slowly eating away at him for close to three years.

“Every time a stallion came along and tried to win Rarity’s heart,” he choked, shaking his head at his past actions. “I would find some way to get rid of them. I had been doing that for three years before I just gave up around ten or so months ago.”

“Oh my,” Blaze said, completely shocked. She, nor the others, would have ever thought that a nice drake like Spike would ever do something as low as scaring off a suitor for someone he loved just so he wouldn’t have any competition.

‘Then again,’ she thought, ‘for a dragon, that’s understandable.’ All dragons were territorial in some shape or from, all dragons had some type of greed with in them, and all dragons acted on this greed whether they knew it or not. From the sound of things, Spike had been doing just that for a number of years.

“Quill, please,” Spike started, relieved to finally be getting this off his chest. “I know that it was extremely selfish of me to do something like that, but I just couldn’t take seeing her looking at someone else.”

When Spike got nothing but pure silence from Quill, he sighed in discomfort. “Look I know you’re mad at me for-”

“You mean to tell me,” Quill started, moving over to where Spike was sitting and jabbing a finger into his chest. Spike grunted, but didn’t say anything yet. No need in going saying something else that might upset Quill even further “For nearly a whole year, you let her have her way with you. You let her use you on purpose because you thought that you owed her didn’t you?”

Spike dropped his head in shame with another sigh coming from him. “Y-yeah...I-I did, it burned me everytime I had to think of a plan of a way to get rid of another one of her crushes.” Quill turned away from her brother in with a disappointed sigh coming from her, obviously greatly upset with Spike’s past choices. “Look I’m not proud of what I did Quill, and honestly I’m sorry for never taking your advice to just move on with my life. You were right…”

“It all make sense now.” Quill shook her head, closing her eyes as she spun around on her heel before facing Spike again. “The last time we’ve got into it about her,” she started, referring to the time Spike ran all the way to Dodge Junction for three days. “I said that she would never love us. I said that she was only going to use us because she was too afraid of breaking our hearts.”

Spike again sighed, seeing how everything would have been far much better if he had listened to Quill’s blunt words from the beginning. “You got mad,” Quill said, again poking a finger into his chest, and breaking Spike out of his thoughts. “But you didn’t get mad because I was right, you got mad because you felt guilty about ruining her chances of finding someone to love. And you ran away, not to get away from me or the truth, but to start over with a clean slate, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Spike flatly answered with a small nod of his head. “Quill what you said to me hurt, it hurt worse than the actual truth, but yeah. I was more mad at you being more right than you could know than I was at you. I’m sorry Quill.”

Quill took a step back away from Spike while she shook her head, still having an upset look on her face. “Lemme ask then then, just when did you really put all of this together, Spike? When did you really start to know that we never even had a chance?” Quill question, suddenly taking a step towards Spike, jabbing his arm hard.

Spike wordlessly took the hit, silently wishing that Quill would do a bit more than just punch him. “O-our greed-growth kinda gave it away,” he began as he began rubbing the arm Quill punched in discomfort. “I-I had overheard her talking with Fluttershy about it a few days after...you wouldn’t like to hear it.”

“I know exactly what she said,” Quill spat in anger while she continued to fill in all the missing pieces to the whole story. Closing her eyes, Quill started to slowly reason through everything that Spike had done over the years, and just why he would do something so foolhardy; her mind jumping to one answer. “You got bound by your stupid dragon’s code, didn’t you?” she questioned Spike, who was refusing to return the looks anyone was giving him, but still nodding his head.

“Spike, why didn’t you ever tell me? I would’ve-”

Quill was cut off by Spike slowly shaking his head before he finally raised it to look her in the eyes. “No you wouldn’t Quill,” he said with a small laugh, knowing his sister far better than she knew herself. “Quill, knowing you,” he paused, finally cracking a smile and pointing a finger at her. “You would have either stormed straight to Rarity’s house to demand that she free me of any guilt, or you would have locked me in the closet until I said I would stop.”

“That’s because you’re my brother Spike,” Quill quickly said with a sad look on her face, one Spike didn’t think fit her. “This may sound cheesy, but you’re my twin brother Spike, and I love you. I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, sit back and let yourself get all worked up over something like that. I mean,” Quill paused, walking around in a circle to buy herself time to think of something to say to Spike.

“Remember that time when Twi asked you to sing the Equestrian national anthem for the talent show like eight months ago?” Quill asked with a sly grin, moving closer towards Spike to pat him on the chest a couple of times. A long groan of irritation, along with a wave of flat emotions started coming from Spike as he nodded his head. “And, and remember how you didn’t know a single word of it? Despite th-”

“Quill this better be going somewhere,” Spike groaned with a small hint of a blush on his scales. Cyclone couldn’t help but giggle at the blushing drake, after seeing that the situation was turning for the better. Spike’s blush only got brighter in the dim room at the sound of Cyclone’s giggling.

When he finally worked up the courage to look her way, all Cyclone did was blush back at him with a small wave. “Cuz making fun of me at a time like this is really the definition of childish.”

“I’m getting to it, I’m getting to it,” Quill assured, waving her hand around in Spike’s face to get his attention, while she turned back around before leaning on the table with her left hand. “As bad as it was,” she continued, turning around again to sit on the table and rest her arms in her lap. “Having bailed on taking any lessons with Fluttershy. And then the whole town staring at you, watching ya sweat more water than a waterfall. Someone came to your rescue after you didn’t know any words to the song.”

Spike started to chuckle while he scratched at his blushing red cheek with his finger. Thinking back to the day, Spike couldn’t help but be glad that he had a sister like Quill, who was oddly a great singer too.

“You did,” he mumbled quietly so only Quill would hear him, only to fail when the room carried an echo for the others to catch his words. “Okay I see your point sis, you’re a loving sister that had a messed up way of showing it, but that doesn’t mean I would have made a different choice.”

“Of course not,” Quill replied with a shake of her head and a fake exaggerated sigh. “You’ve always been the stubborn ‘Spikey-Wikey,’ bro.” Both twins finally shared a laugh at the old nickname that the elements were fond of calling him sometimes.

This all was ironic and a bit backwards. This past year, both twins had been arguing and bickering about the mare, only to discover that their arguing hadn’t been necessary. Spike was guilt bound by his dragon’s code to help the mare out, all the while having given up on his feelings for her just under a year ago. Quill just wanted what was best for Spike, and that wasn’t with the mare. She was just glad he knew that.

“Yeah, well you were always the hot-head,” Spike started, wiping away a tear from his eye, happy that they were tears from laughing too much, instead of being from breaking down. In fact, laughter seemed to be lightening the mood so much, that he thought it would be funny to return Quill’s pet-name. “You really have to teach me how you manage to sing so well, Barb.”

Spike kept laughing, even when he saw his sister’s body tense up just from hearing the old nickname. However, his laughter wasn’t shared, as the others were able to see the hellfire in Quill’s eyes before she whipped her head around to lock onto the laughing drake.

“Spike,” Quill growled with a mildly threatening tone in her voice as her right eye started to slightly twitch from the overflow of emotions and anger towards that nickname. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me that? Especially in front of Frost?”

Spike again chuckled, rubbing the spines on his head. “H-heh, yeah...well that’s what you get for calling me ‘Spikey-Wikey’ in front of Cyclone,” Spike retorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes widened and his jaw snapped shut, cutting off his laughter, when he realized what he had let slip.

Quill cracked a sly smile with her eyebrow raised at Spike, leaning forward a bit as she turned her head. “Oh? And what would that mean Spike?” she asked, looking between a blushing Cyclone and a stammering Spike. Before the drake could find some way out of what Quill was implying, his sister continued, “I figured you had a thing for Cyclone, and I think that you’d make a cute couple. What do you say, Blaze?”

“Oh yes, I agree,” Blaze said with a small giggle as she leaned back in her chair. The soft smile grew on her lips as she closed her eyes to picture High Moon having new members added to it. “I think we might see a few dragon hatchlings running around here sometime soon.”

Spike’s blush quickly founded a new hue from Blaze’s giggling while Cyclone stammered, “C-C-Clan-Mother, I don’t… well, maybe…” Cyclone let out a small squeak when her mind caught onto what she had said, blushing brightly as she looked over to Spike for a moment before the both of them turned their gazes away.

Everyone started laughing at the two blushing dragons, soon getting them to softly laugh as well as they took a quick glance towards each other. “By the way,” Quill started after her fit of laughter ended, hopping off Blaze’s table, and grabbing the purple duffel bag from the floor. “Spike, you gotta check out the stuff I got from Ponyville. Oh, where’s the green duffel bag? It has your stuff from Twilight’s in it.”

“Uh, I think we left it out at the greenhouse,” Spike said, remembering that he was too worried about Quill to think about grabbing the duffel bag. “And what do you mean that it has my stuff from Twilight’s in it?”

“Remember that space-saving spell Twilight was working on?” Quill asked as she unzipped the top of the duffel bag before rummaging through it to grab a black sketch-book and a blue mechanical pencil.

Spike’s jaw dropped at the conclusion he came to after seeing Quill reach into duffel bag that had an ethereal purple glow to it. ‘So that’s what that was. Guess Twi really is moving on,’ Spike thought to himself with a smile before he remembered that all of his stuff was still sitting out in the city.

“Oh dang, I better go grab it then,” Spike said, quickly rushing around the table to reach to the slab door to the tunnel. However, before he could even get his fire-stone gloves within range, Spike was stopped by Isis outstretching a wing to stop him.

Spike looked up towards the sphinx's eyes for a moment, only seeing her smile towards him. “I’ll go retrieve your things for you Spike,” Isis said after she folded her wing back into place of her back. “Would you rather have me bring it here or to your room?”

“Uh, oh, my room would be better. Thanks Isis,” Spike said with a small nod of thanks to Isis. She returned the nod before suddenly disappearing in a black flash of feathers. Spike shrugged his shoulders at the sphinx’s sudden move, looking at Blaze for an answer.

All the mare did was close her eyes as she sparked her horn to conjure up a book for her to read. Seeing that there wasn’t anything else to do, Spike turned to take Frost’s spot at Blaze’s table, as the mare had already walked around to stand right next to Quill, watching whatever Quill was drawing.

Cyclone blushed from having Spike standing right next to her after what she had blurted out, causing her to look away slightly. Spike caught this, but did his best not to let it be known. Instead he decided to put his mind on something else. “Hey uh, sis,” Spike slowly said, getting Quill’s attention away from what she was drawing. “I’m really sorry for making you worry about me all these years. I’m sorry for all of the arguments that we’ve had about it...I’m sorry about-”

“Spike...forget about it man,” Quill cut in, “I should’ve been more considerate of your feelings. And I had plenty of time to think about that. So we’re both sorry,” Quill laughed, giving Spike a playful nudge with a half balled-up fist to his shoulder while she had a small smirk on her face.

“We both royally messed these last few years. So we might as well just move on, eh?” she asked before going back to her drawing in her book while both pet phoenixes eyed the Fire Ruby necklace threateningly, even giving it a few pecks with their beaks or kicks with their feet.

Spike rubbed his shoulder a little from Quill’s fist pushing at it before he gave a slight eye roll. “Yeah we did, didn’t we? But Quill, you’re not totally dropping the subject, right? I mean, most of the elements seem to be doing fine, but…” he asked, wanting to get to the bottom of Rarity’s sudden actions.

Quill shook her head, no longer wanting to deal with all of their past actions today, but still knowing what Spike was talking about. “No, but we’ll figure it out eventually, Spike. Okay?” she asked, glancing at Spike with her pencil still on the light-tan paper.

“Alright Quill,” Spike answered, knowing that Quill was probably still tired from what had happened today. “But for real, you’re not gonna just turn your back on them, are you? They did technically raise us until we came out here.”

“No Spike, I’m not turning my back on them, I’m just saying that they need to grow. And from the enchantment Twilight was able to learn without us around, I say they have,” Quill said all while still drawing, turning the book every so often to get a better angle.

Spike nodded his head as he tried to get a better look at what she was drawing, giving up when she again turned the book another one hundred eighty degrees. “Ah, okay then. But what um, what did you get Quill?”

“Hm?”

Spike let out a small laugh as he should’ve guess that Quill would have already started losing herself in her drawing, ‘in the zone’ as she called it. “The duffel bag? The stuff you got from Ponyville, remember?”

“It’s sitting right there, I’m not stopping you,” Quill said while still roughing out what had been in her head for the last two months, since moving to High Moon. “Just be careful what you pull out, will ya? The rest of my clothes are still in there, if you know what I mean.”

Spike titled his head for a moment before blushing. “Uh… yeah, are you sure you don’t really care because I might…”

Sighing from being interrupted, Quill placed her pencil at the center fold of the book before closing it to show Spike, along with everyone else, what she was able to grab from the ponies that owed her favours. It wasn’t long before Frost and Cyclone started to get invested as well while Blaze continued her reading, peeking over with a smile hidden behind her book.

Isis soon returned after placing Spike’s duffel bag in his room. She moved to sit down in the empty chair next to Blaze, wrapping a wing around her so Blaze could comfortably lay her head down on Isis’ chest. “Mistress, are you alright?” Isis faintly whispered to not disturb what the twins were talking about with Frost and Cyclone. “You seemed greatly worried throughout that whole ordeal.”

Blaze leaned into Isis’ body, putting away her book, wrapping her arms around her sphinx's midsection. Blaze sighed contently as she nuzzled into her warm black fur coat through the thin fabric of her shirt. “Yes Isis, I am fine,” Blaze started, breathing in Isis’ faint wildflower scent. “A lot happened to them today is all, and we are still not done just yet.”

Isis lowered her head a little to look down at Blaze’s shining eyes. “Mistress, what do you mean?” she asked Blaze as the mare further leaned into her chest, her eyes slowly closing.

“Not now, Isis,” she slowly breathed out as if to keep her nerves in line. Isis knew that Blaze too must have been worked up in the last hour or so. With the traits she carried from her home, Blaze had to have been the one that was more worried than any of them.

However, she couldn’t be allowed to show this. Blaze had to be strong at all times so the others could remain strong as well; she was the mother after all. “Let’s have peace for a while, Isis,” Blaze continued with a soft sigh when Isis placed a hand on her head and back to start gently rubbing them. “Let’s rest.”

“But of course mistress, you’ve earned it,” Isis softly said as she moved her other wing around Blaze’s body while her fingers were locked in the mass of her red mane and blue fur. Isis happily resigned herself to being a bed for her mistress. After the events that had passed in the last few hours, Isis knew that she needed the rest.

Today certainly had been a long day for everyone, and it still wasn’t over. However in the end, memories were memories, some better left forgotten. They held just enough power to affect a single individual, and through that single individual, they held an even greater power. This was one of the few things immortals feared.

While Blaze slowly fell asleep in Isis’ arms and wings, both Quill and Spike were continuing their talk about what came next for them. “So...sis,” Spike spoke through the gem favored lollipop in his mouth while the others also enjoyed a sweet treat. “What’s next? I mean, what do you have planned for tomorrow?”

Quill raised a suspicious eyebrow at the drake before going back to her drawing. “I dunno,” she answered with a slight shrug of her shoulders, taking a moment to actually think about what came next. “Training I guess, I’m still entering in that flight competition so I need to work on some aerial moves. Along with some other stuff. What about you Frost, what you think we should do?”

Frost looked away from the handheld game station that she and Cyclone were busy playing around with. “Hm,” she looked away to think of something, moving the lollipop around in her mouth as she did so. “Yes, training does seem like our main adjective for tomorrow. Unless Wolf or Blaze has something else planned that is.”

“I don’t think so,” Cyclone faintly said as she continued to play the basic 2D side-scroller. The other three turned their attention towards Cyclone, only to see her pink eyes reflecting the light from the game screen. “Clan-Mother seems to not want anything too big to happen for a while, so I’m guessing all of us will just be doing some training until Clan-Father comes up with something.”

Both twins raised an eyebrow at the dragoness, who either remained unaware of their stares, or just paid them no attention. “Cyclone, how do you figure that?” Frost asked, not sensing anything particularly wrong with her, but slightly thrown off by her not paying them any attention. “Granted that this has been a fairly busy week, but I would think that we would have some more to do.”

“Mm...no,” Cyclone replied as she paused the game to face the half-breed standing by her. Again, Frost was thrown off when she got a sense of merry from Cyclone, but guessed it was just because of the peace that they had for now. “After the test we all took, and the greenhouse being almost done, the most that would happen would be us moving the plant potion thing.”

That’s when everyone turned their attentions towards the large cauldron sitting next to Frost, having been largely ignored during the heated moment with the twins, that held the plant-growth potion inside. Spike still had no idea how they were going to move it without spilling any of the elixir, but after seeing what Isis could truly do with her magic, he had a feeling that they wouldn’t have much trouble.

“So, unless something does come up, I doubt that we will being doing much of anything.” Cyclone quickly went back to playing the game as she now was starting to get the hang of it and was enjoying it. “I guess I’ll be doing something with my water-magic tomorrow,” she continued, again pausing the game to look at Frost. “If you don’t mind helping me, Frost?”

Frost quickly smiled at the dragoness, remembering that she had agreed to help her with her water-magic. “Sure thing Cyclone, I would be happy to teach you a few things I know,” she said with a honest tone that only brightened the dragoness’ smile.

“Guess I might as well tag along,” Quill said, easing some of her drawing to add a bit more detail to it. “You know, since I did say I’d help with your fire-magic, Cyclone.” Quill giggled for a bit when Cyclone turned her head towards her, only to nod it excitingly, resembling Pinkie Pie. “What about you Spike?”

“Oh uh, what you guys want to train with me?” Spike took a moment to think about training with the females, while doing so, playing around with a large white and blue rubbery ball. “Sure why not, Lily did say I needed to get my training to be more physical anyways.”

“Great, then it’s settled,” Quill said with a smirk on her face before she closed her sketchbook and crossed her arms over her chest. “If Wolf lets us do it, the lot of us will be doing some training tomorrow, how does that sound?”

“I’m good with it, Quill,” Spike said with a slight nod of his head, Cyclone and Frost doing the same. He was excited that he’d finally be able to do some real training again, along with the chance of being free from the limiters on his wrists. And if everything worked out tomorrow, Spike would be looking at a chance to defeat his ghost heart; something that would never have happened if he would have done one simple thing.

Let. Go.