Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

----

Spike sat in the passenger seat of a car, the person, the social worker was driving. Her name was Beaming Wings, she was...

Nice.

He didn't have anything else really to say about her. She wasn't particularly clever or striking, she was just nice.

The car on the other claw? He had a lot to think about regarding it as she drove, yammering away to her captive audience.

"-you didn't appear on any missing persons reports. Our office is pretty sure nobody is looking for you. Even if they did, well, they'd have a lot to answer for, that I tell you." It wasn't really a fancy machine, not compared to a lot of the other ones on the road. It looked old, there was a lot of rust on the metal bar on the back and around the tires.

"What with how that nice vice-principal found you? You'd think they done blacked your eye and just rolled you on out of a car that they did!" More than anything else, he could only really compare it to the cider machine the Flim Flam brothers had made. They both had wheels and used some unseen mechanism for propulsion, though he'd imagine the cars on this side of the looking glass were a bit more refined than magic and steam.

"You healed up pretty darned fast though mister! I guess bruises will do that though now won't they?" He could only guess at what some of the gauges in front of her represented though. MpH didn't mean anything to him, but he knew RPM stood for revolutions per minute. The X1000 puzzled him for a moment before it hit him that it was a multiplier.

"I'm sure you'll get along just fine at Marley's group home. You and the other boys and girls there will be fast friends, I'm sure of it!" A lot of the signs they passed didn't mean anything to him, though 'Slow' and 'Stop' were pretty clear. It hadn't taken him more than two stops before he had figured out what the lights at the intersections were for.

"Most of her kids go to Canterlot High School, though a couple of the girls opted to go to the Crystal Preparatory Academy across the city. Oh, I still remember high school myself at that age... Which reminds me mister!" Spike focused his attention on her, hopeful she'd have crystalized whatever thought she was about to grace him with. "We still need to get your placement testing done! You look about the age to be a freshman and you seem to be pretty darned sharp so far. Girls like smart fellas like you, you know."

Spike had no idea how she got that impression.

No, really he didn't. He just kept his mouth shut while she prattled on and clamped down hard on his urge to panic at how little he understood. He actually felt pretty stupid when he saw people on the sides of the streets doing things he didn't understand, like talking into their hands or pressing something inside boxes attached to poles on street corners.

He knew there was a world of difference (Hah... made a funny) between Equestria and... He thought the word was 'Earth'. He didn't know if that was the name of the city or the planet though, either way it meant dirt.

"Ooh, we're just about to Marley house now." He could see some variation in the local architecture, but it still just boiled down to bricks with roofs as far as he could see. Jam packed right next to each other with no space between. The only thing of note was that some were painted different colors. "She lives in the green one right here."

Brown, red, green, pink, brown and brown. At least it was a little hard to miss. The car stopped, backed up, went forward, backed up again and went forward a bit before coming to a stop. Spike watched Beaming Wings pull a lever on the inside of her door before stepping out so he did the same.

The lever pulled with no resistance, but the door didn't open. He tried a few more times before it was opened by his social worker.

"Sorry about that Spike. My boss says 'Beaming, you need to keep the child safety locks on at all times' so that's what I do. I'll be sure to remind you next time, alright?" He undid the strap holding him in and shrugged, unsure if there even would be a next time.

One more week, there'd be a full moon and he could just go home.

----

"The Inspiration Manifestation? The name alone causes great hesitation." Twilight stood alone in Zecora's hut, the doctors had discharged her to checking in rather than keeping her bedridden.

She'd jumped upon the opportunity, metaphorically, to start gnawing away at the puzzle regarding her...

Her number one assistant.

"In my homeland there is a tale of an evil zebra cursed to fail. To steal great power was his desire, to forge himself his own empire. Curses traps and maladies, upon their owners he brought tragedies!" Twilight could certainly appreciate Zecora's talent, though it made conversations a little bit... slow.

"Zeb the zebra, forgotten by ponies. Yet my tribe has not hidden its follies. The book you seek, this crook once held. But inspiration he did not seek, nor manifestations did he need. His powers great, these words I shan't swallow, for in the shadows did he wallow. A book to bring about great power, it was first written to give life to a flower. A barren wasteland my home once was, now a flourishing forest beneath the sun!" Twilight wrote down the poetry as it was coming forth. She could more readily translate it at home.

So far she got that the book had been used to bring life to a place that had none and was stolen afterwards.

"Word of this feat spread far and wide, its power much too great to hide. Stolen on one sleepless night, Zeb nearly killed this pony by fright! Yet to he the book would not yield, he could sprout no seeds within a field."

Got it, book didn't work for the zebra.

"His terrible rage was one many knew, he cast the book into a cursed brew. For many days and many nights until its magic was cursed by rights. None could use it, this he saw, without twisting apart natural law. The curse was minor, that was the secret. With no great effect, none would see it. Twist not the world but the mind it held, a curse secret and lost to eld. Turn upon foe, cast away friend for lies always the victims would send."

That... Okay, Twilight wasn't too certain what to make of all that.

"Courage always was the key, truthful words spoken free. The curse would break, the magic too, the unicorns now free of this taboo."

"So... The pony held by the curse needed to be told the truth about what they were doing?" That part Twilight got, but it didn't really help with where things currently sat.

"That would be what I said. Have you some dust caught in your head?"

"Err... no, thank you for the story, Zecora. Can I come back later if I have any questions?"

"To you my door is open Twilight. Though you'd best be off before comes the night." Twilight headed away from Zecora's shack, thoughts rolling in her mind. She was certain she'd gotten an important piece of information from the zebra.

She just wasn't sure what.

Author's Notes:

Writing poetry is kind of a pain.