The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 7: Pictures, Ponies, and Parties!

A long silence was all that was heard when Spike entered the room.

“Uh.” He stood there for several moments, standing there awkwardly, scanning the room. “Hello, everypony.” He mumbled nervously, blinking.

“Spike?” Twilight gasped, looking the dragon up and down, examining him as she approached.

“Twilight!” Spike stood, frozen, before relaxing. “Twilight.” He smiled weakly. “It’s just me, everypony.” He couldn’t very clearly see the faces of the ponies around him, his head was spinning for some reason, with everypony staring at him.

After several moments of awkward, frozen silence where people gradually descended back into speaking with each other, having recognized the serpentine purple and green dragon before them as the baby dragon they had once known, minus the dagger like spines of an adult dragon, large fangs, and hardened purple scales where he could feel practically nothing if stabbed with any sort of sharp object.

Rarity and Gem filed in after the event, and Spike awkwardly hung at the edges of the room while Rarity introduced Gem to ponies. He shook his head to clear it, trying to recognize ponies. Many of them were ponies he had seen around town in his youth. It was with great discretion that he realized his claws were shaking, and his wings were quivering.

Where had Twilight gone? Upon looking around, Spike realized she was still right there, next to him. She was pale, and her eyes were wide.  “Spike.” She breathed, looking him up and down. “You’re…”

“A dragon?” He grinned morbidly; showing his knifelike fangs, the largest ones about the size of Twilight’s horn, but a great deal sharper. He watched Twilight wince.

Twilight nodded silently, seemingly at a loss for words. “Spike, I’m sorry.” Twilight murmured, suddenly turning to the side to examine the rest of the party.

“Why?”

Twilight sucked in one of her cheeks, appearing to chew it thoughtfully while she stepped over to the table to grab a cup of punch, glancing down at it darkly. “For leaving. It wasn’t… He wasn’t… He wasn’t worth it. Most if it wasn’t.” She idly twiddled her hooves.

Spike felt emotion build up in his chest, and he exhaled steam after holding his breath for several seconds. A dancing couple nearby glanced over, clearly frightened, and stepped away without making any attempt to cover their actions. “I tried to explain that to you, Twilight.” He sighed, glancing over at what was once something of an older sister to him. “He left, didn’t he?”

The music in the background faded to a dull thumping noise in the background as Twilight idly sipped her punch, fiddling with her mane. “Y-yeah.” She finally said, choking over her words. “He did.”

Spike’s brow furrowed. “A real man, dragon or pony, doesn’t do that.”

“That wasn’t the case, though. I… I don’t know if he left me, or… Or if he… He said he’d be back. He promised he’d be back.” Twilight glanced over at Spike, who shifted uncomfortably. “I… I think I trust him. I think. I want to, Spike.” She looked over at him quietly, and he saw that her eyes were watering.

“Listen, I’m sorry.” Spike sighed. “I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“No, it’s alright.” Twilight smiled despondently. “I did.”

“TWILIGHT! Oof, Twilight!” Rarity called, prancing across the room and grinning. “Oh my goodness, I cannot believe you’re here!”

Twilight snapped back to reality. “Rarity?!” She tackled the other mare, grinning. “I missed you!”

“Ah, careful, darling. The mane, the mane!” Rarity struggled beneath Twilight in a vain attempt to fix her mane.

Once they were back up and dusting themselves off, Rarity smiled, walking to Spike. “Well, after that ordeal, at least everypony will know you.”

Spike nodded, his eyes casting to the side.

“Huh? Is something wrong, darling?” Rarity asked with a suave smile.

Twilight stared. “Wait. You two?” Her mouth was agape with shock.

Rarity looked over to Twilight, chuckling. Spike chortled slightly and swung his great head around. “Yes. I’m very lucky.” He stated proudly, rubbing his head against Rarity’s.

Twilight’s gaze softened. “Yes. You are.” She nodded in agreement, and her gaze fell on a purple, green, and white pony across the room, chatting idly with some sort of brightly coloured zebra pony.

“Wait.” Twilight looked from the pony with dragon wings to Spike and Rarity. Then back to the dragon-pony hybrid, and back to Spike and Rarity, and her face went pale. “WHAT?”

Spike only laughed while Rarity called, “Gem! Will you please come and sit with us for a spell? We have someone to introduce you to.”

Gem seemed exasperated, but he politely walked over to the group, extended a hoof to Twilight Sparkle and systematically muttered, “Hello. My name is Gem. Fine weather we’re having.” and proceeded to glare back at Rarity, who sighed.

“That’s a bit far from… Enthusiastic, dear.”

“Sooooorrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy.” The colt grumbled, sitting down on his haunches in the nearest chair.

“Err, nice to meet you, Gem! I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wait.” Gem stared. “THE Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes, I suppose.” Spike watched redness visibly creep onto Twilight’s face as she shot the dragon a glare. He merely shrugged innocently.

“Oh. Well, the way Dad talks about you, I thought you’d be an alicorn or something.” The hybrid grumbled acidulously before sliding off of his seat and slithering off across the room, where no other ponies stood.

Twilight sat there, dumbfounded. “Uh. Well. I also have a-“ She cut herself off when she saw Spike’s expression grow visibly angry. “a son.” She finished quietly. “I’ll go get him.” She murmured and trotted off.

Spike felt Rarity elbow his side.  “Remind me to speak to him about his attitude,” She snapped. Spike nodded, and Rarity continued. “and yours. This doctor fellow may have not been the kindest to Twilight, but Twilight Sparkle is still the same pony.” She insisted.

Spike nodded weakly. “I know. It’s just… He hurt her, Rarity. Just like that Blueblood guy did to you, and… And…”

Rarity smiled sadly at him, placing a hoof on his mouth and shushing him. Spike smiled just as Twilight was leading a colt over to them. “This is Clockwork, guys. Clockwork, please meet Spike and Rarity.”

The colt smiled, bowing his head. “And how do you do?” He asked timidly.

Rarity gasped in excitement. “Oh, a true gentlecorn! You did a fine job, Twilight. I am fine, Monsieur Clockwork! ”

Twilight smiled and dismissed Clockwork as he nodded, shifting awkwardly on his hooves. “And, please, meet some friends. Friendship is magic, you know.” She assured after him. Clockwork nodded obediently, but simply went to another side of the room, hanging out awkwardly, a wallflower.

“Is anyone else here?” Spike rumbled, laying down and flicking his tail in acknowledgement to Twilight as he rested his head on his claws.

“Well, I’m sure Pinkie’s here, but I haven’t seen her. She may be cooking.” Twilight nodded. “I don’t think it’d be much of a problem if we went to the back to see her.”

Rarity nodded. “Of course, darling!” She flashed her friend a smile and walked back with Twilight, Spike leading the two ponies, as he now knew just where the kitchen was after all their years in Ponyville.

When he first entered the kitchen, what he saw took him off guard. There sat Discord, the Prince of Chaos himself, lounging idly as he appeared to be setting out ingredients for something. Some sort of baked goods.

Spike hissed, his forked tongue slipping out of his mouth as he did so, yielding back on his claws. The draconequus evidently hadn’t noticed them until then, glancing up and smirking. “My, my. Look at the little dragon assistant, all grown up, are we?” He chuckled, stooping down and flicking Spike’s nose gently.

Spike let out a strange bark, smoke exhuming from his mouth and nostrils and swirling around his head.

“Now, now. No need to singe me.” Discord chuckled. “Or give me lung cancer.” He mumbled to himself as an afterthought.

“Pinkie!” He called over his shoulder. “Fashionista, Teacher’s Pet, and Dragon are here!”

Spike was suddenly confused. “Wha-?”

A familiar pink pony came bouncing from the upstairs, gasping suddenly at the sight of the three. “Spike! Rarity! Twilight!” She tackled the three. “Oh, yay! I was just cutting some paper when Cordy called me and then I heard him making fun of Spike and I thought maybe I should stop cutting paper, because, ya know, scissors are sharp! So I stopped but then I tried to rip it turned out all messy, cuz I was making a welcome home card for Twilight, so it couldn’t be messy! I mean, tapioca pudding is messy, and who likes tapioca pudding? So I came down here to get some more paper and now you guys are here!” Pinkie chattered ceaselessly

“Pinkie,” Spike began trying to keep her from saying anything else unrelated. “What is… he doing here?” He nodded his head, clearly agitated, to Discord, who was still getting out ingredients: Flour, eggs, sugar…

“Huh?” Pinkie turned around. “What’s who doing here?” Pinkie cocked her head. “All I see is Discord.”

“Yeah! Exactly!”

Rarity chuckled nervously. “Uh, Spike. Do you not remember? I told you about Discord and Pinkie.”

“Wha- Oh.” Spike suddenly blinked. “Yeah. I do.” His eyes narrowed, and he exchanged a glance with Twilight. “Hunh.” He mumbled, scrutinizing Discord, who was absentmindedly floating, examining the room around him, mumbling thoughtfully to himself.

Twilight nodded and shrugged. Rarity nodded, inhaling sharply. “Well,” She began, breaking the awkward silence. “Isn’t this a party?” She smiled.

Pinkie nodded excitedly. “But now that you guys showed up, I have to make cards for you guys, too!” She bounced circles around them, Spike followed her with his eyes, before he gave up, decidedly dizzy.

“Come on, Pinkie!” Twilight groaned. “It’s your party!”

“Wellllllllllllllll,” Pinkie paused thoughtfully, tapping her chin with her hoof.

“I have it back here! Go.” Discord glanced up, smirking.

Pinkie nodded, bouncing back with them. Spike reminded himself not to eat anything that came out of the kitchen now, feeling sick to his stomach. It was probably going to be spiked with some sort of schizophrenia-inducing drug. He shuddered.

As they moved into the main room with the party, it became clear that Fluttershy and Big Mac had entered with Applejack and… Blueblood? They had a colt and filly, but… Blueblood?

Pinkie gasped, dashing over. “Yay! It’s AJ and Fluttershy!” She hugged both of them. “Hi Mac, hi Bluey!”

Blueblood bowed his head and smiled, saying something Spike couldn’t hear. Big MacIntosh and Fluttershy he could see. But… Blueblood? He glanced back to Rarity, who was frozen on her hooves, looking terrified. Her blue eyes were massive.

“Rarity?” Spike asked quietly, tapping her on the back. She suddenly relaxed, taking a deep breath and glancing back at Spike.

“Ah, I-“

“No, I understand.” Spike smiled weakly. “Come on. We might as well… see where this went.”

Rarity nodded slowly, seeming to reanimate and walking up to Blueblood, who immediately froze in horror, looking even more confused than Rarity had been. His eyes passed over Spike, and he turned even more pale, before Applejack chuckled. “Come on, Sugarcube. He don’t bite! Hey, Spike! How you doin’? You’ve grown mighty big.”

Spike nodded as Applejack hugged him fearlessly, something he hadn’t gotten in quite a while. “Rarity, Ah know you an’ Blueblood had some misgivings, but he’s changed a mighty lot, so Ah think he deserves another chance from ya.” Applejack smiled calmly, but there was a slight sweat on her brow. It was clear she just wanted nopony fighting today.

Rarity tentatively stuck out her proffered hoof, and Blueblood accepted it with a calm demeanor, kissing her hoof. “Lady Rarity, it is an honour to meet you once again, and I must apologise for my initial behavior when we met.”

Rarity shifted slowly, nodding and then smiling. Spike noted to ask Applejack how in the world that had happened later on. He turned his eyes on Big MacIntosh and Fluttershy, which both astounded him and did not.

Rarity trotted beside him, hugging Fluttershy, who seemed excited, but had clearly reverted back to her old self, talking very quietly and looking down, with her hair covering her face. Rarity and her chatted while Spike and her had briefly spoken, and he said hello to Big MacIntosh when he felt a tug on his tail.

He whipped around to find a grey unicorn colt tugging on it with his blue magic. Spike raised an eyebrow, violently jerking his tail and chuckling when the colt looked at him and realized he had noticed. “Hi, kid. No worries, I don’t bite, singe, or maim.” He smiled good-naturedly, and the colt relaxed slightly.

“Sir Prize!” Applejack snapped. “This here’s Spike, have some manners for ‘im, he’s a good friend of ours!”

“Sorry, Spike.” The colt blinked, frozen.

Spike only laughed. “No worries. I remember being a kid. So, Sir Prize?”

The colt nodded.

“Hi, Mr. Spike!” A pegasus filly came up behind Sir Prize. “This here’s my cousin, he’s kind of a dummy! Ah’m Apple Core, though! Nice to meet you! You’re a dragon, right? Ah love dragons! Ah love all kinds of animals and dragons and ponies!”

Spike grinned, sitting down on his haunches and flicking his tail back and forth, amused. “Apple Core, hm?”

“Yessir! My ma taught me all about you and Miss Twilight and Miss Rarity and Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Pinkie and Auntie Applejack!”

Spike smiled sweetly, feeling his heart melt when Sir Prize bonked Apple Core on the back of the head. “No, you’re a dummy!”

“No, you are!”

“Nu-uh!”

Watching the cousins go after each other reminded him of playing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders when he had been a baby dragon. He shook his head of memories and smiled.  “Well, Miss Apple Core and Mister Sir Prize, I have people to talk to, but it was nice meeting you!”

As he wandered away, leaving the two away to bicker, Pinkie bounced by him. “Oh, hi, Spike! So, I’m gonna ask Rainbow and Twilight and Rarity and Fluttershy and Applejack and all the foals and everyone they came with to stay after so we can make sure we’re all caught up! I didn’t know you were moving to Ponyville, that makes me really excited, we’re gonna have so much fun! You know what else is fun? Tapioca pudding!”

“But, I thought you said tapioca p-“

“Bye, Spikey-Wikey!”

Spike sighed, shrugging it off and returning to a corner of the room, watching some of the foals interact. So. Him and Rarity. Big MacIntosh and Fluttershy. Blueblood and… Applejack. Twilight and that one jerk. The doctor guy. Pinkie and… Eargh. The only ones that made sense to him was him and Rarity, and Big Mac and Fluttershy. It occurred to him that he had no clue who Rainbow had gotten together with. Though, she had always seemed… off. He blinked, shaking it off.

He watched several ponies he had no interest in come and go, assuming Rainbow would arrive fashionably late.

Oddly enough, he caught a glance of Spitfire. He remembered hearing about Rainbow being a part of the Wonderbolts, though, he hadn’t paid much attention to Spitfire, though something definitely seemed off. He brushed it off as that she wasn’t wearing her Wonderbolts uniform; he was so accustomed to that.

His answer came when his thoughts were interrupted by Bon Bon’s amazed screeching, “It’s the Wonderbolts!”

He glanced up to see Rainbow Dash and Soarin, standing next to each other, just as they had always been, with Scootaloo carrying something and a blue and orange Pegasus filly trotting behind them, looking absolutely exhausted.

Rainbow’s cheeks went red as she snuck off to join the clump of the old Elements of Harmony, and Spike figured he should sneak in. He was somewhat pleasantly surprised that Rainbow had gotten together with a stallion, but not all that shocked. He reminded himself not to judge as he watched Spitfire walk over to Rainbow and tap her gently on the shoulder.

Both Rainbow and Soarin turned around in shock, and Rainbow went pale. Spike stared for a moment, realizing that this was some kind of tearful reunion. He wondered why Spitfire was no longer a part of the Wonderbolts, when he realized what was different about her.

Her wings. She looked like an earth pony now, but he noticed several ugly whitish scars on her back where her wings had been previously. They had been surgically removed.

He felt sick suddenly. He had heard something about one of the Wonderbolts having their wings removed, but… Spitfire? Not Spitfire. He hadn’t even known her that well, but… He swallowed hard. In spite of the fact that he developed his wings once he had become older, the prospect of losing them terrified him. And they weren’t even his career!

As soon as they appeared to be done, and were now chatting, (though Rainbow still seemed slightly teary, but she was collecting herself.) Spike lumbered up to them, and Rainbow stared. “Holy crap, dude. Spike?”

Spike nodded, staring at Rainbow. “Hey.”

Rainbow tackled him, immediately trying to give him a noogie, but finding his scales thick and hard, so she simply leapt to her feet. “Dude, Spike, you’re huge!” She gasped, taking in his slightly-larger-than-a-pony size and stretching it to immense proportions.

“Bigger than I was, I guess.” Spike grinned, flashing off his large incisors for good measure. Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Whoah. So, uh, you know Soarin. Soarin, this is-“

Rainbow turned to the other blue Pegasus to realize he was pale with his eyes huge.

“… Spike. “ Rainbow said flatly, glaring at him. “He’s a friend of mine, ever since he was a baby and I was a filly.”

Soarin looked awkwardly at Rainbow before slowly shifting. “Uh. H-hi, Spike.”

Spike sighed. “No, I get it.  Most ponies just aren’t used to seeing a dragon, you know? They just hear horror stories. S’far as I know, I’m the only one who hangs out with ponies.” He shrugged.

Soarin remained tense but swallowed and smiled.

Scootaloo grinned and high-fived Spike, who tilted his head to see her cutie mark. “A feather? Nicely done.” Spike grinned as Scootaloo put the object he had seen earlier on her orange back. It was now apparent that it was a thick brown book, looking something of a photo album, with little bits of paper sticking out from between the pages.

“Yeah. How you doin’, dude?”

“Good.” Spike smirked, glancing to the terrified filly hiding behind Soarin.

Scootaloo smiled. “Well, after you ran off for a couple years,” her face fell for a moment. “Soarin and Rainbow adopted me. That’s a whole ‘nother story, but this is my sister. Hey, Flare, come on out, he’s not gonna bite. Soarin’s just scared because he’s a chicken!”

“Hey!” Soarin protested.

The filly was shaking on her legs but managed a weak-looking smile. “H-hi, Mr... Uh,” She paused to swallow nervously. “Spike.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Spike, this is Solar Flare.”

Spike nodded politely. “Nice to meet you.”

The filly shot back behind Soarin, and Scootaloo only sighed. “Pinkie said we’d all be hanging after this, so RD thought it’d be cool to bring an old photo album. It’s got anything from when Twilight came to Ponyville, to Appleoosa,” Her face fell slightly in lieu of remembrance of Braeburn’s incident a few years back. The last time they had all seen each other was his funeral.  “And, uh, y’know, all these pics of RD and Tank and stuff.” She shook her head quickly to clear the memory and Spike nodded.

Everyone seemed to slowly return to their own positions in the party room as time continued on. Spike watched ponies come and go, but eventually for every pony that came in, three left. Baked goods were transferred from the kitchen to the tables by Pinkie, and empty trays went back into the kitchen. Spike felt sick every time he watched everypony take something from the tables. It occurred to him to warn them that the draconequus had made them, but that would be immensely rude and hurt Pinkie’s feelings. He shook his head of the idea.

Eventually, all that was left was him, six foals, ten ponies, and the chimera baking in the back. He noted that neither Twilight nor Rarity had eaten any of the cupcakes that had come from the kitchen.

When Pinkie came out, somehow still completely energized, carrying one last tray of cupcakes, she set them on the table and took a deep  breath. “Cordy, go ahead!”

Almost instantaneously, the familiar surroundings of Sugarcube Corner that Spike had grown up with began to melt and morph into something entirely unfamiliar. It looked like some sort of hellish, smaller version of the chaotic Ponyville in the short time Discord had ruled. Multicoloured checker walls on every floor, ceiling, and wall, spilling together in disharmony. It made him cringe. He could hear the chimera snapping and eventually float out the kitchen.

“This is far better.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

Everypony was staring around them. Rainbow finally spoke up. “What happened to this place?”

“I made a few personal touches.” Discord smirked, examining his eagle hand.

“Yeah! It’s our house! But we thought, Oh no! All the ponies in Ponyville won’t like these changes because last time this happens Ponyville was almost destroyed, so we decided to change it however we could because Cordy can use his magic that way!” Pinkie explained exuberantly, bouncing around the others.

“Yes.” Discord explained. “I thought that the oh-so-brave Elements of Harmony could handle it! After all, you did manage to seal me away. I figured if you just got terrified, you could listen to your wonderful Princess’ instructions, and j-“

“That’s enough, Discord.” Twilight held up a hoof, and Discord smirked. “For those of you that don’t know this, Discord and Pinkie fell in love or something. Pinkie freed him, and now he’s under Celestia.”

“I prefer the term, ‘making a sacrifice and tolerating the old hag’.” Discord added.

“Whatever.” Twilight gritted her teeth. “Anyway, the same goes for Spike and Rarity. Spike may be grown, but he’s the same Spike we know and love.”

Spike nodded slowly in the corner, walking over to join Rarity.

Scootaloo slowly stood up. “Uhm. Since most of us are met now, and all… Rainbow thought it’d be a cool idea. I, uh, have an old photo album from a few years ago.” She held it up, setting it on the nearest table. Spike watched Discord lower his shades, (wherever he had gotten them and why he was wearing them was of no interest to him.) and raise an eyebrow before he reached over to a CD player, shrugging and playing some music.

“That’s a great idea, Scootaloo!” Pinkie cheered, entirely immune to the tension Discord had caused that Twilight had simply supplemented by addressing it. “Come on, Everypony!” She called, trotting over to the table. The foals, seeming disinterested, simply stayed in the corner. He shrugged. They were foals. They had no interest in their parents’ memories.

He slowly walked over. The first image that he saw was one of him and Twilight’s arrival in Ponyville, at the party Pinkie had thrown, with Spike, exceptionally smaller, riding on her back.

He heard several small ‘aw’s thrown in, and blushed slightly.

They went through several different pictures. Until they came upon Dash, kissing a picture of Soarin from a magazine.

Rainbow turned bright red, and Scootaloo began to chuckle, until the rest of the room interrupted into laughter and Soarin punched her gently in the shoulder. “Heh,” Rainbow mumbled, clearly embarrassed. “How did that get in there?”

Several more pictures, posed at sights around Ponyville. Several of Spike in stacks of books, multiple ones of Rainbow’s first Sonic Rainboom, however blurry. Multiple Winter Wrap-Ups with Pinkie ruining the photos by jumping around in the background or foreground.

The Summer Solstice festival, and the Grand Galloping Gala. Rarity gasped. “I still have those dresses! I never got rid of them! Oh, we should see if they still fit!”

Everypony murmured in agreement. “Shucks, Rarity. Ya still think Ah can fit into that?” She paused, then chuckled.  “Ah admit, it was mighty comfortable.” Applejack mumbled, turning slightly red, and Blueblood chuckled.

“Of course you could.” He insisted, turning and smiling genuinely at her.

Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad.

They came across a picture of Spike, following Rarity, while completely starry-eyed. Chuckles sounded through the group, and Spike turned red-faced again. “Haha.” He smiled good-naturedly, then turned around. “Who took that!?” He snapped, half-joking.

They came across a picture of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Tank, Angel, and Opalescence from when Rainbow had first gotten Tank.

Pictures of Appleoosa, and the room went silent as they came across a picture of Braeburn, but they simply skipped past them before Applejack said, “He was a good pony.” And took off her hat, holding it to her chest.

Then, there was a picture of Pinkie from her performance in Appleoosa, convincing everyone to share and care, respectively. She wore a somewhat short dress with a large, obstructive feather in her mane and fishnets.

There was an awkward, hilarious silence, before Discord looked over at Pinkie, smirking deviously. “I would have liked to have seen that the other n-“

“OOOOKAY!” Twilight, thankfully, cut him off. Though, it was a bit late. The image was ingrained into the heads of those in proximity.

“Augh!” The brightly coloured filly from earlier groaned. “Thank you, I needed that.” She grumbled, stamping an indignant hoof.

Pinkie paused. “Well, it’s not like Spike and Rarity are normal when they h-“

Spike slapped a claw over her mouth and turned bright red, Rarity had apparently had the same thought, and each of them groaned as well.

Fluttershy sighed nervously. “Uh, can we… Can we just continue, please?” She asked, her face red.

“Please.” Twilight complained, stomping one of her hooves and turning the page onto more shots of Pinkie waving flirtatiously at the camera. Finally, she skipped ahead a large section of pages, and the group laughed nervously.

Now, it was Rainbow and Rarity at the Best Young Flier’s competition, with Rainbow smiling nervously and Rarity grinning with her gaudy lipstick and jewelry.

Then, Rainbow saving her from falling to her death with the Wonderbolts.

They continued laughing and talking about various memories as they perused through the old pictures, until they came across one in particular. Twilight Sparkle smiling, looking as though she were about to burst into laughter, sitting on top of some sort of building that looked like it was in Fillydelphia with Doctor Whooves. Twilight simply flipped right by it, but Spike had seen the colour drain from her face, and placed the tip of his tail comfortingly on her shoulder. She glanced over to him and smiled, as they continued speaking.

When they reached the last picture, Solar Flare and Scootaloo cheering in the stands while Rainbow and Soarin performed some sort of trick, clad in their Wonderbolts uniforms, they somewhat broke apart, meeting each other’s foals.

Spike had met all of them, save for the multicoloured filly from earlier. She seemed to be by herself or with Gem most of the time. “Hey,” He introduced, smiling at her.

“Hi! My name’s Candied Chaos! Nice to meet you, Mr. Spike!” She quickly extended a hoof, shaking his claw violently. He wasn’t too sure why he asked his next question, or why the answer shocked him, as it should have been obvious, but nevertheless, he did.

“So, who are your parents?”

“Discord and Pinkie Pie!”

Spike stood, in absolute shock, staring at her. She was half chimera. Was that even possible? The idea of Pinkie being a mother terrified him slightly. “O-oh.” He said stiffly, blinking and staring blankly at the ground. Discord and… Pinkie? But… That made no sense. The idea almost made him feel sick. He shifted on his feet, deciding to go get something to drink. That would explain her  zebra pattern, her horns… Celestia knows what genes she had inherited? What defects she had?

He slowed down his thoughts before they became too harsh. People had thought and still were thinking the exact thing about Gem, who, aside from his wings and general appearance, was a normal foal in his entirety. He noted that he should be less judgmental if he was going to be moving back to Ponyville like they had planned.

Without a word, Scootaloo moved over to him. “You seem distraught.”

“Yeah. Kind of.”

“Bout what?”

“The draconequus.”

“You mean the one me, Sweetie, and Applebloom accidentally freed?”

“Yeah. Him.” Spike had heard about the ordeal plenty of times, with them begging him not to tell Twilight.

“What? Is it about Pinkie and him?” Scootaloo asked, lowering her tone of voice so as to not be heard.

Spike nodded slowly. “Have you seen that filly with the zebra and the horns and bright mane and tail? The neon coloured one?”

“Yeah. She’s theirs, isn’t she? Her name’s Candied Chaos. Perfectly normal, if you ask me.”

“That isn’t normal, Scoots.” Spike said blankly, feeling as though he was going to be sick once again. “That’s not… He tried to kill Celestia and take over Equestria! I don’t understand why everyone except me and Twilight are so okay with it now. Pinkie set him free, and everyone’s okay with it. As far as we know, he’s plotting our demise.” Spike growled, looking at the draconequus having a conversation with Pinkie across the room.

“Spike, Pinkie may act like it, but there’s no way she’s really that stupid.” Scootaloo sighed, moving away from Spike.

As Spike contemplated what had made Scootaloo run off, he felt an all-too-familiar feeling rise in his chest. Something he hadn’t felt in years.  It rose slowly at first, going up his chest, up his throat, and finally entered his mouth, and, with a loud roar, he let out a green, fiery belch.

Everypony was slightly singed and stared in shock at Spike.  To his own surprise, there sat a letter, no doubt stamped with a purple wax seal that read, ‘C’.

“Guys! It’s from Princess Celestia!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Stained Glass Windows Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 12 Minutes