"How are you doing, little brother?" Shining Armor chuckled as he and Spike hugged each other inside of the Crystal castle at first greet.
"Doing really good." Spike grinned as he pulled away. Cadence giggled as she held Flurry in her arms.
"Mommy, he got embarrassed earlier." Flurry said which made her dragon Uncle stick his tongue out at her.
"Oh Flurry, don't embarrass your uncle." Cadence smirked.
Rachel chuckled before chiming in, "that's my job."
Spike chuckled to hear Rachel coming in. Cadence and Shining smirked to see the human walking in. The dragon walked over to his girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and looked back at his brother and sister-in-law.
"Shining Armor, Cadence, this is Rachel. My girlfriend." Spike introduced her to them.
"I thought she's my aunt?" Flurry asked confused.
"You hush." Cadence puts her daughter down before walking over to Rachel. "I'm glad Spike finally got around to let us meet you." She said, giving Rachel a greetful hug which the human returned.
"All he ever talks about is you when he visits." Shining said, shaking her hand and smirking at Spike.
"Oh really?" Rachel turned to look up at her boyfriend and grinned. "Just what juicy details he spoke about?"
Spike coughed at that. Which caused his sister-in-law to give him a look that made him speak out. "S-say, Rach, why don't I show you around the castle?" Spike quickly suggested. "B-before the ball tomorrow?"
Rachel scratched the back of her neck. "Not really." Rachel responded, which surprised Spike a bit. "I'm not feeling too well…"
"Is everything okay?" Cadence asked, looking concerned as well. Her maternal instincts kicked in.
Spike, thinking it's the baby talking, nodded. "Yeah…"
Shining and Cadence looked at the young couple before decided it was a good idea to turn in for the night.
"What is all of this?"
All of them turned around to see Prince Blueblood coming in. After trying to find out what was that scent he was smelling, he found it.
His eyes immediately went to Rachel.
There was this long moment of silence that dreaded the air in the foyer of the castle. Spike involuntarily placed a hand on the small portion of Rachel's back. A sign of protection.
Something told Spike at that moment to keep his girl away from this asshat.
"Blueblood, it's been awhile," Cadence finally greeted the prince. "What brings you here to the Empire….unannounced?"
The bastard prince tore himself away from Rachel to look at the pink alicorn. "Unannounced? Aunty Celestia asked me to be here in her place. I'm shocked that you didn't get the message." Digging into his white suit, he pulls out a scroll and used his magic to carry it to Shining.
Shining glared at his fellow prince before taking the scroll and reading it to clarify.
"They are the proper documents, soldier boy." Blueblood said before turning back to look at the young couple.
Well shit… He grunted internally when seeing the human. Her scent was unique to him….a Mother Cell perhaps?
He did learn that Mother Cells give off a scent that will attract certain creatures… and of all the creatures this human attracted was a full grown dragon…
And Blueblood.
Well this was something the prince needs to deal with before he can continue his master plan.
"I'm surprised to see you allow vermin in the castle." Mainly towards Spike Blueblood addressed. He hated Spike back at Canterlot. The feeling was mutual to the purple dragon.
The prince would gladly be the one that would one day slay this beast and hang his carcass on the mantel over his fireplace.
"Still left with blue balls I see." Spike grunted, which caused the prince to growl and Rachel to snicker.
"Spike is a valuable member of the Crystal Empire, he's always welcome here, so are you, Blueblood." Cadence said, seeing tension building up. "But it's best advice to all of you of keeping your tempers down and be on your best behavior." Mama mode activated when dealing with this sort of confrontation.
"Be that as it may, but a hu-"
"Unless you're addressing my dragoness with respect, keep your pompous ass mouth shut." Spike growled.
"Hey, cool it." Rachel quickly told him, placing a hand on his arm. Last thing any of them needed was to have a brawl that destroys the castle. Shining will defend his brother, having needed to put this brat of a prince in his place. Flurry wanted to see a brawl. It was clear by the eager look on the tiny heiress face.
"You guys must be tired from the travels. Let's all just go to bed and start up fresh and renew in the morning." Cadence said.
With one last look at Rachel, Blueblood scoffed, flipping his mane. "Just keep my room away from these two."
"Finally, something we can agree upon." Spike grunted before looking up at Shining. "Talk later bro?"
"Always. Find me in the courtyard when you can." Shining said as the two shared a fist bump before everyone broke away to find their respectable rooms for the evening.
"So, I'm guessing you and that unicorn got some beef with each other?" Rachel asked as she came out of the restroom later that evening, wearing a plush lilac bathrobe. Spike was sitting on the bed in deep thought before she interrupted him.
"Oh sorry. You asked something?" he asked her.
"You, that rude pony earlier, what's up with that?" Rachel asked again, leaning against the dresser in the room and looking right at him. "Who is he?"
"You been around Canterlot several times and been in Equestria all these years and don't know of the fabulous Prince Blueblood?" Spike chuckled. "Lucky you." It took him a moment before sighing. "Blueblood is Celestia's adopted nephew. He's been a prince longer than I have been alive. Thinks he's hot shit with the mares and doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself."
"So a male noble version of Rarity?"
"Oh sweet Celestia I never thought about that till now." He groaned, rubbing his muzzle. "Anyway, he hated the fact that I was always around inside of the castle. Called me names like vermin and a pet. Bitches all the time during dinner events."
"And lemme guess, being the good assistant, you ignore him?"
"Nope, I did what I could to make sure he's miserable. When he's trying to use his status to pick up mares, I generally would do something that would make the mares slap Blueblood." Spike grinned. "In the spirit of all honesty, the fondest memory I have that kinda saved her ass-" meaning Rarity "-was the fact that the bitch made Blueblood cry during one Grand Galloping Gala." He chuckled.
"And how does he feel about Twilight becoming the new Princess of Equestria?" Rachel asked him.
Spike shrugged. "Luna said that he didn't take it lightly. Guess since he's here for the Gala, he's gonna take his anger out on me."
"He better not. Or otherwise Blueballs will be dealing with me." Rachel grumbled. Spike giggled.
"Yeah, that is his new name now." he smiled, but Rachel didn't smile back. He frowned, eyes looking at her stomach before back to her eyes. "Babe, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Rachel muttered, crossing her arms.
Spike rose from the bed and walked over to her. "No, something is up. Rachel, what is it?"
"Spike, I…." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Let's just go to bed." She said, pushing herself off of the dresser and walked back to the bed.
Seeing that tiny bit of anger rose from Spike when talking to Blueblood earlier goes to show that Spike will kill again…
Kill if anyone disrespect and harms her.
"You had been avoiding talking to me since we left Ponyville. You can barely look me in the eye since that phone call." Spike said. "Please tell me, baby." Spike was generally worried. "What did I do?"
Fucking hell!
Rachel rubbed her face as she sat on the mattress before looking up at the dragon.
"Baby, please tell me, what's wrong?"
She closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "That call was Brimstone, he gave me some news." Rachel started off. She wanted to talk to him about the murders, the way Spike acted. As much Bouncer and his bros deserved what they got, her body felt like it's being torn apart from the inside. Her heart and mind are having a boxing match with each other. Her mind wanted to actually turn Spike in. Murder is murder and it's wrong, period. Her heart wanted to keep Spike safe. To destroy the evidence, making sure no one can trace it back to him.
Price of being human.
For that moment, her heart won…
"He told me that my pregnancy test came back negative….I'm not pregnant."
One bit of news down...one more to go…
As soon as Rachel revealed that, Spike's wings drooped to the ground, his ears drooped as well.
He felt as if he got hit by a ton of bricks. "Oh…" he muttered.
"Yeah….dodge a bullet at that one." Rachel softly said, pushing her wet bangs out of her eyes. "Figure as much…"
"Rachel, I don't know what to say, I'm sorry." Spike said.
He was actually looking forward to this. That dream, that vision, felt all too real for him. He felt like shit now cause he got her hoping for this.
"Don't be." Rachel said. "There are other times to get pregnant. I want this too." She muttered. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away...I got to thinking about my last pregnancy and just...threw me in a loop."
That wasn't a total lie. Yeah, her mind and heart wrestled for Spike's future, but she also did think about her last pregnancy.
"The more I thought about last time...the more scared I got." Rachel admittedly, "Yeah, we'd be pregnant...but what if I lose it like last time? I'm scared now."
That was the full truth.
Spike sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her and hugged her. Rachel hugged him back.
Even having an internal struggle within herself, Rachel embraced the loving gesture and hugged him back.
The only true place Rachel ever felt was right here in Spike's arms.
Neighsay cautiously opened the Leviathan stoned wall office in the dead of night. The two guards that would normally guard the door were on the ground dead asleep.
Nothing like a good sprinkle of a sleep elixir in their mug of ale to help these two heavies be dead to the world for a good six hours.
Neighsay knew that magic doesn't work in this room so to defend himself, he had a sword he took from one of the sleeping guards.
Making sure that there were no traps, he entered the room. If there was anything to break the mind control over the humans, it would be in this room. He looked all over the place and talked to the scientists in the facility, but they all say only the Prince knows.
What better way to find ways to stop this than to look through his stuff.
Neighsay walked over to the bookshelf and started combing through the books. He started pulling them out and skim through the books. Blueblood may have put the information in these books.
It's Blueblood, of course he may do something that dumb to hide his secrets.
The books, however, weren't filled with information...not the ones Neighsay was looking for. Strange old pony texts and symbols filled each book. It was an old language Neighsay haven't seen but only once…. There were a total of 5 heavily leather bound books, pages yellow and worn. No titles but anyone could see that they are a complete set.
"Interesting," Neighsay muttered as he turned to a different book. "I haven't seen a text like this since I was a young colt studying the history of magic in Celestia's school..." He muttered. "Arcane arts...old black spells from a time before the Sister's rise to power… I thought all copies of these books were destroyed by King Sombra?"
During the time of King Sombra, the old tyrant ordered the destruction of a special set of books. Grimoires were what they were generally called. The only reason Neighsay knew what these were because during his days as a school colt, he and the class were shown pictures of the grimoires.
These books have the power of destroying countless worlds...
Detoring from the search, Neighsay kept looking through the books. He kept looking at the ancient text. The unicorn's curiosity of powerful magic sparked from within.
Neighsay continued his search, he noticed that some of the pages of the book he was currently holding, some of the pages the corners were bent. Book marking.
One part of the book however, got Neighsay's full attention…
It spoke about traveling to two worlds. It held a drawn photo of the Dragon Scepter. The stone in particular. The book talked about it having a sibling.
It talked about the portal that opened...allowing the Humans to come to Equestria.
Tearing the pages out, Neighsay quickly placed the books back on the shelf before going over to the dresser and began opening it. Looking for any documents to help Equestria out.
What Neighsay ultimately won't realize till the end, that this rabbit hole he dove himself in...will cost the unicorn everything.
"Rachel, you ready?" Spike asked her from the bedroom. Dressed in this slick suit the crystal ponies tailored perfectly for the dragon. Rachel had been in the bathroom for a while.
Rachel was offered to get a special dress by the crystal ponies as well, free of charge for being with the hero of the Empire, but she turned it down.
"Y-yeah…" Rachel groaned. "I'm not feeling too well babe."
He looked to the door as he fixed his tie. "What's wrong?" Spike asked her.
"Something I ate didn't sit right." before there was a clear sound of her puking in the toilet.
Spike moved to the door, grabbing the handle to open it before she shouted. "No-no. Don't come in." she retched. "I-Im just gonna go lay down. You go ahead and join the Gala."
"Rachel, if you're sick, I can't leave for some dumb party." Spike said.
"It's nothing terrible. Babe, go, have fun." Rachel said. "I'll be fine. The Crystal ponies are going nuts without their big hero attending the gala. Plus you gotta talk to Shining about the White Mantel."
Spike didn't like this. "Rachel, I don't want to leave you."
"I'll be fine. Have fun." she said before the sounds of puking occurred within the bathroom. "If not, the next thing I puke on is on you."
It won't be the first time.
Spike then sighed, shaking his head. "You sure?"
"Yeah...I'm fine…"
"Well...I'll be back later to check up on you...can I get you anything?"
"I'm good."
Spike knows she's still upset about something. He could tell by her tone…
What exactly did he do wrong?...
Unless…
Unless she knew what he did…
Fucking hell!
"Rach-"
"Go, have fun." Rachel said, it sounded like she was getting agitated then. "I'll be fine."
Oh shit, he's in fucking trouble.
Spike sighed, rubbing his muzzle. "Ok...I'll see you later…" he muttered before walking out.
Rachel listened to him leave. Next to her was a couple of cups of water she used to fake her puking, kneeling to the toilet.
Rachel feels bad for lying to him about this… but she wasn't in the mood. In her hands was her phone. The number on her screen was Brimstone's number.
She had to make a choice then and there. It's just upsetting the bloody fact it's during the Gala…
She can't take holding this choice any longer. Rachel gripped the phone tight, staring into the screen for a long time.
"Okay...Rachel…you got this." Rachel muttered to herself.
Closing her eyes, she quickly pressed his number and pressed the phone to her ear.
"Brimstone, who am I speaking to?" Brimstone answered before the end of the first ring.
"Professor...I have my answer."