The Emerald Servant

by mysterypen12

Years have passed, The mane six finally split up, leading their own lives. Spike decided to continue living his life in ponyville, a quiet life. that is until he has a chance encounter with Trixie and an interesting arrangement, letting her live at his place. this leads to them battling once untouched personal demons and the once small and quiet town opening up to them.

12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: canterlot part 3: to what goes missing in the process of change?

Castle, luna's room: 30 minutes until the arrival of trixie

30 minutes was the time of arrival at this point, luna needed to move at a breakneck pace. However, she choose to lay in her bed, eyes attached to the ceiling. She sighed, feeling the drain of a long day. She spent the day preparing various accommodations. dealing with kingdom wide political discussion and preparing a great feast for the two guests this evening. It was a lot but that was just a normal day for a princess like her. What wasn't normal was her growing depression. Days feel like years to her and she's gained a new enemy within herself. "Who do you think you are?" a voice started fighting within her mind, wanting to be heard. Luna sighed, knowing exactly who that voice is. "You were powerful, you were respected, you were….." before the voice could finish speaking within her, luna stood up in defiance. "I was feared, a monster and i have no interest in giving into you" luna said, almost seeming detached from what she was saying. "Giving in?, that implies i have no control, yes?" the voice said, luna had no response. This voice only appeared recently, a entity that preyed on the insecurity of princess. That's how she viewed the voice, she even took the time to see a doctor about this voice. "That's right, my existence is control in itself" the voice made the point that luna didn't want to hear. luna sat on this fact before hearing a knock on the door. "Luna?!" the voice calling out from behind the door was obviously familiar to her. She almost didn't move from her comfortable spot in the bed, wanting to stay for a bit longer. "Can we please talk?" that voice belonged to her sister and luna has never ignored her call. "You may come in!" luna called out, not even leaving her bed. The door creaked open and celestia saw luna laid out on the bed. "Not even my own sister can break this melancholy chain spreading" she commented. Celestia decided to take her sister's approach and decided to take a seat on the bed. "Hey, did i invite you here?" luna asked in a joking manner. celestia laughed it off and stayed in her position. "Long day, huh?" celestia asked, taking a completely casual tone with her sister.

Luna nodded in reply, not really having any fun comments to the affair. "Don't worry sister, not all days are like yours" celestia said. Luna was surprised that her sister was giving her such obvious advice. "Of course…." luna replied with the heaviest amount of sarcasm her voice would allow. Celestia sighed "sorry, that's all i got….. Unless something else is bothering you?" she asked the question luna would never answer. Luna is aware of the fact that she might know about her current issue. Celestia always wanted her sister to say how she felt, rather then say it for it. "Umm….. doubt, again…." luna slightly admitted, deciding to leave the voice out entirely. Tia clicked her tongue in a lighter tone of a disapproval, setting the mood for what she was about to say. "I don't know how many times i need to say your amazing till you feel it dear sister….." celestia replied. Luna chuckled "i don't know, maybe till the edge of time" she humorously replied. "I don't believe that…." celestia replied, changing her light tone to a stark and serious one. "Your stronger then you think" celestia said, luna could only nod. She heard the same thing from her sister many times. "I wish i saw what you see in me…" luna passively said. Celestia sighed, she almost bends over backwards to help her sister and nothing seems to work. "Enough with the melancholy, how about you guests?" celestia said, changing the subject immediately. "If hours of preparation determines an outcome, things should run smoothly" luna said while adding a heavy sigh to show how drained she was. "You never told me, why did you invite her here?" celestia asked. Luna was dead silent,wanting to keep those reasons to herself. "I feel she needs my inquiry…." this was the best excuse that luna could come up with. "Or do you need hers?" celestia said, sounding as if she hit the nail on the head. Luna was silent once more. "Whatever your reason, it should be an interesting time" celestia said, luna nodded in agreement with her. "Actually there is one thing i was wondering…." celestia started saying, this gained luna's continued attention. "It's been years and it should be expected yet if she is his choice…" luna knew immediately knew what she was getting at. "Wouldn't surprise me at all, sometimes a mate needs to challenge you" luna replied, following with a chuckle. "Hmm, you may be right" celestia replied, following up with her own short laugh. Luna was enjoying their conversation, stripping their business side away if not only for a small pocket of time. "Well i have to get going, lots of work to do" celestia said, getting up from her position on the bed. "That means you to, don't dodge work today" she also added, luna nodded and swatted her away with her hoof. This made celestia smile, her sister seemed to be showing her colors again. As celestia walked out of luna's room, luna smiled herself. "It won't last, none of it does" the voice struck again, taking a swipe at her slight happiness. "Then let us live in the moment then" luna replied, continuing her fight with the voice. She then walked out the room as well, ready to take on the rest of her duties.

Canterlot: main shopping square: 30 minutes until arrival at the castle

He had to do this kind of thing everyday, without doing it he'd starve. However, if there is one thing spike hated more then anything, that would be shopping. Even after making a joke about not shopping in canterlot, trixie ended up in a pawn shop anyways. "Jeez, even the pawn shop looks high end…" trixie commented while she and spike were looking around. The store was the largest that they've ever seen. The store was a massive room with hallway length shelves for various items. In the end of these shelf hallways with a large area for bigger items and rarer items in glass cases. This large area was packed with a flood of ponies, giving it a more intimidating presence. "1,000 bits for a small necklace like this!" trixie exclaimed in disbelief. Spike shrugged, completely expecting this kind of gouging the moment he walked in with her. Trixie was looking in the jewelry section of the store, a place spike honestly thought she wouldn't end up in. "it does look pretty though…." spike commented. It was a necklace with a silver looking chain and an almost pure looking crystal attached to it. "I don't know, to me, this crystal looks like a fake" trixie commented, vigorously examining the diamond. Spike was surprised with her offhand knowledge but then he quickly remembered something. "She probably would have loved coming here, seeing her friend….." spike sighed along with that comment. "Maybe a gift would seal that wound for her" trixie replied, spike nodded in reply. "I'mma look for the the commoners section, see if i can find anything…" spike said as he walked away to another section. Trixie was about to do her own searching until something about that necklace stood out to her. "That would be a… no trixie, don't be stupid" a rogue thought popped up in her head. She tried to walk away, push that idea out of her head and make a sensible decision. "... damn it spike!" she thought to herself, swiping the necklace from the shelf with her magic.

Somewhere else in the pawn shop

"Wow….." spike admitted his frightful guard down to admit to the amazing scale of the store. The usual knick knack section of a store would be a shelf long in ponyville. Here, there was an entire aisle dedicated to smaller novelty items. Like most things they saw in the store, the prices were beyond uphiked. "Ugh, even a simple teddy bear costs a fortune" spike thought to himself. At the same time, he felt that was the least he owed fluttershy for not taking her. He was debating as to whether or not to tell her he even came to canterlot. "No…. lying is too easy…." he thought to himself. This is a new thing for spike, lying being his first but not used resort. That thought has come up more often and it's concerning him. "When did lying become my first instinct?" spike asked himself this question constantly. However, first instinct doesn't necessarily mean the thing you end up doing. Spike, for the most part, never ends up using his first instinct when approaching any problem. Hiding trixie's existence from her was one of those first instinct moves he had. Sometimes delaying a predicted fallout seems better then just facing everything head on. "Come on, there's gotta be something in this raggedy aisle" spike thought to himself, seeing nothing but upsold "i was in canterlot" branded items. Finally as he was approaching the end of aisle, he found something. Sitting at the end, was a small, felt pegasus doll with a yellow color. "Actually, the likeness is pretty uncanny….. Is this merchandise for the mane six?" spike asked while looking at this doll. He then looked up and saw the mass of stuffed dolls that looked like his friends. The very last shelf in the aisle was mane six merch, dolls mostly and it was actually quite creepy at first. Then a foal and her mother passed by to look at the same dolls. "Ok, so which one do you want?" the mother asked the foal in a doting matter. Spike still had the fluttershy looking doll in his hand while looking at the shelf. The foal looked around, completely enamoured by each of the six in doll form. "Hmm…." she was still in thought until a doll in the very back stood out to her. "An alicorn…." she said in amazement, picking out the twilight doll. "I'm sorry, are we in your way?" the mother asked spike. "No, not at all, i'm still looking…" spike was surprised with the mother's lack of surprise with him being a dragon. "Look, it even has a little dragon on her back, cool!" the foal exclaimed in excitement. Spike's attention was raised and he saw the doll himself on the shelf. Spike had no reaction to this until he saw that same little foal look straight at him. "A...a dragon?" the foal oddly didn't ask this question in fear but interest instead. Spike didn't know how to react to this nor knew why it took her this long to notice him. Spike threw up a awkward little wave, hoping that would be enough of a response. The foal chuckled, eroding her even smallest idea of him being a threat. "Are you the only dragon here?" this was her first question directed at spike. "You don't need to….." the mother was about to say, spike genuinely didn't mind though. "It's ok, really, and the answer is yes" spike replied. "Hmm…" the foal was intrigued by his answer and looked at the doll she picked up once more. "Are you the….." the foal was about to ask, spike answered her predicted question with a nod.

"Woah….." the young foal looked starstruck once this was confirmed. Spike chuckled, admittedly enjoying the small limelight. Her face looked as she was ready to rapid fire him with over 50 questions. "Ok, ok, we shouldn't bother the poor drake…." her mother said, her child looked up at her in slight disappointment. However, she nodded in acceptance at her mother's words. The foal waved goodbye to the dragon before the both of them left. Spike gave a more confident wave with a toothy smile. The foal chuckled and left the aisle along with her mother. "Huh…." spike commented, quite surprised by how that interaction went. He never really had that kind of reaction to him being a dragon. He was better off for it and it almost improved his mood for heading to the castle. He looked at all the dolls again and picked both the fluttershy and twilight dolls. He walked towards the cashier with a slightly smaller chip on his shoulder.

10 minutes later, outside of the pawn shop

Trixe sighed, looking in the bag with an extremely expensive necklace inside. She didn't sigh for the amazing amount of bits lost in one purchese. It was a gift idea and she understands it was her full choice. Her impatience is coming from her growing excitement to meet luna. This is coming from the same mare who before this visit was very indifferent to high life. Matter of fact, while she was in the store, the thought crossed her mind about her new experiences. "From wanderer, to living to a tree, going to a cool party and finally canterlot…" she thought in retrospect. It's not just the places but the connections, even if they were newly made, that she formed. Helping and meeting two seemingly different mares but looking closer, seem to be great friends. "They both threw a killer party" she thought, waiting for the drake she had nothing else to do but reflect. Of course she not forgetting about fluttershy, who was slightly accepting of her from the beginning. Yet, up until recently she's been feeling awkward around her. "Then there's spike…" once she thought about this, her thoughts ran incredibly wild. The time when they outsmarted a diamond dog, "if it weren't for spike, i'd be dead…" she first said this with a chuckle. Then, she actually took a look at all he's been involved in. "and he stuck by me, even at my most vial…" her thoughts became more of the warmer variety. "Gave me a place to live, introduced me to two new mares…" it was getting warmer, almost a space of comfort. One thing, it was a little thing but one thing stuck in her mind. "When rarity attacked me, not only was this the second prevented death, he saw my bloody nose and gave me a tissue, made sure i was ok…" trixie then sighed, she knew and was 100% aware with why her thoughts were heading this direction. "I'm…. oh no, oh hell no!" her mind couldn't even complete the sentence at first. This possibility was always in her head, no matter how much she tried to push it out. "I'm…." trixie was super close to saying this truth out loud before hearing the unmistakable voice of the drake in question. "Hey, i managed to find something… interesting, should be good enough". Trixie turned her attention to him, revealing him holding a tiny bag. He reached into the bag and pulled out one stuffed doll that looked a lot like fluttershy. "Hmm…. didn't know they had merch" trixie commented, spike shrugged and placed the doll back in the bag. "Oh i see you got something…" spike said, seeing her own little bag next to her. "Oh…. well, um…. I kinda got you something…" trixie said with her nerves peaking. She levitated the item out of the bag and passed it to him. It was a small jewelry box that first housed the item. He opened it to reveal the same necklace both of them saw in the store. "Um…. wow….." spike was jaw dropped by the small necklace. "You wanted a gift for her, i think that should suit quite….." while trixie was speaking, she heard spike give a sigh. "This must have costed a fortune…." spike said, not sure whether to take the item.

"Hey, it was my gift, don't worry about it" trixie replied, urging him to take it. "Hmm…. ok then, i'll take it, thank you" spike replied with a soft smile. "Oh yeah!, i did get you something…" spike remembered while shifting through the tiny bag. "They didn't have trixie merchandise for obvious reasons but i found this cool magic hat!" spike said in excitement, pulling out what might be the corniest thing trixie's ever seen. It was a small standard magic hat you'd find in a magic tricks set. Black hat with a white ring circling the bottom of it but the major difference is all the white stars surrounding the the top of the hat. "Well… it's…. Special, very special…." trixie was making an effort to hold her laughter. "I mean, come on, it was this or a sunhat with the same design…" spike replied, trixie couldn't hold it in anymore. "Somepony put this design on a damn sunhat!" she exclaimed, finally bursting into laughter. At first it was a snicker but then spike joined along as well. "I...i can't…" trixie was slowly regaining her normal composure before they both reached back into a normal ground. After they recovered from their laughter, trixie looked into spike's eyes. "But really, i love it, thank you" trixie said in her most genuine manner. Spike nodded in reply with a smile. "Same here, i just wish you didn't…." before spike could finish the sentence, she took her hat and placed it on top her head. "Come on spike, this look…. Priceless" she said, putting the silly hat on top her head head. This lightened spike's mood a bit until he remembered the most important thing. "Next stop, canterlot…." he said very plainly, not lacking excitement but not holding any either. Trixie nodded and spike looked back at her to mention something important. "If were walking, i don't think you wanna be caught in public with that hat on your head" spike commented. Trixie chuckled and said "nah, it stays". This put a smile on spike's face as they traveled their final stretch together.

Castle, main meeting room, 20 minutes until the arrival of trixie

Celestia was trying to hold back a sigh and a very large one at that. Like most discussions, these were strictly diplomatic ones. Lending different resources to the many kingdoms of equestria, nothing ever amounted to anything bigger then that. This was a new age, the many successful ventures of the mane six lead to an ultimate peace agreement before they retired. The retirement was down to them wanting to lead more normal lives. Twilight was one of those cases, a case that celestia had a current frustration with. She gave her a week off and yet finds her jotting down a transcript of the conversation. Celestia quite vividly remembered something she thought was well told to flash. "Take her out on the town i said, keep her out of work i said" celestia thought to herself while absorbing the information from the meeting. Twilight looked fatigued which isn't different from how she's been looking everyday. However, celestia found something quite interesting in her behavior. No matter how tired it made her, she never dropped her complete investment in the discussion. This reminded celestia of her first day, the excitement and the pure passion in her eyes. No matter how much damage she may have done to herself, this looked never disappeared from her eyes. As she was thinking, celestia heard a small whisper calling to her. "Princess…" celestia turned around to see that twilight was calling for her. "Now i heard the part about apple trade but i missed how many ponies their sending to do the trade….." twilight was whispering. "53 ponies, that's your answer" celestia responded with her own hushed voice. Twilight nodded and continued to her writing. "Alright, i think we can close early today, besides, you have guests coming soon" the main ambassador of the meeting, a representative of the griffin race. A lot of progress has been made repairing the fractures of a once messy relationship. "Thank you for your time" both of the princesses said in perfect sync, formalities that they are both used to using. As everyone left the room and the only ones left were the princesses, a handful of guards and twilight. "Guards, you may be dismissed, we would like to have a private conversation!" luna said with a powerful base in her voice. Her guards immediately listened and cleared the room.

"Ok, so let's go over my notes then…." twilight was shifting through her notes until a magical aura held the papers down. "Listen to me, for once, i never thought this would be an issue, but please listen to me…." celestia almost sounded like she was begging her former student. Twilight nodded and let celestia continue to talk. "Throughout these years, ever since you were but a mere foal, i've watched you grow and mature, learn so many things and even push beyond my expectations of you…" celestia seemed to be pouring her heart out while speaking to her, almost like words from a caring mother. "I could never be any prouder then i am today… and that's why i need to say this, i know you love your work and i see it in your eyes everyday….." before celestia could even finish, luna finished the statement for her. "You must not let your work consume you". "I know but….." twilight was stuck, not wanting to admit this truth to the mares that believe in her so much. "It's ok to take a break, the world isn't going to end when your not around for a week…." celestia said, this statement triggered something in twilight's mind. "It isn't?..." twilight thought to herself. "If there is anything and i mean anything that bothers you, this week would be a good time to talk" celestia said, finishing her speech. Twilight nodded, really only as a courtesy. "Ok, now, maybe head out to town or help luna prepare the welcome dinner, get your mind off of work" celestia said, the moment that she mentioned working with luna, she was almost swept off her feet by the midnight princess. "Come on, we have a lot to do, don't worry sister, she's in good hooves!" luna said excitedly, guiding twilight out the door. Celestia chuckled as she continued to stay in the meeting room. She sighed, hoping that spike's visit would at least slightly correct her vision.

15 minutes until the arrival of trixie, main hallways, heading for the dining room

Twilight was dead silent while walking next to luna. Luna was whistling some kind of tune, she doesn't even recall if luna even said anything. "What is it, do i miss the fame, did i even like the fame?" twilight was thinking herself into a circle. She never really was a fame loving mare, so that was the first option that she ruled out. "Is must be the conflict…" twilight accidently said this bit out loud. "Conflict, what do you mean?" luna asked her, twilight had two options with her response. Ignore her or just directly respond to her, she chose the latter for once. "It seems that something about the old days with my friends, i miss something about it…." twilight said in the most unsure. "I mean, you have great friends, ones worth missing, you shouldn't be puzzled about that" luna replied, twilight nodded. "But…. it's not my friends that i miss, it's something else and i don't know what it is" twilight replied. Once luna heard that, she stopped in her tracks, twilight was puzzled by this. "Twilight, i…. The best advice or a place you should start is asking one question…." luna was in her own speech mode and twilight's attention was fully peeked. "During the process of change, what of yourself goes missing and can you recover those pieces?" luna said, being the most honest with her current feelings. "Say, a part of yourself, a part that you don't like…. Sometimes that hardest thing to understand is… nevermind!" she quickly aborted her train of thought. Twilight was stuck on what luna was about to say. "By part, does she mean nightmare moon?" twilight thought to herself. "Anyways!, do you see what i mean?" luna asked, twilight nodded but was ready to reply with her own question. "Do you miss nightmare moon?" twilight asked. This question took luna by surprise. The answer should have been immediate but the words were just not coming out. "You know you do, don't lie to the mare…" the voice in luna's head returned for the first time in front of another pony. "I… i don't know" luna replied, trying her hardest not to react to the voice. "Your a coward! This is why the power will never grace you! Without its power, you a weak coward!" the voice was violent, almost agitated by luna. "I AM NOT A COWARD!" luna screamed this, she couldn't hold back anymore.

Twilight was slightly frightened by luna's outburst but not enough to run from her. "Luna!" twilight called out to her. Luna realized her small outburst and took a deep breath and hoped this would keep the voice away. "I…i apologize" luna said, saddened and with regret. She couldn't even explain to her why she had that reaction. "Are you ok?" twilight asked, luna nodded in reply to her question. "Actually, no, i'm not taking your word for that, what's going on?" twilight asked, not letting the princess go so easily. Luna was quiet, she was thinking about whether trusting twilight with this secret was a good idea. "It's my problem and i can handle it" this was luna's answer to her question. Twilight didn't want to but she decided to let it go after that point. As they continued, luna's true intentions finally revealed themselves. She found a mare whose heart hurt the same way hers did. Both of them continued to walk, dragging their baggage along with them.

5 minutes until arrival inside the castle, main castle gate

This is the first time in years that spike had to remind himself to breathe. The pressure that he thought was completely lifted was returning. The gate was a large one, with two guards standing on each end of it. The castle behind that gate seemed larger then he remembered. "Maybe they added to it" trixie commented, it seems like trixie was thinking the same thing. The walk up was grueling. The path was clearly made for carriage travel but trixie insisted on walking due his small lie about the distance. "Hey, are you ok?" trixie asked him, spike turned to her and nodded as they both walked up to the guards. "Identi…. Spike!" one of guards immediately recognized spike. Spike took a closer look and that orange color became unmistakable to the dragon. "Woah, no way! Flash!" spike gained a genuine burst of excitement. Spike quickly embraced flash before they started talking. "So i see you've found yourself one heck of a mare!" flash said, leading trixie to immediately get embarrassed. "Um… well…" trixie was trying to get the correct words out before spike helped her out. "It's not like that, she's a new friend" spike quickly clarified, trixie quickly nodded in agreement. "Ok, alright, that's cool but the real question, do you have a marefriend?" flash asked him, spike gave off a smirk before replying. "If i told you now, you wouldn't believe it". Flash chuckled and replied "should be a great story to tell me when i let you two in". Flash took one side of the gate and the other guard took another side. Pushing it open so that both spike and trixie can get inside. Flash lead the way for both of them to the main castle door. "Twilight is super….." before he could even finish his sentence, the door swung open to reveal a familiar lavender mare. "H…." spike couldn't even finish a two letter word before twilight rushed to the drake for a hug. "I'm…. i'm so glad to see you!" twilight said almost breaking into tears. As he felt her in his arms, spike has never shed a tear for years. Maybe it was the journey, maybe it was the long amount of time or the guilt he had. Spike lost the ability to control his emotions. "Me too…." was the last thing he said before shedding his own tears. Trixie was moved by the affair as well but in a smaller way. Twilight didn't even notice trixie she was so enveloped in the moment. As they both let go, tear stained faces as the aftermath. Spike sniffled, having a hard time recovering. "This… you know who this is, my new friend, trixie" spike gave his best introduction for her. "Hi" trixie couldn't think of anything else to say, not knowing how to start. "Hi" twilight replied in return, both of them didn't have much to say to each other. "Anyways!, let's go inside, food awaits!" flash said, his attempt at breaking the awkward tone between the two. Then they all walked together into the castle, starting their stay at the castle.

An: woah! This is a bit of a quicker note for this chapter. Thank you all for deciding to jump on this crazy ride with me. The more i write this story, the more it starts hitting towards my core. I'm working hard on getting these chapters out faster. Thank you so much for reading and see you next time :)