//------------------------------//
// Of Dragons and Ponies 
// Story: The Alchemist's Dream 
// by L Drkheart 
//------------------------------//

The sun rose over the mountains as the day began but in response to the light flooding onto his face, Spike turned away and hid his head under his blanket. The dragons were famous for their long sleeps and while Spike was a very active kind of guy, there were rare days where he could be the laziest creature in Equestria. This happened to be one of those days that he was feeling like no force in the world would move him from this bed until he heard a very sophisticated scream that wasn’t natural in any way. He rolled his eyes angrily and got up before stomping his way to the sound.
He opened the door to the next car and could see that eight ponies were there with one unicorn wearing a monocle who immediately pointed a hoof at Spike. His cutie mark could just barely be seen as it was a shining gold coin. “There is the culprit! I demand you to arrest this Dragon for robbery!” Spike narrowed his eyes at the way the pony said dragon and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I would like to fully know what crime I’m being accused of before I completely list all the reasons why I am not the criminal. What was stolen?” 
“As if you don’t know what you did, I know the stories about your kind! All thieves and hoarders!” Before Spike could threaten or harm the unicorn, the officer pony stepped between them and glared down at the pony. 
“I will not hear another word from you or I will send you back to Princess Celestia for slander! This dragon was the one who helped Princess Luna save Canterlot from that evil witch. He will be treated with as much as respect as anyone else here but seeing you so far, Mister Goldblum, this might be just how you are.” Goldblum gritted his teeth in anger before he stepped back and glared at Spike who just gave a toothy grin in reply. 
“Thank you, officer, but I do wish to know about what was stolen. I may not have been the one to stole whatever is missing but I should be treated as a suspect and maybe I can help some.” The officer was a blue stallion with an aged mustache and gruff exterior, his green eyes had a bit of a sparkle in them that had Spike trusting in him. His nametag read Curt Rough.
“Well Mister Spike, the stolen property is one diamond that the train was secretly carrying to Ponyville for a delivery. You may have stopped the Diamond Dogs but there are more of the gang out there and I’m not sure if anyone told you but the three you captured were found to have escaped during the Canterlot Invasion.”
“Hmm, a diamond then huh? Are we sure that the Diamond Dogs weren’t the ones that came in while we all slept?”
“Yes, the dogs are unruly and stealth is beyond their abilities. You met them and just how… they operate.” Spike had to agree there, if Rover and his goons were the ones that attacked then they would be arguing about who should be the one to grab the diamond all the way to Ponyville. 
“Okay then, Mister Goldblum, when was the last time you checked on the diamond and what was it hidden in?” 
“I don’t need to tell you that and my company’s secrets are our own!”
“We don’t have time for this, if you do not cooperate you are giving the criminal more time to hide the gem and if we can not find it by the time this train reaches town then we will be forced to let everyone off the train and your gem will be gone also.” Goldblum cursed to himself before turning back to the officer. 
“Fine, I made it a habit to check on the gemstone after every stop and the last stop was midnight. Since then, the train hasn’t stopped so no new ponies or dragons has gotten on or off this train.”
“So if no one has left or new people got on… the culprit is on the train may be in this very room. Officer Rough, how many creatures are on this train?”
“Eight ponies, two guards, one driver, and one dragon.”
“So all the ponies are here, where is the other guard?”
“Interviewing the driver but it seemed to me that he was clean, he had done this kind of delivery for years so I don’t see why he would need to steal now. He also was talking to me for a while into the night as we shared a drink and stories.”
“So that would clear you two, all we have is ten left including me. I guess I’ll be the first to start. At midnight, I was in my room writing about all that had happened to me since the Canterlot Invasion and trying out the new power that was granted to me by Princess Celestia. It allowed me to send letters to her personally but she was asleep so I traded letters with Princess Luna through the night before falling asleep.”
“I suppose if you are so innocent then you wouldn’t mind us checking your cabin.”
“Go ahead then, I have nothing to hide.” The group all followed to Spike’s room where he stood out of it and a subtle scent caught his attention. He leaned down and touched the lock on his door, the smell of gold was inside. “Officer Rough, how long has it been since these doors have been locked?” 
“Hmm? These doors are barely ever locked and only ever from inside as we have no other reason for them to be locked why?”
“Because someone locked me in my room last night, that would ensure that I am not the thief but I guess that you forgot to mention this Mister Goldblum?”
“I simply needed to ensure the safety of my stone, you must understand the rumors of dragons and my position.”
“So where were you last night Mister Goldblum?”
“I was the one who offered the wine to the driver so I could get the key saying that it was my room. I did lock you in there after you had fallen asleep but on the way back to my car I saw two shadows whispering about something and only one of the beds seemed to have a pony in it. I smoked and listened to classical music until I fell asleep.” Spike tapped his chin and snapped before sticking a hand in his bag and began to mix several potions together before it turned orange. He took the group with him to Goldblum’s car and found the pipe that was used, taking a bit of the ash, he mixed it into the potion which turned blue.
“He is telling the truth, this potion can read the time when a substance was changed from one form to another and blue means that it was changed less than ten hours ago. This added to the fact that his horrible music is at the paused I guess that he fell asleep and someone broke into here to stop it.” One of the ponies, a green pegasus began to panic and flutter. Spike and the others looked at her and she hid her face. Her cutie mark seemed to be a wing with the wind behind it.
“I-I’m sorry I was the one that stopped the music! It was so late and I needed sleep because I was to go see Cloudsdale about a job! It was around one when I couldn’t take it any longer and I jumped down from my bed and snuck into the grump’s cabin and turned the music off. I heard a good tone at the other end of his car before I left it and headed back. On the way back to my bed, I heard somepony yelp in pain as they hit a bedframe with their hoof.”
“So you admit it! Where is my gem, you birdbrain!?” 
“Who are you calling a birdbrain!? I didn’t take your dumb diamond! And the name is Swift Wing!” As the two argued, Spike could tell that this girl was not their culprit. He looked at the remaining six ponies who all were looking at each other. One earth pony caught his eye as she seemed to be guilty about something and he pulled her aside with Officer Rough.
“I’m sorry to interrogate you like this miss but you seemed to be guilty about something? Would you be so kind as to tell us where you were last night?” The earth pony was cute with a light pink mane and tail which had a blue bow tied on it. She had white fur and large blue eyes, a faint blush decorating her cheeks. Her cutie mark was a circle that was made of hearts. The last thing that he saw was her orange pendant around her neck seemed familiar.
“O-okay… I’m Sundance, I’m moving to Ponyville to find out more about my family… I realized that the area has a statue of my ancestor and I hoped to find a place I could call home with… the one I love…” The pony began to cry before Spike rubbed her face softly, wiping away the tears and giving her a big smile. 
“I know this must all be hard for you, I’m on my own journey of self-discovery. I was told Ponyville might hold answers for myself also so no more tears, while there I’ll be there if you ever need a friend. I need you to finish so you aren’t blamed for anything unfairly, that guy is pointing his hoof at everyone.”
Sundance nodded and smiled softly before her depressed state returned and she looked down. “I-it wasn’t me or those two…” She pointed to a stallion and mare who were standing a bit too close. “T-the stallion was who I loved… but last night I caught the two of them whispering… they wanted to steal my ribbon and run off together. This blue ribbon has tiny diamonds embedded in it but I never cared about that so I wear it inside out. It was a gift from my first friend, Megan. In my sadness, I snuck past Goldblum’s cabin and began to sing at the end of the train. I was there all night…”
Spike felt anger fill him as he looked at the two that had hurt Sundance and smoke came out of his nose. He looked through his potions and smirked as he whispered to Sundance and she giggled before hugging Spike and three more ponies were cleared. That left three ponies who could have stolen the diamond. The last three were a curious bunch as they all seemed completely different, one was an earth pony who seemed shy and scared of the situation around him, the next was a pegasus who looked over everything around him with a bag of popcorn, and the last one was a unicorn mare who seemed to limp a bit.
“Town will be coming up soon dragon boy, are we all ready to admit the gem is gone so I can go back to relaxing?” The unicorn asked in a tone that annoyed Spike but he only shook his head. 
“We aren’t done yet, I noticed your limb and seeing that Swift Wing mentioned that she heard someone hit her hoof I would say that it was you! So why were you up at that time?” The unicorn looked away with a faint blush on her face.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you…”
“How about to me then miss because we are nearing town so I won’t reject arresting you for suspension!”
“Okay okay! Sheesh… I… I was gorging myself with chocolate okay!! I had gotten some of Equestria’s best chocolates made for my sister in law’s birthday but I was tempted to go try some and I ate them all… I have an appearance to keep up okay!? On the way back, I hit my hoof because of the chocolate on it made me slip. I angrily hit the bed two more times before going back to sleep.”
“And you Pegasus?”
“Me? I was stargazing on the roof of the train last night, I’m not sure how to prove that though.” Spike glanced at the pegasus’s fur and at the popcorn.
“You were eating that up there?”
“Yep, your point?” He asked as he munched on some more, not noticing the mess he had made. 
“Yeah… I think you’ll be cleared… that only leaves you!” the shy pony jumped and hid more.
“N-no! I was in my bed while all their stories happened around me. I was scared about seeing Ponyville in the morning so I was up thinking of all the ways it could go wrong until I fell asleep.” Spike rubbed his chin and looked at the earth pony again, tilting his head a bit. 
‘What’s your name?” 
“Flip Side” Indeed the cutie mark on his flank was a coin on the heads side, which made Spike think more. 
“What was the last thing you remember before falling asleep?” 
“Hearing the unicorn hit my bed.” Spike shivered as he walked to the bed and knocked three times on it before Flip seemed to enter a trance and his eyes turned menacing. “Well lookie here, you figured it out huh dragon boy?”
“Flip Side, you are the tails side of the coin. You stole the diamond!” 
“Yeah you would be surprised at how loud that idiot can be when he sleeps, I was expecting to leave this place with the diamond but seeing the lameo get locked away would be pretty funny.”
“No, you aren’t him. You will show Rough where the jewel is before he takes you back to Canterlot to talk to Princess Celestia.” Rough grabbed Flip with Goldblum following without as much as a thank you. Spike thanked everyone for their help and looked at Sundance before they looked at the two who hurt her. Spike grabbed a beaker of his slippy slime and mixed it with his gum mix, pretending to fall as it splattered all over them. Sundance giggled and jumped on all the pillows that gathered together, making feathers explode around the room and stick to the two. “Hey look at the chickens! Maybe next time you will not try to rob someone behind their back!” The two ran out of the cabin in embarrassment as everyone laughed and Sundance high fived Spike. He saw her pendant fall and he lifted it, examining it closely. 
“Do you like it? I found it last night on the end balcony.”
“You found it here? This looks like a…” Spike blinked and his eyes widened before he rushed to where Rough took Flip, ignoring the shouts behind him. He cursed as he saw Rough was tied up next to Flip and a pony he didn’t recognize. Goldblum was unconscious on the ground. Next to him was a discarded police outfit. He ran to Rough and untied him. “What happened?”
“We found the gem but at that moment someone dressed in my partner’s outfit attacked us… I’m sorry but they took the jewel and escaped on the roof. I need to check on the driver!”
“Okay, I’ll go to the roof.” Spike and the officer went their separate ways and on the roof, Spike jumped cart to cart as he approached the creature on the other end who was holding the diamond to the sun. They had a kind of cape and hood that kept them from view but Spike stopped as he got on the end of the last cart and glared. “Who are you?”
“I saw you and knew that you would see it eventually, I gave that pony down there a good scare from our kind.” They pulled down their hood to show a female orange dragon with purple fins and a large smirk. “I was there that night you ran away and I figured that you couldn’t have all the fun.”
“You are just showing that pony down there that we are exactly like what he called us!”
“He didn’t see me as a dragon and if you don’t tell them then you keep us in ponies good views and isn’t that enough to keep your mouth shut.” Spike gritted his teeth as he prepared to tackle her but she rolled her eyes and spread out her wings. “You have two choices here, chase me on those little legs or go help your friend try to stop this train.”
“I’ll get you for this.”
“I’ll look forward to it shrimp. Name’s Smolder.” With that, she jumped off while laughing and Spike rushed back to the engine where he found Rough was just fine.
“Oh, Spike I found this for you.” The officer showed him a letter that only had two words. Got Ya!
.   .   .
Spike explained the whole situation but left out the part where Smolder was a dragon. They soon arrived at the train station where Goldblum was forced to tell a unicorn mare that was simply stunning to Spike that her diamond was stolen. She fainted but an earth pony wearing a hat caught her and rolled her eyes. Spike said goodbye to Sundance and the two hugged before she walked away with a smile. 
Spike sighed as he wondered if he would ever get a break. He sat and yawned before he looked up and saw the silhouette of a unicorn in front of him, holding out a hoof. “Are you Spike?” The voice was something out of a dream or maybe a faded memory. He grabbed the hoof as she pulled him up and smiled, getting to see her clearly his breath hitched in his chest.
She was a simple pony but her hair and smile were perfect to the dragon and he felt the urge to hug her but resisted. “Y-yeah… I’m Spike the dragon…” She giggled which was music to his ears.
“I can see that, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”