Springtime for a Drake

by Yinglung

Twilight I

Twilight narrowed her eyes, and she abruptly closed the book she was reading. Her mind could not focus on the writing at all. Spike was acting very strange this morning, she thought.

She closed her eyes and thought back to last night. Spike was on very good behavior. He stayed helpful and focused throughout their observation of the Purple Comet and other experiments. She sent him to sleep well before bed time as a thanks for his assistance.

However, Twilight could not help but think that the dragon she talked with was… off.

Maybe it was his odd behavior, and the way he talked. He sounded so overly formal and glib. His expressions and body language also looked unusual, with his apparent guardedness.

Twilight asked the dragon something that she made him recite numerous times. The quill set was a gift from Princess Celestia, so she had told Spike to absolutely keep it safe and remember where he put it, so that he could take it out quickly whenever she need it.

So when he couldn’t answer her, the purple mare felt quite suspicious and worried.

Did he hit his head in the night? Her mind raced through explanations. Did he accidentally drink some potion ingredients?

Or… Did he get replaced by those pod ponies like the novel I read a few months ago?

Twilight vigorously shook her head. She tried to clear her head, pushing away the baseless conjectures until she had the mind to properly discern them.

Widening her red and puffy eyes, she set her gaze on the coffee grinder in front of her. Her brain cried out for some fuel before it could work on Spike’s strange behaviors and her other research projects.

Immediately, she grabbed hold of the apparatus with her telekinetic magic, and began to make her morning cup of coffee.

She put the beans into the grinder, and lit her horn. Coffee aroma emanated immediately from the ground beans.

She poured some hot water from the vacuum flask on her desk into the funnel. What I am doing must be sacrilegious to those coffee aficionados, she thought with wryness. The water is in no way hot enough. Nonetheless, she was not in the mood of getting downstairs to get boiling water.

As the purple mare was pondering coffee philosophy, she decided to check up on her research notes from last night. Then she thought about some old theorems and new conjectures.

Time flew by for the purple mare. By the time she paused for break, Spike was already holding a tray of food and drinks up to her room. It was then she realized that she had told the dragon to cook her some breakfast.

Twilight slightly frowned, as she preferred to keep the bedroom free of food smells and any distraction to her study and sleep.

“Spike, I told you many times not to bring food upstairs. The smell is going to stay for ages! Don’t be such a messy dragon, okay?”

Twilight grunted again in dissatisfaction, until she realized that her tone seemed to be overly harsh and critical.

But instead of the watery eyes and puckered lips that she had expected, Spike simply readily apologized and flashed her a sheepish smile.

“My sincerest apologies,” He smartly bowed. “I tried to call you downstairs, but I heard nothing. I figured that you must be neck-deep in study. Do not worry, my good Twilight, today’s breakfast is not at all strong-flavored.”

He immediately lowered the tray and presented her the day’s breakfast. Twilight was originally in no mood for gourmet, and about to open her mouth and protest.

However, the smell immediately passed through her nose and seized her by its sheer savory aroma. Her half-opened mouth uttered not a sound. She blinked her eyes a few more times before she regained her composure.

“… Whoa, Spike. I have never seen you making these kind of delicate dishes before. What are they?”

Spike grinned with pride. “Glad that you asked! I toasted the thin breads slightly, and then covered them with butter, honey and blackberry preserves. I churned them into an even paste before applying them to the bread. And these are some soft-boiled eggs garnished with diced creamy cheese and steamed onion. Oh, and since you look a bit tired, I figure that some light mint tea will be refreshing and invigorating. They are nothing too fancy, but I hope you’ll like them.”

Twilight was still a bit unused to the formal way Spike suddenly spoke in, but her desire to taste the food in front got the better of her. She took a spoonful of the soft-boiled eggs.

The texture is just right, she thought. And the cheese is not… for a lack of a better word, queasy. The creamy flavor blended in with the residual zing from the steamed onion, making the eggs much more interesting to the purple mare than usual.

She then bit into the thin breads. The fruitiness and flowery scent of the paste was refreshing, and the bread was toasted with the appropriate amount of crusty. She sipped at the mint tea, and it snapped her mind out of the morning grump.

All in all, this is a simple but quality breakfast, Twilight nodded with satisfaction.

Her mind, however, immediately turned to suspicious places. Hm, but Spike, bless his claws, never made such a good breakfast before. Where has he learnt to do these dishes? And why does he only choose to do them today?

Something is fishy, she narrowed her eyes.

Nonetheless, Twilight finished her breakfast swiftly, and Spike collected the dishes without making much eye contact with her.

She then grabbed her notes and quills and went down to the basement to prepare for the day’s research.

She calibrated the equipment and jotted measurements. However, Spike did not turn up as usual to help her studies.

Twilight shook her head. I gotta check what he’s up to, she thought.

When she was again up from the basement, Spike was reading some books from the shelf.

She frowned. “What are you doing, Spike? You should not be reading comi-”

Her words stopped dead in the track, as she noticed that he was not holding a comic book or any action novels. Instead, it was an Equestrian almanac.

Spike widened his eyes as he hurriedly shelved the thick tome. “Twilight, I’ll be coming now. Sorry for my tardiness.”

“Why are you reading the almanac, Spike? You should have known most of the festivals and historical tidbits of our land by now.”

Spike sheepishly smiled. “… It’s a good thing to revise upon them once in a while, is it not? I shall come with you to help with your research right away.”

Twilight looked at him with a disbelieving glare. However, there was a muffled knock at the door, and she reluctantly broke off eye contact and went to answer the door.

It was Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus was sporting a worried expression, and she quietly but hurriedly pled. “Twilight, there's-- there's a horrible cloud of smoke coming out from the mountain.”

Twilight lightly gasped. “Is it fire?”

“No.” Spike called out from behind. Fluttershy and Twilight both turned, and saw Spike holding a scroll of letter.

He said with a complicated expression. “Princess Celestia had informed us that the smoke came from a snoring dragon on the mountain.”

“A... d-dragon?” Fluttershy’s eye shrunk to pin-sized.

“She called upon you six, the Element bearers, to encourage the dragon to sleep somewhere else.”

She raised her brows as she heard the royal decree. “All right then, we must inform our other friends and gather supplies quickly. We've got a long journey ahead of us.”

Looking at the teeth-clattering Fluttershy, Spike smiled gently. “Fluttershy, I gather that you might be somewhat concerned about the prospects of meeting a fully-grown dragon?”

Fluttershy nodded, and then shook, and then nodded again. “I- If I were to go, no one would be looking after my animals!”

Twilight grinned with a shrug. “Don't worry about your little friends in the meadow. Spike's got it covered while you're gone.”

Spike, however, did not readily agree as she expected. His expression was clouded with hesitation, but eventually he slowly nodded. “As you wish, Twilight.”

“Mhmm? Spike, are you worried that you’re not up to the task?”

Spike let out a breath and grinned toothily. “Not at all, Twilight. I just dearly want to reconnect with my draconic brethren. But since it was the royal will that specifically commands you six to go, but not me, I shall stay here and await your good news.”

A jarring sense again welled up in Twilight’s mind when she observed Spike’s outward behaviors. But we now have an urgent mission to take on, she frowned slightly. I might as well leave this for later.

Seeing no explicit objection from the purple mare, Spike again smartly bowed. “All the best to your journey.”

Twilight glanced at the dragon again one last time, then sighed and signaled Fluttershy to follow her out of the library.

Author's Note:

Some overly detailed and flowery descriptions of meals are needed to capture the essence of the books.

Comments

[GrimmWolfDragon]

Great chapter keep it up.

[Yinglung]

7593093 Cheers!

7592884 Well, I think it's certainly possible to portrait such a scenario. But still, this Spike is over a thousand years old mentally, and by then, he has little ambition for power himself. The line I shamelessly ripped off from the show (wink wink 7593470) hinted at his characterization. Even if conflict does come to this world, he would not, or at least would strive not to be its progenitor.

[Draconicus the Reaper]

I honestly want to see Spike follow them and either defeat the dragon or just talk him into leaving

[BrownieBorn]

Hmm, Twilight is being extra slave ownerish in this, kinda makes me wanna slap her.

[Yinglung]

7594102 There would be plenty of chances for him to interact with Equestrian dragons, don't worry!

7594114 She's a Good Master. Nay, it was morning grumps at first, but she did grow a bit paranoid afterwards.

[Ekhidna]

Okay, I buy it.

[Yinglung]

7596646 *Cha-Ching* Thanks for your purchase!

[SkyDragonMC]

So far a nicely detailed and interesting story. Hope to see more.