~Ø~
PROLOGUE
When the phone rang I was in the attic, contemplating the events that comprised my life up to this point, while simultaneously debating about jumping out the sole window belonging to the loft. It would be perfect, because, at this height, the fall would easily break my neck. But the thing is: I’m not suicidal. I’m just willing to suffer any pain necessary to escape the wretched typewriter sitting before me with a valid medical reason.
I wanted to ignore the phone, not because my contemplation had revealed an interesting fact about my life that demanded to be explored, but because the voices in my head were already irritated enough with me leaving the sheet of paper blank for so long.
Finally, though, I had to give in. It could have been someone with news of how my last book was doing. I got up from my seat, climbed the ladder down into my once jointed bedroom, and picked up the receiver.
“I kno~ow your secret,” sung a feminine voice on the other end.
The voice itself was the verge of familiarity to being recognized for me. I knew most of the mares in Ponyville, due to my involvement in shenanigans of the Elements of Harmony, though my presence was always usually forgotten about.
So then, why would anyone prank call the library so late into the night on a drake they knew nothing about? “Excuse me? To whom did you wish to speak to?”
“To you, of course. We both know that you’ve running the library by yourself for quite some time now, isn’t that so?”
It wasn’t a mystery that Twilight made long, periodic trips to Canterlot to learn the ways of Alicornship, but the fact that this voice was sure she hadn’t come back yet gave me a reason to worry. “Twilight is currently on a visit to the Princess herself, Celestia. Is there some message you’d like me to pass on to her when she returns?”
“Not at all,” the unknown mare said. The phone faintly picked up her shifting in some sort of bed. “Besides, its your secret that I know – not her’s.”
“What secret are you even talking about?” I replied sarcastically, as my claw began to tremble. “That I have scales instead of fur, and a tail that likes to slither than wag?”
The voice on the other end gave a feminine chuckle. “It’s not a secret if everybody already knows that you’re a dragon, Spike.”
My heart jolted upon hearing my name leave her lips, like she purposely whispered it into the receiver to draw out its effect. My brain was quick to rationalize to my heart that they’re aren’t too many dragons serving Twilight with the name of Spike, allowing me to stifle my surprise and disallow the mare of getting her full amusement out of me.
“Oh, no no, my sweet and dearest dragon. Your secret is something that has now become deeply entrenched in your soul, and you use all of its power, plus a little wit, to prevent anyone from discovering it. To put it as simply as possible, Spikey…”
My ear pressed ever more into the receiver, not to have better clarity in hearing her answer, but to pick up any form of distinction in her voice that could assist in revealing this mare’s identity.
“You’re a liar.”