//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Dragon's Heart // by NightShadow-z //------------------------------// Spike sat patiently across from Twilight as the train rolled on towards Canterlot. Normally, Twilight would've just flown them there, but she told him that she didn't want to appear sweaty at the restaurant, which made sense. What didn't make sense is how she was acting. She kept glancing around the compartment as if looking for something to distract herself or talk about, which was new. Normally she'd be talking his ears off about a new spell, or Starswirl the Bearded, and how he was the only Unicorn powerful enough to rival the Princesses. And he paid attention, he could see the little nervous twitches in her wings. Looking around the compartment himself, he finally took in how spacious the private cabins were. Two benches sat opposite each other, with a soft, felt like fabric covering them. The reddish tint of it meshed well with the off-gold color of the rest of the compartment. Above each bench was a bed cubby, big enough for two ponies to sleep comfortably for long distance travel, like when they went to visit Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and, more recently, Flurry Heart. Outside the single window, the countryside land between Ponyville and the Canterlot Mountain Range rolled past, the bare ground only being broken by the usual tree and occasional hill. Spike looked back at Twilight, growing worried for the lavender Alicorn. "Are you okay, Twilight?" He finally asked her, unable to ignore how nervous she was acting. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine." She stammered, looking over at him, a bit surprised. He gave her a deadpan look, obviously seeing through her lie. She sighed and looked down. "Alright. I'm kind of nervous at how ponies will react when they see me eating dinner with you." She confessed, looking down. He chuckled darkly a bit. "I didn't think you'd be worried about something like that." He told her, leaning his head back against the compartment wall with his eyes closed, feeling like the universe was just out to make sure he never found love, nor forgot that ponies would look down on a dragon loving, and/or dating a pony. "I'm sorry Spike...." Twilight suddenly spoke up. "I-I forgot that's exactly what you don't want to hear right now. I'm supposed to be distracting you... And here I am making it worse...." Spike opened his eyes and looked at Twilight, seeing her softly start crying. Sighing, he slowly got up and gently pulled her into a hug, sitting next to her. "It's fine, Twilight. Give me a few days, and I'll probably be over it." He replied. She didn't look convinced, but, Spike didn't care, returning to his view to the outside of the train window. ***** As Twilight and Spike got off the train at the Canterlot station, he couldn't help but feel amazed at the sheer beauty of it all. All the shops and houses were never exactly the same, ranging in height, width, and color, they gave a sense of personality to the regal city. "So, what restaurant were you thinking of, Twi?" Spike asked, looking down at the lavender alicorn bedside him. "It's a surprise." She answered in a song voice, a smile adorning her muzzle. He rolled his eyes with a smirk before playfully pushing her with his hip, to which she just giggled. "So, any new spells you've been working on? Any friendship lessons that Starlight's having trouble on?" Twilight hummed as they walked, using her magic to brush her mane out of her eyes. "Well, I may be able to use a spell to turn a pony into a dragon, but, it's very complex. I think only Celestia or Luna could cast it properly without straining." She finally answered, "Of course, Discord could just turn himself into a dragon at will, but, he doesn't follow any conventional laws of physics or magic." Spike chuckled. "Yeah, he'd just break physics to do what he wanted." Twilight giggled and nodded. As they continued to walk, Spike liked around at all the different shops. Donut Joe's still looked the same as ever. The paperwhite walls, with red and pink roof and window trim were all so familiar to him. He once tried to drown his sorrows in as many donuts as possible. Then there was the Enchanted Comics shop, a midnight blue shop with emerald green roof and trim. He once got a Power Ponies comic that was literally enchanted with a spell to pull the reader into the story. "Here we are!" Twilight's voice suddenly cut into his thoughts. In front of the two was a fiery orange building with a yellow flower and Vine pattern design and a lime green roof. An orange, red, and green flower adorned with an elephant was near the top in the center of the front wall. Red green and blue trim adorned each window in a wave-like pattern. Spike knew exactly where they were. The Tasty Treat. "I heard they have amazing food here," Twilight told him. "So I wanted to try it out for myself." Spike nodded as he followed her into the restaurant, looking at all the tables and decor, seeing Pinkie's touch in how it was all set up. The candles on every table have a more romantic feel to the restaurant, however, it was subtle enough to have a whole group of stallions at one table. Spike was interrupted from his admiration when he suddenly came face to face with a dark orange unicorn mare with regal looking brown mane and tail. She wore an Eastern style dress and gave off the impression of being like Rarity. "Ah, Princess Twilight Sparkle! Welcome!" She greeted excitedly in a thick Indian accent. "And you must be Spike! Welcome to the Tasty Treat! Table for two, I presume?" "Yes, please," Twilight answered smoothly, surprising Spike. Didn't she tell him that she was afraid of what ponies would think if she ate dinner alone with him? And now she wasn't? She confused Spike more every day it seemed. Giving up on trying to figure her out, he just followed Twilight to their table, sitting almost right next to her with the way the tables were designed. "My name is Saffron." The mare greeted. "Whenever you're ready to order, just let me know." "Thank you, Saffron, we will," Twilight replied, looking at her menu. Spike looked at his menu as well, but, either didn't understand or didn't know what the menu items tasted like. He looked at Twilight and asked, "Can you order for me? I don't what any of the menu items are." Twilight blinked in surprise and looked at him, no doubt about to say something, but, upon seeing his sheepish smile, promptly closed her mouth and sighed. Smiling again, she nodded and waved over Saffron, who smiled and nodded, then gave a group of ponies their food before trotting over to them. "Are you two ready to order?" She asked with a smile "Yes. Two dandelion and daisy salads and two servings of curry please." Twilight requested, hoofing Saffron the two menus. "Excellent choice." She complimented, taking the menus in her magic. "And what would you like to drink?" "Two glasses of Dandelion Root Wine, please," Twilight replied with a smile before winking at Spike. Oh, great... Spike thought. I think she's slipping again. "I'll be right back with your food," Saffron promised before walking back to the kitchen. Spike sighed when she left, folding his arms on the table and burying his face in them with a groan. He felt a hoof on his right shoulder and looked up to see Twilight giving him a sad smile. "I didn't mean to bring up any awful memories about you-know-who," She promised. "Pinkie told me how good their food is, and so I've been wanting to try it ever since." He nodded and slowly sat back up. "It's fine, Twi. Although you were right, it was definitely a surprise." He pseudo-complimented her, chuckling after. "I think I've heard Pinkie talking about curry before. What is it?" "It's a stew-like sauce that's poured over rice." Was suddenly spoken from his left, causing him to nearly jump out of his seat. He looked over at a deeply amused Saffron, his heart rate slowly calming down. "I have your food here." She continued, levitating their salads and curry to them, then their glasses and a brand new bottle of Dandelion Root Wine. "Enjoy your meal." "Thank you, Saffron," Twilight replied just before she went off to take a few more orders. Picking up her fork in her own magenta colored magic, she took an experimental bite of her curry rice and gave a pleased sounding "mmmm" at the taste. Feeling curious now, Spike picked up his fork in his clawed hand and took a bite of the curry rice as well, imitating Twilight's traction, albeit in his own voice "Okay, Pinkie was right, this is good." Spike finally commented after his third or fourth bite. "Mm," Twilight replied before swallowing her own bite. "I have to agree with you. This is really good." After putting her fork down, she uncorked the wine and poured their glasses with her magic, gently raising her glass. “Cheers. To both of us staying together no matter what is thrown our way.” Spike smiled and clinked his glass against hers, glad that they’ll at least stay friends for as long as possible. Taking a sip from his glass, he nearly coughed the wine back up, as it was his first time trying anything alcoholic, much to Twilight’s amusement. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” She promised between giggles, to which he just rolled his eyes. The rest of their dinner passed by rather uneventfully, much to Spike’s relief. He was afraid something would go wrong and ruin this nice thing that Twilight did for him, even if it had a bit of a rocky start to it. He sat at the table with a pleasantly full stomach. Spike looked outside one of the windows and saw that the sun was starting to set outside. Twilight had already paid for their meal and had contented herself to just talking with him, reliving old memories and laughs that the two had shared over the years. Spike was about to ask her if she was ready to leave when he felt a bit of weight on his side. Looking to his right, he saw Twilight leaned against him, looking drowsy and tired already. Smiling, he gently lifted her up in his arms and carried her out of The Tasty Treat, thanking Saffron and her father for the delicious food, and promising to bring his other friends with him the next time he came. Walking with Twilight in his arms, he made it to the train station before the last train for Ponyville showed up. Of course, fate wasn’t going to let the rest of his evening be peaceful. “Hey,” Was suddenly shouted from practically right in front of him. “Who are you and what are you doing with Princess Twilight?” Spike looked up and saw a dark gray earth pony with silver-blue mane and tail. His eyes were a deep crimson red, reminding him of blood, and the cutie mark was an alchemy vial with a radioactive green liquid inside it. Blinking once Spike looked at the stallion as if he had dropped from the moon. “Um... I’m Spike. You know, Twi’s dragon assistant?” “There’s no way in Tartarus that you’re Spike. Spike is a baby dragon, and you’re not a baby dragon.” The stallion denied. “Dragon’s grow and age. I mean sure, it’s much slower than how a pony ages, but we age.” Apparently, the stallion either didn’t believe him or didn’t want to believe him, as Spike suddenly got hit in the jaw with a right hook from the earth pony, sending him to the floor of the train terminal. “Ow,” Spike muttered as he rubbed his jaw. It’s a good thing he had scales that acted like armor, otherwise, that might have actually hurt. Looking back up at the stallion, he saw him standing between him and Twilight. “Now get out of here you stupid beast. I won’t let you harm Princess Twilight at all!” He practically screamed at Spike. Spike opened his mouth to retort when a gasp sounded from behind the stallion and Twilight practically bowled him over to check on him. “Spike! Are you okay?” She asked him, looking at where the stallion had struck him. “You’re bruised there.” “I’m fine Twi. I just wasn’t expecting him to hit me.” He replied, watching the stallion stand up and looked incredibly pissed off. Of course, Twilight was nothing if not observant. She followed Spike’s gaze and glared at the stallion, turning to face him with her horn glowing. “Stay away from Spike.” she practically ordered, causing Spikes eyes to widen in surprise. It took a lot to make Twilight mad, and to see her get ready to fight someone, he must be pretty special to warrant such a reaction from the lavender alicorn. “Wait... you mean that dragon behind you... is Spike?” The stallion asked confused. “But, I thought Spike was a baby dragon.” “Dragons age and grow, too,” Twilight told him, still sounding royaly pissed off. “Spike is now an adolescent dragon in his current size. Dragon’s just take slower to age, and can live up to be immortal.” The stallion blinked in surprise. “Oh.”