//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: A Dragon's Heart // by NightShadow-z //------------------------------// As the sun shined through the window of Twilight’s old room, the purple alicorn in question was snuggled up close to her favorite dragon as the two were still asleep. Spike had one of his arms wrapped around her back while his other hand was resting on her waist, while Twilight had her head resting on his broad muscular chest, her forehooves folded comfortably under her chest, a soft smile adorning her muzzle. Once the rays of the morning sun reached the closed eyes of the purple and green dragon, he groaned in annoyance as he was pulled from the land of sleep and into the waking world. He gave a toothy yawn as he slowly opened his eyes to greet the new morning. However, they soon widened in shock once he saw the position that he and Twilight were in. Oh crap, oh crap. He thought to himself in a panic. How did we end up like this? Why are we this close to each other? Suddenly the memories of the previous night came flooding back to him and he blushed a bit. “Oh, right...” He muttered to himself before letting out a sigh. He slowly untangled himself from Twilight, trying as hard as he could to not wake her up, which was easier than he expected, but, deciding not to test his luck, he slowly snuck out of the room to go down to the Castle’s dining room to get some breakfast. As he descended the stairs, part of him couldn’t help but wonder as to why things were happening the way they were now, almost like karma was deciding that he had enough torment, but still giving him new challenges to slowly overcome. Speaking of challenges, he still needed to speak to Princess Cadence about everything going on, and maybe hopefully get some advice on the matter. When he finally got to the bottom of the stairs, he came face to face with one of the last ponies he wanted to see at that moment. The one and only pearly white unicorn that used to fuel and now torment his dreams. “Oh, Spike. I was hoping to speak to you at some point-” She began. Unfortunately, Spike didn’t want to hear what she was going to say, opting instead to walk right past her. “I’m sorry, Rarity. But I can’t speak to you for a while. I’m sorry, but you destroyed my heart.” He told her, opening the door to the main dining room. “Just give me some more time, please. I just need to get my thoughts together.” He didn’t even turn to look at her as he walked right past her into the great dining hall where the rest of their friends were already eating, with Celestia, Luna, and Cadence in attendance as well. “Ah, Spike. I see you're finally up.” Princess Celestia commented upon seeing him enter. Her face flashed a bit of uncertainty for just a moment when she looked past him at Rarity, but it was gone before he could even register it. “Yeah, I feel like I was finally able to get some sleep, not having to worry about any nightmares keeping me from resting,” Spike replied, before continuing with, “By the way, Cadence, once you're free, I need to talk to you about something that's been bothering me for a while. Alone, if at all possible.” He glanced at Applejack who was giving him a warm smile, which greatly helped brighten his mood after dealing with Rarit. The pearly unicorn in question had walked into the dining room at that point and sat down with her own breakfast, which caused Spike's stomach to growl. “Yeah, that's my queen to go and get some food.” He muttered before walking off to do just that. ***** Yawning a bit, Spike idly listened to his friends talk about some upcoming party. The bulk of his mind, however, was replaying the conversation he had with Cadence before getting on the train. ***** She had led them to an unused ticket stand, knowing that it was partially soundproofed inside it. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Cadence asked him, sitting patiently across from him. Even at full height she barely stood just under his chin. “Well,” Spike took a deep breath before starting. “I was wondering if you had any advice or information that could prove useful in my situation.” Scratching her chin lightly, the pink Alicorn thought about it for a few moments before finally answering. “I'd say just trust your heart. Though I'm not sure that's applicable in this situation…” The purple drake just chuckled a bit darkly, his wings shifting a bit. She soon continued before he could reply however, with, “To be honest, trust your friends. They truly want to help you.” Upon seeing his deadpan expression, she appended, “Well, maybe not Rarity. She thinks you'd be better off getting together with Ember rather than trying to date a pony.” “Even though that would mean leaving Ponyville and Equestria forever, making Twilight, Celestia, and not to mention the Crystal Empire sad?” He asked, sounding annoyed. “I tried telling her that,” Cadence pseudo-answered. “And her reply was 'I don't mean immediately, he can obviously wait until we no longer need him as often.’” At that, Spike slapped his face, his mind screaming in frustration and annoyance. ***** The train had arrived at that point, cutting their conversation short, unfortunately. Though now, he was listening to Twilight tell the others to not talk about the party on the train. Well, why can't they talk about it? Why would they need to hide information about… an… upcoming… party…. It suddenly dawned on him what party they were talking about. How could I have forgotten that my own birthday is tomorrow?! He mentally asked himself, feeling stupid. Now, he had another event to look forward to. Though he didn't know if it was going to end on a high note, or another low note. Only time would tell.