Of course, going to get lunch presented a related problem—since Twilight had wanted to personally inspect their breakfasts and ensure no tampering, did that mean she’d want the same done with lunch? If so, did it need to be her personally or could it be somepony else so long as it was someone she trusted? Did that also mean they couldn’t request any meals from the royal kitchens without someone first examining the meal? Was there any place they could get a meal without that examination if no one was available to do it? Without answers to these questions, they weren’t entirely sure they could get lunch, so it was sort of important they find them. Unfortunately, their two guards had none to give, having not been briefed on the matter, so they had to go looking elsewhere.
Their initial plan was to find Twilight and ask her directly, Spike reasoning that even if she wasn’t in her office, there’d likely be somepony there who’d know where to find her. With the palace still on a lockdown and thereby not holding court or any other public meetings, the amount of places the princess could be was greatly limited anyway. Gallus, in fact, wanted to make a bet that they’d find her in a library, since that seemed like the obvious place she’d be. The fact Spike refused only convinced him it was a pretty safe one.
Unfortunately, he never got the vindication as, while their guards were escorting them to Twilight’s office, they crossed paths with Ditzy first. “Hiya guys,” she greeted in her usual chipper manner, but as she was still fully decked out in her Night Guard uniform, she was clearly still on duty. “Did the tests with the doctors go okay? What did they find out?”
Spike and Gallus exchanged glances as seemed to have become their habit. “Well, put in brief,” Spike answered after silently getting each other’s permission to reply, “It confirmed everything we’d already learned.”
Ditzy’s eyebrows went up at this. “I suppose congratulations are in order then, huh?” she asked with a small grin, looking the pair over. “Considering what that means for you two, brought back together again?”
Again Gallus exchanged a glance with Spike, unsure how to answer. “I suppose that is one way of looking at it,” Gallus conceded as he looked back at Ditzy, returning her grin since it was a valid point. “But…we’re still trying to figure out what that means for us, and more importantly, what we want to do about it.” But he then waved that matter aside. “That’s been an ongoing thing for the past few days though. It’s just going to take time to process fully.”
“Fair enough,” Ditzy said. “So what are you two up to now?”
“We’d actually like to get some lunch,” Spike explained, “but we weren’t sure if we could without Twilight first checking to make sure it was safe to eat.”
“Ah,” Ditzy nodded, understanding, “Well, I’m pretty sure you guys are off the hook on that if you made it yourselves. In any case, I know the princess is currently busy consulting with contacts in Griffonstone and probably shouldn’t be interrupted.” She then smiled apologetically. “I’d offer to assist myself, but I’m still working to dig up what I can about this darn conspiracy.”
“Yeah, speaking of, found out anything new on that?” Gallus asked, curious.
Ditzy opened her mouth to reply, but then appeared to reconsider at the last second. She glanced around before stepping over to a door and peeked inside, checking if the guest room beyond was empty. Upon confirming that it was, she motioned for Gallus and Spike to follow her inside. “We can talk about it in here,” she explained as they filed through before turning to the pair of guards escorting them. “Stay out here and stand guard of this door,” she instructed, “We’ll only be a couple minutes.”
“Yes ma’am,” both guards chorused and took position on either side of the door.
Ditzy then ducked inside herself, shutting the door behind her and locking it. She then went to the room’s two windows to ensure they were also closed and locked before pulling the drapes closed.
Gallus raised an eyebrow at all of this. “Whatever you have to say, it must be really something,” he remarked sarcastically.
Ditzy made an apologetic wince as she rejoined them at the center of the room. “Maybe Twilight’s paranoia is rubbing off on me a bit,” she admitted as she also uncovered her eyepatch eye. “But as a precaution, I don’t want word of this getting around just yet. So let’s keep what I’m about to say to just us, Twilight, her aides, and Gruff, okay?” When Spike and Gallus both nodded in agreement, she took a deep breath and got right to the point. “I might have a lead on who killed Spark.”
Both Gallus and Spike stiffened at that, understanding now how serious this information was. “…and?” Spike prompted with a tense swallow. “What did you find out? How did you find it out?”
“By trying to learn more about Ambassador Geoff, the griffon that gave Gruff the photo proof of Spark’s death,” Ditzy replied. “I was actually looking for any clues as to how or where he got ahold of such a photo in the first place, but unfortunately that went nowhere. Instead, I found out that the forensic scientist that determined the cause of Geoff’s death was none other than one Dr. Gene Type.”
Gallus scowled. “Of course it was,” he grumbled, folding his forelegs.
“It got me thinking though,” Ditzy continued. “We know Gene Type’s MO from what had happened with you two and…Dream Chaser.” For a split moment, she turned remorseful for the lost second lieutenant. “And after a bit of research, I confirmed that the euthanization chemical he used can make it look like the victim simply died of heart failure, like how Geoff was said to have died.”
“You think Gene Type’s used that to…” Spike began, eyes widening before trailing off, unable to finish.
“There’s no way to confirm it now, but in talking it over with an expert, it seems likely, yes,” Ditzy confirmed solemnly. “And it suggested that maybe he’d done it on other occasions but was never caught. So I went through a record of past cases Gene Type had previous association with, looking for any victims that seemed to match those same circumstances.” She breathed a relieved sigh. “Fortunately, I found scant few, and most of those remain doubtful for several reasons I won’t go into…except for one, the very first case Gene Type worked on for the Royal Guard, concerning one of their airship COs, Commander Static Lift, who died of an apparent sudden heart failure. I also confirmed with Gruff that this happened less than a moon after the day Spark was likely killed on.”
Gallus’s eyebrows went up. “You think this commander was involved?”
“Almost certainly—the airship he commanded was a small patrol ship equipped with a particular type of harpoon and launcher only used on Royal Guard craft. In examining Gruff’s photo again, I was able to confirm that the harpoon which killed Spark was that same type. So I dug through some flight records to see where that airship was on the day in question. According to the Royal Guard, it was supposed to be grounded at the Canterlot airship yard undergoing a minor refit for the whole of that moon, but that’s what the official record said.” Ditzy jabbed a hoof vaguely behind her. “I just got back from visiting that airship yard and asked to look through their records. I found that the manager on duty had noted the airship leaving the yard early the day of Spark’s murder for a supposed in-flight test of some new equipment that’d been installed. It wasn’t back until late that evening. And the very next day, its harpoon and accompanying launcher were recorded as completely removed and replaced with a new one.”
Gallus felt a chill run down his back. “So to remove the evidence it had ever been involved,” he breathed.
Ditzy nodded seriously. “Only three creatures were recorded as being aboard the airship for that flight: the lead commander Static Lift, his second in command Streamline, and an unnamed civilian pilot that was probably working under an independent contract. No doubt they all had been hired for the job by our mastermind and then paid handsomely to keep quiet about it. I was actually heading to see if I could find records of any such payments to their accounts when I crossed paths with you two.”
“But then why kill Static Lift at all if he’d already been bought off?” Spike asked, confused.
“I’m guessing he couldn’t keep his mouth shut after all,” Gallus surmised darkly.
“Maybe he had second thoughts, maybe he got greedy and tried to blackmail whoever had hired him, or maybe someone just decided buying him off wasn’t enough,” Ditzy offered as possible explanations. “After all, the first rule of a perfect assassination is to kill your assassin, ensuring they can never talk.”
“What about the other two on that airship?” Gallus asked.
“Well, I still have no idea who the civilian pilot was or where they are now, but Streamline, the second in command, is still alive. He retired early and has been living a secluded and reclusive life ever since.”
“Probably so to keep himself out of prying eyes,” Gallus surmised, “or listening ears.”
“No doubt Static Lift’s death spooked him too, if he had any reason to suspect he was…murdered,” Spike added with a cringe.
“Whatever the case, I’m seeking authorization to go question him while we’ve still got the chance,” Ditzy concluded. “I’m just waiting for the final okay from Kibitz or Raven. But until then I don’t want word of this getting around, because if the wrong ears hear it…”
“…they could make sure Streamline can’t talk either,” Gallus finished gravely with a nod. He then mimed zipping his mouth closed to assure they’d keep quiet. “Best of luck with that then, Ditzy.”
Ditzy nodded but then straightened, returning to her original chipper persona. “That’s all for me to worry about though,” she summarized. “You two just continue staying here at the palace where it’s safe and keep out of trouble. Go get your lunch then find something to entertain yourselves with. Hay, take the time to do some…brotherly bonding even.”
She gave them both a playful nudge before walking past them for the door, while Gallus and Spike exchanged glances, giving that advice some thought.
Rejoining with their escorts, they changed course for the royal kitchens—basically a large room filled with everything required for cooking nearly anything the staff needed to. It was, in Gallus’s eyes, a paradise for those with cooking talent. As it was lunchtime for most of the rest of the palace too, the kitchens were a flurry of activity as everyone worked to provide the needed meals. But despite this high-stress environment, the staff proved friendly enough to be able to spare the two a few moments.
They assumed the dragon and griffon were here to request their own meals which the staff would be happy to provide, but taking Ditzy’s suggestion to heart, they asked instead if they could be allowed the space and materials to make their own meals. Going from their surprised and unsure expressions, it was a safe bet they didn’t get requests like that very often, particularly since that was supposed to be their job. But they nevertheless allowed Spike and Gallus access to whatever they wished so long as it wasn’t already in use by somebody else. With that settled and their two escorts discreetly watching nearby, the two began by perusing the pantries so to decide what to make.
Though he should’ve already figured this given the poached cod so skillfully prepared for him for breakfast, Gallus was amazed at the vast diversity of potential foods the kitchens were prepared to make at a moment’s notice. The pantries were stocked with everything, from the fruits, vegetables, milk, cheese, grains, and flour typical of pony diets but also more kinds of eggs you could shake a stick at, various edible gourds, every kind of seasoning you could imagine, a wide array of gemstones, several kinds of dried seaweed he knew would appeal to hippogriffs like Silverstream, and even a mint green wheel of what he recognized as changeling cheese, thanks to the time Ocellus had brought some to the school to share.
More important to his own tastes though were the surprising amount of meats for catering to more carnivorous guests. All mostly contained in a separate freezer so to keep them unspoiled until use, it wasn’t too great an amount, but still much more than he’d expected of the famously vegetarian (and at times squeamish) ponies. And it was diverse, including meat from both land and sea, though it was the latter that Gallus ended up focusing his attention on, thinking about how good that cod he’d had this morning was and still feeling interested in something similar. Selecting a still whole haddock that, according to an attached label, had been freshly caught not too long ago, he proceeded back into the main part of the kitchen so to start prepping it.
Meanwhile, Spike had gone straight for the gemstones and was still sorting through the stocks for what Gallus assumed were his favorites when he paused, examining a small marble-sized piece of topaz. “Hey Gallus,” he said, calling for the griffon’s attention. “Didn’t the doctor say you could stomach gemstones?”
“So he claimed,” Gallus replied as he set the haddock down into a defroster—it would use stored magical energy to quickly thaw frozen foods—then turned to face the dragon. “Personally I still have my doubts, and anyway, it’s not like I could chew them.”
Spike examined the gem in his claws for another moment. “But…could that mean you also have some of the dragon, shall we say, palate?”
Gallus’s brow furrowed. “So…taste what a dragon can taste,” he summarized.
“Yeah.”
“…pretty sure it’d still taste like a rock either way, dude.”
Spike gave him a smirk. “You’d be surprised,” he remarked knowingly. “Besides, the doctor told me that I seemed to have inherited a few griffon taste buds, so why not you too?” When Gallus still didn’t seem convinced, he shrugged. “I’m just wondering if you can tell the tastes of differing gemstones.”
Gallus frowned at the idea. “I don’t think so or I’d think I’d have already noticed by now.”
“Maybe, but have you really gone around taste-testing gemstones before now?”
Admittedly, Gallus didn’t have a good counter for that. Spike could see it too, because, giving him another smirk, he offered Gallus the yellow-orange gem in his claws. Gallus harrumphed, but he begrudgingly accepted the offered marble of a gem. “All right fine, I’ll humor you,” he relented. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
He then popped the gem into his beak before he could get second thoughts and proceeded to roll it around his mouth a few times. He expected nothing more than the usual grainy taste of rock and dirt, and at first that was precisely what he detected on his tongue. But then after a moment, he started to pick up a more subtle taste lingering behind it that he didn’t expect. He couldn’t really describe it, but it was definitely there and it was definitely more interesting than he anticipated.
“Huh,” he hummed aloud as he continued sucking on the gem, brow furrowing more and more as the unexpected discovery grew increasingly notable on his tongue. “Huh.”
“I’m guessing you’re picking up something,” Spike surmised, amused by the perplexed expressions the griffon was making, “Maybe something along the lines of a minerally nutty flavor?” Gallus thought about it for a second, comparing what Spike described to the taste in his mouth. He eventually had to nod in surprise. Spike’s smirk grew. “Yeah, that sounds like the taste of topaz all right, so it seems you really do have some dragon taste buds.”
“Well, it’s still kind of a subtle thing,” Gallus replied upon reflexively swallowing so to clear his mouth. “I can’t have, like, a complete set of the things, so I don’t know if…” he then trailed off, eyes widening as he realized what he just did.
“…what?” Spike prompted after a moment, starting to show concern.
Gallus felt around his mouth to double-check, but there was no denying how conspicuously empty it now felt. “I…uh…I just swallowed the gemstone,” he admitted, a little embarrassed he’d done that. He hadn’t meant to—it just slid down his throat on its own like it was nothing.
“…oh,” Spike said, understanding. He worked his jaw up and down for a little bit, trying to decide what to say next. “Well…I guess we’re finding out whether or not the doctor was right about you being able to…y’know…digest something like that after all.”
“I guess so,” Gallus said with a sigh, now a bit mad at himself for letting it happen. He rubbed at his belly the gemstone had no doubt settled into by now, not that he could feel it anymore. “I’m probably seeing that again later, though.”
Spike wrinkled his snout at the thought. “Why do you always have to be so frank about that kind of stuff anyway?” he groused as he turned back to sifting through gemstones.
Gallus just shrugged with a sigh, not as perturbed about it. “I dunno…I guess I’ve just always seen it as the natural thing that it is and not really anything to be so bothered about. What goes in must come out anyway, right? So no point denying it.” He turned his own attention back to the defroster, noticing it was nearly done. “A lot of griffons are like that, now that I think about it. I mean, it’s not like we deliberately go looking to drag the subject into everything, but if it does come up, we’re not going to dance around it either.”
“I suppose I still have a lot more to learn about griffon culture then,” Spike noted as he took on a briefly faraway look. “And I suppose I’d have motive now, considering I’m…well…”
“Yeah,” Gallus agreed, thinking he probably ought to try to learn more about dragon culture too, now that he knew he was similarly half-dragon. He mulled over what that’d entail for them both for a second before a thought struck him. He glanced at Spike. “I suppose I could teach you a few things if you’re interested then.”
Spike met his gaze. “Really?” he asked, seeming genuinely intrigued. “Like what?”
Put on the spot, Gallus glanced around for a moment, searching for inspiration. The defroster suddenly dinged behind him, drawing his attention back to it and the haddock now nicely thawed and ready for preparation and pulled it out. “Well…I happen to know you’ve never cleaned a fish before.” He set the fish on a cutting board and motioned to it. “You wanna give it a shot?”
Spike immediately tensed at the suggestion, looking like this wasn’t at all what he had in mind. He locked eyes with the fish lying on the board, intimidated. “Uh, well, ah,” he fumbled, setting aside the gems he’d been picking out. He swallowed uncomfortably. “I…I don’t know if…um…I mean it’s your fish, not mine, so…”
“I won’t make you,” Gallus assured, though he couldn’t help but smirk, interested in coaxing the dragon into broadening his horizons. “But I figure it’s as good a place to start as any. I could’ve started by offering you how to hunt and catch prey in addition to cleaning and preparing it…but I figured you’d prefer starting off with that part already done.” Watching Spike uneasily consider the prospect, he added, “Besides, I know for a fact that dragons occasionally hunt too, so griffon or dragon, if you plan to truly associate with either, you probably ought to learn it at some point.”
Spike continued to hem and haw over it for a moment longer, long enough that Gallus was about to say again he wouldn’t force him when Spike heaved a sigh and nodded. “I suppose now is as good a time to try as any then,” he relented and stepped over to join Gallus at the haddock lying on the cutting board. He eyed it somewhat warily. “So…what do we do first?”
“Well, since I’d need it filleted, we need to scale it,” Gallus said, pulling open a drawer and looking through its contents.
“Scale it?” Spike repeated, confused and uncertain. “You…mean remove all of its scales?”
“Yep,” Gallus confirmed, pulling out a descaling tool and offering it to the dragon. “You could probably do it with your claws, but since this is your first time, this’ll probably help make it easier.” When Spike had cautiously accepted the sawtooth-edged tool but resolutely still stood ready to continue, Gallus proceeded to coach him on what to do. “Okay, so what you want to do is firmly grab the tail then run the tool from tail to head. It should scrape away the scales as you do it.”
Spike swiped the tool over the side of the fish’s body a couple of times, initially gingerly, but then with slightly more force upon realizing that worked better. Either way, Gallus opted not to comment on how he was doing so almost apologetically for the fish, since the fish wasn’t exactly in a state of caring anymore. “How…how many times do I need to do this?” Spike asked upon seeing the haddock’s greyish scales starting to pile around it.
“Until its sides feel nice and smooth,” Gallus said before patting him encouragingly on the back. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when we’re at that point, but you’re doing good.”
They continued descaling both sides of the fish for a few more moments until there didn’t seem to be any more to remove. Throughout it all, Spike remained determined to see through what he’d started, but Gallus knew this was really the easy part and honestly wasn’t sure how Spike would react to the more grisly bit coming up.
“Okay, so, what now?” Spike asked once they had cleared away the scales and wiped down the fish of any lingering residue.
“Now is the admittedly more icky part,” Gallus admitted as he took the descaling tool from Spike and swapped it with a knife. “We gotta cut it open and remove its guts.” He saw Spike visibly pale at that thought, looking at the fish with renewed wariness. “If you don’t want to continue…”
“No, no,” Spike quickly assured, swallowing and determinedly trying to steady himself, “Chickening out now isn’t going to make this any easier for me, so let’s keep going.” He took a deep breath and nodded, gripping the knife he’d been given. “So…how do I do this?”
“All right,” Gallus said, continuing on. He pointed to a spot near the base of the fish’s tail. “Take the knife and cut from there up to its head so to slit open its belly.”
Spike took another deep breath and, trying to steady his clearly nervous paws, started to do as instructed.
“You’re…going to need to cut a little harder than that, bud,” Gallus quickly noted, sympathizing with the dragon’s desire to be ginger, but swiftly had to amend the instruction too. “But not that hard! We don’t want to puncture its intestines!”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, probably not,” Spike replied with a cringe. He made an interesting noise somewhere between a groan and whine as he cut.
“Okay, now you need to slice here, so to separate the gills,” Gallus instructed, standing ready to take over if he needed to.
But Spike, despite everything, pressed on. “Okay…okay…” he breathed once he’d finished.
“Okay, now we gotta hold it open so to pull out the insides.”
That was a prospect Spike clearly didn’t savor, but nonetheless bracing himself and trying to not twist his head away in a visible cringe, he proceeded to do as instructed. “Ewww…” he couldn’t help but mumble as he worked.
Gallus patted him on the back, impressed Spike was sticking with it. “You’re still doing good,” he assured him before pointing with his talon. “Now I need you to cut here like this—yep, just like that! And that’s got that part sorted.” He spared Spike the task of disposing of the entrails. He eyed Spike standing there breathing deeply, still looking uneasy but pleased with himself for sticking with it anyway, and couldn’t help but grin a little. “Do you want me to take over now, or do you want to know how to fillet it too?”
Spike debated it for a moment, but at this point he seemed determined to keep going through with it. “Yeah,” he concluded, “talk me through that part too.”
Gallus’s grin grew a little more as he handed him a filleting knife. “Here’s what you need to do then,” he began.
It was clear Spike didn’t relish doing the cutting, but before long they had the haddock sliced into slabs of pink meat and Spike stood over it all, looking rather proud of himself seeing it through. “I…I did it,” he breathed, pleased.
“That you did,” Gallus agreed with a grin.
Spike let out a long and relieved exhale. “I don’t think I want to do it again anytime soon, though,” he admitted.
Gallus laughed. “That’s okay, you don’t have to,” he said as he took over preparing the meat. “At this point all that’s left to do anyway is turn this into a tasty meal. Speaking of, you still have a meal of your own to make, right?”
“Yeah,” Spike said as he washed his claws. He nodded his head at the gems he’d set aside earlier. “I’ve got an old draconic favorite in mind to make.”
Gallus raised his eyebrows, intrigued. “Sounds interesting.”
“I think you’d like it honestly,” Spike admitted. He then paused, getting a thought. “Hey, since we’re, y’know, sharing details about each other’s cultures…how about we both make a cultural meal to share with each other?”
Gallus considered the idea. “So…I make a griffon-style lunch for you and you make me a draconic lunch?”
Spike nodded, before glancing at the meat they just sliced up. “That is unless you want to stick with what you’re already doing,” he added.
Gallus looked down at the meat, as he admittedly did have his heart set on that haddock…but he had to admit what Spike proposed intrigued him, and since Spike had been brave enough to take a shot at cleaning a fish like a champ, he figured he owed the dragon a returned favor. “Aw heck, sure, let’s do that. What I had in mind is an iconic Griffish Isle dish anyway, so it’ll definitely apply.”
They set to work making their respective dishes. Even though both had already dropped obvious clues about what they planned to prepare, it nevertheless became a teasing game of making sure the other didn’t see much of what it was so to still surprise the other. At one point during cooking his meal, Gallus worried his might take longer than Spike’s, but ultimately, thanks to Spike having paused to help him fillet the haddock, they both ended up finishing in close succession with each other. Then, so to continue the secrecy of what they’d prepared, they put their finished meals on trays and under metal covers (which Gallus learned was properly called a “cloche”), and with their guard escorts following, carried the meals into a neighboring dining room they’d been permitted to use and sat down across from each other.
“Moment of truth time,” Gallus said with a smirk as they readied to reveal the meals.
“Certainly smells good,” Spike remarked, motioning to the cloche covering what Gallus had prepared for him. He looked across the table at the griffon. “Shall we see your meal first?”
Gallus motioned for him to continue. “By all means,” he said, feeling confident it’d be well received.
Spike raised his eyebrows in intrigue at Gallus’s apparent confidence before whisking away the cloche and revealing a plate of battered fillets and chopped potato slices, both deep-fried to a crisp. He leaned closer to look it over, curious. “Okay, so what it is?” he asked.
“It’s called fish and chips,” Gallus explained. “It’s a dish that originated in the Griffish Isles and was brought over to Griffonstone by traders. It’s pretty popular with griffons in both locations. I’d call it an iconic grab-and-go meal for us, particular the working class.”
Spike gingerly picked up one of the still-warm fillets and sampled a cautious bite. “Hmm,” he nonetheless hummed approvingly. “That is pretty good.”
“Yeah, I picked up a great recipe for it from a job I worked once sometime back,” Gallus said proudly. “Everyone who’s tried it has liked it, so I figured you would too.”
Spike took another bite from the fillet, pondering the taste in his mouth. “It tastes tangy…is that vinegar I taste?” he asked.
“And a bit of lemon juice, seasoned with some paprika and a hint of garlic so to really emphasize that tang,” Gallus said before pointing a talon at the potatoes. “The chips are similarly seasoned so they should pair up well.”
Spike popped a few of the fried potatoes into his mouth and nodded in agreement. “Tastes good,” he confirmed before smirking, “Though I’d sooner call them fries than chips.”
“Maybe by your naïve Equestrian terms,” Gallus teased back before turning his attention to Spike’s yet-to-be-revealed dish in front of him. “Anyway, my stomach’s saying it should be my turn to partake now.”
“Go for it,” Spike said through another bite of fried fish, giving the griffon an approving thumbs up.
So Gallus whisked away the second cloche, revealing a bowl filled with a steaming and thick tannish-grey soup. Raising an eyebrow at it, he picked up a spoon and slurped up a quick taste. “Ooh, it’s got some zing,” he noted approvingly upon feeling the playful sting of its spices on the back of his throat. He took another sip of the broth and this time held it in his mouth so to better pick out the other flavors, but there were several he couldn’t quite identify. “So what’s in it?”
“Well, there’re a few minor herbs in there, first of all,” Spike replied after finishing off the first fried fillet. “Normally they wouldn’t be there by traditional dragon standards, but I like adding them so to give it a bit more texture. But the rest of the broth is mostly made from various gemstones that have been crushed into a powder—amethyst, jade, sapphire…” Catching the look Gallus was giving him at that point, the dragon folded his arms smugly. “Hey, you already swallowed one gemstone today and it was whole. A few more in powdered form isn’t going to hurt you.”
Gallus rolled his eyes but found himself continuing to sup the soup anyway, because, dang it, it still tasted good and he was hungry. And as one who appreciated a bit of kick to his food, he was really enjoying the added spice the broth had. “So what’s in there that’s giving it that extra zing?” he asked after another moment of the spices dancing over his palate.
“It’s actually just a dusting of a special spice popular with dragons,” Spike explained as he helped himself to more of the fried potatoes, “Just a dusting though, because it can be pretty potent if you use too much of it.”
“Okay, but what is it? What’s it called?”
“Well, it’s known among ponies as ‘lightning spice,’ but the dragons apparently call it ‘dragon cumin’ instead.” Spike frowned to himself. “The way Ember explained it made it seem like the name is some kind of inside joke, but…heck if I know what it is.”
Gallus, meanwhile, had glanced up upon hearing its dragon name and repressed a snicker as he had a pretty good idea what the intended wordplay was. “Let me guess—she mispronounced ‘cumin’ when she told you this.”
“Yeah, actually, more ‘COM-in’ rather than ‘CUE-min’ like it should be,” Spike admitted thoughtfully, still oblivious, but he swiftly noticed that Gallus didn’t seem to be. “…what?”
Gallus smirked. “Tell you what, I’ll tell you when you’re older,” he quipped before turning back to his lunch. “But for now, let’s eat.”
And eat they did. Once finished, they both agreed on liking their respective dishes quite a bit (though Gallus joked that his gut might hate him for the spicy dish later) and appreciated the small insight into the culture each came from. After they had finished however, they weren’t entirely sure what to do next. Gallus, aware of some of the things it contained, suggested Spike give him a tour of the royal palace, but one of their guards quickly reminded that they probably shouldn’t be wandering around too much right now. So instead they decided to go back to their room and come up with something to do there.
On the way, Gallus got to thinking again about his newfound half-dragon biology. It kept feeling like something new his body had only recently obtained before reminding himself that he’d really always had it and just hadn’t known it before now. Still, Gallus couldn’t help but wonder if, now that he did know about it, how else this could affect his life.
“So since you’re the one who got more of the dragon genes than I did,” he began asking Spike as they walked through the halls, “is there anything you think I should know about my dragon side that the doctors might’ve been ignorant on?”
Spike hummed to himself as he pondered the question. “Dunno,” he eventually admitted. He glanced up at Gallus. “I mean, you can’t do anything obvious like firebreathe, right?”
Gallus shook his head. “Sadly, no, seems I didn’t get any of the firebreathing stuff,” he said before realizing he should clarify. “Well, I suppose I did get the relevant gland or whatever, but…”
“Wait, you have a firebreathing gland?” Spike asked, perking up.
Gallus realized he must’ve forgotten to tell him that earlier. “Well, yes, but according to the doc it’s not exactly a working one. He indicated that the best it might do is produce some of the mana needed to work, but none of the other things required to go with it, so…”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Spike interrupted, bringing them to a halt and stepping in front of Gallus. “If it’s producing mana, doesn’t that mean you can still produce a starter spark?”
“Starter spark?”
“The little spark of magic that actually lights the flames for firebreathing.” Spike took a precautionary step back from Gallus. “Here, watch closely and I’ll try to show you.”
He opened his mouth wide, giving Gallus an unexpected view into his toothy maw all the way back to his throat. He wasn’t quite sure what Spike was doing and was about to ask when Spike visibly flexed a few throat muscles. There was a sudden flash of green deep within before a small puff of magical emerald fire rushed out of his mouth. The suddenness made Gallus reflexively pull back, afraid of getting singed even though the flames went out well before reaching him.
“What the heck, dude?” he asked, confused as he waved away the small cloud of leftover smoke.
“Sorry,” Spike said, also fanning away the smoke. “But you saw what I mean, right? That little pop of magic just before the flames came out?”
“I guess,” Gallus said before he suddenly caught on. “Wait, you’re thinking I could produce that spark?”
“Well, it won’t really do anything from what you’ve told me, but sure, I think there’s a good chance,” Spike concluded.
Gallus flexed his throat a few times, trying to figure out how to check. “I have no idea how though,” he finally admitted.
“Do what I do then,” Spike suggested, opening his mouth again. “Pull your tongue back as far as it’ll go, start to inhale like you’re gonna yawn, then flex the back of your throat, like you’re squeezing something out of it.” He repeated the action with his own throat, producing another small burst of fire.
Watching a little more closely this time, Gallus felt he understood and, opening his beak, tried to mimic the action. Instead, he ended up releasing a croaky and unflattering wheeze. Ignoring one of their guards hiding a grin of amusement, Gallus resolutely tried again, putting as much force into it as he could. This resulted in a bigger and even more embarrassing wheeze, but Spike, watching closely, perked up suddenly.
“Hey, I think you did it!” he cried. But realizing Gallus had no way of seeing it for himself, he glanced around quickly then dragged the griffon down a different corridor until they were standing in front of a decorative mirror. “Here, try it again in front of this. Maybe you’ll see it in your reflection.”
Skeptical, Gallus repeated the wheezing action a couple of times. He had to remind himself to keep his eyes open after realizing he wasn’t for the first one or two times. The view wasn’t exactly flattering as he looked like he was trying to cough up a particularly nasty hairball, but finally and without warning he spied a blink-and-you-miss-it flash of blue light deep in the back of his throat. It was so sudden that it completely surprised him.
“Whoa!” Gallus declared, immediately stopping the wheezing and pulling back. “That’s…whoa!”
“Pretty cool, huh?” Spike said with a pleased grin.
“Kinda, yeah,” Gallus had to admit, but he also reached up to rub at his strained throat. “But the amount of force I had to give to get it probably wasn’t worth it.”
“Without any flames to ignite, probably not,” Spike was forced to concede with a regretful sigh while they resumed walking again. He mulled it over for another moment though. “I suppose that also means you don’t have a firepouch.”
“Yeah, pretty sure the doc would’ve mentioned it if I did,” Gallus agreed before asking, “What’s a firepouch?”
“It’s what gives a dragon’s firebreath most of its magical properties,” Spike explained. “It’s also a means of magically storing things…well, flammable ones at least. It works kind of like how I send or receive messages via firebreath, but instead of sending anything somewhere else, it just stores it within the firepouch until I bring it back out again. Here, see?” he thumped his chest in a specific spot and belched out a small burst of flames onto one hand. When they cleared, he held up a single index card which had materialized in his claws like a magician showing off their latest trick.
Gallus took the card to examine, looking completely intact despite its fiery method of delivery. “Huh, I guess I can see how that’d be useful,” he admitted. “But no, I don’t have anything like that. Only pouches I seem to have are these,” he patted one of the two pouches he now knew were on his hips, “and I’m not even sure they’re really all that useful to me.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve got those,” Spike said, grabbing at the flap of skin that was otherwise completely invisible on his body until pulled open. “I kind of only use them in emergencies because they aren’t really big enough to fit much yet, but maybe when I’m older and grown some more.”
Gallus, however, watched as Spike wiggled his whole hand into one of the pouches and slightly jealously noted they still seemed bigger and more useful than his own—he just kept striking out on the really cool dragon traits, it seemed. He turned his attention back to the index card Spike hadn’t yet taken back from him, reading the words scribbled on it. “So what’s a ‘dragon code?’” he asked as they arrived at the doors to their room.
“Oh that,” Spike replied, swiftly taking back the card and sheepishly hiding it away again with another burst of fire. “That’s, uh, that’s kinda private, but…a dragon code is a sort of series of personal standards every individual dragon decides they want to live by.”
“Yours seemed to veer towards the chivalrous from what I saw,” Gallus noted with a bemused grin as they stepped inside, leaving their escorts to take up their posts outside. “Which I have no problem with, it’s just…not something you normally associate with dragons, chivalry.”
“Well, it…varies from dragon to dragon,” Spike admitted. “And most don’t write them down, I just did because it…” he blushed a little, “…seemed cool.” He cleared his throat. “But every dragon has their own version of a dragon code. It’s tradition.”
Gallus harrumphed to that as he took a seat in a chair. “Even half dragons like you and me?” he asked, more jokingly than anything.
But Spike took it completely seriously. “Sure, I don’t see why not. I mean, I did, so I can’t see any reason why you can’t either.”
Gallus opened his beak to retort, only to realize he didn’t really have one and instead remained silent, considering the prospect for a bit.
“…I suppose I could help you come up with ideas for a code of your own, if you want,” Spike offered, seeing this. “You know…since we’re sharing each other’s cultures and all that.”
Gallus initially thought to refuse, but then his heart softened and yielded with a grin. “Sure, let’s do that. We needed something to do anyway.”
They must’ve spent as much as an hour spitballing ideas on what Gallus’s dragon code should say. At first they talked about it seriously, but eventually it devolved into offering increasingly sillier and sillier ideas for the laughs. Spike pointed out there was no rush to get a finalized code down now anyway, and Gallus could always come back and make changes to it if needed—Spike’s own code had undergone a number of revisions over the years. But it nonetheless gave them some needed entertainment for a bit.
They were in the middle of discussing how much further they wanted to take it when they had a visitor knocking on their door. “Come in?” Gallus called hesitantly.
One of the guards outside opened the door and escorted in Raven Inkwell, carrying a box on her back. “Hey you two,” she greeted as she entered, the guard swiftly closing the door behind them before standing in front of it to watch. “How are you doing?”
“Hey Raven,” Spike greeted back with a wave. “We’re trying to stay busy.”
“Well, here’s something new you can keep busy with for a bit,” the unicorn replied, floating the box from off her back and looking to Gallus. “Gallus, your friends from the school have sent you a care package.”
“Really?” Gallus said, perking up immediately and almost jumping out of his seat to examine the box.
“Yes, it seems to be their way of saying they’re thinking of you while you’re cooped up here in the palace with the rest of us,” Raven explained, smiling at Gallus’s exuberance as she handed him the package. “It’s already been opened because we had to go through it and make sure it was both genuine and didn’t have any hidden traps or other things of nefarious intent, but otherwise we made it a point to not mess with its contents as much as we could.”
“Sweet,” Gallus said, not really caring about it being pre-opened as he nudged aside one flap to peer inside.
“Also came to check up on you both, make sure you were doing all right,” Raven continued as Gallus did this. “The princess would’ve done this herself, but she’s unfortunately still wading hock deep through the politics side of this mess and can’t be spared at the moment.” She rolled her brown eyes upwards in weary amusement. “I told her she could always pass off some of that onto Prince Blueblood, since he’s been locked in the palace with the rest of us and diplomacy is one of his fortes, but she’s insistent on doing it herself.”
Gallus couldn’t help but snicker to himself, having heard of Blueblood by reputation before. “The prince was unlucky enough to be here when this all went down, huh?” he asked in amusement.
“As were a couple of ambassadors,” Raven admitted. “We’re trying to keep them entertained though.” She adjusted her glasses briefly before continuing. “But in other news, you’ll be pleased to know the airships we sent to retrieve the evidence and Diorite from Griffonstone and the Dragon Lands respectively have picked up their cargos and are already well on their way back now.”
“When will they get here?” Spike asked as Gallus set the box onto the floor to sort through better.
“We expect them here before tonight at the earliest, weather permitting,” Raven replied. “So hopefully we’ll be bringing an end to this unsavory business sooner rather than later, if everything continues to go well.”
“Hopefully it will,” Gallus agreed, eager to see a close to the matter too.
“In the meantime, we’re still trying to find out what we can,” Raven concluded. “I’m helping out where able, I know Gruff was permitted to assist safeguarding the evidence collection as it comes in with the other guards, and I understand Lieutenant Commander Ditzy was okayed to pursue a promising lead though I don’t know the details beyond that.”
“Wishing her the best of luck nonetheless,” Spike remarked with a grin.
“Anyway, that’s where we’re at currently,” Raven said, starting to turn for the door. “We just ask you humor our abundance of caution for a little longer, okay?”
“Will do!” Spike said as they waved her farewell, watching her exit the room with the guard, leaving them alone once more. “So what’s in the box?” he then asked Gallus.
“Oh, just a few nick-knacks from my dorm at the school,” Gallus said, smirking as he removed a little note wishing him well signed by all of his friends as well as Headmare Starlight, which probably explained how it all got here so quickly. He set aside the note and back to the rest of the box’s contents. “There’re some snacks in here, like bags of pretzels and popcorn kernels, but as for the rest, it looks like they just dumped in everything I had in my desk drawer.”
“Any of that something we can both use to keep entertained?”
“Well…there’re things that can be used separately, but nothing we can both do together.” Gallus frowned a little, feeling like that was excluding Spike a little. “Kinda wish they thought to include a board game or something, but oh well.” He shrugged, moving past it. “Still, I’m sure we can at least find some inspiration on what to do next in here.” He pulled out a yo-yo and proceeded to do a few tricks with it.
“Show off,” Spike quipped with a smirk while looking through the box for anything that interested him. “…so what’s this?” he asked, grabbing an item at random from the box. It was a rolled up tube of paper.
Gallus glanced at it, needing a moment before he remembered what it was. “Oh that!” he exclaimed once it hit him, setting down the yo-yo. “That’s a poster Ocellus gave me that I haven’t gotten around to hanging. It’s for a movie we all saw a while back.”
Spike unrolled the poster, taking in its designs. “Kiss Me Deadly,” he read the film’s title, mildly intrigued, “Can’t say I’ve seen it.”
“It’s kind of a crime noir thriller sort of film,” Gallus explained, taking the poster from Spike and grinning at the memory. “Sandbar thought the plot was convoluted, but I really liked it.”
“A thriller, huh?” Spike said, rubbing his chin as he started to get an idea. “Well, here at the palace I don’t think we have a copy of that particular film, but we do still have a projector, as well as a few other film strips that I think you might like…if you’re interested.”
Gallus raised his eyebrows at the suggestion, intrigued, before making a show of thinking it over. “It does bring up a related thought.” He pointed at Spike and held up one of the bags of popcorn kernels. “Can that firebreath of yours pop popcorn?”
Spike smirked. “Dude, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried dragon fire-popped popcorn,” he promised.
Gallus smirked back, clapping his talons together and rubbing them eagerly. “Then I’m game.”
So movie night it was. And Spike wasn’t exaggerating at his popcorn-popping skills or film reel selections. In fact, it turned out their tastes had an overlap—Gallus tended to prefer mysteries and even the occasional horror film while Spike leaned more towards the sci-fi and fantasy films, but both shared elements of the dramatic thriller they gravitated towards anyway, so it wasn’t hard to settle on what films to watch. To that end, when Spike requested a screen and projector be sent their way, he also simply asked for a box of relevant film reels from which they took turns picking ones to play.
By the time they were pulling out the last few from the bottom of that box, dusk was starting to fall, but Gallus had barely noticed the time fly by. This was what the two of them had really needed anyway—just an excuse to kick back, relax, and enjoy each other’s company while giving a running commentary on what they watched, noting what worked and what didn’t. He’d done this a lot with friends before, but it felt a little different with Spike. He couldn’t quite put his talon on why until he finally asked himself: Is this what brothers do? Just kick back and have fun together as buds? A part of him wasn’t sure it was really that simple…but if it was, he definitely couldn’t complain, and hoped they could keep doing things like this for years to come.
As the projector clicked away above them, broadcasting the current film onto a silver screen in the now very dark room, they both lay sprawled out under it—Gallus with his back resting against the bed’s footboard with Spike leaning on his side, their eyes wide as they took in the unexpectedly suspenseful events taking place on the screen. Reaching half-blindly beside him, Spike grabbed another handful of what was their third or so bowl of heavily buttered popcorn from where it sat in Gallus’s lap. Equally half-blindly, Gallus attempted to reposition it so to aide Spike before grabbing another handful himself. All of this was done without turning their engrossed eyes from the screen.
It currently portrayed a whole neighborhood of frightened ponies—in a panic because the power had gone out on their street and not understanding why—looking down their dark street at a figure that had slowly materialized out of the gloom and was heading towards them:
“It’s the monster! It’s the monster!”
“We may need this.”
“A crossbow? Good Faust—will anypony think a thought around here? Will you ponies wise up? What good would a crossbow do against—”
“No more talk, Steel! You’re going to talk us into a grave! You’d let whatever’s out there walk right over us, wouldn’t you? Well, some of us won’t!”
TWANG!
They watched as the figure immediately crumpled to the ground. “Oh it’s not gonna be that easy,” Spike noted aloud as he watched the ponies on the screen gather around what they’d shot.
“It’s Peat Van Horse!”
“Called it!”
“Peat Van Horse! He was just going to go over to the next block to see if the power was on—”
“You killed him, Charmy. You killed him dead!”
“But…but I didn’t know who he was. I certainly didn’t know who he was. He comes walking out of the darkness—how am I supposed to know who he was? Steel—you know why I shot! How was I supposed to know he wasn’t a monster or something? We’re all scared of the same thing. I was just trying to…trying to protect my home, that’s all! Look, all of you, that’s all I was trying to do. I didn’t know it was somepony we knew! I didn’t know—”
“Charmy…Charmy…the lights just went on in your house. Why did the lights just go on?”
“Oh,” Gallus whispered aloud as a chill went down his spine. “Now this is a film.”
“What about it, Charmy? How come you’re the only one with lights now?”
“That’s what I’d like to know!”
“You were so quick to kill, Charmy, and you were so quick to tell us who we had to be careful of. Well, maybe you had to kill. Maybe Peat there was trying to tell us something. Maybe he’d found out something and came back to tell us who there was amongst us we should watch out for—”
“No…no…it’s nothing of the sort! I don’t know why the lights are on. I swear I don’t! Somepony’s pulling a gag or something!”
“A gag? A gag? Charmy, there’s a dead pony on the sidewalk and you killed him! Does this thing look like a gag to you?”
“No! No! Please!”
It was then that an earth-rattling bang sounded from somewhere below or beside the royal palace. The whole building jolted like it had suddenly jumped from the earth, but Gallus barely noticed as, their nerves already on edge from the film, both boys let out a startled yell and reflexively covered their heads, scattering popcorn everywhere in the process. Upon realizing a moment later that the bang hadn’t come from the film though, Gallus quickly reached up to switch off the projector, plunging the room into semi-darkness.
“What the budgie was that?” he breathed as he got up, looking around for some clue towards an explanation.
Spike hurried over to switch on a lamp before going to a window, trying to see if there were any clues out there. “I’m not sure!” he admitted when he didn’t find any immediate explanations, “but it must be big because it seems like there’s now a lot of guards flying around outside!”
At about the same time, Gallus heard ponies running past outside their door and went to investigate. Poking his head out, he did so in time to see staff from throughout the palace running by, all seeming to be hurrying towards a particular area of the building. A Royal Guard had also stopped to speak urgently with one of the two Night Guards standing outside their room in hushed whispers, finishing just as Gallus opened the door and leaving little chance of catching anything that was said. Once that guard had finished, he joined with the others hurrying past.
“What’s going on?” Gallus asked the guards at their door.
“Please stay inside your room and await further instructions,” the closest guard instead instructed.
“Why, what’s going on?” Gallus repeated again in a more demanding tone, Spike now joining him at the door. “What’s happened?”
“There’s been an incident,” the guard explained in brief. Two more Night Guards were now joining the first, doubling the amount securing their door. “We don’t know the details yet. For your own safety, stay inside until told otherwise.”
“But…”
“You’ll be told more as soon as we have a better idea of what’s going on and have ensured there’s no danger.” The guard then politely pushed Spike and Gallus back inside and gently closed the door behind them. Gallus got the impression they wouldn’t let them try and open it again anytime soon.
“What the heck is happening?” Spike asked, looking confused and concerned.
“I don’t know,” Gallus admitted, scowling as he started to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, “but something tells me we’re not getting that resolution Raven promised after all.”