//------------------------------// // Always Learning Something // Story: Dragon-Hearted // by Marion330 //------------------------------// Spike stretched himself out on his basket, and rolled out of his resting place. He stood, still half asleep. Groggily still holding onto his blanket he walked out the still open bedroom door. Twilight was sleeping with her face planted on her desk. Books were strewn all about her. She had stayed up late and studied again. Spike noticed he was still holding his blanket, and covered Twilight with it. The nights were growing colder, and the tree-brary wasn't the best at holding heat. Twilight had cast wards to keep the books from being damaged by the chill, but they didn't really protect them. That and you can't really have a wood furnace in a tree. Spike moved into the kitchen and filled a kettle full of water. He may not have a wood stove, but he still had his fire-breath to heat water. He torched the bottom of the kettle, and soon the kettle shrieked as steam sprayed forth from the nozzle. He poured two cups of warm water and placed a tea-bag in each. He picked a gemstone from a box on top of the counter, and sat down at the table. He took a big bite of the gemstone and thought about his trip he and Twilight were going to take today. Twilight was going to visit Applejack for business and checking up on the CMC. He had wanted to go along to speak with the wounded visitor. He had never gotten the chance to speak with an elder dragon on his short-lived migration. His stomach still hurt when he thought about his belly flop into the lava pool. He took a sip from his warm tea and skimmed the pages of the newspapers scattered across the table. News of griffin mobilizations and dragon raids dominated most of the paper. Twilight slowly entered the kitchen and yawned. Bags had formed under her eyes. "Good morning, Spike." "You fell asleep studying again Twilight," "I know, I couldn't find anything that might have stopped the healing spell I tried to use. Nor could I find what might've caused that greenish wound on his side. I'll need to ask him what caused it." "Made you some tea, and there should be some oatmeal in the cupboard. I couldn't reach it." Twilight floated over the box of oatmeal, some brown sugar, the kettle, and a bowl and got to work making her breakfast. She sipped on her cup of tea as she mixed all the ingredients together. "Thanks Spike." There was a long silence between them. Both concentrated on eating so they could go visit their friends at Sweet Apple Acres. “Did you think about what you want to ask Atticus?" Twilight said, in between bites of her breakfast. Spike stopped reading for a moment. After all the groveling he had done in order to come along, he had forgotten to think of thing he had wanted to ask. "I have a few things," he lied. Twilight patted her muzzle with a napkin as spike wiped his face with his claw. The two cleaned off the table and washed their dishes. Twilight collected her books, and Spike grabbed a basket-full of gems to give the elder dragon. Spike jumped on Twilight's back and they set off towards Sweet Apple Acres together. "Scootaloo?" No response came from the orange filly with her head face down on her desk. "Scootaloo!" The filly's head shot up, eyes darting around the room in a rush of panic. "The answer is 42!" Cheerilee shook her head, "We've moved on from math, Scootaloo. Please make an effort to stay awake." Scootaloo sank back in her seat. She had stayed up far too late the night before at the campout. Sweetie Bell and Applebloom had gotten asleep on time, but she had stayed up with her dragon friend until they had laughed themselves to sleep. Sweetie Bell and Applebloom had struggled to keep her awake on the way to school, and during math she had dosed of again. "Yes ma'am," She said. Scootaloo saw Diamond Tiara whisper something to Silver Spoon, probably something smart about what Scootaloo had been doing so late last night. Scootaloo didn't care though. She didn't have enough energy to. Cheerilee went on with her lecture on Equestrian literature. Scootaloo struggled to stay awake until the bell rang for recess. Fillies and colts ran about the playground while Scootaloo got comfortable against a tree at the far end of the grounds. The tree's branches held many songbirds that sang as she lay there, singing cheerful songs. Scootaloo was about to fall back to sleep when the lunch bell rang and the birds flew away. Scootaloo rose from her attempted nap, and met with her friends for lunch. "Howdy Twilight, come to visit your scaly friend?" Applejack said, harnessed into an apple cart filled past the brim with apples. "Yes, but first I have some business to attend to." Twilight said as Spike leapt from her back. Spike ran off to the clubhouse where the elder dragon was. "I see Spike's a mite excited to talk to one of his own kind," Applejack said as both of them watched Spike run off. "We both hoped Atticus might be more mature than the dragons we had encountered during his adventures during the migration. Luckily we were correct. Now Spike has a real chance to learn about dragon history." "Well, It’s nice he can finally has a chance to learn about dragons. So, you said you had some business you needed to attend to?" "Oh. Yes, I needed to buy some apple butter for one of the recipes I wanted to try." Applejack waved for Twilight to follow, and they entered the farmhouse. Applejack shut the door behind them, and led Twilight into the kitchen. Applejack's face became stern and troubled. "Twilight, you have'ta see the consequences of keeping a full-grown dragon on an apple orchard. It’s like a flame-spitting bull in a tissue and china shop! I just don't like it. I have nothing against the poor fella, but I just can't sit by while my business is in danger. A fire could ruin me, Twilight!" "You shouldn't worry, Applejack. He is more mature than most of the dragons we have dealt with before. Why don't you ask him to help around the farm? I'm sure he would be more than able to tow your apple carts around the orchard." Applejack paused her search for the Apple butter and contemplated the thought of a dragon helping on the farm. "I'll think about it." Applejack slid Twilight a jar of the highest quality Apple butter she could find. "We are slightly behind on our harvest this season. I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I mean, as long as he doesn't light the orchard on fire." "That’s the spirit!" Twilight picked up the jar and motioned for Applejack to follow. "Now let’s go talk to him about working on the farm." The ponies exited the farmhouse, and went in the same direction that Spike had ran off in before. Atticus had been taking a nap next to one of the larger apple trees, blowing small smoke rings in his sleep. Spike poked his head and quickly backed away as his elder rolled over and scratched the spot where spike had touched him. "Hello?" Spike said. Spike was taken aback when the large amber eyes of the old dragon lazily opened. "Hmm?" The old dragon mumbled as he rubbed his eyes with his large claws. "My name is Spike, I'm Twilight's assistant. I wanted to ask you some questions." The larger dragon rolled over again. He stopped on his belly and overlapped his arms underneath his head. "Sure, I'd love to talk with one of my own. Wait, your name was Spike?" "Yes." "Scootaloo told me you could help me send a letter home, and another to your princess. I have news for her. But first, I'll answer any questions you have." They spoke for a while, on many subjects. Spike's gaze rested on his elder's wounds, bandaged but refusing to heal. The dragon looked tired, as if exhausted by his body's attempts to heal itself. Spike didn't have wings, but he knew that they shouldn't look like the shredded membrane that hung from his wings. He noticed a wound on the large dragon's side. It was a puncture wound, but around the hole in his bandaged hide scales had withered and fallen away. "What animal did that?" Spike pointed a claw at the green wound. Atticus paused, not wanting to cause uproar about a sneak attack by griffons. He wanted to tell the princess first. He waved off Spike's question, "A bad manticore sting, it will pass." Spike had no reason to suspect an old dragon of trickery, so he continued on with other questions. A while later, Twilight and Applejack arrived and Spike produced a basket full of gems. The amount split between Atticus and Spike was a large meal for the latter. Atticus looked at his portion, barely relatable to crumbs in relative size. He popped his serving into his mouth, and conversed with his visitors. The idea of working on the farm was interesting, and he agreed. He gave one condition however, a letter was to be sent to Princess Celestia asking for her presence. Atticus said he had to ask her if she could send a letter home for him. He omitted the part about asking for help getting his daughter and grand-hatchlings back, still unsure of the ramifications of such a claim. Twilight asked him about the fight with the manticores, and he told his story. Still excluding any part of the griffin attack. Soon again he was left alone relaxing under the same apple tree. School would be getting over, and he would need all the rest he could get for playing with the three fillies when they returned.