//------------------------------// // Act 2, Chapter 1 // Story: All That Glitters... // by Comet Burst //------------------------------// Present Day... Spike shuffled along the cobblestone street, dragging his feet with each step. Adorned on his arms were many brightly colored bags with various names scrawled across their facades. Names like 'Marigold's Perfume Boudoir' and 'Green Star Outfitters' stood out among the many bags. As Spike walked with his shoulders sagging, he noticed ponies were starting to stare at him. Maybe it was the fact that a dragon was walking around Canterlot was what surprised them, but Spike doubted it. They were more likely surprised by what he was doing. "Spiiiiike!" came a familiar call. The purple drake lifted his head to see a familiar face up ahead, one of a bright pink pony with icy blue eyes and a purple and white streaked mane. "Spike!" Diamond Tiara almost yelled, "Stop slowing us down!" The drake groaned as he started to walk a little faster, trying to keep up with his annoying friend. Why he agreed to go shopping in Canterlot with her was a mystery he was still trying to solve. 'Eh,' he thought to himself, 'It's not like Twilight had anything better to do.' Ever since Twilight's coronation as the newest princess, she had almost secluded herself in the castle library, reading every book they had. As her number one assistant, Spike had to endure endless hours of fetching and putting away writings, from ancient tomes to modern biographies on Celestia, which were often incomplete. After the coronation and subsequent move to Canterlot, Spike had found it slightly depressing that not many of his friends from Ponyville had written him. Then again, he really didn't have any outside of Twilight's circle. Diamond Tiara, however, had sent him letters almost weekly. It was a strange situation, Spike and Diamond's relationship. It had been a while since they had first met, back when Spike was a baby dragon and Diamond Tiara was just a filly. At first, their friendship was a weird mix of things, ranging from strange looks from the Cakes when Spike treated Diamond to a snack, to a friendship party Pinkie Pie had personally overseen. Ironically, they both happened the same day. However, Spike noticed his friendship with Diamond was doing something odd to him. While he was still upset about Rarity, who had gone into an almost reclusive state for weeks after that fateful Hearts and Hooves Day, Diamond seemed to erase the dullness that had flooded his life since then. She got him to laugh when nopony else did, made him smile with her constant gifts and even had come out to Canterlot every now and then to visit him. Spike had also noticed he had begun to change physically, similar to how Diamond Tiara was. Both of them had gotten taller, Spike being the tallest when he stood on his hind legs. The crests on his head and tail had grown as well, from a cute round frill to a much more menacing series of spikes while Diamond's mane and tail had gotten even longer and, if possible, more poofy. All in all, the two were outgrowing their "cute" stages and into adults. Twilight had taken a special interest in Spike's growing patterns. At first, she was afraid it was due to him being greedy again, ordering Diamond to stop giving him gifts. After much protest, Twilight relented on the ban but did not give up on her suspicion. It was only when she had noticed Spike had grown without a gift from Diamond Tiara in a while did she fully remove any suspicion of Spike's greed. Her newest theory was that his growth was directly linked to those of ponies he was close to. He had only grown from a real baby into an adolescent around Twilight and was now becoming more mature while Diamond was growing up. At the train station, ponies were everywhere. Many were boarding and disembarking trains as they pulled up at a nearly breakneck pace. Few were doing anything else, like handling luggage or sitting. Diamond Tiara and Spike, however, were standing at the entrance to the station. Diamond eyeing every pony carefully and Spike yawning, still holding all the bags Diamond had managed to fill. It was only when Diamond squealed happily and tore off to the station did Spike notice she was still there. A rather large commotion broke out as Diamond ran up to and greeted her BFF, Silver Spoon. Spike lazily trudged over, but put on a smile as Silver noticed he was there. Silver had changed just as much as Diamond had over the past few years. She was as tall, if not taller, than Diamond now. Her mane still looked like a bushel of silver silk, but she sported a new braid that sat on top of her hair. She still wore those obnoxiously large blue rimmed glasses, but they fit her face much better now that she was bigger. As Spike walked up, Diamond and Silver shouted, "Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump!", gathering attention from several stallions around them. Spike glared at a couple stallions who decided to start trotting over to his friends, causing them to slink away with a scared look on their faces. When Spike reached them, he found himself almost being choked to death by Silver, who was overjoyed to see him. "Spike! I've missed you!" she squeed as she tightened her grip around his neck. Spike tried to respond, but only managed a slight gurgling noise. As if on cue, a pink hoof wrapped around Silver's waist and yanked her away, allowing Spike to breathe. Diamond smiled wryly as Silver landed next to her, looking as if she was about to grit her teeth. "So, Silver," Diamond spoke as she started to trot away, "What's going on back home?" Silver trotted a little faster to catch up to Diamond, but once she did, she responded, "Oh, you know. This and that." "How are those Cutie Mark dorks doing?" Silver raised an eyebrow at her friend, but replied, "They're annoying, as usual. That hick Applebloom is fixing stuff at the farm, Sweetie Dolt is singing at the restaurant and Scootaloser is flying everywhere now." Diamond rolled her eyes at the news and stuck out her tongue. Of course, she really didn't care what those dorky little ponies were up to, but she liked being informed. "What about Rumble?" Diamond asked with a sly grin creeping up the corners of her mouth. "What about him?" Silver retorted. "I heard you were getting a little cozy with him lately." Silver rolled her eyes before responding. "He asked me to a party on Nightmare Night. Nothing went on." "Uh huh, sure," Diamond said in her best sarcasm, "Like nopony saw you two by the punch bowl, all over each other." "Did Dinky tell you that?" Silver asked, sounding a little irritated. "Well, she wrote about it in her newsletter," Diamond answered with a chuckle. Silver groaned angrily and put her head down a little lower. Diamond went from chuckling to laughing at that. Just as Diamond did so, Silver came back with her own retort. "What about Spike, huh?" Silver asked, raising an eyebrow. Diamond immediately clammed up and stared straight forward , refusing to reply. "Oh, come on. Like I don't know you have a huge crush on him," Silver teased, getting a chuckle in. Diamond Tiara narrowed her eyes at her friend before answering. "That's not the same as you and Rumble," she hissed, "Spike and I are going to happen." Silver chuckled again and replied, "You've been saying that since you first met him, Diamond." Diamond sunk her head in the same way Silver had earlier, wearing a half angry, half sad look. It wasn't until Spike caught up did she perk back up. As Spike and Silver trotted on, they got into a conversation and failed to notice the pink pony stop and gaze into a store window as they passed her. Diamond's icy blue eyes were focused on a piece of jewelry gleaming in the sunlight. It was a gorgeous tiara that sparkled with so many diamonds, Diamond wasn't sure how they all even fit in the headpiece. The sterling silver that housed the diamonds was practically flawless without so much as a pore of impurity defacing the wonderful crown. Diamond could only picture herself wearing the tiara, walking into her home to gasps and awed praise of her new headpiece, her friends with wide eyes gawking at the amazing pony Diamond was and Spike staring dumbstruck at her like he did the first day they met. Diamond blinked when she got to that point, realizing she was starting to blush. She spun to say something to Spike, but didn't see her friend anywhere. Scanning the street, Diamond searched for any sign of the purple and green drake until she saw him four buildings down, still walking and lost in conversation with Silver. With a frustrated groan, Diamond took off at a gallop to catch up with him. "So, uh, where are we going?" Spike asked the two ponies bluntly when Diamond had caught up. Both Diamond and Silver looked at each other before turning back to him with sly grins gracing their faces. "Is there anything on this menu not swimming in gravy?" Diamond asked incredulously. Spike looked up from his own menu and stared at a rather cross looking Diamond Tiara as Silver Spoon chuckled. "I mean, look at this! Potatoes and gravy, celery and gravy, marigold salad with gravy dressing! What kind of place is this?!" the pink pony yelled a little too loud, drawing some questioning looks from ponies at other tables. Silver broke out into mild laughter as Spike rolled his eyes. He had known Diamond for years and still could not believe how fussy she was. She had almost talked his ear off about this fancy restaurant in Canterlot's upscale district called Jus that every famous resident of the city had to visit. However, her lack of foreign language knowledge shone through with her complaining. Spike was required to learn several new languages to aid Twilight in her princess duties, and knew Jus meant Gravy. "Diamond, you do know that--" Spike began before being cut off. "Why can't they serve normal food here?! I didn't come here to eat gravy with everything!" Diamond almost shouted to him. "Diamond..." Spike tried to say as Silver buried her face into the table and began snorting with laughter. "Who in their right mind would come here?! What kind of pony has to eat this much of the stuff?!" As Diamond complained to Spike, he put his chin in his claw and stared blankly at her, offering weak agreements. He had learned long ago to tune out her complaining. While her words fell on his deaf ears, Spike's emerald eyes slowly drifted up Diamond's head to her tiara, still resting atop her mane. It still sparkled as much as it had when Spike had first seen it, causing a familiar feeling to enter his mind. His instinctual dragon greed craved that tiara, but as much as he wanted it, he kept it at bay. After several unpleasant minutes of Diamond complaining to Spike and then the waiter, the trio ate in silence. Silver Spoon munched slowly on some smashed potatoes and gravy while Diamond glumly ate a couple roasted carrots without the gravy. Spike, however, had a dirt brown spinel he was sloshing in a small bowl of gravy, much to Diamond's disgust. To Spike, the spinel tasted like nothing, just a vessel to hold the gravy. "How can you two eat that stuff?" Diamond asked, a little disgusted by the noises her friends were making.