"–wing away food again?”
“Food's gotta be fresh, Nighty. Stale food is stale dishes.”
“I'm not saying we let it get stale and rancid, but surely we could keep it around for another day or two.”
Spike was dimly aware of the sound of arguing coming from somewhere. His back was sore, and he wasn't sure why.
“Not really, I'm already throwing it out at the very tail end of it tasting fresh.”
“If the food budget stays where it is, we'll never be able to afford the proper accoutrements to distinguish our restaurant.”
“Ponies don't come here for accoutrements, they come here for a meal. If the food's not top-notch they won't come back.”
“Ponies come here to dine, Cayenne. If it’s not a proper dining experience they will stay home and cook for themselves or hire a personal chef.”
The mares’ voices were getting louder. Spike groaned and wrapped his pillow around his head. 'Why are they talking so loudly? The palace shouldn’t be open this early.'
“This isn't Canterlot, Nighty. It isn't even central Manehattan. Not everypony can afford a live-in cook! In fact almost nopony can afford that! They come here to eat food they can't make themselves.”
“Ambiance is important! If we relaxed our food budget some then we would be able to afford to decorate properly sooner, maybe hire a designer.”
Spike had a niggling thought at the back of his mind. Like he was trying to remember something. No roosters had crowed though, and there was no light coming through his window, so it wasn’t not time to open the library yet. He still had time to sleep.
“We can't relax our food budget. Good food is the best draw we've got, especially since we're the new fillies on the block.”
Spike felt warm, too. 'It's not summer, why is it this warm?' He felt around with his claws, and found there were feathers pressed against his chest. 'Feathers... Peewee! He and I are traveling together. I'm not in the library at all. I'm-'
“Which is exactly why we–Cayenne what the hay is this?!” Nightcap's voice rang clear through the kitchen. Spike's eyes snapped open and he looked up to see a dark blue mare with a mixture of fear and outrage on her face.
“Umm...” Spike searched for the right words. “Good morning?”
“Aw jeez, it slipped my mind.” Cayenne squeezed by Nightcap into the kitchen. “Sorry about that, guys. Nightcap, this is Spike. He was our last customer last night while you were taking a nap, and I offered him a place to stay the night.”
“Cayenne, this is ridiculous!” Nightcap said, throwing her hooves into the air. “We can't just offer a strange dragon a bed in our kitchen. What would happen if he couldn't control his fire breath? Or if he was untrustworthy,” Nightcap said venemously.
“But he wasn't! I have a good sense about these things, Nighty.”
“A good sense... but... if...” Nightcap stamped her hoof on the ground. “I do not have the patience for this this morning. The kitchen isn't burnt down and I hope we're not missing anything, so you just make sure that remains so, and I will return later and I expect our kitchen to be sans-dragon!”
Spike and Cayenne watched as Nightcap stomped out of Delicious Dishes. Spike arose from the bed, cradling the still-asleep Peewee in his claws.
“Sorry about that, Spike,” Cayenne said shaking her head, “I shoulda warned her, and I shoulda warned you last night.”
Spike sighed. “Is it weird that an honest-to-goodness freakout was actually kinda welcome compared to the timid stammers I'd been getting yesterday?”
Cayenne raised a single eyebrow. “Like it’s a relief to get it over with?”
“Yeah, like after the big jump scare in a scary movie. The tension's gone.”
Cayenne smiled. “Haha, alright. You want some breakfast, big guy?”
“I'm not sure I want to be around when Nightcap gets back.”
“What? But you could relieve even more tension!”
“I think I'm good for now.” Spike gave Peewee's beak a nudge. “Wake up, buddy, we've got traveling to finish.”
Spike helped Cayenne pack up his bedding, and had fruit for breakfast at Cayenne's insistence. He then gathered his belongings and readied himself and Peewee for travel.
“Cayenne,” Spike said. “You have no idea how much letting me stay here meant to me.”
Cayenne closed her eyes and put on a self-satisfied grin. “I don't know, Spike, I have a pretty good imagination.” She opened her eyes and looked reassuringly at Spike. “I'm sure you would have been fine though.”
Spike gave Cayenne a grateful smile. “Look, I know we didn't talk about it or anything but...” Spike reached into his luggage and pulled out a bag of bits.
Cayenne frowned. “Put that away, Spike. I didn't do this to get paid.”
“But I got a service from you! Chances are I'd have to rent a hotel room if I could even find somewhere that would let me in that late. You saved me a lot of money and grief, so you deserve something. And... this morning I overheard–"
Spike found a hoof suddenly in his mouth, and Cayenne's eyes glaring into his. “Stop there.” She fluttered down. “If you really insist on repaying me, how about this: You owe me one.”
“...One?”
“Just one.” Cayenne resumed her smile. “I did something for you, you do something for me. Fair's fair, right?”
Spike smirked. “So you mean I have to come to Delicious Dishes again just to do you a favor? Is coming back the favor?”
“Nope! Because I know after that delicious meal you're gonna come back anyway.” Cayenne winked at Spike. “I'm gonna use my one on something good.”
Spike gave an exaggerated sigh, and put away his bits bag. “Alright, but it better be a doozy.”
“I'll do my best not to disappoint you.”
Spike gave Cayenne a final wave and a smile, and walked out onto the streets.
'Cayenne felt more like Ponyville hospitality than the kind of welcome I was expecting from Manehattan,' Spike thought. 'Even her partner seemed just as upset that there was a stranger in her kitchen than that I was a dragon, which I guess is understandable. It's hard to believe I was in such a bad mood yesterday.'
A smile crept onto Spike's face and he strode the streets of the village with his head held high. He idly whistled a happy tune, and Peewee reflected his tune with a melodic call. Spike and Peewee continued their musical banter with rising intensity, mostly getting bewildered stares from ponies. Mostly.
Spike and Peewee were crossing a scenic plaza when they were confronted by a plum earth mare with a cross frown on her face.
“Who do you think you are?” she accused Spike.
Spike stopped abruptly, some bags spilling off of his cart. “E-excuse me?”
“You think you can just waltz through our town with you and your pet firebird obnoxiously crowing? That you're the big scary dragon and you can do whatever you want?”
Spike leaned back. 'I know I'm not a fantastic whistler, and Peewee could use some tuning but obnoxious? I think that's a bit much.' Spike saw some movement out the corner of his eye, and looked about. There were other ponies gathering. Lots of them had furrowed brows and frowns, but a few were putting on more determined expressions.
“Yeah!” a pony from behind Spike yelled.
“In fact, I bet you were the one pushing around Gilded Scrip yesterday too!”
Spike blinked. “Um... who?”
“He's a philanthropist who helps with the funding of the institute,” she said, gesturing to the tower looming over the village. “He arranges donors as well as being a significant donor himself. And you–" She stepped up to Spike, giving him a small poke "–nearly caused him to miss a meeting with a foreign donor when you took his cab from him yesterday!”
'A philanthropist?' Spike took a step back from the mare, bumping into his luggage, unsettling it once again. He scrambled and knelt to balance his bags, clumsily straightening them so more didn't wind up on the ground.
The ponies around Spike and Peewee had grown from a group to a crowd, possibly verging on a mob.
“You're nothing but a beast! Why don't you just leave us alone?” The mare loomed over Spike now, and he cringed under her glare.
Peewee darted between Spike and the mare, and began making a loud angry racket at the mare. His wings were flaring out more too and the flames were getting dangerously close to the mare, who recoiled.
Spike's eyes opened wide, and he roughly grabbed Peewee, who made a muffled caw. Spike hastily moved his fallen bags onto his cart. “Maybe I'll do that,” he said, and he brusquely walked through the crowd of ponies and out of the square.
When he felt like he was out of hearing of the ponies he released Peewee from his death grip, and Peewee's head snapped up as he glared daggers at Spike. Peewee chirped accusingly at Spike, and Spike apologetically smiled at Peewee.
“I'm sorry buddy,” Spike whispered, “If I flipped out and yelled it would probably just prove them right. And you need to control that fire. If you set a pony on fire it would be even worse.”
Peewee huffed and gave Spike a short glare before flying into his cage to sulk.
“I'm so glad someone stood up to that bully.” Spike's ear twitched.
“You're so brave!” a young-sounding voice squeaked from the square behind Spike.
'They're... they're praising that pony for standing up to me.' Spike's face contorted with anger. ‘I should turn around and give them a piece of my--No... if I yell at them they'll just turn it around on me.'
Spike sighed. 'And if I were in Ponyville we'd probably be halfway to a choreographed musical number by now.'
He trudged on through the streets of the village, taking care not to attract any extra attention. It wasn't very long until, rounding a building, he finally caught sight of the wall surrounding the institute.
“Peewee,” Spike smiled somewhat tiredly. “We're here.”
Peewee grumpily squawked and glared at Spike. Spike had a small wistful grin on, and Peewee's eyes softened. Peewee gave a stretch and a high pitched groan, and flew out of his cage.
If the institute was impressive from a distance, it was amazing from up close. The central tower was huge and surrounded by cloud constructs at the top and brick-and-mortar buildings at the bottom. It wasn't the largest building Spike had ever seen; he had just come from Manehattan and used to live in Canterlot after all, but it was still big. It was very nearly its own city attached to Manehattan with its own villages attached to it.
“It's the largest research institute of its kind ever built, and not just in the size of the facility but in the breadth of its study. It’s also the first to have a department focused on unicorn magic AND one to research pegasus magic.” Spike sighed wistfully. “Leave it to Twilight to decide that magical studies should include all ponies instead of just unicorns.”
Peewee left his cage and hovered near Spike, waiting for him to continue.
Spike snapped out of his nostalgia and took in the gate proper. The gate into the institute was staffed by a single guard of each pony tribe, each clad in blue and gold rounded armor with reflective blue visors. Unlike the palace guards, no effort was made to make the guards appear to be the same pony. Their coat colors were not anywhere close to similar, nor was their gender the same, and the armors had cutie marks painted onto them. Also unlike palace guards, the earth pony guard was clearly chatting with the other two guards. At least, until the unicorn pointed out Spike walking down the road, and they came to attention, the unicorn and pegasus at the sides of the gate, and the earth pony in the center at a booth of some sort.
“Halt,” the earth pony mare commanded.
Spike halted.
“Identify yourself and state your business here.”
“I am Spike, and I am going to meet with Dr. Sunny Gaze about a research position.”
“Do you have confirmation?”
“Yeah,” Spike replied and took a slightly deep breath, sending fire over his outstretched claw. Out of the fire a paper materialized: the letter Spike got stating he was accepted as a research assistant. He held it out to the earth pony guard.
She stared at the summoned piece of paper, then immediately started scanning a list she has at her booth. Spike continued to hold out his arm, blinking with a bewildered expression on his face.
His arm was just beginning to get sore from holding it outstretched, when she finally looked up from the list, with her face full of conviction. “I knew it. You're not on today's list. Did you really think I wouldn't notice your forgery?”
“Wha- it’s not a forgery! How would I even do that?”
She glared at Spike. “You just produced it from magic fire right now!”
Spike waved his arms around. “I was storing it with fire, not creating it from nothing!” Spike looked at the paper. “See! I even have his signature here. How could I forge that, even with magic? The letter clearly states that I am to meet him–" Spike suddenly stopped.
“Well?” she pressed insistently.
Spike's expression fell. “It says I was supposed to meet him yesterday.”
“So it’s not even a good forgery.” A confident grin appeared on her face. “Even without that I knew something was wrong though.”
Spike wasn't paying attention though; his mind was racing. 'I'm late. A whole day late! Because I didn't plan out the trip properly I didn't make it here even the correct day. What if Dr. Gaze decides I shouldn't come because of it? I've never even met this stallion and I'm letting him down. And now my ticket into the institute is out of date and I can't even get in!'
The pegasus guard piped up. “We could find Dr. Gaze and ask. Shouldn't be too hard to find.”
The earth pony guard sighed. “I guess that's the way to tell for sure.”
The pegasus flew away wordlessly.
“And hurry up! I don't trust this dragon any further than I could throw him.”
Spike moved his bags to the side of the road at the guard's behest, and pulled out something to read while waiting for Dr. Gaze. Daring Do was about to enter the ancient Mareyan temple when Spike heard the earth pony speak up.
“Halt. Identify yourself and state your business here.”
“I'm Argyle Weave and I'm here for a cloth delivery.”
“Alright, you're cleared. Head on through.”
Spike's head snapped up from the book he was reading, and he stared as Argyle trotted straight into the institute, no questions asked.
“What the hay was that?!” Spike exclaimed, after Argyle entered the institute.
“What was what?” the mare replied.
“You let him in without the third degree. You didn't even give him the second degree! You just let him in with nothing! I had to present a document and there was a list to check and everything! You didn't even check for that guy!”
“I already checked. I went through all of it when I looked for your name and remembered him on the list.”
“Horseapples you did!” Spike exclaimed, walking up to the earth pony. “You can't just arbitrarily apply the rules here.” He leaned over the earth pony menacingly. She was nonplussed. “Either you don't check at all and do a crappy job, or you check every single time before letting someone in.”
“I agree, rules should not be applied haphazardly,” a new voice rang from beyond the gates.
The pegasus guard, a new unicorn guard, and a pale lavender mare approached from the institute interior. The lavender earth mare continued, “It is highly unethical to show favoritism.”
“You see this cutie mark here?” earth pony motioned to the mark painted on her armor, which was an eye inside a magnifying glass. “It's for my scrutinizing eye for detail. I could tell from a glance something was suspicious, and my suspicions were confirmed. You can't tell me that's a coincidence.
“Who are you, anyway? You're not Dr. Gaze.”
“No, I am Starscribe and I will be accompanying Mister Spike to Dr. Gaze's office.” She produced a scroll from her saddlebags, emblazoned with an unrolled scroll with a constellation of stars on them. “I trust this will be sufficient to ensure his entry?”
The earth pony guard snatched the scroll from Starscribe's hoof. Unrolling it, she wordlessly read it. She gave a sigh and returned the scroll to Starscribe. “Fine. He checks out. But don't let me catch you breaking the law here.”
“I think you may need to consider your own problems first, Private Clue,” the unicorn stallion spoke sternly.
“S-seargent?” The earth pony mare backpedaled. “I-I was just doing my job.”
“To the collective embarrassment of our entire division. There is a reason guards are seen, not heard. Even if he was suspicious and his credentials did not check out, that does not excuse your attitude about it. A royal guard is supposed to act with dignity befitting guarding royalty at all times.”
“But... we're not the royal guard. We don't guard royalty.”
“This institute might as well be royalty! It is the last will of our departed Princess Twilight Sparkle, after all.”
Spike's stomach bottomed out at the mention of Twilight Sparkle by this stallion who probably never met her, but treated her with reverence. And mentioned her 'departure' so casually.
“B-but–" the mare said.
The senior guard held up his hoof, interrupting the mare. “And part of that dignity will be not arguing about this in front of civilians.”
The mare's ears flattened and she grumbled out, “Yes, sir.”
Starscribe spoke up. “If we are done here, I shall accompany Spike to Dr. Gaze's office.” She immediately set out across the grounds.
Spike glanced at the earth pony guard, gave a smirk and a single wave, and followed.
If the institute was amazing from up close, it was awesome from the inside. It didn't look like it was almost a town, it looked like a tiny functioning city. The buildings were predominantly classical Canterlotian in design, however the street layout was much closer to Manehattan. The buildings were very close to one another and never single-story, and the streets were wide and open. 'I guess this is how efficiently you can design a city that was built all at once,' Spike mused.
Of course, in the center of the institute was the massive tower that dominated the institute's skyline, with pegasus cloud buildings orbiting it like a massive orrery, and there were even several floating solid structures suspended by balloons or held in place by dark clouds. A gondola made of clouds rode a rope up to a cloud structure with a conspicuously wingless passenger.
The ground-level was less exotic, but Spike couldn't spend too much time staring at the sky or he would lose his guide. The grayish-blue mare kept a brisk pace through the streets, and Spike found it trying to keep up.
“Hey, Starscribe, right?” Spike said.
“Yes,” she replied curtly, her eyes never moving from the road.
“Thanks for helping me out with the guards.”
“I was simply doing my job. Dr. Gaze needed a runner and I was not busy, so I came.” Her eyes still never left the road in front of her.
“But you didn't have to take my side when she was not letting me through; that counts for something.”
“Mister Spike I could not allow such a flagrant display of ethical violations. Any decent pony would do the same in my position, so think nothing of it please.”
Spike frowned. “O-okay.”
The rest of the journey continued in silence, leaving Spike to his thoughts. 'She helped me and would help anypony, regardless of if they're a pony or not. That's good, right? Someone defending me like they would anypony else?' Spike sighed. 'I guess I was expecting someone that helps me to be friendly, but I should feel better I'm being treated like a pony… but I mostly don’t.'
Spike and Starscribe stood in front of a plain office building. “Here's Dr. Gaze's office. You will need to ask the front office for him, but you shouldn't have any problems if you keep that scroll with you.”
“You're not coming?”
“My duties now lie elsewhere. Good luck on the interview,” she said, before briskly walking away.
'There's that weird unfriendly help again. Maybe she just has trouble with seeming cheery? Or she's in a bad mood? Or–wait. Interview?' Spike's mouth went dry. 'As in... an interview for the job? I thought I already got the job.'
Spike's heart started beating loudly in his chest. 'If... I don't already have the job... then that means I could not get this job.'
Spike began breathing heavily. 'I might have to go back to Ponyville, except I told everypony I’d be getting a new job! I’d be a laughingstock! I can’t go back so soon… I'd have nowhere to live! I'd have to find a cave to live in! I’d have to pillage villages just to get by!'
Spike felt a piercing pain on the side of his head. “Ow!” He turned his head angrily to the side, to find Peewee staring at him with concern in the phoenix's eyes. Peewee made a soft caw, and tilted his head to the side.
Spike rubbed the side of his head. “Sorry I was kinda freaking out there. Thanks. Can you watch the bags again while I get this done?”
Peewee puffed his chest out, fluffing his feathers dramatically. He gave a self-satisfied caw.
Spike smiled. “Thanks, buddy.” He turned his head to the building and put on his determined face. “Now I'm going to go make sure we have a place to live.”
Peewee raised a wing above his head and began to exuberantly caw at Spike, before stopping and uttering a panicked, confused chirp.
Spike ignored him as well as his own nerves and entered the building. The lobby had a single stallion at the desk and above it hung a sign labeled 'Office of Interdepartmental Research.' The stallion stared at Spike, blinking. After a moment he said, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah I'm here to see Dr. Gaze,” Spike replied, presenting the scroll of summons. He did not produce it in a puff of flame. Spike had enough hassle for that in one day.
“You're the stallion Starscribe was sent for?” The stallion said. “You are... taller than I expected... Dr. Gaze is waiting on floor five.”
“Thanks,” Spike replied, and started up the flights of stairs. As indicated he found a pair of double wooden doors near the fifth floor stairwell with Dr. Gaze's name on the front of it. Spike knocked on the door, and there was a muffled “Come in!” from the other side.
Spike entered the office. Living in the castle in his early years, in addition to years of taking care of the library and living up to Twilight's expectations of cleanliness and organization, Spike had developed a fairly unusual sense for when a room was well-used and well taken care of, or simply cleaned and never used. This room was the latter sort. The books on the shelves were too cleanly organized. The desk was organized in a neat but haphazard way, as if the person sitting at it never actually used the inkwells and the scrolls. 'The inkwells were located on the opposite side of the spare paper for Luna's sake! You're just asking for it to get dripped on.' It was built to look like a professional workspace, but was probably used as just a meeting room. There was a single sheet of paper on the table that was out of order, and sitting at that pristine desk was a charcoal gray stallion with a collar and tie and cornflower yellow hair.
“Good afternoon. You must be Spike. I've been looking forward to meeting you,” he said evenly.
“I'm... thanks. You are Dr. Sunny Gaze?” Spike replied, his pulse thumping loudly in his head.
“That I am. Please, have a seat.”
“Yeah... thanks.” Spike sat down across the desk from Dr. Gaze. He fought the urge to fidget.
“So our meeting was for yesterday. What was the problem?”
“I uh...” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “I sorta didn't plan the trip well. I got into Manehattan late at night and didn't want to get here in the middle of the night. I figured that would've been a problem.”
“Well there's no curfew at the institute. You probably would not have made our appointment, though... So let’s go over some of your background,” Dr. Gaze segued into his next topic, levitating the sheet of paper in front of him with a pale blue aura. “It says here you were previously Princess Twilight Sparkle's personal aide for the entirety of her tenure as princess, as well as quite a few years before that. Is this correct?”
“Yes... she hatched me at the same time she became Princess Celestia's student.”
“Oh, so this was more like she was your mother.”
Spike recoiled a little. “No, definitely not. She was like eight years old when she hatched me. I was raised in the castle, and I knew her when I was very young, but I was... well I was still a baby dragon when she was given guardianship of me, but it was too late for her to be my mother or anything.” Spike tilted his head in thought. “I guess it wasn't too late for that but... she never felt like my mother. She was maybe more like a sister? An especially close cousin? Either way she held me to a high standard, so don't think she went easy on me because I was young or like family.”
“Okay, so it also says that after her death–" Spike did his best not to grimace at that phrase. "–you operated the palace until very recently, keeping the library open, and pursued your own avenues of research?”
Spike's eyes went wide. 'I... there are very few ponies that knew I was researching something in the library, and I definitely did NOT put that into any letters to the institute. How the hay did he find out about that?'
Dr. Gaze paused for a second. “Spike?”
Spike snapped out of his thoughts. “Yes. I did.”
“And what was the subject of the study?”
“It was... communication magic.”
“Communication magic? What caused you to–" Dr. Gaze's eyes went wide this time “–oh. Of course.” His eyes showed something for the first time, concern. It was just a flash though. “What did you learn from your study?”
'That when they tell you that if you try hard anything is possible they're lying to you. That sometimes something is beyond your grasp forever.'
“I had to study a lot of basic magical theory to develop any working hypotheses. It might be easier to ask what didn't I learn from it!” Spike added with forced excitement.
“Then what didn't you learn from it?” the stallion asked, his eyes connecting with Spike's.
He stared incredulously at Dr. Gaze. “I didn't learn anything about... weather magic.”
“Right, no weather department work, then.” Spike's boss's tossed the paper he was looking at behind him. “I think that's good for the interrogation portion of our discussion. Do you have any questions?”
“Um... there are living quarters here right?”
“Of course. Your position affords you a fairly small apartment, although if you are willing to pay you can probably find somewhere nicer. There's individual housing available west and south of the institute, and as the institute expands I expect that all the housing will be outside of our walls. They're definitely nicer than the institute-provided apartments, but I'm afraid you would have to dip into your income to afford them.”
“And uh... I can't think of anything else at the moment I suppose.”
“That's it? Well then welcome to the Department of Interdepartmental Research, Junior Researcher Spike,” for the first time a warm smile appeared on Dr. Gaze's face.
The weight on Spike's chest lifted. “Thanks I-Junior researcher?! I thought I was getting a job as a research assistant.”
Dr. Gaze smirked. “That's what a Junior Researcher does. But someday you're going to be in charge of part of a research project, or allowed to pursue your own ideas, before you know it you've got a six figure salary, junior researchers of your own, and tenure.” He chuckled. “Some of that is a bit further away than other parts though.”
Spike's mouth was open in shock. 'This is the kind of job Twilight would have gotten if she wasn't made a princess, isn't it?'
“So, who am I going to be assisting?”
“Well... I'm the pony who's going to be giving you your assignments, but this department handles work when two departments collaborate for an assignment, or the sort of research is not clearly a single department’s purview. We wind up loaning specialist researchers to other departments often. There's a lot of organizational work to be done coordinating departments, and we handle that too. So as far as who you'll be working with? It will probably change fairly often.”
“So do I have an assignment yet?”
“Ah, no,” Dr. Gaze responded, with an encouraging smile on his face. “I think you should spend today getting acquainted with the institute. Presumably you still have to move into your apartment, with your question about housing.” His smile turned upside down. “Besides, since you didn't show up yesterday we had no idea if you were showing up at all, so we didn't hold any assignments for you yet.”
“Yeah... sorry about that.” Spike rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
“It will be fine.” The stallion waved the concern away, and retrieved a scroll from his desk. “Now, I have to resume my other duties. I trust that you can find your way around unassisted?”
Spike smiled. “I think I can do that.”
“Excellent, I'll walk you out.”
Spike and Dr. Gaze walked out of the Office of Interdepartmental Research, and Dr. Gaze immediately set off in the same direction Starscribe had earlier.
Spike and Peewee spent some time finding his new apartment, but located it successfully with the help of a fairly recalcitrant guardspony. A second floor apartment awaited Spike, which meant moving bags to a second floor also awaited Spike. It wasn't Twilight's house (and job) that he was taking care of anymore, and it wasn't Celestia's bequest; he was going to earn it by working here at the institute.
Spike let those thoughts comfort him, to distract him from the quality of the apartment. The apartment wasn't terrible, but it was clearly a downgrade from the living conditions Spike had had his whole life. It was smaller than anywhere else he had lived, since most of his life was spent in various palaces. It was even smaller than the relatively small Golden Oaks Library. It was clean though, and Spike didn't need as much space as he did before, since he was no longer living where he worked. There was a balcony too, which would be handy for Peewee. It was simple, and it satisfied Spike. Well, he was sure it would satisfy him as soon as he got used to it.
Spike had finished moving his boxes into the apartment when Peewee started calling insistently at him.
Spike sighed. “I just got done, Peewee. What is it?”
Peewee held a wing out, pointing at the balcony door.
Spike held an eyebrow up. “Weren't we outside all day today?”
Peewee held his wings out wide and squawked.
Spike stared at Peewee, trying to decipher what he meant. “Um... help me out here.”
Peewee rolled his eyes and flew around in a circle, then held his wings up and out wide, squawking again.
“You... fly around a lot?”
Peewee waggled his head, chirping. He pointed outside again, held his wings above his head and let out a long squawk, folding them down.
“You... are outside... all the time usually?”
Peewee nodded and chirped happily.
Spike chuckled. “Alright, let’s go out. I should get my bearings around here anyway. Need to find a place that I can buy food from. I wonder if there's a market nearby.”
Thus Spike and Peewee set out to do some exploring of the institute.
The sun was setting as Spike entered the plaza. The institute had many plazas, most with clever historic-sounding names like Plaza of the NeoClassical Age, or Plaza of the Moon's Redemption. Spike wondered if Twilight had a theme in mind, or if it was planned out by whoever took over the plans after her disappearance. This plaza, however, was definitely NOT planned out by Twilight.
Spike stared at the statue in the center. Peewee soared overhead somewhere. The plaza itself was decorated in violet and gold. On the ground was a massive six-pointed star, with additional white rays coming from between its points, and around the plaza were five constantly-lit sparkling orbs. Spike hardly noticed all of that though; he was busy staring at the statue.
It was a two-story tall statue of Twilight Sparkle. Twilight was rearing on her back hooves, with her wings splayed out proudly, as if she was just taking off. Her face was looking upward, towards the tower in the center of the city actually, and her forehoof was reaching upwards to the sky. On her face was a fascinated expression.
The plaque at the hoof of the statue read, “Princess Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, our sponsor and our hero. May her soul lay at rest.” Spike frowned at the plaque and went back to inspecting the statue. The sculptor really tried to make Twilight seem alive in this statue, and it was a brilliant likeness. The sculptor captured the excitement she had about knowledge and friendship impeccably. Spike's frown deepened.
'Somepony spent a long time working on this. The commission was probably huge too. They spent all this money on an artist and materials to commemorate her disappearance and none on trying to find her! They just gave up.'
Spike took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, his expression mellowing.
'Come on Spike,' he chastised himself. ‘You know better than most how poor the prospect of finding Twilight is.'
He gazed up at the statue. 'I know you're gone, Twilight, but I know you're out there somewhere. You'd never let something as silly as another world, or an army of monsters stop you, and I refuse to believe you couldn't survive it.' His eyes began to tear up. 'But wherever you are, and whatever you're doing, I hope you're ha–'
“Sweet Celestia, a dragon!” an excited voice rang out from at Spike's feet.
Spike's expression froze, and he mechanically lowered his head to meet the eyes of a pear green unicorn stallion at his feet, his nostalgia forgotten. The stallion's eyes were shining with excitement and his face was adorned with a huge, full-toothed smile.
“Um?” Spike said, trying to switch his mental track.
“So what've you come to the institute for? Are you going to take part in a special project? Ohhhh, are you going to be working with the F&F? I haven't heard of a project that would need a dragon. Can you give special dispensation to let me in on it?” The stallion took a step toward Spike, leaning toward him.
“I-what?” Spike took a bewildered step back. “Why would I be able to give you dispensation for anything? I don't even know what an F&F is.”
The stallion's split-face smile mellowed to merely a wide grin. “So here for something else then. The F&F is the department I work for: The Flora and Fauna department.” He puffed out his chest proudly.
Spike took a second to catch up to the conversation, and his jaw stiffened. “Flora and Fauna department?” he calmly said through grit teeth. “I am not fauna.”
“Well you sure as hay ain’t flora!” The stallion gave him a cheesy grin.
Spike frowned. “I mean I am as much a pony as anypony.”
The stallion's smile faltered. “No... you're not. I'm not sure if you noticed, but you're covered in scales and have claws. You're walking on two legs and probably breathe fire, too. Ponies don't do those things,” he explained with patience.
“Well that doesn't mean you have to treat me differently!” Spike yelled, throwing his arms wide above him. “I am just as normal as anypony else!”
“You really aren't, partner,” the stallion said, a small smile on his face.
'A pitying smile,' Spike thought. He snorted out a puff of smoke, and turned away. He whistled for Peewee, who flew down with a questioning chirp.
Spike motioned forward, and set off walking away from the plaza.
“And you have a pet phoenix! What are you doin' here?” The stallion's voice came from close to Spike's right. Spike whipped his head around and found the stallion walking alongside him. Fire filled his lungs instinctively and he leaned over the stallion menacingly.
“Go. Away,” he growled between gritted teeth, escaped green flames harmlessly licking at his snout.
The stallion hopped back several hooves with an amused expression on his face. His horn lit up with a sparkling amber aura and a shimmering loop extended from its tip. The stallion tossed his head a bit forward, and the loop whipped out and neatly enclosed around Spike's muzzle.
“Woah there,” the stallion said, that infuriating grin still on his face. “Maybe you should simmer down there, dragon.”
Spike could feel his interior set of eyelids instinctively tense, and his mouth filled with dragonfire. He struggled against the magical lasso. There was a snapping noise, and he let out a massive gout of flame as his mouth came free. Spike's chest puffed out, and he stood—no he loomed over the stallion. His pupils had become tiny slits.
“You wanted a dragon?” he growled. “Well, now you've got a dragon.”
The stallion stared straight at Spike, meeting his fierceness with a smirk. “The hard way then? Alright.”
Spike balled his claws up into fists, raised one back, and swung it at the stallion's muzzle with all the force he could muster.
The stallion's horn glowed like before, producing a tiny golden loop, and he ducked underneath Spike's fist. The loop lingered where his head once was, and where Spike's fist currently resided. The stallion dodged off to the right and further away from Spike, and the loop closed around Spike's fist. The stallion yanked his head back.
Spike stumbled forward, landing on his unoccupied foreclaw before he found purchase against the stallion's pull. Spike growled as he tugged against the magical line, but the stallion gave no ground with the spell.
Spike repositioned his legs, and grabbed his caught arm with his other arm, and gave a mighty pull, and was rewarded when the line suddenly lost its tension. Spike tumbled backward and gave a pained yell as his tail was folded awkwardly below him, but he had the presence of mind to look for the stallion that should be flying through the air at him.
The stallion definitely was flying at him, but not through the air. The magical glow was gone from the stallion, and he was galloping full speed at Spike, who was awkwardly raising himself from the ground. He leaped at Spike, and his forehoof crashed into Spike's muzzle with unexpected power.
The stallion twisted in midair, soaring more like a pegasus than a unicorn, landed on his four hooves, and slid just a bit. “So, are we ready to chat about this civil-like?”
Spike flexed his tail and legs, and exploded straight at the stallion, his head connecting with the stallion's. No matter how hard headed the stallion was metaphorically, literally it was Spike's head that was harder, and the stallion stumbled back, stunned by the blow to his snout.
Spike flipped himself right side up, and picked himself off of the ground.
“Guess not,” the stallion said.
Spike lunged at the stallion again, and the stallion leaped straight up, his head surrounded by a shimmering amber orb. He flung his body forward, head first, crashing the shield into Spike's head. Spike came crashing into the ground.
The stallion landed upon Spike's back, the green spikes that were never really that spiky not even bothering him, and he telekinetically grasped Spike's arms, tugging them behind Spike's back.
Spike cried out in pain as his arms were twisted and he scrambled to try to right himself, but without his arms for leverage he was hopelessly pinned.
Spike heard a new voice yelling, “Freeze!” and the sound of ponies from every direction. He was surrounded by guardsponies.
“Don't worry fellas, I got this under control,” the stallion said, shifting around on Spike’s back. “It's just a little scuffle and once this fella calms down I'm sure we can all go our separate ways.”
Spike and the stallion were promptly arrested.