The couple of years that followed were quite full of interesting moments for Spike. He had continued following the army in missions, but they were mostly for recognition, scouting and even to trade goods.
The drake, now at the age of 15, had grown up a bit. He was about 10 inches shorter than an adult changeling and he also was developing a firm musculature given the strict exercises he had to perform every day at school. He had heard stories about how big dragons get. He shrugged to think how he would even fit inside of a home if he got too big. He didn’t want to have to live in a cave.
The drake also wondered why he hasn’t participated in more attack missions. He only participated in just another one and this time he was allowed to see the changelings killing some pelican travelers. His stomach knotted to see them killing them while they slept. He knew their actions were justified. He knew. He knew…
‘Man…I hope I don’t chicken when the time comes for me…’ Spike wondered as he reminisced the scene.
His relationship with Bella Noche had started to become…complicated. But not in a bad way. He started to think more and more about her every day. And he started to blush whenever the two touched.
‘She’s my best friend for crying out loud…’ the drake thought as he started to realize that he was feeling more than just fraternal love towards her. He didn’t even know what to say to her about it. Should he confess? Should he ignore this as if it were a temporary thing? He didn’t know.
‘What if she only wants to stay as friends? I could end up ruining our whole relationship.’ He thought as he walked alone towards the Cove.
Bella Noche had been sick that day, so she couldn’t attend school. Spike had plans of visiting her after he grabbed something for him and her to eat.
Spike arrived at the Cove and saw that the place was swarming with changelings. The dragon wondered if he was even going to find a place to sit there. But he first went to the counter to buy some fried fish on a stick. He stood at the line for twenty minutes until he managed to buy two and a apple juice. He intended to take some food afterwards to Bella Noche. ‘She might feel better after eating something tasty.’
But once he got his snack he almost dropped them when he didn’t find any empty table to sit. He walked around the place trying to find at least a table with a spare seat and ask if he could sit there.
His search paid off when he saw a small table with two seats and only one was being occupied at the left corner of the place. The changeling sitting there only had a beverage with a straw resting over the table while he read a…newspaper, which was floating right in front of him thanks to his magic.
Spike couldn’t exactly see who the changeling was, but the smell and magical field were familiar. He then approached and asked: “Hey…uh…do you mind if I sit here? The place is crowded. I promise you I won’t be a bother.”
The changeling, who didn’t care to put down the newspaper, simply replied also not seeing who was in front of him: “Sure. You can sit.”
“Thanks, man.” The prince replied happily taking the seat on the other side. Spike took a bite on one of his fish sticks as he read the cover of the newspaper, which said “New Colony Has Been Founded! Find More About It And What It Promises To Our Kind on Page A-5”
Spike had heard about the expansion of their kingdom from his mother. He had even asked his mother why they should invest so much expanding this place when their goal was to take their original land back. Her reply was “We don’t know when we are going to strike, Spike. And our people is always growing in numbers. We simply need more space.”
Although Spike admired General Nocturne, he still had a horrible relationship with his son. Every time the two met each other it was to death glare one another form across the room and then move on. Spike kinda hoped Ifrit would move there to be far, far away from…’well, crap.’
The changeling started to fold his newspaper only find out who was sitting in front of him. It was none other than Ifrit himself. Both teens just stood there staring at each other without actually saying anything.
But, after a while, Spike finally said starting to get up: “I’ll be on my way then.”
“You can stay. I’m not kicking you out of the table.” Ifrit said growling. The last thing he wanted was for the dragon start telling everyling about ‘how he was rude’. True, he wanted to tell the dragon to scram, but he knew of the consequences.
All Spike could say was “Huh?” with a confused expression.
“You know that we don’t have to talk to each other, right?” Ifrit spoke flatly trying to cut off any attempt of conversation from Spike.
Spike frowned. He really didn’t want to sit there, but there was nowhere else for him to sit. And he wouldn’t be able to carry his food and Bella Noche’s with his hands. So he decided to eat as fast as he could and then leave there.
Ifrit simply unfolded the newspaper and stared at some random page waiting for Spike to leave. He had already finished reading, but he would rather stare at the pages than at the dragon.
For some reason the silence bothered Spike. He honestly expected some kind of insult or comment from the changeling, but there was none. He should feel glad that he didn’t have to fight.
But still…
“Why are you reading a newspaper?” Spike asked, actually curious.
“To read the news?” Ifrity replied flatly turning a page to emphasize his pretend that he was reading.
Spike frowned and asked: “I could understand a magazine. But isn’t newspaper something only adults read? And you read it at a noisy place like this.” Spike was fully aware that newspapers were important for information, but they rarely brought any news and the way it was written always bored the hell out of the drake. Besides, his mother would tell him any important information.
Ifrit immediately lowered the newspaper and looked at the dragon dumbfold. “Seriously? The newspapers are important! You should know that! I just happen to be interested at what’s going on in our kingdom. Maybe you should start too.”
Spike then assumed a defensive instance: “I know they are important. But they are boring to read. I can get any important news elsewhere.”
The other teen opened his mouth and then closed it again. He really didn’t want to clash with Spike again. He simply raised the newspaper back again. After a minute, he heard the prince say: “It’s upside down?”
“What?”
Spike pointed to the paper and said: “Your newspaper. You’re staring at it upside down.”
Ifrit flustered and put the newspaper at the correct position and kept staring at it.
The drake’s frown deepened when he finally asked something that bothered him for a long time: “Why are you such a jerk?”
Ifrit almost slammed the newspaper on the table as he stared angrily at Spike. “I’m a jerk? You are the one who can’t keep the mouth shut for five minutes.”
“At best, or worse, depends on how you view it, I’m being merely impolite.” He said in his defense. “And I’m not talking about what’s going on here. Ever since we were kids you hated Bella Noche and I for no reason! And every time we meet each other, you look at me like I’ve done some kind of crime! I want to know what’s wrong with you!” Spike said almost shouting. Thankfully the place was crowded and his voice was muffled for everling else’s ears, but Ifrit’s.
“First of all, keep your voice down. The last thing either of us need is to make a scene here.” Ifrit hissed at him, then he semi-lied: “Second, I have nothing against your girlfriend or you anymore.”
Spike blushed a little bit, but then he said: “She is not my girlfriend…And I know you have something against us. Just spill it already.” As he finished saying it, he shoved both fish sticks inside of his mouth and ate them both without actually savoring their taste.
“Please. I don’t think she’s a bad changeling. I just think that she’s...” Ifrit started saying immediately stopping when he saw Spike’s angry look. But he then continued: “Imagine this, what if you saw a changeling with an extra eye, horn, wings, legs, head, etc.? Would you say, no matter what that they are pretty to look at?” Ifrit replied.
Spike growled and replied: “To begin with, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Second, even if I didn’t find someling ‘pretty’ I would never do anything bad to them just because of how they look.”
The changeling resisted the urge to roll his eyes and replied trying to mock the dragon subtly, but not actually managing to: “You’re a saint, prince. Why are you even in the army considering what they do.”
“What they do...” Spike found himself repeating what the other teen had said. “They fight bravely to defeat our enemies. Sure, it’s dangerous, but if we don’t do it, then we would starve to death.”
Ifrit held back his laughter at the mention of the word ‘bravely’ and simply replied: “Whatever floats your boat.”
Spike couldn’t understand that guy. “What do you mean? Aren’t you part of another squadron yourself? I’ve heard it from your dad.”
The changeling gritted his teeth as he hissed: “Don’t you dare talk about my dad with me.”
The other teen was confused at his words and asked: “What do you mean?”
Ifrit was panting at this point. His head told him to stop, but his heart wanted to let it all out: “You stole my dad’s respect from me. I hardly earned a praise or a smile ever since we thought all those years back. No matter how hard I try to mend myself. It’s never good enough for him. To make things worse, you get to be on his squadron and not me!”
Spike looked baffled at the changeling, who was panting by now. But then, the prince’s expression became serious as he said: “This is not my fault! How can you blame me for this? I merely defended myself and my friend from an unfair attack from you!”
“I know that I shouldn’t have insulted her now. No matter how weird or ugly someling is, it’s not reason for me to insult or do anything bad. All I have to do is not interact with them or maybe look at some good quality on them. I know that now. I’ve heard this speech a thousand times. I don’t hate her. I hate you. My dad is always praising you. I’m always being compared to you and having to hear about how much better you are than me. It’s almost like you are his son and not me!”
Spike was speechless. He didn’t know that things were like that with him. But he had to say “It’s not my fault if you dad acts like that at home, Ifrit. And both of us know that any harsh treatment only happened because you crossed the line back then. ”
“So my life has to be ruined because of one dumb mistake I did as a kid?” He mumbled to no one in particular.
“You could…Maybe just do your best. If your dad doesn’t recognize your efforts, at least you know you are doing your best and that’s what matters at the end, doesn’t it?” Spike tried to console him.
The silence that came after that was a bit too awkward for Spike, who couldn’t help but to feel a bit of pity for him. He picked his beverage and started to drink it. Then he remembered that part of the conversation remained unanswered, so he asked: “What did you mean when you said ‘considering what the army does’ back then?”
Ifrit glared at Spike as if he admitted defeat then said: “I do what is necessary for us, as you said. But, at the very least, my dear prince, I don’t go around spewing nonsense about bravery and honor when there’s none.”
Ifriti immediately bit his own tongue. He had let his anger and sorrow to get better of himself and he said something that could cost his very life to the prince. ‘I’m dead…this guy is surely going to tell everyling that…’
“What do you mean?” Spike whispered back frowning a bit.
“Nothing!” Ifrit quickly replied.
“You don’t think our duty is honorable?” Spike insisted. He knew he shouldn’t press this matter, but he wondered how the son of one of the most respectable generals thought such a thing. He thought he was the only one…
Feeling between a stone and a hard place, Ifrit pondered his options. He could try dismiss what he had just said and play dumb at the risk of the drake making a scene or he should tell the truth at the risk of the dragon rating him out. ‘I hate my life…’ the changeling thought.
“How can you call killing during their sleep, fool them long enough to backstab, among other tactics you are probably aware by now, honorable? If we were to fight head on with them it would be better, in the moral sense. But we aren’t that numerous to wage such a war against several nations, so it’s understandable that we use such tactics. Besides, we kill people not even related to the army, the royalty, including children. I know that they are guilty of perpetuating our exile from our rightful land, but kill others who don’t even know a thing about what was done to us?” Ifrit muttered. If he had to be killed for his words, at least he would do so with a clean conscience.
Spike stood there silently for a few minutes as he pondered what he had just been told. “But…aren’t they all evil?”
Ifrit was honestly surprised by this. “That’s what everyling says. But I’ve seen them caring for each other. I even wonder if some of them would even take our side if they were to know what had happened. We didn’t exactly lived in secrecy. We had trade routes with a few nations, but they all refused to help us when Nightmare Moon started persecuting us. So they all have their share on the blame. But, the thing is that the ones that did horrible things to us are already dead.”
“Yeah…” Spike found himself agreeing with him. But then he turned to him and said: “So…do you think they could learn? I mean, maybe we can get some ponies and…I dunno…maybe talk to them or even force them to respect other species if they happen to be mean.” Spike suggested shrugging a bit.
Ifrit sent him an annoyed glance. He sighed and then replied: “Keep some people from other species? As in slaves? It wouldn’t work. Why do you think we never made any prisoners? It’s because it would be our doom.”
Spike didn’t quit understand what he was talking about and asked: “Care to elaborate?”
Ifrit resisted the urge to groan and then replied: “Think about it for a minute. If we kept ponies, they would try to revolt. Plus, even if we get a small number, they would have children and, one day, they might be numerous enough to overthrow us. Even if we were to keep their numbers low, it would still damage us. We would impose on them the hard labor, which not only would cause unemployment among us besides the fact that it would make us lazy, while they get strong. So, this way, even in a small number they might still cause a huge damage.”
“Oh…” It was all Spike could say as he looked at his beverage. The silence was thick for a few seconds until the drake spoke again: “Did they teach you that at your school?”
Ifrit shook his head and spoke without thinking: “No. I’ve asked my dad why don’t we make prisoners and make them pay for their crimes with labor than with their lives. That was what he told me.”
“Why were you curious about this? You think we can end up making truce with the other nations too?” Spike asked interested. Before that moment he had never thought Ifrit had a conscience before.
“Says the prince. You know that speaking in favor of the enemies, can be seen as high treason, right? We aren’t kids anymore. We would be executed on the spot. Don’t think that just because you’re royalty, you’re immune.” Ifrit spat being careful to not shout.
The drake once again frowned. Not just because of his tone, but also because he was partially correct. Spike’s heart was 100% on the changelings side, but he knew that some might take it the wrong way if he tried to come up with some sort of pacific solution.
“I guess you are right…” Spike muttered feeling a bit down. “Some of them really deserve what we do to them. But, who knows, maybe mom will think of something once we dethrone Celestia. She would never cause mass genocide of many species different species after we won and subjugated them. Maybe some form of banishment and constant vigilance so they don’t try to harm us again.”
“You know this is very unlikely to happen, right?” Ifrit spoke surprisingly trying to think of a way to make Spike’s idea viable. He shook his head trying to force himself to remember who he was talking to. The last think he wanted was to actually to start liking the dragon.
The prince then looked at the clock on one of the walls and saw it was getting late already. “Hey, Ifrit, I need to be heading home. It was…interesting to talk with you.” He said chuckling, but he then immediately regretted it thinking that the changeling might take it the wrong way.
But to the surprise of them both, Ifrit smiled back and replied truthfully: “I can say the same towards you, Spike.”
“See ya some other day?” Spike asked.
The changeling nodded “Sure…I guess…”
Then, after that, Spike got up to buy Bella Noche some apples covered in honey and chocolate, her favorite snacks before leaving towards her home. Not too long after that, Ifrit got up and headed towards his home.
‘I guess he isn’t so bad after all.’ They thought in unison.