It was a long morning for both Spike and Cloudchaser. The two spent three straight hours trying out different training exercises. Everything from foot races to flying was done. It was a good deal harder on Spike, though, considering his general lack of physicality, and eventually the growling of their stomachs demanded they should stop for lunch. The two of them decided on the Hayburger place downtown.
“I didn’t know it was possible for everything to hurt at the same time,” Spike said, trying to hold up a limp arm, eventually settling to just have the table support it for him.
“Heh, that’s a good sign,” Cloudchaser replied from across the table. “It means your body is getting tougher. You’ll get used to it.”
“Yeah, maybe. Me and physical labor haven’t exactly been on a first name basis so far in life.”
“I guess that could put a damper on things,” she said with a chuckle. “But in all, I think we did pretty well this morning.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I mean, now you can fly around with me without strangling me or ripping my mane out. I consider that progress.”
“Hmm, true enough. Not to mention we also nailed that quick takeoff thing. That could come in handy.”
Cloudchaser was about to say something but was interrupted by a hot plate of food placed in front of her.
“Here ya’ go, dears,” a kindly older mare said. She placed a hayburger with fries for Cloudchaser and a daisy sandwich with onion rings for Spike, with iced tea for the both of them.
“Thank you!” Cloudchaser and Spike said at the same time.
“No problem,” the waitress said. “You two enjoy.”
“Alright,” Cloudchaser said, picking up her burger. “Time to get all those burnt calories right back.”
“Ha, and you said I need to get used to physical fitness and whatnot.”
“I”m practicing fitness. Fitness’ burger in my mouth.” Cloudchaser greedily took a bite and washed it down with her drink. “Wow, I guess I didn’t realise how hungry I was until just now.”
Spike chuckled and took a few bites of his own sandwich. “I know the feel. But, I guess I’m always this hungry. Comes with the territory of being a growing dragon, I guess.”
“Speaking of which, I had a question about that.”
“Shoot.”
“I know you said you didn’t know a whole lot about your dragon race and all, but do you have any idea how big or whatever that you’re going to get. I mean, not gonna lie, it’d be pretty tight to have a grown dragon hanging around.”
"I dunno," Spike said, shrugging his shoulders. "Dragon growth is kind of a tough thing to gauge."
"How so?"
"Well, growth patterns change a lot based on environment. Like, if a dragon is grown out in the wild where survival is a daily issue, he’ll grow faster and get bigger than, say, a dragon that's raised in an enclosed or safe environment."
Cloudchaser took a long sip of her drink and processed what he said. "So, you're basically saying that you could, in theory, stay this size for a long time, just because you're raised in a smaller environment?"
"That's what I'm saying."
"Wow, that's kind of weird," Cloudchaser said before quickly putting her hooves over her mouth. "Oh, sorry, no offense "
"Its alright. We're just different is all. Also, nothing is set in stone. Growth can also vary a lot from one species of dragon or one family line to the next. And since my parents weren't around to talk to, we're not sure how that's gonna go."
Cloudchaser let out a sigh. "I know that feel."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing, it’s just-"
"Well, spin my wheel and call me a wagon! Looks like y'all had the same idea."
Cloudchaser and Spike looked up to see Applejack and Lyra walking toward the table.
“Oh, hey AJ. Hey, Lyra,” Spike said, waving at his friends.
“Hey, guys,” Cloudchaser said, following suit. “What are you two up to?”
“Well, we were just workin’ on some rodeo exercises out on the old setup at the farm and figured we’d get ourselves some grub.”
“Yeah… rodeos are hard work, and my stomach says it’s time to refuel,” Lyra said with a frown, holding her grumbling tummy.
“Well, the food here is terrific, so you picked a good place, “ Spike said.
“Hmm, well I don’t suppose they’d mind if we pulled up a couple chairs and ate with ya real quick like?”
“Well, I dunno,” Cloudchaser chimed in. “The table’s kind of small and-
“We’ll make it work,” Lyra said, levitating two chairs to the table. “We’ll just have to squish together a bit!”
Lyra pushed Spike and Cloudchaser’s chairs right next to each other to make room for the other chairs, practically causing them to rub sides in the process.
“There, perfect!”
Spike and Cloudchaser looked at each other and blushed.
“Well, Spitfire did say this whole game would bring us closer,” Spike said, trying to stifle an awkward laugh.
****
“And then the rope said to other rope, ‘Am I a noose? Sorry, I’m a-frayed knot!’ Hahaha!”
Lyra burst out laughing at Applejack’s joke, spitting her soda all over Spike. “Haha, oh my gosh, Applejack… That was great!”
“Hehe, yeah, hilarious,” Spike said, wiping off the sticky liquid from his face.
“Yeah, your jokes only get funnier, AJ,” Cloudchaser said, trying to refrain from slamming her face into the table.
“Aw, shucks, it ain’t nothin’ guys,” Applejack said. “There are pretty more where those came from.”
Spike planted his head into his palm, getting ready for the next barrage of jokes, when he felt a hoof press his side. He looked over to see Cloudchaser leaning quite close to his ear.
“Spike,” she whispered, “we gotta get outta here!”
Spike nodded in response and leaned in to whisper back. “Alright, I got an idea. Just play along.”
Cloudchaser slyly winked and nodded.
“Oh, hey!” Spike said loudly, commanding attention from the table. “I just remembered, don’t you have that thing to do, today? You know, at the… place?”
“Thing? Oh, oh yeah. I have to uh, do something. Something really important!” Cloudchaser said, shaking her head in agreement.
“Yeah, so, sorry guys. Looks like we’re gonna have to head out, and-”
“Oh, really?” Lyra asked, eyeing both of them. “What kind of stuff? Can we join in?”
“No!” Cloudchaser said, jumping from her chair. “I mean, sorry, I can’t really take anyone. Except Spike, so he has come to with me. Spike can come.”
“Aww, that sucks,” Lyra said. “What kind of stuff only lets you and Spike go?”
“Umm, the doctors? Yeah, I haven’t been feeling well this week, so I gotta go to the doctors.”
“Really?” Applejack said, joining in the questioning. “What doctor do you have to go to? If it’s serious, we can come for moral support!”
“Oh, um, sorry It’s a special appointment with um, with uh… who was it again, Spike?”
All three sets of eyes at the table locked onto Spike.
“Ah, um, your gynecologist!” Spike immediately regretted his choice of words, and the wide eyed, blushing look on Cloudchaser’s face confirmed his regret.
“Umm,” Lyra said, scratching her head.
“Well, uh, I see,” Applejack spoke up, trying to hide her own blush. “And you can only bring Spike with you to your… appointment?”
“..Yes?” Cloudchaser said, wishing the floor would just swallow her up. “C’mon Spike, let’s get out of here.”
She threw some bits on the table, grabbed Spike and bolted out the door. After they were a safe distance away from the scene of the crime, she dropped Spike to the ground and scowled at him.
“Gynecologist?”
“Sorry,” Spike said, taking a cautious step backward. “I was on the spot. I had to say something!”
“I know, but gynecologist? You couldn’t just have said ‘Oh, Cloudchaser has a cold we need to get checked out,’ or ‘We need to get some extra practice in’. No, you just had to make it sound like I.. like we… Well, like something happened that didn’t happen.”
“Sorry, I guess it was because Twilight felt the need to read me Dr. Poptart’s book, ‘Why Is She Throwing Stuff At Me? ...and other questions you probably have about your marefriend’. My intelligence was compromised.”
Cloudchaser tried to keep her scowl, but eventually it broke into a smile. “Alright, I guess I can’t get on your case too bad, then. But I still can’t show my face around those two for a good long while.”
“Understood. So… what do you wanna do instead?”
“Well, I was actually thinking… AJ and Lyra did seem to be on the same page already. Did you catch that?”
“It was kinda hard to ignore, what with the nonstop conversation they had.”
“Exactly. Either way, something we learned in Wonderbolt Academy was that trust in your partner is just as important as raw talent.”
“Makes sense.”
“So, I was thinking, maybe we should just talk for a bit? You know, so we can learn a bit more about each other.
“Wait, you just wanna talk? With me?”
“Uh, yeah! For competitive advantage, of course.”
“Hmm, okay,” Spike said with a smile. “We can talk at my place. We won’t have to deal with any obtrusive ponies there. Hopefully...”