//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Heart Thief // by Helrael //------------------------------// “Hoo.”   Twilight blinked her eyes and shook her head, stifling a yawn before giving Owlowiscious an appreciative smile. Her expression turned into a frown when she returned her attention to the piece of parchment on the desk in front of her. A large splotch of ink had stained the unfinished sentence she had been writing before dozing off. Even as she watched, another drop of ink hit the parchment, falling from the tip of the levitating quill poised above the paper.   Twilight yawned again, then gave a low groan as she lifted her gaze from her desk to look out the window of her bedroom. The sun had set a long while ago, and the moon had already circled around to the west side of the library. The dying candle on her desk provided a paltry amount of light compared to the waxing gibbous above.   Using her magic, she cleaned the tip of her quill, put it away, corked her inkwell, and folded up the piece of parchment before throwing it in the trash bin under the desk. She rose quietly from her seat and stretched her legs before casting out a cone of light from her horn. The light quickly sought out the door leading out into the main part of the library, which clicked open in response to her magic.   The wooden floor creaked softly beneath her hooves, and Twilight was soon looking out upon the reading room from the second story walkway above the stairs. The cone of light shining from her horn swept right, illuminating the corner of the ‘Happy birthday!’ banner that had been strung across the balustrade.   It took her only a moment to undo its fastenings, and she was in the process of folding the ungainly banner into a neat square when she heard somepony approaching the library from outside. When there came a gentle tapping on the front door a moment later, Twilight gave a sigh and put the folded banner down.   “About time.”   She trotted down the stairs quickly, using her magic to switch on the lights in the main reading room and to open the front door. She made it down the stairs and to the entrance just in time to greet a very tired-looking Rarity, carrying a sleeping Spike on her back.   Twilight gave her friend a warm smile, belying her own annoyance. “Hey. You okay? I didn't expect you back this late.”   “Err, no, I ‒” Rarity gave a long yawn and shook her head dully. “There was a... change of plans, it seems.” She looked back at Spike, arching her back in an invitation for Twilight to take the dragon. “But perhaps we should get the birthday boy to bed, hm?”   “Of course. His bed's all ready upstairs. I'll just be a minute.”   Rarity simply nodded, closing the door gently behind herself and watching the alicorn and the dragon levitating behind her disappear up the stairs. Once they were both gone, Rarity looked back at her own shoulder with a grimace, quickly finding the damp spot on her coat where Spike had been drooling in his sleep.   Whimpering a little as she went along, Rarity sifted through the patch of fur with her magic, applying a little heat in order to slowly dry herself. Once finished, her attention turned to her mane and tail, horrendously disheveled after what had been a very, very long day. She pulled at her hair carefully for a few moments, doing the best she could without a brush. Her hooves, alas, would have to wait until she was home and could draw a long, warm bath.   It wasn't long before Rarity heard movement from upstairs and Twilight returned, looking quite tired herself. “Thanks again for looking after Spike, Rarity. I'm sure he's had a wonderful night thanks to you.” Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, and she rubbed at her neck uncertainly. “But, uh, what happened? Spike's bedtime was four hours ago. The Crusaders can't possibly have lasted this long.”   “Ah.” Rarity nodded her understanding. Weary of standing, she wandered into the main reading room to find a chair. Twilight followed after. “I too was under the impression that my sister and her friends would be joining us. Either they and Applejack got lost on their way to Canterlot, or Sweetie Belle is a fibbing little headache of a filly.”   Twilight blinked in surprise as they both sat down at a reading table. “You mean they never showed up?”   “I mean it was all a setup! I have spent an entire night in Canterlot being courted by a dragon half my size!” Rarity gave a melodramatic groan and let her head drop onto the table. “I don't know if I'm more embarrassed or angry,” she continued, her voice muffled by the table.   Twilight didn't respond at first, taking her time in processing the surprising revelation. After a few moments, however, she couldn't help but giggle. “You mean he got a date with you? For his birthday? That's kinda cute.”   Rarity turned her head slightly to glare at Twilight with narrowed eyes. “You knew about this!”   Twilight held up her hooves placatingly, trying ‒ and failing ‒ to suppress a smile. “No, no! Believe me, I'm gonna give him a stern talking to tomorrow for lying to us both. And roping the Crusaders into his plan.” Twilight lowered her hooves, giving up on holding back her smile. “But come on. As far as those four's schemes can go, you gotta admit that this was far from the worst thing that could have happened.”   Rarity lifted her head from the table so that she could give Twilight a look of the gravest severity. “Oh, you have no idea.”     “...And I swear, just as we passed across the halfway point between Canterlot and Ponyville, he throws up in the carriage! I was fortunate in avoiding it all, but he did irreparable damage to both the upholstery and the woodwork! The carriage drivers left me out there in the middle of nowhere, stuck with Spike who was barely conscious and with at least five miles of pitch-black mountain trails between myself and the barest hint of civilization!”   Spike sat with his back against the closed bedroom door, his claws digging into the sides of his skull. As Rarity's much too vivid recollection of the disastrous date continued, Spike's urge to bang his head against the door became almost unbearable.   A day at Canterlot's amusement park, dinner at the fanciest restaurant his savings could afford, an evening at the Canterlot cinema, and a carriage ride home overlooking a starlit Ponyville from atop the mountain. Somehow, he had ruined every single one of them, and from what he could hear, no one agreed with him more than Rarity. Even Twilight's cautious optimism had quickly been replaced by a stunned silence at what Rarity had been forced to suffer through.   Rarity was almost done with her recollection now, Spike realized with no small amount of dread. He didn't know if he could bear hearing what Twilight had to say about his behavior. Rarity would go back home any minute now, and Twilight would be up the stairs. She could either find him sitting by the door crying, or he could be in bed pretending to sleep, waiting for tomorrow's lecture. Neither of the prospects seemed appealing.   Through his tears, his eyes found the nearest window, the one he knew led straight out onto one of the library tree's branches. He wiped his eyes and stood, taking a moment to confirm that Rarity was still talking before moving. Jumping and scrambling up the wall, he just barely managed to reach the windowsill. With a deft swipe of his claws, he unlatched the window and clambered out into the night.   He closed the window after him as well as he could, then climbed down the thick branches of the library, using a nearby flowerbed to soften his fall when he dropped down onto the ground. He took a quick peek inside the library to make sure neither Twilight nor Rarity had seen him, and then ran off through the darkened streets of Ponyville.   Twilight could fly, teleport at will, and shoot search beams from her head, and any minute now, she would be finding Spike's bed empty. With that in mind, the little dragon kept running as fast as he could, with no other destination in mind than as far away from the library as possible. She would undoubtedly find him sooner or later, he knew, but hopefully she would be more worried than angry at that point.   The soft pitter patter of his feet against the cobblestone was the only sound that accompanied him for the first several minutes of his flight through Ponyville. It would still be several hours until dawn, and aside from the library far behind him, not a single light shone throughout the entire town.   Soon, the cobblestone streets gave way to dirt roads, and the almost oppressive silence was replaced by the rhythmic chirping of crickets and occasional hoot of nearby owls. When Spike finally stopped to catch his breath, he found himself standing outside the entrance to the Everfree Forest, not far from Fluttershy's cottage.   Fluttershy would rat him out as soon as Twilight came looking, Spike had little doubt. Even if she didn't, Angel definitely would. Zecora, on the other hand, would probably be able to provide both refuge and some sort of counsel. Braving the Everfree Forest in the dead of night, however, was risky business.   When Spike looked back over his shoulder at Ponyville, he discovered that the lights on the upper floor of the library had all been turned on. The dragon threw a few furtive glances around his surroundings, finding nothing but open fields between himself and Ponyville. A distinct magenta glow had appeared atop the balcony of the library, sharpening into a bright cone that swept left and right across town. When the source of light lifted high into the air, Spike saw no other option. With his mind made up, he headed into the Everfree Forest.   As twisted black trees and dense foliage slowly closed in all around the dragon, the sounds of crickets and owls faded in favor of more alien and unnerving noises. He walked slowly at first, watching his steps in the encroaching darkness, but he never lingered. Menacing clicking sounds, wet squelches, and frightening growls from just beyond the shadows surrounded him on all sides. Wherever he looked, he swore he could see glowing eyes following him through the woods.   It wasn't too long before the atmosphere got to him, and he quickened his pace. He jumped at the sound of something heavy thumping down onto the pathway behind him, and when the sound was followed by a series of rapid steps toward him, Spike broke into a run. The branches above reached down toward him as he ran, and he was forced to duck and weave while sprinting through the darkness.   When he passed a huge patch of poison joke, he knew he'd taken a wrong turn, but he had little time to consider where to go before an exposed root snagged his foot. Suddenly, he was tumbling down a steep incline through thorny undergrowth and knotted roots. A green, fetid pool broke his fall, and he scrambled on to dry land before anything within the waters could reach him.   The tumble down the hill had robbed Spike of his adrenaline, and the dip in the chilly pond had sapped his strength. It was as if his whole body suddenly remembered just how long his birthday had been, and that he should have been in bed more than four hours ago. It was all he could do to crawl along the ground away from the pool, and in the end, that too proved too exhausting. He slumped onto his side, trying to figure out where he had fallen and where the path was, but failing miserably. The forest seemed equally dense all around him, and no part of it looked the least bit disturbed.   Spike rolled onto his back and groaned. “Worst. Birthday. Ever.”   “Hello?”   Spike flinched at the unexpected voice. It wasn't anyone he recognized, but it sounded like a mare, somewhere deeper inside the forest. He rolled onto his stomach again in order to peer ahead into the darkness, and found a bright pink light shining through the dense foliage just in front of him.   Grunting with exertion, Spike picked himself off the ground and stumbled forwards. He pushed himself past a cluster of bushes and suddenly found himself standing within a sizeable clearing. The thick canopy above receded, lighting up the area with moonlight, and the ground was covered in lush green grass.   Sitting in the center of the clearing, surrounded by a small swarm of fireflies, sat a unicorn mare. Her coat was a light pink, almost luminous in the bright moonlight, while her lengthy mane and tail were of darker purple and magenta hues. Her cutie mark was a shiny red heart flanked by two smaller white hearts, and her horn was alight with the pink glow that had led Spike to the clearing in the first place.   The mare's eyes found Spike as soon as he entered the clearing, and she gave him a reassuring smile. “No need to be afraid. You're safe here.”   “Uh, thanks,” Spike murmured, trudging toward the mare uncertainly. “Who are you?”   “Heartsong.” There certainly was a certain melodiousness to the mare's voice, and there seemed to be a sparkle in her eyes that put Spike at ease despite the Everfree looming all around him. “Who are you?”   Spike hesitated only for a moment. “Spike.” The fireflies surrounding Heartsong dispersed as he approached. “Sorry.”   The mare giggled lightly. “You can sit down if you want.”   Spike sat.   “So, Spike, what's a tiny dragon like you doing in the Everfree Forest? Why are you here?”   Spike gulped at the mere thought of his date with Rarity. He scratched at the back of his head and looked at his feet. “Well...”   “Woes of the heart.” Spike flinched again as the mare suddenly pushed a hoof gently against his chest. He looked up at Heartsong, who gave him a small smile at his confusion. “It's a specialty of mine, dear.” Her hoof circled his heart once before pulling back, leaving a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest.   “Your... specialty?”   “I heal heartaches.” Heartsong explained. “There are those who have looked everywhere, but simply can't find their special somepony. There are those who have loved and lost. There are those who care for another pony with all their heart, only to find their love... unrequited. I travel the land, and lend them my guidance. Help them... sometimes with a spell or two.”   “Huh. You... cast love spells?”   Heartsong chuckled. “Tell me what troubles you. And I'll tell you what you need.”   Spike gulped again, fidgeting with his fingers for a while, not quite knowing where ‒ or whether he should ‒ begin.   Heartsong eased herself down onto her belly, resting her chin on her hooves. “There's a girl,” she ventured.   “Yeah...”   “Tell me about her.”   “She's... beautiful,” Spike sighed. “She has a coat white as the purest snow, and her mane is the prettiest thing I ever saw. She's the kindest, most generous pony you'll ever meet. She's smart and hardworking and she's... she's just perfect.”   “Buuut?”   “I love her. I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. But I don't know if it's... uh, re-... requited?” Heartsong nodded her understanding. “I mean, I told her... about how I feel... once,” Spike continued, and the mare adopted a surprised expression.   “Oh?”   “But she never let me finish... Just put a hoof to my lips and smiled. W-what does that mean?” Spike demanded somewhat hotly, frustrated by the memory. “Was she agreeing with me? Or rejecting me?”   “That is a pickle,” Heartsong agreed, looking thoughtful. “But that's not everything, is it?”   Spike shook his head, flushing with embarrassment as he recalled the disastrous date. “Today was my birthday. I'd told... her and my friend that I wanted to go celebrate it in Canterlot with three other friends, and I convinced her to kinda look after us while we were off celebrating. She's... a bit older than me, you see.”   “Aha.” Heartsong nodded again.   “Only, I'd arranged for my three other friends to never show up, so it was just the two of us.”   “Sneaky.”   “I had the whole day planned out. First, we went to the amusement park. You've been to that one, right? It's fun, but it's not over the top in any way. Just as tasteful and elegant as the rest of the city. Perfect for the two of us, and I'm pretty sure she was actually enjoying herself. When she wasn't worrying about where the rest of the guests had gone.”   Spike buried his face in his hands. “But I messed up. I ate way too many snacks while we were there. I had a horrible stomachache by the time we left. After the amusement park, we went to this fancy restaurant, but none of us enjoyed that. I couldn't eat a thing, and I must have embarrassed her in front of all the other ponies there. We were supposed to have gone to the movies after that, but by then I was just too sick. I threw up in the carriage on the way home, so she ended up having to walk me halfway down the mountain to Ponyville.   “She hates me now,” Spike despaired. “I heard her talking to my friend after we got home. ‘The worst night of her life’, she called it. I can never look her in the eyes again.” He wiped away the tears that had  begun to well up in his eyes and looked up at Heartsong. “What do I do?”   “Hmm...” The unicorn's eyes turned skyward for a few moments as she thought the matter over, grimacing a bit for reasons Spike couldn't quite discern. “So your special somepony is ‒ what can I say ‒ a mare. Not exactly what you'd call a filly, right?” Spike nodded. “That's a pickle of a pickle,” Heartsong murmured.   “I hate to say this,” she continued, “But you're a kid. And she's a mare. A pretty mature mare, from what you've been telling me. No doubt she sees your love as nothing more than some kind of childish infatuation. Convincing her otherwise ‒” Heartsong gave him a reluctant shrug “‒ I just don't think it can be done.”   Spike's eyes widened. “What? But ‒”   “Not to say that it's hopeless,” She interjected quickly, holding up a hoof to silence him. “But there's no grand gesture or sneaky tricks you can pull off in these kinds of situations. There's nothing to it but waiting.”   Spike frowned. “Waiting? Why?”   “Adults can't be in love with children. It's weird,” Heartsong whispered to him, as if somepony might be listening in on their conversation. “You might not mind so much, but I doubt your lady friend is completely indifferent to public opinion, hm?” Spike nodded sullenly. “Well, there you have it. You'll have to grow up to get her.” Heartsong tapped him on the chest again, almost knocking him over. “And that is why she didn't let you finish when you confessed your feelings to her.”   Spike's eyes widened with the realization. “Oooh.”   “It's what I do,” Heartsong declared proudly, rising up into a seated position again while holding a hoof to her chest.   “So she loves me?”   “I can't make any guarantees, but there's a good chance she does. However...” Her hoof found Spike's chin, and tilted it up so that their eyes were locked. “Your heart is still in great peril. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you dragon guys age slower than ponies do. You've got years and years of waiting to do, every moment fraught with heartache. Unless you wanna risk pushing her away, you're gonna have to leave her alone until she's ready to reciprocate your feelings.”   “Wha-... But how do I leave her alone?” Spike asked the unicorn. “I really love her! What if she finds someone else while I'm waiting?”   Heartsong shook her head. “There's nothing you can do to sway another pony's heart, I'm afraid. You've got a tough situation on your hooves. You're gonna have to learn to let her go. You might just have to.”   “I won't.” Spike grasped the outstretched hoof at his chin with both his hands and lowered it, giving the mare the most determined look he could muster. “I can't let her go.”   For a moment, Heartsong simply stared at the dragon, eyes wide with surprise at his sudden conviction. Then she smiled, gently pulling her hoof free of his grasp. “She's a lucky one, I'll give her that.” She seemed lost in thought for another moment, and her warm smile slowly faded from her lips. “There is a spell,” she revealed reluctantly, giving the dragon an uncertain look. “I'm not sure you'd like it, and I've never even considered using it on a kid your age.”   “What is it?” Spike leaned forward eagerly, his gaze now drawn to the mare's horn.   “As I said, there's nothing to be done about your true love's heart, that's up to her.” Heartsong sighed. “But you can save your own heart from... breaking.”   It wasn't exactly the solution he had been hoping for, but Spike nodded all the same.   Heartsong chewed her lip for a moment before continuing. “I know a spell... that can draw out the heart of someone. Completely harmless procedure, I guarantee you. It'll take away all of your heartache. You'll no longer be obsessed with your mare, and you'll have no problem leaving her alone for as long as she needs.”   Spike frowned, and his hand moved instinctively to his chest. “Take my heart..?”   “I'll put it in a box,” Heartsong assured him quickly. “And give it back to you. Anytime you want your heart back, all you'll need to do is open that box. Even if you're miles and miles away, once that box pops open, your heart is back, just like that. Once you're old enough, you just open that box, and the love of your life should be all yours. Until then, no heartache, no awkwardness, and if the worst should come to pass and she finds someone else, you won't feel a thing.”   Spike's gaze dropped to ground as he considered the offer. “Isn't there some kind of... I don't know, drawback? I mean, don't I need my heart?”   “Life will seem a lot more dull,” Heartsong admitted. “You won't get sad or angry, but you won't feel as happy as you usually might. It's why I've never done it to a kid. I mean, sacrificing the happiness of your childhood so you can be with the one you love? It takes a lotta guts.   “But there's a sincerity to your love...” Heartsong observed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “A passion that just doesn't belong in a child's heart. It can't be easy. I can't tell you for sure if the payoff is gonna be worth the price, but tell you what: If you ever regret it, all you have to do is open that box, and everything goes back to normal.”   Spike nodded thoughtfully.   “And since it's your birthday, I'll even do it for free,” she chuckled, mussing the spines on his head.   The dragon gave a little smile. After a while of thinking, he finally nodded his head. “Alright. No harm in trying it out, right?”   “Doesn't hurt a bit,” Heartsong assured him, standing up. “Even so, you're a brave one.” She motioned for Spike to stand and cleared her throat. “Now, this is a really hard spell. Y'see, I can't draw out your heart as such myself. Only you can give it to someone you really care about.” Heartsong's horn erupted with a bright pink light, and glittering sparkles weaved through the air to encircle Spike. “Close your eyes.”   Spike felt a pleasant warmth spread throughout his body as the magic surrounded him, making him feel lightheaded and putting a smile on his lips. His eyelids grew heavy, and he did as Heartsong told him.   “Good,” Heartsong purred. “Now imagine her. Imagine she's standing here, instead of me.”   “Mhmm...”   “Can you hear her voice?” Rarity asked him.   Spike nodded wordlessly.   “Can you feel her?”   Spike reached out a hand and found her cheek, pressing gently against him.   “Open your eyes.”   He'd opened them before she'd even finished speaking, and he now found Rarity standing right in front of him. Her half-lidded gaze made him weak at the knees, and her hot breath washed over him like the sweetest perfume, slipping out between half-parted lips that beckoned him closer.   Their lips had met before Spike even realized he had leaned forwards, and immediately the warmth that had been caressing his scales all over plunged through his insides, silken fingers of heat flowing down his throat, filling his lungs, and spilling out into his veins. When they finally reached his heart, it felt as though the ground fell away beneath his feet, and everything beyond Rarity blurred away into darkness. Simultaneously, the light streaming from the unicorn's horn, sometimes light blue, other times pink, grew to a blinding crescendo, framing Rarity's face in a halo of purest light.   Something tugged at him uncomfortably somewhere deep within his chest, but at the same time, Rarity moved forwards, almost engulfing Spike's mouth within her own and making him forget everything outside the kiss.   An empty coldness started spreading from within his chest, but between Rarity's advances and the amazing warmth now traveling back up his throat, it was quickly forgotten. Rarity's eyes were glowing as brightly as her horn now, and both came alive with flickers of green fire sparking out in all directions. The warmth finally poured out of his mouth, and Rarity pulled back, releasing Spike from the intensity of the kiss. Her eyes had gone fully green by now, as had her horn, and held between her fangs was a bright, flaming heart.   His vision darkened just as those fires dwindled, and the last thing he saw before toppling over was a pair of black lips closing over a cold, green lump of crystal.