//------------------------------// // Shady Characters // Story: A Dragon's Detour // by Nrdygrl //------------------------------// Chapter Eight “Shady Characters” “Heyyy thereeee….” Spike had finally crept his way up to the gorgeous she-dragon. He knew he was blushing severely and his palms were sweaty. Hopefully she didn’t notice. She turned and looked at him. She was a little taller than him and maybe a year or two older. She raised an eyebrow at him. Spike didn’t know why, but he felt a little intimidated. Perhaps it was just his nerves. “I’m Spike,” he said, trying to puff his chest up and look tough and manly. “Hm. I wonder why!” she said smirking a little, looking him up and down. “I’m Crystal.” Crystal, Spike thought dreamily. That name is the most amazing name ever. “I like that name,” he said, looking down a little. “Well…I should considering I’m a gem dragon.” “A gem dragon?” Crystal raised her eyebrows. “That’s pretty…cool! I’ve never met a gem dragon before.” “You have now,” said Spike smiling. “Yep. I’ve got an iron stomach, so gems are the main food I eat.” “That’s very interesting,” said Crystal smiling at him and flipping her hair a little. She looked over at Head Mistress Haldana and nodded toward her. “Have you met her yet? I came in late. She’s the head mistress isn’t she?” “Yes,” said Spike rolling his eyes. “She’s mean and snooty and looks like she’s sucking on lemons.” Crystal laughed. “You know…you’re right. She does,” she giggled and flipped her hair again. Spike loved that she was laughing at his joke and she thought he was cool. “She might not be so bad when we’re used to her. I wonder how our teachers will be?” Spike shrugged and the two walked up the stairs together. “I hope they’re nice,” he said. “But even if they aren’t, at least we’ll make friends and maybe we can be…friends.” More than friends, he thought to himself with a little flame of hope burning in his heart. “Absolutely,” she said smiling at him and flipping her hair once again. “I think we’ll be very good friends. Oh! My parents want me. I’ll see you later, Spike!” She hurried up the stairs to meet her parents. “See you, Crystal,” said Spike sighing dreamily. ---------------------------------------------- “She really seemed to like you, huh?” Twilight asked Spike when Head Mistress Haldana was leading the tour through another hallway full of lockers. So far the tour had been uneventful. All the old dragon had talked about so far was famous artworks on the walls and the imported rugs on the floors. Even Twilight, who loved learning about such things was getting a little annoyed the old lady wouldn’t just move on to the important topics. “Oh yeah,” Spike said with a sigh. “She’s probably head-over-heels for me already. She couldn’t resist my good looks.” He attempted to make a muscle, but it didn’t work well. Twilight sighed. “If you say so,” she said chuckling a little. “Yeah-yeah. I know you don’t believe me, Twi,” said Spike crossing his arms. “But I know that this girl was flirting with me.” “Okay. How exactly was she flirting with you?” Twilight asked with skepticism. “She kept flipping her hair around,” said Spike dreamily. “Riiiiight,” said Twilight rolling her eyes around. “And…how does she have hair to begin with?” “She’s another rarity,” said Spike smiling at the double meaning. “Well, good luck to you, that’s all I can say,” said Twilight sighing in annoyance. “Twi! Are we a little jealous?” Spike teased, nudging her. “I’m not jealous!” said Twilight scrunching her nose up. “Yeah you are,” said Spike grinning. “You can’t stand the thought of me with a girl!” “I can’t stand the thought of you being interested in girls,” said Twilight shaking her head. “Romance is not exactly something I peruse on a regular basis.” “Okay, so let me get this one straight,” said Spike crossing his arms and still grinning. “You don’t want me to love just ‘cause you never had it….” Twilight stopped walking and gave him a menacing glare. Spike shrank down and turned white. “Okay. I’m sorry…I get it! I’m sorry I even said that! Uhh…did I mention how incredibly smart you are? Um…you look…fit! Have you joined a gym? Uh…you’re mane looks pretty today!” “I’ll let it slide,” said Twilight sighing. It was a rule that she set for Spike to never mention the fact that she never had a boyfriend before. Even though she never would admit it, she thought perhaps she was a little jealous. Maybe that was why she was always annoyed whenever he talked about Rarity. Twilight couldn’t help but look for that girl dragon in the crowd. She had to admit, this Crystal was pretty. It didn’t change the fact that she hated Spike growing up and liking girls and drifting farther away from her. However, she was determined to forget about that, as it held no importance to the orientation. Head Mistress Haldana led the group to a very large classroom with lots of little desks in it. A male brown dragon greeted them enthusiastically. “Hello! Welcome! My name i-th Mi-th-ter S-th-late! I will teach hi-th-tory.” Twilight and Spike blinked and stepped back a little. Whenever the teacher talked he spit all over them. “Thi-th i-th the cla-th-room you’ll learn many thing-th-s about Eque-th-tria.” “Man! He’s not Mr. Slate…he’s Mr. Spit!” Spike murmured. Twilight tried to hold back a chuckle. She didn’t want to be rude, but she was being spit upon quite a lot. She could immediately see that this dragon was a bit of a slob. His desk was already messy, and it was only Orientation Day. This bugged her. She wanted to fix it. After this, the group met the math, English, and science teachers. Twilight thought they all seemed nice and hoped Spike felt the same way. The ultimate conclusion came to her: Spike would be very happy here. He has everything, she thought sadly. He has a beautiful girl he likes, knowledgeable teachers who are nice, a great environment with lots of other dragons his age. He really will never want to leave. However, sacrifices must be made. I will thoroughly enjoy this day and tomorrow morning with him by my side. I will not waste one moment of it. I will not think negative thoughts or feel jealous or angry or resentful any longer! I must go where this detour leads just as Spike is. I will never hold him back. --------------------------------------------------- The whole day was just a big blur to Spike. The orientation was over very soon and he had gotten his schedule for the next day. He remembered he had talked to a really cute girl and a nasty lemon-sucker of a lady. He remembered the big classrooms and the different floors of the school. He couldn’t really remember the teachers and their names, but they all seemed nice. When Twilight asked him what his favorite part was, he was too overwhelmed to say. It was a big blur! They walked outside the building and into town. “What time is it? I’m starving!” said Spike. Twilight turned her neck to look at the clock on the front of the school. Her stomach let out a mighty growl. Spike smirked and chuckled at her. Twilight smiled sheepishly and blushed. “It’s noon,” she said sighing and walking down the sidewalk with graceful, light steps. Spike ran up behind her and jumped on her back. “Let’s go get a bite to eat then!” he said cheerfully. “There has to be a good restaurant around here. Twilight nodded and smiled brightly. Spike was glad she was cheerful now. He didn’t know what was making her so happy, but it was certainly nice to know she wasn’t going to kill him for teasing her earlier. The unicorn and dragon found a nice-looking restaurant close to the school and sat down in a booth. Spike began to notice as he looked around that a lot of the dragon families from the orientation had the same idea they did. There were a few eating there already and a lot more coming in. He watched the door with anticipation, hoping Crystal and her family would come in! “Too bad you left your case of gems back at the hotel,” said Twilight as she moved her eyes over the menu. “They don’t serve them here.” “Meh…no big deal,” said Spike shrugging. “I’ll make up for it later!” He leaned back and sighed. A waitress pony came to their table and took their orders. While they were waiting, Spike scanned the restaurant, looking for Crystal. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there. He did see, however two dragons that looked his age. They were sitting together at another booth. One was a boy. He looked just like Spike except he was red and had orange spikes that were very spiky and had bright orange eyes. The other was a girl who was blue and had black spikes that were curved toward the side of her head and had turquoise eyes. She was wearing black gloves and had an overabundance of black eye makeup. She looked very depressed, but Spike guessed that’s how she looked all the time. Suddenly, he began to realize she was staring at him. It was starting to get a little creepy. He stared with wide eyes at the table and played with his silverware. “What’s wrong?” asked Twilight. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Spike turned his head toward the other booth on the other side of the room. “She’s watching me…” he whispered, fearfully. Twilight looked over at the other booth and raised an eyebrow. Then, the two dragons got up from their booth and walked over to them. “Hey,” said the male red dragon. “We saw you at the orientation today. You were the guy who was cracking jokes about Head Mistress Haldana. You were calling her a ‘Lemon Lady.’” “Yeah, that’s me,” said Spike smiling a little. “I’m Spike.” “Cool,” said the red dragon. “I’m Sparky and this is Misty.” He nudged his friend. She sighed. “Hey,” she said crossing her arms. Spike noticed she had a large camera hanging around her neck. “….why were you staring at me?!” said Spike. Misty raised an eyebrow and looked to the side indifferently. “Sorry about her,” said Sparky elbowing her. “She can be very creepy sometimes! Misty…I thought we talked about this.” “You talked…” said Misty dryly. “I didn’t listen.” Sparky rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he said. “Anyways…don’t mind her. She just likes to…observe people.” He nodded to the camera around her neck. “Especially since we all have make friends at this new school. It’s easier for her that way.” Misty said nothing and sighed gloomily. Spike could tell she was a girl of few words and Sparky was used to explaining her. “Oh. So, are you two brother and sister?” asked Spike, hoping to find an explanation of how Sparky knew Misty so well. “No. Childhood friends,” said Sparky sighing. “Our parents were friends so, so were we….that is until…” his voice trailed off and he looked down. Misty’s eyes grew wider and she glared at him and shook her head. “Uh…long story,” he said shrugging. “But…here we are, trying to find a good life at this new school. Right, Misty?” Misty just blinked at him without any emotion. “Why won’t you say anything longer than a couple words?” said Spike annoyed by her. Misty looked at him and sighed. “Because I might say something I’ll regret…” she said closing her eyes and bowing her head low. Spike didn’t know how to respond to that. He knew however, there was something going on with this chic on a deep level. Sparky glared at her. “Why are you being so difficult today?!” he snapped at her. “When did you turn into my wife?!” she snapped back. Sparky rolled his eyes and looked over at Twilight, seemingly for the first time. “Hello, there,” he said smiling again. Twilight returned a smile. He looked back at Spike. “So, this is your…girlfriend???” he asked. “FRIEND,” replied Spike quickly. Twilight chuckled. “I see…” said Sparky nodding. “And you are….” “Twilight Sparkle,” said Twilight warmly. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The red dragon smiled and nodded. “Well, we’d better get going,” said Sparky pulling Misty toward the door. “I guess we’ll see you tomorrow, Spike!” “Bye,” said Spike waving to them. Just then, Misty turned around and walked back over to him. “Listen,” she said leaning near him. “I know we just met and all, but you have to listen to me now, because I won’t regret saying this. I know you were talking to that Crystal chic earlier. If I were you I would not trust her. I saw her talking to some pretty shady characters in back of the school. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I have a feeling something bad is going to happen. There’s something wrong with this place…I can feel it. I don’t think this school is what it seems. Tomorrow, we all need to watch our backs. Don’t trust the teachers or Head Mistress Haldana. There’s something going on. If you help us, we can find out what it is and stop it.” “What are you talking about?!” said Spike incredulously. “Is stalking people all you ever do?!” Misty sighed. “I’m usually right about these things,” she replied quietly. “Just please be careful. You seem like a nice guy, Spike. I don’t want you to be a victim.” “A victim of what, exactly?!” said Spike fearfully. Misty backed away from him. “Just stay away from her or you’ll regret it,” she said. “Trust me. This is going to be a lot darker than you thought it would be.” She turned and walked out of the restaurant. Spike looked wide-eyed at Twilight and both were silent. ------------------------------------------ Sparky sighed as Misty finally came out of the restaurant. “What did you tell him?” he asked. “I gave him a warning,” Misty replied. “But just as I suspected, he doesn’t believe me.” “Are you sure it’s him?” said Sparky a little worried. “Does this ‘Twilight Sparkle’ ring a bell?” “Yes it does,” said Misty sighing. “I’m very confident that if this is the Spike that Princess Celestia sent, then the fate of Equestria could rest in his hands.” The two walked down the street and disappeared in a dark, shadowed alleyway as a thunderstorm rolled its way in and darkened Fillydelphia. TO BE CONTINUED…