Twilight's Secret

by Distorted Flare

The Chicken and The Dragon (revised)

Twilight groaned, her mane curling in frustration. She tossed and turned in her bed, unable to end the nightmare. She stood shoulder-deep in a rapidly moving river. Her feet were embedded in the mud, and her wings were soaked with water. No matter how she struggled, she could not free herself from where she stood. Around her, the fish swarmed in huge numbers. Twilight could hear their cries of ‘murderer’ and ‘monster.’ Every few seconds, a fish would bite her leg, eliciting a yelp of pain from the stranded alicorn. If she tried to use her magic to escape, a fish would jump out of the river and smack her in the face, breaking her concentration.

Above her, Princess Luna hovered. The night princess gave a chuckle at the scene before descending to help her sister’s prized pupil. Twilight looked up from the river to see the approaching figure of Luna. Before she was close enough to hear the cries of the fish, Twilight called out, “Princess, I would rather you not come near the river. You might anger the fish. In fact, would you mind leaving, please? I kind of want to have this dream alone.” Twilight really did not want to blow the secret of her recent adventure in being an omnivore. Unfortunately, the fish seemed determined to expose her.

Luna stopped at Twilight’s request. “Interesting, you are aware of the nature of this dream. If suffering alone is what you wish, Twilight Sparkle, then I shall depart. Though, before I go, might I inquire as to what brought about such an interesting nightmare?” the night princess asked.

“I’d rather not say, Princess. It’s very personal.”

“I understand. Fare thee well, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. The princess cast Twilight a wary glance before turning and vanishing in a flash of white light. Twilight resumed her attention to her aquatic tormentors.

##############################################################################

Twilight Sparkle awoke with sore legs. Each limb felt like it had suffered the dream’s abuse. This contributed to an overall feeling of weariness that last night’s restless sleep had left her.

As Twilight sat down at her table for breakfast, a strange thought passed through her mind. ‘Hmmm… is the table shorter? No… Just my imagination.’

##############################################################################

A week passed. In that time, the alicorn of magic managed to devour another four fish, finding each strangely more enjoyable than the last. The only problem with her plan had been Spike. Twilight always had to find an excuse to make him leave the library for a long time without her. That, but mostly the force fields that appeared whenever he left, began making the dragon curious of her activities.

Eventually, it came to a head when Spike confronted Twilight. He asked, “Twilight, what are you doing in here whenever you send me out? Don’t you think a force field is a little excessive?” Spike's tone conveyed innocent curiosity, but it still worried Twilight that he was prying into her… activities.

Twilight debated for a moment, ‘Should I tell him? If I do, he could react very badly… Then again, I could gain his help and accomplice in the process. Dragons eat meat. He might like to try some. Though, he still might freak. He was raised by ponies, after all…’

Finally deciding on whether to lie or not, Twilight asked, “Spike, can you make a Pinkie Promise about something? I need to tell you something. In order for me to do so, you MUST promise not to freak out AND never to tell another living soul without my permission. Can you do that for me, Spike?”

Spike replied, “Sure! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” As he chanted, his small arms performed the motions of Ponyville’s most unbreakable vow.

Pinkie Pie popped out of the oven to deliver her obligatory response to someone making a Pinkie Pie Promise. “FOREVER!” With her task done, the pink mare retreated back into the oven.

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, not even batting an eye at her friend’s antics. Seeing that the oven was now inexplicably devoid of pink mares, Twilight turned to her assistant. “Now, Spike, there are a few things I have to get first. I’ll explain everything over lunch today, okay?”

Spike nodded.

#####################################################################################

Twilight walked through the marketplace, but not as herself. Around her body, an illusionary griffin walked in perfect sync with her hoof steps. No pony merchant would willingly sell chicken meat to a pony. For a griffin, however, there was no problem.

Pinkie bounced down the market, looking for a friend to eat with during her lunch break. Suddenly, she spotted somepony she had never seen before, or rather, somegriffin. She ran up to the griffin and opened her mouth. “OH HI! MY NAME IS PINKIE PIE! WHAT’S YOURS? I’VE NEVER SEEN YOU BE—” Pinkie's mouth was suddenly filled with a claw.

“Pinkie, it’s me, Twilight. I’m practicing an illusion spell. Going by your reaction, I’d say I’m doing it right,” Twilight lied to her friend. She had mastered the spell months ago, but Pinkie did not need to know that. “Listen, Pinkie, I have got to get something important real quick and get back to Spike. I’m sorry I can’t stay to hang out with you. Maybe some other time?”

“Oh, okay. See you, Twi,” said the pink pony. Her voice had the slightest twinge of disappointment in it.

#####################################################################################

“Spike! I’m back!” Twilight called up to her assistant.

“What did you get?”

“I can’t tell you yet. I have to seal up the library first. Then I have to get everything ready. Would you go close all the window curtains upstairs? Then I need you to wait in the basement until I’m done preparing everything,” she said.

“Okay! Hurry up, though. I don’t want this to delay lunch. I’m really hungry.” He scampered off to do his assigned task.

‘That’s good. Oh, Celestia, please don’t let this be a mistake. I don’t want to scare the little guy…’ she thought to herself.

#####################################################################################

Spike tapped his foot, impatient with his situation. ‘I’m tired of waiting for Twilight to finish… whatever it is she’s doing,’ Spike thought to himself. Being stuck alone in a basement full of strange equipment was more boring than it sounded. Fiddling with one of the desk drawers, Spike found a small book. Thumbing through the pages, he realized that it was filled with his caretaker’s hornwriting. ‘It must be her journal,’ he thought.

Twilight’s voice rang out, calling him up from the basement. He set the journal down without having read a single passage. The page it was open to was the most incriminating thing in the entire volume: Twilight Sparkle’s notes on the flavors of fish.

#####################################################################################

“What did you want to show me?” Spike asked.

“Sit at the table and I’ll show you.”

“Lunch?” Spike asked, seeing the two covered plates on the table.

“In a way… Now remember what you promised?”

“Yeah, but why would–“ Whatever Spike was going to say never came. The plates had been uncovered by lavender magic. “Ummm… Twilight… What is that?” Spike pointed at the meat on the table.

“Chicken Parmesan.”

After a moment of pause, Spike burst out laughing. Twilight levitated her fork to her mouth, eating a bite as she waited for her assistant to calm down. When he had finally composed himself, Spike asked, “you really expect me to believe that we’re having CHICKEN for lunch? That’s crazy…” He saw Twilight’s serious expression. “W-w-w-wait… That’s actually chicken? As in, the flightless bird? The kind of thing Elizabeak is? TWILIGHT! YOU'RE CRAZY” he roared.

“Spike, you promised not to freak out. And yes, this is real chicken meat. I was curious as to what meat tasted like. This is nothing more than a science experiment. Although, I’ve already enjoyed five different fish recipes. This chicken is delicious, too. I’m starting to wonder why ponies are herbivores in the first place…” she said. Her tone transitioned from talking to Spike to thinking aloud midway through her explanation.

“Twilight! How could you! I’m going to tell the princess. She’ll set you straight! Th-“ Twilight cut Spike off by shoving his chicken into his mouth.

“Spike, you Pinkie Promised you would never tell. Besides, you like it, don’t you,” Twilight said. She could see Spike suppressing a smile caused by the flavors in his mouth.

Spike swallowed. “How can you be so calm and cold-hearted about this? WE JUST ATE AN ANIMAL!”

“Spike, I’ve been having nightmares for the past week because of the meat. Yet, if I don’t do this, I won’t be able to sleep at all. I know there’s something wrong with me, but I can’t stop. You, on the other hand, should have no problem. Dragons are omnivores. Almost every dragon out there has eaten meat at some point in their lives. So don’t worry about what anyone will think of you, okay?” Twilight reassured her companion. “Now, let’s finish up lunch, okay?”

“This is still wrong, you know that.”

“MmmHHmmm,” Twilight mumbled in affirmation, her mouth already filled with another bite of chicken parmesan.

After a moment of staring at his food, Spike took another bite. 'Why does something so wrong taste so right?'

Author's Note:

*Ding* Have a new chapter!

joins in her quest to eat all the meats.
Luna might be getting suspicious.
There is a chekhov's gun in this chapter. Or it could be a red herring (The literary term, not the fish). I'll let you decide.

Have fun!

Comments

[Seether00]

If it's wrong, why does it taste so delicious?

Next animal, Angel, I mean rabbit.

Can't bee beef because it talks. Can't be mutton because it talks as well. Goat, out of the question as they can work sound equipment.

Not too many choices. There are pigs on Sweet Apple Acres so.... Nom, nom, nom.

[xTSGx]

There is a chekhov's gun in this chapter. Or it could be a red herring (The literary term, not the fish). I'll let you decide.

...a strange thought passed through her mind. ‘hmmm… is the table shorter? No… Just my imagenation.’

Crazy theory time: In order for Twilight to grow to the size of Celesta/Luna, she has to eat meat. That's why she can tolerate it. Alicorns have a natural craving for the stuff in order to be able to grow.

[ThyPrincessOfTheNight]

We like thy story. Well done hoof servant.

[wille179]

2607472

This entire story was inspired by the fact that real horses can eat meat. In fact, i heard of one breed that was bread to live for extended periods with just meat. It lived with it's masters on rocky mountains (not THE Rocky Mountains) that have little grass.

As for the griffin, I never thought of a name for him. He is dead at this time, so he won't be appearing in the story.

[Smurf]

This is good, so many meats to try so little time

Didn't one of the Greeks breed a flesh eating horse? or am i thinking of the mongols?

I'm surprised Spike was so against this, since his kind does eat meat and all

hmm in my headcanon Celestia fed prisoners to Spike so she would not have to deal with them, of course she never told him that, you know to save it as a surprise

so... whats next on the menu?

[wille179]

2615933
Yes, there is a meat eating breed, but I'm not sure who made them.

Spike was raised as a vegitatian by vegitarians. Celestia was firmly against spike earing meat (my headcannon) so that he didn't grow into a pony-eater.

[Red-Zan]

meeeeat....yummy story, I woudnt mind to get some extra portions

[AlaskaIsCold]

I kinda wanna see how far this goes.
Beef?
I also wanna see how the other princesses react.

[Gordon_Freemane]

2593566 That's exactly what I thought really.

[badpone]

I wonder if her taste for meat has something to do with being an alicorn
I can imagine Celestia and Luna having basement full of delicious ham
Well, I'm keeping reading

[Fervidor]

One of my fanon theories about the dragons is actually that they are not just omnivores but hyperomnivores. That is to say, they can eat practically anything: meat, fruit, grass, wood, rocks, diamonds, etc.

[RedRaven]

Best fanfic ive read so far

[Waterpicker]

2692840 Maybe no that much meat but it would be foolish to assume that the princesses never tried meat before. It could be something they on occasion for something important as gryphon pony relations.

[Sweet Berry]

The princesses eat meat don't they?

[DX-1118 C]

2698977 You are correct.

[FluttershyBeingDom]

4571720

[Alondro]

After a moment of staring at his food, Spike took another bite. 'Why does something so wrong taste so right?'

And so, Spike grew into a giant ravenous dragon again and ate Rarity. But he did it really romantically so Rarity was ok with it, because tragic romance vore is hot.

[MLai]

I feel like I'm reading My Little Pony: Breaking Bad.

[Warman1138]

Oops....it's too late to save Twilight, she's only one step away from hanging out at KFC.

[Vash_ts]

2593566 also, her limbs hurt because they are growing.

[fractalman]

4605903 mmmhmmm.

[Autumnlotus]

A lil to late now, but I'm trying my hardest to force emotion into this story. The dialogue is flat and lifeless, no show and all tell.