An Unwelcome Distraction
Spike made his way further down the main hallway, paying close attention to the doors on either side of him. One of them had to be the entrance to the kitchen, most likely the one he and Twilight had seen Randolph use when they first arrived. As it turned out, he didn't even need to remember – he could tell by the faint smell of stored food coming from behind the door to his right, thanks to his excellent sense of smell.
While he prided himself on getting along with ponies and living their lifestyle, he was still thankful for the talents being a dragon afforded him. The fire breath was absolutely awesome, having claws was clearly advantageous, and being both a biped and quadruped as he saw fit was also very useful.
But one of the gifts he cherished the most was his sense of smell. All dragons had keen noses, and as Twilight explained to him many years ago, it was probably due to how they had to find gems for food and their hoards. After all, not every dragon was lucky enough to have a pony like Rarity around to make that particular task a breeze, so his ancestors likely developed an enhanced set of – what did Twilight call them? 'Old-factory' nerves or something like that – capable of sniffing out gems buried beneath the earth.
Also, it probably made hunting prey easier as well; but he chose not to think about that part of it…
In Spike's case, his nose wasn't nearly as sensitive as his elders' were, but it was very good at detecting subtle aromas. In fact, it was one of the reasons cooking came so easy to him – he didn't need to measure ingredients. He simply had to sniff the meal being prepared to tell if everything was correct!
And sure enough, as he opened the door, he found himself in one of the most impressive kitchens he'd ever seen. Two of the walls featured a long, continuous run of base and wall cabinetry in an L-shape; all of it topped with dark granite countertops which included a large wash-up sink placed under two diamond-patterned divided light windows. To his immediate left, not one, but two matching mauve combination cooler-icebox units adorned the opposite wall next to which he was standing. In the center was a large prep table, which had its very own sink. To the right of him, two gold-colored ranges with cooktops sat adjacent to the end of the counter on the right hand wall. As if those weren't enough appliances to cook with, a brick wood-fired grill was built into the middle of one side of the prep table with an enormous flue positioned directly above it to vent the fumes.
Gosh, even the Tree of Harmony didn't create a kitchen this extravagant back at the castle!
Suspended from the vaulted ceiling over the prep table were several rows of wood shelving, with various pots and pans hung on hooks below the bottommost shelf. The shelves themselves were mostly empty, and it appeared many of the items were scattered about the kitchen. No doubt due to the move that was underway, and very likely this is what Spoiled and Filthy Rich had been working on when he had arrived.
Over by the far left section of the kitchen were two sets of glass doors, adorned with the same diamond patterned divided lights. A small dinette table sat between both sets of doors, presumably for the owners of the house to eat quick meals, or perhaps it was reserved for the servants?
“Why hello, Spike!” Spoiled Rich popped out from behind the far side of one of the cooler-icebox units; the little dragon was so engrossed in taking in the spectacle of his surroundings he hadn't even noticed her standing back there. “What brings you down here? Doesn't Diamond have anything for you to do?”
“Not at the moment, Mrs. Rich. She, um – explained – to me what she wants and sent me away for now. So I came down here to see if there was anything that needed doing instead.”
“That filly needs to better appreciate what her mother has done for her in securing you as a helper. But no matter, we can certainly use your help here. Do you see that mess over there?” She motioned to the prep table Spike saw with the unshelved cooking utensils and appliances strewn across it. “Those are the items I had Randolph and the maids pull down to make room for the items I want brought back from Canterlot. The three of them will be leaving shortly to pick them up with Filthy, so it would be wonderful if you could box them up and carry them down into the basement. You needn't put them away; I'll have my husband direct the help as to where they should be permanently stored down there later. You can simply leave them at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Sure, I think I can handle that.” Spike wasn't actually so sure; the surface of the prep table was pretty high up for a dragon his size, so getting those items down to the floor wasn't going to be an easy task. “I'll just grab one of the chairs from the dining table over there and use them to climb onto the table here and lower everything down to the floor, one at a time.”
“Oh, nonono! That won't do at all I'm afraid…”
“Huh, what's wrong? Is all this stuff that important?”
“No, it's not that. It's just, well – pardon me for sounding rude, but – although you come with quite a pedigree, I'm afraid having dragon feet – or any kind of feet or hooves for that matter – walking across my prep table simply won't do.”
She had a point there, he realized, especially considering how pungent he usually left them. Although, in a land of quadrupeds he honestly didn't see how his walking on the prep table would be any different from these ponies eating with the same hooves they stand on all day long. The same dirt that was on the floor was going right into their mouths! But, whatever…
“Okay, fine. I'll just grab the items while standing on the chair.” It would take longer, he surmised, but perhaps it was for the best anyway; it meant he could avoid having to go back up to sit around and wait outside Diamond Tiara's room for that much longer.
“Splendid! Now if you'll excuse me I must call catering to deliver food for dinner this evening.”
“I guess you're pretty busy to do any cooking tonight, huh?”
Spoiled scoffed at the thought. “Me, do the cooking? A mare of my stature? Surely you jest, little one. And before you ask, Randolph and the maids, sadly, lack any professional cooking skills. My husband does a little cooking from time to time, but we usually eat out or – as I just alluded to – simply have a catering service deliver our meals. As you can imagine, we must maintain a high social standing at all times, and cooking our own meals would not give the proper impression amongst our important contacts.”
“Couldn't you hire a chef? There must be one in town?”
“Filthy has tried, my dear. But for some reason the well-known chefs in town either simply refuse to work for us, or they want too many bits.”
No surprise there, who wants to hang around have the meal they just prepared literally thrown back at them by a bratty little filly? Spike suppressed a sudden urge to reveal a wry smile.
“So it's less expensive to have the meals delivered and our help set the table for us,” she continued. “Even the Cakes refused. I suppose too much of their time is taken up running that tiny shop of theirs, and even more so now that they have those two little odd foals to take care of…”
Her disdain over being rejected by ponies well below her own means was palpable, and Spike promptly took umbrage to the slight. “Now don't go putting down the Cakes, I consider them my friends, y'know!”
“Oh, don't get me wrong,” Spoiled quickly apologized, “I've heard their confections are quite popular around here. It's simply frustrating to be unable to get a good chef to cook for us for a reasonable price.” She thought for a moment, and sighed wistfully, “It's unfortunate you're duties don't include cooking for the princess…”
“Um, actually, they do.”
“Really, now?” A slight grin formed at one side of her mouth.
To this day, Spike is still not sure why he admitted to that, or for that matter why he said what he said next. He knew it would mean doing more work. But perhaps he responded because of that ego of his; that very same ego, while small, was still potent enough when unchecked to drive a dragon's vanity to the point of sitting in front of a mirror for shameless self-admiration. Or as it had been earlier that day, to take note of his own reflection on the floor. Or ogle his own commemorative statue in the Crystal Empire. Or agree to look after all of his friends' pets while they were away at said empire even though it was too much for one little dragon to handle. Or mistakenly agree to sing an anthem in front of thousands of ponies to which he knew not the words.
“Of course! I do most of the cooking over at the castle. Breakfast and dinner! We usually fend for ourselves when it comes to lunchtime, though.”
“Could I perhaps convince you to cook for us during your stay here? It truly would be an honor to have breakfast and dinner prepared by the The Great and Honorable Spike!” Spoiled laid it on thick, pulling out every stop to try and get him to agree. “And it wouldn't require you to stay much longer each day since the help will be available to clean up after each meal.”
“Well, I dunno… I didn't really agree to being your cook in addition to being an assistant to Diamond.”
“But you are Princess Twilight's assistant, correct? And as her assistant you afford her the luxury of your cooking skills, yes?”
“Yes, but-”
“Don't you think I deserve the same luxury, considering you were hired to do the same job you do for your princess?”
“Well, I – um...”
Ugh, checkmate… again.
This time Spike was on the receiving end of Spoiled's gamesponyship, and he didn't like it at all. Technically, he knew he could still say no since there wasn't anything specified in their agreement. And what could she do, fire him and be without any help? But something in the way she spoke to others – it was demeaning, even frightening. It put one – in this case even a dragon – in their place. A place considerably lower than where it felt she was coming from. And Spike was bearing the brunt of it now.
Additionally, now he knew where Diamond got her ability to so effectively interrupt others: Before he could even make his point, Spoiled flanked it and yanked it out from under him, tossing it out like so much garbage. He remembered how Twilight had explained dragons are supposed to be persuasive speakers. He dolefully laughed to himself that this mare must be part dragon or something.
But it was fine. Yes, it was all really fine – just do some cooking like you've always done. That's what his ego was already saying to smooth things over in his head, explaining to all the other voices that this would be a great way to show off his cooking skills to somepony else besides Twilight, Rarity, and their friends.
His logical brain was working to convince him as well – not only would he get a reprieve from Diamond because he had to clean up all these cooking utensils before him, he'd now even get more time away from her because he had to cook. Yes, agreeing to this would be absolutely peachy!
And yet, why did it feel so rotten? His left eyelid suddenly twitched twice…
But as quickly as the tension built inside of him, it just as quickly vanished. From deep down in his heart, an idea bubbled up into consciousness – something so warm and wonderful he was amazed he didn't think of it before. Something that even if he did have to add cooking to the list of things he was responsible for, it somehow felt good.
And it was also something he knew would drive this mare crazy…
“Okay, okay,” he relented. “You made your point. I'll cook for you and your family.” Spike paused and looked Spoiled Rich right in the eye before continuing. “But only on one condition: Randolph and the other help must be allowed to join in the meal, at the regular dining table with all of you.”
Spoiled Rich glared at Spike, much the same way she did earlier when Diamond had mentioned the three ponies she referred to as blank-flanks. “You-you ask the impossible. It's utterly unthinkable to have the servants eating at the same table as the ponies they serve!”
“Maybe it is in your world, Mrs. Rich, but from where I come from everypony eats at the same table. That's the way Twilight always does it when she has guests over, and I even eat with them, too!”
Spoiled was aghast as to what she should do. She wanted this dragon as a cook – she knew he was a cook and played dumb to get him to agree to it! It would be an undeniable feather in her hat if she could brag to the elites in Canterlot that the princess' personal assistant and chef was preparing her meals! But if word ever got out she was eating with her servants…
“All I want is for you to do the same job you do for the princess, so-”
“And that's exactly what I'm offering you,” Spike countered, butting in the same way she did. “As her assistant, whenever I finish cooking I'm right there, eating alongside Twilight. The way I see it, Randolph and the others are all my equals, so they deserve a spot at the table, just like I do.”
“Trust me, they're not your equals. You're known as a hero in many places.”
“And that's great. But here in your house, they're my equals – especially your butler. So, that's my offer. I'll cook breakfast and dinner if the servants eat with all of us. Deal?”
Spoiled hesitated, glowering at the little dragon in front of her that had beaten her at her own game.
“Very well, you have a deal.” she replied and then thrust her hoof right in front of him. “But, if word ever leaks out that I – I ate at the same table as my servants, I'll be very, very, upset!”
“That's fine,” Spike answered steadfastly, brushing off her hostile tone. “If you don't want anypony to know, I'm more than happy to oblige. I still don't see what the big deal is, but,” he said as he raised his claw in the air, “as an honorable dragon, my snout is hereby sealed.”
“Well, it is a 'big deal,'” she countered. “You and the princess need to get your heads out of the clouds and face reality: If she desires any hope of gaining political power to actually make things happen, she should stop mingling with commoners who can't help her accomplish anything and start associating with the kinds of ponies that can.”
“Like yourself?” he said with a raised brow.
“But of course!” she replied assuredly, completely missing Spike's facetious tone. “She could do worse than have somepony like me working as her royal counsel. As I told her earlier today, she is always welcome to ask me for advice.”
“She already has a six-member court – including yours truly – to provide counsel on whatever needs fixing. But I'll be sure to pass the message along anyway…”
Spoiled frowned. Clearly she wasn't getting through to this dragon, so it probably was a waste of breath to discuss it further. Besides, it was almost time for the servants and Filthy to leave for Canterlot so she needed to make sure they had her list of cookware items she wanted returned.
“Fair enough. We can continue this discussion at a later time. Right now the coach that will take my husband and the servants to the train station is scheduled to arrive shortly, so I must see them off. As for tonight's meal, the pantry is over there behind the cooler.” Spoiled pointed a hoof to where she had been standing earlier, right beside the right cooler-icebox. To one side was a door that was ajar that led into a decent sized pantry loaded full of foodstuffs. “When you're ready to get started on dinner, feel free to use anything in there or the coolers. We usually eat at sundown, so plan accordingly.”
“Yes, ma'am,” Spike replied, his cordial tone having returned to him. “Is there anything you have in mind for dinner?”
Spoiled Rich quietly snorted, “Make whatever meal you would see fit for the princess. So if there is nothing else, I will leave you to your cleanup task. Come to me if you have any further questions as I will be in the study planning for tomorrow.”
“Okay, got it.”
With that, Spoiled trotted away without another word. Once Spike was all alone, he heaved a sigh of relief. He had expected there would be arguments between him and Diamond, but he didn't expect to be in one with her mom! It was a lot more acrimony than he was accustomed to, and he knew he now had two ponies here who were not particularly happy with him.
On the other claw, he still felt pretty good about himself since it seemed like he had won both battles. Diamond had given up arguing and threw him out of her room, and Spoiled was now forced to sit with those she considered beneath her.
It was true, he would still have to cook – and now it would be for six plus himself instead of three. What made it worthwhile however was he'd be serving a meal to Randolph – the kindly old butler in which he'd found a kindred spirit. Somehow cooking for a pony he considered a friend made the whole ordeal enjoyable.
But enough with the self-reflection – the problem immediately facing him was cleaning up this kitchen! The space he needed to cook was being occupied with the cookware that was destined for the basement. He supposed some of it he'd leave alone and use for dinner, but the rest had to go. Or, at least that would have been the plan if a shrill voice hadn't screamed from upstairs.
“Dragon, get your tail up here right now! I have a job for you.”
Ah, the snobby one shrieketh again. It looks like the kitchen will have to wait…
Spike made his way out of the kitchen and back up the stairs. In the hallway Diamond was sitting with her forelegs crossed, her face twisted into a scowl. Although he wasn't positive, he could have sworn her eyes looked redder than usual, as if she had been crying.
“Where were you? You're supposed to be waiting outside my room!”
“You mom and I were discussing tasks for me to do. Looks like you'll be eating a dragon-cooked meal this evening.”
“You? Cooking? Ewww… I don't want your grubby claws anywhere near my food!”
“Too bad. It's a done deal. If you don't like it, I guess you can starve,” he smirked.
Diamond huffed at his haughty attitude. “Well, we'll see about that! Right now however your task is to clean up my room.”
“Clean it up? It didn't look like it needed cleaning a little while ago.”
“It does now,” she finished with a snide grin.
Spike slowly walked through the entrance to her bedroom. What once was a pristine, spotless bedroom now resembled something Tirek had passed through.
“What. The. Buck.”
I guess you could almost think of this as a "bonus chapter." The events in this entire chapter pretty much took up only a few paragraphs in the original draft, but after I started getting into Spike's head, it became more and more intriguing to explore his thought processes in how he resolves conflict.
Once I got into his head, the little guy one-upped me however and instead made his way into my head, making a beeline for my lizard brain (of course, right?) and started messing with things he has no business poking around in... 
All joking aside, chapters should start coming out more frequently now; so thanks for everyone who has stuck around to wait these early ones out!
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6906986 alternatively, the most legit moment of pure rage in the post-jontron era:
I think both could work with some tweaking
6868077 Looks like you got your wish... Your story was featured this morning (albeit briefly). I'm sure as it picks up more readers, and increases in popularity it'll stay there for longer. And if the latest update is anything to go by, we'll all be in for a treat.
6978118 Thanks! I'm glad you're finding it compelling!
6978241 I noticed last night while I was publishing chapter 4 it made it to the bottom of the featured list. It was kind of nice because it had already been pushed below my screen on "Recently Updated", and I had to do several more last-minute edits to the chapter. Having it right there on the front page was pretty convenient!
6982244 Thanks for the input on the chapter lengths. I have to admit, when I put stories into my "Read Later" bookshelf, the ones I "Read Later" first are the ones with the shorter chapters. The reason being it's easier to read a story piecemeal when the chapters are around 2-3K words, even if the story itself has like 20+ chapters.
6986894 Thank you for the correction! Seems like no matter how many times I read this or give it to an editor, there's always something that slips through!
6984787 That's for sure! When I wrote the flying scene I was actually thinking of Twilight's ungainly flight with Spike and Pinkie in "Amending Fences," which happens shortly after this story is meant to take place.
6990327 It still amazes me the show never had any scenes of these two characters speaking to one another in 5 seasons! It's been a lot of fun writing the back-and-forth between them.
6715282
I can finally continue reading here, but first I have to clear out this comment:
I guess it can stay as an introduction of sorts and since it's the first time, I think I can squeeze an eye or two shut there, even though it still reads like Spike fan pandering.
Thanks a lot!
Since this is able to teach your audience a little what "off-screen" means, I now think it's not a bad idea if it stays.
I take that as an ironic slap on the wrists of bronies who always hate Spike where ever he shows his face.
Sounds quite in-character for Spike, so I guess that can stay.
I actually thought it's a commentary about it that Spike barely goes on any adventures with Twilight and her friends, despite that he is their friend too, something I saw many bronies complaining about.
But I saw you stating that you needed this is a reason for Twilight to convince Spike, so I guess this gives it some justification.
This however..... I still say it needs to be written out. When I read this paragraph, I practically hear the crocodile tears of the whole fandom that it cries every time a new Spike episode is due.
It lays it on thick and reads itself like preaching.
This is one of these things about the show that some bronies (luckily not all that many) get especially wrong.
I think what is to blame for this is this strange "stereotype" thinking that occurs in some circles, in whatever way that came to be.....
First off, the show never made a definitive statement about how dragons are as a race, with the few dragons we ever saw in the show as opposed to the thousands of dragons that probably live in the Dragon Empire.
It showed us exactly six greedy/jerky dragons aside from Spike, which is clearly not enough to make assumptions about the whole race.
The problem here is that some fandom members project the behavior and personalities of six dragons on their entire race, mixed in with a good portion of overthinking.
It is quite ironic here how I saw some of these bronies accusing the show writers of "rascism", while they are quite rascist themselves with that.
Letting the fact it's only six dragons we saw acting like that aside for a moment, even if the dragon race in its entirety should be a nation of greedy and jerky people (which is, again, not necessarily the case, only ONE possibility), there is nothing wrong about portraying them as such.
Same goes for the gryphons and their uncaring nature.
Different races have different traits and portraying these traits, no matter if they are positive or negative traits, is nothing even remotely rascist, as long as the portrayal of the race is honest and truthfully.
It's just an accurate depiction then and I'm really glad the show writers don't go with political correctness and the weird, modern definition of "rascism" some people nowadays carry in front of them like spears here.
So, to come back to your fic after that little excursion, their portrayal is not poorly, it's either portraying just a few members of their race or their race is simply like that, so there's no need to wash the name of the dragons' race clean in your fic or something like that.
Besides, it was said by Twilight herself that ponies "know next to nothing about dragons" as Spike had his identity crisis ("Dragon Quest"), so how should she know that dragons are known for being persuasive?
To keep the persuasive line, but avoiding that plothole at the same time, just let Twilight refer to the dragon's intimidating nature and let her say that this makes them persuasive.
That dragons are intimidating is something everypony knows and being able to burn a pony to black coal and ashes on the spot is something that is definitely persuasive.
And no, this wouldn't portray dragons as nice. But it's important to keep in mind that Twilight says that. For her, dragons aren't nice and she never met a nice dragon except for Spike and all she knows about dragons is that they hoard treasures and that they are dangerous, brutal creatures. So she would never talk nice about dragons in general.
Here it's important to understand what "off-screen" means. We did not see it in the show, but with the things we did see and with the things we know about Twilight and her friends, we have enough indications to safely say that Twilight knew about it that Diamond Tiara was a bully.
And for good fanfiction it is important to build on and expand what the show presents, which is the main purpose of fanfiction, to explain and portray things the show didn't.
Additionally to what I said above, we saw her calling out Diamond Tiara directly after she had said "Looks like you didn't come to learn after all!" with the words "Neither did any of you."
The teasing and tormenting sound in Diamond Tiara's voice here was not to overhear, especially considered that Twilight stood right next to her.
If she was oblivious to the bullying up to this point, she definitely knew about it from that moment on, not just because of the tone in Diamond Tiara's voice, but also because Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle definitely presented Twilight with an explanation for everything, including why they wanted to invite Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to their Twilight Time, after they had cleaned up the library.
Again, for fanfiction it's important to build on infos from the show and to expand them.
Sweetie Belle being sympathetic to Spike? I approve of that.
That's one of these things any given member of the audience will only truly understand if he/she has made certain experiences.
I didn't believe her either at first, for a similar reason, but then I remembered on how my mother abused me and forced me to do stuff I didn't wanted to do (or rather the opposite, she forced me to not do things I wanted to do and was keeping me from living a normal childhood that way) and how much impact that had to me, to an amount where I was constantly afraid she could find it out if I don't obey her, which was why I never steered away of her doctrines even if she wasn't around and couldn't have possibly found out.
If you didn't have abusive parents, then it's not really possible to relate yourself to Diamond Tiara and you will never completely understand her inner turmoil and why she acted the way she did.
It's the same like with a few who didn't understand Moondancer's behavior, because they were never betrayed by a friend like that or never betrayed one.
That's an audience problem, not a problem of the episode. You can't please everyone.
Not discussing Spike episodes and the fandom's reaction on them. That always just gives headaches because the walls you run into while trying to do that are always very thick and hard.
But I invite you to read this journal entry about Spike and his reception in the fandom that I wrote in the mini hiatus after the first half of Season 5, which explains a lot of things:
http://cmc--scootaloo.deviantart.com/journal/The-Problem-with-Spike-in-the-Fandom-547548050
That was lucky, Spoiled. Slipped out of the rascism literally in the last moment, eh?
I have quite some problems to visualize the interior of this kitchen, something seems off to me about it, but I can't put my hoof on what it is exactly.
I'm not sure if the issue lies in the description or if its just my miserable visual thinking, but I thought I point it out.
Oh god, what has she done?! Has she completely messed up the room intentionally as a revenge for Spike talking back at her?
I wonder if that's the case or if really some accident happened (though I have no idea what could mess up the room so much in such little time) that has to do with her crying.
I can't wait to see how this goes on.
7006168
Better, much better, that's beautiful! *-*
While reading this part there was something that rubbed me the wrong way, a certain feeling that something is wrong, but I didn't know what the feeling meant. Now I know.
The scene ended way too abrupt and was way too short. The length of the flight itself felt way too short with where it ended before and right after Spike said how beautiful it is up there, it really felt like something more should come before they land.
I read the old passage and the new one back to back now and the new one gives the story at this point so much more fulfillment.
It's good that this is rectified now.
Crap.....
Since I began writing MLP: FiM fanfics, I always say that I don't want to have an editor for my stories. Proofreader? Absolutely, for typos and stuff, I would accept that. Editor? Absolutely not.
I couldn't know it exactly, because I never had an editor, but I always felt that editors would meddle with my stories, tell me what do with them and try to make my stories, their stories, by advicing me to add or remove stuff they want to see or not see in the story, personally.
This now confirms that I was right with that hunch.
I've seen the argument "It doesn't add anything to the plot" a few times already, both for fanfics as for episodes of the show and this, combined with other experiences I had, led me to the conclusion that people nowadays begin to lose their sense for aesthetics.
Everything must be practicable, everything must serve a purpose, everything must add to the plot.
No beauty, no aesthetics. NO FUN ALLOWED.
Additionally, for fanfics, I also think now they lose their sense for realistic writing and storytelling.
In life, there is no "plot" and so the events that happen don't always "add to the (nonexisting) plot".
People today seem to forget that the major purpose of fiction is and was always to be realistic, to let you dive in the world you're reading about and not just feel like a bystander who sees the events unfold while the director shouts commands where the story should be heading. Good stories should never feel like that.
Sure, sometimes, like for the fantasy genre, authors first had to create new rules what should be considered as "realistic" for such stories, as there are no spells and fire-breathing dragons on earth, but they did and over time, own rules where established for such stories and created an own "in-universe realism", so that even stories about things that don't exist on earth could capture you, give you the feeling to be there and the opportunity to determine if the circumstances in the story make sense from a logical standpoint.
Good stories need to be realistic and in reality, Twilight and Spike wouldn't arrive at the Rich mansion almost instantly right after Spike opened his eyes, they would have a longer conversation in the air while flying, because life has no plot that needs to be followed.
By removing that part that you have added again now, the story missed a good portion of realism that can immerse you in it, so the advice by your editor wasn't a very good one.
As I said, I see this becoming more and more common today, this "If it doesn't serve the plot, then it is redundant" thinking and this excessive "professionalism" is killing good stories.
You should have a talk with your editor about that, seriously, if he makes you remove something from your story that is actually good and adds to it, then something is amiss.
You also shouldn't blindly follow an editor's advice, if a change makes you umcomfortable or is something that you haven't envisioned for your story, then don't do it.
Remember that this is still your story, not the editor's story.
Say what the buck again.
Dang, Spike's savage to Spoiled Rich in their conversation
i sense a loophole.
ah, swearing
10729516
Now see, I thought Spike was being fair but firm here. Either way, if she felt slighted by him she deserved it.
Never try to outnegotiate a dragon.
Spike has more "potty mouth" moments in the later chapters.