Heart of Fire

by Night Spinner

Prologue

“Are you sure you'll be alright?” Twilight Sparkle asked Spike for the umpteenth time as she paced the planks of the Ponyville train station. For the better part of half an hour, the princess had been nervously wearing a groove into the platform with her pacing.

The young dragon cocked an eyebrow at the nervous alicorn and folded his arms. “Of course I will be, Twilight!” he said with a laugh. “This is hardly the first time you've left me on my own. The question is: are you sure you'll be alright?” he asked. Despite his smile, his voice sounded as nervous as Twilight looked.

Twilight let out a sigh and sat down, the concern in her friend's voice cutting through her inner excuses. “Y... yeah, I think so,” she admitted with with an embarrassed smile. “It's just that this is the first formal event I'll be attending without any of the other princesses being there and I'm not sure how well I'll hold up to the scrutiny of the nobles.”

“You'll do fine, I just know it!” Spike replied, smiling at her sympathetically.

“Especially with a pony in the know like myself to run interference if need be,” came a musically elegant voice from behind the pair.

Spike whirled around and felt his heart leap into his throat as his eyes fell upon Rarity, the unicorn in her latest summer ensemble, magically towing a small cart packed high with luggage. As she drew near, he struggled to not simply lose himself in adoration of her. Not today, today was too important to lose focus.

"My apologies darlings, but I had to settle up matters at the boutique," Rarity explained, glancing up at the swirling clouds of steam that drifted overhead. "And not a moment too soon, I would have hated to spoil things today by forcing us to take the evening train."

Twilight rose to her hooves. "Perhaps it might have been better, I'm really nervous about this whole thing. More than I even though I would be," Twilight admitted with a frown.

Spike waved a claw dismissively. "You've got nothing to worry about! You're a princess, you've saved Equestria, you..." he found himself cut off by the sudden blare of the train's whistle.

"We should be getting aboard Twilight," Rarity said, gesturing to the door to the car before giving the little dragon an affectionate pat on the head. "Though Spike is correct. You shouldn't be so nervous. This is just a small formal party, a meet and greet for the nobility."

Twilight smiled, though it was more in defeat than anything else. "I know, that's what I'm afraid of. I've gotten a taste of what the nobility is like at the Galas. It didn't leave a good impression on me," she explained, before entering the car and putting her head out of one of the windows. "We'll be back tomorrow evening Spike, don't start another land war in the main hall while we're gone!"

Spike chuckled at the memory of Discord's version of their roleplaying game. "Nah, we're planning a naval battle for the next time," he said teasingly as Rarity entered the car alongside Twilight. "Besides, we don't have our game tonight. It's Tuesday, Discord's got tea with Fluttershy and Big McIntosh is too busy digging that new well."

A shrill whistle and a sudden lurch put the train into motion and Spike watched and waved, shouting goodbyes and encouragement to his two friends they vanished down the tracks.

Once they were no more than specks, the young dragon's expression changed into a look of conspiratorial glee as he spun around and bolted for the castle. As he ran, he ducked and dodged, weaving through the ponies that were going about their early morning errands. He knew he had but one chance at this, that today was it. With Starlight in the Crystal Empire working on a friendship lesson and Twilight and Rarity both in Canterlot, he had the castle all to himself and he rushed through the double doors and up the stairs, ducking down one of the outer hallways.

Starlight may still have had trouble navigating the many similar halls and rooms the palace had to offer, but Spike had learned the layout almost perfectly. All those hours of organizing for Twilight were about to finally pay off. He skidded to a stop in front of a simple tapestry flanked by a pair of potted plants. It looked just like any other bit of decoration in the place and only one who knew the layout of the other halls would have a clue that what should be here was a door.

Spike glanced around nervously, as if any moment he might be discovered. However he was alone, not even Owlowiscious was around to pester him and he cackled like the villain of one of his comics as he slipped behind the curtain and into his hidden room.

Inside the small chamber, little more than a storeroom, Spike had assembled a makeshift alchemist's lab. A large pot on a small bundle of sticks served as a cauldron while a series of bottles and reagents sat nearby next to a full-body mirror. On an overturned box next to the pot, an old book sat propped open, its pages filled with arcane script.

The young dragon lit a candle with a quick breath of dragon's fire and closed the door behind him. He set it down on the box and began to grab the reagents, reading over the pages several times. He had to get this right on the first try. It had been difficult enough to slip the old potion book out from under Twilight's scrutiny. Fortunately her focus on Starlight's lessons had left her with little time for the obsessive organizing of books she used to do, or at least as often, and that had provided her assistant with the opportunity to abscond with this hopeful treasure.

"Transmutagenic Tonic," the young dragon read out as he lined up the ingredients and set the sticks ablaze with a single breath. Following the instructions, he continued to read aloud as, one by one, he added each item to the pot.

First add strands of a pony's hair,
Mixed with Heart's Desire,
Add Powder from a Ruby rare,
All boiled with Dragon's fire.

The ingredients congealed into molten mass as he continued to read, watching in surprise as they began to liquefy, turning into a bubbling crimson broth. Checking over the instructions, Spike's face split with an excited grin. All was going perfectly. He turned the page and found no further instructions, but only a strange warning.

By moonlit cycle mark the shift,
By daylight shall it fade.
Until all the brew is drained and gone,
lest a painful price be paid.

"Huh? That's it? I thought there would be more..." he muttered to himself, checking the pages of the book. However he found nothing else about that particular potion. Glancing nervously at the bubbling broth, he carefully dipped a ladle into the mixture and brought it to his face.

This was it, no turning back. However the young dragon hesitated a moment, knowing full well that if this didn't work and he had brewed some kind of poison by mistake, then there would be nopony to help him. Still, he had to chance it and, bringing the ladle to his mouth, drained it.

Spike let out a gasp as the near boiling fluid ran down his throat. Though scalding temperatures was nothing to a dragon, the numbness that followed the spicy-sweet tasting potion took his breath away.

For a single horrifying moment, he thought that he was going to die. He couldn't breath, his body felt like it was being torn apart. He flailed his limbs and fell backwards, knocking over the candle which sputtered out on the floor. He rose, desperately bracing himself on anything as he found his breath returning to him in deep gasps. He struggled to the door, illuminated in the flickering light of the fire and as he pushed it open, daylight poured into the room.

Spike glanced back into the room and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He stared at his reflection and as his mind registered what he saw, he began to laugh in triumph.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Do you think you'll win the NAPOWRIMO contest?

[Night Spinner]

7691492

Honestly no clue, I just felt it was a good enough excuse to get this story idea out. ^_^