Spike's Secret

by Strawberry Sunrise

A Veritable Avalanche

“I’m home!” Twilight called. “And I got you your favorite, Spike!”

Spike’s footsteps echoed in the distance until he arrived at the castle entrance. “The new Power Ponies comic?”

“Well, yes…” Twilight said, hoofing over the comic. Spike grinned as he took the comic, his eyes glowing with joy.

“Thank you!” Spike said. “This is the one where the Masked Matterhorn is finally going to come face-to-face with the Sinister Seapony!”

“No spoilers!” Twilight said. “I still need to catch up!”

“You really do,” Spike said. “Then we can finally talk about who would win in a fight - Super-Filly or the Roan Ronin? I’m thinking the Roan Ronin because just last issue -”

“No spoilers, remember!” Twilight said.

“Right, sorry,” Spike said. He turned to leave.

“Wait!” Twilight said. “I got you this!” She held up a large emerald. “I thought you might like a snack to go with your reading.”

“Oh, uh…thanks,” Spike said. He took the emerald with a quick smile, then dashed off.

ONE MONTH LATER

“I’m home!” Twilight called. “Oh, hi, Spike!”

Spike was already at the entrance this time, nearly bouncing with anticipation.

“Looks like somepony’s excited!” Twilight said, hoofing over the newest Power Ponies issue. “Don’t forget to let me read it next!” She had caught up during the past month and was nearly as excited as him, though she was doing a better job of keeping it in check.

“I can’t believe they left it on that cliffhanger!” Spike said. “But this is the end of the arc, so things have to be resolved this time.”

“I got you a little something else, too,” Twilight said. “Can you guess what it is?”

“A…chocolate cake from Sugarcube Corner?” Spike asked.

“Not quite, but it’s even better!” Twilight said. She pulled out a large emerald and gave it to Spike.

Spike was looking intently down at the comic cover and didn't say anything for a moment. He looked back up and took the emerald. “Oh, thanks!” he said, then he left.

ONE MONTH LATER

“...the new issue!”...

“This one’s the beginning of a new arc! The Power Ponies are teaming up with the Beautiful Breezies to save the rainforest!"...

“And the Broken Bronco; don’t forget him!”...

“Don’t forget this!”...

“Thanks...”

ONE MONTH LATER

“It’s here!”...

“Thanks!”...

“Wait, I also got you…THIS!”

…

…

…

Spike sighed, ran his palm down his face, and took a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, putting the emerald she had been holding out back into her saddlebag.

“Twilight, there’s…there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for…a long time,” Spike said.

“Oh…?” Twilight said. “Is it something to do with the comic?”

“No, it’s not that. Look, maybe it would be easiest if I just show you,” Spike said.

“Sure…” Twilight said, her face betraying a mix of confusion and concern.

Spike sighed again. “Follow me,” he said. The two of them began walking through the castle’s many labyrinthine passages, heading toward the lower levels where only magical torches lit the way.

“You know that locked room we found when we were first exploring the castle?” Spike asked. “The one that wouldn’t open even with magic?”

“Yes…?” Twilight said. “I still have some theories about that. Like maybe we need to do a certain number of missions from the cutie map to get it to open, or maybe we…”

“I got it open months ago,” Spike said, his tone impassive.

“You…you what?!” Twilight exclaimed, momentarily breaking her stride.

“I found the key; it was just in one of the other rooms of the castle,” Spike said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Twilight asked.

By this point, they had reached the door. A slight glow was emanating from its edges.

Spike sighed one last time. Then he inserted the key, which he had already been surreptitiously carrying with him, into the lock, turning it slowly. “This is why. You, uh…might want to stand back.”

He pulled, but nothing happened. “Um…sometimes it sticks.” He pulled again. And again. And…

The door flew open and a veritable avalanche of gems came tumbling out - emeralds, diamonds, rubies, opals, and many more of all shapes and colors.

Twilight yelped in surprise, her legs skittering as gems spilled all over the floor, but she ultimately steadied herself without falling.

“What is all this?!” she asked. “You had a secret snack closet all this time?”

“Well, I, uh…guess you could say that,” Spike said.

“Where did you even get all of these?!” Twilight asked.

“Some of them were already here,” Spike said. “I think it’s just for storage, and the magic on the door was just to make it especially secure.”

“And the rest…?” Twilight said. “You haven’t been stealing, have you? I know dragons sometimes hoard things they’ve gained through…illegitimate means, but I thought you knew better!”

“That’s the part I really didn’t know how to tell you,” Spike said. He took several deep breaths, then mumbled, “They’re from you.”

“What…?” Twilight asked.

“They’re from you,” he repeated more clearly. “And some of our friends, too.”

“But…” Twilight said.

“I don’t like gems, Twilight. I never have,” Spike said. He paused. “Well, in the culinary sense, that is. I do still appreciate their beauty, of course.”

“You don’t…but I’ve been buying you gems for years!” Twilight said. “I thought you loved them! Especially emeralds.”

“Nope,” Spike said. “Can’t stand them. The first few times I ate them to be polite, and after that it just seemed like it was too late to tell you. Owlowiscious has always said I should - I used to get him to hide them somewhere outside back when we lived in the library - but I just couldn’t do it. Occasionally I’ll eat one and fake enthusiasm if you or somepony else is around and I really can’t get out of it, but otherwise I just hide them here. I’m sorry, Twilight.”

“But…don’t dragons need to eat gems as part of their diet?” Twilight said. “I know you usually eat pony food, too, but you won’t get the proper nutrition if you don’t…”

“No,” Spike said. “We can eat gems, but we don’t have to; we can get proper nutrition from regular pony food just like you or Rarity or anypony else.”

“So when you’ve mentioned chocolate cake before…” Twilight said.

“Yes, that was…sort of a hint,” Spike said. “That’s what I would see as a real treat, the same as you would.”

“Wow, I’m…I’m sorry, Spike,” Twilight said. “I should have known.”

“I’m sorry, too; I shouldn’t have let it go on for so long without telling you,” Spike said. “You must have wasted so many bits…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Twilight said. “It’s okay.”

“So…now that you know, what should we do with all of these?” Spike asked.

“You mean you’re willing to give up your hoard?” Twilight asked in a playful tone.

“Very funny,” Spike said. An idea occurred to him. “Maybe we could just give them all to Rarity?”

“I think she’d like that very much,” Twilight said with a smile. “I’m sure she could use them to make all kinds of lovely dresses!”

“Great!” Spike said. “But can I read the new comic before we take them over to her?”

“Sure,” Twilight said. “Just help me clean these up first.”

“Of course,” Spike said. He set the comic down and started gathering up the gems.

“So what do you think might happen in this issue?” Spike asked.

“Well, we know Saddle Rager is still missing ever since she followed that mysterious animal call off the path in the rainforest, so I’m sure the rest of the team will be looking for her. Unless the issue is about her adventures after that and so we see…”

The End

Author's Note:

I considered making this a crackfic where any hints were red herrings and the actual secret was something completely different that comes out of nowhere, but decided to still go with this. In retrospect, it's kind of similar to Secrets and Pies in a general sense, but I think it's still different enough.

Comments

[Wild Stallion]

Short but sweet story. Very interesting idea with that revelation at the end.

I never thought about it before, but it makes for an interesting secret if nothing else.

[Starswirl the Beardless]

This wasn't a bad story, but at the same time, I can't really say anything good about it. As you acknowledged, the premise is similar to one that was already used in the show, but you didn't really do anything creative with it beyond switching up characters. Also, I'm not sure that the scenario you chose is even that realistic. I can't imagine what was probably a very young Spike pretending to like a food to make Twilight feel better. When little kids don't like something, they'll generally say so, so I find it hard to believe he kept up the charade for so long.

[miceordogs]

PINKIE GASP

[i_am_the_jam]

You might want to add the Alternate Universe tag, because when he ran away and discovered the hoard of that green dragon in the Everfree Forest, he was very enthusiastic when he ate gems until his stomach was bulging.

And there's the episode where he tried baking a jewel cake but he kept eating the jewels...

[Tempest_Flare]

I've had a theory about dragons and their relationship with gems and how they actually do need to eat them that I've implemented in most of my stories.

Dragon eggs are damn near indestructible as we've seen especially from spikes egg the whole thing with dragon scales that's been hinted at many times is also another reason for this dragons need to eat gems to reinforce their scales and in females cases to produce the material that creates the outer shell of the egg they eat gyms as they're typically made with incredibly hard minerals their bodies suggest and process the material that the gems are made up of three force their scales and make them stronger and more magically resistant if a dragon eats all diamonds they would be incredibly tough

[readsponies]

11550447
Not to mention his drooling over the fire ruby he eventually gave to Rarity.

[Phase88]

Well, that was... anticlimactic ^^'
The writing was still good enough to keep me hooked all the way through, I'll give you that ^^'

[miceordogs]

11550429
Very true.

[Little_Draco]

Plot twist: Twilight I actually like to eat... meat!

[Frankie2]

Interesting. I like the interaction between Spike and Twilight concerning the comics more than the big secret.

[fanreader999999]

Not bad, but sweet.

[syphacis]

11551065
i was sure the story was going that way, it would have definitly be interesting to see twilight response to that revelation

[Star Sage]

This would be like Cheech and/or Chong saying they're not into the legalization of a certain plant.

[iloveportalz0r]

“You…you what?!” Twilight exclaimed, momentarily breaking her stride

This sentence is missing its period thingy

[Alondro]

11551065 "Twilight... I want to..."

"I know, Spike! You want to date Rarity!"

"N-no... I wanna... eat her."

"Y-you mean like in... those novels I hide under my mattress?"

"More like the way Quarry Eels ate Dash last week."

"Oh... WHAT?!"

"Eh, Dash was pretty into it, from what I heard."

"For the first time, I DON'T want to know all the details."

[Little_Draco]

11551768
Yeah sure... if we headed that direction too.

[twidash1993]

I love the fact that Twilight reads Power Ponies with him!

[KnightMysterio]

That certainly went better than that one time with Celestia and the tea.

[Hotel_Chicken]

“Very funny,” Spike said. An idea occurred to him. “Maybe we could just give them all to Rarity?”

"Oh my, thank you dear... This... this is quite generous and... oh, I can't lie to you, Twilight. I hate emeralds. Just-just look at that color! It's green! Nothing but green, green, and more green! It can be paired nicely with a few other colors, but I always like to use them in subtle ways. And, and this is just too many gems regardless of their color. Thank you, dear, but I just can't accept it, but I do appreciate the offer."