A Night for a Dragon and Pony
One-shot based off the "Friendship is Magic" series created by Lauren Faust, I own no characters or settings.
Before I start, understand that I do not know whether dragons have to leave Equestria when they reach adulthood. From the episode "Dragonshy" Applejack had asked 'what in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full-grown dragon doing here in Equestria?' This line sparked the idea, as did a series of pictures that had me in tears . . . manly epic tears of action . . . or something.
Regardless enjoy the story.
The green and purple scaled dragon sits on the middle step of the library stairway, struggling to catch his breath from the continuous running that got him there. He's staring at his claws in disbelief, as if he has never seen them before today, which in a small way is true. They're longer and sharper than he remembers and the green shade of color at the tips are certainly new; it makes him wonder what else is new. Jumping off the stairs and onto the wooden floor, he slowly approaches the mirror against the West wall, terrified of what he may see. It really isn't that bad though, the only things immediately noticeable are the curved spines on top of his head being more pointed and his fangs being sharper.
This was his worst nightmare, turning into some horrible monster; actually it was nightmare number two. The first nightmare is being alone, with no friends to keep him company. There were plenty of rational reasons for these fears, like how there were few full-grown dragons in Equestria, one of whom tried to fry him over a simple cave misunderstanding. While he was busy chasing Angel when the ponies traveled up the mountain to wake a dragon from a hundred year nap, Rainbow Dash had made sure to brag about the entire thing including an unflattering description of what he'll most likely become by Fluttershy herself.
Huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown up dragon.
Spike had vowed to never become that, but he never could erase the possibility from his mind. It was nature versus nurture in every sense of the word. If only there was some way he could research dragons and learn more about them as well as himself. It strikes him now that he lives in a library and just maybe a book could actually have the answers he was looking for. This level of the library held books focusing entirely on magic, so there's no need to search through them, at least not for the moment.
The second level had books on various creatures and their history with Equestria; he'd start there and not stop until he had at least one piece of useful information. A ruby shard from the kitchen calmed him ever so slightly as he savored its taste, finding comfort in the familiar territory of eating gems. What if gems won't be enough someday? The thought pops into his aching mind as he walks up the stairs, adding more incentive to study. Spike's aware that Twilight isn't far behind; he's surprised to have reached the home before she did, after-all four hoofs were better than two small . . . well there's another thing he can throw on the list of changes, he's taller. The ruby shard snaps in half from the pressure of his clenched teeth.
Twilight – as Spike had correctly predicted – stands outside the tree, concerned over how her assistant is reacting to the little incident with Rainbow Dash. A small, accidental scratch and he runs home, absolutely hating himself for some dramatic reason. On a slight brightside she had at least gotten home before the storm, obviously she had Dash and the fellow pegasui to thank for that. She gently pushes the door open with one of her front hooves, certain that somewhere in this library there's a guilt-ridden dragon who hates himself. She's surprised to see that the stairs at the end of the room are barren; it's always where Spike goes when he's upset, funny since they offer absolutely no privacy for sulking.
"Spike!" She calls, hoping that – as usual – he'd come hopping down the stairs to offer his assistance in whatever way he could. He doesn't though, which is expected. She closes the door, kicking it gently with her hind leg. "Spike!" She continues to yell, approaching the stairs. A large bang of thunder outside signals that everypony has five minutes to reach their homes before the storm starts. Adding to her previously mentioned surprise, she finds Spike hunched over a book when she reaches the second level, twisting his tail between his hands. Beside him is a rather large pile of other books, all focused on dragons and the parts they've played in history, they easily surpass him in height. "Spike, are you okay?" She asked, tone full of concern.
No reply.
"Don't worry about Rainbow Dash, she's not mad." Twilight explains, referring to the incident that started this whole mess. "She says the scratches actually look pretty cool." It's a bad attempt at making him laugh, one that proves unsuccessful. She approaches him, wondering why in all of Equestria he was behaving so uncommonly. It's odd when she sees the look in his emerald eyes, the fiery determination that she's never seen in them mixed with something else . . . fear? "Do you need any help? Maybe if you tell me what you're looking for I could try and find it." She offers.
"No thanks," He mutters; she's just grateful for a response.
"Are you hungry, I could bring up some dinner?" Now she's just grasping at straws, wandering through this new territory that is Spike's guilt with no guides or experience. Spike looks from the book up to Twilight and finally to the window near her, surprised to see the gray storm clouds hanging over Ponyville. Twilight is clearly worried about him, but in all honesty so was he. Spike returns to the book without giving an answer. Twilight's smart enough to get the hint, or so he hoped. "If you're looking for a good book I could grab one of my favorites?" Half of him is annoyed and just wants to be left alone, the other half says that she's just scared and playing the role of older sister. She walks around him, looking over his shoulder at the pages he's reading. "Dragons are known for their long lifespan, which tend to consist of long periods of isolation and –" Spike slams the book shut, his claws digging into the leather bound cover.
"Please leave me alone Twilight," He says, trying his best not to shout or project his anger on anything but the book in his hands, she's hurt nonetheless. The look on her face is unbearable to Spike and reminds him just how much of a dragon he's becoming. Anger is replaced with disappointment and self-loathing, actually the self-loathing has been there for awhile but it's now tripled. "Sorry," He mutters, ashamed. "I'd love dinner, if you don't mind grabbing it." This did a perfect job of erasing the hurt from her expression.
She nods and rushes downstairs, smiling as she went and giving him some time to think, gather and organize his thoughts. He struggles to pull his claws out of the book, hitting himself in the face when he finally gets free. The strike to the head gives him an altered view on things, like how useless it is to think these books can help him solve this problem and how desperate he has to be to have even thought that in the first place. Anger returns momentarily, and then comes the urge to cry in frustration.
He would have to if not for Twilight's swift return, two bowls levitating beside her. Last thing he needs is to wreck his masculinity by crying in front of her. "Topaz, your favorite." She says, pointing her horn to the ground. Actually she couldn't be more wrong, while topaz was fine it certainly was not his favorite, but the gesture is appreciated and he bites his tongue.
The bowls obey her command and set themselves down beside the young dragon. "Thank you." He says, unenthusiastically nibbling on a yellow gemstone. Twilight lies near him, digging into her salad and hay while looking over his pile of books. Spike knows this look, it's the one she gets when there's a puzzle present, and she has to solve it out of some compulsive need to know everything. It brings a smile to his face, only temporarily though.
"So . . . what's with all the books? You hardly ever read." She states, he'd be offended if it wasn't true. He can only think of one book he's ever actually read from cover to cover and it's not exactly Edgar Allen Poeny.
"I'm curious about some things." He says, being as vague as he can with Twilight, fully aware that she'd figure it out sooner or later.
"Some dragon things?" Spike nods, grabbing a handful of topazes from the bowl as well as another book from the pile. Twilight's mind is forming connections and running answers, fitting pieces together in record time. "You're scared about growing up." It's not a question or a guess, every part of her knows this is the answer, whether he admits it or not. Spike, amazed with how quickly she worked, sees no point in arguing with his roommate and nods, mouth filled with bits and pieces of topaz. "Spike, that's silly. You've still got so many years until you even start changing?"
Spike proceeds to show her the sharpness of his spines and fangs, avoiding the slight discoloration of his claws out of fear she'd assume he was paranoid. He recites the words Fluttershy used to describe dragons having memorized it word for word. "Someday I'll have to leave Equestria." Saying it out loud makes it feel worse, somehow makes it more real. Twilight, on the other hand, is surprised to see her assistant so afraid of the future. Earlier that morning he was concerned that Rarity wasn't going to notice his new cologne, now this? "I'll have to leave my friends behind." He mutters something under his breath, clearly embarrassed by whatever it is.
"What?" She asked, inching closer to him.
He's barely louder than before, but she's able to hear it. "I don't want to leave you," She's on the verge of tears because of this statement, realizing that this isn't one of his irrational fears like zombie ponies or clowns or even the frightening zombie clown pony. "I don't want to be alone." He continues, eyes watering and voice cracking, suddenly out of breath. Its complete silence in the house as Spike regains what little composure he has, feeling humiliated for showing such vulnerability in front of Twilight. He rubs at his eyes and shoves another gem into his mouth, glad to have an excuse to stop talking. Twilight is, in Spike's opinion, the smartest pony in all of Equestria, but only when it comes to books. Socially she is the most awkward creature ever known, which is everyponys opinion. Being this way she is clueless on what to say or how to act, Spike expects her to either make him feel worse or make herself look idiotic.
What happens next is quick and surprising, needless to say it is not what he expected.
She's hugging him. He's not sure if she used magic to bring him to her or if she jumped at him, or even if he ran to her himself. What he does know, however, is that he's enjoying the warmth of her open arms and fur pressing against his body. Spike breaks down and begins to cry, burying his face into her coat and sobbing. The thoughts of his unknown future, the fear of being alone and that sooner or later he'll never have the chance to laugh or play or cry with any of his friends ever again chewing away at him. He's embarrassed about crying in front of Twilight, but it quickly fades amongst his other thoughts.
They stay like this for four minutes, pressed against each other in near-silence. Spike occasionally whimpers something, but it comes out muffled against her body. The one thing she can understand, as well as being the word most repeated, is "alone". Twilight has a slightly better grip on her emotions and keeps from crying, but it's certainly not easy. Here was her friend . . . her assistant . . . her little brother torn up over a possibility that has little chance of happening. He could never just walk out of her life, never. A sudden flash of lightning and the sound of something crashing outside rob them of both the moment and the electricity. "Ugh . . . sorry." Spike mutters as they separate, wiping his eyes and clearing his throat. He's relieved that the lights are out, it keeps her from seeing him and how pathetic he believes he looks.
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked while waiting for her eyes to adjust, they don't get the chance though. With a small breath of fire, Spike ignites the tips of his claws on his left hand. Thick scales protect from any pain, he can't even feel the heat it's emitting. It nicely illuminates the area surrounding them in a shade of green, giving Twilight a brownish color. The mountain of books that he stacked had toppled over, leaving the floor a mess at least by a neat-freak like Twilight's standards. She could care less about whether or not the house was spotless, mind racing with possible solutions for Spike's problem.
"Not really, no." He says, deciding that there's really no point in masking the truth. "My head hurts, and every second it feels worse." Desperate to change the subject, Spike looks around for an excuse. "I'll go grab some candles, you stay here." He orders, walking down the stairs with the aid of his burning claws and leaving Twilight alone in the dark with her thoughts. She creates a small orb of light from her horn and begins to clean the room, finding peace and tranquility in the routine. No doubt Spike would want to keep reading, but she knows it will do nothing more than make him angry and stressed. Restacking the books in alphabetical order, she pushes them into a corner with faith in the out-of-sight out-of-mind rule. Spike will be upset, no doubt angry, but it's for the best.
Spike returns with four large green-flamed candles in one hand and a large number of what appear to be drastically thin books tucked under his arm. The orb of light Twilight conjured pops as Spike places three of the candles around the room, walking upstairs to the third level and putting the last one between their beds. He rushes back down and sets the books in front of the unicorn, not bothering to ask where all the previous books have gone because he already knows she moved them. He will drag them out of the corner when he gets the chance but until then he silently agrees, sure he'll make no real progress with what is basically his concerned older sister in the room and giving him all of her attention.
The room gives off a Halloween feel, or as Twilight has usually referred to it, Samhain. The eerie glow from the green flames mixing with the occasional flash of lightning and booms of thunder, this scene calls for a good murder mystery. The books Spike has brought up contradict this in every way imaginable, who is surprisingly smiling as he sits near her. It would be dramatically less surprising if she knew it was purely for her benefit. Twilight believes this is either very good . . . or very bad, but upon seeing the books laid out in front of her she gets swept up in nostalgia. "I found these covered in dust next to the candles. You read these to me a week after I hatched."
She doesn't need the reminder but is amazed that he remembers that himself, after all he had recently been hatched at that time and had either been asleep or hadn't appeared to be paying attention. These memories were the very first ones they shared and she could never forget them. Cartoon animals decorate the covers and none of them are longer than fifteen pages, each having only one or two rhyming sentences under illustrations. "I haven't seen these in years." She mutters, amazed.
"These aren't the same copies, but I'm sure you knew that." Spike's sure this'll distract her long enough for him to get farther in those history books, it was the only reason he brought up these filly novels in the first place. He rises off of the ground and slowly eases towards the corner, glancing out the window to see a black sky and flash of lightning.
"The happy little pony," She reads aloud, aware of his plan and making up her own. "The happy little pony jumps out of bed, laughing at the messy mane on her head." It's horribly cheesy, but Spike finds himself drifting down the same memories as Twilight. The fear in his mind quickly forgotten and replaced with images of Canterlot and a small nursery catering to newly hatched dragons, a young Twilight Sparkle leaning over his crib and smiling while making odd little baby-talk noises that could only be described as malformed Latin. "She slides on the floor and flew out the door." The rhymes were probably written by two year olds but it intrigues Spike nonetheless. He returns to Twilight's side and is shown the picture of a pony sliding across a shiny floor. This quickly reminds him of Pinkie Pie.
She continues to read to Spike, proud that her plan went off perfectly and that she knows him so well. Lying on his stomach with no open space between them, his arms are crossed in front of him with his chin pressed against them. He leans his head against her and listens as she continues to read story after story, momentarily at peace and relaxed. The pictures are all oddly colored thanks to the lighting of the candles around the room, but that takes none of the enjoyment out of the situation. Soon Twilight finds herself getting tired, sluggishly moving from page to page with Spike cuddled up against her. If she's lucky he'll fall asleep first, which seems unlikely considering his wide-eyed expression.
Unable to stay awake any longer, she stops reading and uses the book as a pillow. In the near silence she can hear Spike softly snoring amongst the sound of the rain patting against the glass. She doesn't dare wake him, the look on his face is far too precious for that. She falls asleep with a smile, glad that the day is finally over and hoping tomorrow would yield better results for Spike's research. Her blanket floats down from the stairs, ; it covers both of the sleeping creatures and provides warmth. The candles all blow out in unison, submerging the room in darkness.
Dreaming that he's in a cave surrounded by hundreds of thousands of gems, the walls surrounding him have the word 'monster' and 'alone' spray painted on in glowing white paint. So much for symbolism! The room echoes with the words on the walls, all speaking simultaneously and growing louder until he has to cover his ears. The voice . . . his voice . . . begins to screech and for a moment he's afraid his head will explode. The yelling suddenly stops, replaced with a sing-song tone of 'it's a choice' repeated over and over again. It begins to sound like Twilight.
He much preferred the straight approach this dream had originally taken.
"It's a choice, it's a choice, it's a choice!" She squeals, hopping up the stairs and towards the now wide awake dragon. Spike jumps to his feet and salutes, unsure as to why. He brings his arm down, rubs at his pounding, and gives Twilight a look that could melt ice. It's certainly not Fluttershy's infamous stare but he's pretty proud of it.
She continues jumping in place, he finds it disorientating. "Wake up all of Ponyville why dontcha?" He groans, voice nowhere near as awake as the rest of him. "What are you screaming about anyway?"
"You!" She shouts, gaining yet another jump from her frightened assistant. "You can stay in Equestria if you want to!" More shouting, it'd be annoying if he wasn't so happy. A large smile spreads across his face, showing those two sharp fangs.
His hope is quickly replaced with disbelief, "How do you know?" He asked, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
"I tore up the library looking through books but I finally found it!" Twilight head back down stairs without another word, Spike, either confused of still not fully awake, moans and follows. By her standards 'tore up' will probably mean about ten or twelve books stacked in the center of the room, which is why Spike's jaw is nearly touching the floor when he reaches the first floor. Scrolls are littered amongst the floor, but they don't compare to all the books that have been pulled down from the now bare shelves and have actually formed small hills.
"I'm going to have to clean this up," He sighs, certain that in all this mess there has to be something related to him. Reaching the bottom of the steps he finds himself thankful for the slight growth in height, it makes it easier to trudge through this mess. Twilight stops near a coffee table, a dark brown book resting on its clean top, it looks out of place amongst the cluttered room. The pages are split almost perfectly down the middle, but he can somewhat make out the title, sadly it was not one of the many books he had gathered yesterday.
"You're a gemma dragon," He's looking over the images on the page and the weird font the text is written in. She's speaking in her lecturing tone, which she usually claims gives her confidence. "So no eating ponies in one bite, all you'll ever crave will be gems and herbs." He knew that, but coming from Twilight it's a fact. More information follows, some of it Spike already knows and some things he doesn't. A few words go over his head, but with each passing sentence he finds himself just a little happier. "Applying all this to the laws and regulations of Equestria, you would only have to leave if you intentionally cause somepony harm."
"It's a choice," He mumbles, biting his lower lip. "It's a choice!" He shouts, joyously laughing and grabbing Twilight's hooves, spinning in a circle. He nearly trips over the piles and piles of books on the floor but never enough to actually fall. "I love ya Twi!" Eventually she's leaning back on her hind legs, the only support coming from his outstretched arms holding her up. It's like they reached the finale of a romantic tango, neither sure how spinning in circles led to this. Spike blushes when he notices how close his face is to hers, "Sorry." He chuckles. Twilight quickly kisses his nose, giggling at how red his face turns.
"Glad to see you smiling again." She says, returning to a more comfortable stance. "Wish I knew it was that easy in the first place, could have saved us some time."
"Wait, if it's a choice then why are there so few dragons in Equestria?" She hadn't expected anymore questions, especially after that display of unrestrained happiness.
She never actually found the answer to that one, but she could use common sense to guess on this one. "Well they probably wanted to be with other dragons and start families of their own. Now let's clean this place up and get breakfast." He nods, content that for now things are the same; someday they won't be though, that's very far away and until then he has Twilight to keep him grounded in the present, no matter how cheesy or cliché it may sound.
He's grateful, that she'd tear up an entire floor over him and that she'd go through book after book after book just so he wouldn't be as afraid of the future. He clears his throat and prepares to voice it, to tell her how much she means to him. "One last thing, could . . . could you not mention this to anyone else. The crying thing might wreck my chances with Rarity." Not what he had in mind, but sooner or later he'll voice his appreciation and love, after all he's not going anywhere.
"Sure, why not." She says, snickering at the return of his regular behavior. "But some girls love emotional dragons."
"Really?"
A/N: A bit of sibling fluff between Twilight and her number one assistant that seemed appropriate for the moment, I would like to say that – while Rarity/Spike is a nice match – I prefer the Twilight/Spike shipping, so if you get any hints of romance than . . . your probably right. Maybe my next tackle into MLP will be more romantic centered if anyone enjoyed this one.
Have a great night.