The Heart Of Avarus
Chapter 2
By Daniel Bennett
Today Twilight was at the Canterlot library and as such it became an impromptu day off for Spike. Not many ponies needed to use the library in Ponyville besides her so it wouldn't be TOO bad if he was napping. His sleep however was disturbed by three loud raps on the door. "One moment please!" Spike called to the unexpected visitor as he raced down the stairs, nearly tripping over himself In the process. Opening the door he discovered a pony that he wouldn't have expected to see any time soon.
Standing in front of the door was The Great and Powerful Trixie or at least that's how she always refers to herself anyways. "What are you doing here this time Trixie? Things always seem to go wrong when you come to town, after the last time I hope you've learned your lesson," cautioned the small dragon. "Ah yes, I truly am sorry for how poorly I behaved on my visits to Ponyville. I swear I've undergone a great change and despite apologizing after the last incident I still feel that I owe everypony something more," explained the silver haired unicorn. He waited for her to finish before his face softened "Thank you, The Great and Apologetic Trixie, it takes a strong pony to say that and it means a lot. I wish you could talk to Twilight while you're here but she's at the Canterlot Library," Spike explained. She took a deep breath and sighed "That's quite alright, apologies can be made at any time although I do hope my reiteration to her will happen sooner rather than later. But that aside, the more pressing reason that I came here was to give her a gift," informed Trixie.
She produced a red gem out of her pouch and handed it to the young dragon. As he took the gem in his claws it felt hot to the touch yet this feeling seemed to dissipate from the stone and spread through his own body. He felt entranced by the gem until Trixie spoke again "Please give this to Twilight when she returns, it is a powerful gem that I had found in my travels. Incredibly, it kept me warm in the winters with some kind of magic that is always "on" so to speak. I don't know if there Is a limit to it's magic or if it's somehow infinite. But in either case I think it is certainly worth investigating given it's potential. I'm sure Twilight will be able to find many uses for it," shared the magical pony.
"I'm sure she'll be ecstatic once she gets back, so thank you very much." As Spike accepted the gift he gave her a warm smile in return. "Would you like to stay until she gets back? It won't be until this evening but there are plenty of books you'd find interesting." He motioned to the shelves covering the walls full of books and tomes while still clutching the gem in one hand. "Or if you had other stuff to do you could come back later," suggested the dragon. "No no that's quite alright I really must be going now, If I stay much longer im bound to miss my train and I've got too many appointments to keep," rushed Trixie as she took a few steps backwards "Tell her I hope to see her again soon, bye now." She waved and Spike mimicked. Then she left at a brisk pace, headed towards the train station.
Closing the door Spike set off upstairs while humming. It seems like she did change after all and he was glad. Now that that was done with he'd be able to return to his nap. But before doing so Spike decided to open his chest for a nice emerald snack. After quickly devouring it without much grace the dragon curled up on his bed, still clutching the gem so as not to lose it.
Once again he was awoken, this time it was from a flame as scroll appeared in front of him. It was a note from Twilight explaining that she was reading some very interesting books and was going to be spending the night there. Or at least that was an approximation of what the note said, to be truthful he was still half asleep and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes again. He shifted back into a comfortable position and in doing so rattled the gems that were piled underneath him. Very strange that he couldn't remember taking the gems out of his chest and sleeping on them but on the other hand they were also very very comfortable. They also felt much smaller than he remembered them, but such a thing isn't a concern for the half awake dragon as he was quickly no longer that.