Changing World
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Chapter 2: Fear of the Dark
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"Twilight!"
Spike's eyes opened wide, only to find themselves staring into the purple irises of his unicorn friend, which appeared rather black in the pale moonlight.
"Ssshh, it's alright," she said softly, though with perceptible worry in her voice.
"What... what happened?" the dragon asked hoarsely, sitting up abruptly to inspect his surroundings.
"You had a nightmare. I heard you call my name."
Spike noticed that his claws had pierced holes into the new blanket Applejack had given him earlier as a birthday gift, and that the now charcoal-tainted rim of his basket reeked of burnt reed.
"I did?" he said in a low tone, rubbing his arm in embarrassment. "Well, sorry for waking you up."
Twilight shook her head. "Don't worry about that. Actually, I'd been finishing a book and had barely just gone to bed. Do you think you'll be able to go back to sleep?"
Reminiscing details of his dream that he wished he could erase from his memory, he clutched his tail and turned his head away.
"I don't know. I think I'd rather stay awake for a while. Would it bother you if I... just lit up a candle so it won't be so dark?"
"No, of course not. We'll leave a light on for the night if it can make you feel better."
While fetching the little lamp she used for her late night reading, Twilight wondered what kind of nightmare could have left her roommate so frightened. Lately, he had been particularly hard to get out of bed in the morning. Whether his dreams revolved around giant tasty gems, castles made of chocolate cake or Rarity finally falling for his awesome mustache – from what little sense she could make of his mumbled protests – most of the time, they seemed to be a lot more interesting than the idea of getting up for a good breakfast. Less pleasant ones tended to leave him in a rather grumpy mood, but it generally would not be long before he would shrug them off and even come to laugh at their absurdity.
Twilight could not quite recall the last time a nightmare had really scared him to the point of fearing the dark, though she did remember that the princess Celestia used to let her read the dragon hatchling to sleep when he was still under her care. The young student would carefully avoid stories that included evil dragons getting slayed by brave stallions in shining armor and, most of the time, she would change the ending to make the dragon win the heart of the fair lady and live happily ever after.
Of course, when Spike had gotten old enough to read, it had not been very long until he had found out that the dragon never was a good guy in the original tales. Despite his disappointment, he had said that he understood the dread ponies had always been inspired by his imposing ancestors – after all, they could not breathe fire and they had no claws or fangs to protect themselves. He had asked Twilight if she would also be afraid of him once he would have become a big dragon like the ones in her books. She had replied that it could not happen, because he was nothing like them; he was the friendliest dragon in all of Equestria and she knew he would never try to harm her.
Spike had seemed somewhat reassured, but as time passed, Twilight could tell that his head was filling up with questions he dared not ask, maybe by fear of being reminded of the many ways he was so different from everyone around him, or simply because he knew he would get no helpful answers. Living among ponies did not change the fact that he was not one himself, and he knew that despite his appearance, he was not like other dragons either. Normal individuals of his race did not make friends with different species and most definitely not with ponies. They did not read, cook or sleep in a basket. All the dragons he had ever heard about were a subject of terror. They lived alone in caves where they spent most of their time hoarding treasures and sleeping. Aware that he was caught in between two worlds from which he was bound to feel equally estranged, Spike had simply complied with the equine reality he had been brought up into, without ever confronting the expected behaviors he would not have spontaneously acquired in his natural environment.
As these thoughts ran around in Twilight's head, she realized that she had never really pondered how hard it must have been for Spike to find his place in a world that wasn't his. He had adapted surprisingly well to the ponies' pacific lifestyle and had willingly adopted their values, which contrasted heavily with the innate propensity of most dragons to avoid company, trust no one and seek only their own interest, not to mention their predatory instinct.
The princess had somehow succeeded in making him a vegetarian – limiting his uncommon food to gems – and in teaching him to keep his fire breath from causing too much damage. As Twilight's visits to the Canterlot nursery had become more frequent – motivated mostly by the opportunity she saw there to learn on a subject that was barely even mentioned in informative books – the baby dragon had manifested a growing affection for the filly who had hatched his egg by an eager desire to please her, which he later demonstrated by offering to assist her with her work.
At first unwilling to let anyone invade her personal space while she was studying, Twilight had been surprised to see how helpful the little creature turned out to be, especially when it came to tasks that required a dexterity that ponies lacked. He also had a good memory, which allowed him to learn fast and to locate books fairly quickly. Even at such a young age, the studious unicorn had other things on her mind than making friends, but she had grown fond of the little guy, whose easygoing demeanor had a way of breaking through her shell. After a while, she had come to appreciate his company itself as much as the efficient help he provided her and even to view him as her own apprentice.
Now her long-time official assistant, Spike's sarcasm sometimes rivaled her own pessimism and he had his less obliging days, but he possessed an overall light-hearted nature that counterbalanced her seriousness more harmoniously than she would have thought it possible. Despite his frequent lack of discipline and delicacy, his affection for Celestia's student was still very evident and, through the years, he had proven to be a faithful and devoted friend.