Change of Direction

The Hearts on Fire restaurant was quite the popular destination in Ponyville. Its delicious food, however expensive it may have been, made it a great once-in-a-blue-moon place to go. Spike had never gone himself before, only having lived in Ponyville for about a year. But when his first visit was promised the night before, he was anxious to get there the morning of.

The ringing of the clock tower bells signalled him to wake up, having slept in until eleven after going to sleep at a late hour the night prior. He gave his eyes a good rub, syncing the strokes almost perfectly with the bell. Spike recalled what Twilight had said the night before about "going early to save seats" and looked around, and as was expected, no one was around the tree house. He was all alone until lunchtime; at least, before a familiar face showed up at his door.

'Sweetie? What are you doing here?'

Sweetie simply giggled in response.

'Everyone's at the restaurant! I just wanted to tag along with you on your way there!' Sweetie replied. 'I know it's a little early, but it's a celebration!'

'Where are the other crusaders?' Spike said, peeking around the corners for the other young fillies. The thought of going alone with Sweetie, however nice it sounded, made his cheeks go a little red.

'They're already there, I just wanted to see how you were doing. Wait, are you blushing? You're funny, Spike!' Sweetie said, laughing at his expense. Spike knew it was against him, but he joined into the laughter anyway.

'Come on, Spike! Every minute you're making them wait!' Sweetie said, ushering Spike out the door. Before he could leave, though, Sweetie was already skipping away towards the restaurant, teasing Spike to hurry up.

'Oh, you're not beating me to my own party! It's on!' Spike called out, sprinting as fast as he could with Sweetie. No matter how hard he tried, though, she had too much of a headstart for him to catch up.

'Can't catch me, slowpoke? You can't even catch a cold!'

'That's the oldest one in the book! And you got an unfair headstart!' Spike yelled, already panting and slowing down. The restaurant was quite close by now, but he collapsed where he stood instead of heading inside. Sweetie, having already touched the door, was celebrating her sweet victory. After a few short-lived chants of "huzzah!", she went over to check on her dragon friend.

'Spike, are you okay? Wouldn't want you dying on your celebration day!'

Spike got up after a few more deep breaths, dusting himself off in the process. 'I've got to get into shape, wow!'

Sweetie giggled again, this time ushering Spike into the restaurant. Through a window, Spike could see Twilight and her friends sitting down, looking at Spike with big, goofy grins on their faces.

'You could use with a little bulking up!' Sweetie said as Spike went through the door. 'I mean, you got beat by a girl!'

Spike was too busy getting the attention from the ponies sitting at their table. In addition to Twilight and her friends, he could make out Scootaloo and Applebloom there, happily munching on an apple. Scootaloo wasn't happy once he saw Spike coming in, however.

'Hey everypony! Thanks a lot for showing up, it really means a lot to me!' Spike said, taking a spot in the center of.the large, circular booth they all were at. Sweetie took a seat next to Spike, letting Scootaloo take his other side. Although Sweetie was pleased with the arrangement, Scootaloo was on her breaking edge.

'So, Spike? It's a little early to eat, but we can take your order for you! Did you have breakfast yet?' Twilight remarked.

It wasn't until now that he noticed the vast, empty feeling he felt inside his stomach. A deep, growling sound confirmed his suspicions to everyone at the table.

'I guess you haven't! Let's just have a brunch, I had an early breakfast anyway!'

Everypony nodded their heads in agreement, each one making some sort of comment about an early or a missed breakfast that morning. It escalated to a discussion amongst themselves over what they should order, leaving Spike with the crusaders at his side.

'So, Spike. How does it feel to have ruined the crusaders? Probably feels good, doesn't it?' Scootaloo burst out quietly, not willing to make her opinion known to the grown-ups at the table.

'Scoots!' Applebloom responded. 'Why on earth would you ever say that? This is a time for Twilight and her friends to celebrate his hard work!'

Scootaloo merely shrugged at the notion, turning her attention to the glass of cool water sitting in front of her.

'How can you just say something like that? We want Spike in the group, and he hasn't done anything to bother you or ruin the group!' Sweetie chimed in. 'Besides, you're the one bringing us down with your attitude!'

Scootaloo didn't seem to care what any of them said, preferring to sip at her water in silence.

'Sorry, Spike,' Sweetie said, sighing. 'She's still a little confused, she'll learn to like you.'

The words didn't come as a relief to Spike, since he was too worried about making Scootaloo upset to feel better. He tried watching her movements, looking for anything he could say or do that would make her have a better attitude towards him. None came before the waiter came for the orders.

'What will you order, Spike? My sister says a lot of fancy words, maybe I can get something really cool if I say some of it,' Sweetie said, racking her brain for ideas.

'Well, waiter, I'd like a...' Spike began, trying to think of a fancy food to top Sweetie. '...poutine.'

Sweetie chuckled, realizing the game he wanted to play.

'I'll have a pasta la pizzeria!' Sweetie said confidently. The waiter appeared confused, but he wrote something down anyway, mumbling something about "ignorance" under his breath. Once he got the other orders, he went off into the kitchen, still grumbling.

'I think you insulted him,' Spike said, smiling at his newfound victory. 'Looks like I win this round.'

Sweetie simply stuck out her tongue in response to his boast.

A few minutes later, a different staff member came out of the kitchen clutching several appetizers, including a tray of nachos and a small bowl of some sort of creamy, frothy broth covered with a few sprinkles of red and brown.

Spike looked at it with great interest, realizing by Twilight's smile that it was ordered for him.

'I heard this was a really good dish, enjoy it Spike! Twilight said excitedly. 'It's something called "Cream of Apple", I think. It has some really good sprinkles of cinnamon and apple on top!'

Before Spike could say anything, he noticed that Scootaloo had been distracted from her water, choosing instead to focus her eyes on the broth. Her mouth was drooling slightly, but she quickly reverted to her water when she noticed Spike's observation.

'Thanks a lot, Twilight! It looks delicious!'

Twilight smiled brightly and resumed her conversation with her friends. Once they were all back to their discussions, nibbling at a tray of nachos, he took another look at Scootaloo. She still seemed lost into the glass of water.

'Hey, Scoot!'

Scootaloo grumbled at his use of her nickname, but she acknowledged him in the very least.

'This doesn't seem too appetizing to me, would you mind having it? Twilight would think I'm being offensive otherwise.'

Scootaloo slowly turned her head towards Spike, her mouth opening wide in amazement. She took another look at the bowl and lost her gaze into it, craving it even more than before.

'Really, I mean it. It's all yours.'

Scootaloo looked towards Spike again, this time acknowledging him with a small smile. She then proceeded to grab the bowl, but she hesitated before she could start drinking the frothy substance.

'No, I know you're just trying to be nice. You can have it, I won't be mad at you anymore. It's just... I don't know, I'm not used to talking to anypony besides Sweetie and Applebloom.' Scootaloo said, pushing the bowl back to Spike. At this point, the other crusaders had been listening in on the conversation, waiting to defend Spike at any moment.

'Thanks, Scootaloo. I just want to make some new friends!' Spike said with a wide grin plastered on his face.

'Hey, call me Scoots! It's shorter!' she replied, smiling as she went for the nacho bowl. And just like that, the other crusaders didn't need to defend Spike. Scootaloo lightened up significantly from there, choosing to talk and marvel with Rainbow Dash, who had conveniently been sitting next to Scootaloo.

'Good work, Spike!' Sweetie applauded Spike.

Several minutes and a couple nacho trays later, a fancy looking waiter came with a few plates surrounded by the magic from his horn. He began placing them around the table, which was met with overwhelming approval from the anxious ponies sitting in the booth.

'I'll get your bill later, miss Sparkle.' the waiter said, leaving to attend other business. Twilight cringed at the notion, distracting the thought with the food in front of her.

'That waiter sounded a little funny. Kind of like my sister sometimes when she's trying to impress or talk to some other fancy ponies. I hear her say that it's called "franch" or something,' Sweetie remarked. 'I don't really think ranch should be involved with language.'

She took a look at her plate, which looked like some mess of small pasta noodles and bits of pizza toppings. Spike took a look at his own course, not realizing that he had ordered some Caneighdian dish with fries, bits of cheese and plant gravy.

'Ugh, that didn't turn out as planned,' they said together, laughing when they looked at each other's courses.

'I guess we both lose, then! Oh well, better luck next time!' Sweetie said. 'Hey, did you want to try some?'

She began sliding over to Spike, getting closer and closer until they were practically touching.

'Oh, sorry for getting in your way!' Spile said, blushing as he slid over himself a bit. Sweetie frowned a little, but she quickly brought her attention back to her "pasta a la pizzeria".

'I'm not eating this.'

'Me neither!'

They both laughed and poked at their food for the remainder of the lunch, bringing the attention of nearly every customer in the relatively large restaurant. They aggravated the waiter even farther when he returned to clean up the dishes, to which Spike and Sweetie handed him their full plates, still chuckling. After Twilight begrudgingly passed the collective money from the table over, he stormed into the kitchen, where very loud bursts of profanity could be heard.

'Let's get out of here before he gets any madder!' Twilight said, ushering everypony at the booth to get out. Calls of "Thanks for your hard work, Spike!" was heard amongst Twilight's friends as they left the restaurant.

'Hey, Spike. I had an okay time, and maybe you aren't so bad after all,' Scootaloo said, playfully tapping Spike's shoulder with her hoof. She headed off out of the restaurant with Applebloom, who was also calling out her thanks for Spike's hard work.

'I had a great time, Spike. I hope we can do something like this again! Come to the tree house more often, we'll do some cool stuff!' Sweetie said, giving Spike a quick hug. At least, Spike assumed it was going to be a quick hug, but it was at least five mississippis before she realized what she was doing. She left quickly, blushing and waving on.her way out.

'Bye Sweetie!'

Twilight looked at Spike and smiled.

'Let's go, my number one assistant! You should go relax for the rest of the day, and I hope you liked it! Because if you didn't, I just wasted quite a few bits,' Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

Spike nodded his head on his way out, preferring not to tell her about the complete waste of food. He figured that she was too busy thinking about the money to have noticed the full plate of poutine he had given to the waiter.

As he walked outside, he noticed Sweetie heading back to her home with Rarity. Making his way back to his own home, he began thinking about a few things.

Have fun with my new friends at the tree house? No way I'd miss that!

Once he got inside the tree house, Twilight rustled his head scales a little and headed to her study. He went back to his bed, laid down despite it being the middle of the day, and closed his eyes.

'I'm going to enjoy the next little while.'

AND THAT’S THE END YOU PEOPLE