Lightning Dust stood there in her pose with a proud smile on her face. She opened her eyes and looked down at the young dragon and saw him scratching the top of his head with his claw.

“Man, I wonder if you'd remember me if I had a gem.” chuckled Lightning as she always remembered he had a fondness for gems.

“Uh, yeah, I guess it has been a while.” replied Spike who had no idea who this Pegasus was. She bared a familiar appearance to a Pegasus that Rainbow Dash had mentioned when she was at the Wonderbolts Academy. “But maybe talking about what's been going on wouldn't hurt.” Spike needed to distract her from his nervous face as he tried to come up with a way out of the conversation.

“Alright, well you probably wouldn't remember since its been years. But it all began when I was just a little filly....

(Flashback)

A young filly Lightning Dust could be seen walking down the blackened path of the town as she was heading to her best friend's house. She had big news that she needed to tell Sunset Shimmer, as in right now.

She finally made it to the large tree that looked like a cross between a tree and a castle. She knocked on the door before waiting a few minutes until the young Sunset Shimmer answered the door.

“Hey there Lightning.” said Sunset who smiled at seeing her friend come over.

“Yo Sunset, I’ve got great news for ya.” said Lightning walking inside as she closed the door with her back leg. “You know how I’ve been training for the upcoming Shadowbolt tryouts?” asked Lightning.

“Yeah, but I thought you had to be older to join?” asked Sunset.

“You do, but when I got there, I showed them my latest trick, and they decided to let me become their apprentice!” exclaimed Lightning in excitement as her wings flew her around in circles due to her excitement.

“Congratulations. I've got some exciting news too. I just became Princess Solar Flare's pupil!” exclaimed Sunset in equal excitement as she joined Lightning in jumping around in excitement at their accomplishments.

Lightning was the first to calm down as she landed next to Sunset with a down expression on her face. “But there's a catch. They want me to go with them to the Everfree Forest to train for a while.”

Sunset stopped jumping as she stared at her friend in surprise. “What? For how long?” asked Sunset.

“A few years.” replied Lightning who knew they only had this moment to say goodbye to each other for a while.

Sunset looked down as she wouldn't be able to see her friend for years. Lightning saw this and tried to cheer her up. “Don't worry, I’ll be back after I’m done training. I promise you that I will be back in a few years.” replied Lightning holding her hoof over her chest.

That seemed to help as Sunset put up a smile for her friend before she suddenly remembered something. “Ooh, I almost forgot. I've got someone living with me now.” replied Sunset.

“Who?” asked Lightning wanting to hear who it was.

“He's right here.” replied Sunset walking over to a crib that layed on the couch. Both unicorn and Pegasus looked down to see a small purple dragon with green spines on his head and a pointed tail, which he was currently suckling on like a binky.

“Isn't he adorable? Princess Solar Flare hatched him from an egg and named him Spike. She let me take care of him to get him adjusted to living with ponies.”

“Awesome! Can he breath fire?” asked Lightning who had never seen a baby dragon before.

It seemed young Spike had an idea what the Pegasus wanted and gave his own reply by breathing a small green flame.

Sunset and Lightning were mesmerized by how beautiful the flames looked and stared at Spike as the young dragon seemed to be sleepy if his droopy eyes were any indication.

“Aww, looks like he tired himself out.” Sunset reached into the crib and held the baby dragon as she carried him upstairs and layed him down in a basket that had been made just for him.

“So when do you leave?” asked Sunset tucking young Spike in.

“Tomorrow.” muttered Lightning who wasn't a fan of saying goodbyes. Especially to her friends.

Young Spike seemed to sense something was wrong and held his tiny claws out in an attempt to get attention. Sunset looked at Spike and saw he began to fidget around in his basket.

“Spike, what's wrong?” Sunset reached in and pulled out Spike, which seemed to give Spike the chance to squirm out of her grasp before he crawled over to Lightning's hoof and held onto it like a child would to a toy.

“Spike, what's wrong?” asked Sunset who was confused why Spike was holding onto Lightning's hoof all of a sudden.

“I'm not one for being able to read minds, but I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that he doesn’t want me to go.” replied Lightning as she tried to yank her hoof out of the dragon's grip, only for him to hold on tighter.

“Really, but he just met you.” said Sunset who seemed intrigued by this info. Perhaps it was instinct that made Spike crawl out an grab onto Lightning's hoof. Maybe he sensed how sad they were, and just reacted.

“Well I can't just change my plans, but maybe this will help.” Lightning lifted her hoof up until Spike was hanging upside down and staring her in the eyes. “How bout this little guy, if I promise I’ll be back to you too, will you let go of my hoof?”

Spike may have been young and have no knowledge of speaking, but his mind recognized what she was saying, and that made him shake his head in yes. He let go before realizing he was not on the ground. He would have hit the floor, but Lightning was just as fast as her name said and caught him safely with her other hoof.

“Easy there fella. You're not gonna fall.” Lightning handed the dragon to Sunset, who tucked Spike into his basket and made sure he was tucked in before seeing Lightning out and waving goodbye.

(Flashback End)

“...and so it was after that day that I began my intense training with the Shadowbolts.” finished Lightning Dust.

Spike scratched a part of his head that had suddenly started to itch for some reason. When she was half way through the story he started to feel an itch that seemed odd as it was there, but he didn't feel the need to scratch it. Like it wasn't a normal itch.

It seemed that the more he scratched the spot, he began to feel like he remembered this stuff. It seemed strange, but it was like memories he never had before began to appear in his head. A picture of Twilight looking over him when he was real young popped into his head, before her image was replaced with Sunset's. It suddenly felt like his head was pounding as it felt like the memories themselves were fighting each other.

Lightning Dust noticed young Spike seemed to holding his head. “Spike, are you alright?” asked the worried Pegasus who noticed the pained expression on his face.

Spike felt the pain slowly start to vanish before replying. “Yeah, I’m alright.” reassured Spike.

“Ya sure?” Lightning Dust held a hoof to his forehead to see if he had a high temperature.

“Yeah, really. I'm just-” Spike's stomach chose that moment to growl in hunger.

Lightning Dust let out a chuckle at hearing Spike's stomach growl like a Timber Wolf. “Hungry?”

Spike just rubbed the back the back of his head with his claw as he could feel his face begin to blush. He had completely forgotten that he hasn't had anything to eat since he arrived in this backwards dimension.

“Well it's good thing we're near Cherry's place. Come on.” replied Lightning who picked up Spike with one of her hooves and put him on her back. “Hang on.” replied Lightning as she instantly shot into the air with the young dragon clinging tightly to her back as the both of them were high above the backwards town of Ponyville.

Spike looked over the Pegasus' side as he saw they were above what appeared to be Apple Acres, except it looked different. He noticed they were beginning to descend and held on tightly until Lightning successfully landed.

“We're here.” Spike carefully got off Lightning's back and looked around to see that this as definitely NOT Apple Acres.

The land around them was filled with trees that were smaller and had cherries on each one. He also saw that a small house occupied where the barn used to be. He could also see a different pony on the porch as she waved to them after seeing them land. The pony trotted up to them to reveal a mare with a whitish coat on her body. She had a cherry cutie mark and a pink ribbon around her neck in a knot. Her mane and tail were red like the cherries and were curled. Her hair stood up a little and had a yellow bandanna around it to keep it up. She also had green eyes and a beauty mark on her left cheek.

“Hey Cherry.” greeted Lightning to the earth pony.

“Hi there Lightning. And hello to you too Spike.” Cherry crouched down to meet Spike in the eye and rubbed her cheek against his, which got a good response from the dragon as his face looked almost like a tomato.

“Easy there Cherry. We both know how you get around Spike.” teased Lightning as Cherry pulled her head back with a slight pink on her cheeks. She just turned towards the Pegasus with her own glare, if you could call that one with her blush.

“Oh don't try to play if off. I've seen the way you look at him too.” countered Cherry who smirked at seeing the Pegasus try and fail to come up with a comeback.

Spike could feel this wasn't going to end well and just waved his claw around their faces to get their attention. “We came here to grab something to eat.” replied Spike saying what they came there for in the first place.

Cherry put a hoof to her face as she felt her face heat up from embarrassment. “Oops, sorry about that.” replied Cherry. “Well, then let's get something into ya little Spike.” replied Cherry who gladly picked up Spike with her hoof and put her on her back. “My famous cherry pie will do just the trick.” Cherry trotted to the house with Lightning behind her, trying to get rid of her blush.

“I don't know what's she's talking about. Sure Spike is small and has a childlike innocence that makes him extremely cute, that and he's real polite, and he's-.” Lightning quickly shook her head to try and calm down. “Come on Lightning, don't lose focus.” the captain of the Shadowbolts proceeded to follow the earth pony and dragon while finally getting her blush under control.

What the three of them didn't know, was that they were being watched by two different parties.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Trixie and Gilda popped their heads around the corner of one of the cherry trees as they kept a good watch on Spike and Lightning soaring above the clouds. They were trailing them to keep an eye on Spike as the young dragon had been acting suspicious earlier.

“So Trixie, what's the plan?” asked Gilda looking at her unicorn friend.

“Simple. We keep following them and see if Spike acts any differently. If he shows any signs that are different, we tell Sunset, then the princesses.” replied Trixie watching as the group of three disappeared into the house.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The view of the small house and the two eavesdroppers could be seen by a crystal ball that sat on a small podium in the throne room of the castle that housed the entire countries rulers.

Two tall ponies, who happened to be alicorns, stepped forward and their figures were revealed by the glow the torches made from the walls of the castle.

The first figure had crimson red fur, red wings, and her mane and tail were flames themselves. She had a sun cutie mark and had orange colored armor and violet eyes with slits. This was Princess Solar Flare.

The second figure was shorter than the first, but was similar. This figure had pitch black fur, black wings, and her mane and tail seemed to waver like the stars and cosmos themselves. She had a crescent moon cutie mark and had blue armor and aquamarine eyes with slits. This was Princess Nightmare Moon.

“It seems young Spike has attracted the attention of your student's friends.” replied Nightmare Moon turning towards her sister.

“Well what do you expect? He is of royalty, and my precious son, so it's no wonder they would be interested in him.” replied Solar Flare with a tone of pride, and what sounded like strained joy.

“Do I detect a hint of jealousy?” asked Nightmare Moon giving her sister a smug grin.

“Oh be quiet.” replied Solar Flare turning back to the view of the small house. “I will admit one thing, he's getting up there in age.”

“Do you mean-?” Nightmare Moon got her answer as Solar Flare closed her eyes and nodded before turning back to the crystal ball. The throne room was filled with silence as they continued to watch the scene.

Author's Note

Now you know what different rulers I was talking about.