I don't belong here

Chapters

Problems in Canterlot
To sin for love
Twilight's journey
Letters, Reports and Misconceptions
The search
Reunion
Greed and Generosity
The calm comes after the storm
Explanations... Sort of
A bit of tranquility...
...A bit of tension...
All for one, none for all
No more good-byes
Sudden thoughts
The quest begins
...And a ton of disaster

Problems in Canterlot

Author's Note

So yeah, I love suspension points.
Sorry for the delay.

Problems in Canterlot

It was pretty obvious Spike was far from Ponyville up till this point. Rarity began to share Twilight’s anguish. Yesterday she had been calm, almost sure that Spike was safe and somewhere around the town.
Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity decided to split up to different cities, hoping they would find their friend soon.

“Rarity, you will go to Canterlot. Even if Spike is not there, you can meet with Fancy Pants as you planned,” Twilight said, and before Rarity could reply, she continued: “Fluttershy, I need you to head to Manehattan. Anyone there would notice a baby dragon.”

“Where will you go?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight sighed “I will go to the dragons’ volcano.”

“W-What?! You can’t possibly mean that Twilight! There were three of us back then, plus, we had a fabulous costume,” Rarity emphasized.

“I don’t know how that place is like, but it does sound dangerous! Can’t you just go to the Crystal Empire?” Fluttershy suggested. She had missed the whole migration but the way they narrated the adventure was terrifying enough for her.

“Don’t worry girls, I’ve mastered my teleportation in case I’m in danger, and I will keep my distance. Cadence and Shining Armor already know Spike is missing, so they’ll tell us if he’s there.”

Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other with a worried expression; they didn’t like the plan a bit.

“Well, I guess that’s it. See you in a month,” Twilight walked away waving a hoof.

“Darling,” Rarity called. Twilight stopped but didn’t look back “Please be careful, we all need you here.”
Twilight simply nodded and kept walking.

Fluttershy and Rarity could tell she was crying; desperate to find his assistant and friend.
Together, the two remaining ponies got to Carousel boutique, where Rarity packed her dresses and everything she needed to stay in Canterlot for a week.
Later, they arrived to Fluttershy’s cottage so she could tell Discord everything he needed to know about the animals. He had offered himself to take care of them while Fluttershy was gone; and everypony knew it was a bad idea. Either way, she trusted Discord and gave him a chance.

“Now,” Fluttershy rose to Discord’s height “How many times will you feed the animals a day?”

Discord snapped his fingers, making a pair of glasses and a notepad appear “let me see…” he began to pull out the sheets of the pad and eat them one by one after checking them “nope *gulp* nope, no *gulp* yeah… no”

Rarity rolled her eyes and sat. Really?

“Aja! Here it is” a gigantic number three emerged from the very last page of the pad followed by fireworks.
Fluttershy giggled “Well, I guess that’s it then” she hugged Discord’s neck before descending.

“Fear nothing my dear friend! I’m sure the critters and I will have a great time together… Hehe” Discord looked back at the frightened animals cornered in fear.

“I’ll be back soon, don’t be mean with Discord, okay?”

Fluttershy went out of her house and Discord closed the door.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rarity asked.

“Oh Rarity, Discord would never hurt those little creatures; I know he was just joking back there,” Fluttershy said outlining a smile.

“Well, if you say so…”

Finally, they got to the train station and waited for the respective trains to arrive.

Princess Celestia was concerned for whatever Spike was planning. Above all, she didn’t want him to hurt himself with false hopes like staying with his friends forever.
The same night she talked with Spike, she received a letter from Twilight; which asked her to notify if Spike was there in Canterlot. Celestia hadn’t answered since then; she didn’t want to lie nor tell the truth. She even came up with the excuse of overlapping mail if Twilight asked.

Spike didn’t know where to start. If he was going to steal or get fame for being a criminal, Canterlot wasn’t the best option.
He decided to go to some town or village where no one would know or remember him.
Spike walked around Canterlot, the reflection of Equestria's nicest place a pony could be in: Perfectly stone-carved floor; stunning structures carefully designed; streets as neat as the clear ocean; style and fashion all over. It was all glorious except for one detail: The citizens. Most of them considered themselves too classy to deal with town ponies and they were often impolite with strangers.

After taking a short tour on his own, Spike went to the cities’ dump. There, he grabbed some torn clothing; he wanted to make a hood to hide his identity, but that wouldn’t work until he was large enough.
After taking pieces of different color and texture, he folded them and put them inside the stick with blankets.
Now without hiding, Spike walked once again across the city; heading to the train station. Yeah, yeah… really nice place. Spike didn’t know how long it would be until he returned to Canterlot. And he wouldn’t until he was done with his quest.
When he got to the station, he heard somepony announce a train from Ponyville was about to arrive. Well, it’ll be the next one then… he sat in one of the benches to wait for another train. Many ponies glanced at him wondering what a baby dragon was doing there; but Spike didn’t care, they didn’t know him so the most they could do was ask if he was lost or something alike; which happened a couple of times.

When the train from Ponyville arrived, Spike sighed, he recognized a couple of ponies which reminded him of the town, Twilight, Rarity and the others. His blackout was disturbed by a stylish voice.

“Careful with those! You have no idea how delicate they are!”

“Wha…” Is that you Rarity? Spike thought. He got up from the bench and watched carefully as one of the train’s doors opened. A white stallion pulled out a mobile rack, followed by Rarity.

Spike ran away as fast as his legs allowed him What is she doing here?! he moved swift and quick, evading everypony on his way. After running for about three minutes, he stopped and something came to his mind: The dresses Rarity brought.
Spike felt relieved for a short time at the realization, but the feeling was soon replaced by anger and sadness. I thought they were looking for me… he was breathing heavily I thought they were worried… He remembered Rarity was supposed to meet Fancy Pants but he didn't expect her to leave until they had found him.
Whatever, she didn’t care about you either way. spoke the pessimistic part of his mind, contradicted by another way of thinking: Come on! She just can’t wait until you show up! Did you want her to stop working and cancel all her appointments just because you are missing?
After a short debate with himself, his optimistic side won. Spike sighed and looked at the buildings surrounding him. He had no idea where he was. “Great…”

Rarity got out of the train “Thank you, I’ll carry on from here,” she said as she gave the stallion a blue gem.

“Well, thank you miss!” the loader put the gem in his pocket.

Rarity used her magic to pull her dresses. She was heading directly to the nearest hotel so she could leave them and begin the search for Spike.
She found herself at the entrance of Canterlot’s most expensive yet luxury hotel; located near by the train station strategically. Before she could get inside a royal guard approached her “Excuse me, are you miss Rarity?”

Rarity turned to see the armored, brown stallion “Why, of course, who are you sir?”

“I was sent by Pricess Celestia, she wants you to stay at the castle until you leave.”

“Tha-that’s amazing news! She could even know something about Spike!”

“Who again?”

“Oh, sorry, no one,” Rarity smiled and began to trot to the castle followed by the guard.

Spike had to ask for directions a lot of times. The city was bigger than he remembered and the high-society ponies didn’t help too much, they would ignore the small dragon or stay away in case he would be aggressive and try to burn them. Some even called the authorities and Spike had to run once again.
Persecutions later, Spike got to the main square where the castle could be seen. At last. he was still in trouble because of the guards but now that he knew where he was, he could leave once and for all.
He walked to the train station and stopped half the way. Maybe I could… nah, I better leave now. he was thinking of Rarity, maybe he could see what she was doing before resuming his mission?
Spike covered himself with a ripped hood and began to look for her. Luckily and unluckily for him, he saw the mare entering the castle along with a guard Dang it! he couldn’t go inside there, not after that talk with Celestia.
Wait a minute, why is she going to the castle anyway? Isn’t she supposed to go with Fancy Pants? Spike rubbed his chin with a claw it could be for tomorrow.

“Oh no,” Suddenly, Spike got worried What if the Princess says something about me? No! I can’t let Rarity know that! He ran towards the castle. He really didn't want to go in there, but he needed to beg Celestia to remain silent about him. At the gates, the guards stopped him and pointed him with a spear “Who’s there?!”

“Wait! It’s me, Spike!” Then he realized he still had the hood “Oh, sorry,” He removed it and then the guards backed off their spears.

“Don’t act suspicious, especially around the castle, kid.”

“kid?!” Spike began to growl “Look you two-“ Spike calmed down and breathed deeply. He was almost eighteen years old and the advice sounded like an insult to him. “Uh, just let me in.”

The guards opened the doors and Spike got inside.
The corridors were lonely and there was no sign of Rarity; Spike didn’t waste his time and headed to Celestia’s room. He heard voices coming from inside. No no no no no! Please don’t be in there… His fear was real: Rarity was inside, talking with the Princess. The door to her room was closed so Spike just leaned an ear next to it. The voices were vague but they were still audible.

“Really, it’s the least I could do,” Celestia said.

“I just don’t want to be an inconvenient, Princess, as you may know, I’m staying for a while.”

“Don’t worry, after what you and your friends did for my sister it’s the least I can do.”

“Thank you Princess. How did you know I was coming?”

“I received Twilights’ letter. She seems to be worried sick for Spike.”

“You have noooo idea.”

Spike felt a sting in his chest Twilight… He felt guilty once again.
Then Rarity broke the silence:

“You don’t have news about Spike, do you?”

“Unfortunately I don’t, but I will send a letter to Twilight if we find him.”

She’s a pretty good liar. Spike thought.

“Thank you again Princess, I shall now unpack and begin the search. If Spike is here in Canterlot, I will find him,” she finished.

Spike’s eyes shinned. She is looking for me! YES!!! He could hardly contain his joy. He jumped happily and ran away before the mares could know he was there.
Spike was smiling wider than ever They care about me! They do! when he got to the entrance his smile was erased; Princess Luna was standing right there waiting for him.

“You know peeking like that is offensive, right?” Luna had an imposing visage, as if she was still Nightmare Moon.

Spike was frightened at first, but then he gathered courage and confronted her “Really? You accuse me of peeking when you are the one spying over all of us?”

Luna got angry “I protect everyone in Equestria from their fears in their dreams! I do not spy.”

“Well, sometimes we don’t need your protection Princess. Besides, you watched over me all the way! Just because you are one of the rulers of Equestria doesn’t mean you can do that.”

“I cannot do such thing. Based on dreams and feelings, I know what you are planning to do; and you made pretty obvious that you were coming. That doesn’t imply I can literally watch through the moon.”

“You know, whatever, what do you want anyway?” Spike crossed his arms like if he had full control of the situation.

“Well…” Luna looked at the floor embarrassed “You’re going to take it as an even bigger offense, but I must ask something.”

Spike uncrossed his arms and raised an eyebrow “What is it?” he didn’t know what to think. A moment ago Luna was about to electrocute him or something weird alicorns can do, and now she was doubtful.

“Your friend Rarity, do you like her?”

Spike blushed and straightened “Ummmmm, where did that came from?” the question caught him off guard. It was strange that from all the questions Luna could’ve asked it had been that one.

“It’s just that many times I’ve seen your joy related and even relied on her,” she paused and stared at Spike’s eyes “If you like her, why are you leaving? Shouldn’t you try to… You know… Ask her out or something?”

Spike’s face saddened “I wish I could. But I’m not a pony, I don’t think that will ever come to happen. I was leaving to learn how to control my body so my friends could take me seriously, not like a kid.”

Luna listened carefully, trying to comprehend his position.

“Maybe it is possible for me to be like them but as for Rarity… That’s just a dream,” he said in defeat.

Luna smiled lightly “You know, I don’t want to give you more hope than I should but, have you ever heard about the kirin?”

The term was familiar indeed; Spike had seen the word in a book when helping Twilight “What is a kirin?” he said curiously.

Luna giggled before speaking “Make the research, I think you should leave now; my sister and Rarity will be here in any moment.”

Spike grinned and kissed Luna’s hoof “Thank you Princess!” then he left.

Twilight departed with a vast amount of provisions. Ready to face any threat for the month she would be out. She had all the strength and will she needed; but she also had a pain that made her cry in times.
Please come back to us, Spike…

To sin for love

Spike was almost ready to depart, but he had no provisions left. “Shut… I could’ve taken some at the castle” he was trying to think of something he could get for free Let’s see; ponies here are selfish, I have no money, I can’t return to the castle… he was running out of ideas Ugh, come on! There has to be a way; why is anything free here? Applejack would spare some apples for me but these ponies are unbelievably egoist.
Suddenly, he knew what to do. He wide opened his eyes when he saw a fruit store “Free” Why didn’t I think of that? He covered himself again with the hood and approached the store.
He saw the tasty-looking apples which reminded him of Sweet Apple Acres.

“Good evening. How can I help you, foal?” said the owner friendly. She was a lilac coated mare with a black mane.

Spike smiled under the hood. Walking on four legs had worked to fool the pony in charge.
He ignored the question and untied the blankets, turning around so the mare behind the stand couldn’t see his face.

“Ummm, who are you, little one?” the mare tried to make him speak, but Spike remained silent.

He began to put various fruits inside the blankets, making sure he was completely covered.

Children… the mare thought. No pony had ever stolen from her, so she didn’t stop Spike Maybe he or she just doesn’t want to talk.

When he fully restocked himself, he breathed deeply and sprinted out of the store as fast as he could.

“THIEF! THIEF!” the owner screamed at the same time she pointed at the hooded figure.

Some ponies outside heard her, two guards among them. As soon as they saw the running figure, they took their spears and pursued him.
Spike didn’t have time to think, he just kept running in an attempt to escape.
The ponies were faster, but Spike was more agile and took advantage of his size to evade obstacles or crawl under tables and other ponies.
He lost the guards eventually; there were many places to sneak in Canterlot.
Spike caught his breathe in a back alley, where he decided to finally eat something. He opened the untied the blankets again and saw the stolen fruit What have I done? he thought, shaking his head and closing his eyes I’m not supposed to do this… he was just about to return the fruit when he remembered the purpose of doing that. He glanced again at the backpack and smiled Free… there’s nothing better than free… it’s all mine now Spike was trying to fight back both the greed and the feeling for doing the right thing. It was difficult. He felt his limbs growing after a short time of considering his previous action.

“That foal must be somewhere around here!” One of the guards said, approaching the back alley.

Spike didn’t pay much attention to that. Instead, he calmly hid the stash with a claw and stood up. Right before the guards arrived, he threw away the poorly-made hood.

“Were you chasing someone?” Spike said with confidence, pointing at the hood “I was taking a nap when somepony tripped with me, and he just kept running!”

Both guards stared at him suspecting, but discarded the idea of the dragon being the thief. Even though Spike wasn’t big enough, with his back straightened he could be face to face with a pony.

“Where did he go?” one of the guards asked quickly.

“I don’t know, I’m still kind of asleep… He must have kept going that way,” he pointed at the other side of the alley.

The first guard immediately stormed out to find the thief; while the other stayed with Spike.

“So… A dragon just came by, huh?” the guard didn’t think he was the thief but there was something suspicious about him anyway.

“Errr… Yeah, actually I’m from Ponyville, I’m Princess Twilight’s assistant,” he knew he shouldn’t be saying the truth about where he came from; but it wouldn’t matter if he could leave Canterlot before they sent a letter to confirm this.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle? Oh, then you must be Spike.”

“Indeed I am!”

“And why in Equestria is a royal assistant having a nap in a back alley?”

Spike’s mouth opened trying to reply, but the guard had caught him already “Ugh, alright, it’s just that I don’t want to be around the castle right now. Maybe you know how girly the princesses can be.”

“Right, now tell me something, if you are Princess Twilight’s assistant, she’s in the castle right now, isn’t she?” the guard raised an eyebrow.

“Actually no… I was escorting a friend of hers, Rarity. You can go to the castle and ask for her…” Spike felt a lot of pressure and was almost sure this would turn out badly.

“I will,” the guard turned around and began to trot to the castle “See you around I guess...”

“Phewwwww” That was a close one; now I have to get out of here! Spike ran again, realizing he was a little bit faster due to his larger legs.
The guard was probably asking for Rarity by now and to wait for a train to arrive would be like surrendering in front of the castle. After pondering the situation, Spike headed for Canterlot’s waterfalls.
There were some tourists there, either admiring the majestic nature of the waterfalls or diving into the allowed areas. Spike didn’t have time to do that though, he needed to get out of Canterlot as soon as possible. Everypony looked at the sprinting dragon. Some even thought he was going to attack them.
Spike leaped into the pond and swam towards the cliff, ignoring the complaints of the ponies in his way. At the edge, he could feel the current dragging him. He hesitated a couple of times before jumping, greeting his fangs and closing his eyes. Ok, this is going to hurt

He fell for about a whole minute, in which he remained tense and tried not to think about the impact.
It wasn’t that bad: Spike hit the bottom of the river harshly, but the water slowed him down and his scales worked as a light armor. He swam to the surface and breathed deeply.

“Seriously,” he coughed “Who had the awful idea of building an entire city in a mountain?” he inspected his body and saw nothing was broken or too injured.
He was relieved of being out of Canterlot already. When he got out of the lake, he shook Well, I better keep goin- “NO!” he said aloud when he saw his provisions floating away on the river. He tried to reach them but the current was faster than him. After a couple of minutes, Spike gave up on the cause; the blankets were not even in sight anymore.

“Darn it!” he kneeled and hit the ground with a claw That was mine! he gritted his fangs. Soon analyzing what he thought Well… It wasn’t actually mine he still felt guilty and couldn’t help but imagining himself as the big, menacing dragon he once turned into. As the memories of the damage he caused to Ponyville and his friends flooded his mind, his limbs began to shrink again.
When he finally turned into the baby-size Spike he looked at his claws “Oh great… I lost it.”

Spike stood up and walked aside the river. Maybe somepony built a town or something near a water source like this after a couple of hours, he checked his suspicions were correct: There was a small village settled around the river.
By that time, the sun was setting and Spike was starving. He entered the village, which was smaller than Ponyville.

“Hello?” he asked out loud so anypony could notice him.

Some did, and when they saw him, they ran away.

“A dragon!” Screamed a grey pegasus mare.
This called the attention of the ones who heard her.

“Where?! Oh, dear Celestia, we are doomed!” said another peasant.

“Hey! There’s nothing to fear! I’m a friendly baby dragon, see?” he announced rising his arms so they could notice his size.

“Oh… Yes… But you’re still a dragon, I mean, we’ve never seen a dragon before…” an earth pony approached him while speaking “They always talk about your kind as creatures of destruction and chaos,” she ended, keeping some distance from Spike and staring curiously at him.

“Nah, not all of us are like that,” At least I expect so.

The villagers quickly gathered around Spike and whispered between them. It was clear that some considered him dangerous while others were thinking he was cute and wanted to hug him.

I shouldn’t be calling this much attention… “Ummm, I was thinking if I could stay with anypony tonight. I need to keep going tomorrow.”

An awkward silence filled the crowd. They looked at each other insecurely.
It was true that some thought he was cute but they didn’t want to run any unnecessary risks. The silence continued until the same earth pony that approached him at first spoke “Don’t-don’t worry, you can stay with me little one,” she smiled warmly.

“What?!” said a stallion next to her “Merry, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he was an olive stallion with a carefully combed, green mane.

“Don’t be so selfish Code! He’s just a baby dragon. I’m starting to think everything we hear about them was wrong,” Merrylife trotted forward to Spike, she had a dark pink coat and a turquoise mane which reminded Spike of Sweetie Belle’s. “You’re welcome to stay with us tonight, what’s your name?”

“I’m Spike,” he extended a claw to the mare.

“Well, what are you all looking at?” Code said, addressing the villagers.

Some ponies turned around and ignored the dragon had been there. Others moved away to discuss if it was ok to have a dragon with them. And another one, which completely disagreed to have the creature around, spoke up “No way we’re going to have a vile dragon among us!”

Merrylife frowned and stepped between Spike and the unicorn who threatened him “Says who? We will be the ones to take care of this fella, not you.”

“Bah! It won’t matter after elder dragons come and eat us trying to find their hatchling!”

Spike groaned and advanced to meet the unicorn stallion’s gaze. His coat was red and had a dark blue mane “How dare you talk like that about us dragons?! I bet you had never seen one in your entire life.”

“Hey, let’s just calm down,” Code pushed them back “Merry will do whatever she wants, period.”

“Fine! It’ll be you who he eats at night!” raged the unicorn.

Spike almost set the unicorn’s tail on fire. The only reason he held himself was that it would prove he was dangerous.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s just an old man trying to get attention,” Merry smiled.

The three of them went then to Merry and Code’s house. None of the buildings were more than a floor high. The house wasn’t spacious but it felt warm and welcoming.
It was dinner time, the two ponies and Spike sat. There was mixture of hay and vegetables in front of them.

“So, Spike, let me introduce myself: My name is Merrylife, but you can just call me Merry. I’m in charge of the agriculture here in the village.”

“It doesn’t have a name?” Spike asked.

“No, not really. We rarely keep contact with other places; we’re not even connected to railways” she answered.

“Nice to meet you, young dragon. I am Sly Decoder, but everyone calls me Code. I used to visit ancient ruins and pyramids with a team of archeologists. We would investigate diverse hieroglyphs after Daring Do cleared the path. Really good times. Now I’m here with my wife to enjoy a life of retirement. But enough about us, where are you from?”

“Actually, I’m from Ponyville, but I left in order to get some answers about my past.”

The talk continued and Spike explained everything that happened since he left his home; excluding some details like the chat with the princesses.

“I don’t want to cause trouble, so I’ll leave in the morning,” Spike concluded.

The two ponies stared at each other for a moment “W-well, you could stay with us anytime you want,” said Code.

“Yes! There’s no problem with us,” added Merry.

“I… Well… I don’t know” he lowered his head “I mean, it’s cool to know I count on you but I don’t know if this is the right place for me to look out for what I want.”

“Why don’t you try? If you think there’s nothing here for you, then you can leave.”

“Hmmm… Very well. Thanks a lot!”

After a finishing dinner, they went to sleep. Both husband and wife to their room and Spike to a carpet in the living room he found pretty comfortable.

Spike spent the first two days in the village getting to know the ponies there and trying to convince everyone he was not a threat. And he succeeded. After socializing with the purple dragon, everypony was convinced he was a good guy.
It was until the third day, that things changed for Spike.

The old unicorn ran the fanciest business of the village: He sold antiques and relics found by Code and his expedition group. Along with others contributed by travelers of different places.
Spike stumbled at the place and decided to give it a try, ignoring the fact that the unicorn owned the place.
He glanced at the interesting and often weird objects This looks like a good place to start… No! no no no, I must find a way to grow avoiding that… Spike was tempted to steal many times, but his will was stronger than before.
Nopony was in the counter, it only had a bell to ring in case a customer wanted to buy something.
After wandering around the store, Spike saw a few items that could work as gifts for his friends in Ponyville:
A silver statue that appeared in one of the books of Daring Do;
An ancient tome for Twilight;
A carved sapphire for Rarity;
A black Stetson for Applejack, said to have been worn by a legendary cowpony;
A butterfly lamp for Fluttershy;
And a pyramid with pinwheels on the top for Pinkie.
He didn’t take them, but memorized where they were. Spike rang the bell in the counter and waited. No more than thirty seconds passed and the unicorn appeared behind it. “Welcome to Collector’s antiques, how can I-” he paused and looked around “Anypony there?”

“Down here” Spike raised an arm.

“Oh, of course… Oh… It’s you…” Collector’s ears flattened.

“Listen, I know we didn’t like each other at first but maybe we can get over that. What do you say?” Spike smiled.

“I dunno kid, I feel strange having you around,” he turned left and looked away from Spike “Well…” Collector sighed “I guess a costumer is a costumer anyway.”

“Great!” Spike described the items he was interested in. Collector had a blank expression and was writing down on a sheet of paper as the dragon described.

“Anything else?”

“Nope, just that, thanks.”

“let me see… Aja… Mmmmm… Ok, I’ll give you those for a total of a hundred bits.”

“What?! That much?”

“That’s the price; it was you who picked the expensive items, not me! I even discounted six bits from the real total.”

“Argh… Thanks anyway, I may come back for those.”

“’Til' then,” the unicorn teleported away.

Spike got out of the store and tried to fight back the persistent thought: Take it, just take it, he won’t even notice and he was right. Ponies trusted each other in such a way they could leave something in the middle of a plaza and no one would take it.

“Who am I kidding? I’ll eventually have to do it, this is what the whole thing is for, right?” he returned to Merry’s house crestfallen. He entered and saw the two ponies in the kitchen.

“Hey there,” he said, rubbing the nape of his neck.

“Hello Spike! Are you in the mood for some work? I was just about to arrange some old scrolls,” Marry beamed.

“In fact, I was here to kind of say goodbye…”

“You’re leaving already?” Code didn’t seem disappointed or down, he already knew the dragon wouldn’t stay for long.

“Yes. I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I need to return to Ponyville now.”

“Are you sure? We don’t have any problem if you want to stay,” Merry tried to convince Spike.

“Yes, but don’t worry! I’ll come back to visit you guys. I promise,” Spike hugged the couple and then walked away. Before he reached the door, Code called him “Hey buddy, take this,” he threw a bag filled with vegetables at Spike.

“Wha-what’s this?”

“Just a gift for our guest,” Code blinked “You deserve it.”

I was afraid you said that… “This is very generous of you but I-I just can’t accept it…” his eyes were locked in the bag. He remembered the last time he received a ‘gift’ didn’t go precisely well.

“It’s nothing, really, I think that will be enough to get to Ponyville,” Merry nodded.

“O… Ok…” Spike’s arm was trembling. He got out of the house still wanting to return the bag. All right. Let’s give it another try he released the temptation and looked at the contents inside the bag. Nothing special, just food. Here I come he got back to Collector’s antiques and checked the counter. The unicorn wasn’t there.
Perfect Spike quickly glanced at the many objects and spotted the silver statue first. His eyes glowed “A hundred bits huh? I don’t think so” he took the statue and looked around him. Still nopony there. Spike put the statue in the bag and ran out smiling.

The village was already familiarized with Spike, so no one paid attention to him when he left the store.
Spike walked away from the village and delved into the forest near it.
Being sufficiently far, he held the silver statue in his claws and kept his gaze on it One down, five to go. His body began to grow again, slightly more than the last time Maybe I could go back and… No! Of course not… I have to wait, at least until tomorrow. Otherwise I’ll need more afterwards.
Spike spent the rest of the day admiring the statue and getting used to his larger body. When the night came, he slept serenely under a treetop.

Spike was awakened by bird chirps all over the forest. Unlike the Everfree, this one was peaceful.
He stretched and took some vegetables in his bag to have breakfast. After a quiet and relaxing morning, it was time to ‘work’.
He dug a hole in the tree he slept under and buried the silver statue there. Then he went to the village but kept some distance. After spotting the antiques store, he noiselessly approached it.
The store was conveniently placed in the border of the village. Spike got behind it and crawled slowly to the entrance, bag in hand, glancing side to side to make sure nopony saw him. If they had already found out an item was missing, it was pretty obvious Spike was the thief; and he couldn’t afford the chance of being caught.

The pathways were clear. As it was a small place, the ponies were usually on their houses.
“Perfect,” he grinned and, as fast as he could, he entered the store again. He expected to find Collector in the counter, but it was empty as always. Spike hurried to the nearest of the items he wanted, which were the tome and the lamp “Hmmm… Which should I take?” he rubbed his chin and think Ugh, there’s no time… Wait a minute… I can take both! Oh but, maybe I’ll overgrow… his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a certain couple he recognized: Merry and Code.

“And this one is from the jungle of the eastern island! Oh, such great memories.”

Spike couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed they were in the store as well Darn it! he put both gifts in the bag and carefully sneaked out. Wow, these guys need more security or something.
He returned to the place where his treasure was hidden and added the other two items to his hoard. “Yes! Piece of cake,” he grew again, getting a little larger than the regular pony size “Oops. Looks like one per day’s the limit for me,” he only felt he was big now, not dragon-big but this worked for him.

Another three days passed and Spike repeated the process without complications. There was something suspicious about this. Either Collector didn’t check his inventory frequently or he was waiting for the right time to catch Spike and do something to him. The idea sent shivers to the dragon.
When he finally had everything he wanted, he decided to depart. He carried four of the gifts in his bag and the other two in his back. Spike was now walking on four legs.
He followed the trail of the river This river began on Canterlot… It definitely passes through Ponyville, I just need to follow it. In his way, he limited himself to eat fish from the river. He really hated to eat vegetables and fruits, and didn’t dare to eat other animals Fluttershy would feel disappointed and angry.

The very day before Spike got to Ponyville, he took a moment to look at his reflection in the water.
“Perfect.”

Author's Note

Adult Spike by: Hikariviny on deviantArt. Go congratulate her!

Thanks for reading! Oh, and let me tell you I'll be busy with school stuff, but hopefully I won't delay too much. Leave a comment!

Twilight's journey

A week ago

“WHAT?!” Rarity’s voice filled the lobby.

“You… You didn’t know he was here, miss Rarity? He… He said he was escorting you!”

“Where is he?! Tell me! I have to get him now!”

“O-of course, right this way!”

The guard guided Rarity to the alley where Spike was. Only to find out that the dragon wasn’t there.
Rarity glanced at many directions desperately while the guard shrugged. “I-I swear, he was right here!”

Rarity didn’t respond, instead, she galloped to the main plaza followed by the escort. Once there, she called out loud: “Has anypony seen a dragon around?!”
Surprisingly, many pointed their hooves towards the waterfalls.

“That was quick,” said the guard “Why didn’t I think of that?” both ponies ran and arrived to the place, where they saw some tourists swimming, others having a picnic, or just talking; but no sign of Spike.

“Has anypony seen a dragon around?!” repeated Rarity.

“Of course we have! That thing almost knocked me to the pond!” said one of those present.

“But you guards are late to catch him, he already leaped off the cliff,” another pony added.

“He did what?!” Rarity hurried to the edge of the waterfall, tiphoofing carefully so she wouldn’t fall.

“Lady Rarity?” the guard followed her closely “What are you doing? You can’t be possibly thinking of… Well… Following him, right?”

Rarity could see a purple dragon emerge from the water in the distance. She gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth and pointed at Spike with the other.
“There he is!”

The guard looked down and saw the dragon too “I’ll go inform the princess immediately!”

“There’s no time! I must follow him! Twilight would be upset if I just let him go!”

“My lady… I don’t think that’s a good idea; even if you survived the fall, your dragon friend would oppose to go with you. There is a reason while he ran away after all.”

“But I-I-we can’t!”

“Miss Rarity, calm down, let’s get to the castle and I guarantee that Princess Celestia will send a team to get him. Until then, there is nothing we can do.”

“I… Suppose you’re right…”

The two of them got back to the castle. Rarity was stressed and worried, and the guard could feel her tension. As soon as they were in Celestia’s chambers, Rarity .

“Princess! He was here a few moments ago! Spike has just left!”

Faking a shock expression, Celestia raised an eyebrow “Where is he now?”

“He jumped off the waterfall, Princess,” said the guard.

“Oh my…” NOW Celestia was shocked.

“He’s fine though, it didn’t seem like he was injured, because he began to run as soon as he got out of the water.”

“We need to get him back now!” Rarity shouted.

“Rarity, as much as I would love to interfere, you have to keep in mind that Spike doesn’t want you to follow him.”

“I know, but the guards could! Maybe they can just track him down?”

“Hmmm,” Celestia thought the best way to give space to Spike and not ignore Rarity’s pleas “Alright,” she then pointed at five of her soldiers “You will follow the trail of Spike, but you are not allowed to detain or get close to him. If he notices you, he will probably discard the idea of returning at all.”

That said, the guards trotted out of the castle and began their task.
Rarity sighed, she was a little relieved but there was still anguish in her heart.

“Thank you, Princess,” she finally said.

“No need to thank me, I owe you and your friends for saving my sister,” Celestia smiled.

Rarity smiled back, and came to a realization after hearing Celestia “My friends! They must know that we have already found Spike!”

“Oh, of course, I will send letters to Ponyville, Manehattan and the wonderbolts right away,” Celestia glanced at many directions while rubbing her chin with a hoof “And… Where did you say Twilight was heading to?”

“Ummm, maybe there will be a problem trying to letting her know about this,” Rarity looked at the princess with guilt “She went to a dragon lair, nine days from here…”

“That sounds pretty dangerous, did any of you offered to accompany her?”

“She didn’t want us to go; I think she believes this is her fault.”

“I see. But it’s not a major problem; I will send Philomena to give the news to Twilight,” despite her efforts to soothe Rarity, Celestia was unable to do so “Why don’t you get some rest? I’m sure Spike will soon return to Ponyville,” she suggested, realizing her friend’s concern would not wear off at least for that day.

“Yes, it might be a good idea, thank you again Princess.”

Fluttershy had arrived to Manehattan two days before Spike escaped from Canterlot; at that time, the only plan she had was to improvise. She stepped out of the train slowly, carrying her only suitcase in her back.
No longer after she did, a light green coated stallion approached her “Good evening madam.”

“Uhm... Hello,” she whispered.

“Are you going anywhere in particular? My taxi is right over there. Manehattan can be a labyrinth for tourists sometimes.”

“Oh, thank you, it would actually be really nice if you could take me to-”

“Out of the way! Out of the way! Don’t you see a celebrity is here?” interrupted a mare surrounded by reporters and photographers. The pony mob shoved off the taxi driver and got around Fluttershy before she could finish her sentence.

Fluttershy shrugged and took a few steps back, bumping with another pony.
The cameras focused on her and another mare with a colorful gown, who bowed before Fluttershy and ordered the ponies behind her to move aside.

“What happened? Why are they taking pictures?” Fluttershy asked, a little worried.

“Ja! Don’t be so modest, did you expect to arrive to Manehattan unnoticed? We are honored by your presence!”

A few flashes dazed Fluttershy before she could speak again “There must have been a mistake… I-I don’t know who you think I am but I’m no celebrity at all.”

“Come on! I would recognize a model anywhere! Even more one of Photo Finish’s,” she said with a satisfaction smile.

“That was a long time ago… I really wouldn’t like to be the spotlight of anything ever again… If you understand.”

Some photographers stopped taking pictures and one of them spoke up “Now that she mentions it, I don’t recognize her.”
“Me neither.”
“Who is she again?”

“SUCH IGNORANCE!” Everypony turned to see fashion mare in front of Fluttershy “How come you do not recognize the one and only Fluttershy?!” she began to lecture the reporters.
“She is one of the six rulers of Ponyville, bearer of the element of kindness, savior of Equestria and Princess Luna, reformer of the God of Chaos Discord, professional model, and mistress of stares!”

Silence. Everypony including Fluttershy listened, mouth agape and eyes wide opened.
“Wow.”
“Yeah, pretty impressive.”
“Hurray for her visit!”
The flashes continued once again.

“No, uhm, actually, Twilight is the princess, I’m just one of her friends,” Fluttershy’s words were in vain. The crowd was loud and nothing she said could be heard.

After six hours of tiring questions, photographs and interviews, she finally made it to the tranquility of the hotel.
When Fluttershy entered her room, she collapsed in the floor. The intense amount of lights and flashes had made her get migraine. With nothing to worry about now, she took off her suitcase and found the way to her bed. “Oh… Dear… Celestia…”

Twilight had two saddlebags filled with food and water. It should be enough with that and whatever she could find to eat in the way. She also mastered a spell which consisted of a portal capable of holding small items, like a closet, but accessible anywhere. There she kept some books to read while resting, including one on dragon behavior.

It had already been four days since she left Ponyville. Philomena was on the way but it would take the phoenix at least seven days to reach Twilight; who was about to get to the volcano.
Most of the travel was uneventful like the last time, but it was harder to face the weather, the night threats and some dangerous creatures alone. Twilight occasionally encountered beasts of different sizes such as manticores, wild bears and even a hydra. It wasn’t difficult to handle them though: she only needed to teleport or cast a sleep spell, avoiding any kind of fight.

Present Day

After five long days, Twilight found herself at the imposing dragon volcano.
There were not too many dragons compared to the last time she was there, and fortunately, it seemed like most of them were asleep or lazily walking around.

Twilight breathed deeply and galloped forward, ready to encounter any fierce dragon. Hopefully, Spike would be there at first sight, just talking or eating gems or doing whatever crazy contest young dragons liked to make.
It didn’t take long for one of the elder ones notice a certain pony get close. Thinking of it as a juicy morsel, the white dragon flapped his wings and flew towards Twilight.
The dragon landed in front of her, but something was wrong: she wasn’t scared. Considering there were no living creatures willing to get close to a dragon, the place was free from any other species.

“Did you get lost, little pony?” Said the dragon with a devilish grin as he circled around Twilight; who wasn’t even moving her head to look at her predator.

“I know exactly where I am,” The tone of her voice was sharp. The emotions of anger, frustration, sadness and concern she had been feeling for the past five days where being channeled in that moment.

“Then you don’t have any appreciation for your own life,” the dragon stopped circling and bowed his head to meet the pony’s gaze. After a short inspection, he realized she was an alicorn.

“I know that most of you are not friendly, but I will ask you something, and I expect you to answer,” Twilight’s expression turned from blank to serious.
The dragon wasn’t intimidated but knew the pony in front of him was different from the rest. He began to growl, taking her words as a challenge.
“Have you seen a purple baby dragon lately?”

The dragon exhaled, covering Twilight in a curtain of smoke “Tell me, pretty pony, why shouldn’t I eat you right now?”

“You can try,” she said, still motionless “I have to warn you: I’m in the worst of moods and I don’t feel like wasting my time with an arrogant dragon.”

That was definitely a challenge. The dragon took a step back and pulled as much air as he could. Then, with a malicious grin, he let the fire out.
The flames were intense and appeared to engulf Twilight. Ten seconds later the fire stopped and reveled a completely intact, unimpressed pony.

“What?” the white dragon stared at Twilight, surprised of what just happened.

“I told you I didn’t want to waste my time,” she teleported in front of the dragon and hovered at his height “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like an answer.”

The dragon gulped, then groaned again, then roared “So you think you’re very tough huh?”

“Please, we can avoid all of this! Can you be a nice dragon for once in your life and answer?”

“Hmmm,” the dragon pondered the situation for a moment. It was clear that this pony had come prepared, so he wouldn’t be able to just eat her like another common prey “A purple baby dragon you say?”

Twilight nodded, feeling a little relieved.
Before the dragon could reply, another two glided at their direction.

“Hehe, it looks like you’re in a little more trouble than you thought, pony.”

Twilight descended and sighed. The barrier she created had worked, but it consumed a lot of her energy to block that amount of fire. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to keep up with another two assaults like that one “Just tell me what I want to know so I can leave,” she tried to convince the dragon trying to pretend she still had control of the situation.

A black and a blue dragon landed beside the white one.

“Did you get yourself a friend at last, Erkheus?” said the black dragon, notoriously elder than the other two.

“And look at this! It’s a pony! Hahaha!” supplemented the blue dragon.

Erkheus rolled his eyes “Yeah right, listen, for some reason this pony is immune to my fire.”

“That’s why you haven’t eaten her yet? Sounds like an excuse to me!” without further delay, the blue dragon breathed fire at Twilight.

She gulped and covered herself again with the force field.
Even with the shield, she could feel the heat surrounding her. After the second assault, she was fighting the urge to remain collected, to not sweat, practically to give the dragons any hint that they could take her down with a few more tries.
“Are you done?”

“Wow, you didn’t lie,”

“Told you,” reassured Erkheus.

Besayu, the black dragon, leaned forward to take a closer look at Twilight “So an alicorn huh? No surprise you were unaffected by their fire.”

Twilight changed her tone of voice to try a different approach “Please, sir, I don’t want to cause trouble,” she took a few steps forward to Besayu in order to close their distance “I’m just looking for a friend; I assure you we will leave in no time!”

With his head down at the pony’s height, Besayu spoke to her “Hehe… A noble cause, I see,” There was something strange with this pony, a kind of magic he had never seen before. There was determination, courage, concern and sadness within the alicorn. Could that be the so called magic of friendship only a few species were able to achieve? And more important, how powerful was that kind of magic?
“Alright,” he said, straightening “I will let you search our lair for your ‘friend’.”

“What?!” roared Erkheus.

“Thank you! I knew I could count on- ”

“Not so fast, pony,” Besayu cut her off “I will tell my companions not to harm you with a single condition.”

“And that is?”

“You’ll have to defeat me in combat!” Besayu stood in his rear legs and unfolded his wings.
He was the hugest dragon Twilight had ever seen.

Holy texts of Star Swirl… Twilight’s ears went flat.

It took an hour for the dragons to gather and witness the event before it started; time which Twilight spent recovering her magic; and time Besayu prepared by remembering the limitations and weaknesses of unicorn magic based on past experiences with preys.
After that, everything was ready; the dragons formed an oval around the contenders cheering at Besayu. Most of the presents were even offended by the fact a pony would be in a one on one fight against one of the mightiest dragons of the lair.

Twilight stood expectant. The space between her and Besayu was about a hundred yards, so surprise attacks were unlikely to happen.
Twilight’s concentration was broken when she saw the black dragon running at her. There had been no bell ringing or announcer to say ‘begin’ or anything, the battle had just begun without notice. The other dragons cheered even louder when Besayu charged.
Twilight shook her head to focus in what to do now, seconds after, she saw her opponent in front of her raising a claw.

“Let’s watch you block this!” he said as he swung his claw directly at Twilight.

She quickly teleported to the top of the dragon’s head, dodging the attack. Better to end this quick she thought.
Before Besayu could notice her, she charged a vast amount of energy into her horn and fired a powerful beam directly at his head.
The impact grounded Besayu, leaving him dazed for a moment ouch he got up and saw Twilight hovering “You’re going to need more than that!” he sprang up and flapped his wings once, strong enough to reach his adversary.

Oh no… That wasn’t enough! she tried to fly away from the dragon’s grasp, but it was too late, she was already caught.

“It’s over, pony,” he opened his mouth and pulled Twilight.

Desperately, she used another spell: her horn glowed and Besayus claws began to be covered in ice; the burning cold sensation made him shiver and look at whatever was going on. He couldn’t either tighten his grip or loosen it. He decided to thaw it off. Twilight could manage to teleport to the ground before the flames covered Besayu’s claw, leaving it free from the ice.

“Impressive,” he moved his fingers to regain their feeling “You are indeed, a good fighter,” he smiled. Twilight’s fatigue was now clear, she was panting and she found it hard to breath “But you cannot win, I’m afraid you’re done,” right after finishing the sentence, he pulled the largest amount of air he could to his lungs.

Twilight could feel the air gathering as if a black hole was swallowing it; it kept going for thirty seconds. She was scared and her energy was too wasted for teleporting again. This massive attack would for sure be the final blow.
She used what was left of her power to create another barrier, this time stronger than the last ones. Then, with a sight, she welcomed the flames.

Besayu let out the fire mercilessly at the alicorn, knowing there was no chance to survive it.
Inside the barrier, Twilight trembled, feeling her shield being broken and the heat entering slowly. Ten seconds later, she fell to her fetlocks, greeting her teeth.
Twenty seconds now, the fire had surrounded her for twenty seconds and was still coming out.
Twilight nearly fainted when a voice came to her mind: The voice of Spike. It didn’t say anything important like ‘save me’ or ‘come on! You can do this!’ it was just his voice saying her name, the names of her friends, the title of some books, even random sentences, but it was Spike.
A newfound strength overwhelmed her. Her eyes shone and she levitated without the need of her wings.
The crowd that twenty seconds ago was supporting Besayu, was now silent, watching in awe as the pony repelled the flames which were being redirected before colliding with her.

Besayu’s flames were out, and he could only stare at Twilight without accepting what just happened. He roared wildly and swung his gargantuan tail against Twilight.
She flew at top speed at Baseyu, avoiding his attack with ease and then concentrating more energy for another powerful beam.

“That again? You will not beat me!” he leaped at her, with his mouth ready to chew with force.

When they were a mere yard away from each other, Twilight fired.
The blast was not as big as the one she fired at Tirek a couple of years ago, but it was powerful enough to knock the black dragon down, sending him flying at the crowd.
Besayu crashed against a few dragons, who were knocked down too.
The others blinked repeatedly and glanced at Twilight and Besayu constantly. Twilight descended and landed in all four hooves, her eyes going back to normal “Did… Did I win?”

Erkheus couldn’t take it anymore; he shoved some dragons away and stood in front of Twilight “Ridiculous! I will not let our kind loose respect because of a pony!”

“Erkheus!” shouted Besayu from behind, recovering from the blast “S-stop right now. She won, and I shall keep my promise.”

Erkheus growled, then he looked back at Twilight "And who's gonna stop me? YOU?"

"Yes, you try anything funny and i'll make sure you don't see the light of another day."

The tension remained for a while, with the crowd of dragons waiting for a response, but stopped when Erkheus exhaled through his nostrils and flew away.

“Thank you,” Twilight could finally allow herself to sit and rest for a moment.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you could win,” he staggered to his feet, swaying a little “I didn’t know there was a power like yours.”

“You should learn about it,” Twilight beamed “It’s the magic of friendship!”

“…” he raised an eyebrow “Sounds dumb.”

“Of course not! Frienship is the greatest thing you can live with! If you are willing to give it a try, I can show you.”

Besayu chuckled lightly and nodded.
“Still sounds dumb but... My fellow companions!” he called out loud “This pony has proven herself and will be able to walk among us freely. No dragon is allowed to attack her! She is under my protection!”

The dragons whispered between them. While Besayu was not a leader, he was easily the strongest of them. They dispersed and left.

“So…” he returned to speak to Twilight “You say you were looking for someone?”

“Yes, his name is Spike, he’s a purple baby dragon, even smaller than me.”

“Hmmm,” he scratched his head and thought for a moment “I certainly don’t recall running into fella with those characteristics but the lair is big…”

Twilight listened, hoping Spike would be here.

“I think it will take you six days or so to search the whole place, there are a lot of places where a baby dragon could be hiding, including the surrounding forest.”

“Thank you a lot again mister…”

“Besayu is the name,” he grinned.

“I’m Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.”

With that, the two of them headed to Besayu’s place, where Twilight could be sheltered from any rebel dragon who wished to eat her despite of her protector’s warning.

The night sky was filled with stars, the breeze caressed Twilight with a soft embrace. Right now, everything felt right. There was no danger she could fear, not even Spike’s health. Something in her heart assured he was fine, and that soon, he would be back to her.

Letters, Reports and Misconceptions

Dear Fluttershy:

I am writing to let you know the news; first off, we found Spike! But unfortunately, he ran away before I could talk with him.
Princess Celestia sent an escort to watch and keep track of him while we figure out the reason why he decided to leave.
We believe it is not necessary for you to stay in Manehattan as long as we expected since it looks like Spike is traveling from a place to another. No need to hurry though, it will also take time before we can speak with him, so if you feel like enjoying the wonders of Manehattan for a little longer, it is completely alright.

Your friend, Rarity.

Rarity gave her final signature and sealed the letter, putting it aside to begin a new one.

Dear Princess Twilight:

I just can’t imagine what you’re going through in that dreadful place, but we have good news; Spike was here at Canterlot today and Princess Celestia sent an escort so we don’t lose him again.
Please return as soon as you receive this letter, we don’t want you to risk yourself any longer. We will explain the details of what happen when you get here.

Your friend, Rarity.

She sealed the second letter and took both with her.
Rarity stepped inside the throne room, where Celestia and Luna were waiting.

“Are you done?” asked Luna.

“Y-yes, I think so,” Rarity trotted towards them and hesitantly lifted the letters with her magic so the princesses could grab them with their own.

“Anything wrong, my little pony? You look doubtful,” said Celestia with a warm tone.

“I don’t know, the letters are… Kind of short… Empty. But at the same time, nothing comes to my mind to improve them, to express my worry for Spike,” she looked down at the floor, occasionally tapping it with a hoof. Rarity felt powerless over the whole situation.

“I’m sure they know you’re worried; but you shouldn’t be, after all, Spike still cares about all of you as well, and he wouldn’t do anything to harm you.”

“How do you know, Princess? What if he ran away because he got tired of our company? Or our friendship?”

Celestia and Luna shared a quick glance at each other. They both knew what Spike wanted, and they knew he cared about his friends.
They could tell Rarity and the others what Spike was up to, but they had promised to keep it secret for him.
What was better though? To break the promise they made to one subject, or betray the confidence of another six?

“Miss Rarity,” Luna began “There’s something you should know.”

Rarity raised her head, unsure if that sentence meant what she thought.

“Luna, I don’t think-”

“They have to know, eventually, they would’ve found out.”

Celestia sighed and looked away.

“Found out about what?” Rarity increased her tone.

Luna whistled a short melody and a bat of the size of Opal flew through one of the windows, then it landed aside of Luna “It will be better if we tell you when Princess Twilight is also here.” she said as she attached the letter destined for Fluttershy to the bat’s leg.

“Do you know why Spike left?!” demanded Rarity.

“Indeed,” Luna answered a little careless of Rarity’s shock. Who gritted her teeth in response.

“Now Luna, be more polite. And please Rarity, calm down. While it is true that we know something about Spike that you don’t,” Celestia paused and turn to stare at her sister “We can’t jump to any conclusion and be sure about the reason he left.”

“I still want to know what you are hiding! What is it about?! We could’ve used any information to know what we should’ve done!” Rarity stomped one of her forehooves, making Luna turn to see her.
The princess rose and sent the bat in his way to deliver the letter. With slow, firm steps, she descended to the lowest level of the stairs to face Rarity, who backed down a couple of steps.

“You have no right to yell at us in such manner, lady; we appreciate your friendship but do not exaggerate your position.”

At this, Celestia also rose and stepped between Rarity and her sister “Luna! Don’t threaten your subjects like that!”

“It was a warning, not a threat.”

Rarity stared blankly at Luna. She agreed with her that it was disrespectful to yell at royalty the way she did “I’m sorry Princess,” Rarity said as she vowed “It won’t happen again.”

Luna gave a nod and returned to her sit, followed by Celestia.

“Please don’t worry, Rarity. We will tell you what we know when Princess Twilight arrives,” Celestia whistled a similar melody of Luna’s and Philomena appeared.

“Thank you, Princesses, I think I’ll just go out and get some fresh air,” Rarity was getting somewhat depressed, and it showed.

“Relax as much as you need, we’ll call you when Twilight arrives,” Celestia concluded.
When Rarity got out of the room, the royal sisters shared a glance again and, for a minute, they didn’t speak until Celestia decided to break the silence “What was that about?”

Luna rolled her eyes and met her sisters’ gaze “What do you mean?” she said with an annoyed tone.

“You know what I mean, sister, you acted like you didn’t care at all for what she felt.”

“Well, I didn’t.”

“Luna! How can you say that? You have to care for your subjects.”

“I do, but this case is different.”

“Different how?”

“It’s just that lady Rarity doesn’t seem to understand she is in no place to demand anything. Spike left because he didn’t feel right around them, he didn’t feel accepted; and now, without even trying to find out why, she and the others try to get him back no matter what he feels.”

“Sister, you are misunderstanding many things. For what I heard from Spike, he wanted to have a purpose, a purpose away from his kind. He didn’t mention anything about feeling rejected… At least to me.”

“Whatever, the fact is that they don’t really see what he wants.”

“And you do?” Luna shrugged at the question and remained quiet “Listen, I don’t know why you’re so upset, Luna, but that’s no reason to be rude. Just remember dear sister, that you owe those six your freedom.”

Luna stared at no specific direction just wandering in her thoughts. Then she decided to revel what was on her mind “You know, I’m not really mad at them.”

Celestia looked at her sister, and then showed her a smile, expressing she wanted to listen.

“It’s just her.”

“Rarity?”

“Yes, well… You asked if I know what was on Spike’s mind.”

“And…”

“Before he left, he admitted he liked that mare. Not like I have something against it but she’s one of the reasons he left.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re mad at her.”

“I believe she already knows that, and still, she wants to hurry and talk to him instead of taking her time to think about the situation and what Spike wants.”

“Give it time Luna, you don’t have to take other’s problems with you. These tough times will pass.”

Fluttershy hadn’t gotten out of her hotel room many times and, when she did, she tried to sneak around so she could avoid attention; often using disguises like lame glasses or hats to hide.
When she received Rarity’s letter, she felt relieved and finally free from the tartarus Manehattan was.
She left out a “YES!” of relieve as she took a blank sheet from the desk in her room, to write a letter as well.

Dear Rarity:

That’s wonderful news! I can’t wait to go to Canterlot to know more about what happened, and don’t worry about my stay in Manehattan, I’d really really like to leave as soon as possible. (I will explain later)
I’m on my way. Thanks again for the news!

Your friend, Fluttershy.

Twilight had just beaten Besayu when Philomena was two days away with the letter. Two days she would spend in completely unnecessary risk and search.
During that time, she was in constant threat. Many dragons had their eyes on her, but not in the nice way. They wanted the slightest opportunity to launch and eat her or just cook her with their flames.
Some dragons held the temptation by thinking about the way she fought last time, others because of Besayu’s threat, and others did attack her a couple of times. Only to fail miserably, being shoved off by her protector or Twilight herself.

“We could call it a day if you like,” said Besayu, seeing Twilight’s clumsy steps and tired visage.

She shook her head “No, we still have some light, just a couple more hours.”

You don’t have a couple more hours Besayu thought “Look I know you’re worried but it will be unwise to keep going like this.”

“What do you mean ‘like this’?”

“Fatigued, restless, tired, magic-drained, hungry-”

“Alright, alright, you know what? You can return if you want, I’ll keep going and try to find him,” she began to move again.

Besayu sighed and followed. By this time, most dragons were already napping or trying to sleep, as most of them were very lazy.
A few stars began to appear in the sky, matching the sunset. There breeze was calm and the weather perfect for a night.
As the moon began to rise, so did a shining dot in the distance, contrasting with the moon’s glow.

Besayu yawned and sat down Maybe I should get back… Not like anyone will bother her when she returns, right? “It’s getting late, I’ll go back to the lair,” he yawned again.

Twilight nodded.

“You should get back too,” he suggested.

“It’s not that late yet, besides, I’m used to stay awake, reading or researching.”

“It doesn’t matter what time is it, you need to watch where you’re going,” he paused and tried to figure out how to convince her. No idea came to mind “Have it your way then. Try to stay alive.”

Besayu turned around and saw the moon rising, along with an unusual bright shine in the middle of it.
“What’s that?” he peeked at his back, expecting an answer from Twilight; who didn’t hear him and was getting away. “Hmmmm, whatever,”
Besayu walked in straight line to his lair, and as time went by, the shine became clearer. “Is that…” he rubbed his eyes, then adjusted his vision at the light “A phoenix!” he exclaimed “It’s been ages since I ate a phoenix…”

Along the week, princess Celestia received reports of what the lookout could see Spike doing. And she shared them with Rarity and Fluttershy.
What they knew is that he had stayed most of the time in that nameless town just socializing.
Maybe he did want a break from us Rarity thought after listening to the first report.
The others revealed that he had suddenly grown a few more inches than a regular pony from a day to another.

Princess Celestia cleared her throat to read the last report that had arrived. The only audience in the throne room was Luna, Rarity, Fluttershy, and four guards who guarded the gates.

“Your majesty:
We have spotted the dragon Spike sleeping in the forest near the village instead of in the peasant’s house for reasons we don’t understand. He hasn’t grown anymore since the last report and it seems he’s moving on. He’s also carrying a bunch of random objects we believe were gifts from the ponies he met.
We are sorry for not being of optimal service but there’s not too much we can do by only watching with binoculars where he goes. If you wish so, we could take action and try to cease him or interrogate the villagers-”

“NO! They can’t do that!” Rarity interrupted.

“Fret nothing, Rarity, I will not give such an order. May I proceed?”

“Y-yes, of course Princess, sorry.”

Luna frowned at Rarity You still can’t avoid it, can you? she thought.

Celestia continued to read “If you wish so, we could take action and try to cease him or interrogate the villagers in order to give you a detailed explanation of what is happening there.
Always at your service, Captain Golden Spear.”

“Is that it?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m afraid it is,” answered Celestia.

“Ugh! This is taking a lot of time and the only thing we know is that he grew because some reason and he is leaving to get somewhere else!” Rarity scowled.

“Rarity… Not so loud…” Fluttershy whispered.

“Right now we need to wait until Princess Twilight arrives. If Philomena is as fast as usual, she should get the letter today,” Celestia assured.

“And what about Spike? Do we wait until he wants to speak with us?”

“The best course of action is to know where Spike is going and why. I will tell my guards to ask politely for information about it. Once we have that, maybe it will be time for you to approach and ask him what is in his mind yourselves.”

Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other and smiled. Maybe they would speak with Spike soon.

Golden Spear raised a hoof to let a messenger eagle rest on it; he then took the order attached to its back with his mouth and gave the bird to another guard.
After reading the paper, he folded it and called out loud for the others “MEN! We have a new mission from the Princess!”

The other four ponies rose and trotted at the captain to listen.

“We will ask the ponies in the village for any hint of where the dragon was heading and if we can, keep following him.”

“What?! Keep following him?! It’s nice to travel or leaving the castle now and then but we’re running out of provisions!” One guard complained.

“Yeah, and it hasn’t been what you could call the most pleasant nights if you ask me. We can’t build campfires because he ‘might notice us’,” supported another.

“What are you all? Foals?! We’re aside the river and there are bushes as far as the eye can see! So don’t complaint about provisions! Besides, we have tents, that’s all we need to stay warm at night, move your flanks soldiers!”

Command given, the guards packed their armor, tents and souvenirs to continue their mission.
It didn’t take them long to arrive to the village, and they were greeted with stares of confusion and concern.
When the royal escort got to the center of the main square, many ponies thought this had to do with the dragon. Never before had they been visited by royalty.
Everypony gathered to know what had brought guardsmen there. Was someone visiting? Were they looking for recruits? Were they here because of the dragon?
They couldn’t tell and nopony dared to ask.

“Ummm, Captain… I feel like they’re going to throw rocks or pitchforks at us at any moment,” whispered Flash to Golden Spear’s ear.

“Keep calm private, I will handle this,” Golden took four steps forward and cleared his throat “Citizens of Equestria,” he began, earning their attention “We are here on royal business to accomplish a mission from your majesty, Princess Celestia.”
Some in the crowd muttered, unsure if this was good news, bad news or neither.
“During the last week, you were visited by a young dragon, which turns out to be the assistant of Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“Princess who?”
“We have another?”
“Oh, the new Princess.”
“Is that her sister’s name?”
“No, that's Luna you're talking about.”

It was clear that the place was isolated but this was almost ridiculous. Only a number of citizens were updated to everyday news.

“Nevermind,” Golden said to gain attention again “We need to find him in order to bring him back home. Did he ever tell you where he was heading?”

Code and Merry emerged from the crowd, staring indignant to the captain.
“He’s already heading home; he doesn’t need some Princess’ cops to watch over him!” said Code with confidence.
“Yeah, besides, you shouldn’t be chasing him if he decided to leave! That ‘Princess Twilight’ should’ve done something terrible to the poor dragon that he decided to leave!”

“How dare you insult a Princess?!” challenged one of the guards.

“Stand back, soldier, we don’t want to have problems here,” Golden intervened.

“Does the reason why he left actually matter?” The crowd and the guards turned to see the red unicorn who spoke “He’s a thief! An outcast! And has to be brought to justice!”

“You again, Collector?” Code rolled his eyes “You had done nothing but spread lies about the little dragon since came.”

“But this is true! He stole from my shop! One day, he came looking for some of antiques and today morning, while I was checking inventory, those were the only missing!” He stomped the ground furiously.

“He would never do that!” replied Merry.

Golden listened to their argument, realizing he had seen Spike with some items before. He entered the conversation so he could get to the bottom of this “Sir, could you please describe the objects you claim the dragon stole?” before Collector could respond, Golden made a signal and Flash brought him a notepad.

“Well, there was a pyramid, a big tome, a cowboy hat, a silver statue, a lamp in form of a butterfly, and a sapphire.”

Golden listened as he read the items written in the notepad. He then glanced between the couple and Collector “I’m very sorry to inform you, madam, sir, that what he claims is true. We have kept our distance from the dragon and observed him. The items the unicorn just mentioned are the ones the dragon had before he departed.”

Merry and Code couldn’t believe it, it was impossible that the nice, baby dragon they had sheltered and fed had done something like that “Bu-but he never did anything to us, he never stole from us!”

“Believe me, madam, the recent actions of the Princess’ assistant are a complete mystery, even for her. And since you were so eager to help him, I can’t help but remember you just said he was ‘already heading home’.”

Code bit his lip “Yes… He told us so.”

“And where is ‘home’ exactly?” insisted Golden.

“…”
“We…We…”

“Sir, miss, I understand your concern, but you’ll have to cooperate If you don’t want to become partners in crime with the suspect.”

Suspect! They now call him suspect! What a- “Ponyville” Code’s words cut off Merry’s train of thought.

“Thank you, sir, we will be out of your mane from now on. MEN! Let’s return to Canterlot!” Golden turned around and trotted uphill, followed by the other guards.

Merry stood still, trying to article a sentence while the others dissipated. Soon, there was no one but Code and her, standing in the square.
“Why… Why did you-”

“You heard them, dear,” he embraced Merry in a tight hug, feeling her tears slide down in his chest “Who knows? Maybe he was never the innocent little dragon we believed he was.”
The two of them shared a moment in each other’s embrace to remember the few days they spent with Spike. There had to be a detail they were missing; maybe he had stolen from Collector, but there was good in his eyes. He was definitely not evil.

Rarity and Fluttershy entered the throne room once again, where Celestia was waiting with a message grasped with her magic. They vowed before the princess.

“Did you call, Princess?” asked Rarity.

When they rose, Fluttershy saw the paper “Oh! Is it more news from Spike?”

Celestia nodded with an unhappy look on her face.

“Is it… Something bad?” asked Rarity.

“I admit this is not something that will be pleasant to hear,” Celestia closed her eyes.

The friends shrugged and a shiver ran through them. The last thing they needed was more bad news.
Without delay, Celestia began to read the report:
“Your majesty:
The citizens assured us that Spike the dragon is heading to Ponyville-”
Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s eyes widened at that, that was a good first impression, but the report was supposed to show bad news, so they didn’t rise their hopes too high.
“-so we have decided we should return to Canterlot and let the pertinent authorities of Ponyville take care of him. This decision was also made because the team in general is tired of camping and traveling like nomads (their words) I hope we took the right decision.
That said, there was a theft in the village, performed by Spike himself. The store’s owner wants his items returned and that Spike is ‘brought to justice’ by your judgement.”

The listeners didn’t believed it either. After what happened in Ponyville he wouldn’t do such thing! thought Rarity.

“Oh goodness! He stole? Poor Spike must be under a lot of pressure,” Fluttershy tried to soften the hit.

“Either way, I can’t allow this kind of actions as a ruler. I need you get back to Ponyville and talk with Spike. If he is going back there, it’s because he’s ready to speak to all of his friends again. And I trust that Twilight will do the right judgment; Ponyville is her kingdom after all.”

“Agreed Princess… But… Speaking of Twilight, shouldn’t she have teleported back by now?” Rarity questioned.

“That’s true, she was supposed to return yesterday if everything went alright,” added Fluttershy.

“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Maybe Philomena is taking longer rests or Twilight was farther than we thought,” Celestia gave them a warm smile “She will be back soon.”

The search

Spike observed the familiar town from afar, still unsure where to begin his explanation.
After hiding the gifts he brought with him under a tree, Spike began to walk towards Ponyville smiling. He was happy for coming back; Nervous for what his friends would say and claim; Disappointed on himself for what he had done in the past few days; But overall, he was excited to let everyone know that he would never leave again.

Half a mile away from Ponyville, he stopped “Where should I go first?” he thought aloud “Rarity was in Canterlot, so the others might be out too…”
Spike hadn’t actually thought what to do next. Well, if they’re out, I could stay in the castle until Twilight gets back. He decided to surround Ponyville and keep the presents in the castle. It could even work as an apology.
When he turned around, he saw a silhouette standing still, staring blankly at Ponyville. It didn’t seem to notice Spike.
The figure looked just like Tirek: half pony and half human.
What were those called, again? Spike tried to remember the name of the specie Oh, right! Centaurs!
The mysterious man then turned his gaze at Canterlot, and then murmured something too vague to tell what it was.

Spike decided to make an approach and slowly walked towards the centaur “Hello there, mister!” he said.
As fast as lightning, the centaur drew a scimitar, looking down hill at the dragon who called.
“Whoa! Hold on a second! I’m not dangerous!” Well… sort of. Spike called as he raised an arm, to cover from the centaur.

“Wha-” The centaur examined Spike for about a minute still holding his weapon tight “A… Dragon…” he finally managed to say.

“Yup! And just as friendly as any other Ponyville folk!”

“You’ve come sooner than us…”

“Errr, sorry?”

“Listen carefully: you’re not ahead in any way! You dragons shall be prepared!”
With that, the centaur turned around and galloped away from Spike.

“Hey! Get back here!” Spike tried to follow him, but getting used to standing on four legs made it practically impossible for him to run.
After a chase that didn’t last long, Spike gave up. This would take him time. “Gah! How do they do this?!” he took a moment to catch his breath And… Who was that guy? What did he mean? As Spike made his way back to Ponyville, he kept wondering what was a centaur doing there. He had never seen one like him other than Tirek, and doubted any other Equestrian had. “Might as well tell Twilight when this whole thing is over.”
Once again, Spike stood in the outside of Ponyville. He unburied the presents and surrounded his hometown, heading directly to the palace and making sure nopony could notice him.
When he got to the gates, he noticed one problem: they were closed.

“Oh, really? Now?” Spike knocked to see if there was any servant or guard in charge while Twilight was out… And there wasn’t. Spike waited outside for a whole hour lying on the ground and expecting something interesting to happen.

“You ready to go, dear?” asked Rarity, sitting expectantly in front the room’s door.

“I think so,” answered Fluttershy. After the last report, she was unsure how to justify the actions of Spike. She felt conflicted on how to accept it and it showed.

“Are you okay?”

“Just thinking about Spike…” Fluttershy said emotionless.

“Same here, darling, but remember: the sooner we leave, the sooner we can make amends for whatever we did to make him leave like that,” Rarity assured.

Fluttershy nodded and took her suitcases to leave.
At the entrance of Canterlot’s castle, the Princesses were waiting for the friends.

“Please, allow my servants to take your possessions to the train,” said Celestia when she saw them arrive.

Rarity wasn’t pleased with the results of the visit to Canterlot. Sure, she had spoken with Fancy Pants, stayed in the castle and got to know what Spike was doing; but she found out the Princesses knew something she didn’t, and without Twilight there, they wouldn’t say a word. “Thank you again Princess, for letting us stay.”

“Always a pleasure to have you come,” Celestia gave a quick nod and turned to escort the element’s bearers to the train station.
Rarity and Fluttershy followed and Luna watched as they left.

“Princess, I don't want to sound uncouth, but I think we know the way to the station from here,” Rarity really wanted to avoid any contact with Celestia, and this time, it showed.

Celestia sighed “Rarity, believe me, the last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable.”

Then why don't you leave? Rarity thought.

“But I intend to go to Ponyville myself.”

Fluttershy and Rarity raised an eyebrow and shared a glance “Why would you want to?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, I'm beggining to think Twilight might've had trouble recieving the message I sent. If that's the case... She won't return until the month has passed.”

“What do you mean she 'might've had trouble recieving the message'?” Rarity asked a little too loud again.

“It's no secret Philomena isn't a perfect messenger,” Celestia tried not to make Rarity even more angry. Why? I shouldn't give any explanation, this isn't my fault and she's my subject! Why do I care about what she'll think of me? “I fear something could happen to my dear phoenix.”

“Oh! So you are concerned for your pet but not for Twilight? What if something happened to her?!” Rarity scowled.

“Rarity... you are doing it again...” Fluttershy whispered as she shrugged.

“I'm certain Princess Twilight is alright, she can come back at any time and she's perfectly capable to fend for herself,” answered Celestia.

“Right, whatever,” Rarity mumbled. “So, are you going to take the train with us? Doesn't seem too royal...”

“I was wondering if you two wanted to travel in my chariot, it would save us some time,” suggested the Princess.

Before Rarity could refuse, Fluttershy accepted “We'd love to!”

Celestia smiled at her comprehensive friend. The three of them kept going in an awkward silence until they arrived to the train station; where four pegasi guards were waiting for them.

“This way, please,” Indicated one of them.
When the group finally got to the chariot, Rarity tried to retain a gasp, but it eventually slipped through her lips. This chariot was bigger than the others she'd seen the Princess use. Sure, this time there were two passengers but this was just huge.

“P-Princess! This is... It's,” Rarity managed to say.

Celestia chuckled at this. She knew Rarity loved style and royalty, but forgetting her anger that way? Maybe there was always a way to get the mood back. “Big?” she guessed.

“MARVELOUS! The design, the color!” - Rarity surrounded the masterpiece as she spoke - “Oh my, what a work of art!”

“I'm glad you like it,” Celestia smiled “Shall we leave?” She directed a quick nod to the guards and the four of them hooked to the chariot.

Rarity leaped inside and fluttershy flew to her side.
Once the Princess entered too, the guards took off.
For the first minute of flight, no pony said anything, it was a relaxing trip with a calm breeze that most unicorns would enjoy and few had the chance to have. Being close to the Princess was certainly a great benefit.
After Rarity stopped getting amazed and her excitement lowered, she decided to break the silence.

“P-Princess?”

“Hmm?” Celestia turned to face Rarity.

“I was just wondering, while you're gone, I suppose Princess Luna will be in charge.”

“That would be correct,” Celestia nodded.

“Do you think she'll be fine?” Rarity asked.

“Are you concerned for her, or are you worried she's not up to the task, my little pony?”

“N-no! Nothing like that Princess! It's just that...”

“...That...”

“I just wanted to bring something up so we could talk,” she shrugged and looked down at the fields, lowering her head.

“Is that so? Why didn't you just tell me?” Celestia leaned to get closer to Rarity.

“I guess I just feel bad for blaming you for everything while you have given us your support and didn't actually cause Spike to leave,” Rarity looked up at Celestia “I'm sorry Princess, for everything,” she finished.

“Worry not, Rarity, I understand what you're going through. Also, I'm a little curious about why your initiative is matching Twilight's in this matter...” she raised an eyebrow to make her point known.

Rarity blushed at the suggestion and looked away “It's no-not like that, Princess. You see... I kind of owe Spike an apology,” before continuing, she remembered Fluttershy was still there. As silent as she was, it was easy to disregard her presence. She was sitting at the other end of the chariot but Rarity noticed her perked up ears “I'll let you know later, if it's the same for you” she asked with a pleading smile.

“It's quite alright,” Celestia winked at her.

Spike was still waiting outside the crystal palace, he's boredom growing with each passing minute.

Maybe I should go visit Applejack or Pinkie... it would be better to have all of them present but by the looks of it, maybe this is going to take some days... Just as he got up, he saw the Princess' chariot heading towards Ponyville. “Are you back, Twilight?!” he exclaimed excitedly. He got up and took his 'gifts' to the back of the palace where no pony could bump into them and hid on a nearby bush. If Twilight was back, he could surprise her when she passed by.

Half an hour passed and Spike began to think it was only a casual visit from the other Princesses. The bush was getting uncomfortable and Spike hadn't stolen anything today; if he just kept hiding, he would eventually shrink again.
As he was thinking what he could possibly steal, he heard someone approaching. Between the twigs and leaves, Spike saw five ponies heading his way: Princess Celestia, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack.
He decided not to question why Twilight wasn't with them and instead listened to the talk they were having.

“So if Twi' recieved the letter she should've returned already, right?” Applejack asked.

“Right,” Celestia answered “The problem is she hasn't reported with me yet,” she looked at her companions “Or visited any of you for that matter.”

“I just hope she's ok, just imagine how dangerous a place full of dragons can be,” Fluttershy mentioned.

What? As the group approched, he tapped his chin with a claw What does she mean by that? A place full of dragons?.

The ponies stopped at the portal. Pinkie took the initiative and knocked the door loudly multiple times. “Twilight!” she kept knocking “Twilight Twilight Twilight Twilight Twilight Twilight Twilight Twilight!!!!”

“I-I think she's not home...” Fluttershy whispered.

“OR,” Pinkie's shout interrupted “Maybe she's asleep and we need more noise to wake her up!” she then vanished with a cloud of smoke behind her.
The others present looked at each other, Celestia with wide-open eyes, Applejack with an 'are you kidding me' expression, Rarity face-hoofing and Fluttershy sighing.

Rarity shook her head and focused on the task “So, what next? We need to get Twilight back here as soon as possible!”

“I agree, and since it seems a written letter won't do, I'll have to sent an escort to find her,” Celestia decided.

“Ummm, Princess?” Fluttershy poked the ruler's wing.

“Yes?”

“I'm very sorry about Philomena, I didn't get to know her well, but I'm sure she was a great pet,” she vowed to express her condolences.

“Thank you, it was wrong of me to send her in the first place. I should have known better than send her to dragon territory on her own.”

“And what about Spike?” Applejack brought up “He's supposed to be here, right?”

“According to the report, yes,” Celestia nodded “He must be somewhere around the town, since nopony has seen him.”

“Well then, let's go find him!” Rarity said aloud.

In that moment, Spike wanted to get out of that bush and question them about this 'report', had Celestia spied on him? Even if they did, he owed them an apology his friends as tightly as possible. To explain everything that happened and ask for their forgiveness. To thank them for caring for him as he did for them.
But he couldn't, he couldn't get out of there or even move. The only thing in his mind right now was Twilight. His sister and closest friend was in danger because she was looking for him; and she didn't even know he was in Ponyville. From what Spike heard, she could even be hurt and tired.
The ponies left, trotting fast on different directions. Spike didn't even hear what they had decided, or where they were going to look for him, instead, he sobbed silently still hidden.

Flying, Celestia surrounded Ponyville looking for any hint of Spike; Applejack and Rarity asked for him in every single housebof the town; Fluttershy returned to her cottage to ask Discord for help and check his work with the animals; and Pinkie was busy asking Vinyl Scratch for her DJ speakers and other similar stuff.

Rarity and Applejack ran out of houses and ponies to ask questions before an hour, so they went to the orchard to see if Spike was napping on a tree or just wandering around.
The two of them trotted silently for a couple of minutes, already doubting Spike was actually in Ponyville, or anywhere around for that matter.

“So... How was Canterlot?” Applejack began.

“The usual,” Rarity was getting tired, but she always welcomed short talks from her friends “Fancy Pants recieved me as expected and the city is as lovely as always,” Rarity outlined a smile “Sometimes I wish Ponyville was as stylish, but asking for a beautiful place with even more polite and amazing ponies is asking for too much.”

“What d'you mean Rarity? I mean, it's good to hear ya' think ponies here are 'polite and amazing' but Ponyville sure's beautiful.”

Rarity chuckled lightly before explaining “Well, of course! It was a mistake to imply a rustic place isn't beautiful.”

“Kinda did it before though,” Applejack muttered, loud enough for Rarity to listen.

“Hey! I never meant that for you! I just thought you were... Ummm... Messy?” Rarity smiled sheepishly.

Applejack glared at her arching an eyebrow, and then laughed. “No hard feelings, sugarcube, I guess I can be pretty messy at times.”

“Rarity sighed in relief that the conversation wouldn’t turn tense. “Say, dear, what have you been up to these days?”

“Hmm? Oh, well... Just workin' and buckin' as always. Selling some apples, making deliveries, shucks, even Applebloom's getting the hang of it!”

“That sounds wondrous!” Rarity paused to remember the great life her friends have been building over the past years “I only wish I knew what Spike's or Rainbow's time have been like.”

“Rainbow's doing fine,” said Applejack with a calm tone “She told me about her shows and the places she's gone to. I even remember this story she came up with about one of the wonderbolts messin' up. The crowd gasping and whispering to the point she had to...” just then, Applejack noticed the incredulous look on Rarity's face. “What? You don't believe it?”

“No, no it isn't that, it's just-”

“'Cause let me tell ya', I didn't believed it either when she first told me-” she interrupted.

“Applejack,”

“Huh? What is it then?”

“You said 'she told me about her shows', did you attend one of them or something?”

“Nope, she comes by in times...”

“Does she?” Rarity came to a halt “She never visited me.”

“It could be... Umm, I don't know... Because Ponyville's near?”

Rarity just blinked, still in her place.

“Okay! She's been coming to Sweet Apple Acres for chatting. Sometimes just for some cider, the nuisance... But enough about Rainbow, tell me more about what you heard of Spike,” Applejack tried to redirect the subject.

“Alright...” Rarity cleared her throat and began to move forward again “Turns out he stole some items from an antique's store and for some odd reason he grew above an average pony's height.”

“Really? I can't imagine Spike stealing or committing any crime at all.”

“Well, I couldn't believe it either. I guess we'll find out the story behind that after we find him.”

“And about the odd reason thing, it makes sense that he grows, right? Y'know, the greed n' stuff?”

“I don't think that's the case, Applejack, he would be a rampaging, gigantic, pony-eating beast right now,” Rarity looked down at the earth “I wish Twilight and Spike were here.”

Meanwhile, Spike was pondering about this mess, would he be able to just walk in and pretend nothing was wrong? This was certainly the most troublesome situation he had ever gotten himself into.
The hour the others had spent looking for him, Spike used to decide it was best for him to show himself and face whatever rage his friends would rain upon him. After all, everything would be back to normal. Or at least he expected.
Spike's head popped out of the bush. What he saw was not precisely expected... Or actually, it was plain strange: A mountain of speakers blocked the road, with Pinkie stacking even more in pile and Vinyl pressing buttons and moving amplification modifiers up and down in a booth sandwiched between the huge sound machines.

They were both too busy to notice Spike in the bush, who kept staring at the monstrous amount of speakers.

“Ready?!” Pinkie called at the top of the mountain.

Vinyl raised a hoof and nodded, noting Pinkie to put on some headphones.
Spike knew what was coming next. He sprinted to the back of the castle to minimize the noise about to assault his head and covered his ears.
After both crazy ponies had everything ready and their ears plugged, they turned on the thing.

The thunderous racket could be heard in Ponyville and everywhere around. Despite the crystal palace's remoteness, some ponies were extremely bothered by the noise. Some had to lock themselves inside their houses, shutting every window and door closed in order to get rid of it, but they failed even with those measures.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Celestia got there as soon as they could. They cringed more and more as they approached, until they were welcomed by Pinkie with cases containing ear plugs, which they were grateful for.
Their pink friend was saying some inaudible things not even understandable by lip reading. Rarity tried to communicate with her but it was no use; Fluttershy and Celestia faced a similar problem trying to make Pinkie turn the thing off.
Suddenly, it stopped.
All the presents turned to see Applejack and Vinyl arguing in front of a now smashed DJ booth.

“What's your problem!?” shouted Vinyl.

“My problem?! You were deafening half of Ponyville with this here machine!” Applejack replied.

Pinkie took a closer look at the booth and saw it had been kicked pretty hard.

“Hey! Applejack! That wasn't nice!” Pinkie backed Vinyl up.

Celestia stepped between Applejack and Vinyl, the latter immediately vowed. “P-Princess! What are you doing here?” she nervously said, fearing some kind of punishment.

“Stand up,” Celestia commanded.

Vinyl obeyed but kept her head down.

“Don't worry, I would prefer if what happened here was not repeated, but I know you meant no harm. So for now, you may leave.”

Vinyl vowed again and dragged her destroyed booth to Ponyville “Dude... My stuff...” she muttered as she left.

“Why did you do all of this?!” Applejack scolded Pinkie.

“Duh! To wake Twilight up in case she was asleep!”

“Pinkamena, we appreciate your effort to help but this just isn't the way,” Celestia tried to lecture her “It was well know that no pony was inside and yet, you set up an uncalled for show for no apparent reason.”

“B-but but what if she was there?” Pinkie asked with a puppy face.

“She would have answered the first time, don't you think?”

“Well... I guess... Sorry Princess.”

The group turned to return to Ponyville when a sound came from the castle: The gates.
At the entrance, there was Twilight. With a messy tail and mane which covered her eyes. “I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP!” she screamed.

Every pony else was astonished, mouths agape and staring at Twilight. Though no one was more surprised than Celestia.
At the back of the palace, Spike was trying to regain his sense of hearing, but that gig had been too much. He couldn't hear the discussion of Applejack and Vinyl nor the lecture of Celestia, but he did hear the voice of Twilight.
He perked up and smacked his head a couple of times with his fist Twilight?

“Keep it down or it's dungeon for you!” Twilight finished her threat and closed the gates again.

“S-she was actually there!” Rarity said with a startled tone.

“Gotta give you points for that, Pinkie,” Applejack commented.

“Nailed it!” Pinkie cheered.

Celestia still couldn't bring herself to say anything. Weren't for Pinkie's idea, they still would be worried for Twilight.

“It may seem like a bad time to ask but...” Fluttershy whispered to Applejack “Do we have a dungeon around? It didn't sound very nice,” she was trembling at the idea.

Applejack laughed.

“So... Is that a yes or a no?”

Reunion

Nopony remembered Twilight yelling like that. Or at least yelling like that at them. Rarity thought it would be a good idea to calm her down by letting her know the recent events “So, should we tell her what happened or...”

“Not right now,” Celestia knew very well that feeling of frustration after a long day of work. Or adventure in this case “Let Princess Twilight rest, she'll come out when she's ready.”

“Well, One down, one to go,” Applejack announced, adjusting her stetson “Let's get to it! Spike's still missing!”

Unfortunately for Applejack, she was the only one willing to keep going, and Fluttershy was the first one to express it “But it's getting late! and I haven't fed the critters...”

“I also have to check on Pound and Pumpkin,” Pinkie agreed.

“I believe we all should rest as well. Soon, I will lower the sun, and it seems your friends have things to do.”

“We can't just leave it like that! What if Spike doesn't have food? Or where will he sleep fer that matter?”

“Applejack, we are all as concerned for Spike just as you are,” Rarity approached her and leaned a hoof on her shoulder “But it's not like he had any problem surviving in the wilds all this time by himself; I'm sure he can do it for one more night without a problem.”

“Guess you're right...” she admitted “But we ain't finished! We'll keep it up tomorrow morning.”

Celestia watched them all depart in different directions That should do for today. her horn lit up, and the sun slowly made it's way to the other side of the planet.
When she was done, the princess looked at her surroundings I feel like I'm missing something... she advanced towards Ponyville trying to remember whatever she forgot. Then it hit her Oh, right...

Ponyville's only hotel was almost always lonely. Even though it was a very nice and calm place to live at (most of the time), It didn't have many visitors. Ponies from all of Equestria prefered popular or extense places like Canterlot or Manehattan; And the clerk who worked there didn't complaint about it. It wasn't his business to know if it was profitable to have a hotel there, he was just the employee, so he often thought Hey, I'm getting paid for literally sitting and doing nothing? Awesome! Today, though, his skills were to put to the test.

The door bell rang. As fast as his hooves allowed him, he threw away the old newspaper he was reading and positioned himself in a 'professional' stance “Welcome to Ponyville's cozy...!”
Celestia smirked to herself and waited for the clerk to finish the sentence, but he didn't. Instead he jumped to the other side of the counter, landing a few feet in front of Celestia and vowed “P-Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?! N-not like I don't want you to be here it's such a great honor to have you here but I just can't understand this!” he slowly lift his head “Are you here to close this place down? If that's the case let me tell you in advance we do not have rat trouble in here!”

“Rise, my little pony,” she said calmly “I'm not here to close down the hotel.”

The clerk sighed and obeyed “Then, what bring the most benevolent and graceful Princess of all to this humble dwelling?”

Celestia was slightly taken back by the sudden flattery, smiling nonetheless “I wish to rent a room.”

That made it. The clerk's heart was beating very fast. He didn't know if this was extremely perfect or if he should be scared about this pony being an impostor. Either way, he stood still for a whole minute.
When he returned to the reality of the situation, he noticed the princess's expecting expression “R-right! A room! Of course, Princess. I'll give you the finest we have.”

Like that, the most powerful ruler of Equestria, settled down for a night in the rustic Ponyville hotel. The place had no rats, and it was certainly taken care of, so she couldn't complaint.
The clerk... Well, he couldn't be happier. He had always admired the princess, and adored the look of that flowing, bright mane. If there was a pony he ever wanted to get close to, it was her. He even thought about asking her to stay one more night there; even if he was below her room, waiting in the boring counter.
Asking the Princess out? That would be asking for ten years in a dungeon. Nothing more than that could ever happen. He was just one more subject after all.

Spike waited for the others to leave so he could say hello to his closest friend.
In order to avoid unwanted attention, he climbed the crystal walls all the way to Twilight's room. It was hard to get the right grip in some points, but nothing his claws couldn't handle.
At the balcony, he peeked trough the window, and saw the alicorn deep asleep.
He hesitated a few moments before entering, taking slow steps towards her. Spike could also see Philomena in the room, resting on a rack. What is Philomena doing here? His eyes drifted back to Twilight and he stood in front of her Doesn't matter right now.

“Hey Twi',” Spike didn't mind if she woke up, that way he could properly talk with her, but she looked so peaceful that he decided not to be loud “I'm back.”

Twilight stirred a little and mumbled.

“You know, just now I've realized I caused you all more trouble than I imagined. I'm sorry.” then, Spike leaned and kissed Twilight's cheek “Thank you for everything you've done for me.”

It was obvious Twilight was not conscious of his presence, and yet, she smiled at the kiss.

Then, Spike came to a realization and blushed. He had climbed all the way to her window, talked to her nicely as she slept and even kissed her. The scene reminded him of one of those stories for foals where a knight had to save a princess from a menacing dragon. Only this time, a royal knight would be guarding the princess from the dragon.
He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.

“It could make good material for a story,” he thought aloud.

Seeing Twilight still lost in her dreams, Spike silently made way to his room.
He opened the door and saw it spectacularly neat. Every comic ordered alphabetically, his bed in order, basically a room only Twilight would organize.
It was all impeccable, but a layer of dust was present too. There was a lack of life in the room, and now it was up to Spike to bring it to it.
His body no longer made the bed look unnecessarily huge anymore, it was actually accurate to his size now. He was big, but he was still a baby dragon. Then again, he would be a baby dragon for like two hundred years more, so it didn't actually matter. Spike lay on the bed and wrapped himself with it's blankets, ready to enjoy the commodity of a real bed since the last month.

Right before drifting to a good sleep, Spike opened his eyes instantly. There was something wrong.
He threw away the covers and took a look at himself, analyzing his claws and feet. There was no physical change but there was something inside him warning about a possible shrink.

“Oh, not right now...” he panicked. Maybe if I take a look at my stuff and hug it or something it'll go away...
It was no use though, he needed something new, something to add to his collection.
He left the comics sprawled on the floor and ran to the castle's entrance. The gates creaked somewhat loudly when Spike opened them, and he winced when he heard it. Keep quiet, you two! he hoped Twilight wouldn't wake up with the noise.
Thinking about an easy target, the dragon gave quick glances to the buildings of Ponyville.
Ponies were supposed to be sleeping right now, so there was little problem to walk around.
Breaking into somepony's place was an option immediately discarded. Fruit stands would've been ideal in this situation but there were obviously none.

Flowerpots? Could be... Not like they're very important anyway. Sure enough, there were lots of flowerpots all over Poniville's residences; Spike made a safe call either way. There was a place where they wold never notice a theft: Roseluck's garden. It was filled with different flowers, and it didn't seem to have a pattern. It was as if there were put at random there.
Spike took one of the many flowerpots stacked aside the garden and filled it with dirt, then he took two flowers and almost carelessly planted them in the pot.

While returning to the palace, Spike caressed his new acquisition and grinned, feeling 'the warning' wear away “Much better.”

Twilight woke up with a lot of energy. She had never slept this much, all afternoon and night long.
She got up, looking around; Philomena was awake, staring at her.

“Good morning, Philomena,” she said.

In response, the bird extended a wing and made a quick reverence.
Twilight grasped a brush with her magic and began to comb her mane. Morning rituals were important for Twilight no matter how distressed or hurried she was. Everything had to be done in order, step by step. There would be time to catch up with the news as well as the correspondent 'hello's' later, right now, she wanted breakfast.
Philomena flapped her wings a couple of times, hovering to land in Twilight's back, who didn't mind the phoenix.
The princess got out of her bedroom and noticed the opened door of Spike's room.

“What?” incredulous, she stepped in front of it and pushed the door to open it wider.
The bed was made, but it certainly wasn't how she left it. By it's side, there were a book and a comic, both with bookmarks and neatly placed.

“Spike?” her tone was so low, it was like a whisper “Spike! Are you there?!” she yelled.

Then, there was the confirmation, she could smell something roasting in the kitchen, something being roasted by that unmistakable fire.
Twilight rushed downstairs, almost making Philomena fall off. And stopped when she saw a not-so-familiar dragon.
“Spike...” she took a few steps forward “It's you,” her words could've been mistaken by a question because of the tone she put in them. She knew it was Spike, for sure, but she was still taken back by his appearance.

Said dragon turned around, holding a frying pan “Good morning Twilight,” he smiled.

Both of them wasted no time in getting close and wrap each other in a hug. Philomena had to fly off to give them space, and Spike was careful not to burn his friend with the pan.

After they broke the hug, Twilight began to speak with teary eyes “Where have you been?! We were all worried..: I was worried sick for you!”

“I know you were, and believe me, I'll tell you everything!” Well... Most of it anyway... “The most important thing you have to know is that I won't leave you or the others again.”

She hugged Spike again as she kept talking “Spike, it wasn't long, it was only a month! And yet I got mad at you for leaving like that, worried for whatever could happen to you!” she paused and tilted her head to look him in the eye “But over all, I felt guilty, I thought I probably did something awful to you and didn't even realized it.” a single tear slipped through her cheek “Did I, Spike? Did I do something wrong?”

There was a lot of pain in Twilight's eyes, and Spike couldn't stand it. He knew why he kept this a secret, how could he tell her he was stealing so those around him stop treating him like a child? Or that small talk he had with Celestia?
Now that he looked back, it all seemed like a lame excuse. Tartarus, it probably was.
No adventure or self-discovery quest could be worth the suffering of his most trusted friend.

“N-no Twilight,” he said with a quivering voice “It was me, I did many things wrong.”

“I... What? What do you mean?”

“This, the way you're feeling right now is my fault. As well as the horrible things you probably went through this last month.” he broke this second hug and held her left hoof with both of his claws “I promise I will never make you suffer like that again. I promise.”

After sharing a few sobs, the princess and her former assistant could share breakfast, where Spike listened carefully to Twilight's journey to the volcano, including the tale on how she had to rescue Philomena from Besayu's mouth. Bad memories for the three of them.

At Twelve o' clock, there was a knock on the gates and a new, lively Twilight answered. She expected to find her friends, after all, they missed her and she missed them.
Sure enough, they were the five of them and Princess Celestia.

“Good morning girls!” she cheered. Then turned to Celestia “Good morning, Celestia.”

“Wow,”Applejack declared at the strange behavior “I knew it was refreshing to take a long nap after a long day's work but, I certainly didn't expect that.”

“Come on in! Theres so much to catch up with!” Twilight trotted back inside, leaving the other ponies behind.

Rainbow Dash hovered, probably being the most confused of the group “Ok, two options” she began “Either you guys didn't tell me the whole thing or she's gone full insane.”

“I hope it's neither,” Rarity commented as they entered the palace “Spike's absence must have been especially hard for her.”

Everypony arrived to the throne room, where Twilight was waiting for them, but they didn't take a seat.

Fluttershy approached to the center, hesitant of what to say “Twilight? It's good to see you like this, but don't you think you should be more concerned and go out to find Spike?”

“Oh, girls,”she answered in an almost mocking tone “Spike is already here! He came here during the night!”

Rarity, Fluttershy and Celestia exchanged looks while the rest were beaming, happy to hear that.

“Darling, can I have a word?” Rarity feared she wouldn't be able to tell them about Spike's 'troubles' before things got complicated. A fear which became a reality.

“Yes, just a minute though, Spike wanted to talk to us,” she stepped aside to let him enter the room. Spike was carrying the items he stole.

What? Is he going to turn himself in? Fluttershy thought.

“Whoa! What happened to you?!” Rainbow circled Spike, trying to accept the fact that this... Guy... Was the small and fragile dragon she knew.
Actually, everypony was impressed, even the three who knew Spike would be larger. Seeing the change face to face was certainly impressive.

After the greetings finished, Spike could finally put the objects on the central table “I brought a few things for you, kind of a way to say I'm sorry.”

Those were for us? Rarity had believed this was a new hoard for Spike, but it was actually a gift for them. An act of... Generosity.
Unfortunately, this generosity was wrongfully earned, a lie to say the least.

She was lost in thought until she heard her name.

“Rarity? Are you still mad at me?”

She shook her head and looked at the sapphire Spike was holding. For a moment, she forgot it was stolen and fought the urge to squeal like Rainbow was for her new silver statue.

“No no no, I'm just flattered for this detail of yours,” she outlined a smile and took the sapphire “Thank you.”

When Fluttershy's turn arrived, she was nervous to take the gift “I-Ummmm,” she looked around, diverting her gaze “S-sorry Spike, I can't take it.”

“What? Why not? Let me make it up to you! It's the less I can do for causing so much trouble.”

Rarity made a gesture behind Spike, indicating Fluttershy to take it anyway. They both knew the stuff was stolen but to say it right away would be troublesome and embarrassing for everyone.

“Well I... I guess it's okay...” she the lamp with her hooves and smiled.

“Sorry I didn't bring anything for you, Princess,” he addressed Celestia “Didn't know you were coming,” he shot her a glare of suspicion.

“Not a problem, Spike, your well-being is a gift itself,” she meant those words, though Spike couldn't tell if they were genuine or it was just another act.

“Well, let's begin, shall we? I guess you all want to know why I left like I did. I'm going to explain it as best as I can.” This will not be easy. Spike didn't want to tell everything, nor lie to his friends. He knew lies were always uncovered with time, and they would only fracture their already damaged friendship.

“If it's alright with you,” Celestia intervened “I have some explanations to give myself. Would you mind if I start this session, Spike?”

Well, the talk we had wasn't that much of a secret, it might do no harm “No, it's okay, you can begin.”

The ponies took their seats in their correspondent throne, safe for Rainbow Dash, who offered her seat to Celestia to stay in the air. Spike sat next to Twilight, at the empty side of her throne.

Even if some were more informed than others, there would still be versions to hear, secrets to unveil, but most important to Spike, secrets to keep safe.

The same morning, Roseluck was gardening as usual, and noticed two of her flowers were missing. As the professional she was, there was an 'order in her disorder' which only she kept track of and understood.
She was looking for any evidence that could incriminate one of the towns folk's critters. Some rabbits had previously raided her garden and it certainly wouldn't be the last time. But there were no crumbs, or footprints, or hoofprints. Just a wild slash marked in the earth.

“Hmmmm, strange.”

Author's Note

So, I've been using the term 'palace' and 'castle' alike to describe the... Ummm... Home, of Twilight. The difference between those terms is that a palace is only intended to look good or luxurious, while a castle is intended for war purposes. To withstand sieges and the like.
I think we can all agree that what Twilight has is a palace because it just looks nice and that's it. But since the canon calls it castle, I'll be using both words.

Greed and Generosity

The Princess of the sun sighed. As much as she wanted to keep Spike's secrets a secret, there was no way she could ignore the recent events or let him go unnoticed by law.

“There's a confession I need to make,” she began. The sentence itself was enough to draw the attention of all “Spike came to me after he left Ponyville.”
As expected, there were collective looks of question and a couple of gasps.

“Why didn't you tell us?!” Rainbow shouted.

“Because he wanted you to stay away from him, and the conversation we had was not to be shared .”

“You do realize this would've saved us time, right? Or at least we would've been less worried about him! It could've saved Twilight the horrendous trip to that volcano!” Rarity scolded.

“I'm afraid not,” the princess' tone was still firm “Even though Spike talked about his intentions, not even I knew where he was going.”

Spike took a step forward “It's not her fault, Rarity. None of what we discussed could've helped you to find me, I wanted to be alone at that time.”

“Then what exactly did you 'discuss' hmmm?” Rarity scowled.

“I...” Spike turned to look at Celestia, who shrugged in response. It was completely up to him “I'd rather keep it personal...”

The room went silent for a moment, then Twilight tapped Spike's back “It's okay if you don't want to tell us, if it makes you feel uncomfortable you should leave it that way.”

“What? Do you really think that way, Twilight?” still not satisfied, Rarity insisted “Then what would the point of this meeting be? Spike, please, you simply must tell us the details of everything! How will we know what we did wrong? We're friends!”

“Alright, first of all, calm down,” Spike commanded “As I explained to Twilight before, none of you did anything wrong. At least... It wasn't your fault I felt that way...”

“What way?” Rarity pressed.

To maintain calm, Fluttershy interrupted “Rarity stop! This is not an interrogation. You wouldn't want me to say all of those embarrassing things you've told me about in the spa, would you?”

Was that an extortion? And why did she have to use the word embarrassing? Ugh... Fine “N-no, I get what you mean.”

Celestia cleared her throat “Shall I continue?” everyone mhmm'd and nodded “Aside from that little fact, I feel sorry for whatever obstacles you've encountered lately, Princess Twilight. I expect to hear a detailed narration later.”

“We all do,” Applejack added.

“As for Spike...” she hesitated “Let's listen to him first.”

Well, time for the ride “Before I begin, I'd like to tell you all that I'll never leave again, and you will always be in my mind before I make an important decision. With friends like you, not a place in Equestria is better.”

Everypony smiled, truth hidden or not, those genuine words would make it easier to take.

“You see... It all began after the zap apple harvest. I had never felt more useless.”

Twilight was tempted to say it wasn't true and name a list of reasons why Spike was useful. The thought was quickly dismissed, this was not the point of the reunion.

“And not the kind of uselessness I felt back at the Crystal Empire during the Equestria games. This was about my future, you were all moving on with your lives, looking up to an amazing tomorrow. While I was still a dragon hatchling, one who would stay a hatchling for who knows how many years more,” Spike could feel himself tense “And in the eyes of everypony, I would never be more than a baby,” he looked at Rarity “To someponies more than others...”

There was a short, but awkward pause. Even though he didn't mention Rarity, and he wasn't speaking only of her, they all knew she was the emphasis.

“Even if I fixed that,” Spike kept going “There was still a major problem, the one which made me leave: What was I supposed to do for myself? Was it my destiny to stay here reshelving books and helping with whatever I could? I didn't like where my life was going and I no longer felt comfortable working as I did.” For a moment, Fluttershy, Celestia and Rarity forgot what he did. Taking it from his perspective, stealing seemed very little keeping in mind his everyday struggles.
“After I spoke with the Princess, I was struck by a revelation: It didn't matter what I would do, but where I would be. Yes, I'm a dragon and maybe I'll face difficulties nopony in their life would; but this is still my home...” He looked at the group one by one as he said the following, “Forget about the dragon migration, forget about where other dragons live. My family is in Ponyville. You are my family.”

“Awwwww” Pinkie lept over the table and wrapped Spike in a tight hug.

Rainbow almost shed a tear, almost. Applejack could hear her sniff to calm down and 'keep her cool'.

All the others smiled.

After thirty seconds, Spike poked Pinkie's shoulder “Ummmm, Pinkie...”

“Heehee, right.” she let Spike go and returned to her seat.

“After I left Canterlot I made two friends in a place not far from here. They took me in, fed me and gave me a place to sleep,” Spike said. The memories warming his heart “And they also gave me the strength I needed to return.”

There was another moment of silence, in which the ponies expected Spike to explain the other details of his travel, like why he got bigger or where did he get the 'presents'. Spike took that moment to mentally repeat his carefully engineered explanation.

“You see... There's a place not far from here, where a lot of nice ponies live. It's kind of like Ponyville, but smaller, surprisingly. The thing is, most of those ponies welcomed me after a few days there. It reminded me of how you've taken me in. Sure, sometimes I was left out and missed a lot of things but at least I know the reasons. Many times I acted too childish; Others you would only need the elements of harmony, and so on.
I can't blame any of you, really. Not like you meant any harm.” Spike paused for a moment. Staring at the center of the table. Then he shook his head “Getting out of track here. The point is that after I was reminded of that warmness of home, something sparked inside of me. I can't describe it but it felt strange. I started to grow each day after that. It was either that 'spark' or my dragon metabolism, but whatever the case I stopped at this size.”

Celestia, Rarity and Fluttershy totally knew he stole some things, but that didn't mean what he was saying was a lie. After all, he didn't enter a rampage, and there was no way he could've fed his greed on his way back to Ponyville... Right?
Even if that part of his story was true, which was to be doubted, Spike wouldn't be able to deny what the guards reported.

“I made a few new friends back there, with whom I worked, and even though I wasn't paid, I did get these presents for you.” He raised a claw, adding a quick clarification “Yes! I know this doesn't make up for anything but I still wanted to do something nice.”

“Awwww, that's mighty nice of you, Spike!”

“I'm just glad you finally came back to never leave.” Twilight leaned to hug him.

“What about the new friends you made?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, I'm totally getting back there to say hi, but later. Right now, my time's with you.”

As if rehearsed, the ponies stood one by one and soon they were all wrapped in a group hug.
It lasted long enough to share some words, yet nothing that wasn't said before.
Shortly after, Twilight invited her friends to stay for a while and eat.

While having their meal, Rarity excused herself and cleared her throat to call Celestia, who followed her to a corridor.

“What are we going to do, Princess?! We can't just ruin this perfect reunion! Just imagine how devastated Twilight would be!”

“I agree this is not the time to interrogate, much less arrest Spike. But I can't let his crimes slip by either.”

“No no no, of course there should be... regulations... Just, not now.”

The princess shook her head “Rarity, I trust your judgment, and so; I'll let you take over this matter.”

“What?! Are you leaving already?”

“My sister is not used to daytime work. I don't know how much longer she'll be able to keep up with both shifts. While she was gone, I could sleep at night, but she can't allow herself to sleep during the day, which is a challenging task.
Also, I trust Twilight to make the right decision, she'll be the one to determine Spike's penance.”

“B-but still! Twilight doesn't know anything about it!”

“Which is why I'm counting on you to tell her when the time is right.”

Rarity bit her lip. What was the right approach to something like this? Even if she knew, her princess friend would be devastated; Twilight would have to punish Spike, right after what could be the happiest reunion in her life. And maybe that wasn't the hardest part, as the authority she was, Spike would only have to pay back or return the 'gifts'. No, the hardest part would be to let her know Spike had lied, stolen, and didn't say any word about it. That would break Twilight.

“I don't know if I can do this, Princess...”

Celestia approached Rarity and embraced her with a hoof “I'm sure you'll find the best way.” she broke the hug and turned to return to the dining room “Oh, and, as a little advise: I think an accused should always know that a trial is coming..:”

“Yes... I better speak with Spike first...”

After chat was dying down, Celestia decided to leave along with Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy. The latter asked Rarity about how the 'problem' would be handled, to which the answer was 'I'll take care of it'.
Good-bye's and waves later, Spike and Twilight began to clean up the room and kitchen, leaving Rarity petrified in her chair. Spike noticed she was the only one left and approached.

“Uh... Rarity? Everything alright?”

She looked around, Twilight was still there, picking up dishes.

“C-can we talk in private for a minute, S-Spike?” Rarity was practically shaking and her voice emanated shame or worry. Probably both.

Spike was taken back What is this about? he thought. A love confession?! Nah, he was getting his hopes too high. An apology like the one Twilight gave him for not treating him like she should have? Probably. Whatever the case, it would surely be awkward.

“Sure,” he nodded and stepped back to let Rarity stand, then they made their way to the main hall. Twilight followed them with her eyes until they were out of sight.

“So, uhm, what is it?” Spike asked.

Rarity sighed “It's hard for me to say this but...” she left her mouth opened for about five seconds “Could we get a closed place to talk?” The hallways echoed. Even though Rarity knew Twilight would respect their privacy, some things could be overheard. That was the reason... But Spike took it in another way.

Oh my oh my oh my “You mean,” he paused for a moment “You mean like a room?”

“Yes, a room would be perfect,” she agreed.

“Oh! We could go to my room, this way,” Spike turned around and his eyes widened, nervousness building up inside him Is she actually thinking what I think she is?

When they arrived, Rarity was the one to shut the door closed, and at the sound, Spike froze. Rarity allowed herself to sit on the bed.

“Darling,” the unicorn of his dreams began “First of all, I want you to know that during the days you were gone, I wondered if this ordeal of yours was because of my fault and, well, it was in part, but you've already said we should not worry about it,” she made a quick gesture to invite Spike to sit as well, which he did immediately “What I'm trying to say is, I'll try not to treat you as a helpless baby dragon like I used to. Even though a part of me still thinks of you as an adorable, little, trustful friend despite how you look on the outside,” Yeah, I think that was a subtle hint. “That said, I also want to remind you of that day when I almost turned Ponyville into a mountain of gold with the help of that strange book. I told you that you should never be afraid of telling me the truth. No matter how hurtful it is.”

“I remember, Rarity, believe me.” Where is she going with this?

“So... Is there anything you'd like to tell me?” she asked with a smile.

This... This is definitely it, she's giving me a chance! “Well, nothing you didn't know already.”

Rarity inclined her head to her side slightly “What do you mean, Spike?”

“If there'd be anything I'd like to tell you right now, is that I love you.”

Her pupils shrank, and she could feel her heart do the same Oh no... This was bad. Not only had Spike misunderstood her, he was making a move on her! It wasn't really his fault. After all, she asked him to talk in private... In a room... She closed the door... Sat on his bed... Yeah, totally not his fault. The question of 'what am I going to do?!' remained though. Having stayed still and silent for a relatively long moment, she noticed Spike began to lean forward.
He was bigger than the average pony; looked stronger and in a way, handsome; seemed confident of his actions. Yet all of that did not take away the innocent and playful kid Rarity was used to. This was not the time for a kiss, much less right now that Rarity did not see him as an option or mature couple she could settle down with.

Her thoughts were too slow. She didn't have time to clear her mind to make the right choice. In an instant, she felt Spike's lips locked with hers. Spike had his eyes opened, staring directly at her. Rarity was staring back and couldn't move. The look in his eyes had both the innocent Spike who would do anything for her without question and the decided, firm dragon he had turned into after his quest.
As inappropriate as the action was, Rarity had to admit herself that she liked the kiss. It's tenderness and sincerity was greater than any other given to her in previous dates.

When Spike broke contact, he waited for the mare to say something. She stammered a while before saying an actual sentence “I... tha... it... I-I didn't m-mean that!”

“Really? Then, what did you mean?” he asked with an incredulous, somewhat mocking tone.

“Spike, really, I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression with this informal meeting but this was not my intention in any way!”

The dragon drew back a little, confused. Well, I should've expected this.

Rarity sighed and shook her head “Spike, I don't want you to think I'm ignoring what you feel but this is not the time.”

“Then what is?!” Spike claimed “It was never a good time. Not even when we were falling to our death!”

He had a point. He didn't know what Rarity meant but he had a point.

“You're right, Spike,” she stood up from the bed “I never gave you a chance to prove your worth and I completely understand that you took the opportunity to do so.”

“But?”

“But... I meant the other things you keep to yourself.”

“Like what?” What does she mean? It's almost as if she's talking about... He felt a penchant in his gut NO... It can't be that. How would she know?!

Rarity stood in front of Spike “Look at me, Spike. Tell me with all honesty, are those gifts you gave us stolen?”

That was pretty straightforward, oh Celestia was that pretty straightforward. Silence filled the place with no promise of leaving.

“Yes,” Spike said in defeat. There was no point in hiding it from her any longer. How did she found out and how much did she know, was a matter for later. Spike's eyes watered but not a tear slipped “It-it was the only way! It was the way I knew I could grow so none of you would treat me like a kid anymore!” Rarity wanted to complaint, but he kept going “You want to know the funny part? It worked. Turns out it was the way.”

“Stop that nonsense! What do you mean by 'it worked'? I bet there was another simpler, nicer way!”

“Would you have kissed me in my previous form? Huh?! Would've you allowed a baby, little dragon as small as your sister to kiss you in the lips?”

No. That was the instantaneous answer that popped up. At the realization, she took a step back. Had he been the Spike she'd always known, Rarity would've stopped him without a second thought.

“I never thought of that...” Rarity admitted.

“See? Listen, I said it before in the reunion with the other girls. You are my family and I'm really sorry for what I did. Still, it was my only choice,” he rested a claw on Rarity's shoulder “I know you're upset, you have a reason to be. But as you can see from my point of view, it was to make things better,” he sighed “Can you forgive me?”

Rarity raised her head, gazing at him “I forgive you, Spike.” he smiled and gave a thankful nod “But I still can't pretend like nothing happened.”

“What?” he withdrew his claw “What are you trying to say?” he got worried.

“What I'm saying is I understand why you did what you did. And I think it is not a valid excuse. Taking belongings from other ponies just to benefit yourself isn't right! You should know better than being selfish after all that you've learned!”
Spike put his claws together and swallowed as Rarity resumed her lecture “You have a good heart and meant no harm, yet there's an alternate option to every situation,” she opened the bedroom's door with her magic “I love to give other ponies as much as I can, whether they need it or not. To take things away from them is horrendous. I can't allow myself to see it happening right in front of me and do nothing! Even more when it's being done by one of those I love,” she began to sob, and then the sobbing became crying “I'm sorry too, S-Spike, I-I can't keep quiet about this. We're going to return the items... And I'll have to speak with Twilight.”

Before she could leave, Spike threw himself at the floor, crawling to her hooves. He kneeled and crossed his claws “Please, Rarity don't do this! I know it was wrong and I promise, I promise I'll make it right!” By now, he was crying too “You can't tell the others about it! What will they think about me?! How will I ever make it up to Twilight?!”

Rarity's tears wore off her makeup as she struggled to remain collected. It broke her heart to see Spike like that. And he was right about the fact that the others might think wrong of him. They shared the intense feeling of sadness; one for regret, and one for duty. Hard as it is, Rarity was a bearer of the elements of harmony.

“Please... Forgive me too.” Rarity galloped as fast as she could out of the castle, leaving a trail of tears in her wake.

Spike lay on the floor, scratching it's surface with force. When he could no longer hear Rarity's hooves, he screamed. It was loudest and most sorrowful scream he had ever cried. A scream of fear for the near future which echoed in every corner of the castle.

What hours ago was the happiest day of his life, was now the darkest moment of it.

Twilight rushed to Spike's room and witnessed the tragic scene. She quickly leaned and wrapped him with her hooves, asking what had happened and saying everything would be alright.
Little did she know, Spike was afraid of her. Of how she would see him after the truth was reveled. Soon, his family would be no more.

The calm comes after the storm

Twilight was trying to comfort the broken dragon in front of her, to no avail. Rarity you're so gonna get it this time... What could have she said? Spike had been depressed before, sure, but this was a very unique sadness.
She decided to wait until he stopped sobbing to ask once again “What happened?”

Spike wiped his tears and looked up to her. There was no point in hiding anymore. If it wasn't him, it was going to be Rarity, and it would be worse to hear it from her rather than from the one who committed the crime.
“I lied.”

“Lied?” Twilight rehearsed. “About what?”

Spike sniffed and shook his head, then he sat in front of Twilight, breaking her hug “About almost everything... About what truly happened when I was gone.”

For a moment, Twilight forgot the confession began because of Rarity “You lied about that?!” she mentally slapped herself for that scold as she saw Spike back a step away and lowered her voice “W-why would you do that? I thought you were finally going to be honest with us.”

“I was! Just, after this...”

“'After this'? What's that even supposed to mean?!”

“Twi', please, I know you must be very upset to say the least but just hear me out first!”

Twilight thought everything would be alright from now on. That every doubt and secret had been cleared out. It didn't matter if this was actually the last thing Spike was hiding, he had already failed her enough to keep her trust. She turned around and felt how her eyes began to water “I don't want to hear it,” she said sharply.

Spike didn't know how to approach, surely there was a way to make her listen and understand “Why not? I'm going to tell you whatever you want! Just ask anything and I'll answer!”

Without turning her head to stare, she asked “Anything, you say?”

“Yes, Twilight! I said I'd never hide the truth from you again and I meant it!”

“Then answer this:-” she looked over her shoulder “How can I ever trust you again?”

Spike knew she would be disappointed to an extreme level. He had even expected a reply like this, but no matter how much it was anticipated, it hurt him deeply. He looked at the floor in shame; This time, he wouldn't drop a single tear. Instead, he would take the charges for his acts. His journey had taught him many things, and slowly and painfully, in the end it showed him how to be responsible.
“I don't know if you can.”

Twilight then turned completely, not knowing if Spike was serious. She knew Spike wasn't just a cynical dragon who just didn't care, so what was this about?

“I mean, after all I haven't been sincere or nice to you in the past months,” he sighed and gave a quick 'hmph' to himself before continuing “Come to think of it, I understand why you wouldn't want to hear a word from me. What good could more lies do, right?” Spike stood up and went towards the room's entrance “If I can get your forgiveness... And the other's too... It will be great. But for now, I can only make things right as much as I can.”

Spike left without another word, leaving the alicorn with her thoughts. After a moment, she heard the castle's gate open and close. Still in Spike's room, she climbed onto the bed and pondered the situation.
Could she really trust him even after this? Yes, without a doubt.Why though? Her subconscious was practically begging her to stay mad at him, but the way he accepted his mistake, his determination to correct it, it was something Twilight was proud of.

For Spike's entire life and most of Twilight's, both of them had shared many experiences which helped them develop into the pony and dragon they were today. Since they lived together, it was always hard to categorize their relationship.
They were seen many times as sister and brother; mother and son; even master and servant, which for some reason never bothered Spike when mentioned.
Truth is, none of those were accurate. Whenever they discussed the matter only between them, their relation took some turns, making them either take some distance or bringing them closer, sometimes very, very close.
There was no type that could define their relationship other than Twilight and Spike. They were unique in their behavior when it came to each other. And in every stage of their ups and downs, the one thing that never went missing, was love and care for each other.

Twilight hugged the bed's pillow. The two could find a way out of every bitter moment, so this would be no different.

“I will do what I must as a Princess of Equestria, Spike,” she whispered “Maybe I will have to do things that I won't like or take decisions I'd rather not,” a sad smile curved in her muzzle “But I forgive you, and I will always love you no matter what.”

That night, Spike slept by the hills; Thinking about his place between ponies again.
If he was right, this following week would be challenging. Full of a display of hatred from most of those ponies, mainly from those directly affected by his actions. After that, they would eventually regain their distinctive attitude and harmony that made Spike want to stay by their side.
Granted, not everypony was like that, but he didn't need everypony, he only needed his friends.

The following morning, Celestia's sun shone over Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack gave a precise kick, knocking many apples off a tree. She was proudly wearing the black stetson Spike gave her the day before. Although she did prefer her original hat, she decided to give it a rest for the day. It was also an opportunity to clean it and still have her head covered from said sun's heat.

Applejack smirked and adjusted her brand new hat, thinking it would be a nice adorn to keep in her room.
Just then, she saw a not-so-familiar figure approaching; It wasn't until it was very close to her that she distinguished it: Spike in his recently acquired form.

“Howdy there, Spike!” she waved a hoof at him, taking slow steps to close the distance between them “What brings you here t'day? An errand of sorts?”

Spike stayed in front of her for a moment, staring at anything but her. His mouth was opening and closing constantly, giving the impression that he wanted to say something.

“Uh, you alright, sugarcube?”she immediately understood there was a problem with him.

Spike looked directly into her eyes “I wish I was,” he simply said.

There wasn't much to talk about, really, it was more like an explanation to be given. One that would pretty much shatter a friendship in a couple of minutes.

From afar in the barn, Macintosh heard a sudden shout which made him stop his work to check outside. He could see his sister agitated, her words were out of earshot, but he could notice the anger in them.
Although he couldn't recognize who she was talking to, he decided it was best to leave it to her. It was easy to make out her silhouette, but he had a hard time with the other. He was probably a pony as big if not bigger than him A coltfriend? he thought Could it be a break up? he discarded the idea almost immediately. Applejack shared almost everything with her brother, whatever was going on, he sure would ask as soon as she were done.

Surely enough, Applejack returned to the farmhouse huffing and muttering under her breath. The mysterious stallion was still a shadow in the distance, Mac could see him grasp the black stetson that supposedly Spike gave his sister just yesterday, with his... Claws? Huh... Applejack did tell him that Spike was bigger than before, but he didn't expect such a change.
He shook his head, Either way. Mac intercepted his sister just as she was about to enter the house, giving her a look that read 'What happened?'

“Later, Big Mac. Not in the mood for a talk,” she eluded him after that, trotting towards her room upstairs.

Mac wasn't one to press anypony, so he decided to let her leave. Later it'll be then. He turned his head, noticing that Spike wasn't there anymore, You better not have harmed my sister, fella.

And so, one by one, Spike confessed what he'd done to all of his friends. Fortunately for him, the last ones showed to be a little more comprehensive, since Applejack, Twilight and Rarity had special reasons to hold a little grudge.

Below her cloud home, Rainbow Dash listened to what he had to say, surprisingly not interrupting a single time. After he was done, she stayed silent for a moment, then sighed and said “Well, you were trying to be your best,” she went indoors to retrieve the 'present' and handed it over to Spike “You went about it the wrong way, but you were still just trying to be your best,” Rainbow noticed that despite his confidence, Spike was emotionally shattered “Dude, I had that statue thing for like, ten hours and I'm going to miss it anyways,” she gave a small hoof bump to his shoulder, making him look at her in the eye. She smirked “Cheer up, pal, if I told you of the stuff I've gotten myself into, you'd consider yourself lucky.”

It didn't do much to lessen the guilt, but it was good to hear such words through the hard time “Thank you, Dash,” he smiled for a couple of seconds before recovering his grim expression. Then he left.

Pinkie Pie was a special challenge, she seemed to get everything wrong, often overhearing or replacing words on purpose so she didn't get the complete story. It was something she often did unconsciously: Twisting phrases in her mind to make bad or sad news seem harmless or unimportant.
This particular event was something Spike wouldn't let go so easily though. Pinkie deserved to know, so he stopped arguing with her and try to explain the situation. Instead, he headed to Sugarcube Corner's exit with the pyramid in his back and finished the conversation with a rather sad sentence “I'm sorry, Pinkie, I wish it was the way you want it to be... I wish I hadn't betrayed you... But I did.”
Nowhere to run, no twist to make, Pinkamena's brain processed the whole tale correctly this time. Making her stare blankly at the open door with a horrendous feeling she had always struggled to contain. She tried to keep her puffy mane from deflating, but she eventually teared up in the kitchen, sobbing silently.

Flutteshy had followed Spike's steps up until this point. She'd watched him descend to the path of greed once again, and lie to his closest, long-life companions; But even after those deeds, she was the one to assure him that no rancor remained in her, that he was the greatest dragon to ever exist thanks to his courage, and even took the time to speak with him about how she and Rarity knew what happened.
Spike felt somewhat betrayed for being spied on, but he couldn't complain at all.

Finally, the long day was done. With the items recovered, Spike was unsure if it was a good idea to return to the castle in order to depart in the morning to return what he stole. Would Twilight be alright with him staying there? He would have to risk it.

On his way back, 'the warning' returned, making his body get a tingling sensation Talk about the worst day ever. In a way, this larger version of himself was a reminder of his actions, and therefore it should be better to leave it behind. On the other hand, it was the only thing Spike had earned from all of this. At least, it was the only thing Spike had acknowledged he had earned. It would also be very humiliating to show up in his real form. It was weak, it was everything he so desperately tried to change from himself, yet it would be truthful.

The weight in his back started to grow, and then he was unable to keep going on four legs. The rest of the trip, he carried the objects as he was used to carrying Rarity's suitcases and bags: Miraculously holding all the weight with his front arms.

Twilight opened the gates a minute after hearing a knock. She had a pretty good idea of who it could be, and she was right.
Spike stood there, with the big pile in his shaking arms, threatening to fall any second “A little h-help?” he said.

Before lending a hoof, she took a time to inspect Spike's appearance. Once again, he was as small as he used to be, and his voice returned to normal, which was odd after hearing the peculiar masculinity in his grown-up form.
Snapping back to reality, she levitated the stash for Spike, allowing him to take a break “So, should I assume this means what I think it does?”

The little dragon was breathing heavily, looking at the floor “Depends,” he said between breaths “On what you... Think... It means.”

“What I would expect, is to hear how sorry you are, mister,” her tone wasn't very serious, it more like the one of a teacher who is too kind to even be taken menacing.

“Then, you won't be disappointed,” Spike looked at her, now completely recovered from the previous effort. He extended his arms and smiled “Is this better for you?”
Twilight allowed herself to drop the things she was holding carelessly, focusing solely on lifting Spike off the ground “Way better,” she wrapped him in a hug that he reciprocated “It's who you really are, after all.”

The mention made him grunt “Ugh... I only wish it wasn't,”

“Don't worry, I'm sure your time to shine will come soon.”

If soon is between tomorrow and before a year, count me in. Of course he would keep that to himself, but it was what he wanted more than anything.
Spike freed himself from Twilight's grasp “So... What's it gonna be? Dungeon? Banishment? Dungeon in the place you banish me to?”

His Fluttershy impression made the alicorn roll her eyes “I'm not going to do any of that, Spike,” she picked up the antiques hopefully undamaged after the fall “Also, you need to take this seriously. We don't know how laws work in that place where these are from,” she pointed at one of the many items.

“I'm willing to bet they don't have any.”

“They have to, even if it isn't written down, every place has a way to make justice.”

“Yeah, well... Whatever comes, I guess serves me right,” Twilight grimaced, but didn't reply “At least I know I won't face it alone.”

“You're right, Spike,” she approached him and put her cheek against his “We've had worse moments before, we'll get through this too.”

After the short talk, Spike went to clean his room while Twilight continued her studies. Sure, she had forgiven his friend wholeheartedly, but there was tension between them; Only time would fix that.
The hours passed slowly with no sign of changing. The two inhabitants of the enormous castle were at different rooms, and every time they walked up on each other, they awkwardly stared another way or stayed silent.

Dinner time forced them to hold a larger conversation tough, as the atmosphere grew more uncomfortable they both had had enough.

“Nice meal, Spike,” Twilight commented while chewing on one of the spiced lettuces “I think I'll never have enough of your cooking!”

“Oh hush, Twilight, you know sappy stuff like that makes me blush,” he chuckled.

The princess joined him, trying to bring up a new topic “Oh! We should invite the girls over sometime! We can have a party to make up to them, don't you think?”

“Er... Sure... It's a good idea, just not now... Or for the next two weeks I'd say.”

Twilight inclined her head “Why?” she straightened “They'll have to show up whether they are mad or not. And if you ask me, the sooner the better,” she remembered when she had left her Canterlot's friends behind, forgetting about at the point of no even caring for them or their wherabouts “Besides, if you explained yourself and talked to them they should forgive you.”

“...” Spike scratched his nape.

“You have talked to all of them, haven't you?”

“Well... Do you remember yesterday? When Rarity stormed off? We didn't really 'talk', it was more like a reveling facts thing. That's how I'd call it.”

“Why didn't you go to her boutique then? Rarity can be a drama queen, I know, but it can't be more complicated than it is for the others.”

“Um... It... It kind of is,” he smiled sheepishly.

Twilight half-closed her eyelids, sharply staring at Spike “What do you mean by that? Because if this is about that crush of yours-”

“No no! I uh... kinda kissed her...”

“What?” Twilight got closer, almost laying over the table.

“I kissed her!” Spike threw his arms up.

Twilight's eyes widened “YOU WHAT?!”

Explanations... Sort of

“...And that's how it happened,” Spike finished the story on how he had misunderstood a very serious situation and took the opportunity to kiss Rarity. He wouldn't admit it, but in his mind, the moment was totally worth it. Sure, it turned very dark very quickly but he had enjoyed those few seconds of personal victory.

Twilight sat confused, listening and her thoughts spinning “I...” she cleared her throat and tried again “You...” Nope, that didn't fit either “Uh...” she stammered.

“Did I confuse you at some point?” Spike tried to help.

“I just can't picture it!” she almost yelled “I mean, quite literally I can't imagine you kissing her!”

“Well, I couldn't imagine it either up until that point.”

“She didn't break the kiss, you say?” she followed immediately.

Spike shook his head “Didn't move an inch,” he sounded proud of himself.
As Twilight still tried to fully comprehend by trotting slowly in circles, her friend added “She was kinda weirded out though, does that help?”

“No!” she turned her head to face him “It doesn't help at all, who knows what she was thinking at that time! What's even worse, Rarity left the castle crying! You were right about what you said, Spike. It's going to be more complicated than a get-together for her.”

After some silence, Spike asked for advice “What should I do?”

“I don't know. As you're probably aware by now, I'm not the best when it comes to those things. That would be-”

“Rarity,” he completed. Both of them shared a sigh of defeat.
“You know what, screw it.”

“Spike! language.”

“I'll figure something out later. Right now I'm going back to middle-of-nowhere to return these things.”

Twilight nodded “Right, we will discuss this later. I'll go too in case you need me for something.”

“Actually, I think it will be better if you stay and help me out with the others.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow “Help you how?”

“Cheering our friends up, of course! You always go together to do girly things don't you?”

“What kind of statement is that? We all like to do different things in different places. What do you mean by 'girly'?”

Spike shrugged “Forget it, the thing is, I need your help here. Pretty please?”

“Are you going alone then? How will you carry all of this things? What is something happens in the way?”

“I've done the trip before. Besides, I can take care of myself. As for the items... Do you have a cart around here?”

Twilight gave him an incredulous look “You are going to pull a cart by yourself,” she said simply.

“Alright, not the best idea, but I still prefer that you stay in Ponyville.”

“Spike, this is not about whether you like it or not. I'm not letting you go on your own there. What if they want to hurt you?”

“They won't hurt me, they're ponies!”

“So you're saying ponies are inoffensive?” for some reason, that small display of racism bothered her.

“Nah, just not hostile. That's a good thing, isn't it?”

“I guess,” for a moment, she lost herself in thought. It was a misconception that ponies in general were always welcoming and joyful; but at least it was a good misconception. Unlike dragons and griffons, ponies had a nice reputation across the nations.
Twilight snapped back to the present “Either way, I'm not letting you go alone.”

“Then who do I go with? And don't volunteer, because I already asked you to stay.”

The princess tapped her chin “Hmmm...”

“Why, I'm flattered one of my dearest friends considered me as one of the best options for a mundane task such as this,” Discord hovered holding a nail file with his lion paw, using it to make the talons on his other one grow.

“Again, you were almost last on the list,” Twilight replied annoyed.

“Isnt' the last one who gets the last laugh?” Discord smirked.

“Look, I just want Spike to get in and out of there as soon and fast as possible, can you help or not?”

Discord gasped “Are you doubting my capabilities? Of course I can help!” he snorted with simulated anger.

“Right, sorry, I asked the wrong question,” Twilight hovered at his level “Will you help or not?”

In an instant, the draconequus turned from supposedly angry to uninterested “Oh, I guess I could,” he returned his attention to his sharpened talons “Depends on what I'll get from it.”

“Learning about friendship,” she said enthusiastically “Spike learned a few lessons I bet he'd like to share!”

“Bleh,” Discord ate the nail file, unattached his horn and began to polish it “I have more than enough learning of friendship twenty minutes a week, thank you.”

“Well, what do you want, then?”

Discord teleported himself and Twilight back to the ground “First and most important, I'd like to hear my probably soon-to-be traveling companion's opinion on the subject,” he grinned while looking at Spike, who had stayed silent during the whole talk.

The dragon absently glanced at him for a second before returning his gaze to the horizon “I don't mind.”

Discord's left eye twitched. This was not a pleasant reaction. Out of the many cretures to torment out there, Spike was specially vulnerable to the ways of the spirit of chaos: He wasn't as innocent as the cutie mark crusaders, who sometimes didn't even notice when Discord was joking; and he wasn't as mature as the adult ponies to see through one of his illusions.
What could lead somedragon his age to just answer 'I don't mind?' There was something off about Spike. He was getting pessimistic... Or negative, Discord didn't actually care. What did matter was that if he kept that attitude, the greatest prankster of all time would lose one of the greatest prays of all time.
“It's settled!” he cheered.

”What is?” Twilight asked.

“The travel! Use some logic now and then.”

“Wha-How?! He just said he didn't mind you to go!”

“Which is precisely why I must go!” he lifted Spike off the ground, earning a 'hey!' from him “Let us embark in this fabulous quest for...!”
He looked down at Spike, who didn't struggle to break free, but looked bothered to an extreme. Then he lowered his neck to whisper in Twilight's ear “Why are we going to that place, again?”

“Return stolen merchandise.”

“To return stolen mer!- wait, really?! Wohoho, and here I thought nothing interesting ever happened in boreyville!” Discord held Spike with both of his paws and elevated him ”And this is the responsible of the villainous scheme? Hahaha! Looks like there's more to this guy than meets the eye, haha!” he kept laughing oblivious of Spike's anger.

Spike had sure expected Discord to be a pain to deal with, but making fun of him that way? How could he rejoice in his suffering? How could he be so careless about the others?

“Discord, stop!” Twilight yelled “Put him down this instant!”

“Oh?” he took a moment to stare at Spike. His eyes and fists closed, mind wandering off to anywhere but the present... “Hmm, alright.”
He threw him up.

“Ahhhhh!” he immediately opened his eyes to see what was going on, and there he was, flying directionless and then losing altitude, soon to hit the ground.

Twilight screamed his name and hurried to reach him, but she was stopped by Discord, who put himself in front of her “Please, do you really think I would just hurt him for no reason? There,” with a snap of his fingers, a trampoline appeared below Spike... Then it exploded and burst into flames when it made contact with the dragon.

“Spike!” Twilight rushed by his side, this time the fire was the thing to stop her “Can you hear me?!”

“Yeah, I'm okay,” he walked out of the fire without a scratch “It's just fire, remember?”

“What about the explosion?” she asked with concern “Did that hurt?”

“No it didn't!” once again, Discord teleported in front of her “That's just for show, you wouldn't expect an exploding trampoline, would you? It's all in the visuals.”

“That scared me! Why don't you warn before going mad?!” Spike finally showed an emotion.

That's more like it. So it seemed there was still hope for the pitiful creature. As a former villan, it would be a piece of cake to find out what was on his mind and use it to have some fun. This time though, Discord's intentions were different. Obviously, Spike felt sorry for apparently stealing something, but there was an additional problem that the spirit of chaos couldn't figure out, yet it was there. He would get to the bottom of it before the dragon fell into depression.
Weird as it was, depression is an emotion he totally hated.
Sadness was fine; when somepony was sad and got pranked, they would often scream 'leave me alone!' or get angry. Speaking of which, anger was also great to deal with. Being chased was one of Discord's favorite hobbies (If that could be considered a hobby). Each and every emotion delivered a different reaction from his victims, and he loved all of them.
After those, there was good ol' depression, which didn't trigger much more than a 'hmph' or small complaint. What kind of fun can you get out of that? Even if it meant getting to be nice to a pony, or dragon in this case, Discord would fight to free them from that dreadful feeling.
“I'll try to remember warning you next time,” he said with a devilish smile “Let's go now, there's no time to lose!” another snap, and he was gone.

“Where did he go? Weren't we leaving?”

Twilight shrugged “I can only guess he's getting ready to go.”

“What could he need?” Spike began to walk back to the castle. Now that he had a companion, he only needed to load a cart “Can't he like, create stuff out of thin air?”

Twilight joined to walk by his side “Only he knows the rules of his magic, if it has any.”

It wasn't early in the morning, but it wasn't late to leave either.
Back at the castle, Twilight prepared some rations of food for Spike, while he finished packing what he needed. Not a word was spoken during that time. And now they stood at the gates expectantly.
“Discord!” Spike called “Are you coming or what?”

No response.

He sat down and sighed “Well, I'll just wait for him I guess.”

Twilight decided to stay by his side until Discord arrived. Just to pass time, she took a quill and paper to write down the possible places to go with her friends. She wasn't sure if they needed to keep their minds from thinking about Spike, or if she should try to assure them that he was still the friend they always knew. Unfortunately, not many options were plausible; Rainbow Dash would be back in two days and she didn't know how busy the others would be. Even if she managed to come up with the perfect day, it would be hard to have a good time after the recent events. Especially for Rarity.
“Spike, be careful out there,” she began “I'll try to help you here, so you must promise to help yourself too.”

Spike wrapped his arms around her neck “I will.”

After a little display of affection, Discord emerged from the ground “D'awww, ain't that sweet...”

Reflexively, Spike took a step back and, to divert attention, he changed the subject “Where have you been? We were waiting for half an hour!”

“Twenty seven minutes is not half an hour,” Discord objected “And to answer your question, I was packing up.”

“Packing what up? you're not even carrying luggage.”

“Seriously? Who 'carries luggage' nowadays?” Discord engulfed the cart with a dark blue aura and made it vanish in a curtain of smoke ”There. Easier, right?”

“Whatever,” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“That was actually very cool in my opinion.”

“Thank you, looks like at least somedragon acknowledges my power,” Discord said as he flexed his muscles. He was also wearing a white robe and a garland ”So, what are we waiting for? I have a job to do.”

“Don't you mean I have a job to do?”

“No.”

“...”

“O...kay? Let's just get going, shall we?”

“Lead the way, scaly,” Discord stood in his rear legs for the first time in the day and walked.

“Good-bye, Twilight!”

“Good-bye, Spike! ...And Discord...”

“See you soon, furry,” he waved without looking back.

What's with those names? Twilight thought as she went back into her palace.
Her plans for that day consisted in resting a well-deserved nap after the agitated week and checking on the pendings in Ponyville. Lots of things happened in her absence, so she needed to catch up on the news.
Just as she was about to lay in her bed, there was a knock on the gates. Ugh, what now? she took her time to go down the hallway “Coming,” she said in a singsong voice to disguise her frustration. Luckily for her, the frustration was gone when she saw Rarity standing with a half-hearted smile on her face. She wasn't wearning any makeup and her mane didn't look as elegant as it would look any other day.
“Rarity! What a nice surprise to see you!”

“Hello darling, sorry to come by unannounced.”

“That's no problem at all, I wasn't doing anything important anyways,” Twilight opened wide the gates to let her friend inside, but Rarity just peeked inside.

“Is Spike here?”

Twilight felt a sting in her stomach after that question “No, he left a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, really?” she laughed nervously “W-well, it doesn't matter, I was looking for you.”

Twilight bowed her head to the right “Everything alright? You seem to have some trouble holding it together.”

“Whatever do you mean, Twilight? Hehe, I'm doing p-perfectly-”

“Rarity,” she cut her off.

“...Y-yes?”

“Do you want to talk?” Twilight smiled understanding and invited her to enter again.

Instead of moving, Rarity collapsed, covered her eyes with her hooves and began to cry. Between sobs and whines, she muttered more meaningless syllables than words “Wh-a wha t'm a gonna dooooo?!” was the most understandable sentence.
Having to deal with 'dramarity', as they sometimes called her, was hard enough. But when she was being dramatic over a serious situation it often took more than time and ice cream to calm her down. Twilight sat by her side and hugged her awkwardly, waiting for the unicorn to let all the stress out.
After five long minutes, Rarity regained her composture.

Both ponies entered the castle silently, not eager yet ready to talk. After they found a comfortable place to sit, Rarity felt the need to begin the conversation “I'll be completely honest, Twilight. I really don't know what to do.”

“I think I know what the problem is,” Twilight tried to assure her.

“But you don't! How could you know? There's just so many things I have to tell you!”

“Then let me speak first. After all, I'm also informed on Spike's recent whereabouts and... Other recent events...”

“You are?” Rarity felt a mix between relief and embarrassment.

Twilight nodded “When you left the castle running, I assumed you were in a hurry, but then I heard Spike screaming and found him in his room crying. At first I thought it was your fault... Then he opened up. He told me everything.”

Rarity's heart beat increased slightly “Everything?” she asked shyly “As in, everything?”

Twilight sighed “Yes, Rarity, even what happened during your conversation.”

A light shade of red lit her cheeks. She turned her gaze away from Twilight and opened her mouth, but said nothing. Instead, she decided to take a sip of the tea she had on a table in front of her. It wasn't a mature way to deal with it, but Twilight let her drink in peace. After she was done, Rarity herself resumed the chat “Did he mention how he got our... 'gifts'?”

Twilight nodded again.

“Is he planning to do something about that?”

“He already has.”

“Really?” Rarity was still upset, but it was good to hear Spike wasn't staying with crossed arms “How so?”

“He's going to return the items. They left about half an hour ago.”

“They?”

"Spike and Discord.”

Rarity gasped “You let him go with that monster?!”

“Now Rarity, Discord might be crazy but he's still our friend.”

“Why didn't you go with him? Or asked one of our friends to take him?”

“Again, whether we like it or not, we have to count Discord as a friend. And I didn't help because Spike asked me to stay here in Ponyville.”

“Why? Is there a problem that requires your attention?”

“Close,” Twilight stood up to refill the tea jar that Rarity had emptied by herself “He asked me to spend time with you and the others. So we could finally have a good time after what's happened lately,” she smiled “That's very thoughtful of him, don't you think?”

“Yes, I suppose it is...”

Twilight sat on her chair again and noticed Rarity was done with the visit, or it's purpose, at least.
But she wasn't. It's not gossip... It's research “Sooo... Ehm,” she cleared her throat, getting Rarity's attention “Spike mentioned... You didn't stop him while he kissed you?”

“Twilight! What an uncouth and straight way to ask!” she also cleared her throat “He only... Caught me by surprise.”

After a short pause, she ventured “Did you like it?” Twilight was blushing more than Rarity by that point.

“...I” recalling the moment, Rarity tried to remember exactly what she felt “It was... Sweet.”
Twilight listened, very curious about the chemestry behind this type of affection.
“What I'm trying to say is, it wasn't forced,” she shook her head "But the simple thought is strange to me. I never imagined Spike would do that.”

“Neither did I, or him.”

“What was that?”

“He said he couldn't imagine it either.”

Rarity stayed silent.

“I just have one more question though.”

“What would that be?”

Twilight was hesitant “...Do you like him?”

Rarity disconnected from the world and entered her mind. She delved into her memory looking specifically for Spike. A seventy percent of the time, he had been a playful child. A cute baby dragon always at service with a great enthusiasm. He was great to hang out with and he was reliable for simple and complicated tasks. The other thirty percent in her mind, was the big dragon who once threatened to destroy ponyville, the dragon that risked his life to save her from danger multiple times... And the handsome dragon that had given her a delightful kiss on the lips. Strong and more caring than any stallion.
Spike had been many things to her. And everytime, he was the ideal gentlecolt for his age. However, he was not the refined stallion she always wanted. His table manners were lacking, and some times his humor was childish.
The biggest problem Rarity had had while interacting with Spike, was his size. No matter how old he was, he never grew an inch. Even Sweetie Belle was bigger than him. A relationship like that would look... Wrong.
Anyhow, he had proven himself many times. He was no kid and even though he wasn't a high-society pony. He was one of his very best and close friends.
Taking all into account, Rarity got her final answer.

“No.”

A bit of tranquility...

The sun shone with great splendor over the pasture where Discord and Spike walked; accompanied by a light breeze which soothed the heat. There were also trees spread all over the place, providing a welcoming shade now and then.
In short, the climate was perfect… Something that Discord didn't like.

“The environment needs a little change, don't you think?”

“What do you mean? It's perfect right now.”

“Exactly!” he exclaimed, closing his lion paw and striking his palm.

Spike shrugged “Do as you wish. I'm not sure I'd even mind.”

Discord laughed “Ohjojo! Trust me,” he ducked in a split second at Spike's height and glared at him with a psychopath expression “You would.”

Spike took a couple of steps back and gulped “Okay, okay, no need to get serious.”

“Serious?” he laughed again “I'm not being serious! Just assertive.”

Spike shook his head and kept walking “Haven't you considered that reformed or not, your powers are still dangerous? And that maybe it's not about how you use them?”

“What do you mean? Of course I know that!” Drops of water began to form in the ground and ascend to the clouds “Look at this, I manipulate chaos, the most powerful magic of all-”

“I thought it was friendship,” Spike pointed out.

The water fell to the ground and dissipated “… Will you let me finish?” he cleared his throat “One of the most powerful kinds of magic of all,” he snapped his fingers and a huge fire engulfed a tree beside them “It isn't supposed to aid. It isn't supposed to do what it should,” another snap and the fire was gone; revealing a completely frozen tree “And overall, it isn't supposed to be helpful,” the sky was then tainted black, making it look like nighttime without stars. Many animals flew and ran around at that moment to look for shelter. And an entire flock flew over the duo to hide under the canopy of a nearby forest.

Spike watched the display in awe at the amount of things the spirit of chaos could pull off, unsure about the lesson behind it.

“Yet, here I am. Learning about friendship in the colorful land of ponies who seek to preserve harmony: Which is my complete opposite,” with a sigh of Discord, the sky returned to normal and the animals got out of their respective lairs as if it had all been a false alarm.

Once again, the pasture was tranquil.

“Wow, it sounds very tough to hold all of that power back.”

“But you know your fair share about hidden potential, don't you?”

A chill ran through Spike's spine “Well, I wouldn't call a big, mean and brute dragon to be ‘potential'.”

“Is that right?” Discord lifted the dragon by the tail “What can a small hatchling like you do to help those around him?”

“Hey! Let go!” Spike complained.
Unfortunately for him, Discord obeyed; making Spike land headfirst in the hard surface “Ouch,” he said, more annoyed than hurt.

“Take for example my power. I can easily distort reality and create conflict everywhere,” the image of a crumbling city shone in his eyes “I don't know a pinch of healing magic nor am I interested on it.”

Spike got on his feet “But why not? You could do much more for everypony if you learned it.”

“I could” he agreed “But it's not who I am,” he then stood in front of him “Now tell me,” he poked the dragon in the chest “Is this who you are?”

Spike looked down at the earth and got lost in thought. I wish it wasn't. It had been great to be treated with respect for that short time when he got a decent size. Even he had to admit he looked awesome and even strong... But it was a lie. After all, that form required him to be greedy, or at least a thief.
“Yes, this is who I am...” he sighed “Even if I don't like it.”
He felt a strong hit in his head.
“Ow!”

“Wrong!” Discord said “This, is who those ponies want you to be.”

“No, this is really me! If being big and strong comes with the price of doing the wrong things, I don't want to be big and strong!”

“Oh, but I'm not talking about your physical appearance,” Discord turned into a buffer version of himself “If that was the case, I would walk around like this to show how powerful I am,” he turned to his slender self again “But I don't need to. No no, I'm talking about your mind.”

“My.... Mind?” Spike repeated.

“You see, right now you think you are only 'big and strong' when you are evil. How can you convince others that you are an upstanding dragon when you don't believe it yourself? How will save your princess in distress if you need steroids to defend her?”

“But it's true I need it though. You proved my point when you lifted me and said I couldn't do anything in this form.”

“I never said anything about 'form'. Tell me, do you think you could stand a chance against me even if you were a million times bigger?”

“...Point taken.”

“In terms of physique, you will always have a way to improve. Find true strength in what you can do regardless of your looks or your wealth.”

Regardless of my looks or my wealth...

Discord smirked “I'll leave you to it, why don't we keep going?”

Spike nodded “Right!” he had now a smile on his face.

Enjoy that feeling while you can. It's going to be a barrel of laughs from now on... For me, that is, Hahaha! Then, for the first time in a century, he put a serious face At least this time I made it. He raised his head to look at the sky At least for now, he won't do anything stupid...

“That's fair,” Twilight said.

“Fair? That's an interesting word to use.”

“I know,” she sighed “I guess I was expecting another answer.”

Rarity shot her an interrogating look “Did you expect me to say that I like him?”

Twilight blushed “W-well, not exactly...”

“Twilight! Did you actually support him all of this time?!” the thought startled her.

“No! I mean, I never pictured him with you specifically. Especially since he's much younger. How much is it, by the way? Four? Five years?”

The unicorn cleared her throat “It is uncouth to ask a lady's age, dear,” she shook her head “But anyways, what were you saying about Spike?”

“I was just saying that I hoped he could find a couple of sorts. He used to daydream all the time about you and I thought about how lonely he should feel...”

Rarity blinked “You're telling me he never went after other fillies? Or mares when he grew up?”

“More or less. I asked him to give it a shot for his own sake, but, he was rejected the two times he tried. Mainly because those girls saw him as... Not an adult, to put it that way ...”

“Oh, right,” Rarity's guilt returned “Being a dragon really should be tough for him.”

“Indeed.”
There were seconds of silence before Twilight looked from side to side and decided to reveal something from Spike “Though he has had a small triumph of his own...”

“Hmmm. I guess an accepted kiss does count as such.”

“No, I mean before that...”

Rarity raised an eyebrow “Before he kissed me?”

Twilight nodded.

“Wha-who? You said he's never been in a relationship before.”

“And it's true but...”

“But?”

“Let's just say you didn't give him his first kiss.”

“What?! Then who did? And outside of a relationship nonetheless!” Rarity exclaimed.

“It's not like that-”

“Nonono wait! I know! It was probably the filly the one who stole a kiss from him!”

“Don't just guess! Why are you so exalted anyways?”

“Because that would explain why he caught me by surprise like that. Maybe he learned from a past experience!”

“...That actually doesn't explain your curiosity.”

Rarity rolled her eyes “Alright, I guess I'm a little jealous of the pony who got his first kiss.”

“What?! Rarity, that's so cruel! You don't like him but you wanted to be his first?”

“In my defense, this is recent. I only thought it would've been a great memory for him to have it with his crush. Don't you think it would've been cute?”

“Yeah right, since when is this about Spike?”

“Since the beginning! Trust me, Twilight, I care deeply for him. Even after what's happened lately I feel like I should compensate him in some way.”

“And getting his first kiss is a compensation?”

“I think you should re-read those romance novels you have in the library; that way you would understand more of the importance of a first kiss.”

Twilight paused to think for a moment. Maybe at that time, the kind of love Spike needed wasn't a romantic one. Maybe it should've been better if he had waited. She sighed “I guess he would've liked it had been you.”

Rarity then realized another fact “Speaking of which, you've had your first kiss, right? I think I never asked, and since you became a princess I bet not many stallions have the courage to court you.”

“That's actually true. I can't approach anypony who isn't my friend without being revered.”

“It must be flattering to have stallions admire your beauty,” Rarity said in a dreamy voice.

“Flattering? Troublesome is more like it. I don't want ponies to do this wherever I go,” she vowed, mimicking a random pony “Good morning Princess. How is your day going Princess? Anything I can do for you, Princess? Let me clear the way for you, Princess. What a nice surprise to see you, Princess.”

Rarity laughed at her comparison “It does sound troublesome when you put it that way.”

Twilight smiled and joined Rarity's laughter.

It wasn't long before both ponies regained their composure.

“We should get the others to come over! Let's have a last minute get-together!”

“Sounds like a splendid idea,” Rarity agreed.

Twilight opened the room's door and got out to prepare some food, but Rarity wasn't behind her. She returned and saw her friend still sat on the sofa “Are you coming?”

Instead of answering, she replied with a question of her own “Sooooo... Are you going to tell me?

Twilight inclined her head “Tell you what?”

“Who got Spike's first kiss.”

Twilight stood still, staring back at Rarity with a straight face “No.”

Rarity sharpened her look, pressing for a hint.

The alicorn fought back. With her eyes wide opened and pressing her lips shut.

“...”

“...!”

“...!!!”

“!!!!!!”

Then a single drop of sweat escaped her cheek, wetting a single hair of her fur. Any normal pony wouldn't have noticed that minimum detail. But Rarity did.

“IT WAS YOU?!” she shouted.

Discord yawned and rubbed his eyes. He didn't mind a casual walk, but it was just too boring to do it without anything actually happening.

“Get it down!” he could hear the complaints of his companion “You don't even know how much that's worth!” Spike was trying to reach a first edition power ponies issue, which was levitating thanks to Discord's magic.

“In bits or in actual value?” he asked “I don't understand why pieces of paper like this are such a big deal.”

“It's not just a piece of paper!” he leaped again, and failed to get a hold of the comic once more “It's a collectible! There are only a few dozen of them in all of Equestria!”

“A dozen papers make a bunch of paper. Seriously, what's the fuss all about?” Discord was practically taunting Spike. Making the comic fly from a side to another and constantly shaking it, which triggered a gasp from the dragon.

“Alrgiht, alright. You know how we measure the value of gems based on how hard it is to find them, right?” he began explaining.

“Right,” Discord droned with little interest.

“That's exactly how comic books work. The rarer it is to find them, the bigger their price is.”

“Then why don't they print a bunch of these and say it's also a first edition? They would make tons of their silly bits with that.”

“That wouldn't work. As printers get modernized, so do the issues. A first-time print will always be worth more.”

Discord let out an annoyed 'ugh' “Then why don't they make more copies of these-” he gestured the sleeved comic “-with their 'modern' machines?”

“They could, but as I said, the original is always better.”

“That makes less sense than chaos! Why would you want an old piece of paper rather than a new one? And with better illustrations no less!”

“Be-because-Nghh! Could you please just give it to me?” he gave up trying to convince him.

“Hey, this is my piece of paper,” he said with an indignant tone “And I'll use it as I see fit.”

“How can you say it's yours?! You probably took it from somepony else's collection!”

“If that was the case, you have no right over it either,” he smiled mockingly “And right now, it's in my possession.”

“Well, if you think it's worthless, don't you think it would be better to give it to one of your friends, who will appreciate it more?”

A black dot appeared above the thinking draconequus, then another one, then a third. After a second, they all popped and began to appear again in the same order.
“I guess that's what friends do…”

Spiked beamed of joy just by hearing that.

“I'll give this to you on one simple condition.”

“Yes! I'll do anything!”

“You'll have to read it.”

Spike's eyes widened “W-what?”

“Just as you heard,” he smirked.

“But that would decrease its value immensely! It has to be on mint condition! Reading it would mean-”

“Getting it out of the sleeve,” Discord playfully poked the item with his lion paw.

“I can't do that! The whole point is to have it intact.”

“So you don't want it then?”

Spike looked with shining eyes at the issue, and exhaled in defeat “No, you can keep it. I'd rather have it in perfect condition on a shelf that's not mine than opening it myself.”

“What a surprisingly heartwarming response,” he wiped a fake tear off his eye and returned to his normal self “But in all seriousness, the whole point of this things is to open and read them!” He exclaimed “That is the purpose of this paper. Unlike me, you are supposed to use it for what it's for!”

“You're the spirit of chaos; I don't think you'd be able to understand a collector's appreciation for these things.”

“True,” Discord nodded once “Then well, since you have no interest in reading it, I will,” he proceeded to carefully open the plastic cover.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

Then, with a single move, the plastic cover was gone.

“NOOO!!!!!” Spike jumped to save the comic from the evil monster who threatened to taint its perfection.

Discord simply took a step back and saw Spike pass in front of him “Wow, you are a baby alright. Stop whining like I'm committing a crime,” he knew, of course, that it was a crime in the community Spike was involved.

“You've ruined it!” he covered his eyes and sobbed like Rarity would do if one of her dresses was stained. More than genuine sadness, it was overreaction.

“Oh, please, it's not that bad. Will you let me now enjoy my read?”

“I don't care what you do! You're a heartless monster!” he resumed his cries.

Discord began to laugh loudly “The look on your face! Hahaha!”

“You're worse than any demon from Tartarus!”

“Now now, little fella, no need to get your scales all raspy,” he showed the comic to Spike “See?”

It was just like before. As new as it could be and without a single pawprint “It... Hasn't been damaged... But how? It doesn't have the protector sleeve anymore.”

“Take a closer look,” Discord invited.

By approaching, Spike saw that there was yet another, thinner plastic, wrapping the comic “A double sleeve!”

“Precisely, I only did that to irritate you.”

Spike was relieved, and allowed himself to calm down “Sorry for yelling at you like that.”

“Don't be, that was just what I was looking for,” he laughed again.

“How did you manage to put it in another one, by the way?”

“Hmmm? Oh, it was like this when that pony sold it to me.”

“Sold? You actually bought a power ponies issue?! That's awesome!”

Discord tapped his chin “Well, I wouldn't exactly say that I bought it...”

*Flashback*

Many comic book enthusiasts and casual reader ponies cowered behind the store's shelves hoping the lord of chaos wouldn't see them. Why was he there in the first place? One could only imagine he was there to punish somepony who had insulted him or that he was about to destroy the place out of mere hatred.

“No... No... Definitely no...” he scanned around for a title that could fit the needs of the mission.
After five minutes of no luck, he headed towards the counter, where a pony with a striped shirt and glasses looked at him in terror “I need something that would make any nerd gasp in excitement at sight,” he stated.

After being directed the word, the pony nodded immediately and galloped at full speed at the back of the shop.
The other ponies were still hiding, so Discord took the chance to have some fun. He turned into a terrifying pony mutant and shouted “BOO!”
All of the present screamed and ran for their lives. When the pony returned from the back, there wasn't a single customer other than the imposing draconequus.

“Here, this is the one, just please don't hurt me!”

Discord examined it “Really? It looks like any other in here.”

The pony forgot completely about his fear for the creature and raised his voice “Any other?! That's outrageous! Never mistake a masterpiece like this with a simple comic,” he even added a tone of disgust to the word 'comic'.

Discord was surprised at the sudden display of courage. He shot a deadly glare towards the pony, who gave the most awkward and Fluttershy-similar 'eep!'.

“Fine, I'll take it.”

“Yes! Take it! Just leave me alone!”

Discord raised an eyebrow “Really? Do you just want me to leave you alone in exchange for it?”

“Yes!” the pony trembled.

“Okay!” he snapped his fingers and the pony disappeared “Have a nice time!” he said to no one in particular before leaving.

In another dimension, the clerk floated through an abyss devoid of gravity and logic.
“Curses...”

*End of Flashback*

“I would say it was more like a barter,”

“It was the best deal you could've done, many would do anything to have one of those.”

“Then it's your lucky day,” he positioned the comic in front of Spike “It's yours.”

“Really?! Thank you!” he launched himself at Discord instead of the comic, wrapping him in a hug.

Discord grimaced with disgust and teleported Spike back to his place, making him hold his gift “Yeah, whatever, no need for that,” although he wouldn't admit it, he liked receiving a gesture like that from somepony else than Fluttershy. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for leveling up his friendship skills.

“I'm so grateful though! I mean, going through the trouble of getting it for me? Not many would do that,” he glanced quickly at his present, then back at Discord “Do you really consider me a friend?”

“Let's just say it was a way to cheer you up in case you were still depressed. Now that you're not... Take it as a prize.”

Spike smiled again.

The duo kept walking; and after ten minutes of casual chat, Discord asked “How long till we get there?”

Spike shrugged “I don't know, maybe a couple weeks.”

“Weeks?!” he complained. With a snap of his fingers and a flash, an eyeglass and a smoking pipe were on his grasp “You really don't want to test my patience.”

“Got you,” Spike smirked “It's just a day or so from here.”

“I can live with that.”

The quest was about to be over. A thief would redeem himself, relationships would mend, and even though he wouldn't get the girl; Spike was completely sure Rarity would never keep him away.
It was all supposed to be simple after this...

...A bit of tension...

Tension between friends is normal. Sometimes because you just don’t feel like talking to them, or because of an awkward situation ensues. There’s also the kind of tension that shows up when you and one of your friends are yelling at each other or fighting because of a romantic interest.
Then, there’s the unique type of tension of being face to face with one of your closest friends and not being able to say a single word because you just might screw up things more than you already did. This was one of those situations. And it hadn’t really been Twilight’s fault. It had been Rarity’s detail-detecting skills that had given away the little secret. Although it shouldn’t be a big deal, both ponies stood still in their places. Twilight sat in her chair fidgeting nervously and Rarity lay on the couch massaging her temples with her hooves; trying to find a plausible excuse as to why and mainly how this… Thing… Became a thing.
Regardless of how she looked at it, it felt wrong. And how could it not? If Spike was Twilight’s assistant, even the most minimal cuddle could be taken the wrong way. A subordinate hardly ever started a relationship with a boss since most ponies would think it was a conditioned relationship or because the subordinate could easily get promoted. Though Spike’s and Twilight’s relation wasn’t like that. They were more like a family; which didn’t help a bit, of course. They lived together! And alone! Rarity could bet nopony ever bothered to supervise them. And again, why would a pony supervise them in the first place? They were a pony and a dragon (which lately had stopped being an impediment, apparently). If Rarity had known they had been a couple, she would have at least stated her opinion on the matter.

“Ehm… Rarity?”

She didn’t even turned her head to look.

“Can we-”

“Shush,” Rarity cut her off with a distant tone “Just tell me one thing: How long were you two dating without us knowing?”

“We weren’t dating! You’re overreacting.”

“You weren’t dating?! So it was abuse of authority!”

Twilight facehoofed “No, Rarity, it wasn’t.”

“Well, you better explain this at once,” Rarity crossed her fetlocks and raised her chin.

“I don’t have to explain myself! If anything, you should pretend you didn’t found out at all.”

“How can you say that? Would you ignore somepony who is, or was doing in this case, something considered taboo? ”

“I would, but I hardly see how this is the case.”

Rarity rolled her eyes “Oh, please, will you ignore the obvious now? You two live together!”

“Rarity, again, we were never in a relationship such as that.”

“Then what was it about? I hope you have a very detailed and logical explanation.”

Twilight groaned in annoyance “You know what? I’m a Princess, so I reserve the right to speak.”

Rarity gasped “I never thought you would dare use that card, Twilight!”

“Well, you’re not giving me much of a choice!” she replied.

Rarity wanted to keep pressing for an answer, but it was clear that Twilight had the winning argument.

Why did she want so desperately to find out about the story behind that kiss, though? It wasn’t envy; that much she was sure of. Was it because she considered it wrong? Most probably. After all, Spike was allowed to live with Twilight precisely because she was supposed to be responsible and conscious enough to take care of him without any incidents or situations that could be misunderstood such as this one.
Then again, this Princess didn’t earn her title by cheating her way to the top; Twilight must have had a reason or perfectly valid excuse for this.
Rarity was making connection after connection to see if she could find out anything else. Another clue or hint! But there was only one way to find out. Just then, she realized her stubborn behavior was only keeping the truth, and her friend, away.

The unicorn sighted in defeat and a little shame “Sorry, Twilight.”

At this, the other mare raised an eyebrow, remaining silent.

“I was never in a position to demand anything from you,” she sat upright, a humble look in her eyes “I have to admit I'm very curious. As a friend, would you mind telling me how it happened?”

Twilight smiled “How can I say no to a friend?”

Rarity returned the gesture.

Twilight re positioned herself to be more comfortable in her seat “I wouldn't say it was one of the best moments we've shared, but it was special in it's own, unique way.”

Rarity leaned forward; as to hear the tale better.

“It was some years ago. While you were on Canterlot to check on your boutique there. Spike didn't tell me everything that happened... Just enough to figure out the rest.”

The sun was hidden behind the clouds on a soon-to-be rainy day. Although it would take time until it actually rained, at this rate it would feel like no time had passed at all.
Spike sat lonely on a wooden bench, his ears folding downwards as a sign of his depression. He had been waiting for an hour already, but that was not the problem; thing is, he arrived to the meeting place two hours earlier, simply because he didn't have anything else to do. If he had known the weather ponies had rain scheduled for today, he would've made his appointment a few days after.
But why was he depressed? In the worst of cases, he would invite her to a restaurant indoors or postpone the date for another day. No, it wasn't because of the date itself: It was because he knew nothing good could come out of it. Spike remembered Twilight's advice of trying to socialize with another mare. He remembered the question asked out of pressure instead of will. And he remembered the forced smile of the mare, as well as the equally forced 'Yes'.
The whole date was a mistake, and he was too ashamed to admit it. Hopefully she would.
After some time, the pony known as Shoeshine appeared in the distance. Spike could see her by glancing sideways, and it was all he really did; To prolong the encounter as much as he could.

“Hello.”

Spike jumped in fake surprise and finally looked at her, still sitting “Oh! you're here!” Fortunately for him, he didn't have to fake happiness, as it was actually pleasant to talk with Shoeshine.

“Well, yes. I wasn't going to leave you here waiting,” she chuckled.

Spike smiled.

Shoeshine turned her head from side to side “So... Did you have something planned? I... Ehm... Hope it wasn't a picnic or anything because it looks like it's-”

“-about to rain,” he finished her sentence.

She nodded “Also it is getting kind of late.”

Really? Spike didn't know much about dating, but he did know that a date could perfectly take place in late hours of the afternoon or at night.
“Right...”

Shoeshine allowed herself to sit beside Spike.

“Should we just, call it off?”

She grimaced “Is that a question or a suggestion?”

Spike rubbed his right eye. There were no tears in it, but he could feel them coming “I'm sorry I dragged you here.”

Shoeshine bit her lip, unsure of what to do. She scooted closer to the dragon and hugged him “Don't say that. I know you probably think this was a mistake but it's the only way there is to find your special somepony: Trial and error. I learned my fair share of love that way.”

“But you're a pony! Whatever difficulties you faced before are a thousand times easier for you to handle!” he pushed her away gently “I'm staring to think I'm not supposed to be attracted to anypony because nopony is nor ever was attracted to me.”

“Don't say that, Spike. Maybe you have it a thousand times as difficult, but it's still not impossible!”

“Gee, thank you.”

“I mean it, though! I'm very sorry you haven't been able to connect with a significant other but you mustn't give up.”

“Yeah well, whatever. I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere, so I guess the only thing I can do is keep trying or accept my fate.”

“There's no such thing as 'accepting your fate', that's giving up!”

“It's still the only two options I have,” Spike got up and started walking down the road to Ponyville “Let's just go back and pretend this didn't happen, alright?”

“Hey, we could still go to some place and get something to eat. What do you say?” She said as she got up and trotted beside Spike.

“Sound good to me,” he agreed “It will also give me an excuse to not explain myself to Twilight.”

“You don't have to lie about this...”

“Maybe, but I'm not in the mood. Besides, you don't know how motherly she gets when I'm depressed.”

“Then let's cheer you up! I know a place where they sell the very best hay cookies in Equestria!”

They were about to arrive to said place when it started raining. Since there were no cookies to be bought, they decided to enjoy the moment by splashing nearby puddles of water and simply facing the sky to feel the falling drops.
It felt nice to play like that once in a while. But in the end, it was just goofing around. And far from a date.
Spike arrived to the castle late at night, unaware of the time. He was wondering if Twilight was already asleep or if she would be waiting for him to get back. Either way, sooner or later he would tell her what happened. Be it the moment he entered the castle or the next morning.

Sure enough, when he opened the gates, he heard the sound of hooves galloping through the halls coming his way. Spike closed the entrance behind him and shook a little.

“There you are!” Twilight called “You took longer than I expected but it's fine! I wasn't worried anyways, why would I be? You're a completely independent and capable young dragon with a perfectly independent and capable mind!” she was closing the distance between them with each word. Not with a fast pace, but with notorious hurry.

“Uh.. Huh?” Spike shrugged.

Twilight's horn lit and Spike was soon engulfed in her aura. He floated towards her and knowingly opened his arms with a grin and roll of eyes. Scales didn't hold even nearly as much water as fur did, so Twilight didn't flinch when they hugged.

“So how was your date? You don't have to tell me everything, just what you feel like sharing! Unless you don't want to share anything in which case I'll have to ask for you to open up a little.”

“Twilight.”

“Yes!” she beamed.

“You're kind of rambling right now.”

She blushed slightly “Oh, haha, sorry,” she cleared her throat and put Spike down “How'd it go?”

“We had fun... But it wasn't a date. I mean, it didn't feel like one.”

Twilight inclined her head to the side “How so?”

“We had a nice time... Just like when we hang out with the others. That pretty much describes it.”

Twilight lifted Spike again and put him on her back “Give it time, Spike,” she turned around and walked back to the rooms “It is meant to start that way. Take things slow.”

“We're not going out again. At least not in date fashion.”

Twilight paused for a second before resuming her steps “Why not? Did something go wrong?”

“Oh, something went wrong alright, just not in the 'date'. Thing is, Twilight, I didn't want to go out with Shoeshine in the first place.”

“Really?” she asked with disappointment.

“Yeah.”

“Then, why did you ask her out in the first place?”

Spike remained silent for a moment, resting is head on Twilight's mane “I guess it was just to please you.”

Twilight lowered her head and ears at that. By then, they were already in Spike's room. They entered and Spike hopped from Twilight to his bed, while the princess lit a candle to dispel some of the darkness.
“Thanks for the ride. I guess.”

Twilight stayed beside him, hesitant to leave. She watched him accommodate the mattresses and fluff his pillow. He didn't seem to mind her presence or the fact that she was just standing there “Spike...”

Spike coughed. Or at least, it seemed like a cough. The dragon was sobbing silently, unable to face his friend.

“I don't like seeing you like t-this,” she tried to fight her own sadness. She could stand any friendship problem and the pressure of every task, but it broke her heart when she couldn't help Spike.

“I'll deal with it.”

“But I don't want to!” she said a little too loud, earning a jump from Spike “I didn't want you to obsess over Rarity like you did! That's why I wanted you to try a date with another pony, but what's it going to take?! If it's not about her, what can I do?!”

“Nothing! It's not your fault!” he threw the pillow angrily “Neither is Rarity's or anypony else's,” he relaxed his shoulders and sighed “It's my fault for loving you all. It's my fault for preferring the company of ponies,” he looked into her eyes “I could never blame a pony for not liking me. Because that's what I chose the moment I decided to live among you.”

Twilight cried right after his last word, collapsing and covering her eyes with her hooves. Yet Spike wasn't done.

“I know I'll probably never find that kind of love, but the love I already have will keep me going,” he jumped out of the bed and caressed Twilight's mane “So what if I'm not attractive to ponies? I like how I look,” he poked Twilight with his elbow “And I'm pretty sure you don't think I'm ugly, do you?”

The alicorn exhaled a small laugh “Of course not,” she sat upright and wiped her tears “I may not be a dragon myself, but I know you're attractive.”

“Pfft, sure, how?”

“Maybe because I've lived with you since I was a filly? You were able to tell Rarity was 'beautiful' because you've spent enough time around ponies.”

“True, but you don't have other dragons to compare me with.”

“Actually, I have a few...”

“Oh, come on. They don't count.” Spike replied.

“What I'm trying to get at, is that if you spend enough time with a pony you like, that pony will start liking you back.”

Spike reclined to Twilight's side “I dunno, Twi. The one pony I've always liked doesn't seem to go by that rule.”

“She is Rarity. You have to admit you picked a hard target.”

“True that,” he raised his claw as if holding a glass of wine.

They shared a laugh in the room, laying on the floor for a few minutes after their chat ended.
Even though the problem was solved for that day, Twilight couldn't keep her smile for long; As she knew time would bring the sorrow back again and again.

“Spike,” she whispered to check if he was still awake.

“Hmm?”

At the affirmative, she wrapped her hooves around him “You're very young. Don't let anything make you forget the fact that you have a lifetime ahead of you. And a pretty big lifetime at that.”

“I don't know if I want a big lifetime. I'd rather have a short one around those I love... And around a special someone. Someone who loves me as much as I do all my friends,” he held Twilight's hooves with his claws “Someone who loves me as much as you do.”

Twilight's heart skipped a beat, but not for the reasons she thought.
“W-what do you mean?”

Spike's eyes widened. He quickly let go of her “I-I didn't mean anything romantic by that, serious.”

“I know, I know,” I think I know. She thought “We should probably get some sleep now.”

Spike was blushing out of shame “Yeah, I'm a little exhausted. S-sorry I gave you a bad impression. Way to ruin the moment, uh?”

Twilight watched him apologize, thinking she also should, for taking it that way.

“I always manage to mess up when it comes to this. Stupid me.”

“Don't call yourself that. Ever.”

Her tone was difficult to read “O...k?” Spike seriously didn't know if she was upset again “Listen, I'm not going to bother anymore, so I guess it's good n-”

He felt a hoof on his cheek, moving him to gaze directly into Twilight's eyes “I may not know a thing about how an attractive dragon should look like,” she lowered her hoof “You're the only dragon I know completely. And I don't need to get to meet others to know you're the most kind, intelligent and loyal of them all.”

Spike's eyes gleamed after the compliment “Twilight...”

“Whenever you feel alone or unwanted. Keep in mind there's always going to be one pony who'll always love you,” she touched his nose with her own, gently nuzzling.

Spike took a step forward, raising his claws as he always did to hug her. Only this time, he aimed for her head.

Twilight realized this, and for some reason, she didn't mind. She also moved forward, closing her eyes.
And then, their lips met in a quick kiss that lasted half a second.

“That... That was-”

“It's also mine, no playing the victim here,” she predicted his next line.

Spike turned away, connecting his forefingers.

Twilight could only lose herself in thought “I,” she blew out the candle with her magic “We should rest now,” she lifted Spike to his bed without waiting for his response. She then got out of the room and rushed to her own.
Was that a mistake? Would that only make things worse? Did she really like Spike? That night, she had a lot to ponder. And didn't even try to sleep.

“The morning after that, we came to the conclusion it had only been the factors of that night put together, and that we shouldn't date or look for something else, for the sake of our relationship.”

Rarity took the seventh handkerchief soaked with her tears and tossed it in a small pile where the others were. She then compressed them in a small ball and threw them on a trashcan that Twilight could swear wasn't there a few seconds ago.
Her magic free form the papers, she grasped the tea table with it and got up from the couch where she was.

“Rarity?”

Said unicorn started walking out of the place, taking the table with her.

“Rarity, where are you going with that?”

“I'm going to pay miss Shoeshine a visit.”

“Whoa! Hold on! She didn't do anything wrong!”

“Oh, she totally did! She rejected Spike without even giving him a chance!”

“But-”

“Got you covered, darling. I'm also going to punch myself later.”

Twilight teleported the table back to its original spot “You're not hitting anypony with anything, Rarity! The best you could do is to start anew with Spike. Showing him you are a friend who now understands how he feels.”

Rarity's head hung low. She patted the floor to distract herself.

“Punishing yourself or other ponies won't make you feel better,” then she swallowed “Besides, if you were thinking about hitting Shoeshine with a table I can't imagine what you were planning to do to me.”

“Why, Twilight, right now I could take a golden mallet and swing it at any mare in the world except you.”

“Huh?”

Rarity raised her head and took calm steps towards Twilight “You weren't able to help Spike the way you wanted and you did made a mistake by setting dates for him. But you were the beacon of light that's guided him all this years. Whenever a mare... Or I rejected him, you were the only pony there. You can't imagine how grateful I am for that.”

“Aww, thank you, Rarity. It means a lot to me.”

“Although you did certainly messed up by kissing him. That must've been very confusing for him.”

Twilight rolled her eyes “Yeah, noted.”

Rarity then grinned wildly and wrapped a hoof around Twilight “Now let's go! We have to get the others and prepare a great 'welcome back' party for our friend!” she galloped out practically dragging Twilight along. The princess couldn't do much about it other than follow her pace as best as she could and complaining every now and then. When Rarity let her go, Twilight had to massage her neck for a minute. Nevertheless she smiled, knowing the toughest part of this episode in her life, was already over.

When Spike got back, it would only be laughter again...

All for one, none for all

Author's Note

Brace yourselves for the flying pigs and the apocalypse 'cause we got an update!

On a more serious note, I'm not sure I'll include references for the latest episodes (such as Ember or reformed Starlight) because this story started waaaay before that.

Should I give a nod to them by at least making a mention?

All for one, none for all

Come on, It's not like it would make you a bad friend... Discord continued the monologue in his mind. After all, he's been clinging to you for about an hour! He's awake! Discord looked down to the small dragon wrapped around his neck. Although... That was a pretty rough time he had...
Suddenly, he shook his head, and his eyes turned from comprehensive to his usual no-fudges-giving. What am I saying?! Of course it was a rough time! so what? I've had worse, He's going to have worse! Does that mean I should be mister nice friendly pants for the rest of my life? No way!
Discord was filled with determination now. He wouldn't let some friend be an eternal necklace because of 'the feels'. He took a deep breath and prepared the right words to say. Alright, Discord, you can totally tell him to buzz off in the meanest, baddest, unfriendliest way possible like you used to. It took longer than expected, but he had it at last; with his speech ready, the spirit smirked with notable villainy, proud of his first not-so-nice scheme after a long time. He opened his mouth and...

“Discord.”

He wouldn't admit it, but Spike startled him a little; making him cough a couple of times “gugh-huh-huh... Mnsss” he grunted “What is it, my dearly deared friend?” he said with faked compassion.

“You can put me down now,” Spike said.

Discord grit his teeth and fists; his eyes began to turn red; he expelled smoke and sounded as if water was boiling in his brain; then his head exploded.
Naturally, Spike looked up, shocked by the sound. It didn't take long for Discord to grow a new head, which was also angry.

“Uh... Something wrong?”

“Oh, no,” Discord shook his head “Everything's just perfect,” he snapped his fingers and, in a flash, Spike was back down to the ground.

After examining he was in one piece, Spike scratched his chin “Your head exploded,” he simply pointed out “Not that I have anything against it... But it did.”

“Really?” Discord replied with sarcasm “I didn't notice.”

Spike shrugged and decided to drop the subject. It was probably just Discord stuff.
Time passed by for a couple minutes and Discord had already lost his patience “You know, now that I know where this place is, we could just teleport back.”

Spike grimaced “I don't have any hurry... I'll walk back.”

Discord pulled his ears down and his eyes rolled backwards. Gah! He limited himself to curse only in his mind. I can't believe it! He's winning a game he's not even playing! If I go back by myself I'll be the most horrible friend Equestria has ever known, not to mention the unbearable yelling mrs. goody princess Twilight is probably going to throw at me; and if I stay I'll be bored to death... It seems like it's finally my utter end.

Spike looked over his shoulder as Discord scratched his face with desperation, stretching it in the process. It seemed like he didn't notice that Spike was watching. The dragon smiled knowingly, and turned around just in time to see Discord correct his posture.

“Listen, I don't want to be a bother,” Then an idea flashed through his head. He paused for a moment and saw Discord waiting for him “So... Since I don't need to carry anything around and I know my way back, It's alright if you leave.”

“Oh, no sir!” Discord lowered his head to be eye-level with Spike “And be punished with more friendship lessons because you didn't feel like coming along? You wish!” He stood up and started walking “We'll do it your way, we walk back.”

Pony feathers. Spike kicked the ground and resumed his steps.

Back at Twilight's castle, there were a number of ponies arranging decorations to welcome the duo.
Although it wasn't supposed to be a party more than it was a reunion, Pinkie couldn't help herself; and the others, not wanting to despise her enthusiasm, decided to help with whatever their friend wanted to set up.

“A little to the right, Rainbow,” Rarity commanded to the pony placing a 'welcome back for the third (Or is it fourth? I can't remember) time' banner “It's covering half the roof that way.”

“It's gonna cover half the roof anyways! Just look at this thing!” Rainbow complained.

“Well, that's true... We could try moving it a-” Rarity gasped “Sweetie Belle! Not until they get back!” she rushed to save the cake in the middle of the crystal table.

“B't t's so Good!” the young unicorn munched on her last piece of cake before being levitated away from it “Hey! Let me go!”

“That's very unladylike! Only foals do that kind of thing.”

“You're never old enough to steal cake!” Sweetie announced triumphant “Besides, it's not like Spike's expecting any of this.”

“Well, he's certainly not going to have anything to expect if you eat all the cake before he arrives,” Rarity tried to repair the damage by re-arranging the cake in specific parts “Why don't you help Apple Bloom and Scootaloo decorate the entrance?”

“We're done doing that,” Sweetie pointed a hoof towards another table, where her friends were happily 'testing the flavor' of the muffins.

“Ugh,” Rarity covered her eyes with a hoof “Anyhow, they should be arriving at any minute now. I'm going to check on Twilight upstairs,” she trotted gently out of the room, adding a reminder before she left “And please, do try to leave some pastries untouched.”

“Sure thing, sis,” she waved a hoof her way.

Up in her room, Twilight stood on her balcony, staring at the horizon with a telescope. She occasionally stirred it's direction in case she missed a spot and went back to her calendar just to make sure they weren't setting the welcome too soon. All the while tapping the floor impatiently.
Before she could return to her activities, a knock on the door snapped her out of them.

“Come in,” then Twilight realized the mess her room was. There were scrolls here and there; papers and deeds to be filed; even candles scattered all over because of the nights she had to spend working to make up for the time she was gone.

Rarity stepped in, with her usual proud stance “Twilight, darling, whatever are you doing in-” her eyes widened at the scene. This organized chaos was easily three times more chaotic than her inspiration room “Oh... Oh my...”

Twilight sighed “Yes, I know. It's a disaster.”

“Why, you simply must allow me to help you.”

“It's fine, I'll just have to give up some sleep, some reading...” Twilight yawned “And some reunions,” she then rubbed her eyelids and smiled “Spike's also gonna be of some help when he returns.”

“Speaking of which, didn't you say they were supposed to be back today?”

Twilight went back to the telescope “They should, but I'm starting to have my doubts,” her ears flattened and her head lowered “I just hope Discord isn't much trouble for Spike.”

“Twilight, dear, I'm certain there's nothing to worry about,” Rarity gestured the door “Why don't you come down with the rest of us? I bet they'll be knocking at the gates in no time,” she said with confidence.

Twilight breathed in and out once, following her respiration with a hoof and with her eyes closed “You're right,” she serenely declared “I shouldn't worry about it; let's go and wait for them.”

Downstairs in the main hall, some voices echoed through the place; just conversing about their individual interests or catching up with matters in common. It was more like the main event at this point, having the nine of Spike's friends listening to the music of a gramophone, and most of them were already enjoying the dance floor. Even the princesses and Shining Armor had made a surprise entrance, and were speaking in a corner of the party.
In that moment, Rarity bit her lip, wondering if the scenery would only make Twilight be even more worried about Spike; but when she turned to look, her friend was smiling. Deep down, she knew they were coming back for sure. This earned a tranquil flicker of Rarity's adorned eyelashes, followed by light steps towards their friends.

“I believe we should greet the guests, don't you think, Princess?”

She giggled “Of course, Rarity.”

Both were quickly met by the others, who hurried them to join the dancing and chatting. It didn't take long for all to start having a good time like a big family who almost never got together. An event even rarer than the Apple Family Reunion. Troubles were shared, goals were spoken of, and most of the day was danced away. Even though they were all having a great time, each passing minute made more and more difficult to have fun without the dragon the reunion was meant for. It got dark after a couple of hours, and as much as they wanted to stay until Spike arrived, it had been just way too long.
Celestia and Luna, the first ones to announce their departure, had already said their farewells. They were only held back for a moment by Twilight, who insisted they should even stay for the night.

“I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia shook her head “Canterlot cannot stay without us for long. There are many matters to be taken care of.”

Luna just watched in silence as her sister's former pupil lowered her head, trying to hold back something she couldn't figure out. Anger? Sadness? She thought.

“Do you think...” Twilight began to say with difficulty “Do you think he's alright?” she asked.

Celestia gave a gentle nod “Discord is known for many things, and I certainly wouldn't say his ever-growing knowledge of friendship makes up for his malice, but he will never bring harm to your loved one. That much I'm sure of.”
The other alicorn didn't seem convinced.
“Although,” Celestia continued “It is strange. Discord assured me he would be here. After all, he's the one who told us about this gathering.”

That made Luna raise an eyebrow. She had actually been invited by her sister instead. She also didn't remember seeing Discord around the castle “Do you keep in touch with the Chaos Spirit, sister?”

Celestia's pupils shrank for a moment, fortunately while she was facing away from Luna “Uhm,” an aristocratic cough followed “Yes, in a... In a way. We have this scroll, you see...” she explained.

“Yes,” Luna spoke louder than normal, making clear she really didn't want to know, all the while looking up and shaking her head slowly.
Her sister gave herself a mental slap for giving Luna even more misunderstood patterns about her real relationship with Discord.
“Princess Twilight,” she called.

Twilight's ears perked up “Y-yes?” she took a moment before quickly adding: “Princess Luna?” formalities were still a little ambiguous when talking to her.

“My sister speaks the truth. Even though we may not know their current whereabouts, Discord will bring your assistant back unharmed.”
It had been a while since Twilight called Spike that, it felt out of place now.
“Now, Celestia,” Luna stared at her “Has Discord answered the writing of your 'scroll'?”

“What makes you think-” she immediately defended herself, only to be cut off.

“Has he answered or not?” Luna said with annoyance.

Celestia closed her mouth and rolled her eyes. It was useless to discuss with her “No,” she admitted.

“Then it means they're busy. There's no point in waiting and there's no point in worrying,” Without another word, she walked out of the castle.

That must have been the worst reassuring speech Twilight had ever heard. But she knew it wasn't Luna's way of doing things, and she was right about Discord. He was no villain anymore. Princess Celestia, for her part, stayed to give a caring hug to Twilight; which was returned in kind. It made the young lavender alicorn remember what the tender embrace of those white hooves offered.
Not actually wanting her to leave, Twilight finally let go of her mentor and went back in.
Cadance and Shining Armor were next, naturally because of their own obligations in the Crystal Empire. This was a faster departure, since Twilight didn't want to keep pressing anypony to stay, but she did start to get angry at what being a royal meant. Her brother expressed his empathy and promised he would return at anytime she called; something she wholeheartedly appreciated.
It was already 9 o'clock and the initial energy of all ponies present had extinguished. Pinkie Pie was helping clean up like she always did after one of her parties, aided by Fluttershy, who didn't like to leave trash laying around because of her. She had only taken a cup of eggnog, but she didn't know which cup was hers, much to her dismay. Rarity offered to take the young trio of mares back to their respective houses, and Rainbow Dash was talking to Applejack.
Twilight, having no idea what to expect now, approached them to take a seat and get depressed.

“Oh, but it get's worse!” she heard Rainbow explain “Guess who's been tasked with taking care of those newbies?”

“Uh, you?” Applejack knew-guessed.

“Exactly! How lame is that?”

“But, aren't you kinda a newbie yerself?” Applejack pointed out.

“No!” Rainbow shouted “I mean, not exactly...” she took a drink from her cup “I'm a 'newcomer', totally different.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Look, these aren't even real wonderbolt material. These are from the try-out try-outs!”

“Didn't Spitfire used to take care of those?” Although the farm pony was glancing at everywhere but her friend, she was clearly listening.

“Well yeah, but she says she has 'important' stuff to do, so it's up to me.”

“Hi, girls,” Twilight got into the conversation and sat down with them.

“Hey, Twilight! I was just telling Applejack that I'm supposed to keep an eye on some amateur fliers.”

“Really,” she was resting her head on the table and letting her wings linger lifeless. Her voice showed that she wasn't ignoring Rainbow, but it was clear that her mind was somewhere else.

“Oh, but that's not even the end of it,” she turned to Applejack again “Guess who decided to come back for a second chance at this.”

Applejack couldn't figure out who Rainbow meant; after all, she only remembered three of the other pegasi names “Biceps?”

“No! Lightning Dust! Can you believe it?”

“...” Applejack tapped her chin.

“So?” Dash insisted.

“Hmmm,” she kept thinking.

“Lightning Dust! I told you guys a million times about her!”

“Sorry sugarcube, doesn't quite ring a bell.”

“But- A!- Ghnng” she spoke half-words and letters while making all types of frustration gestures “Twilight, you do remember Lightning Dust, don't you?”

“Your wing got hurt because of her, didn't it?”

“Exactly! See, AJ? Seriously girl, how can you be so forgetful and dense?”

“Uh, Rainbow?”

“Just take a look at Twilight here,” she used both of her front hooves to point at her “Did she forget about her? No way! Now I know just how much you listen to me,” she crossed the accusing limbs.

“Rainbowwww,” Applejack whispered.

“What?” she glared at her with a frown.

Applejack used her eyes to lead Rainbow's gaze to Twilight, who appeared to be about to cry.
The pegasus covered her mouth and slowly slid off her chair “Um... Well... I'm... gonna go help the others clean,” she flew away.

You're the definition of subtle, Rainbow. Applejack approached her broken friend and wrapped her in a hug “Why so grim, Princess? I know what's eating you, but are you sure a small delay is somethin' to worry about? What if your calculations were wrong?”

“It's not that, Applejack. I know he's fine... It's because...” she returned the embrace “Because I don't think I'll ever have the certainty again,” she sobbed quietly in her shoulder “Whenever I let him go... I know he'll return, but I want to know when. Whenever he's late for even a second, I start to worry and I can't concentrate. I can't think about anything else. Every passing minute it becomes harder to relax, every hour is harder to breathe; and now that he's been absent much more frequently... I,” she stopped.
Applejack remained in her place, waiting for her to finish.
“I feel like he doesn't want to return to our home,” Twilight pressed against the orange fur “To his home with me.”
A single tear slid through her cheek.
“It would be easy for me to make him stay. To simply prohibit him to leave; because he's such a loyal friend, he would heed that stupid order just to make me happy. I could cast a tracking spell on him to always know where he is. There's really an endless amount of ways I could get the peace of mind I need... And it would be at the cost of his independence.”
Twilight broke the hug and stared into Applejack's eyes “So why?” she pleaded “If I don't want to take his freedom, why does it hurt so much to watch him leave?”

Applejack smiled and closed her eyes, facing away “Because you love him, Twilight,” she declared.

“Well.. Of course I do...”

“Thing is, he's been with you before you even knew what a friend was. And because he's lived with you like a brother; you've helped raise him like a son; he's helped you like an assistant; and he's loved you like his only family and more.”
Twilight analyzed the words, letting the memories flood her mind.
“I wouldn't ask why you don't want to let him go, Twilight,” she held her with a unique combination of softness and strength “I would ask: When will you be ready to do so?”

The princess covered her face, trying to hide her reddened eyes “I'm not sure I can do that,” she answered.

“Trust me, Twi', someday you will. For the better, I reckon'. Until then, rely on us and everypony you have a strong bond with. You'll need their help.”

Twilight leaned to lay on Applejack's shoulder “I will...” slowly, her eyes were tired, her vision began to blur; and in a matter of seconds, she was drifting off to a fearful sleep “I will...”

No more good-byes

Author's Note

So... like any fanfiction, I suppose, I've decided to just completely ignore the show's continuity and take off where I left. Maybe a nod here and there, why not.

No more good-byes

Twilight's eyes shot open thanks to the sunlight entering through her window; it took a moment for her to adjust her sight to the brightness and realize she was laying in her bed. She decided not to think much about it, since it had probably been thanks to Applejack. Right now, she needed to confirm something. With astounding speed, she got up; paying little attention to her own appearance. She rushed through the all-too familiar corridors of her home, directly to Spike's room. Had he gotten back during the night? Or would she be greeted by his silent absence?
To her dread, the room was empty.
The place wasn't dusty anymore, and she could recall those few days ago when she saw the dragon sleeping there; she also remembered the talk they had, Applejack's compassionate words and Celestia's tender embrace. She remembered all of it and yet, the chamber haunted her memories. For a dark moment, her friend's words slid out of her mind; she went back to the fear of solitude; she forgot about Applejack, about Celestia, about Luna, about Shining; and she could only drop to the floor and lay still. What good could come from being surrounded by such kindness? none of them were at fault, so Twilight shouldn't burden them with her concerns. Furthermore, what was happening wasn't really a bad thing. When the time came for Spike to leave, the only one affected would be her.
“Does it even matter?” she said to no one. And of course it didn't matter; after all, this was an uphill battle only she would fight, and there was no point in trying to hide it. Would she try to keep him in the castle for as long as she could? Would she need to replace him with another pony? There were plenty of solutions to this specific problem, and as Twilight was pondering them, she found herself taking a look at her surroundings; she noticed how incredibly neat it was, compared to many other ponies' rooms. Spike must've learned at least that much from her. She smiled and hopped to his bed, looking up at the ceiling and thinking to herself that this was, quite possibly, the one moment in her life when she felt like doing nothing. Since she just wanted time to pass, getting to read was her best alternative everytime; and yet, she couldn't bring herself to move, most probably because of laziness. She rolled to the side and saw Spike's collection. His comic book collection. Not even once had she despised the medium, but also never had she felt curiosity toward it. So, for the first time, she levitated a random one to her, and checked the cover. It read: “Salvain's Other Side”.
“What is that even supposed to mean?” she flipped it to see the other side and noticed a number at the bottom: 652. There was absolutely no way that was the number of entries in the series... right?
Shrugging and flipping it again, she opened the comic, and started reading.

Three thousand four hundred and seven. That was the exact number he had to keep up this whole friendship thing going on. Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One... There! Another hundred steps! Now he was only three thousand four hundred steps away from victory. Discord made a blackboard appear; it already had many marks and he was about to make another. He pulled a marker out of his ear and crossed a group of four lines.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Spike asked “Does it mean something special to you?”

“Oh, it is something special alright,” he grinned “Just not a common interest we have.”

“If you say so...”

“Say, speaking of common interests... You wouldn't happen to own the next issue, right?”

“Issue?” Spike pretended to not know what Discord was talking about.

“You know, about those not-so-interesting comics you made me read,” he explained.

“Comic books? Well I have plenty of those.”

“Well...” Discord tapped his chin “I'm not asking for just any comic book you see...”

“Oh, really?” Spike teased “Don't worry about that. All the titles I own are great. There's 'The Mane-iac's Comeback...”

“Uh, sure, but...” Discord raised a hand.

“Or; 'Celdiar gone Rogue'.”

“I don't even know who that is.”

“Or maybe I can show you the latest-”

Discord appeared in front of Spike with fire in his eyes “Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.”

Spike expected a similar reaction, but was surprised anyway “Oh, I see,” he still acted oblivious “You want the next number of power ponies.”

“I mean, not particularly,” Discord grimaced “But it would be convenient. You see, I like to see things through to the end,” he rubbed his fist in his chest “Especially things that I start.”

Spike scratched his head “Well, you're out of luck then,” he said with a tone of defeat “There's a reason I couldn't hand you that one over.”

Discord rolled his eyes “Come on, don't tell me it's one of those never-to-be opened-deluxe-I-don't-know-what issues.”

“That's exactly the reason...” Spike lifted a claw “and it's not,” he rose the other “It is indeed one of those, but the problem is that I don't own it precisely because of that,” he let his arms flail down “They figured a great way to increase sales was to make that number a little more... exclusive, and it worked. But also backfired, because of negative feedback, of course. They learned and never did it again, but they still didn't print a normal version of that issue.”

“But,” Discord pannicked “If that's true, and every pony is as picky and paranoid as you are, that means I'll never know what's next!” he pulled some of his hair off his head “Actually, that also means noone knows! How preposterous!”

“Nope, a nameless hero did open one of those, and published the contents of the story by writing them in a scroll. You can read all of what happens pretty much anywhere, but the issue itself is still a treasure to be found,” Spike explained with a shine in his eyes.

“Nonsense,” Discord stated.

Spike looked up, and saw Discord creating, page by page, the fabled missing number of the power ponies. He stopped on his tracks, amazed, and in a moment, the draconequus was done. With a snap, he passed it on to Spike, who looked at it in disbelief “How did-” he mustered.

“Oh, nothing that I can't do, friend, a huff here, a puff there and ta-da!”

Shortly after flicking through the contents, Spike raised an eyebrow “Discord... this is not the issue,” he declared “I doubt this is even any of the issues.”

“Oh, but it is,” he assured “It even takes off after the last one, see?”

It did look genuine, but it was obviously a different story, and a pretty bad one at that “Did you just try to make a prediction on what you think will happen?” he paused and covered his mouth, as if containing a laugh “I'm sorry to say, Discord but this is... hehe... questionable.”

“It is not a prediction,” he said, indignant “It's just the way it follows, according to where everything was leading.”

Spike tossed the paper back to Discord and walked “That's up to the author, you know?”

Discord let the item fall to the ground instead of catching it “Oh really?” he catched up to Spike “What makes it so different? a bunch of ponies want it to be a certain way and you just accept it? What if an idividual's version is better eh?” he enlarged his right eye and pressed it against Spike's face.

“That's just it, Discord” he pushed the eye away “It is just one pony writing it.”

Discord gaped in disbelief “That's not true. No pony, and I repeat, no pony can have this kind of imagination.”

“You'd be surprised!” Spike laughed “They say every head has a world of it's own; you just happen to be able to make all your whims come true. If only you could see what's in ours.”

Just like that, Spike went ahead, without looking back.
Discord stood there, still thinking it was impossible for a single pony to come up with something as crazy as the stories of the power ponies. Was that true? could a pony actually think of all of that and more? But most important of all: was that wisdom just now, coming from a being like Spike? It was strange to observe him like that: weak and childish at a time; composed and mature at another. The little guy was truly a case for study and entertainment. For a reason he couldn't grasp, he smirked, following the young dragon's steps; and for the reminder of the way, he stayed silent, thinking it would be a nice gift for Spike to get that issue some day. The reason why? he would never know.

“Wow,” Twilight deadpanned, putting the low-tier, magazine-like thing back in it's place “That was an extremely boring experience,” she shook her head, still looking up “How can anypony enjoy that so much?”

Maybe it had been her poor choice. Maybe she needed context because that was, effectively, the six-hundred fifty-second entry. Maybe it was just a bad number compared to the others... But maybe Twilight was just right and books were the far superior medium. Either way, she got up, realizing she had already slacked off for more than was healthy. Just as she was about to check on her paperwork, she heard the unmistakable sound of the gates opening, along with a couple of distant voices. She dashed to the entrance, and saw both Spike and Discord saying their goodbyes. They were planning some kind of reunion, which was strange in itself, but when they heard the hoofsteps approaching, they turned to Twilight.

"Sparkle! my eloquent and never appropiately pondered pony!” Discord wasted no time in appearing before her, dressed in an elegant valet uniform. “As promised, I have come to bring you a Spike (from one of our finest crops, I might add).”

Sure enough Spike was elegantly encased toe to neck by a watermelon. Twilight let out a sigh of relief and gave a thankful nod to Discord “Just how I like them,” she let out a giggle that came out with a sadder tone than she anticipated, and Discord took that as his queue to leave.

“I'll be around, not really sure where,” he waved to both of them and snapped his fingers, the traces of his magic disappearing along with him.

The dragon and pony left in the hall looked at each other for some time. Spike with a hint of shame and apology, while Twilight's appearance showed relief and exhaustion.

“So... I'm back,” he decided to break the silence.

“And you're very welcome, Spike,” she closed the distance with a slow pace, and wrapped him in a loving hug.

Spike return the gesture immediately, “Are you okay, Twilight?”

“No...” she smiled weakly “I'm really not.”

“I'm very sorry-”

“Don't be,” she interrupted. “It's not because of you...” she thought for a moment and continued “Or rather, it is, but you're not at fault,” she broke the hug and Spike just stared at her, confused. “Spike, I really, really don't want you to go. And I don't think I'll ever be ready for that day... But I want you to know I won't hold you back anymore. I want you to live your life and be free more than I want you to stay,” she finally declared, smiling warmly.

“Oh, uh,” Spike rubbed the back of his neck with one of his claws “That was really moving, Twilight, but... You don't have to worry about it anymore.”

“Huh?” she tilt her head.

“You see, I've had plenty of time to think about my future and all that. And this little quest of mine has taught me a couple of things,” he let out a sigh and then drew air to puff his chest “First! I'm better off staying here with my friends than anywhere else. What would I even do? buy my own house? settle down in Canterlot? none of it sounds nearly as interesting as staying in the castle with the pony I care for the most,” he said while raising his fingers on every point “Second, the world is uhm... a little more hostile than I gave it credit for,” he laughed nervously “And I hadn't realized since you and the others were always there for me.”

Twilight listened attentive, she held back her comments as to let him finish, but she was clearly eager to say something.

“Third and last: I won't be bothered when I feel like I'm useless anymore. My life will be long and... I've come to accept it,” he looked at the floor for a second, but regained his composure right after “So what if I'm just a useless little dragon from time to time? I never needed to prove my worth before, because all of my friends love me as I am! I'll have plenty of time later on to become big and strong as I've always wanted. I'll have time to make something great of my life as the ponies around me are doing. I'll have time to-” he clenched his fists “to love... a pony or a dragon or whatever...”

Twilight couldn't hold anymore and started jumping up and down, lifting Spike with her magic “You're right, you're right, you're right!” she then pulled him close to her once again “You don't have nothing to prove, specially not to us! for as long as you're here with me, I'll make sure you feel at home!” Spike, on his part, was surprised at the reaction, but was relieved nontheless “And you don't have to be all that patient to make something great, because that's what you have always been. From now on, whenever there's something you want to do, we'll work to make it happen! Spike, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that.”

“H-hey, Twi,” he managed to say under the constricting grasp of his best friend “I'm glad we reached an un-understaninggg” Twilight loosened her grip, still holding him close “And for the record, I wouldn't be able to let you go either.”

Their embrace was quickly thwarted by a snort, and the sound of somepony blowing her nose. Their eyes shot open and they towards the sound. There, just a few steps away was Pinkie, holding back some tears and throwing away a used handkerchief.

“Pinkie!” both reprimanded.

“I'm sorry I didn't mean to I was just coming to say I was gonna throw a 'welcome back for sure this time for realsies' party when I saw Discord and Spike coming but I couldn't bring myself to say anything because you guys were having a moment and that was just too beautiful wahhhhhh!!!!” she covered her eyes as she let out a river of tears.

Twilight and Spike looked at each other awkwardly, but then shared a laugh at the whole situation.

On the outskirts of the everfree forest, numerous tents were set up, hidden on a clearing amongst the canopy of an extense jungle.

“I see,” an elder centaur lay before a wooden table, serving a portion of hot water into a cup, “How many more besides him?”

“Just the one dragon, Sir,” the scout replied.

“This is hardly the big deal you're making it out to be, son. What we have in our hands is nothing more than a meaningless exception,” he dismissed while taking a sip from his tea.

“But Sir, I have to insist. I saw Discord, the one and only, aiding that dragon. It can't be a coincidence!”

The elder shot the young centaur a glare, making him step back instantly “I am well aware about the recent... developings, however this is to be expected.”

“E-expected?” the young centaur stammered.

“Indeed. After all, are ponies not known for their unparalleled harmony? It is not coincidence that they have always found a way to stick together. Even when their differences were significant, even after war, even after their numerous enemies attacked time and time again... ponies always find a way to band together and triumph. You could say it's in their nature, really. It is no suprise then, that even a creature such as Discord would eventually walk among them as one of their own... mostly. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up joining them if I let you get closer to them.”

“Sir, I would never,” he replied firmly.

“Oh, don't take it the wrong way, son. I don't mean to insult your loyalty. It's simply a matter of respecting your opponents capabilities.”

The scout remained still and let his leader's words sink in. Would it really be possible for the ponies to turn me to their side? The mere thought sent shivers down his spine. Not because he considered it a terrible fate, but because in his mind this would be the result of a manipulation. A trick no different than brainwashing.

“You may go, son. I need some time to think of my next move.”

“Sir!” he bowed and left the tent, still concerned of what he just heard. And impressed at the calm with which his commander was taking the news.

Am I really cut out for this?

Sudden thoughts

Spike woke up and looked around his room, then stretched and yawned a couple of times as he got up and began to make the bed. He liked having his own room, since there was a lot of space for his comics and photographs as long as he kept everything in it's place. After leaving everything in order, he decided to see what he could help Twilight with.

He lazily went down stairs and saw her having breakfast in the dining room. Or rather, what he had denominated the dining room on his own, since the place was exactly the same as most of the castle “Good morning, Twilight,”

“Good morning, Spike!” answered Twilight.

“Hey, you don't look worried or hurried as usual, did you forget to read some of your books or clear your checklists?”

“Very funny, Spike... but no, It's just that today Rainbow Dash will be given her uniform as an official wonderbolt! Isn't that exciting?”

“I-is that today?" he paused and recalled Rainbow Dash inviting him to the event “Oh, how could I forget?” Spike shook his head and looked down to the palace's floor. Even after some years of living there he missed the wooden floor of the library. “I guess I still forget things easily,” he whispered as he climbed up a chair and leaned his head on the table.

“Don't worry, Spike, we still have time to get to Cloudsdale before the ceremony,” Twilight tried to cheer up Spike by serving him breakfast and adding a small gem to it. “Besides, we'll need to save some energy to help Applejack pick all of those zap apples.”

Spike was just about to bite the tasty-looking gem when he heard Twilight's last words. He stopped and straightened his back, noticing he had forgotten about the harvest too.
The Apple family name was spreading far and wide even beyond Equestria; the fame of the delicious pies, the mysterious zap apple jam and many other of their saucers had attracted ponies from all over the world. And today, Applejack needed every hoof or claw she could get to supply the vast order of public demand.

“Ummm... yeah... right,” Spike dug in his food, Seriously? that too? he thought as he tried to remember anything else. Blank. The baby dragon could only remember today's chores at the palace and a little of a silly conversation with Twilight. Most of his memory was filled with books alphabetically placed in the new library.
After getting ready to depart, dressed properly to attend the ceremony, they left the palace.
Spike was sitting on Twilight's back during the gallop across Ponyville. The plan was to look for their friends and go together to Cloudsdale as a group.

First, they went to Sweet Apple Acres, where an unusual wind blew through the orchard; something that the pony and dragon identified as the heraldic song for the arrival of the zap apples. Applejack was working as usual when they arrived, getting everything set for the harvest.

“Hello Applejack! ready to go?” Twilight sounded very enthusiastic.

“Sure, Twi', I'll just go tell Granny Smith I'm leaving for a while,” she used a hoof to wipe the sweat off her forehead.

“See you at the boutique!” Twilight waved a hoof as Applejack disappeared between the trees. She looked excited and happy, but her undone mane, mistreated hooves and distracted eyes made clear that she was worried as well; the zap apple work was a hard one, and they only had one day to get it done, so Twilight didn't press for an extended dialogue.

The next stop for the duo was Sugarcube Corner, there, Pinkie was happily jumping around, waiting for them.
“You're finally here!” Pinkie grinned and ran towards Twilight as soon as she saw her.

“Hey Pink-” a sudden, strong hug silenced her. Pinkie was even more excited than her, but that was pretty much obvious for them since Pinkie was always euphoric and impatient with events like this one.
Pinkie let Twilight catch her breath and kept talking:

“So what are we waiting for? let's go already!” the pink pony didn't wait for Twilight to recover completely and began to bounce her way to the boutique.

“Are you Ok, Twilight?” Spike asked worried.

“Yes, don't worry about it,” she looked at Pinkie and trotted unhurriedly “I just hope she calms down after she finds out there's not going to be a party after this,” she laughed lightly and kept going.

When they arrived to Carousel Boutique, Applejack was already there.
Rarity was wearing a red dress along with the ruby necklace Spike had given her. It was such a unique contrast of white fur and red fabric, it made the dragon blush immediately at the unicorns' singular beauty and style; he could only hide the red on his cheeks by hugging Twilight's neck and covering with her mane.
Twilight knew what that meant and smiled at the fact, rolling her eyes and then approaching her friends.

“All right everypony, now that we are here, I will proceed to cast the cloud-walking spell.”

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie stood expectantly in front of the alicorn and waited, but nothing happened for about ten seconds.

“Umm, what are we waiting for darling?” asked Rarity.

“Spike? Aren’t you going to take the spell?” Twilight tried to gain time so the little dragon could shake off his fear, but he wasn't able to. After another ten seconds without an answer, Spike gathered courage and dismounted slowly. Still with a vivid red color, he sat next to Applejack in order to stay as far as he could from the graceful unicorn.
The moment itself was awkward because all of the girls had seen the dragon's blush and they knew why he had it. But rather than feeling uncomfortable they considered it innocent and somewhat sweet.
A purple glow surrounded them and shined for a second before vanishing.

“It's done. Now you will be able to walk in Cloudsdale until tomorrow,” Twilight announced triumphant.

“YAY!” Pinkie shouted before pointing at the giant balloon next to the boutique. “Now let's go fillies! Cloudsdale awaits!”

The five of them got into the balloon and ascended. On their way to Cloudsdale, Pinkie talked and talked with no pony to stop her, being herself and saying random things whenever she ran out of interesting topics.
Applejack tried to keep her mind distracted from the zap apple harvest by trying to listen, but mostly overhearing Pinkie's words.
Twilight was assaying the congratulating speech she had written for Rainbow Dash.
Rarity stood silent, ignoring the party pony and carefully inspecting all the details of her outfit, mane and hooves to assure everything was perfect for the ceremony.
Spike was sitting in a corner, often turning to look at Rarity for half a second and divert his gaze.
When they finally got there, Fluttershy was expecting them at Cloudsdale's entrance. She told them where to leave the balloon and the place the ceremony was going to take place.

“It's good to see you all, I was afraid some of you wouldn't come,” Fluttershy spoke in her natural soft way outlining a small grin.

“We wouldn't miss this for anything, Fluttershy, I cleared my schedule for the whole day so I could come and then help Applejack with the harvest,” Twilight smiled and landed beside her. They walked and talked about what would be the great day ahead.

The others followed closely, sometimes pausing to look at Cloudsdale's charming structure and design.
Finally, they all got to the main stadium and sat in the front row seats reserved for them. By this time, it was already noon and the ceremony was just about to begin.
Pinkie cheered and yelled getting everypony's attention before the event started and only stood silent until her friends and some other ponies in the terraces told her to stay quiet.
After a couple of minutes, Spitfire appeared from below the stadium and flew to the center, received with cheers and shouts from everywhere. Soon, a staff pony got next to her and gave her a microphone before flying away.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, as you all know we are here to congratulate our newest member!” Spitfire made a quick gesture with her right hoof and, faster than the eye could catch, the other wonderbolts appeared from many directions and flew forward to the center with a spectacular new rutine; landing at the end on the same cloud as Spitfire. The stunned crowd watched amazed as the leader continued:

“Please welcome with your loudest acclaim... RAINBOW DASH!”

The crowd was taken by surprise when a sonic Rainboom split the air. Rainbow Dash, trailing her distinctive mane behind her, drew her cutie mark in the sky. The pegasus soared with both finesse and speed, finishing the image. Finally, with her masterpiece ended, she touched down onto the ground in front of the wonderbolts. The noise in the stadium was intense, it seemed that the whole place was shaking because of the congratulating shouts and even whistles.
The wonderbolts approached Rainbow Dash and gave her a group hug.

“Now you are part of the team! listen to them, Rainbow, they love you!” Spitfire almost had to shout so Rainbow Dash could hear her.

The athlete smiled and her eyes shined. She was living her dream. It had finally happened.
She was so submerged in her thoughts and in the moment that she didn't realize when the wonderbolts extended their hooves to give her the uniform.

“Dash?” Soarin stared at the newest group member and decided to let her enjoy the spotlight. The wonderbolts laughed and left the uniform and insignia on Rainbow's back. Nothing would take her out or her world right now.

After the show, Rainbow managed to sneak out of the seemingly endless wave of fans taking pictures and asking for autographs. Now, she could spend the all too needed time with her friends. It was getting late and they had to return to ponyville to begin the zap apple harvest.
On their way to the balloon, Rainbow was congratulated constantly again by all of those who could see her leave.

“Way to go Rainbow! I always knew you could do it!” Twilight beamed, still with energy left to help Applejack.

“Do you know what this calls for?” Pinkie said as if her excitement hadn't lowered... and it hadn't.

“Umm, a party?” Fluttershy guessed.

“YES!! A PARTY!!!”

“It'll have to wait darling, you know today we can't afford distractions,” Rarity intervened. She was always terminal on what to do next, since all those years planning and organizing her schedule had generated an agendic memory.

“Aw, shucks...” Pinkie kicked the floor with a hoof.

“Congrats' sugarcube! I'm proud you finally made it; guess I'll have to find another pony to challenge while you're out with 'em.”

“Oh AJ, you know you're still my best friends! no one could ever replace you guys! and it looks like I'm not the only one progressing here, you are now a world-wide provider!”

“Thanks Dash, I know it'll be harder to get together often, but remember we'll always be here for you,” the orange pony tried to hold back a tear which eventually came out in the form of a grimace.

By that time, the balloon had already taken off, heading to Ponyville.
New conversations appeared and Spike couldn't say anything about any of the current topics, it was all pony stuff.
But he did hear many things, such as Rarity heading to Canterlot to present her new line of dresses; Fluttershy trying to restyle the Everfree forest with Discord and Zecora; Pinkie throwing the biggest party ever at Manehattan with Cheese Sandwich; and Twilight going to the Crystal Empire to visit Cadance and Shining Armor.
He felt empty, without a purpose. But above all, useless. He couldn't get over the fact of being a simple assistant with no aspirations.

The trip ended and the friends got off the balloon ready to start working.

“All right, y'all, get yer heads on the task and let's pick some apples!”

The trees couldn't be touched so Applejack got her rope; Rarity and Twilight used their magic; Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash picked the apples directly; and Pinkie helped pulling the heavy carts filled with apples into the barn.
Spike only catched some of the fruits that Rainbow threw to him so he could put them into the carts. His presence was pointless and he knew it. He just limited himself to return to the palace after telling Twilight he felt tired; something that she allowed instantly.

Once there, he went to bed. He was tired indeed, but couldn't fall asleep.
He got up after many restless hours and walked through the palace's corridors. He stopped in front of a big mirror in one of the rooms and approached it. For the first time in his life, he felt completely lost. Staring at the reflection he saw a dragon who hadn't grown at all after some years, a dragon with no wings, a dragon with no vision.
For the first time in his life, Spike felt alone.

Author's Note

Hoboy. Many sections here are getting an overhaul.

The quest begins

Twilight had returned to the palace about midnight, and right now she was too exhausted to wake up unexpectedly.
Spike got back to his room and picked a few blankets; then got to the kitchen and wrapped some provisions on them. He knew Princess Celestia could help him understand everything he needed.
After packing the necessary, he left the palace without saying good bye in a note or anything alike.
He saw the moon at zenith, instantly feeling annoyed by the idea of Princess Luna watching over him.

Now… Spike paused at the palace’s gates How will I get to Canterlot without being seen? he thought several minutes and finally an idea came to his mind.
Stealthy and quick, the dragon got to Ponyville’s train station and hid under its platform. Even though it was pretty dirty and narrow down there, Spike could fall asleep encouraged by his new quest for discovery.

He was awakened by a lot of hoofsteps from above the wood. When he got up, a train had just arrived to the station, and hopefully it came from Canterlot. Spike could hear a pony announce the train was heading, indeed, to his destination.
Twilight might be looking for me right now, I have to be careful he hated the idea of his best friend getting worried, but it was necessary, otherwise she would follow him like the other time at the dragon migration.
He got up and walked towards the train, still unobserved by the ponies above. At the edge of the platform he noticed a problem:
A big stallion was guarding the train’s entrance and if Spike wanted to get in, that guy would sure escort him back to the palace or tell Twilight.
Making sure his provisions wouldn’t fall off , Spike got out of his hideout and sprinted to the back of the train to try to climb it as fast as possible. Some ponies saw him, but they didn’t pay much attention to him and boarded the train normally.
When Spike got to the final wagon he was breathing heavily. What he saw didn’t help much to the plan: Standing in the wagon’s balcony, right in front of the door, two ponies were kissing and hugging. And to make matters worse, the train began to move.
Spike didn’t know what to do. If he climbed up and asked them to move, the ponies would at least ask how he got there or why was he spying. Not good. But he couldn’t lose the trip either, so he clung to the wagon’s bars and waited for the couple to leave.

Ten minutes passed and the lovebirds were still there. Spike’s arms were tired and he wouldn’t be able to keep himself hanging for too long Ok, this was a very bad idea he sighed Everything would be easier if I had wings… why is it that I have no wings? His frustration was increasing as more questions invaded his mind What kind of dragon am I? Or is it that I’m not a dragon completely?

“Well, let’s get back, it’s getting frosty out here” said the mare of the pair.

“All right, I guess I could use some rest after all” replied the colt.

Those words were music in Spike’s ears. Right after the couple got into the train; Spike climbed the bars with exertion and collapsed in the sweet floor of the balcony.
He didn’t move for about an hour, still, it wasn’t enough to fully recover from the previous effort.
After rising and stretching, Spike opened the wagon’s door slowly and saw six bunk beds; three of them occupied by ponies. He really wanted to rest in one of those but then again, somepony would see him. He closed the door behind him carefully and crawled under one of the beds ready to sleep again even though the day had just started.

Back in Ponyville, Twilight was worried sick just as Spike predicted. She had called her friends, who didn’t hesitate and gathered at the palace.
In the throne room, after they were all there, Twilight began:

“Thank you so much for coming girls, as you may notice, the little throne beside me is empty; Spike is gone and I don’t know where he is,” she sighed and looked down to the floor.

“But, but didn’t he say he was going to bed?” Fluttershy got worried too.

“He did and to be honest I didn’t check on him last night… I just wanted to sleep and I thought Spike was in bed already,” Twilight’s voice began to lower “Maybe something happened to him on his way here…”

“Now, don’t think like that Twilight,” Rarity tried to calm her down “Maybe our Spikey wikey has just decided to walk around Ponyville or fell asleep in the orchard.”

“Yeah, he might be there,” Rainbow Dash didn’t stay for too long in her throne and flew around the room. She could never stay still for too long “I will go out and see if he’s around.”

“RD may need help, I know the orchard better, we’ll begin the search there Twi’.”

“Thank you. Pinkie, Fluttershy, I need you to ask everypony if they have seen Spike.”

“Yay! we get to talk to all of our friends in Ponyville!” Pinkie beamed and jumped over her throne.

“Oh well… I guess if I stay with Pinkie everything will be fine,” Fluttershy smiled.

“What about me Twilight?” Rarity was almost convinced that Spike was near Ponyville, exploring or preparing something secretly, nothing dangerous.

“You and I will go to the mines, maybe Spike is eating gems there, it’s the only other place I can think of,” Twilight finished.

The six ponies left the palace and began the search on their respective areas.
Of course none of them had luck. The only ponies that had seen Spike were in the train heading to Canterlot and the other ponies didn’t even know the small dragon was gone.
Desperate and hurried to find him, Twilight returned to the palace with Rarity at evening. Their friends had already returned and the expressions on their faces indicated failure; it was getting dark. Where are you Spike… she and Rarity approached the other mares in front of the palace.

“Sorry Twi’… he wasn’t there,” Applejack lowered her head as she reported.

“Nopony has seen him since yesterday,” Pinkie said, she was serious this time.

“Don’t worry Darling, I bet he will show up soon,” Rarity leaned a hoof over Twilight, beginning to doubt her statement “And-and if he doesn’t, we can continue tomorrow morning,” she couldn’t speak for her friends but at least she could try.

“No,” Twilight sounded cold, making her friends look at her confused “I’m pretty certain Spike wasn’t kidnapped. He left for a reason and it’s up to me to find out why and where he is. Besides, you all have to do important things of your own,” she gazed at Rainbow Dash “You need to go with the wonderbolts, what would they think of a new member who’s not responsible?” then she stared at Pinkie; before she could keep going, Rarity spoke.

“We all have things to do, but finding Spike is way more important. It is true Rainbow Dash has to leave but at least in my case, Fancy Pants can wait.”

“The Everfree Forest can wait too,” Fluttershy said with determination.

“I appreciate your help, with you two should be enough,” Twilight said before the others could cancel their commitments as well. She didn’t want them to make an unnecessary sacrifice.

“If you need anything just let us know, we’ll be here before you know it,” Rainbow Dash winked and flew away. She hadn’t told her teammates where she was, hopefully there wouldn’t be consequences.

Then it was Pinkie’s turn “Same here! Cheese and I could postpone a silly party if it’s about Spike,” she hugged Twilight before leaving.

“Sweet Apple Acres isn’t movin’ sugarcube, ya’ know where to find me,” Applejack outlined a warm smile, letting her friend know she would be there for her too.

“All right then, this is it for today, let’s get some sleep and try to calm down. We continue tomorrow morning; and again, thank you girls.”

Fluttershy and Rarity nodded. Then they left.

None of the six could sleep well that night, especially Twilight who was the closest to the dragon she considered fragile.
While Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy were concerned and thinking why would Spike run away, Rarity felt guilty for never telling Spike how she thought about him. For Rarity, he looked just like a kid. Even though their age difference wasn’t big, Spike was still a baby physically. That’s why she had never given the dragon a chance.
After wandering in her thoughts for a while, Rarity realized that Spike was not as immature as he was before despite what his body was saying, and that maybe she shouldn’t have treated him like a child just because of his appearance. But mostly, she felt guilty because all along she knew Spike liked her… It was like if she had played with his feelings. What if this is my fault?

During the way, another thought came to Spike’s mind Why didn’t I tell Twilight? Why didn’t I just asked her to take me here in the first place? he didn’t even know why he hadn’t requested her help instead of going on his own.
By the time the train arrived to Canterlot it was very late and the city was only brightened by lamps on the streets and the moon.
As Spike got off the train through the wagon’s back door, the answer to his previous question emerged: he looked up to Twilight as a motherly figure just as she was a friend, and as such, she would try to hide any painful truth from him. Spike didn’t know if the truth would be painful but he could tell it wasn’t going to be what he expected.

Deep in his heart, Spike wanted to hear Celestia say something like: Don’t worry, soon enough your wings will appear and you will grow normally, everything’s fine "yeah right… stupid reality…"
He didn’t waste a second and ran to the Princess’ castle. At the gates, two guards saw the dragon coming and opened the doors. No one was more surprised than Spike when that happened, but then he knew why You don’t even try to hide it right, Luna? he frowned and walked into the castle greeted by Celestia herself.

“Welcome Spike,” she said with a smile on her face “My sister told me you were coming.”

“I kind of figured it out,” Spike was still frowning and said the previous with noticeable discomfort.

“My apologies, I will tell her to be more discreet with her watch,” she turned around and gave a sign to the guards, who closed the castles’ doors “Now, come with me, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

Spike got nervous; part of him still wanted all of this to stay a secret.
The alicorn guided him through the large and seemingly endless corridors until they got to a small room which had nothing but a table and two mattresses to sit. Both the guest and the host sat in front of the other.

“I’m sorry for this princess, I shouldn’t have come like this,” Spike apologized.

“Don’t worry, I can always hold over some royal duties to help my dearest subjects. Now tell me, what is exactly what you need? I thought you cleared your doubts back at the dragon migration.”

“No. That week I learned how I should behave regardless of my origin or race. But this is different, it’s about where I should go now or what my future as the only dragon between ponies is,” he doubted about his next sentence “P-princess…?”

“Yes?” Celestia was still smiling lightly at Spike, she wanted him to know she would listen and take it seriously.

“Can I ask you something personal? about your life?”

“Of course, ask.”

“How do you put up with immortality?” he paused and imagined Celestia would feel uncomfortable with the question, but she was calm yet.

“It has been difficult, I won’t deny it… seeing generations come and go is hard,” she stopped and erased her smile as she remembered many of her beloved subjects who were now gone “My sister and I have a very important duty and we cannot afford to be selfish and give up on it, not until somepony replaces us. Throughout the years, many alicorns have passed away because they didn’t want to carry such a burden.”

“So, not all alicorns are immortal?”

“Yes, we all are, even Twilight now; but just like our magic, we can give up immortality in order to have a normal life.”

“Why haven’t you given away yours?”

Celestia recovered her smile “I already told you, there has been no other alicorn willing to take our place and we can’t just give up on our duty. Luna and I have each other and that helps us a lot to overcome any problem. Even those thousand years while my sister was absent, I knew she was there and that she’d come back.”

“So it would take two alicorns to replace you right? so they are not on their own.”

Celestia nodded “There were periods of time in which Luna and I were the only alicorns for nearly a hundred years. Only a few are worthy of being an alicorn, so we could never find two at the same time… until now.”

Spike knew what that meant “But what if Cadence or Twilight don’t want to be the next rulers?”

“To be honest Spike, we no longer want someone to replace us.”

“What? Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because we know that it implies suffering, and together, Luna and I have learned to remember the good days and nights as well as forgetting the bad ones,” Celestia leaned a hoof on Spike’s shoulder “If Twilight and Cadence want to stop or keep being immortal we won’t complain, even now we don’t plan on suggesting them to replace us. Twilight has her friends and Cadence has Shining Armor. We don’t want them to suffer the loss of their beloved ones if they don’t want to.”

“Wow…” Spike began to cry “You are pretty strong, Princess…”

Celestia got near the baby dragon and hugged him “Don’t be sorry, because of friends like you, we are never alone.”

A few moments passed before they broke the hug and the princess spoke again:
“By the way, why did you want to ask that?”

“Because I’m a dragon… and one day Ponyville was covered with black smoke; a smoke that came from a dragon’s snores; and according to Twilight, that dragon was just taking a nap… But it would last a hundred years! Can you imagine it?! A hundred years asleep! I don’t know how many centuries or millenniums we live but it scares me… I don’t want to be a dragon that takes generation-length naps and see my friends are no longer here with me,” Spike cried again, picturing the sad environment.

Before Celestia could say something Spike kept going “I need you to tell me where I came from, why I have no wings and If I’m a real dragon or not,” he finished cleaning his tears with his arms.

“Do you remember that phoenix egg you saved?”

“Yes… I do.”

“Well,” Celestia sighed “That is the same way I saved you.”

Spike gazed at the princess with his eyes wide opened. Surprised and shocked.

“When I found the nest you were in, the other eggs were being eaten by changelings. I could repel them and rescue you but none other survived,” she knew it sounded crude but he needed to know it.

“Wha-what about my parents?” Spike said still astonished.

“I didn’t see them, but by the looks of it, the cave had been abandoned years ago. I had to cast a spell on you so you wouldn’t die,” Celestia shared a tear with Spike “I’m sorry, but I have to confess something,” she hugged Spike once again “I linked you with my magic as part of an experiment. Your body was modified in a unique way not even I understand; that’s why you can send and receive my letters and that’s why you don’t have wings. I’m really sorry.”

They shared a moment crying together, Spike embracing Celestia's front hoof as a sign of forgiveness.

“It’s-It’s all right princess, thanks for telling me this. I know what to do now.”

Celestia smiled again and cleaned her tears with a wing “Good, you may return with your kind.”

“No, I didn’t mean that.”

Celestia backed a little “What? Spike, to save you from suffering you must leave and stay with the ones like you. Those that live as long as you. You said you didn’t want to see generations pass while you’re still alive, didn't you?”

“I don’t care anymore; I want to live in Ponyville where my true friends are. Dragons are not my kind!”

“That is not something you get to decide-!”
She couldn’t finish, Spike ran out of the room and got out of the castle before she could.

He knew a way he could control his body to be pony-size: with greed. He would learn how to keep his body at the perfect state and then he would return to Ponyville to explain everything, or to be rejected. Either way, he knew he wanted to be with his friends for the rest of their lives. Only then, he would decide what to do next.
The problem is, How do I keep greed in the perfect balance?

...And a ton of disaster

There were just a number of things the spirit of chaos couldn't understand; Society rules, laws, common sense and manners in general, just to name a few. But at least he had an idea of what those were about. This just took it to a new level of senseless.

“Alright, let me get this straight,” Discord said as he scratched his head “Zapp is in love with with this other pony... What was his name? Slim Biggenosh?”

“Strong hoovestenosh,” Spike corrected “But actually no. That's just a dumb headcanon a lot of ponies in the fandom have.”

“Fando-what?”

“Fandom,” Spike answered with a casual tone, as if assuming it was obvious what a fandom was.

“So... Does that mean it's official?”

“No no no,” Spike replied, shaking his head “First of all, it's called 'canon', not 'official'.”

Discord snorted in response.

“Second, it isn't something which is showed in the comics. When many fans agree that it should be canon, it's called 'fanon'.”

Discord grasped his muzzle and stretched it while Spike was speaking. Then he let go and it slapped back into his face like rubber “Okay, okay, stop.”

“What? too much to process?”

“Too much of everything!” Discord threw his arms up “Not only is that useless information in every way imaginable, it's also boring and makes less sense than chaos!”

“Of course not!” Spike replied with indignation “It's just that you don't know how any of this works!”

“Regardless of how it works, it's just dumb! Why in the world would you imagine two already imaginary characters being in a relationship? Or why would you make assumptions and speculations that ninety percent of the time are proven wrong?”

Spike shrugged “It's just for the fun of it.”

“If that was the case, why don't you make your own story with original characters?”

“Because not everyone can make something original and enjoyable; so it is a good way to let your imagination flow by using specific characters that you can appeal to.”

“Bah! Nonsense.”

“You're one to talk!”

“Chaos makes sense, ignorant child!”

“Does not.”

“It does.”

“Does not!”

“Fine! Whatever. I don't need to convince you of anything,” Discord crossed his arms and looked away from Spike “I don't know why I was curious about those comics in the first place.”

“Because they are awesome!” Spike beamed “You know, you don't have to accept what other fans say to enjoy the stories yourself.”

“It does ruin a lot for me to think most of said 'fans' do this kind of thing,” Discord's expression became sleepy “Besides, I still don't get what's so exciting about a bunch of ponies with special powers.”

“Uh... Wouldn't that be because you are a magical being with a lot of special powers too?” Spike pointed out.

“Point taken.”

The pair kept going for about a minute in silence when Spike made another move towards absorbing another one into the power ponies fandom “Why don't you give this one read in the meanwhile? I think we're about to get there, but it's taking another two hours at least.”

Discord chuckled “Ha! Read an illustrated magazine? I think I'd rather keep arguing about why chaos makes sense.”

“Which it doesn't,” Spike muttered.

Discord set his eyes on fire and pulled his ears down, while exhaling hot air through his nostrils like an angry bull “You little, persistent, arrogant, haughty-” he groaned and clenched his fists, regaining some calm “Grrrrr...”

Spike had taken a step back from Discord, but he wasn't really surprised.

“Ehm,” he coughed “What I mean is, I really don't think it's a good idea.”

“Come on, Discord!” Spike insisted “Just the first pages, you'll have fun!”

“Meh. I already get a lot of fun,” his eyes went sleepier.

“It's not like we've got anything else to do.”

Discord looked at Spike, then at the road ahead, then snorted.

“Why though?”

“Huh?” Spike looked up at Discord, who held the first installment of the power ponies in his paw and claw.

“Why did she do something so stupid?!” he shouted all of a sudden.

“What was it?” Spike asked with eagerness “Did you reach the part where the mane-iac takes the strange potion? Or the part where Radiance decides to take on Pharaoh Phetlock on her own?” he raised his hand with a finger pointing up “Oh, oh! The part where Masked Matter-horn freezes all of her teammates!”

“That's the one!”

Spike laughed loudly, enjoying Discord's reaction.

“What's so funny?” Discord asked with some anger.

“Oh nothing,” Spike wiped a tear off his eyes “It'll make sense later, I promise.”

“I believe we don't share the same definition of 'making sense' based on our previous conversation.”

Spike smiled “Just keep going. It looks like you're enjoying it so far.”

Discord's eyes went wide “O-of course not!” he stammered “I'm just... Intrigued...” He then returned his full attention to the comic, putting it right in front of his eyes.

Score one for the power ponies! Spike thought.

Three hours later, the duo was just a mile away from their destination.
“It could've totally gone a different way,” Discord had finished the fourth issue and was still complaining about the first “When you have such power and nopony to stop you, why aim so low as to rob a jewelry? Can't you just take control of the city to own every jewelry and I dunno', everything else? Besides, who in their right minds would buy clearly stolen merchandise from a clearly mad pony?”

“It adds to the flavor. Don't you think it would be boring to have the villain just take over the world without anypony opposing?”

“I know it would've worked for me,” Discord grinned.

Spike rolled his eyes.

“Although, this story would indeed be boring if that happened.”

“Ha!” Spike pointed at Discord.

“What?”

“You just said the story 'would' be boring. Which means it's not!”

Discord opened his mouth to reply. When not a word came out, his jaw hit the ground “Okay, that was just a pronunciation error.”

“Busted!” Spike mocked.

“Don't lose your head over this. It's not like I want to make my own version of power ponies like you.”

“Oh, you will. Just give it time.”

Both of them decided to leave it like at that.
Discord had always been a nothing more than trouble to him and the others. Before and after he was reformed. If he wasn't causing trouble somewhere, he was thinking about it; if he was busy doing something nice for others, he screwed up in purpose; even his presence in this trip probably was only to bother. As they walked side by side, Spike realized this is how Discord was and would always be... And he was more than okay with it. Maybe the spirit was just meant to be a trouble to deal with, but it was fun to deal with that trouble. His smile could confirm that.

They were finally in front of the village after a couple of minutes. Spike stopped at a considerable distance, hesitant to go in. He had been preparing himself mentally to do this, but it proved to be harder than expected. He was a criminal in this place, after all.
Discord tried to be patient, but Spike still didn't move “Do you want me to go with you?” he offered, out of boredom rather than concern.

“Nah, I got this,” Spike tried his best to look calm “Just give me the stuff so we can get this over with.”

Discord snapped his fingers and the cart appeared next to Spike. “Don't you need help to carry that around?”

“I said I'm fine,” Spike said as he began to push the cart forward with notorious effort “Hnng!”

Discord watched unamused for a minute “Yeah, well, if you need anything just say it,” he made a reclining chair appear and sat on it, enjoying the sunlight “I'll be here just relaxing,” he then put on a winter jacket, boots and gloves.

“You do that, I'll be back before you know it. Hnn!”

Just as Spike was going in, some ponies saw him approach. Most of them started whispering, while others looked at him with disapproving stares. It was hard to ignore all of that even with his attention and effort elsewhere. A small crowd gathered around the town square, where the dragon had paused to take a break. It was truly incredible how fast gossip and news went from corner to corner in this place, as there were already more than half of the residents there when Spike arrived. Looking at them, he managed to identify every single pony present. The month he had spent around them seemed to be forgotten, as now their faces showed indifference, and some even hatred.
Neither Code or Merry were there. At least, Spike couldn't see them. He waited for the crowd to form a ring so he could make as many ponies as possible hear him.

Spike cleared his throat and wiped out some sweat coming out of his forehead, and fighting the pressure he had only felt since the Equestria Games, he spoke up “You all know what happened,” he paused a second to breathe “I betrayed all of you... Because by stealing from one of you, I stole from all others. Maybe I didn't take your possessions, but something even more valuable: Your trust,” Spike started shaking, his nervousness growing each passing second “I never meant any harm, and I'm sorry for what I did,” he inclined his head “If you don't want me to ever come back, I won't. But please, remember the time we spent together. Remember the dragon who I really am. I promise this will never happen again.”

Some ponies started feeling pity for the baby dragon. His apology was genuine and forgiving him just felt like the right thing to do.

Spike could already feel the tenderness in them. If this encounter was like he had imagined, he would be able to leave this episode of his life behind.
Among the crowd, Spike saw Collector make his way to the center, shoving away the ones in his way. Most ponies thought he'd say something to accept his apology or simply nod. However, Collector had another idea in mind. Some feet away from him, the unicorn stopped. His horn began to glow and all the ponies watched in shock as he lifted a big rock and hurled it at Spike.
Although he could've eluded the attack with ease, he decided to take the hit. He breathed in and closed his eyes. The rock impacted his chest, making him flinch and take a step back.

“Great, you're sorry. Now get out of here.”

Spike put a claw in his chest, trying to lessen the pain “I'm not done here,” he declared “I didn't come here just to return what I took. I came to ask for your forgiveness. I would like to know what the others have to say.”

“You said it yourself; by taking something from me, you took something from them too. I think I speak for everypony when I say you're not welcome here and never will be.”

“Really?! Because to me, you're just an old unicorn who thinks he's everyone's boss and doesn't have any friends because of that!”

“Watch your tongue, kid!” Collector shouted “I'll let you know that I never put myself above others. The ponies in here are no exception,” he lowered his tone “Although I would also like to listen to what they have to say,” he then addressed the townsfolk, raising his voice “Do you think this is alright?!”

The ponies shifted nervously. They didn't know what Collector meant, nor if they should interfere in favor of one of them.

“I said, do you think this is alright?!” Still no response “Do you think just because this overgrown lizard said he's sorry we can pretend nothing happened?!” he smiled a sadistic grin “No sir, it's not that easy. You made this place trust you. Some considered themselves your friends. We could've sent you away and even though I knew something like this would happen, they trusted you!” He pointed a hoof at the spectators “They gave you a place to stay, a roof to sleep, food and unconditional love! Forget about the stupid things you stole, take them and burn them to ash for all I care! But I will not have you nor your excuses here!” he turned to look at his neighbors “And neither should you!”

Many ponies nodded in approval and others stated whispering again.

“No, no! that's not true! I didn't do anything to them, I would never!”

“It's not about who you offended, but the fact that you are perfectly capable of doing so.”

“Please! Isn't there somepony who understands what I'm saying? Do you all agree with him?” Spike asked, pleading.

There was silence. For two minutes not a word was spoken. After that time, another stallion stepped in “Get out,” he said.

“You need to go,” a mare followed.

“Sorry, you must go.”

“We're with Collector.”

“Leave at once.”

The voices turned into a chorus of accusing and unforgiving chant. There was something wrong about this. Of course Spike expected some sort of punishment, but nothing like this. Even that hit had been unexpected. Why was this happening? For all of his life he had known ponies. Each was different in a unique way, but the one thing they had in common was a noble soul. They were forgiving, kind, loving... And even the meanest of them could fit into society with proper guidance.
Now it seemed like none of that was true. Had it been Ponyville? Only his circle of friends? It was pretty obvious the bearers of the elements of harmony would show these traits on a bigger scale, but Spike didn't imagine it was this different.

“But... I,” there wasn't much Spike could say. Even if there was, he physically couldn't do it. Tears began to form in his eyes as he heard the accusing voices “I... I'd- I didn't...” he stammered. Paralyzed by the scene, Spike couldn't bring himself to take a single step away from the place he was standing in.

“You made a fool out of us all, what did you expect? A welcome party?”

“Are you deaf? We said: out!”

He covered his ears and shook his head. Please stop. Shortly, he started sobbing, still unable to block the accusations that demanded he left.
He didn't know how much time he had been standing there, but it was enough for the ponies to act. Spike felt something hit his shoulder hard. This made him open his eyes and look around. Before he could identify what hit him, he saw a small rock coming his way. He shielded his face with his hands, and heard the rock land beside him. Whoever threw it, had missed. However, more projectiles were incoming. Fruits, rocks, anything they could find in the floor.
Apparently, since he didn't move on his own, the villagers had decided to make him leave by force. How can they do this? It probably had been Collector's fault. That old, grumpy unicorn had to be responsible for this. But even if he had incited the mob, it was no excuse to treat him like this. Ponies weren't like this.

“Didn't you hear?! We said get out!”

More and more voices turned into complaining shouts, and Spike still couldn't believe this. He was so submerged in thought that he stayed there, taking hit after hit. Eventually, he fell back, completely resigned. He didn't even have the will to flee now. Maybe it was for the best to stay like that. Maybe this is what he needed to correct his path. He didn't understand this, but apparently the ponies did.

Clouds started to form in the sky, quicker than they were supposed to. They turned dark and shrouded the sun in a split second. The movement was so fast, it made the ponies fall silent and turn their attention to the sky immediately. Soon there wasn't a single sun ray in sight. Then, lightning appeared in the clouds and a cold air ran through the village. The townsfolk stood dumbfounded in their places, scared of whatever was approaching; because it was more than obvious that none of this was normal, and that they either provoked the anger of the Princess who Spike assisted, or a creature from Tartarus was loose in this part of Equestria.

A thunder fell from the clouds, striking right were the fallen dragon was. All of the ponies covered their eyes from the sudden flash, but quickly opened them to see what happened. Most of them were actually concerned for Spike.
Instead of the dragon, they saw a bizarre and weird creature. One that only a couple of ponies recognized as Discord, Collector among them. He had heard stories about him and seen him in many paintings and statues, but nothing more than that. There, in the middle of the mob, was the Spirit of Chaos himself.

“Greetings! Fillies and gentlecolts!” he cheerfully introduced himself.

Of course nopony answered or blinked. They didn't even know if they should react in any way.

“How are you all on this fine evening?” he said, smiling.
The crowd was still paralyzed in fear and shock. Just how Discord expected and wanted it to be.
“How about you-” he pointed a random stallion “-good sir? Is everything running smoothly in your mortal existence?”

The mentioned stallion turned is head side to side, praying that the being hadn't picked him as his pray. He didn't dare look back, although the looks everypony gave him confirmed his suspicions. Seconds later, he felt a skinny claw grasp his muzzle. The stallion yelped in surprise as he was pulled to stare right into Discord's red eyes.

“That is to say,” he almost whispered. An unforgiving tone clearly in his voice “How is your day?”

The stallion tried to find the right words to say, the ones that would let him get out of this unharmed; yet no words came out of his mouth. He couldn't even think in presence of this creature.

“I-I...”

“Good!” Discord let him go and stood upright “Isn't this a great day to do whatever we want?” he asked to the same pony.

After five seconds of silence, Discord snapped his fingers and the stallion was gone and back in a flash. The difference was that he was now tied from his rear legs, hanging upside down with a pool of piranhas below him.

“Gah!” the pony shouted in surprise “Let me go! Please let me go!” he struggled to balance in the rope, dodging the flesh eaters that were jumping in the water, trying to catch him.

“Hahaha!” Discord guffawed, standing with his tail and kicking the air with his legs “Look at his face! Priceless!” he gestured the horrified crowd. Many ponies were taking steps back, getting ready to run away.

“You, little friend!” Discord teleported in front of a shaking colt, who hid behind his mother “Aren't you enjoying the show?” he pointed at the stallion who was still screaming for help “Isn't that just hilarious?”

The mother of the colt wanted to yell at Discord; to tell him to stay away from his kid; to tell him to leave him alone or he would suffer the consequences. She really tried, but it was clear that a threat would result in something terrible for her or her child. Even with all of that willpower, her body only allowed her to wrap a hoof around her little colt and glare at Discord.

“Huh? What's that? Do you think a kid shouldn't see this?” Discord asked sarcastically “Please, say the word and I'll stop.”

Shaking her fear off, the mare spoke “S-stop!”

Discord snapped his fingers once again and the rope and pool disappeared. Some sighs of relief could be heard.
“Awww... But I was having so much fun!” he whined as if a toy had been taken from him “Didn't you think it was funny to see him pleading and waving his legs around like a ragdoll?”

“How could that be funny?!” the mare shouted “He was suffering!”

“Huh...” Discord tapped his chin “You're right. I guess it is better to let the little one watch as a bunch of adult ponies throw vegetables and rocks at a defenseless baby dragon, right? Seems like something we should teach this next generation! Nonono, scratch that, all of the coming generations!”

The mare and many others lowered their heads in shame.

“Oh, but why the long faces? I'm pretty sure we were having a good time,” he floated slowly towards Spike, who had been laying in the ground for the duration of Discord's intervention “Silly me, of course you were having a good time! I was the buzzkill who took it away from you. Well, sorry for that,” he winked “Don't worry tough, I'll arrange another terrorizing session for all of us! You guys seem to be pretty good at that.”

Taking Spike in his arms, he put on a serious face. A face worthy of his strange body and malicious mind “Until next time,” he said calmly.
Another flash of light, and they were gone. The clouds dissipated, the wind turned into breeze and the sun shone as bright as usual.

Not a pony spoke a word for a very long time. How could they be so foolish? How could they be so cruel? What could drive a pony to commit such dreadful acts? The ponies were ashamed of themselves for even thinking about doing that to a living creature. Let alone a sentient one, who had also shared his time and joy with them.
Whatever the case, they would make sure this was never repeated. The first steps were taken and in less than a minute, everypony resumed their daily tasks, trying to forget the horrible creature they had just seen. After some time, the square was empty except for Collector. The unicorn stared at the cart with his stolen goods with slightly opened muzzle and wide eyes. He slowly walked forward, thinking about the recent event. The dragon sure deserved some punishment, but looking back at it, he realized he had gone too far. They all had.
He slammed his head against the cart, not caring about the pain this caused to his horn. He stood there unaware of his surroundings until he started coughing. He was coughing because of the penchant in his chest. A penchant which turned his coughs into sobs, and then into crying. Collector caressed the items he recovered as he said a sentence over and over: “Forgive me.”

From afar, a centaur with a telescope stared at the village. More specifically, at the townsquare where the old unicorn now stood. He was just as shocked as the ponies when they saw Discord appear in their town.
He lowered his telescope and scratched his head “Oh, no,” he whispered “It's worse than we thought.”

Discord carried Spike for a while. The dragon wasn't heavy at all but it also wasn't an honor to drag him around like a baby. Even if he was technically one.
He felt Spike's arms were wrapped around his neck and realized that he was clinging to him. Although he hadn't checked if he was conscious, it appeared he had stayed awake the entire time.

“Thank you,” Spike said with weakness. But it was not physical weakness, it was because he was shattered inside.

Discord didn't reply nor made a gesture to say 'you're welcome'. He just kept walking.
Right as usual, Twilight Sparkle. He thought. Looks like I did learn more about what friendship is about, after all.