Out of the Nest

by Warren Hutch

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Spike, Fluttershy, Princess Celestia
Length: 6226

Prequel to The White Mare Celestia and Fluttershy go dragon watching together

Prequel to The White Mare
Fluttershy has recently taken up residence in her little cottage on the edge of the wild Everfree Forest, and has enjoyed the greater opportunities to go on excursions with her mysterious mentor, the reclusive goddess ponies know as "The White Mare" but whom she knows as simply Celestia.

One day her ancient friend approaches her with an adventure well outside the little pegasus' comfort zone. Will she be brave enough to attend the Great Dragon Migration, and who might they meet when they're there?

Published 2014-07-02 00:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-07-02 00:10:02 UTC

Out of the Nest

Fluttershy hummed softly to herself as she scattered millet from a sack clenched in her teeth across the dirt of her newly built chicken enclosure, smiling at her little starter flock of chicks as they darted to and fro and filled the air with a trilling chatter of peeps and chirps. The soft glow of the sunrise gleamed alike on her pale yellow coat and on her tiny charges' downy fluff.

The young pegasus' tune trailed off as she realized that somepony was humming along with her in a rich contralto, at first distant but coming closer and accompanied by a steady tread that she could feel through her hooves. All around her the baby chicks had gone still, stopping in their tracks and nestling low to the ground like little dandelions, staring intently toward the edge of the forest with nary a peep.

She set her feed sack down and turned, a bright smile lighting up her features as she met the gentle, timeless gaze of the gleaming newcomer who towered like a snowy mountain spire over the fence. "Celestia! Good morning!"

The white giantess rustled her wings and gave a slight bob of her pearlescent horn. "Thank you, my dear."

She blinked and flicked an ear at the nonplussed expression that flashed across Fluttershy's face, and a wry smile pulled at the sides of her mouth. "Ah, my apologies. You spoke in greeting, 'twas not a compliment."

Fluttershy pawed at the ground with a shy grin of her own. "Well, I suppose it could be both where you're concerned, couldn't it?"

Celestia let out a chuckle and nodded. "Indeed. And thus I wish you a 'good morning' as well, by way of greeting, and shall return thy... I mean... your compliment by saying I quite liked the ditty you were humming to your little flock here."

The young pegasus brushed back a strand of her flowing pink mane and gave a slight shrug. "Oh, that was just a jingle I heard playing on the radio at the trading post the last time I was down there."

Celestia cocked one of her tapering eyebrows. "Ray-de-oh? Some sort of newfangled bell?"

Fluttershy rustled her wings and paused for a moment to formulate a response. "It's... um... it's a sort of... um... a magic box that plays sounds that ponies... um... s-send to it from a far away tower. It lets ponies all over hear things like music or ponies talking about weather schedules or news or things they'd like you to buy."

She gave the sack on the ground in front of her a nudge with her hoof. "Or sometimes you hear both at once, like the song I was humming, which was made by this seed company in Manehattan to get ponies all over the republic to buy chicken feed. It always gets stuck in my head when I'm giving my little chicks here their breakfast."

The towering white mare gave a nod of tentative understanding and replied with a note of wry mirth on her husky voice. "Ah... Yet another of this age's casual wonders. Another marvel made mundane by the pedestrian purposes to which it is put."

Fluttershy's forelock draped a bit farther over her face. "I... I'm probably not explaining it very well."

Celestia reached over the fence with one of her vast wings and brushed the pink tresses back, running the tip of the leading primary down the little pegasus mare's cheek. "Nonsense, you do much to light the stygian darkness of my ignorance, my dear. The outside world would be to me as the summit of the Canterhorn to a blind fish from the deepest depths of the ocean were it not for our little chats."

She gave another nod, this time one of satisfaction as Fluttershy's pale yellow face blossomed pink on either side of a bashful smile.

The towering mare bobbed her horn toward the south, where the Saddle Lake trading post was marked by a few faint wisps of smoke in the distance. "And while we speak of the outside world, it pleases me immensely to hear that you've become bold enough to go forth and mingle among the other ponies with some frequency."

A wistful look passed over her face as she bobbed her horn again, this time in the direction of the dark forest brooding across the field behind the yellow pegasus' house. "The Everfree has more than enough hermits in residence as it is."

She turned a warm smile on the little pony. "Glad I am that my words of encouragement might have had some small role in your plucking up the courage to face the thundering herds."

Fluttershy's mane fell back over her face a little as she gave a shrug with her wings. "Well, there aren't that many ponies there, and the few that are there on any given day are... nice. Not... not like back home."

A shadow flickered across Celestia's chiseled features. She let out a slight sigh and used the tip of her wing to lift the young pegasus' chin. "Do not estrange thyself... er... yourself completely from those you left behind to come to this place you now call home, child. There are those that still care deeply for you even though you are no longer at their side. I am sure of that."

Fluttershy swallowed hard as she saw that familiar, deep sadness well in the depths of the white giantess' rose colored eyes. Celestia averted her gaze and looked skyward, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke half to herself. "Do them the kindness of sparing them a fond remembrance at the very least."

The little yellow pegasus reared up and planted her hooves on the top of her chicken fence to brush her own wing tip lightly along her towering visitor's slender neck, regaining the giant mare's attention with an eagerly earnest look on her face. "I... I do! Whenever I get the chance! My parents have been so understanding about me moving here, and they help me out all the time with money or care packages. And my friend Rainbow Dash visits a lot since she joined the Sky Rangers. I think we're closer now than we ever were back in Cloudsdale. I make sure to send her back with letters and pressed flowers and things like that all the time."

The gentle smile returned to Celestia's countenance, and she leaned down to nuzzle Fluttershy's forehead. "You're such a good child."

She shook away most of her gloom and drew herself up with a jaunty bob of her horn. "But I didn't come here just to pass the time, my dear, as much as such pleasantries warm my bleak old heart. An adventure awaits us today!"

A shiver somewhere between nervousness and excitement ruffled the young pegasus mare's wings. "Oh? Are we going into the forest?"

Celestia had shown Fluttershy many wonders in the wild depths of the Everfree. Some were breathtakingly beautiful, some were strange and uncanny, and some were downright scary, but through it all she'd learned to not be afraid with the giant alicorn striding confidently at her side, a glowing aura of light radiating from her snowy wings and coruscating mane that banished the glowering shadows. She looked expectantly up at her mentor, eager to hear what mysteries they would plumb together.

The white mare shook her head with a gentle smile. "No, child. We shall be keeping a vigil in the wild meadows to the west, awaiting a sight unseen in a generation."

Her expression became solemn as a distant look settled in her eyes and a gust of wind stirred her swirling, incandescent mane. "The dragons are aloft."

Fluttershy's extremities, her legs, wings, and tail, all stiffened at once as a violent shiver passed like a jangling wave over her soft yellow coat, her aquamarine irises shrinking to tiny points against the bulging whites of her eyes. Her soft voice came out in a strangled squeak as her vocal cords went rigid as well. "D-d-d-d-d-d-d-dragons?"

Without further ceremony she made a noise reminiscent of a tiny goat getting smooshed by a pillow and flipped over onto her back like an upturned coffee table, her splayed wings flat against the dirt of her chicken run and her legs sticking stiffly up in the air.

Celestia pursed her lips in bemusement as she looked down at the little pegasus, her brow furrowing as her ears laid back against her swirling mane. "Fluttershy?" She leaned down and gently prodded her with the tip of her horn. "Fluttershy?"

The white giantess let out a weary sigh and sparked her horn to life, enveloping Fluttershy in a warm golden glow and carrying her insensate protege across the back yard to her cottage.

***

Fluttershy blinked awake to the sound of a tea kettle whistling, pushing herself up from her couch with flailing legs and awkwardly thrashing wings. She stumbled to the kitchen, where she found Celestia barely managing to wedge herself into the cozy little space as she searched through the shy pegasus' cupboards. Her horn was brightly aglow with golden sparkles, as was Fluttershy's tea kettle as it hovered at her side. The radiance around it lessened a bit as the whistle receded.

Celestia flicked an ear in her direction as her half stunned hostess spoke up with a quavering voice. "Um... how long was I out?"

The white giantess narrowly avoided knocking over her spice rack with her swirling tail as she turned to face her. "Not long." She gave a nod toward the kettle. "It only takes me a moment to bring this to a boil. Where do you keep your tea, dear?"

Fluttershy pointed an unsteady hoof. "In... in that canister next to the stove. The littlest one in the row."

Her outsized visitor gave a nod as she spun the indicated container in her magic, revealing the cursive label that had been turned against the wall. "Ah, of course. And here is the sugar."

Her diminutive hostess ruffled her wings. "Oh... Um... That's full of sunflower seeds for the chipmunks. The sugar's in a bag in the cupboard over the sink."

Celestia cast her a glance as behind her a ballet of kettle, cups, saucers, spoons, and tea bags danced through the air wrapped in glittering gold auras. "How do you take it?"

The pale yellow pegasus had to think a moment to recall what she could normally answer instantly, in the unlikely event that anypony (anypony normal and not sixteen hooves tall at the shoulder) were to ask her, overwhelmed as she was by the spectacle of a goddess crammed into her kitchen willing two steaming, steeping cups of tea into existence. "Uh... just a bit of honey for me, please. It's in that other cupboard by your right wing."

The towering alicorn shifted the wing in question to give the cupboard space to open. She let out a soft chuckle. "How charming. The bottle resembles a bear."

With that she poured a dollop into one cup, then dumped a large glob into the other, followed by three spoonfuls of sugar and another dollop of honey for good measure. Fluttershy backpedaled, narrowly avoiding being bowled over onto her rump, as Celestia, her head ducked and her wings folded tightly against her sides, proceeded out of the little pegasus' kitchen like a grand steamship navigating through a crowded harbor on its way to open waters, with two teacups and saucers floating in her wake with the paper tabs of the tea bags fluttering behind them.

Fluttershy gave a squeak as she nearly toppled backwards over a throw rug in her rush to stay out of her majestic visitor's path. Instead of hitting the floor she found herself gently lifted in a warm, golden glow and set on her couch with a cup of tea pressed into her hooves. Celestia smoothed out the errant rug and settled down on it with her own cup floating placidly nearby.

She lowered her head to meet her diminutive hostess' eyes, putting Fluttershy a bit more at ease with the gentleness that radiated from her gaze. "So...Let us talk about what just happened. I must confess I didn't expect you to react as you did to the prospect of seeing the great dragon migration with thine... er... with your own eyes."

Her hostess fidgeted a bit with the cup in her grasp. "I... I'm... really afraid of d-d-dragons."

Celestia gave a conceding nod, carefully extending her wing to brush Fluttershy's draping forelock away from her downcast eyes. "'Tis not an unwise position for an average pony to take, regarding the average dragon." She paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "But perhaps a bit unusual for somepony who has faced many a great and terrible beast with more fascination than fear as she trotted at my side in our wanderings through the forest."

The little pegasus looked away as the pink mane drooped back into place. "Those were just big cuddly animals, and most of them are perfectly nice once you get to know them, but these are dragons."

The gleaming alicorn cocked an eyebrow. "This is rather a surprise knowing what I do of your illustrious lineage. Your ancestor The Commander feared neither pony nor beast, and in fact relished the prospect of facing down such fearsome creatures in glorious battle."

Fluttershy bit her lip, her eyes retreating further behind the curtain of her forelock. "I... I never liked the old stories that my family always told all the time. I mean, my mom and dad knew how much they upset me and made a point not to mention the 'd-word' when I was around but my aunts and uncles and grandpa thought I was being silly and my cousins would tease me. Then my dad would yell at them and then my uncles would yell at him and grandpa would yell at them all and I spent more than a few Hearth's Warmings under my bed in my room."

She began to tremble, her spoon rattling in the cup. "Which was fine, because the d-d-dragon stories used to give me nightmares when I was a little filly. All the fighting and fire and ponies and cows and sheep getting gobbled up and dragons getting chopped or lanced or bucked in the face or tricked into swallowing their own tails or struck by lightning or getting boulders rolled onto their heads. I hate to hear about any living creature getting hurt. E-even a dragon."

Her cup began, in turn, to rattle on the saucer clenched in her hooves. "And… And I know my family history but I'd never be able to raise a hoof to fight against anypony or anything. Never! But dragons are so scary and awful and mean and I know if I met one they'd just snap me up like a chicken pecking up a kernel of corn without thinking twice about it and then who would take care of my little animal friends and oh gosh they'd probably get eaten up too if a dragon was around to eat me and that would be terrible and my family would be even more disappointed that I wasn't carrying on the "proud traditions of the Hurricane clan" and nopony would even show up at the funeral not even me 'cos I'd be eaten and then..."

She cut off with a tiny squeak as a broad white hoof nearly as wide as her whole head was gently laid against her muzzle to the sound of Celestia's soothing voice. "Take a breath, child. Then take a sip of tea."

The huge white mare was silent for a while as her relatively tiny hostess calmed herself and did as she'd said. There was a note of a sigh in her rough edged voice as she ran a wing tip down a pale yellow cheek to dry a trickle of tears. "Such a gentle soul. I know full well how terrible it is to have to fight, my dear one, to be forced to do harm to one you would not wish it upon. There are times where it is sadly unavoidable, as dearly as we might wish otherwise. It would be my prayer for you, and all other little ponies, to never need to make that choice, but live their lives in harmony with one another and all creatures besides."

A comforting smile appeared on her chiseled face. "I give you my word, 'pon what still might remain of my honor. We shan't be forced into such dire straits on this day. The dragons are powerful, dangerous creatures, but they will be quite intent on their migration, and shall most likely pass high overhead without even noticing us."

Fluttershy couldn't help but notice another distant, wistful look in her mentor's eyes. "And should any chance to take note of our presence, fear not. They are not all complete brutes."

Celestia's expression hardened. "And those that are have been taught, in a manner quite emphatic, to leave well enough alone."

The pale yellow pegasus looked up at her immense guest over the brim of her teacup. "Um... they have?"

Celestia cleared her throat after taking a deep pull from her own cup. "Er... indeed. But you don't want to hear those sorts of tales. Suffice to say my presence and their long memories shall deter them from causing us any trouble."

She set aside her tea and proffered her wide hoof to Fluttershy. "So what say you, my dear? 'Tis a breathtaking sight, and I would dearly love to share it with somepony. There have been far too many times where I took in the wonders of this world all alone. If you can find the courage to sally forth and view the dragons with me then there are many places in the Everfree I would take you henceforth without question. I think it would be immensely good for both of us."

Celestia's rose colored eyes twinkled as a wry smile stole across her face. "And I think you would prove yourself brave enough to face other ponies more often, perhaps even your boisterous relatives up in Cloudsdale. I daresay, if you told your dear parents that you'd been present at the dragon migration they would be most exceedingly proud of you."

Fluttershy swallowed the rest of her tea and laid her empty cup aside on her couch, a pensive look on her half hidden face as she nervously ruffled her wings in thought. She pawed at the cushion with a shaking hoof, and then reached out and laid it upon Celestia's. "O-okay. I'll... I'll come. I can be brave if you're there with me."

***

Fluttershy gazed upward in awe as she huddled under her giant protector's broad white wing and watched the sinous shapes of the migrating dragons flying in a winding trail high above. Their membranous wings glowed like stained glass in a thousand jewel like colors as the sun shone through them and gleamed off of their scales.

Periodically the little pegasus would flinch and cower as one dragon would edge too far into another's flight path and an argument would erupt with booming roars and gouts of hissing flame. The old stories she'd heard in her youth scarcely did justice to the creatures who soared high above the wild meadow, serene in their terrible majesty.

After one particularly incandescent exchange, Celestia shifted her wing over her smaller companion and spoke to her in a low voice. "Quite the fireworks display, is it not? 'Tis 'nought but posturing. They do one another no harm with their flares, as they are quite impervious to all but the very hottest of flames, which few on this earth are able to wield. Worry not for their safety nor your own."

Fluttershy suppressed a shudder and gave the giantess a tentative nod. "O-okay. It is kind of beautiful, isn't it? E-even though I think it's really scary."

Another wistful expression settled upon Celestia's features. "There are many things that are fearsome up close that can be seen as beautiful from a distance. Like thunderstorms, for example, or the pageantry and pennants of armies on the march..."

She murmured to herself, just at the edge of Fluttershy's hearing under the roaring and bellowing and flapping of leathery wings high above. "... or the moon."

Before she could ask for her mentor to explain the last cryptic part of her reassurance the white alicorn brightened up. "Which is why we shall stay safely down here nestled among the leaves of grass, and let our parade of dragons pass by safely overhead, like one would shelter from the storm and watch the lightning light the sky for the spectacle it is."

Fluttershy swallowed hard and nestled in closer to Celestia's side, nervously pawing at the ground as she watched the skies and spoke in a small voice. "Um... there seem to be a few heading toward us..."

The pale alicorn's head snapped around as her rose colored eyes widened, then narrowed as she spotted the approaching shapes her little companion's sharp pegasus eyes had seen. Seemingly far off, Fluttershy realized that they were much smaller than the other dragons winging their way across the broad expanse of sky.

Celestia spoke to her in a guarded tone. "Ah. There are some dragonets among them, centennial whelps on their first long flight. Fear not. Their dams and drakes shall gather them back into the column before they come anywhere near us."

Her brow furrowed beneath her pearlescent horn. "Any time now, they shall corral their wayward hatchlings. We have nothing to fear. Any time now..."

Fluttershy cringed a bit as her towering guide spat an unknown phrase that sounded like a densely embroidered curse and watched the flight of smaller dragons get closer and closer. She met Celestia's sidelong gaze as the giantess spoke warily to her. "It appears they are unsupervised, and that yet again I have played the damnable fool. For that I am most sorry, my dear one, but do not be afraid. We are in no danger."

She drew the little pegasus tighter to her side with her wing. "Show no fear if you can, but keep your head down and let me do the talking even if you cannot keep from trembling."

Fluttershy couldn't help but let out a soft whimper and shivered against her mentor's wide, warm flank as the dragon whelps, all as large or larger than a full grown pony, landed around them with ground shaking thuds. She bit her lip and did as Celestia had told her, drawing in on herself and keeping her eyes on the grass despite wanting to bolt as fast as legs or wings or whatever she could get moving would carry her.

A large, spiny headed red dragonet with thick black brows over a speckled face took the center of the semicircle of vicious looking beasts, rearing up with flaring wings. "Well well. What have we here? A couple of ponies?"

A dull brown brute with stubby horns and a knot of bone at the tip of his tail spoke up in a dull, rumbling voice at his side, his pig-like eyes alighting on Fluttershy as she cringed back as far as she could. "I'm really hungry, Garble."

The one called Garble's ruddy face split back toward his aural fins in a cruel sneer. "Maybe these ponies know where we might find someone to eat." He let out an ominous chuckle. "Heh heh. My bad. I meant 'something' to eat."

Celestia drew herself up to her full height, the sunlight radiating off of her snowy coat as she spoke in a steady, even voice to the pack of young dragons. "There's nothing for you here, and plenty of gemstones where you're headed. Best move along now."

The red dragonet recoiled for a moment, a bit nonplussed by the large white pony's commanding demeanor. His grin returned with a few more razor sharp teeth visible as anger arose to tinge the gloating tone of his voice. "A dragon can't just live on gemstones, ya know?"

A purple scaled dragon whelp with a barbed snout and a mop of yellow bristles over his eyes snickered from among the pack as they followed their leader's cue and began to close around Celestia and Fluttershy. "Gotta get some meat once in a while."

The white alicorn held her head high, flaring her free wing while she sheltered the little pegasus with the other. "You will find we do not agree with thee, hatchlings."

The gloating smile vanished from Garble's face as he bared his teeth in a snarl. "No one said you had a vote."

Fluttershy could suddenly feel waves of blinding heat radiating from above her, and could not look up for more than a second to see a nimbus of white light flaring around Celestia's horn, an immense surge of energy generated and held in check.

Beneath the thrumming of vast magic, she heard her mentor and friend's sad voice whispering. "I'm sorry." She was unsure as to whether it was directed at her or at their assailants.

The almost unbearable energy dissipated with a massive thud and the screeching, panicked squawks of the dragon whelps. Fluttershy let out a whimper and covered her head as she lay flat on the ground, terrified beyond reason.

A moment later she became aware of a deep voice, so deep it shook the ground beneath her belly. "Y'know, Garble, I always thought you'd hatched from the blunt end of your egg, but I never thought you were this stupid."

With a tremendous act of will, Fluttershy uncovered her eyes and looked up, and up, and up some more to see a giant purple dragon with green spines sweeping back in a jutting crest from his head and down between vast folded wings. He was as tall as an oak tree, with emerald-like eyes that narrowed at the leader of the gang of dragon whelps, who he held with wings pinched between massive fore claws like a tiny kitten being carried by the nape of its neck by its mother. The others were pinned to the ground beneath his tree trunk sized tail.

Garble could only curl up into a trembling ball and cringe as the huge drake gave him a little shake. "Ponies are off limits. And the one you and your little gaggle of culls chose to antagonize is the entire reason why."

The gigantic dragon stretched his massive foreleg down so that the young dragon was eye to eye with Celestia. "Open your eyes, you inchwyrm, and learn something for once. This is the one your grand-dams and grand-drakes warned you about. The Evermare. The White Diamond. The Greater Fire. The Terrible Dawn. The Bane of the Ravager. The Price Best Not Paid. She Who Burns the Furnace. Sol Equus Invictus. Know her, fear her, and maybe you'll see a few more centuries than you deserve."

The white alicorn cast her eyes downward, ruffling her wings and pawing at the ground in clear discomfort.

He withdrew his claw and raised the whimpering dragonet back up to his eye level. "And even if you can't get it through your dense little skull how close you and your playmates came to being blasted to smoldering grease spots in the grass, remember this..."

He drew Garble in closer. "There is always, always, someone bigger and badder than you, and it's not always obvious just how big and bad they are. More often than not, the biggest and baddest don't want or need to flash it around the way little spurts like you do. So mind how hot you burn or else you might get snuffed out. You got that?"

The relatively tiny red dragon swallowed hard and nodded frantically. The huge purple drake gave a nod of satisfaction in return and casually tossed the terrified whelp over his shoulder in the direction of the migrating dragons overhead. "Good, now go play somewhere where you won't get hurt, like in a live volcano or something."

He lifted his tail, and the rest of the dragonets fluttered away as fast as their wings could carry them, back to the safety of the soaring mass of mature dragons.

The gigantic purple drake watched them go, then turned to face Celestia and Fluttershy. He lowered himself, laying on his armored belly and bent his long neck down until he was face to face with the pale alicorn. His face was grave as he inclined his magnificently crested head in a small bow.

Celestia returned it with a bob of her gleaming horn. "Greetings Spike. It has been a long time."

The dragon nodded and let out a gusting sigh, that Fluttershy could feel as a hot wind. She climbed unsteadily to her hooves, cowering at the white mare's side. She was surprised at the softness of the vast creature's tone as he spoke. "It has."

The pale alicorn looked southward with a distant expression on her face. "How fares your mother?"

A slight pull at the purple scaled drake's cheek, resembling a smirk. "Which do you mean? My brood mother? Who knows? My foster mother? As cantankerous as ever, always complaining of wing ache and the cost of topaz these days. The one who hatched me? Perhaps you can fill me in."

Celestia remained silent, averting her eyes as she ran a reassuring wing tip along Fluttershy's side. The great dragon's attention was drawn to the little pegasus pressed against the alicorn's barrel. "And who might this be? Is she yours?"

At this the pale mare let out a sigh. "No. I have no right to call anypony mine anymore."

She looked down, startled as Fluttershy took a step forward, meeting the Spike the dragon's gaze with her own, partially obscured as it was behind her mane. "H-hello, M-mister Dragon. Cel...Celestia is my f-f-f-friend, and she's trying to t-t-teach me to be b-b-brave. Just... just s-s-speaking to you is the b-bravest thing I've ever d-d-done in m-my whole life. I h-hope you won't be offended if I f-f-faint before we're f-f-finished t-talking. "

Spike's eyes narrowed for a moment, and then a gentle smile spread across his face. "Celestia is a good teacher, despite what she seems to think. She taught me much before she finally sent me to live with my own kind. What's your name, filly?"

She pawed at the ground, leaning against Celestia with knees wobbling. "I'm... Um... I'm Fluttershy."

He let out a rumbling chuckle, and extended a single claw toward her and held it still. "Nice to meet you, Fluttershy. You can call me Spike."

The little yellow pegasus took a deep breath, and stretched out a shaking hoof, tentatively tapping the end of the claw in response. "Hi Spike. It's n-nice to meet you, too."

The vast dragon chuckled again, then turned his attention back to Celestia. "Charming. Well, as much as I would love to sit and chat, I'm busy migrating right now, so I should probably get going or else I'll miss out on the best calderas."

With that, he dusted off, his huge wings unfurling and blowing the grass around them flat as he hovered overhead. "Send me a letter sometime, all right? I still remember that message spell, even if I've grown a bit rusty at it over the centuries."

The pale alicorn gave a wave of one of her snowy wings in return. "I will. I promise."

With a final nod Spike wheeled and climbed skyward with mighty beats of his membranous wings, inserting himself back into the column of dragons with a roar and a flourish of bright green flame that sent the other great beasts winding aside to let him through.

Celestia watched as he vanished over the horizon, sparing a glance down at her side at the sound of a body softly toppling to the ground and the bleat of a tiny smooshed goat.

***

The sun was painting the western horizon in reds, greens, and golds as the last winged silhouettes of the flight of migrating dragons disappeared over the far mountains, the distant sparks of their flames echoing the glimmer of the fireflies rising from the tall grass to dance for one another.

Celestia and Fluttershy walked slowly through the gathering twilight on their way back to the cottage, their hoof falls and the rustling of wings the only sound between them for some time. The little pegasus' tread was steady, as the soft glow of her towering companion's coat illuminated her pensive face.

She turned to her mentor after chewing over her questions. "Um... so my head was kind of spinning while we were talking to Mister Spike, but am I right that you somehow... hatched him and took care of him for a while?"

She flinched back at her own audaciousness. "I... I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I don't mean to pry."

The alicorn mare let out a soft chuckle as she gazed at the stars twinkling to life overhead. "Yes. Long, long ago he came into my hooves when he was but an egg, the result of an... adventure that I shan't elaborate upon. Thus did it abide among my small store of treasures and mementos, until one day I took it into my head to quicken its hatching with an ancient spell I knew."

She flicked an ear as Fluttershy's soft voice spoke in hushed amazement. "Wow. And I thought hatching my little flock of chickens was something."

Celestia laid her wing across her small companion's withers. "It is a wonder, my dear. But I must own my motives were much more selfish than your simple love for all living creatures. I... It was from loneliness, pure and simple. I desired somepony, or I suppose I should say someone, to spend my endless days with."

Fluttershy walked slowly alongside her mentor, gazing up at her glowing white profile. "So you raised him from a baby to keep you company?"

The pale alicorn nodded. "Indeed. And for a time it was all right. He was a sweet infant, and a precocious dragonet. Too precocious. At first I think I regarded him as a clever pet, but as he grew older and so much wiser I came to realize he was something of a foster child, and I had to admit that that was a burden and blessing I had no right to bear."

Celestia hung her head, avoiding her small companion's searching eyes. "So when he was old enough to fly, I took him to a dragoness who lived far away in the wild lands to the south. One I could trust to raise him to adulthood in the ways of peaceable dragonkind. It was... hard. But the right thing to do, I think. It is one of many... separations that weigh upon my heart all the same."

Fluttershy watched as a glimmering trail of tears started down the alicorn's cheek. She rustled her pale yellow wings and spoke to her in a solemn voice. "Do... Do you think someday you and I would have to... go our separate ways?"

At this the towering white mare stopped, her rose hued eyes glistening as she met the little pegasus' forthright aquamarine gaze. "Oh my dear child... I would n-never want to do so willingly. But... I cannot promise... There... there will be a day when we will be separated by a boundary that no pony, mortal or immortal, may cross... but... before then I... I... I know not what the future holds... "

Fluttershy reached up with a tentative wing and stroked at the tips of Celestia's swirling, unruly mane. "It's okay. I don't either. But it doesn't matter. We're friends right now, right? And that counts for something..."

The ancient alicorn let out a shuddering sigh and took her young friend into a hug. "Indeed it does, my dear one. Indeed it does. And I can promise you that in my heart it always will."

They resumed walking, tails entwined as they made their way along the stream toward Fluttershy's home. After another stretch of silence, the soft voiced pegasus spoke up again. "I think Spike still loves you too, even if you don't see each other all the time. In spite of being scared almost out of my wits, I was glad to meet him."

Her looming companion surreptitiously brushed a tear away from her eye. "Glad I am that you met as well."

Fluttershy stretched out her neck and nuzzled Celestia's shoulder. "Thanks for taking me to see the dragons. We'll have to do it again the next time they pass through."

Her ageless mentor smiled softly to herself and tousled the little pegasus' mane with a wing tip. "That's my brave girl."

And together they walked back to the little cottage at the edge of the vast dark wood, as the moon with its dark mare's profile gleamed in the heavens above, a reminder of somepony fondly remembered and pined for. And perhaps, on a night as glowing and peaceful as this, they might well have returned the sentiment.

THE END