It was an early morning in Ponyville. The sun was finishing its rising to show its glorious rays, a calming cool breeze swept across town, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen for miles.
Twilight and Starlight were enjoying a delicious breakfast, made by the princess of friendship herself: a cheese and mushroom omelet, sweet potato muffins, and a stack of blueberry pancakes topped with strawberries. While it might have seemed like an overabundance of food, they both knew that Spike would have easily eaten everything left over, and then go back to the kitchen for gems afterward.
While they were finishing off there last bites, they both saw Spike walking over to the table - wide awake. This was very rare to see as Spike was always known to oversleep. He didn't say anything to either mare - he just sat there and rapidly ate the remaining breakfast with a troubled look on his face.
Both mares looked at one another, mentally trying to tell the other to possibly start a conversation, fearing that something troubled him. Twilight eventually conceded to the stare down and worryingly asked a simple question. "Morning, Spike. Is everything alright?"
Spike had just finished eating everything that remained when he turned to face Twilight. "Oh, well...yeah. Of course." Spike said in a dishonest tone. "Why wouldn't everything be alright?" In an attempt to change the subject, Spike then began to pat his belly in satisfaction. "Man, that was really good, Twilight. I'm stuffed."
"Spike," Starlight said to intervene, "We know that look on your face, Twilight and I have both had that look plenty of times. You can always tell us what's troubling you."
Their caring words managed to make Spike smile for a moment, but that smile easily went away and he lowered his head. "If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?"
Both mares nodded their heads. "We would never laugh about something bothering you spike."
"And promise me you won't tell Rarity, I don't want her worried too."
"Oh, don't worry, Spike," Starlight reassured, "this stays with the three of us, right Twilight?"
"Agreed."
With that out of the way, Spike began to explain his troubles. "You see...I had this dream last night. It wasn't a nightmare or anything, but it made me wonder about someone I never thought about before."
He had both mare’s full attention and they gestured for him to continue.
"I was out in a large grassy field. I wasn't sure how I got there, and from what I could tell, the nearest town was nowhere in sight. That's when a large dragon began to approach me. While most of the huge dragons always scared me, this one seemed different. His scales were very similar to mine, and instead of an angry predatory look, he had one that seemed welcoming and assuring.
I began to follow him. He made me feel that he was taking me back home. Keeping up with him was very difficult, mostly because of our size difference.
As we continued, I thought I would ask him some simple questions: what his name was, why he chose to walk instead of fly, and where we were going. He didn't stop, nor did he answer me, he just continued to walk. I figured he wasn't impressed with a baby dragon, so I decided to tell him about a few things I've done in the past: like the time I restored the crystal heart to the Crystal Empire, the time I helped befriend Thorax, who would become the leader of the changelings, and the time I had won the gauntlet of fire, of course, I told him I gave up the title soon after and gave it to Ember, but I still won it too.
This made him stop walking and I finally caught up with the dragon. He still didn't say anything to me, but when I was face to face with him I saw something I never thought I would see in a dragon like him - a tear. He had tears in his eyes and a smile that confused me. This wasn't some simple smile that told me he was impressed, this was a smile of pride - this dragon was very proud of me.
Eventually, we made it to a town where a mountain that reached higher than the clouds resided just behind. The dragon looked at me with more pride, but then had a look of sorrow. His expression told me he had to go now, and I could tell he wanted to stay with me longer but wasn’t able to.
As he began to fly to the mountain, I noticed for the first time that he didn't leave any tracks on the ground. I knew it was strange because I left plenty and I was not even close to his size. I came to a sudden realization that he also wasn't casting a shadow on the town as he flew by either. He was by the mountain and in the distance, I could see one last expression on his face. It was an expression that told me he would be waiting for me above the clouds, and he felt confident that I would make it back to him. As I saw him ascend, It hit me all at once that this really wasn't an ordinary dragon, this dragon was someone I never even thought about but knew that he was someone important in my life.
I awoke in confusion. I didn't really know if that was a dream or some sort of vision. My thoughts about the dragon were still fresh in my mind and I could only hope that, from what I saw, it was a vision, that I really got to meet him. This has been the first time I ever wondered this simple question. Twilight, would my father be proud of me? Is he proud of what I've done with my life? Would he really want to see me? I never thought about it before, but would he think of me as his son if I saw him?"
Spike began to tear up a bit, but he soon found himself embraced by wings and hooves. He could see tears from both mares.
"Oh, Spike," Twilight began, " I know if your father could see you now, he would be proud of you and everything you ever accomplished. Especially at such a young age."
"You...you really mean it?" Spike managed to ask, still in tears.
"Trust her, Spike," Starlight said, " you are the most amazing little dragon. Any dragon would want you to be their son."
Spike began to feel more at peace - forming a smile from the love he was receiving. "Thank you, girls. You're the best friends a dragon could ask for. Can we...please stay like this a little longer?" Both mares smiled happily and continued to embrace the dragon. As the embracing comforted Spike, the vision of that proud smile on his father stayed with him in his mind and he couldn’t help but smile back.
Author's Note
This story is somewhat inspired from a scene from "The Good Dinosaur" and the ending of “No Country for Old Men”.
