With Spike having been called by the dragon lord, Twilight and Rarity were quite insistent that they go with him. In order to protect him, and to hopefully learn more about dragons.
“Be very careful.” Celestia warned. “The Dragon Lands are particularly dangerous for ponies. It would be wise to be discreet.”
“Ooh!” Rarity spoke with a joyful giggle. “I’m sure I still have the dragon costume we used the last time we snuck into the Dragon Lands.
“I think we might want something a little more practical this time.” Twilight not so subtlety suggested.
Before the rag tag group could leave, however, there was one issue of great importance to resolve. “Wait a minute!” Twilight declared in realization. “Who will watch the castle?! With Spike going, who can make sure nothing happens to it?”
Fortunately, a solution quickly presented itself. “Luna and I would be more than happy to watch over your castle until you return, Twilight,” Celestia offered, looking across to her sister and winking. “It would beat flying back to Canterlot and listening to those stuffy nobels all day, wouldn’t it, Luna?”
“Sister, surely this is your idea of a joke,” Luna replied, for she had deduced what her elder sister was attempting to do. “We did not come all this way just to watch the castle. Doesn’t Twilight have a student of her own who could watch the castle?”
“Oh! Starlight!” Twilight corrected. “And yeah, she would. But she’s out of town right now, visiting her old village and gathering her belongings from that hut she used to live in.”
Celestia just looked across to her sister again, and then looked back to Twilight. “Don’t mind what Luna says, Twilight, she’s just cranky because she didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
Luna’s response was to adopt a frown and narrow her eyes ever so slightly. “Ahem,” Luna cleared her throat. “A moment in private, sister?”
Celestia rolled her eyes with a smirk. “Just a moment, Twilight.” Celestia moved closer to Luna until they were out of earshot from Twilight.
“Sister, you know full well that I was busy dragon sitting young Spike once again, and only got back to Canterlot this morning.” Luna whispered. “If you had to do all of that, you’d be tired too,” Then she retorted. “Besides, my lack of sleep has nothing to do with my objections.”
Celestia only laughed. “Luna, I’m surprised at you. Here I am, offering to do something nice for Spike, and you’re shooting it down,” In a teasing tone of voice she added. “You’re not being a very good dragon sitter right now.”
“Ooh, I hate it when you pull this, sister of mine,” Luna remarked in a rather childish tone of voice. With a sigh, she relented. “Don’t forget, this was your idea.”
Celestia and Luna turned to Twilight. “Twilight, we have both agreed to watch the castle for you.” Luna spoke. She walked towards Spike and gave a nuzzle to his cheek. “Take care, dragon youngling.”
“Thanks,” Spike spoke, smiling happily.
“Excellent,” Twilight smiled at the two princesses. “I know my castle is in good hooves.”
Celestia nodded and gave a warm smile. “Rest assured, the castle will be spic and span when you get back and nothing bad will happen to it. Now you’d better depart. I don’t know why it is that Spike is being called by the dragon lord, but I do know it’s not polite to keep a dragon lord waiting.”
Twilight nearly gasped! “Oh my gosh, you’re so right, Princess Celestia!” She then turned to Rarity and Spike. “Come on, let’s get a move on! We don’t wanna be tardy for whatever important matter Spike’s being summoned for!”
Soon, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike had all departed for the dragon lands. And the two royal sisters were left alone in the vast, empty castle.
It didn’t take long before boredom set in.
“Well sister, this is another brilliant idea of yours,” Luna sarcastically remarked. “What are we even supposed to do while we wait for Twilight, Rarity, and Spike to come back?”
Celestia looked all around, only to be met with blank, boring crystal walls. However, that gave her an idea. “This castle is enormous!” She declared. “Who knows how long it’s been since it was cleaned from top to bottom?”
Luna smirked. “So now we’re doing Twilight and Spike’s chores for them?”
Celestia giggled. “It beats sitting around, talking about how bored we are. And with our powers, we’ll have this place spic and span in no time!” She rose to her hooves and departed from the throne room. “Come on, there’s gotta be a broom closet or something that stores all the cleaning supplies! Loser has to make dinner for the winner when we get back to Canterlot!”
Luna also rose to her hooves, chasing after her sister. “Oh, it is so on, Celestia! You won’t win this time! Also, dibs on not cleaning the bathroom!”
“No fair, you beat me to it!” Celestia playfully retorted. “But I call dibs on not cleaning the kitchen!”
Laughing and giggling in a way they hadn’t done in a very long time, the royal sisters soon found a broom closet (in fact, they found a ton of broom closets, at least one of which appeared to have been disturbed just recently), and set to work on cleaning the castle.
They swept, dusted, scrubbed, and polished every nook and cranny from the basement all the way up to the roof. Since they had the use of magic as well as wings, it took them considerably less time than one might think would be required for such a huge castle.
In the end, they were having so much fun that the sisters forgot all about their little bet and decided to call it a draw.
However, as they sat down to rest in the castle library, the silence was broken by a sigh from Luna. A sigh that did not go unnoticed by her elder sister.
“Luna,” Celestia commented in that gentle, motherly tone of hers. “What’s troubling you, sister?”
“I’m worried about Spike,” Luna answered. She knew that her elder sister had a habit of not letting things go until she got an answer. “Ever since I got back from the moon and started dragon sitting him, I’ve grown really attached to the little dragon youngling. I know he’s not really that young, but in a lot of ways he’s still a child. And now look at him, he’s being called off to a far away land we know little about, to do who knows what.”
Celestia put a hoof to her sister’s neck, gently reassuring her. “Spike will be just fine, Luna. He’s done so many wonderful and incredible things in his life. Look all that he has accomplished, he even saved an entire empire, twice. Once from a greedy king who wanted to enslave it, and once from a massive cloud of ice in a stadium full of ponies.”
“But he’s still just a child,” Luna protested. “As smart and brave as he is, he’s been through far more danger than any child his age should have to face. What if this time, he’s in over his head and we aren’t there to protect him? I know you think highly of your faithful student, and I know she does care about Spike. But have you ever considered that even she can’t protect him in the same way we can?”
Those words were enough to unsettle Celestia just a little. Luna raised a very good point here. This was the first time Spike had ever been outside the boundaries of Equestria, who knew what kind of danger he might face? Even so, the sun princess did her best not to let her little sister pick up on her faint concerns. “Spike wouldn’t want that, and you know that’s not how we do things,” She told Luna as she got up to walk around. “We have to have faith in Spike and Twilight, faith that they’ll come back safe and sound. For all we know, we’re worrying over nothing, and the problem has already been solved.”
Celestia then headed to Twilight’s bedroom, but not without giving a glance to Luna who still looked worried. Celestia then walked to the window of Twilight’s bedroom and up at the sky. A nagging thought lingered that she didn’t dare to say out loud.
“...Did I do the right thing?”
But almost two hours later, Luna heard a voice. She walked through the hallways and was shocked to find Celestia pacing nervously back and forth in Twilight’s bedroom, while talking to herself and almost hyperventilating. “Maybe I should’ve accompanied Spike to the dragon lands. Ooh, what was I thinking not going with Twilight?! She’s way out of her depth dealing with international issues, there’s no way she can protect Spike from all the dangers he’s going to face!”
“Sister!” Luna cried, rushing into the room! “Sister, please, you must calm down! Take some deep breaths!”
“I’m trying to, Luna!” Celestia exclaimed, but it took quite a while for her breathing to slow down to normal. “I know this is going to sound silly, but I’m very worried about Spike. Probably even more worried than you.”
Luna was surprised to hear such a statement. “What makes you say that? At most you only recieve letters from him, whereas I’m the one who dragonsits him all the time. If anyone has a right to be worried sick about his well being, it’s me.”
But Celestia shook her head, looking at her sister. “Luna, my connections with Spike go far beyond just getting letters from him,” The sun princess confessed. “You know how Twilight hatched him from that egg during her entrance exam, and from that day onwards she was my student. But just as I came to care for Twilight during her time under my wing, I also came to care for Spike. I taught him how to use his fire breath to send scrolls, and be Twilight’s number one assistant. I taught him almost everything he knows,” A sigh of longing escaped her lips as she added. “In fact...I miss how he used to call both Twilight and I ‘Mom’ or ‘Mommy’ when he was growing up.”
“Why did he cease that?” Luna asked.
“Oh,” Celestia sadly chuckled. “He didn’t know who to choose. So we let him call us by name.”
Luna smiled, motioning for her older sister to sit down on Twilight’s bed. When her sister did so, Luna sat down next to her and commented. “You often tell me how you spent time with Twilight was she was but a filly. But you never told me you had similar memories with Spike. What were they like?”
Celestia fondly recalled. “Oh, he was so adorable. Watching him grow-up was a real treat,” She giggled. “I’ll never forget the day he first started to breath fire. I came back from court to find my faithful student covered in soot, and Spike was wondering if something was wrong with him because he hadn’t meant to hurt Twilight. Turns out all he did was accidentally set a scroll on fire, because he wanted Twilight to pay attention to him and not her studies,” She sighed, before adding. “For a while after he first moved to Ponyville, he’d come back to Canterlot to tell me all about what was happening and how he was adjusting to his new life.”
“He still thinks of you, dear sister.” Luna commented. “At times while I dragon sit him, he could never stop talking about you. He said I reminded him a lot of how you used to care for him when he was younger, or when he lived in Canterlot and had a bad dream.”
At that, Celestia found herself unable to keep from bursting into tears. “And now I let him go off to a faraway land with only Twilight and Rarity to protect him! If anything bad were to happen to him over there, anything at all, I’d never forgive myself,” She sadly declared. “I...I could’ve come along to help...And now it’s too late.”
Now, it was Luna’s turn to play the role of comforter. With practiced precision, she reached out a hoof and lightly stroked her sister’s back. “I know how you feel, sister...But like you said, we need to have faith that he and Twilight can handle things on their own,” In a soft, soothing tone that she often used when helping other ponies in their dreams, the night princess added. “You’ve done a lot for Spike over the years and he greatly appreciates it. I know this, because I’ve helped him in his dreams on many occasions. And like him, I relate to being an outcast.”
“But you’re not an outcast, Luna.” Celestia firmly protested.
“In a way, I feel like one,” Luna confessed. “So much has changed in the thousand years I was gone. So many things are new and strange to me, and there is still so much about the world that I don’t understand. Spike has similar concerns, he’s confided in me these fears on many occasions, both formal and informal. But of course we also do other things together. Sometimes the two of us play board games, we go to the theater, and...he catches me up on his ‘Power Ponies‘ adventures,” Luna chuckled, remembering the dragon’s enthusiasm when talking about those comics.
A motherly smile appeared on Luna’s face as she then added. “And there have been many times where the dragon youngling has fallen asleep in my fur. He mentions that it’s like cuddling a big, fluffy pillow.”
Celestia flashed a motherly smile of her own. “Just like he used to do with me, or Cadance when we helped take care of him. In fact, Cadance, Spike, and Twilight all helped me to cope with your absence, Luna. Without the three of them, I don’t know if I would’ve survived the thousand years of separation from you.”
“Speaking of Cadance ,” Luna happily added. “Let’s not forget how Spike has become a hero to the Crystal Empire she now rules. We both saw for ourselves how far he’s come at the Equestria Games, when he leaped into action without a second thought to stop that giant, icy cloud from crashing into the stadium. He did what we could not in that situation, and he did it like it was second nature to him.”
Celestia nodded in agreement. “Though we also learned that he is still very insecure when it comes to his own self worth. All it can take is one set back to make him feel like he’s let everypony down.”
The younger alicorn simply commented. “But at the end of the day, he’s capable of making his own decisions and thinking for himself. We may worry about him, and rightfully so. You’re not alone in concerning yourself with his well being. If you ever need to talk about it, I’m here for you, just as you are here for me.”
“And just as we’ve both been there for Spike when he’s needed us most.” The elder alicorn concluded, embracing her sister in a warm hug.
Just then, the two alicorns heard the sound of the castle doors being opened, and although they were a good distance away it was possible for them to pick up on a conversation between two very familiar figures: Twilight and Spike.
“I’m so proud of you, Spike,” Twilight declared. “You not only stood up for what you believed in, but you also won the Gauntlet of Fire and briefly became Dragon Lord.”
“Not to mention I put Garble in his place,” Spike boasted. “I just hope Ember keeps him on a short leash.”
“I’m sure Ember will do her best to reign Garble in,” Twilight replied to Spike. “And I can’t wait to start getting letters from her. Befriending her was a smart move, Spike. Now Equestria can learn more about dragons, and we’ve gained a powerful new ally we can call upon if necessary.”
“It sure feels nice to know that not all dragons are mean and nasty creatures,” Rarity commented. “I mean, I already knew that but the Gauntlet of Fire and its outcome was a nice reminder of that fact.”
Huge grins formed on Celestia and Luna’s faces as they got up from Twilight’s bed. From what they had heard, it sounded as though Spike had not only come back safe and sound, but he’d also had quite the adventure. The little dragon they worried so much about was growing up, and they couldn’t be prouder of such a fact.
Soon, the two sisters appeared in the hallway to greet Twilight, Rarity, and most of all, a certain dragon.
“SPIKE!!!” Both alicorns immediately threw their arms around the dragon, hugging them tightly.
Celestia then spun Spike around in the air. “Oh, we’re so proud of you!” She told him. “We were worried sick about you! You don’t know how happy we are to hear you’ve not only come back safe and sound, but also made a positive impact!”
Luna was quick to add as she joined in the hug. “We can’t wait to hear all about it, my little dragon youngling! Please, tell us all the details! What was it like?! Were you at all scared? What was going through your mind when you decided to compete in the Gauntlet of Fire?!” And she and Celestia started to shower the little dragon’s face with kisses.
Spike blushed, but said nothing. Normally he’d detest this kind of affection in front of Rarity. But coming from two ponies who he enjoyed a special personal connection with, he didn’t really mind it all that much.
Rarity, for her part, looked across to Twilight with a surprised look on her face. “This is most unexpected, especially on the princesses’ part.” She commented.
But Twilight only chuckled. “Let’s just say, there’s history between them. I’ll have to fill you in on the details at some point.” And she and Rarity watched Spike continue to be bathed in affection and praise from the royal sisters, Twilight and Rarity both smiling happily at the adorable scene.
