"Er... excuse me, Your Highness."
"Yes?" Princess Celestia turned to look at the Guard Captain, standing at the door of the Royal Suite, his helmet off and bowing his gray-maned head respectfully. "Oh, good," Celestia said, relieved. "You found him."
"Yes, Highness. He was wandering around again, in the Glass Gallery." The Captain looked perplexed. "He was licking the artwork."
"I didn't eat any, honest!" objected the small purple-scaled, green-spined dragon. "I was just... tasting it, that's all."
"Thank you, Captain." Celestia nodded. "I'll take it from here."
"Highness." The Captain turned and left, shutting the Royal Suite doors behind him. And leaving the small dragon standing forlornly on the carpet, staring down at his feet.
Spike kicked at the finely-knapped blue carpeting petulantly, his claws held behind his back. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice small and ashamed. "I didn't mean to run off. I won't do it again."
"Spike..." Celestia stepped closer, and reached out a forehoof to gently stroke his spines. "You're acting as if you're in trouble."
"Well... aren't I?" He peered sadly up at her. With his over-round head and pudgy body, he looked like a tiny, helpless toddler... that is, until one looked into his eyes, those gem-green, slit-irised eyes, which held all the innate cunning and wisdom of any dragon.
Thank the heavens, Celestia thought, that baby dragons appear to lack the aggression and callous ambition of their elders.
"You said not to wander off again," Spike went on, forlornly. "But... I did it anyways."
"As I recall, I said you shouldn't wander off unescorted," Celestia gently corrected. With a nudge of her hoof, she encouraged him to come over and sit with her, on her daybed by the crackling fire in her fireplace. "But the only one who can tell me what's right for you, Spike, is you. Were you hungry? I can find a better class of gemstones, if that's what you needed."
"Nah. It wasn't that." Spike shook his head, then tossed his claws in the air. "I was bored! You were talking with those fancy-schmancy noble-ponies again. And every time they looked at me, it was the whole Awwww... he's so cute! thing. I mean, barf-ola! I'm a dragon!" He pounded a claw to emphasize the point... which barely made a dent in the daybed's soft cushion. "I'm not somepony's cute little lapdog!"
Celestia nodded. "Other ponies don't realize how intelligent and well-spoken you are, not knowing you as I do. But it's understandable, Spike. There's so much we don't know about dragons -- especially young drakes. For example, the way you come out of the egg with language skills already in place -- that must be from listening while still in the shell, am I right?"
"I guess." Spike nodded. "I do sorta remember that part. It was kind of dull, sitting on that shelf in the Archives, listening to that grad-student or whoever it was grousing about work all the time."
"It must also be where you get your, shall we say... colorful way of speaking?" Celestia agreed. And then she looked regretful. "I'm so sorry, Spike. We honestly thought your egg wasn't viable. When it was confiscated from that Abyssinian peddler, we'd assumed it had been away from the Dragonlands too long." Celestia gently cuddled him with a wing. "I'm so very pleased we were mistaken."
Spike crossed his arms and frowned, not looking up at her.
"What is it, Spike?" Celestia asked gently. "You know I said you should feel free to say anything that's on your mind, so we can learn about each other."
"And belch, too!" Spike demanded. "Whenever I need to let my flame out."
"That too," she agreed. "Though for preference, not at anything live or flammable, if it can be avoided."
Spike stared up at her, emotions warring on his small face. "Your Highness," he finally said, "you're the nicest pony I know. Heck, you're the nicest anything I know!"
"But...?"
"And you look after me," Spike hurriedly went on, "and make sure I have enough to eat... and things to read, so I learn stuff... and you try to make time for me, even though you're so busy running the country, and..."
"And?"
"Well..." Spike looked miserable. "The truth of it is..."
"Yes?"
"I don't like you telling me what to do!" he growled. "And what not to do, and what to say, and what not to say, and where I can go or not go. Because... well, because I'm a dragon! And because... because --"
His voice choked off. He fell silent, his mouth tight shut, his face screwed up miserably.
Celestia nodded, encouraging him. And Spike stared up at her, tears in his eyes.
"You're not mommy!" he blurted.
Celestia smiled, understanding. "No, Spike. I'm not. I do my very best. Yet even with all the power and authority at my disposal, that's one thing I could never claim to be."
Spike stared at his claws, balled up like tiny hammers. "I don't get it! How could she could just abandon me? I never even got to see her, not even once. I don't even know what she sounds like!"
Celestia held the miserable dragon close. "I cannot say how it happened," she said softly. "But I can say this: it was in no way your fault, my little drake. In a way, actually, it is very much to your credit. By very great fortune, for you and for us, you have come to live here, amongst ponies. In a way, you are an ambassador from Dragonkind, living here among us. Consequently, I do everything I can to treat you with the respect and consideration due you, in that important office."
Spike's eyes went wide. He managed a small smile. "Hadn't thought about it like that. So I'm... kinda like a noble pony myself, huh?"
"A noble dragon," Celestia corrected. "Yes, Spike, you are. You have so much potential, and I wish only to help you achieve your destiny. If, that is, between the two of us we can figure out exactly what that destiny is going to be."
"Well... maybe I'm here to bring dragons and ponies together?" Spike said eagerly, the tears forgotten. "Maybe one day I'll be an ambassador from ponies to the Dragonlands. Heck, maybe I'll even rule the Dragonlands someday! And then come back here and make a huge peace-treaty between dragons and ponies. So we never have to fight each other, ever again."
Celestia smiled. "That, Spike, would be a proud moment for me, and for all of Equestria, should it come to pass. But you have a ways to go yet, I think, before you're ready to achieve that goal."
"Yeah... I suppose." Spike sighed. He hung his head. "I'll try to be good from now on. And I won't run off again, I promise."
"Hmmm." Celestia looked thoughtful. "You know, Spike, I encourage all my subjects to follow their hearts, to seek their own paths, and reach for what is most important to them. I could hardly deny you the same freedom. Even with your very young age, you seem a level-headed young drake, able to keep yourself out of more than minor mischief. So if you will promise me not to leave the Palace grounds unaccompanied, and if you'll at least tell the Guards which way you're headed, so we know where to find you if the need arises, then you are welcome to wander where you please in my Palace. And talk to whomever you please, in order to help you discover what it is you truly seek."
"Really?" Spike stared at her. "You mean it, Your Highness?"
Celestia nodded, and then leaned closer to nuzzle him fondly. "The Palace is my home, Spike," Celestia whispered to him. "Which makes it yours too. Just.." She gave him a cautioning look. "... don't snack on anything irreplaceable, hmm?"
"Absolutely!" Spike cried. "I-I mean... absolutely not, Your Highness!"
"Good. Now, go get washed up. We have a state function to attend, you and I."
"Awww!" Spike's face fell. "More boring noble-ponies?"
"Yes," Celestia said, mischievously. "I wish to have them speak with my knowledgeable and wise ambassador from the Dragonlands, so they understand just how truly important you are in my Court, Spike."
"Seriously? Ehem," Spike thumped his chest and assumed a bearing of importance, or what he thought one looked like, anyway. "Hello, noble mares and stallions! I'm Spike! It's really great to meet ya!"
Celestia stifled a laugh with a golden-shod hoof. "I should remember to invite you to the Grand Galloping Gala this year," she said. "So you can help greet the guests. I'm sure it would brighten the occasion to no end!"
A few days later, early in the evening, Spike was wandering idly along one of the upper corridors of the Palace, taking his time before heading back to the Royal Suite.
His attention was suddenly caught by a voice coming from around the corner up ahead. It was a pony voice, yet it sounded strangely familiar.
"I passed!" the voice cried. "I passed! I pa-a-a-ssed!"
Spike was just about to turn the corner himself when two ponies came around it the other way. One of them he recognized as Princess Cadance, Celestia's adopted niece. The pink alicorn's eyes went wide, seeing Spike in their path.
The other pony was little more than a lavender blur, as she pranced around Cadance like a rogue comet, and then cannoned straight into Spike, sending him flying back down the corridor.
Spike landed face-down, heavily. But he was unhurt. He was mostly just startled -- it was the roughest any pony had treated him in like... ever.
"Oh!" The familiar voice called anxiously. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking! Are you hurt?"
Spike looked up, and blinked. Ahead of him was a young lavender filly with a blue, red-striped mane. The collision had set her back on her haunches, and she was staring at him in worried concern.
"Nah!" he replied. "I'm fine! Takes a lot more than that to faze me!" Jumping up, he trotted over and stuck out a claw. "Name's Spike! Nice to meetcha!"
"Hi, Spike," she replied hesitantly, putting out a hoof for a shake. "I'm Twilight -- Twilight Sparkle."
"Twilight Sparkle?" Spike asked, his eyes widening. "Oh yeah! I knew I'd seen you somewhere before! You busted me out of my egg, remember?"
"What?" Twilight stared at him. "You're that baby dragon?" She smiled. "Wow! Glad I could help!"
"Me too! 'Course, it was a little weird being forty feet tall for a while, while your magic was running away from you. But I figured it'd sort itself out and it did." Spike beamed. "Princess Celestia's been talking all about you! I was hoping I'd run into you some day. Though a little less painfully -- for you, I mean!"
"Sorry!" Twilight got to her hooves. "Oh, and this is Cadance, my foal-sitter."
"My lady!" Spike made a formal bow in Cadance's direction.
"Hello, Spike!" Cadance replied, smirking at him. "Are you on an errand, or are you just wandering around again?"
"A little of both actually," Spike admitted. "I'm supposed to be heading back to Celestia's suite for dinner. But... I'm kinda taking the long way home to be honest. See, it's going to be a working dinner again, with some nobles from the crusty side of town, you know. And she doesn't even really need me for that. I'd give it a pass, if I could!"
"Well," Twilight said excitedly, "Princess Celestia just gave me a big test, and I got a perfect score! And now we're headed back to my room for dinner. You wanna join us?"
Spike stared, sorely tempted by the offer. Even though the whole hatching deal was still somewhat a blur to him, he did recall one thing: the voice of somepony struggling determinedly to free him from his egg. And sounding positively overjoyed, when she finally succeeded.
It was Twilight's voice. And the way she looked at him, childishly fascinated yet at the same time deeply concerned about him... it was in some strange way tremendously reassuring. Almost like she was someone he knew very well, deep down inside, and could trust with all his heart.
"Uhh... I should be getting back," Spike hedged. "I'll really catch it from Celestia if I'm late for dinner again..." He added a pleading look, making it very clear that all he needed was an excuse.
Cadance looked from him to Twilight, a measuring look in her eyes.
"I'm sure she'll understand, Spike," she finally said. "I can let her know where you are."
"Well... okay! Don't have to ask me twice." Grinning, Spike trotted along with them readily as they continued onward.
"But," Twilight warned him, "you're gonna have to be on your best behavior, Spike. And that means no elbows on the table, and no fidgeting. And no reading at the table, either. It's not allowed!"
At which Spike crossed his arms, scowling up at her, petulantly.
"You're not mommy!" he grumbled.
Yet, in his heart of hearts, he sighed thankfully.
And until I can find her, he thought, I think you'll do just fine...
The End
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.
Author's Note
For anyone wanting more of Twilight and Spike's meeting and early days together, see the chapter A Low Maintenance Friend in the story My Little Student.
