Even Gods Make Mistakes

While the moon rose over the land, Celestia walked through the empty halls, her hoof shoes clinking softly on the marbled floor. It was quiet, almost deathly so, with only the sound of her own thoughts to keep her company… and they were not friendly. Almost everyone she knew would eventually wither away.

“Oh Celly, if only there was some way to allow longevity to everypony…” The voices were becoming easier to ignore now. They were less frequent than before and they were actually not giving bad advice anymore. Maybe having someone else that would be able to endure with her would be nice. The alicorn made a mental note to look into spells and thought of potential candidates. Her slight hum rose to meet her now lighter mood, not knowing of the victory the ‘other’ also basked in.

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Cynder opened her eyes softly, something warm washing over her face lightly. The first thing which came to view was a blurry haze of purple. Assuming it was Spyro, she gave the mass a playful lick, taking in the scent… of… gems…

“SPIKE!” the blushing dragoness reared backwards, eyes wide as saucers. “WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?” By now Spyro was also awake, getting up to his feet.

“I made you breakfast.” Spike shoved the bowl of precious stones towards Cynder, who backed away further. “Would you like some?” Cynder was definitely beginning to feel uncomfortable now.

“Uhhh, no Spike, we absorb gems, not eat them.” Cynder nudged Spyro to get up faster. He always seemed to wake up slowly. “Spyro… get up now!” She whispered furiously. “Umm, why don’t we head upstairs and have breakfast there?”

“Oh, yeah ok!” Spike scrambled to his feet, before rushing upstairs. The dragoness looked back towards Spyro, who was barely able to hold back his laughter.

“I think he likes you.” Spyro said with a smirk. Cynder blushed heavily.

“He does not!” She retorted with a somewhat false anger.

Finally, Spyro could not hold back any more. Dropping to the ground, the dragon rolled around in laughter, holding his sides as stitches started to form.

“Ughh, whatever!” She huffed, frustrated at her mate. Stalking upstairs, Cynder greeted Twilight, who was buried in a book. “What are you reading about?”

“Oh, just a book about the differing cooling mechanisms of deciduous plants, but it’s just a basic summary.” She replied with slight disinterest. Twilight had serious doubts that dragons who had spent their entire lives in the middle of a war would have much scientific knowledge.

Unlike almost every other creature, and apparently ponies, Dragon’s had an instinctive knowledge of how all things in the entire universe worked. But this wasn’t their universe, and she was curious as to what was different.

Cynder looked over to see Spike preparing breakfast and decided it would be nice to take her mind off what just happened.

“So, do most plants use transpiration as a method of evaporative cooling in your world?” Twilight’s ears perked up, surprised at the dragoness’ knowledge.

“Yes… How did you know that?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow  in curiosity.

“What, did you think I was a dumb barbarian?” Cynder asked, ribbing the unicorn quite successfully. In return, Twilight sputtered an apology before being stopped by Cynder. “It’s ok, I was only kidding. Let’s just say we dragons have a useful instinct for nature.”

Twilight rubbed a hoof to her chin, rubbing it in deep thought. “Hmmm, you might like Fluttershy; she seems to know more about nature than anypony in Equestria. You could visit her this afternoon if you like.”

Cynder smiled inwardly. She liked the little Pegasus, she reminded the dragoness so much of Spyro. So kind, but also willing to stand up for what’s right. The yellow mare had also been surprisingly understanding of their diet.

“I might just do that.” She replied with a slight grin.

Finally, Spyro managed to drag himself out of the basement. “Morning, what took you so long?”

Spyro flashed an awkward grin, while he stretched his wings. “I may have gone back to sleep.” The purple dragon blushed slightly as he took his seat. “Sorry.”

When Spike finished he had prepared a large banquet of salads, bread and egg. There were also various gems; all of which were either placed in front of Cynder or Spike’s chair. “Breakfast is served.”

“Spike, why did you make so much? You never normally cook this amount of food for breakfast.” Twilight stared at her assistant with bewilderment. Being the social recluse that she sometimes was,  the mare was completely oblivious to his motives.

“Oh, nothing, I just wanted to make something special for Cynder… and uhh, Spyro.” Spike glanced over to the smirking older dragon. As Spyro stared at him, Spike could have sworn that he could hear his voice.

‘I know.’

“Ummm, Spike, why don’t you come help me with re-stacking the library.” Twilight asked nervously, trying to avert the current topic of conversation. “Maybe Spyro and Cynder could explore the town on their own today.”

“Ahem, yes, uhh, that would be good. Spyro and I might get going right now! In fact, we might stay out for the night, won’t we?” Cynder hastily blurted out, desperate to get out of range from Spikes frightening stare.

“Aww, but we haven’t had any breakfast.” Spyro teased, trying to get the most out of the situation. His mate just glared at him until he conceded.

“Oh, yeah, I guess so.” Spike agreed, eyes slightly downcast. He then took a big mouthful of gems and started chewing them dejectedly. As the two older dragons said goodbye to Twilight, the little assistant re-evaluated his situation. ‘Maybe she doesn’t like me.’  He pondered sadly. ‘Wait, no, you can do this Spike… you have to win her over.’ Suddenly, an idea sprung to mind out of the blue. ‘I know,  what if… yes, then she’ll  have to like me, cause if Spyro is a bad dragon, then  she’ll want a good dragon…’ As he thought to himself, a wicked grin began to creep across his face.

“Spike, Spiiikkeee? Could you please help me with these books now?” Twilight called out. By now, the little dragon was smiling from ear to ear, like a wolf having finished its meal.

“Sure thing Twi… sure thing…”

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More and more ponies were beginning to accept the two newcomers as part of the community, many stopping to say hello or chat. A few had even offered free produce as first time customers. Unfortunately, the pair had to respectfully decline, saying they weren’t hungry.

“We have to tell them sooner or later.” Whispered Cynder, her face cast into a deep frown. She was becoming more and more nervous about hiding the truth.

“Seriously, you saw how Twilight reacted; they would probably die of shock.” Spyro was just as worried as his mate, but was more frightened of what would happen if they just started eating meat in front of everypony.

“Yeah, and what if they find out by accident? They would never accept us.” Cynder gave her mate a piercing stare, one which lasted until Spyro finally relented.

“Ok, look, how about we tell Ditzy and see how she reacts. Then we can take it from…” Just as the purple dragon took another step forward, a mass of grey fur and feathers crashed in front of them

“Tell me what?” Ditzy interrupted, shaking her head from the impact.

After making sure the mare was ok, Spyro eyed her suspiciously.

“Were you… following us?” He asked in a slightly accusatory tone.

Ditzy frowned; clearly worried that she had upset her friends.

“No! I was just going in the same direction.” She replied angrily.

Spyro offered a calming smile, letting the mare know he wasn’t upset.

“Hey, it’s ok if you were, It’s just we would rather spend time with our best friend rather than have her look at the back of our heads."

“Wait, so you still want to be my friends?” The mail mare asked, quite surprised.

“Of course, Ditzy, what gave you the other idea?” Cynder asked. She was shocked that the Pegasus was so shy and expectant of them being friends.

Ditzy sniffled a bit, trying to form the words.

Eventually, with an exasperated sigh, the mare spoke. “Sometimes, really mean ponies pretend to be nice to me for a while so they can insult me the next day in front of their friends…”

Both dragons were horrified by this revelation.

Cynder especially was hit hard. She turned to Spyro, spluttering uncontrollably.

“Just like... when I took you… to the…” Whatever else was going to be said was stopped by a paw covering Cynder’s maw. He simply shook his head and smiled. Cynder felt what she had in the center of Avalar. She felt and more importantly, knew that she was completely forgiven.

“That’s absolutely awful Ditzy!” Spyro embraced the mare in a hug. “Both of us will never do that to you. I promise.” When he let go, the dragon gave both mare and dragoness a playful bump. “Now come on you two, let’s go have some fun!”

“Oh, can we play hide and seek… please?” Ditzy asked with puppy dog eyes. Both dragons just laughed until Spyro closed his eyes and began counting.

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“AH HA! Lu-Lu, look, I finally did it!” As Celestia called for her sister from the monarch’s private laboratory, she watched the insects run around with great excitement. It had been about eight hours without the insects dying, more than four times their regular life span.

“Celly, is thou sure that such a spell is wise and just?” Luna was concerned for the white alicorn. Ever since the second fall of discord, she had been acting strangely.

‘She is trying to control you… She wants revenge…’ Again, the other disappeared. When before she had argued against it fiercely, she now never got the chance. Now, the other’s ideas simply sat inside her head, plaguing her, causing the princess to doubt what her own thinking was and what were the other’s.

“It’s fine, just look… It worked, they are the equivalent of if a pony was four hundred year old.” Luna scowled, but eventually decided to give her sister the benefit of the doubt.

“It’s a very cleaver spell Celly, I must admit I probably couldn’t have worked it out. With a smile, the mare of the night gave her sibling a quick hug before returning to her bed chambers.

‘yes…’