Echoes of Equestria

It’d been another quiet morning with magic lesson training from Twilight. The afternoon rolled around, and after lunch, I decided that I needed to do something to kill time. Then I thought to myself, Hey, I have a great idea. Maybe I should find Spike and get him to tell me stories about this world. That way, I can profess knowledge of the world without alluding to the fact that I already possess it.

With this in mind, I quickly set out to find the little dragon. Eventually, I came across him in the library, of course, straightening out the books and whatnot. You know, doing the usual dragon servant thing.

“Hey, Spike,” I called out.

“Hey, Simon,” Spike called back. “What’s up?”

“Well, I was thinking to myself, I really don’t know much about this world since I got here—its history, its culture, etc. I was wondering… so what’s up around here? I mean, got any stories to tell?”

Spike’s eyes widened as he turned to face me, an eager grin spreading across his face. “Are you kidding? Man, I’ve got stories for days!”

Spike’s eagerness was perfect. If I kept him talking, I’d have a treasure trove of stories to work with—enough to make it seem I’ve lived here my whole life. Now I had a source for my knowledge I could refer to. No more scrambling to cover up accidental slip ups.

Shortly after, the two of us were sitting comfortably in our chairs, hot cocoa held, in the very same sitting room Twilight had sat in the day after I had first arrived in this world. As we settled in, Spike then began to regale me with tales of the past.

“NOOOOOO!” Spike pantomimed as he described Nightmare moon being engulfed by the rainbow as she was stripped away from Princess Luna.

I feigned spitting out my cocoa as he came to the part about Nightmare Moon being revealed as Luna.

“Get out!”

“I’m serious. Nightmare Moon was our long lost Princess Luna.”

“That’s incredible man. Totally did not see that coming.”

“If you think that’s something, you should hear about the castle cake.”

“A cake shaped like a castle?”

‘No. A castle cake. As in a cake the size of a castle.”

My eyes widened in intrigue. I never saw that on the show. “Please, by all means, do go on.”

“OK. Picture this. The date is Royalty Appreciation Day. It’s the day we celebrate the princesses.”

“Yea. I got that.”

“Hey, I was just setting the scene. So, Pinkie Pie was in charge of baking the cake for it that year…”

‘Which year?”

“Come on man.”

“Sorry. I’m just curious when this took place.”

“It was the third year after Twilight and I moved to Ponyville.”

So, season three then.

“Now would you please hold any remaining questions until the end?” Here he gets up and retrieves a scroll and quill, then hands them to me. “Just note them down.”

“Thanks. Sorry for the interruptions.”

Waving me off he continues, “S’alright. I should have done that before we began.”

Smiling I respond, “I’m guessing you do that kind of stuff for Twilight a lot.”

He gets this nostalgic look on his face as he replies, “No. Not ever since she got a better handle on her magic. Now she just levitates what she needs whenever she has to note something down.” Smiling as he turned back toward me, “Was nice… I mean to get you those.”

“Yea. I get it,” I said smiling in return. “Man. You really live to serve huh?”

“It’s fulfilling. To know that I’m helping.”

“Life a butler.”

“Exactly.”

A few moments of silence, then Spike resumes his story. “So, anyway, as I was saying. Pinkie was baking the cake for the celebration that year.

***

“What in the name of Celestia?” Twilight said as she gazed upon the giant castle sized cake.

“Isn’t it great? “Pinkie replied in her usual bubbly nature. “Everypony else always does a boring regular sized cake, but I thought, this is for princesses, so castle cake.”

“Well, it’s certainly… Big.” Luna commented.

“Wonderful.” Celestia murmured, barely above a whisper.

“Wowwee! That is some cake. Though I think it could use a little something,” Discord said, pondering.

“Discord,” Celestia said in a warning tone.

Ignoring her he exclaimed, “I got it!” Snapping his fingers the castle came to life and began singing an opera. Badly.

All ponies within earshot pressed their hooves against their flattened ears. Some shouting to make it stop.

Discord meanwhile was howling with laughter.

“DISCORD! PLEASE!” Fluttershy said, tears in her eyes.

Discord upon seeing his friend in pain suddenly realized how bad his little joke was for everypony around him. Hey hastily snapped his fingers, causing the whole cake to melt into a pile of frosting that flooded Ponyville.

***

“After which he apologized profusely. First to Fluttershy and then to everypony else who had been there.”

“What about the frosting mess?”

“He easily cleaned that up with another snap of his fingers. He only did that, because he was in a hurry to end Fluttershy’s suffering and didn’t think it through.”

“Ah. I see.” Makes sense. He would have been newly reformed then and was still learning how to be good. Wow. How did this not make it into the show?

After that Spike led to the story about Discord’s first appearance and his eventual reformation. I responded appropriately as he kept regaling me with content I already knew. Eventually he circled back to another time in season three.

“It’s pretty cool that you’re here Spike.”

“What do you mean?”

“”I mean how fortunate you have it. Being raised amongst ponies instead of your own kind instilled within you a kind and compassionate nature capable of empathy.”

He blushes and waves me off. “Please. You’re embarrassing me.”

Giggling (man, it’s so weird that I do that now), I replied, “Did you know you look really cute when you’re flustered.”

He playfully punched me in the shoulder. “Ever experienced a dragon’s fire?” he playfully warned.

Noted. Definitely not messing with the dragon. OK. OK. Point taken. I’ll lay off the teasing.” A slight pause. “For now.”

“I could always leave.”

“Wait, no… more stories, please.”

Man dude. Stop looking at me like that. I wasn’t serious.” He says throwing his claws over his eyes.

“Huh?”

‘Your eyes. You were doing that thing that…”

“I used weaponized cuteness? On instinct?!”

Spike studies me for a moment before replying, “Well, if that’s how ya refer to their eyes getting like three times bigger and that big frown with lip quivering thing, then yea. That.”

Woah. So, it’s an instinctual reaction. Not premeditated at all. Wow. This body apparently came with the wired in instincts of all ponies.

“Sorry Spike. I didn’t even realize that I was doing it.”

Chuckling as he retakes his seat, “‘Course not. You’re still new to that body. However now that you’re aware of it you can work on controlling it. “Course that also means you’ll eventually work out when to whip it out on demand.” He then looks at me pointedly.

“Relax Spike. It’s not in my nature to be manipulative. I promise I’ll only use my cuteness for good. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my—ow!” Rubbing my eye I remark, more or less to myself, “I can’t believe I did that. I knew it was a thing that happens. I knew I should have closed my eye. Why didn’t I?”

“It’s nothing to beat yourself up over. It happens to every pony.” Spike freezes as something clicked. “Wait a second. How did you know that was a thing? And how did you know about the Pinkie promise? You’ve only been here a week.”

“What are your talking about. That’s what we humans do. It’s our most solemn promise. Though now that you mention it I generally say ‘stick a needle in my eye’. Wonder why I said cupcake. As for my outburst afterwards. I knew I had hooves now which I knew would really hurt, so I don’t understand why I didn’t close my eye when I knew what was coming.”

“A needle huh? Well, anyway, as I’ve said, it happens to everypony. So, anyway, going back to your earlier comment. I wasn’t always the only baby dragon around here.”

“My eyes widening I responded, “Really? There was another?”

Nodding he began the tale.

***

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.”

A baby’s crying is suddenly heard close by, piquing Fluttershy’s curiosity. As she zeroed in on the crying, she pushed back a bush and discovered…

“Oh my goodness! You poor thing. How did you get here?” The baby dragon stopped its wailing for a moment, distracted by the interruption, before it resumed.

Fluttershy shushed it as she gently lifted the baby into her arms and began to rock it. “Shh, shh, shh. There, there. It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

The baby’s crying eventually lessened to the occasional sniffle after a bit. Then fluttershy took her inside to give it some milk.

The little dragon latched onto the bottle Fluttershy had prepared, drinking eagerly. She smiled warmly, sitting on her couch as the tiny creature nestled into her embrace. “There we go. You’re just a hungry little one, aren’t you?” she said softly, brushing a hoof along the dragon’s scaled cheek.

The room was filled with quiet, save for the sound of contented slurps. Angel Bunny hopped onto the couch beside Fluttershy, eyeing the dragon suspiciously. “Oh, don’t be jealous, Angel,” she cooed, patting the rabbit’s head. “This little one needs our help right now.”

When the baby finished the bottle, it let out a tiny burp that made Fluttershy giggle. “What a big sound for someone so small.”

As she leaned back, a knock came at the door. Fluttershy gently set the baby dragon down on the couch, ensuring it was snugly wrapped in a blanket, and went to open the door. Twilight Sparkle stood on the other side, her saddlebags bursting with scrolls.

“Hi, Fluttershy,” Twilight began, glancing at her friend’s soft expression. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Not at all, Twilight. But… um… you might want to come inside,” Fluttershy said, stepping aside to let her friend in.

Twilight tilted her head curiously as she stepped through the doorway. Her eyes immediately landed on the bundle of scales and blanket resting on the couch. “Is that… a dragon?” she asked, her voice tinged with amazement.

Fluttershy nodded, her gaze flickering between Twilight and the dragon. “I found him crying in the forest. Poor thing was all alone. I couldn’t just leave him there.”

Twilight moved closer, her eyes scanning the baby with curiosity and awe. “This is incredible. Baby dragons aren’t exactly common around here. Do you have any idea where it came from?”

Fluttershy shook her head, her face clouding with concern. “No, I don’t. I was hoping you might know what to do. I’ve never taken care of a dragon before.”

Twilight’s horn lit up as she gently lifted the baby dragon, inspecting it from all angles. “He seems healthy, which is a good sign. But dragons usually stay with their families for years. It’s strange for one this small to be out on its own.”

The baby dragon wriggled slightly, letting out a tiny hiccup. Fluttershy instinctively reached out, and the little one settled again as she held it close.

“Well, it looks like he’s already attached to you,” Twilight said with a smile. “Maybe we can look into this together. I’ll research dragons, and you can care for him in the meantime.”

Fluttershy’s face lit up with gratitude. “Oh, thank you, Twilight. I’ll do my best to take care of him until we figure out where he belongs.”

Twilight nodded, already scribbling notes onto a scroll. “With your care, he’s in the best hooves possible.”

Fluttershy glanced down at the baby dragon, who had begun to drift off to sleep in her embrace. She smiled softly, her heart swelling with resolve. “You’re safe now, little one. We’ll figure this out together.”

***

“I’m not ashamed to admit I was a little jealous of him at first, but I got over it.”

“What happened to him?”

“Twilight managed to find its mama.”

“How?”

“When it came looking for her.”

“WHAT?!”

“Hehe. Yea. Apparently, it retraced its flight path and spotted Fluttershy caring for it. Twilight was over there with her again and managed to intercede before things got out of hoof. As she explained what happened, the dragon became very grateful to Fluttershy for taking care of her. And after they said their good-byes, they left, and we haven’t seen them since.”

“Man. It seems like some crazy new thing happens once a week around here.”

Spike leaned back in his chair, a nostalgic grin spreading across his face. “Man, you wouldn’t believe the stuff we’ve been through. Take Discord, for example—turns out the literal spirit of chaos can actually be reformed. Who knew?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Reformed? As in ‘no more turning Ponyville upside-down’ reformed?”

Spike chuckled. “Well, he’s still Discord, so it’s more like… selective chaos. But yeah, Fluttershy really turned him around. She saw something in him no one else did. Took a while, though—he had his slip-ups. Like that whole thing with Tirek—”

“Oh, you mean when he betrayed everypony but came back to help in the end?” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. As soon as I saw Spike’s wide-eyed stare, I knew I’d messed up.

“Wait a second,” Spike said, narrowing his eyes. “How did you know about those parts? I don’t think I’ve mentioned them yet.”

I fumbled for a response, my brain scrambling for a cover story. “Uh… didn’t Twilight mention it? Or maybe Rainbow Dash? I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere…”

Spike folded his arms, looking unconvinced but not pushing further. “Huh. Weird. Anyway…” He shook it off, moving on with his story. “It’s a good thing Fluttershy stuck with him, though. He’s actually a pretty good guy now. Weird, but good.”

I nodded, inwardly relieved at the change of subject. “Guess that’s a running theme around here, huh? Giving ponies—or, uh, draconequuses—a second chance.”

“You could say that,” Spike replied. “Take Starlight Glimmer, for example. She tried to rewrite time itself just because she lost a friend, and somehow Twilight managed to talk her into becoming her student of friendship.”

“Wait. She lost a friend, so she tried to destroy time? You mean, she was that upset that he left her? Were they, like, estranged, or what?”

Spike tilted his head, scratching the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, kinda. It’s a long story, but basically, Starlight had this really close friend named Sunburst when she was a filly. They were inseparable. But when he got his cutie mark, he went off to magic school, and she… well, she stayed behind. She thought he just up and abandoned her, and it messed her up bad. Like, super bad.”

He leaned forward, his voice dropping slightly. “She started blaming cutie marks for everything—thought they were the reason friendships ended. So she built this whole philosophy about equality, no cutie marks, no problems. Then, when Twilight and the others stopped her, she went way off the deep end. She found this time travel spell and tried to, uh, rewrite history to make sure the Elements of Harmony never became friends. You can imagine how well that went.”

Spike leaned back again with a shrug. “Twilight finally got through to her, though. Showed her that not everypony was out to abandon her, and they kinda patched things up. Now Starlight’s one of her best friends.”

He paused, giving me a sidelong glance. “Crazy, huh? But that’s Equestria for you—second chances are kind of our thing.”

I shook my head, feigning bewilderment. ”My goodness. Didn’t that filly ever hear of keeping in touch?”

Spike let out a chuckle, shaking his head. “You’d think, right? But nah, she just let all that anger and hurt build up instead. Classic Starlight. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s great now, but back then? Yikes.”

He leaned back, crossing his arms with a smirk. “To be fair, though, I guess not everypony thinks to just, you know, send a letter. Or, I don’t know, visit? It’s not like Sunburst was on the other side of the world or anything.”

I tapped a hoof to my chin, as if deep in thought. “You’d think with all the magic floating around, she could’ve just zapped herself over there and said hi.”

Spike snorted, holding back laughter. “Oh, trust me, that’s crossed my mind too. But hey, at least it all worked out in the end. Starlight’s, like, way more chill now. Well, mostly.”

“Mostly?” I raised an eyebrow.

He grinned sheepishly. “Okay, she still has her moments. But who doesn’t, right?”

I then got up to stretch, a yawn escaping me. “Well, don’t know about you, but I think I’ve had my fill of stories for one day.”

Nodding to show he concurred with the sentiment, “Yea. Same here. “Well, I’ll show ya to the door. That is if you’re planning to go home.”

“I nod, “Lead the way.”

As Spike lead me to the entrance of the castle, a knock was heard. Upon opening it, I found the CMC standing there.

“Hey, Simon, wanna come play with us? Applebloom asked.

I was delighted to accepted the invitation. After a day of hearing amazing stories from Spike, including ones I never even saw on the show, it was, a perfect end to the day. To spend the rest of it relaxing by having a playful little game of tag with the CMC.

“Can’t catch me, Simon!” Scootaloo taunted, zipping past him with Sweetie Belle close on her tail.

“Oh, we’ll see about that!” Simon laughed, giving chase. The thrill of the game and the sheer joy he found in the moment was a rare treat—until they passed by a small a statue near the edge of the field.

That’s when he saw it.

At first, it was just a blur in his peripheral vision, but something about the twisted forms drew his attention. Skidding to a halt, Simon turned, his laughter fading. His gaze fixed on the statue—Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis, frozen together in stone. The anguish etched into the little filly’s face sent a jolt through him, like a gust of wind reigniting embers into a roaring blaze of anger he thought he’d long since extinguished.

“What’s the matter, Simon?” Sweetie Belle asked, her wide green eyes filled with concern as she and the other Crusaders circled back to him.

Simon’s jaw tightened. “What is this?” he asked, his voice sharper than he intended.

“That’s the statue of the villains Princess Twilight and her friends stopped,” Apple Bloom explained. “They were gonna destroy all of Equestria’s magic. They got what they deserved, don’t cha think?”

Simon didn’t answer right away. His gaze remained locked on Cozy Glow’s face, the memories of her actions in the show flooding back. But more than that, it was the context that burned in his mind—her age, her apparent lack of guidance, the failure of those around her to see a child crying out for help.

“No,” he finally said, his tone cold. “I don’t think they did.”

The Crusaders exchanged uneasy glances, unsure how to respond to the sudden shift in his demeanor. Simon didn’t wait for them to ask questions. “I need to go,” he said, turning and walking back toward town, his thoughts churning with questions and fury.