Shining Time

A few hundred miles away from Ponyville was the land of the Dragons their ancestral home, where many of the different breeds and species lived in harmony, there were many caves and places a Dragon could rest. But in one cave in particular there was a proud dragoness looking over the land through the mouth of the cave staring at the glittering stars and watching eternity  itself pass by she thought to herself "oh how hard life has been first I lose one of my precious eggs then my mates passes on we are a rare breed of dragons, and more powerful then we like to admit it seems fate has taken an interest for such creatures, I can only hope that my missing child survive on  his own though it has been years and I fear the worst for him" she stared at stars awhile longer than moved over to her nest and closed her eyes to sleep.

Meanwhile back in the library Spike was having trouble getting comfortable in his new basket shifting around in the blankets "come on now Spike I know it's a new basket but could you please not make so much noise, I had to get you a new one since your wings have outgrown the last one" said Twilight with a sigh as she settled down on her own bed wrapping sheets around her form   "well I've never had wings before and a slightly strange I can't sleep in the same positions are used to because it'll put too much weight on my wings I mean even standing up normally is starting to feel a little uncomfortable" said Spike tiredly as he curled up on his chest with his tail, stretching to his nose "well I wouldn't find that surprising Spike most dragons with wings walk around on all fours like us ponies but at the same time we can both still stand on two legs for a short while your spine properly just adjusting itself to the proper position maybe you should try walking like the rest of us from now on" said Twilight she glanced at Spike looking down at her bed she noticed that the baby Dragon was sound asleep, smiling amusement she lays herself down to rest and they both entered the world of dreams until dawn approached.

Sun light poured into the bedroom through the open window the new day welcoming all this saw it, Twilight rose from her sleep stretched and looked about the room  she glanced down at Spike and his new slightly larger basket and smiled at him sound asleep, she then got out of bed and went over to awake her number one assistant by gently prodding him on the shoulder he slowly rose waking up properly "now remember what I told you last night about your new way of walking it may seem strange at first because you used to walking on two legs and your front legs and hands are not as strong as your back legs but that should change quickly since you'll be walking around on them more" said Twilight with a smile as she took a step back from Spike as he experimentally tried it out "well you're right Twilight this is more comfortable but it makes me seem a lot smaller than before I hope my front legs grow bigger soon I doubt I'll be able to walk very far" said Spike Twilight began to descend the stair case "well  should your lessons go well with Rainbow dash then I bet your whole body will grow stronger knowing her she won't stop at your wings, and if walking around like this. Uncomfortable thing you should do to fly soon" said Twilight with a smile as she went down the staircase. Spike stretched his arms and legs and wings then proceeded down the staircase with some difficulty because of his new way of walking.

After a quick breakfast of gems Spike was ready to go. "Now Spike you be careful don't hurt yourself and make sure Rainbow dash doesn't push you to far,  home before dark see  you later" said Twilight with a smile Spike nodded and then proceeded out of the library and towards the town Hall where Rainbow dash requested him to meet  whilst walking in his new fashion his front legs started to ache a little "I guess it's just the muscle is getting stronger" Spike thought to himself as he walked along soon as his front shoulders adjusted and slowly broadened so it was easier for him to walk soon Spike found himself standing just in front of the town Hall he looked around for rainbow dash for a few minutes until he noticed strange looking cloud in the sky this cloud seemed to have a tail it was only when he noticed the vibrant colours of the tail that he realised it was Rainbow dash sleeping yet again he was just about to shout her name when suddenly he was tapped on the shoulder by none other than the Mayor of Ponyville itself "well Spike it's been awhile since I've seen you around town you look at the different since when did you have wings "she said "they just kind of growing their own by the way I'm sorry about Ponyville I didn't mean to destroy it" said Spike sadly as he looked into her eyes "well as long as you're sorry Spike that's all that matters and  you helped fix what you did wrong, I got a letter from Princess Luna explaining how you helped" said the mayor happily "thank you for being so forgiving I don't feel I deserve, it right now I'm trying to learn how to use these  new wings " said Spike

the mayor nodded and walked back into town Hall, Spike then proceeded to call Rainbow dash hoping to wake her from her nap but seems to have no effect as she showed no signs of moving from her cloud had table swished slightly, as if she heard that was simply ignoring him slightly frustrated Spike searched the ground around him between buildings it was a reasonably flat cobblestone road that runs through Ponyville  seeing one of the larger cobblestones was slightly loose he felt around the edges with his claws until a small pebble came loose, he looked at the round great piece of rock in his hand and smiled evilly.

Rainbow dash was standing in Cloudsdale  to the right upon a balcony created out of white fluffy clouds stood the wonder bolts with clip boards in their hoofs she hastily wiped the sweat off her brow and proceeded to the assault course which is layout in front of her she got herself into a crouch and then pounced forward off of the starting cloud and strained her wing muscles taking off at a tremendous, speed she dodged most of the lightning clouds proceeded to do a loop de loop dodging another after electrified clouds she then flew higher than she had ever flew before.

And saw something falling out of the sky below her it was a yellow and pink streak in the sky she then went into a steep dive pointing her hooves in front of her to make a more aerodynamic and streamlining then she suddenly heard someone calling her name it was a male voice calling but she didn't have time to answer it somepony was in danger and she needed to save them, suddenly an energy built up at the tip of her hoof and streamed outwards like an arrow she saw that the person fallen was mere feet from hitting the ground then suddenly  there was an explosion and she was moving faster than she had ever moved  streaking across the sky catching the lucky pony mere centimetres from hitting the ground, she then flew back up to Cloudsdale  on the way she noticed that her mane and tail were streaking across the sky leaving a blazing rainbow in her wake, as soon as she got back to Cloudsdale she deposited the mystery pony on to safe clouds.

Looking down she noticed that it was none other than Flutter shy, Then she was surrounded by the wonder bolts all cheering  and clapping then her idol Spitfire walked up to her and said "well you did more than just pass the initiation test but you literally passed it with flying colours and saved one of the students you can consider yourself our newest recruit welcome to the wonder bolts" she said

to Rainbowdash it was the greatest day of her life, until she felt hard object hit the back of the head bringing her to full the alertness she was sitting in a cloud in the centre of Ponyville. It seemed that is all been just a dream but then she suddenly heard the same voice as she had in the dream calling    her name, she looked over the edge cloud rubbing the back of her head with a hoof and saw the small green and purple Dragon standing strangely on all fours in the centre of town. After taking a second look at Spike properly Rainbow dash then fell backwards on the cloud laughing after a few minutes her fit had subsided, Spike was just standing there with an aggravated look on his face "now now you don't want another rock do you Rainbow dash" said Spike.

Rainbow dash slowly  glided to the ground "yeah well sorry about that but I’m not used to seeing you walk like this but it does make sense considering now that your wings have grown your spine has changed it easier to take off like this anyway" she said still giggling a little. Spike stepped closer to her "so we get started on this or what I thought you were the best but if you can’t handle it I guess I'll go and ask Flutter shy" said Spike

"Hay now I can teach you to fly two days flat is no one better than me you're looking at the future trainer of the wonder bolts if anything I should be sending you to Flutter shy because you may not be strong enough for this training" said rainbow dash heatedly this is what Spike had intended he knew that if he plays on Rainbow’s dashes ego then get her to focus on the point.

Rainbow dash then stood on her hind legs and crossed for hoofs while nodding, "so you  wanna learn to fly huh well you'd better be up for the challenge because most ponies learn to fly at a young age although you are still a baby Dragon it might be slightly harder  for you considering you've never had wings" said Rainbow dash with a serious look on her face.

"So Rainbow" "when you address during training call coach nothing else" said Rainbow dash cutting Spike off "okay then coach are we going to be starting here learning how to fly  in the middle of town seems like the wrong area" said Spike looking away for a second at a group of mares that had stopped nearby and where pointing at his wings with looks of awe and surprise.

When Spike looked back at Rainbow dash she had mysteriously acquired a blue baseball cap and red whistle around her neck, slightly puzzled for moment Spike then rolled it shoulders and decided stranger things had happened, considering all the different ponies around here especially Pinkie pie who seemed to have the ability to pop up anywhere.

"Yes your, right Spike let’s move to the fields outside of town so we can begin" said coach Rainbow dash with a smile, she set off down the road at a swift pace Spike struggling slightly to keep up his now to be called forelegs burning slightly with the effort of moving faster.  It was a good ten minutes walk to their destination and his legs were slowly adjusting to the new method of walking.

The filly’s and Colts that they passed seemed surprised that Spike had wings but after the excitement had died down Ponyville turned back to normal. The finely crafted houses slowly gave way to an open field With a beautiful stream running through the other end, Rainbow dash continued walking until about halfway through the field then she turned around and looked Spike the eyes. "Welcome to Dashes crash course in flight training from this point on you'd better be prepared never to give up because I'll change you into one of the best flyers" she said with confidence

Spike who had just caught up with her nodded in approval "all right then my drop-down gimme fifty" said Rainbow dash Spike then got onto his hands and knees and began his press ups only to be stopped  second later by a hoof under his chest "no no no when I said press ups I meant you use your  wing muscles to make them stronger right now I doubt your wing muscles are strong enough to lift your off the ground" said Rainbow dash "really Rain-i mean coach how am I supposed to do that" said Spike. Rainbowdash then side shook her head and held her back legs further away from her body pressed tips of her wings on the ground and lifted her for hoofs off so she was only supported by her wings and muscles she then began to lift herself up and down at the ground using only her wing muscles as an increased place she had managed to do thirty  wing ups in about a minute.

"Okay Spike now want you to try and make sure you don't stop until you get fifty wing ups and no less no matter how long it takes" she says with authority Spike then mimicked her movements until he was supported only by his wings the slight pony protrusions at the end scratching the ground slightly as he began the difficult task of building his wing muscles at first it seemed easy to lift himself up and down with his wings but as soon as he hit ten . It slowly got harder and harder to pull himself up and down again, it felt as if every time he pulled himself up someone was having more weight to his back and his flight muscles felt like they were on fire soon sweat was gleaming on his scales.

Once he managed twenty he was breathing hard slowly taking them in groups of five that time he managed claw his way to the number that he had been instructed to after thirty you start counting to himself his breath was hard enough to cause the grass to sway in front of him, continually immediate routine in his mind to keep the rhythm that he had created but then just five away from his goal the weight on his muscles seemed even more immense as he slowly pushed himself forward on willpower alone "Forty eight... forty nine... fifty" Spike said in a gasp as he let go of his wings and fell to the floor on his chest.

Spike was breathing heavily and without even noticing it sparks were coming out of his mouth "well done Spike I'm impressed the fact that he could do all that shows you're never going to give up I like that attitude it'll make sure that you go far one day all you have to do is keep practising and use the will that you just displayed" said rainbow dash with a smile

Spike wearily lifted his head up and gave her thumbs up "you bet i,ll never give up if I’m going to  be half as good as the other Dragons out there I need to practice hard. Rainbow dash nodded happily and gave him a hoof up to his feet" well while you were sleeping I went back to Zecoras and asked her about Dragons muscles and she told me one of the most amazing things I’ve ever herd apparently all Dragons muscles have the ability to adapt slightly faster than most animals to their environments and habits, Zecora also told me that your muscles in particular seem to be open to grow and change a lot faster than most Dragons but she doesn't know why" said rainbow dash with a cheer

"so that means that I get stronger and better at this faster than most Dragons, all right and I thought I was just a normal boring Dragon nothing special about my species" said Spike with a smile having regained his breath "yes now the start on trying to hover by yourself watch my demonstration wing movements closely" said rainbow dash she then jumped a foot in the air and slowly moved her wings up-and-down not enough to gain attitude but enough to keep it at a steady height without falling to the ground she stayed like this for several minutes until Spike nodded "okay I think I've seen enough I'd like to try on my own" he said

he slowly raised his leg muscles and jumped as she had then moved his wing muscles which were slightly throbbing from the wing ups and moved them in the same positions and speed that rainbow dash had showed he continued looking at the ground and the whole ordeal and closed his eyes expecting to full face first on the ground after a few seconds it became apparent that he was not falling but the slight draft that his wing muscles were creating he could feel it brushing past his face slowly he opened his eyes to reveal himself floating t off the ground the grass swaying slightly at the breeze he had created.

"Now Spike is a challenge for you I wanted to stay hovering in that spot for as long as you possibly can to get your flight muscles adapted to the situation and strain" said rainbow dash Spike continued to hover in the same spot and slowly, a slight heat started in the base of his wing muscles itching slightly, after a while of hovering the heat started to increase until it felt like someone was dripping magma down his back.

Spike continued as long as his willpower allowed him then his wing muscles refused to move and he slowly dropped to the ground breathing hard. "Well you did pretty good seems your endurance is better than I gave you credit for you lasted longer than me on my first try" said rainbow dash

Meanwhile at carousel boutique Rarity was staring at her bag that she had removed and placed on the side table inside the bag contained her last hope of being with her true love, for as long as he would never age she couldn't bring herself to be with him because of the pain it would cause both of them to watch one wither and die while the other stayed untouched by the ravages of time.

Four hours she did nothing stand there and watch but could be her salvation or doom she knew she had to look in book sometime to see if it held the answer but couldn't bring herself, at one point she would step closer to the bag only to remain motionless again for a few minutes .

... Rarity’s thoughts.. "I can't bear to looking what happens if it turns out not to be also hope for but on the other hand if I don't look in there I’ll never find out whether it is the answer I suppose even if they proved to be false I'll never stop looking, you may know from Rarity don't lose your will now" slowly she proceeded putting money. The other until she was right next to the bag.

Slowly she extended her hoof and open the flap on top of it then she levitated book out with her horn and slowly put it flat on a table the total road mysteries of magic by Star swirl the bearded. She slowly opened it and looked at the index reading through it she saw that in this book there are many different revelations about magic and how it came to be the last chapter seemed promising "unicorns and ageing spells" Rarity read aloud

"to begin the subject of unicorns they seem to be the only type pony who can control magic finely not given the Pegasus inherit ability to walk on clouds as a factor there are also many different types of magic but most of the time you constantly master a few spells concerning what the talent is but most records show that unicorns have a slightly longer lifespan than the other species ,if you look at it from another point of view some ponies believe that unicorns are more highly evolved form of equine but they are mostly considered prejudiced beliefs because unicorns also appear to be weaker in strength when compared to the Pegasus and Earth pony" rarity read aloud pausing briefly for drink

"it is not completely known because the history books do not date that far back but some say that the alicorn was the only breed at one point and a dark magic caused them to split apart into three separate beings and continued, as alicorns are a rare and seem to have immortality and can only be killed if attacked physically their magic power is also higher than most unicorns, and they can likewise fly faster than most Pegasus as well as having more physical strength than most of the earth ponies whether you choose to believe this is up to you"

"this chapter concerns the tricky element of ageing spells most unicorns have devoted their entire lives to figuring out the mysteries of ageing and one famous unicorn by the name of Cosmetic flash discovered that there were certain spells could affect the appearance but most unicorns lacked the amount of magic required to change the age also the effects were only minimal such as decreasing wrinkles lightening up hair and the effects were always temporarily even the most achieved alicorn could change the age of an adult to child and it only lasted a few minutes, so it seems that the gift of immortality is only given to a select few of his unchangeable it seems to us all accept the fate of growing old one day but let's at least find someone to stand by us as we do and join us in the inevitable sleep of us mortals."

Rarity silently closed the book walked upstairs to her chamber jumped on her bed put the pillows over her face and sobbed until darkness came and she was too tired to continue and fell into sleep.

"Now I want twenty more before you leave today and I want to see you hovering for at least 5 minutes" said Rainbow dash and authoritative voice Spike his face working nodded and continued once again laying on his hands and feet and placing tips of his wings against the floor and proceeded to task she had set him after a few minutes of hardship he completed it and looked up a few drops hitting the ground.

"Now up and hover no down to rest like before if you want to get this down so you can fly for hours at a time perhaps even days like me then you must learn never to give up and continue even when you're tired, on my whistle" Rainbow dash grabbed the red whistle around her neck and blew it causing a piercing shriek .

On that Spike immediately jumped into the air and folded his wings and continue to flutter and the slow pace that he would neither gain or lose altitude, he kept pumping his wing muscles fighting against gravity at first it was easier but then as always the familiar heating his wings returned but because of the fact that he had no gap between his last exercise it turned even hotter three minutes the heat was almost unbearable Rainbow dash had a small pocket watch and Looking between  him and giving prompts.

"Come on Spike keep it up just two more minutes holder together if you can't do this then you will never be able to fly" said Rainbow dash encouraging him to continue. The sweat that had gathered around his forehead and slowly dripping down his body and ending at the tip of his tail before hitting the grass even sweat had started building at the tips of his wings making it slightly harder to continue flying once again he was left only by willpower to push himself forward.

When Rainbow dash finally blew the whistle a second time signalling that five minutes had passed he completely stopped his wings and crashed to the grass breathing hard and then she suddenly felt the comforting hoofs of Rainbow dash on his back "well done Spike I’m proud of you" she then pulled a small sweat towel and began drying him slightly

after a minute breathing and heart rate returned to normal and he stood up again and looked Rainbow dash "well done Spike if you keep this level of progress up then flying around like me in no time now you should go home to Twilight and tell her how you done today have some dinner preferably some gems Zecora told me that they will increase your muscle growth but before you go to bed I want you to do the same movements as if you are going to do a wing up but instead of lifting yourself up and down just hold it in place for as long as you can then get lots of rest and meet back here same time as today " said rainbow dash cheerfully then she playfully socked him on the arm and zoomed away.

Spike began walking back to the library his leg and wing muscles ached and the journey took him slightly longer than I would normally walking through ponyville as the light started to fade he thought of Luna using a mystical powers to raise the moon and bring out the veil of night over the world.

Ten minutes later a happy Twilight opened the door Spike at the library welcome home she said in her usual growing and welcomed him with a hug "I think I'll prepare dinner tonight considering you look pretty worn out" she said and proceeded into the kitchen to begin the food and half hour later there were sitting on the table eating Spike told her about how his day has gone Twilight seemed excited from the information rainbow had relayed them after a long conversation Twilight got back to studying for a few hours while Spike cleaned the mess she had left putting all the books back in the right places.

Then when bedtime came Spike stood in the position and held himself up by his wings at first it seemed easier then but slowly the familiar tension arrived then he heard hoof steps monasteries and Twilight suppressed to chuckle badly.

"What are you doing there you are supposed to be sleeping we both are" said Twilight almost laughing "it's just something Rainbow dash  told me to do every night before I sleep" she said foreign himself to grow normally the shifting into his blankets and then stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at Twilight and covered himself in the blankets shutting himself off from the world until dawn work in the new day.