//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: To rekindle the flame // by Sky Trotter //------------------------------// Luna ran through the halls back up to the ballroom where the rest of the guests were waiting. Skidding to a stop just outside the room, she adjusted her regalia and making herself look proper. The guards flanking the doorway choose to keep their faces forward and their mouths shut. All in all a wise move, moving forward now that she had made herself look more presentable, she entered to room to find everypony having a merry time. Cadence seemed to have cornered Twilight and appeared to be having a serious conversation about motherhood. Luna even managed to overhear questions about dealing with mood swings with an older child. Twilight seemed to be entirely out of her depth as her once upon a time foal sitter was asking for advice about her young child. Spike was now sitting at a table surrounded by his friends, although Lady Rarity and Dragon Lord Ember sat to each side of him, both seemed to have scooched closer to him, almost touching his shoulders, which had appeared to widen quite a bit during his first hibernation. Passing through the room, Luna zeroed in on Celestia. After placing herself to Celestia’s right, she leaned over and hissed in her ear. “Sister, I need to speak to you in private. It’s about Sid.” She hurried off through the room toward an empty sitting area that lined the walls. Celestia seemed to be a bit shocked that Luna had just said that. Though the critical reason for the shock was that Luna had just referred to Obsidian as his old nickname, Sid. For all Celestia knew, Luna was still furious at Obsidian and had no intention of talking to him. But now she was sitting across the room, her leg bouncing as a light blush lit her cheeks. Most wouldn’t be able to notice the almost imperceptible darkening of the already dark blue mares cheeks. But Celestia knew her sister. Quickly excusing herself from her conversation about pastries that she had been enjoying with Pinkie Pie, she made her way across the room to Luna. As the older sister sat beside her younger, she looked at Luna’s face with a hint of worry “Lulu, what’s going on. What happened with Sid?” Luna began to wring her hands, and she tried to pull herself together long enough to give a proper answer, looking up she noticed the worried face that Celestia was giving her. Taking a deep breath she spoke “Tia, well, I tried to talk to Sid when he left the party.” Celestia nodded, showing that she was paying full attention. “He descended through the castle down to a hidden cavern. At the base of a large staircase, was a vast library of ancient books. He must have noticed that he was being followed because he called out to me. After I revealed myself to him, he quickly averted his gaze.” she gave a hollow chuckle “He seemed to be deeply ashamed even to be close to me. I confronted him about his abandoning of you and his true intentions of being here. He told me that he was here on your orders.” Celestia nodded but stayed silent to let her sister continue. “Tia he seemed broken. That is not the drake that we once knew. Much of the brash behavior that we once knew is gone. The drake down in the depts of this castle is not the same drake I once knew, but I can’t say that it’s a bad thing. He takes care when he speaks now. He was one of my best friends before, but now he is a grown dragon. I can tell that young drake is still there, but he has been tempered by time.” She looked down at her hands “He admitted to why he closed his mind off from me when he went into his century-long sleep.” Her cheeks began to glow rosy “Apparently he had begun to have...well lewd dreams about me.” Celestia brought her hand up to her face to cover her mouth as she stifled a giggle. “You mean it took him telling you for you to notice his feelings for you?” she again attempted (unsuccessfully) to cover another chuckle. Luna’s ears burned with a blush “Shut up Tia! This isn’t a joking matter. He had attempted to use dream magic to force himself to stop having those dreams. From what I can gather, he accidentally caused himself to have no form of dreams for an entire century. For him, it must have been as if he closed his eyes one moment then opened them to find out that I had been gone for fifty years. Tia, I don’t know what to feel about this. Sid has always been my best friend, the first one other than you or mother or father that told me that he loved my night. I feel a fluttering in my chest when I think about him, but at the same time, I’m still furious at him for abandoning you. What am I supposed to do?” Celestia took a deep breath and stilled her mind for a moment before speaking. “I think the best thing to do for now is to let things continue to move forward. Spike is now awake, and he can truly begin his training. Let us see what happens over the next few months before we cast judgment. That will also give you time to sort out your feelings and give him time to reintegrate back into the world. He is even more out of touch with the modern world than you are due to you having the last few years to get back into the swing of things.” Luna looked back at Celestia and took a calming breath before nodding. “You are right Tia. I just need some time to sort things out first. Come, let us go congratulate Spike on his 18th hatching day.” The two princesses rose from their respective seats and moved through the ballroom. Over at Spike’s table, the young drake was feeling extremely nervous but at the same time had an enormous smile on his face. Primarily due to the white mare on his right, and the blue dragoness on his left. Leaning over and up next to him, Rarity titered “My my Spikey Wikey, you have certainly grown quite a bit over the last two weeks. I’m quite sure that you only have what you are currently wearing now.” He gave a nervous nod “That simply won’t do darling. After this little get together, I will need you to come with me to have a very ‘personal’ fitting back at the boutique.” The tone that she used when saying ‘personal’ sent a shiver up his spine “U-um R-Rarity, is there something going one?” She giggled before leaning closer to his ear “My dear Spikey Wikey, while you may never have said it, I have known about your little crush for quite some time now. And I must say that it was extremely flattering. But before today, I never could have reacted to it due to your age and physical size.” Spike turned to her with is eyes looking confused and bordering on hurt. “Now don’t take it the wrong way Spike, the age issue was a key factor, to have engaged in any way with you before then would have been rather improper, not to mention the issue with me being one of your, ahem, mothers best friends. But as I know you are aware, I am a few years younger than her.” She smirked, Twilight was currently 27 with Rarity now sitting at a comfortable 25. “There was also the issue with size. You had the body of a very young child Spike, and while I feel like I could have looked past it, many others would not. What it would likely result is a challenging situation for the both of us. But now you have a body that matches your mind.” She gave him a half-lidded look, the kind that made his knees go weak. “I have to admit, the moment I saw you come down the stair, my first thought was that I finally have a chance for my knight in shining armor, although scales are just as good.” Ember peaked around Spike’s head “Hey get in line sister, I have a contract with this guy already.” Rarity was confused, but Spike wiped his head around “Don’t tell me that they already…” Ember smirked with a half-lidded gaze as well, holding up the documents “You bet they did. Best deal of my life, you aren’t getting away from helping me with the dragon lands any more hot stuff.” Spike gulped, and it was at this point that Rarity's critical eyes noticed that the documents were a contract for an arranged marriage. She shot up from her seat “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” she stormed off after Spikes mom. Ember was still grinning and didn’t seem to care at all about the upset mare “Wonder how long it will take before Sparkle manages to tell her about the idea of a herd?” Looking back at Spike she leaned forward to close his mouth. “Keep that closed, you’ll catch flys.” before He could react Ember leaned forward a planted a small peck on his lips before getting up from her seat and walking over to the buffet table. Being stuck in the same spot, completely floored by what happened, Spike’s mind began to run at a mile a minute. Thinking to himself he started to do what his mother always did, make a list of important things 1.) I woke up from apparently a two-week sleep. 2.) I’m now significantly larger than when I fell asleep. 3.)The mare of my dreams, the one that I have had a crush on for most of my life is interested in me. 4.)The amazingly hot dragoness that I met a few years ago, the one who I put into power by giving her the Blood Stone Septer is also interested in me and is now in a contract with me for an arranged marriage. 5.) She knows what a herd is and expects me to form one with her and Rarity. 6.)I JUST HAD MY FIRST KISS! As the two princesses walked up to Spike, he turned to look at them with a wide grin on his face. Celestia spoke up first “Hello Spike, how had your birthday been? Get any good gifts so far?” Not even waiting a moment Spike laughed out loud “Good gifts! This is the best birthday of my entire life! I don’t care if I ever get another give ever again. Nothing can bring me down right now!” His grin was a mile wide, and it made both princesses hearts swell to see it. Down in the depths of the place, Obsidian watched through his scrying disk smiling at his student. Placing a hand on the image of the smiling youth he grinned and spoke to himself “Enjoy this day brother, for tomorrow, your training begins.”