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// The Dragon Alchemist 
// Story: The Alchemist's Dream 
// by L Drkheart 
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A thunderous horn sounded across the Dragon Lands as if the dragons needed another alert that announced that they should all be preparing to leave for their migration as it was only a week away. While most were finishing with their packing and hoarding away their treasures, one was flying above everyone with a roll of her crimson eyes. The young princess Ember scanned her home for any sight of a purple dot but none were around.
“Dammit Spike, I told him a hundred times to not do this again!” She landed and made sure she was not seen as she snuck away from everyone. Eventually, she arrived at the surrounding cliffs and one ended at the corpse of a long-dead volcano. In a single punch, she smashed her way into the volcano and was met by a large mass of dark smoke which caused her to go into a coughing fit. She pushed her way into the hole she created and looked around at the sight that would have awed any other dragon. Inside the volcano was a wide open cavity which someone had modified into a lab of sorts with gold covering the whole interior. Beakers and test tubes were everywhere and each one seemed to hold plenty of different kinds of substances, only way Ember could tell that were by all the different colors. With the sun shining in and illuminating all of the substances a more feminine creature might even have been frozen in awe at the beauty.
Ember wasn’t most females and she ignored the colorful light show as she walked up a nearby staircase and was suddenly assaulted by the scent of molten metals and something she called Spima or Spike Magic. While dragons were ancient magical beings and were resistant to most magic, they had no real magic in themselves but Spike was a strange case. While he was no spell caster, he found solace in the dozens of books he had managed to find or get from Ember herself, and he used his knowledge of sciences to create inventions that could rival magic. The stairs ended at a small round room where a small purple and green dragon wearing a mask was pouring liquids into a large cauldron. “Hey small pike.” Spike jumped at voice and the beaker he was holding flew high into the air, Ember expertly jumped and rolled, grabbing it before it could land in the cauldron.
“Nice catch Em! I was afraid for a sec there, too much of that stuff and we could have ex-” Spike looked at the now empty beaker in his best friend’s hand and could only manage a small deadpan stare. “Oh screw me…” The liquid inside the cauldron changed from a soft green to a blood red before a small explosion rocked the volcano. The two dragons left the room and entered the lab section again while cleaning off the remains of Spike’s potion. “Okay so that one was a bust but hey who knows? Maybe next time we can get it right.” Spike said while walking to a nearby wall and cut a line into it, one that matched the hundreds already marked. 
“Nice to see you are in such a chipper mood today, especially since you haven’t gotten anything packed.” Spike took his mask off and wiped his face before tilting his head towards his aqua (or is she more of a sky blue?) colored companion.
“What did I miss something again? You know I don’t care much for festivals and all those boring dragon meetings your father loves so much.”
“I don’t like those either but it wouldn’t kill you to show him a bit more respect, after all, it was him who agreed to take you back into our herd after you were hatched…”
“By a non-dragon. I know, kind of hard not too when all the other dragons call you unnatural when they think you aren’t listening.”
“I never have and you have to be a bit honest with yourself, does all this seems natural to you?” Ember gestures around at the lab before giving a smirk at the younger dragon. Spike couldn’t help but smile and tossed a sapphire at the girl as he sucked on one of his own. She gracefully snatched it out of the sky and chewed happily. “Mmm, you really know how to make sapphires down to a T.”
“Yeah but the emeralds always taste like they are missing something. So what brings you to our super secret place today?”
“Your secret place, I just helped make it.” Ember knew deep down that the place was equally theirs and she did spend a lot of time there whenever she wanted to see her… a familiar problem entered her mind as it did the first time she took an interest in the strange newcomer. She knew of the rumors about him but never took to rumors much as they all made him sound impressive or dangerous but the baby dragon only ever came off as one thing to the princess. A colossal nerd. She would later learn how true her guess had been and that she wanted to get to know him. The first friendly act the two participated in was making the lab and once it was done, Spike called her his first friend while Ember replied that she didn’t do friends and instead was his companion. However, looking back over the years she found that she had come to care about the dragon as the brother she never had. He was always there to help her when she was down and in return, she defended him wherever she could. 
“Em! Ember!” Spike snapped in front of her face and brought her out of her trip down memory lane.
“Huh? What?”
“You spaced out on me, now I know my jewels are good but that good?”
“Don’t kid yourself Pike, I was just thinking. Oh right! I came to remind you about the migration, that thing we do at the same time every year but you still manage to forget it.”
“Oh, the migration…” Spike sighed and walked out of the lab into the sunshine and took a seat on the cliff side. Ember joined him and laid a hand on his shoulder, she knew that this time of year would always hurt him. “No wings again this year and I still haven’t proven to the other dragons that I deserve to be here… even when I offer my inventions, they treat me like trash and like I’m some kind of… of… I don’t even know…” Spike held his head in his claws and sighed while remembering the time he offered his homemade jewels as a tribute to the dragon lord and he ordered they all be destroyed or the time that he offered to make an elixir that would be able to reinforce a dragon’s scales by tenfold. Everytime he was met by scorn and distrust only pushed him to make something better but in the end there were times he wanted just one chance. 
“I know that it’s not easy when we all leave you here, if I could I would stay in a heartbeat but my father would never let me.”
“I know and thank you but that’s not the only thing… I want to see Equestria! I read all our ancient texts about the other races and all the sites olden dragons helped create! I only want… a chance to really live…”
Ember allowed one arm to hug the younger and he hugged her back tightly. She thought back a few weeks ago to when they had been talking after another failed potion and sharing different stories when suddenly the ground began to shake and they looked to see a blinding white flash beyond their territory. The shaking soon enough stopped as fast as it started but when she was willing to chalk it to some freaky random occurrence, the spark that lit in Spike was something she had never seen. The feeling that Spike felt was unknown to himself as when he saw that light it was through a forgotten friend had just shown themselves again for the first time in years. The flash had renovated the fire in his soul and he stood tall (or rather tall as he could because come on it is still Spike) with a vigor and determination that Ember had never seen, declaring to himself and Ember that he would find what caused that light. 
“Spike… do you trust me?” 
“More than anyone.”
“Okay then, I want to help you then with this chance of yours.”
“W-what!? Do you mean it?! Wait I don’t understand? How are we gonna do this? I mean you have to go and I still can’t fly.”
“I remember you were once telling me of these fake wings that you were using as a model for that wing armor you wanted to make. That model with some work might be able to work as temporary wings and you could go see the world before coming back. I'm sure you with that big brain of yours can figure something out.” 
Spike almost couldn’t believe that the princess still remembered that failed invention, it was one of the first he had ever told her about and now that he started thinking more about it. There was a small chance that a few modifications might be able to turn them into real wings. His emerald eyes shined with a few tears before he wiped them away and nodded with the two shaking claws before setting out on their new job. Spike dug through the basement of inventions he had before finding the model and examined it thoroughly before spending an entire day coming up with new designs. The next day, they started on making every new design and then testing day began. It started promising but the descent was too quick and the next one was too light that he didn’t even glide any. The day was spent jumping off the cliff and Ember being there to catch him every time. Once that was done and they decided on the best design to go with, Spike modified the design to perfection. The last thing they did was paint and decorate the new wings before Spike took them for a test.
After steeling his nerves and praying to anything that could hear him, he took a leap off the cliff and aimed downwards before just hitting the ground he bent his back straight and expanded the wings, the burst of wind taking him back up and on equal evaluation to Ember. Spike nervously opened his eyes and a chuckle escaped him as he was amazed that not only was still alive but was flying! His wings worked, no his dream had taken its first steps to becoming real. A tear ran down his scales as he farther past their boundaries than ever before and he could see lakes, colorful dots in the distance moving, There was even what looked like a castle! He wanted to go and see it for himself but he was turned by Ember and he landed back at the lab.
“I-I DID IT!! I finally flew with you!” He tackled the princess in a hug and the two laughed and cheered before taking a nap there on the ground together. The last day was spent preparing for their respective journeys and Spike had made one last thing for his best friend. As she was gearing up to leave he smiled and tapped her shoulder. “Hey didn’t think you would get away without a hug or at least not without this.”
“Hmm? You didn’t have t-too…” She was caught off guard as Spike handed her a large wing made of a light blue crystal, she took it delicately into her claws and held it close to her chest. Spike flashed it’s twin that he kept and the two stared at each other, saying goodbye for them were always too hard so they never said it but this time they both had chances of not seeing the other if something managed to go wrong. Ember ignored the stares as she kneed down and smiled pulling the purple dragon into a tight hug and whispering softly, almost to herself. “Thank you, Spike… for everything. For giving me a friend and… a brother. I hope you find what you’re looking for out there but never forget that no matter what you have a home here too.
Spike hugged Ember back and nodded. “Even if this is our end I’ll remember you forever and in my heart, we will always be together. We will always be the best of friends. Ember, it's thanks to you that I have my chance to finally find who I really am.”
Ember wiped her eyes and let out a small chuckle. “I could tell you that, you’re nothing but a lovable nerd. Don’t ever change Small Pike”
“You neither Em…” Spike freely let his tears fall and waved until Ember was nothing but a speck in the distance. “I’ll make you proud of me…” With those last words, Spike wiped his eyes and left to the rundown shack that he called home. After getting his supplies he handed back to the lab and prepared to leave, sparing time to glance back at his city and couldn’t help giving it one last salute before looking up at the full moon. “Onward and upward… so where will you be leading me tonight?” He jumped off the cliff in the direction of the moon and raised his head a bit to let the gentle night breeze tickle his nose. His heart was set and he would be ready for anything that came his way. He passed the dragon’s boundary and entered a bigger world, decided he would head to the castle he had seen before first. 
“Okay world, it’s time you met Spike the Dragon Alchemist!”