Chapter 3
“How is that even possible?” Twilight shouted and leaned forward. She was standing on Celestia’s back as they made their way to the nursery where she would be reunited with her little, nameless dragon.
“Friends are supposed to be together forever and never fight! They should always smile, and be happy, and always be together, and be happy!”
“You said that already.” Celestia weakly smiled.
“It’s more complicated than that my little Twilight. You wouldn’t understand… it’s something you learn with age, and I wish you and that little colt would never be brought to the same point as Mandy and Nyx.”
“Mandy and Nyx?” Twilight tilted her head.
“Mrs. Mandagor’e and Nexus. Just whatever you do, don’t call Mandagor’e; Mandy. There are only a few ponies who dare, and look where that brought Nyx.” Celestia lightly chuckled.
“We’re here Twilight. Could you jump off? I don’t want to stress this relationship, seeing how only ponies from the Star Tower have been my protégé’s over the years.”
“Ok.” Twilight smiled and leaped off as Celestia used her golden magic to open a large wooden door.
As they entered the room the bright light blinded Twilight. It was a giant contrast from the moonlight lit hallways. The room was full of fillies and colts, all of them around the same age as Twilight, some, even older. They were running around from odd cribs to small terrariums, and vice versa.
Twilight questioningly looked up at Celestia. She smiled back and nudged her head in a direction of a small crib, a banner was hung with a magenta 6-pointed-star, and the letter T.S. embroidered in it.
Twilight rushed over to crib and saw it was full of hay, and in it laid a small purple-and-green creature. Her little companion.
Celestia walked over to Twilight. She leaned down and poked the little dragon with her nose. It opened its little green eyes and yawned. The two ponies smiled at its cuteness.
“What will you name him Twilight?” Celestia asked.
“Uhhh… I really don’t know… How about… Umm… Carl?”
“Maybe something more subtle?”
“Spike.”
“Sounds wonderful.” Celestia smiled.
“Hi there Spikey Wikey I'm your new mommy!” Twilight leaned over the crib’s railings.
The small dragon looked at her in surprise. It leaned forward and the two gazed at eachother.
The dragon suddenly burst out in loud cries, causing Twilight to jump backwards and fall over.
“OHMYGOSH did I do something wrong?! I'm really sorry please don’t cry plesedontcrypleasedontcry!” Twilight jumped back on her hooves and tried to calm the dragon by patting him on the head.
“Plesedontcrypleasedontcry!” Twilight muttered.
Celestia chucked and levitated over a small emerald. She teased the little dragon with it, and then gave it to him. Spike instantly fell quiet and stuffed the emerald in his tiny mouth and began to suck on it.
Twilight looked at Celestia in surprise. She smiled back and turned to the room.
“Everypony who has a dragon, come over here!”
After a few moments there was a small group of foals around Spike’s crib. Actually, only four ponies: Twilight, Cluster, and two fillies from Nagaraac and Puffle. The little dragon leaned on the railing looking at all the colorful creatures. He still had the small emerald in his mouth.
“I think I will tell you just the very basics so you can go to bed. I still need to tend to about a dozen salamander’s, two phoenixes, and eight Timberwolves. Not to mention somepony even has a baby hydra, and I honestly have no idea how they still have limbs...” Celestia rolled her eyes.
“Now, I already mentioned this to Twilight and Cluster over here, but, Dragons are life-long companions. They are very loyal and true friends if treated properly. They can be excellent assistants in magic as well. They are just like ponies, except they live up to thousands of years!”
Twilight poked Celestia's leg.
“Yes Twilight?”
“Why did you give Spike an emerald? Aren’t they like dangerous, sharp and all that?”
“That’s a very good question Twilight. Take note kids, you are free to ask anything. But I digress, a dragon’s diet actually consists of gemstones. Domesticated dragons eat pony food as well, but for these little guys-” She rubbed Spike’s head with her forehoof. “-to grow up healthy, they need to eat gems.”
“Don’t worry about that though, Canterlot is built on a mountain full of gem deposits. As for caring for them... We will have a lesson twice a week, only the five of us and your little companions. They will be cared for when you are in class, but the more time you spend with them, the closer they will be to you. I suggest giving them at least an hour of your day, and try to feed them by yourselves as well. If you need, I can give you excuses a few times for that exact reason.”
“What are dragons for?” the green filly asked. She had a crimson red mane and Twilight could only assume she was from Nagaraac. “I mean they’re cool and all, but what more is there? *sigh* I should’ve settled for a salamander…” she muttered the last part.
“Like I said, they are wonderful assistants. They can write for you, research for you, and they are better than any other pony because they are like a sibling that will do anything to help you. They will always be there for you, and will do anything for you as long as you don’t treat them like a waste of space.” Celestia gave her a cold glare.
The filly shrank in her shoulders just a bit. Twilight loved the fact that Celestia was so kind and nice, but at the same time super-strict and cunning.
“Any more questions?” Celestia tilted her head. The foals stood still.
“Ok then. You are free to come and go as you please.” She smiled and turned around to walk away.
As she yawned she said: “Don’t forget, they breathe fire, so stand clear when they burp.” And she was gone.
The four exchanged a glance. The two fillies walked away and Twilight was left alone with Cluster and Spike.
“So… umm… Hi I'm Twilight, Twilight Sparkle. This is Spike.” Twilight pointed at her little dragon.
“Cool name. I'm Chocolate Cluster.”
“You don’t look much like chocolate.”
“I know… but I like chocolate! Do you think dragons like chocolate?” He walked over to Spike and took a long look at him. He was plain gray with a dark-gray mane. He was just a bit shorter and chubbier that Twilight.
“Can you show me your dragon?” Twilight inquired.
“Ok.” Cluster got back on all fours and walked away. All Twilight could do was follow.
As they maneuvered around a couple of scattered and empty cribs, Twilight saw another purple banner. It was blank, other than two letters: C.C.
“This is my little dragon. It’s a she, but I haven’t thought up a name for her.” Cluster explained as he poked a small white dragon with black scales with his nose.
The dragon opened its eyes. They were bright pink.
Twilight suddenly had idea. “Coco.” was all she said.
“Pardon?” Cluster lifted an eyebrow.
“Name her Coco. It sounds cute!” she eagerly explained.
“Coco… You're right that does sound cute!” Cluster smiled. He turned to face his dragon.
“Hi Coco. Now you have a name, dontchya’? Aww you’re such a cutie!” He gently rubbed the dragoness’s cheek. She smiled back with a yawn. Cluster and Twilight yawned in response.
They exchanged a quick look and began to laugh as the dragon fell over, instantly falling asleep.
“Umm… maybe we can head to the tower together? I have a tendency to get lost.” Twilight blushed.
“Sure.”
“Ok! Just let me say goodnight to Spike.” Twilight turned around and ran out from sight.
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“And she has a phoenix! A phoenix!” Twilight whisper-shouted as she was dangerously hanging upside-down from the top bunk.
The room was dark, and it seemed almost as if Lyra’s yellow eyes glowed as she looked up from the side of her covers.
“Wow, I honestly can’t get over the fact there are tamed dragons! That’s like, really super-cool!” Lyra replied.
Twilight had spent the last two hours talking to Lyra about the entire pet/assistant thing, seeing that the aquamarine filly only owned a songbird. She seemed somewhat interested, but not very eager. Lyra was a nice conversation-partner, but she was still pretty cold to Twilight.
She was nice pony but maybe just a bit too arrogant. Twilight thought to herself.
“Anyway, and we’re gonna have extra classes! I mean I'm not complaining, I really love to learn and all that, but I'm no caretaker. My first goldfish died the day after I got it! Then again Moonglow had her experimenting period and-”
“Twilight!” a voice echoed the dark bedroom.
Twilight and Lyra looked at the darkness in surprise. It spoke again.
“I get that you had a fun time with Cluster and Celestia, I had a nice time too, but PLEASE just shut up! I'm trying to sleep! You need sleep too!” It was Blinky. Her pale green eyes were easily recognized even in a dark room. Her glasses were like super-powered magnifiers.
“Oh…” Nopony could see Twilight blush. “We were loud?”
“YES!” the entire room boomed with the voices of five other fillies.
“Oh… sorry…” she whispered and disappeared under her covers.
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Morning came abruptly. Twilight: being used to sleeping on ground-level sleepily tried to get out of bed and fell at least 10 hoofs until she landed in Lyra’s opened suitcase with a loud thud.
As she climbed out of her bunk-buddy’s personal belongings, she saw that there weren’t all that many. There was a stuffed and severely patched plush bird, a few plain dresses, a random snow globe of Manehattan, a couple of ragged books, and some other miscellaneous items along with a small, locked, wooden box. All of it seemed to be already used once.
As Lyra shot her an evil glace Twilight dragged herself over to her own suitcase. She used her magic without even noticing it and picked out her purple robes. After the suitcase had been closed she realized she had used magic. She stared at the robes in surprise for a few moments before she put them on.
They were nice and soft, and matched her coat. She finally took a peak at the sheet of paper containing every single thing she supposedly needed.
Routine:
8:00 - Wake up
8:20 - Breakfast in Great Hall
9:00 - Class #1 (see schedule)
10:30 - Class #2
12:00 - Free time
13:00 - Lunch in Great Hall
14:00 - Class #3
15:30 - Class #4
17:00 - Break
17:30 - Class #5 (final)
19:00 - Diner in Great Hall
20:00 - Free Time
22:00 - Dark Hours
Note: Dark Hours means NOPONY is allowed outside without explicit permission.
Monday
Herbology
Herbology
Magic Theory
Magic Practice
Math
Tuesday
Combat
History
Magic Practice
Runes
Magic Theory
Wednesday
Magic Practice
Runes
Gym
Gym
Magic Theory
Thursday
Creatures
Combat
Combat
Magic Theory
Gym
Friday
Math
History
Herbology
Creatures
Combat
Note: No books/equipment needed for first lesson
“Herbology? Cool!” Twilight cheered.
“Uggh… that’s a lot of stuff to do…” Twilight’s mood dropped as she realized there was barely any free time. “All for a good cause I guess…” she muttered and exited the bedroom completely, ignoring Blinky.
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“I really don’t see why we need to learn about plants and stuff. I would’ve much preferred something like… umm…”
“Magic?” Twilight cut in. She and Starshine were chatting away in a large greenhouse placed right next to the side of the mountain. The Puffle’s were also there, which meant they would have class with them for the rest of the year.
It wasn’t that bad actually. A lot of the Puffle’s were smart, or goofy. They were nice to have around, especially for a pony like Twilight.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something just as she saw a leafy, green mare enter the large glass room.
“Hello my little ponies!” She cheerfully spoke. She had a nice orange mane and two tails that independently twirled in the air. She had crystal-clear, blue eyes and a giant smile.
Twilight recognized her. She was the one who shoved her to the front of the line at the Sorting Ceremony. Her blistering smile was just a bit disturbing. Her cutie mark was a plain, clay pot.
“Oh my! I didn’t know we had two towers here! Oh boy this year will be a very tight doozy.” She looked funny, talked funny, and acted funny. Twilight was beginning to like her more and more.
She pushed herself through a group of yellow-robed students at the opposite side of the greenhouse. They were all Puffle’s, and Twilight could see some of them go so far as to even admiring the overly happy teacher.
It took at least five minutes for the teacher to make her way to the far side of the greenhouse. She was a bit… larger than the average pony. She wasn’t fat she was just... big boned.
She turned and faced the students. Twilight couldn’t see her horn.
“Welcome, welcome to my little greenhouse. I am Golden Petal, and I'm going to be your Herbology teacher. As you may have noticed, I am an herbalist. Is there anything else you have noticed about me?” She smiled.
A hoof shot up at the far end of the greenhouse from the Puffle side.
“Yes little one?”
“You’re not a unicorn!” the filly shouted her answer.
“Correct! And why am I not a unicorn at an all-unicorn school?”
Twilight’s hoof shot up.
“Yes little purple filly?” Golden Petal looked at Twilight.
“Because earth ponies are great farmers and herbalist’s. Earth pony magic is very complicated, and at the same time, very simple. Besides them being much more durable and stronger than the other two races, they have a strong magical aura.
Unlike unicorns that can channel their magic through the horn, Earth ponies have a distinct in-born power that ‘connects’ them to the earth, just like pegasi can ‘connect’ to the air, which simply means that earth ponies can easily nourish and grow the wildest of plants without any problems.
In short: No-pony can grow anything like an Earth-pony!”
Twilight ended her small speech.
All of the students, including the teacher, gazed at her wide-eyed in pure amazement.
“D-did I misinterpret a fact? I'm sorry if I did…” Twilight shrank under the table.
Golden Petal shook her head and smiled even wider (how is that even possible?!)
“That was wonderful… WONDERFUL!” She clapped her hooves. “I could not have possibly said it better myself! Oh, this earns the Star tower a big, fat, juicy 20 points!” She beamed.
The rest of the Star Tower students followed Starshine’s example, and clapped their hoofs as well. After the cheers died down, both of the classes went by uneventfully as Golden Petal explained the basics of Herbology. Twilight sat through it as red as a beet.
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After the sound of a distant bell, the students exited the steamy greenhouse. Blinky instantly clung to Twilight and Starshine as they made their way to the common room.
“Wow and I thought I was gonna be the good one at Herbology!” Blinky began a conversation.
“Thanks…” Twilight wasn’t very responsive.
“I didn’t… never mind… Hey! Wanna’ go to the nursery with me?!” Blinky hopped with excitement.
“I'm not really in the mood.” Twilight simply stared at the ground as she walked forward.
“Come on Twilight!” Starshine joined in. “I really wanna’ see your dragon! Damien told me it was awesome!”
“Damien?” Twilight lifted her eyes.
“Yea. He’s my bunk-buddy!”
“Really?”
“Well, not exactly. We’re both in the top bunks next to each other. We tied a sheet in the middle and now we have a giant hammock! It’s really cool, and Damien’s really cool too because he says he used to sleep in trees! He’s an awesome pony, except he looks like filly.” Starshine snickered.
Twilight let a small smile slip on her lips. Her two companions stopped in front of her and just stared at her with big smiles. Finally Twilight couldn’t take it, and burst into laughter.
After that was over she was smiling once again as they changed their course, and headed to the nursery.
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It took about half an hour for the three little ponies to find their way. The school looked immensely different in the dark than during the day. But finally they were there.
The nursery was a bright, warm, and welcoming room. One corner had a very large terrarium with a small pool and an abundance of odd plants, probably for the salamanders. Twilight could’ve sworn she saw Golden Petal’s flank flash through the foliage.
There was also a small area with only a couple of cages, and a bunch of perches. That was where Blinky had vanished.
Twilight moved to the corner holding a few cribs as Starshine followed her eagerly looking around.
As they approached a crib with the purple banner hanging atop, the small dragon leaned over the railing to greet the odd ponies. Twilight smiled as she came to a stop just in front of the little dragon. She smiled and he smiled back. Starshine barely dared to breathe.
“Hi Spikey. How ya’ doing?” Twilight leaned over and rubbed the dragon with her nose. He playfully let out a squee and fell over giggling.
Starshine finally dared to come a bit closer and leaned on the railing next to Twilight.
“He’s like a baby. That’s so cool.” He tilted his head.
“Celestia said they’re like baby ponies… Do you have a brother or a sister?”
“Me? No. I'm an only child and I live with my dad.”
“What about your mom?”
“I don’t have one. Whenever I ask dad about it he’s just says, “When you’re older".” He paused, “I hate that. You’re lucky, you have, like the best sister and family ever.”
“I can never imagine my life without my mom and dad, or Shinning, or especially Moonglow… I love them very much…”
“Does Spaiee-t-this little guy have parents?”
“Spike. And no. Celestia told me they got him off a real mean griffon that wanted to eat him for lunch… that’s horrible…”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Spike slapped his little claw on Twilight’s nose and stared at her. A few moments passed and he opened his mouth.
“What do you think he’s doing?” Starshine asked.
“I think he’s hungry.” Twilight replied.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s something called ‘A Mother’s instinct.’ I'm not exactly sure but I read about it somewhere.”
“Oh… You want me to get something from the Great Hall? Lunch is gonna be soon anyway.”
“No. Dragons don’t eat food, he might get sick or something.”
“Then what do they eat?”
“Gems.” Twilight turned around and walked over to a small stack of cardboard boxes. She pushed one open with her nose and took out a sapphire.
She walked back to Spike and teased him with the gem before giving it to him, while wearing an unusual, motherly expression she had only seen on her own mom and Celestia. Starshine eagerly watched the process. It looked like he really adored dragons, or maybe it was caretaking?
“Maybe I can be his mommy?” Twilight said to nopony in particular.
“Aren’t you already?” Starshine looked at her.
“I'm not sure… but if I'm gonna be a mommy then he needs a daddy too…” Twilight barely paid attention to what she was saying.
“Maybe…” Starshine fell quiet. “Maybe I can…?”
The two little ponies looked at each other. Purple and turquoise met. They stared at each other and suddenly turned away, heavily blushing. They quietly pushed out awkward laughs as they didn’t dare to look at each other.
“Maybe we should go? Next lesson’s Magic and i don't want to miss lunch ether…” Starshine quickly changed the subject.
“Ok, I’ll just tuck him in.” Twilight reached over and pulled a blanket over the little dragon with her teeth, as he slowly chewed on the sapphire.
“Sleep tight Spikey-Wikey.” Twilight muttered and turned around to follow Starshine.
As they had exited the nursery Blinky appeared around the corner.
“Hey guys I just checked on my phoenix and I thought we could go to…” She looked around and didn’t see anypony. Spike quietly snored hugging the sapphire.
“Did they seriously forget about me again?” Blinky skeptically looked around.
“It feels like they don’t even want me around… Noooooo, that can’t be right, can it? They just forgot! I’ll just go meet them in the Great Hall!” And she cheerfully trotted out the door.
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Edited by Midge Mannequin