If you find any stupid grammar/spelling errors, tell me.
Things had been going well in his visit, Dawn had helped him introduce himself to the rest of the townsponies. They all seemed to be very interested and the only ponies to be scared were the young colts and fillies. Celestia and Luna never left his side, but they had dispatched their guards to cover the area around them. Spike couldn’t be happier to be back and Luna noticed.
‘Well what do you think, Spike?’ Luna poked his arm as he walked next to her.
‘This. is. GREAT!’ he had to keep himself from shouting. Dawn laughed as she lead the way through the town, they were heading to the library.
‘I’m glad you liked it, Spike.’ Dawn giggled as they were closing in to the library but as they were close, he saw something that made him speechless. His jaw just hung open. There, besides the library was a statue of Twilight Sparkle. Spike walked carefully towards it with his head low, almost as if he expected it to break if he walked to it too eagerly. The statue itself was bigger than a normal pony, it was like Luna in height. He sat down in front of it, he could feel tears starting to work their way up to his eyes. Spike managed to fight them back, but he slowly laid down and wrapped his arms around the base of the statue. He felt nothing but regret when he saw the tattered statue. Everypony who had walked to the library with him just stared at him, so did everypony watching. Celestia had to do her best to figh back tears, as the memories of Twilight washed over her too. She walked up to him and laid down besides him.
‘Spike?’ Celestia asked in a comforting tone as she nuzzled his side.
‘Why?’ He sobbed.
‘What do you mean with that?’ Celestia asked him, slightly confused.
‘Why did I have to be a dragon and not a pony? I could have been with her and not run away because of blind rage.’ Celesti felt a small trickle of water against her legs, and she knew that it was his tears.
‘Nature is something that even I or Luna can’t control... We cannot go back in time and change certain events as that would destroy nature’s cycle.’ She brushed a comforting wing against him, and he shuddered slightly at the touch.
’I hate the nature’s cycle...’ Spike said in a dark tone. ’I want Twilight back.’ His tone softened and translated into another soft sob. Luna walked up to him and stood besides her sister.
’I can say that me and my sister as well doesn’t like the nature’s cycle that much too, and I am completely sure that Celestia also would want Twilight to come back. But the cycle is what keeps Equestria in harmony, it might sound wrong but it’s true.’ Luna stated.
’As my sister said, the nature’s cycle is is a big part of the harmony in Equestria because if nopony would pass, Equestria would be overpopulated and there wouldn’t be enough food to provide everypony. And before we knew it, wars for supplies would break out and crush harmony.’ Celestia stood up besides Spike and rubbed her hoof on his side. ‘Now let’s continue the grand tour, shall we?’ Celestia said with a soft smile that she knew that Spike couldn’t say no to.
’I guess...’ He withdrew his arms from around the statue and pushed himself up to stand. He glanced at the great tree besides the statue. He had something he had to do that he had wondered about for a while. He told the ponies around him to stand back and everypony took a few steps back, some took a few extra steps. He positioned himself in front of the door and carefully pushed his tail to the ground for support, instead of slamming it like he usually did. When he was sure that the tail would be able to balance him, he leaned back on his legs and slowly raised his arms. It was a slow process but when he was finished, he was standing on his legs. The three barely reached his shoulders. He wanted to know if he was bigger than the library, and he was. Satisfied, he lowered himself to the ground and stood up and nodded to the princesses to show that he was ready to continue.
Dawn lead the way towards the outskirts of Ponyville. They were on their way to the Sweet Apple Acres. Spike was amazed that the farm was still used but he wasn’t surprised, as he knew that the Apple family would never leave work or the orchard to die. When they were walking along a dirt road, he saw something that caught his eyes. It looked like a boulder placed on a hill. It was covered in moss and he could see that it used to be a bridge. It took a while for him to realise that it was Fluttershy’s old cottage. Dawn was talking to Spike about Twilight’s accomplishments but when she heard no answer, she looked back to see Celestia and Luna giggling and Spike walking in a brisk pace to the old boulder and sat down just by the edge of the stream that divided him from it.
’Uh Spike, what’s with that stone?’ Dawn asked him, curious as always.
Spike snorted, and reached a claw against the moss and with a quick slash, the moss fell down and showed an old door. ‘It’s not a stone, it’s a cottage. Fluttershy lived here.’
Dawn suddenly felt stupid, a feeling she didn’t like at all. ’Oh...’
’I remember coming here with Twilight when I was still a baby dragon. She had a ton of animals that she took care of and nursed back to health. She was almost too kind, she allowed ponies to do things she actually didn’t like but fortunately, she learned to be assertive and believe in herself. Fluttershy was also the element of kindness.’ Spike said as a matter of fact. ‘But I still don’t like that Angel bunny.’ He growled at the thought of the small white fluffy ball of evil.
‘Interesting’ Dawn said as she nodded her head in a slow pace.
‘Shall we?’ Spike said as he stood up and walked towards the waiting princesses.
’We shall.’ Dawn giggled as she trotted up next to him
-----
It wasn’t a long walk the rest of the way to the acres but Spike was impressed of how much bigger it had become over the years. He could see an earth pony stallion trot towards them. He was a little shorter than Big Macintosh, his coat was a little darker than what Applebloom’s had been. His mane was dark blonde with a black band at the base of his neck. A dark brown stetson hat firmly placed on his head and a yoke around his neck. His cutiemark was three apples. One red, one green and one yellowish. His eyes were a brilliant emerald green, like Spike’s. As soon as the stallion saw Dawn, he picked up his pace. Dawn trotted up to meet him. Spike rolled his eyes, he knew what was going on between those two.
As soon as Dawn came to him, she reached for his hat and placed it on her head and messed up her hair. The stallion chuckled as a wide grin appeared on her face. She turned around and faced Spike and the princesses while standing just besides him.
The stallion bowed to the princesses and his eyes widened at the sight of Spike. Dawn poked him on his shoulder. He cleared his throat and walked up to Spike.
‘Yah must be Spike if Ah’m not mistakin’’ He said in the same accent that Applejack had. Spike nodded as an answer. ‘Ah’m Buck, Ah run th’ acres. Or Ah run most o’ th’ physical work when mah twin sister run th’ business management with her fancy mathematics and such.’ He explained in a cheery tone and Dawn leaned a little towards Buck.
’A pleasure to meet you, Buck. It’s impressive how much the farm have grown over a thousand years but I shouldn’t have expected any less from an Apple.’ Spike said as he stretched his wings.
Buck stood there awestruck. That dragon had been to the farm a thousand years ago, and he complimented him for all of the work he had done. ‘Gosh, thank ya kindly...’ He shuffled his forelegs. ’Ah just do what needs to be done.’ Buck said with a weak smile.
‘You remind me a lot of Applejack. She was the most hard working pony I ever knew, but you work as hard as she does. It’s nice to see that the farm is in good hooves.’ Spike nodded and looked down at Celestia, who were smiling.
’It was nice talkin’ to yah Spike but Ah gotta git back ta’ work or mah sister will go haywire, Ah’ll see ya ‘round’ Buck nuzzled Dawn before he waved and trotted back to work. Dawn sighed and walked back to Spike. Spike said a ’‘OooooOOoo’’ As she walked back, she blushed at it and the princess giggled at her response. She meekly punched his arm and he winced in mock-pain. All of them shared a laugh.
-----
Now it was late evening and Spike had made himself comfortable outside the library. He was about to drift off to sleep when he felt a nudge on his hand. He opened his eyes to see Dawn standing next to him.
‘Spike?’
‘Yeah?’
’I just came back from a meeting with the mayor, and she said that it was a very positive effect for you to come here. She just wanted me to tell you that you are free to come here whenever you feel like it. Everypony on the meeting agreed with her on that point.
‘Wow... I don’t know what to say... Just... Wow...’ He found himself stumbling on words, this is what he wanted, this is what he needed to hear an when he finally heard it, it felt unreal. ’So... I can go to my cave... Be there for a couple of days and then come back here again?’
Dawn nodded. ‘It’s your choice to make. You can even be here for a extended time now, if you want to.’ She was thrilled that Spike would be able to stay.
’I will come here often, but I will not extend my stay because there is a natural pull for me to be close to my hoard. I will have to go back there and check on it to see that nothing’s missing or if something decided to move in without me knowing.’ Spike explained to her.
Dawn had read about dragons and their pull to their territory and hoard, so she understood why he would have to leave and come back after a few days. ’I understand, I studied dragons.
’Of course you did.’ Spike chuckled. Dawn blushed a little and giggled. You know, the princess was right.’ Spike said as he laid onto his side.
‘About what?’ She took a step towards him and sat down besides him.
‘About you being a lot like Twilight. She was the one who followed everything by the book. If she didn’t, she could easily panic and throw a fit. She wanted so much good that she often forgot about herself in the end. I thought that I’d never meet anypony like her again, but then you show up. I couldn’t be happier. I still want her to return though. She was like a sister to me.’ Spike gazed up at the statue of his sister.
Dawn was taken aback of the similarities between her and Twilight. She was flattered that he thought so much about her when they had just met today. ’ Spike, I...’ She was completely at loss for words. She was a little startled when Spike reached out his arms to her, but she walked to them and leaned towards his massive chest. He was warm, his scales were softer then what she had expected them to be.
Spike was in bliss. He finally had a place to fit in again. He could come and go how much he wanted. They wouldn’t get scared or run away when he would walk towards them. They would smile and wave to him. He felt a sudden warmth, not the warmth that already existed from the fire inside of him. It was a warmth that explained that he finally had a place where he could call his home again. In his thoughts, he could swear that he heard a familiar voice talk to him..
‘I’m so proud of you Spike, you came back after all these years.’ It was Twilight’s voice. How, he don’t know.
’Tw- Twilight.’ Even his thoughts stammered.
’I always loved you. Don’t you dare forget it, mister.’
Tears built up in him again. He allowed them to flow. He didn’t care. ’I never forgot you, and I never will. I love you, Twi.’ His claws clenched to the ground and he screwed his eyes shut.
’I love you too Spike.’ Twilight’s voice faded away. Spike was dissappointed that it was gone, but his chest felt lighter, as if something had been lifted off it. He smiled weakly as he opened his eyes and looked to his side, where Dawn was sleeping. He placed his wings over her as a cover and sighed. He could live with this. He felt something spark inside of him, it was hope of a new beginning. He had learned to endure, to handle loss and to remember. The new found hope was what he needed to stop worrying about the past and continue the rest of his life with friends who needed him. He looked up to the night sky. One star was shining brighter than the rest. He realised that it was Twilight looking down at him from the afterlife.
‘I’ll see you soon, Twi.’
Author's note: Welp! That was it. Endurance is now finished and I will start writing another story, When The Wind Changes. Check it out for Discord's antics! Cheers.