Dragons are remarkably resilient creatures. Perhaps the most dramatic example of this is their ability to bathe in molten rock as casually as a pony might relax in a hot tub. The temperatures involved would burn a pony before they even got close enough to touch it but dragons are made of sterner stuff.
For a dragon living among ponies this means it can be difficult to feel warm.
Long before moving to Ponyville, Spike struggles with this problem when Canterlot slips into the grip of winter. Eventually he braves the cold of the world outside his basket in search of warmth.
But it's Twilight who will be faced with the collateral damage.
A random standalone story that popped into my head the other day. Set a few years before Twilight and Spike move to Ponyville and before Spike becomes Twilight's assistant.
So Spike has discovered the secret to getting almost warm ?
Haha.
For some reason I like this a lot and want to see more. But why?
8976936
Well, almost warm is at least a half step up from definitely cold.
8977205
I don't know. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I love this!!!
This is cute and I eagerly anticipate more.
8978212
There is no greater weapon in a life long friend or family member's arsenal than baby pictures.
8979019
I'm glad you're enjoying it so far, thank you for reading.
8982726
Thank you. I wasn't sure how well I'd do writing younger characters. More should be up soon.
This is just great! Truly enjoying your characterization of this trio and always love to see someone delve into the relationship between Spike and Celestia which is tragically lacking anywhere you look. So it's nice to see people do the showrunners' job for them!
8991196
Thank you, but I'm not sure I'd go that far. I just like to fill in blanks. I can't imagine how many ideas and stories the showrunners have to leave on the cutting room floor even just per episode. It must be so difficult to put a show together.
That said, I am insanely curious what their official view of Celestia and Spike's dynamic is and would love to see them do something with it.
perfect ending.
I really enjoyed this. When I really enjoy a story, I feel the need to try and give some constructive criticism. Here, though, I don't have much to criticize. The characterization was on point, the story flowed well without any sections that felt rushed, and none that felt unnecessary. It's about as close to perfect as I can imagine. Please do more.
9012417
I'm glad you liked it. It wasn't quite what I originally planned but once I got to that point I felt like it was the ending it needed to have. Thank you for reading.
9012554
I appreciate the feedback, especially about the flow. I'd felt like I was maybe rushing in a few spots, especially in chapter 5. I'm glad to hear it doesn't come across that way. I can't promise exactly when I'll post or update another story or what it'll be about but I do have many more in various states of rough draft that I intend to finish.
Thank you for reading.
Not exaggerating here, this was just a flawless little story. While I'm a bit sad it didn't end quite the way I'd hoped it would, I suppose my vision of the ending would have made it a bit more generic and more in line with the dozens of other little fluff pieces on this site (not saying they're bad!) so I'm glad you took a slight different approach. Stop me if you've read this already but your characterization was the best part as I felt these are the characters from the show, albeit more fleshed out. Still sad though.
Please do more.
9016158
I'm glad you liked it. It's good to know that I brought the characters across well. That's usually the thing I'm most worried about when I write these stories. Makes me a bit nervous to tackle some of the more difficult characters, like Rarity for example.
I admit that I'm a little curious about how you were expecting the ending to go before you read it. I'd planned to go a slightly different direction originally but this just felt right to me. I'm not sure if it's sad enough that I should add the "Sad" tag. I don't want to blindside anyone with it.
9016682
Well I'm glad to report you've done an excellent job capturing their personalities. Just keep doing what you do.
Don't mind me I'm a bit of a Celestia/Spike sucker when it comes to their relationship. It has always bothered me that in the show they've exchanged almost no words nor acknowledged each other though it makes sense Spike's early years would have included Celestia's influence in his raising.
It definitely doesn't warrant a "sad" tag, it was slice of life through and through, just Celestia's sudden realization at the end that Spike has left her nest and into Twilight's (at least that's how I interpreted her reaction) made me sorry she felt that way. Correct me if I missed the point.
9016738
That's more or less what I was aiming for. Plus some lingering issues with being close to others after what happened with Luna, combined with the expectations of her position and the responsibilities that force her to see those around her as strategic resources as well as ponies.
As they say, it's lonely at the top.
9016821
I suppose that was kind of what I was hoping for. Instead of reclusing herself further into her familiar solitude as she has always known, she would embrace the children. Well, at least she had Cadence for relief this time around.
A nice little story that shows a pretty fitting start to the bond between Spike and Twilight.
I love it
The bittersweet ending was unexpected, but understandable.
9018859
I'm glad you liked it. And I'm glad the ending makes sense even if it isn't set up 100% perfectly.
Lovely story!
Thank you!
9170400
I'm just glad you liked it. Thank you for reading.
I enjoyed this story, thank you for writing it!
9186759
Thank you for reading it and letting me know what you thought.
By the way:
Remove the apostrophe.
9346447
Thanks for spotting that. No matter how many times I go back over my stories specifically looking for that sort of thing, there are always more. Also, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.
9355128
Yes, I did enjoy the story. An interesting exploration into the pre-show psychology of Twilight Sparkle and Spike.
Wow, when you put it that way, Twilight really did mess up.
I don't often say this ... but Celestia needs ALL THE HUGS. No wonder she and Luna are retiring.
9504070
It's lonely at the top.
Awww. Why didn’t you let Tia snuggle the pony and dragon?
9658289
It's just sorta where the story ended up going. I'd planned a different ending when I started but when I got there it ended up changing entirely into its current form and I couldn't bring myself to do anything else instead.
Interesting how the first two chapters were actually self-coherent enough that they could've been two little stand-alone one-shots. It made me wonder at first if this was more of an anthology of stories occurring one after the other. Of course, this isn't tagged anthology, and with good reason.
Note: Review below is not altogether spoiler free.
The first chapter was pretty cute, with Spike and his adorable, if not very flawed reasoning as to how to solve his problem - trying to do it the Twilight way without really knowing what he was doing was both humorous and precious.
Chapter two had a rather comical start, showing us the precocious little Twilight being paid little mind while emphatically trying to make her point - the effect on the reading akin to smirks and chuckles as we see the young student desperately trying to mature more than a little faster than is actually good for her.
As things progressed, it was sad to Twilight and Spike in conflict with one another at this more tender stage in life, but of course it did make sense given the circumstances. Chapter one is pretty crucial to truly understanding Spike's side of things, and it makes us very sympathetic to his plight in the second and onward.
Usually with the Celestia and little Twily fics I've read, the tone tends to stay more whimsical, sweet, or light-hearted between them. Typically with Celestia giving reassurance and gentle guidance coupled with Twilight's humorous, but altogether adorable attempts at trying to be more grown up and dependable. Here, however, is probably the most notable time in which I can recall a story showing Celestia truly and more firmly disciplining her student, which is something that sets this story apart.
We like to imagine that things were always sweet and light-hearted in Twilight's childhood, but like all children who grow up to be responsible adults, there are times when things turn serious and it is necessary to teach them that disobedience has consequences. Sad as it was.
I loved how Twilight's response to learning of Spike's illiteracy was immediately to try and teach him how to read.
Very in-character, and I took great pleasure in her being so aghast upon learning of the situation. 
We got to see a glimpse of the closer, more loving duo of Twilight and Spike when they had fallen asleep together on the cushion. I join Cadance in her complete approval!
One of the more sobering aspects of this tale, was revealed in the showing of Celestia with all of her important royal and diplomatic responsibilities, secretly just desperately longing to be able to set aside her dull work and focus more on being a care-giver to little Twilight and Spike. Her momlestia desires definitely were showing in that last chapter.
All-in-all, this was an engaging and rather bitter-sweet read, showing us some of the solemn aspects of life when Twilight and Spike were quite young. I thank you for sharing.
9678856
Wow, thank you so much for this detailed review and feedback! I really appreciate you taking the time to write this out.
This response is also not spoiler free.
I'm glad to hear that Spike's childlike thought process worked. It felt like a very tricky balancing act to bring across his childish reasoning in a way that didn't become too clumsy to read or have a really weird juxtaposition of a little kid having immature thoughts with much too big and advanced a vocabulary. I must have gone over his sections a dozen times, agonizing over striking the right balance.
Now that you mention it, I haven't really seen a lot of young Twilight getting in actual trouble with Celestia either. While I don't imagine a young Twilight deliberately setting out to cause trouble, having Celestia need to discipline Twilight felt very natural to me. It's established pretty early on in the show that she's extraordinarily determined to earn and keep Celestia's approval. If she can cause havoc as an adult in "Lesson Zero" I can only imagine what kind of trouble she caused as a little filly, even if only through accidents, inexperience, or lack of forethought. Children aren't exactly known for making wise decisions. Occasionally being adorable is an option, though.
Celestia has, from pretty early on, struck me as a mare who spends a lot of her time in public keeping up appearances. Her joy at ruining the Gala by inviting Discord and the rather childish bickering with her sister in a couple of episodes hint at a much more normal pony hiding under all the poise who is begging to be cut loose. It felt right that this should extend to some of the less fun aspects of being a normal pony. Heartache, loss, and loneliness are all things that normal ponies struggle with at some point in their lives, after all. As the saying goes: it's lonely at the top.
Thank you again for reading and for taking the time to provide such detailed feedback. I really do appreciate it.
Feels interesting to go from a child's perspective. Feels spot on too.
Children dealing with babies... why does it entertain me so?
And technically, the reason he made that mess was because he was emulating Twilight's behaviour. I can see why Celestia's so concerned, because technically Twilight's behaviour is incredibly selfish.
9679298
Not spoiler free.
I... wouldn't equate imitating her checklist habit to being Twilight's fault, he could've just as easily emulated something Celestia does with his limited understanding and then made a mess that way.
I think Twilight's issue here was more her tunnel-vision, wanting to be adept at what she considered her purpose, to please her teacher and fulfill her potential.
It annoyed her to suddenly have to be pulled away from that, so she was very reluctant and irritated that no one seemed to be giving her point of view much merit.
And then to immediately have a disaster on her hooves to deal with on top of it all just added to her irritability, and then she still being an immature filly, directed her displeasure at Spike.
Of course she did realize her mistake when it was plainly laid out for her, and she was also punished for her error, but "incredibly selfish" may be a bit harsh. She is just a young filly and a student still in the process of learning, after all.
That sounds like early Twilight alright. For someone so smart she really has a hard time comprehending simple things.
Loved the interactions between Spike and Celestia.
9679499
Thank you for reading and for all of your feedback! I'm glad Twilight comes across well in that regard, at least. She's a far cry from the mare she grows up to be at this point. She doesn't quite get how to think about the needs of others, not out of malice, but out of simple inexperience. She has a very clear picture of how the world is supposed to work and doesn't react well when reality doesn't align. And, like you said, she's very smart, and so busy thinking about complicated matters that simple things just slip right on by.
Oh, and I'm glad Celestia's interactions with Spike work. They don't spend a lot of time interacting one-on-one so I didn't have much to go on.
9679333
Oh, I wasn't trying to imply that his making a checklist was Twilight's fault. Just that it's something he learned from her.
Come on Twilight, even you couldn't read at some point.
A good ending, nice story.
9680111
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Why does everyone seem to think he’s doing something wrong? he’s not, he’s a dragon, in conditions not meant for a dragon, trying to stay warm for Celestia’s sake! They should at least provide him with a lava bath.
Finally got around to reading this story, and damn. It was just... amazing.
You near=perfectly showed Spike as a very young boy, maybe 6 or so, trying to make sense of the world around him. His thought process in the first chapter was spot on. Twilight, as well, was exactly what we were always shown/told she was as a filly: focused, driven, and completely lacking in social graces. When she snapped at Spike, my heart jerked. I love how you played it into Spike's worst fear, as shown in The Crystal Empire, of not being able to be around Twilight anymore.
The stealth characterization came from Celestia. I really bought her as Spike's "mom" and Twilight's mentor. I also love the bits hinting at her having this massive, grand plan in place for dealing with Nightmare Moon, as well as Cadance and Shining Armor factoring into it, too.
The only thing I can think of as a "criticism" would be the synopsis seemed to foretell a discussion as to why Spike takes the titular "Seven Hour Bubble Baths." It made me kind of hope for a talk about dragon biology, with Twilight learning more about how to care for her dragon. But I can hardly blame you for my incorrect assumptions, now can I?
All in all, this fantastic tale reminded me why I love reading stories about Celestia and the "Sparkle family" from before Season One. You really hit the nail on the head with showing us how Twilight and Spike's relationship formed, and making everyone believable. I truly loved this story!