Spike is Twilight Sparkle's number one assistant. He's been her friend and her support many times in the past. And she has supported him almost as many times. She always thought it'd be like that forever. She thought wrong.
Spike the dragon has always been at Twilight's side. He's many things for her: Her friend, her brother, her assistant. It is certainly someone very important to her. But will things stay the same now that she's a princess? Especially now that the princesses must tell her her assistant's secret?
Spike ran down the hallway of Canterlot castle hoping to draw Twilight's attention towards him. The new alicorn princess was busy as usual. Around her ten maybe twelve ponies, some of them unicorns, some others pegasi or earth ponies, walked matching her speed, reproaching, commenting and advising on the decisions made and taken that had or would affect Equestria's future later on. Twilight did her best to find a solution to all the problems presented to her while fencing off eloquently the hurtful comments or destructive critiques the ponies threw at her.
Spike didn't understand much about those matters, but from the distance he saw her do well as a new ruler. Not even for an instant did she lose her cool, nor did she run away or push the presented issues for later. She faced them one at a time suggesting possible ways of solving each problem. It somehow reminded him of how Celestia or Luna did things.
"Twilight, Twilight!" "Spike."
She turned around slowly and saw him run towards her. One of her hooves was lifted in the air to let the ones around her know she wanted them to be quiet. The ponies stopped talking at once and lowered their heads with their eyes closed.
"What is it, Spike?" "Ugh...well..."
Although he did want to draw her attention, there was nothing really special or important to talk about. He just wanted to hear her talk again to him once more. Lately he had been feeling quite lonely. No longer was he able to assist her. The knowledge he had acquired during his life with Twilight was not needed anymore. Now the youngest princess needed to know more about the kingdom's economics, social tendencies and many other things Spike knew nothing of.
"Well, Twilight, you see...I was wondering...maybe if you have time later...of course that is if you are ok with it..."
While scratching the back of his head Spike did his best to come up with a valid excuse for his interruption, but failed miserably at it.
"Ehmm...aaaahmmm..."
"Could he please hurry up?" "Dear heavens and for this we stopped?" "Doesn't he understand there are more pressing matters than a dragon's babbling?"
The circle of ponies around the princess grew impatient. Their whispered critics at the dragon caused Spike to grow even more nervous. Spike almost cried due to their glares and the pressure on him.
"That is enough. You don't have the right to say such things about Spike."
Twilight's voice was clear and full of authority. The whispers and critics ceased, and instead a warm voice of a friend washed away all the worries he might had.
"Tell me, Spike, how can I help you?" -"I was wondering if we could meet tonight for dinner together. I'm sure that the food the royal chefs give you is great, but I was thinking that maybe you'd like to enjoy a couple of Spike-made dandelion sandwiches and, you know, talk?"
Spike waited for the answer. It took Twilight awfully long to say anything. Spike even thought she would say no, but betraying, luckily, all those expectations she only said she'd be delighted to do so. A smile adorned her face and somehow she seemed to beam with happiness, a sight that had become quite rare in the last months.
"Great. I'll start working on the preparations right away."
He ran in the opposite direction Twilight and the other ponies were headed. In the distance he heard a pony comment with bitterness on what he considered a waste of time for a princess. But Spike also heard Twilight tell him that how a princess wastes her time is nothing of his business.
" He he, Twilight has really changed."
Spike couldn't help but get more and more aware of the fact that Twilight was becoming a princess not only in name, but also in behavior. Despite feeling happy about it, there was also a pain in his chest that he could only express in a wish no one would ever know.
"I just wish she'd rely on me more. It doesn't feel like I'm her number one assistant anymore."
It happened gradually, but the hallway turned brighter for some reason. The sounds of the environment became quieter, even his footsteps ceased making any sound. In the eerie silence of the hallway that just a few moments ago felt like nothing special, there suddenly was a dreamlike atmosphere. Spike was worried. Not because of this strange turn of events, but because this wasn't the first time something like this happened. On past occasions his spontaneous daydreams assaulted him without notification, but they weren't as vivid as this one.
-"How silly."
"What?"
-"Right. Surely it is something Grandmother made up in order to get us to rely less on you."
"Do you think so?"
-"Don't ponder much on the meaning of her words, sister. He'll always be our number one assistant, right?"
"Huh?"
Bright ponies of different colors ran right next to Spike. One of them was a white winged pony with a pink mane, the other one was dark blue with a curly hair, and the last one was a small pink little filly with long and wavy hair. In the distance he heard the voice of a mare. She said something Spike couldn't hear clearly.
"... part from growing up..."
Spike did not remember meeting the ponies around him, but somehow he felt as if he had known them for a long time.
"Who...who are you?"
Confused Spike looked at the three of them hoping to recognize them, but he couldn't. There was just a faint sensation in his chest that told him they were special to him before.
-"You jest surely!" -"You...you don't remember us already?" "........."
Spike ashamed. He couldn't tell who they were, not even a single one. But he felt disappointed by the fact he had broken a promise with them.
"S-sorry. I...I just..."
Strangely Spiked kept running. The hallway seemed to go on forever. The four of them ran for what seemed to be hours unable to reach the end. No corridor in the castle was long enough, but Spike didn't pay attention to that bit of common sense. He just continued running forward.
-"Hmph! This is by no means funny. We're here caring about you and yet you..." -"........." "Girls, as mother said it is inevitable. We can't blame it on him."
The blue pony turned around a corner followed by the pink one.
-" I...I'll go back to my room, hmph!"
Before following the other two the third pony gave Spike a sad look adorned confusingly by an understanding smile.
"I apologize. I understand that being you is hard. Don't worry. I'll go talk with them."
She then disappeared around the corner. Spike didn't know why but he had to follow them.
"Wait!"
He tried to go after them, but he wasn't able to enter the same corridor they did.
There was a loud thud and pain spread across Spike's skull. His sight turned black and his mouth tasted a little like tree bark. Spike fell on his tail due to the hit. The surface he fell on that didn't quite feel like the stone tiles of Canterlot castle.
"Woah, Spike, are you alright?"
A stallion's voice called out for Spike in the darkness. Putting great effort in doing so Spike opened his eyes and saw Shinning armor, Twilight's brother, looking down to his face.
"Ough...my head...what happened?"
"That's what I would like to ask you. You came out of the castle running, then you suddenly headed straight for this tree right here and...well...almost smashed your head against it. I'm actually quite surprised you aren't bleeding."
"Tree?"
Spike rubbed his eyes in order to clear his vision a little since the hit had caused him to see blurry for a few moments. But just as Shinning armor told him, he sat right in front of an oak that now had a slight print of his face.
"But...how can that be? I was...I was in the castle. I was running down a hallway with three ponies and...ah!"
Spike jumped back on his feet in surprise at a sudden realization.
"The ponies!" "What ponies?" "I...there were some ponies running next to me...didn't you see them?"
Shinning armor placed a hoof on Spike forehead and with a laugh he wondered if Spike had maybe hit the tree harder than he thought.
"There were no ponies Spike. As I told you before, you came out of the castle in a hurry and then crashed against this tree. There was nopony else around you."
"But...but...I was...running because...because... eh? why was I running?"
"It's ok, little guy. Don't force your brain to work after that hit. We'll worry if you still can't remember it after a couple of hours."
"I..."
Spike rubbed his head and looked at the ground trying to remember exactly what just happened. Following Shining's advice and seeing that trying to remember would be of no use, Spike just sighed and let it be.
"Alright. We'll see later if I can remember it."
Shinning armor laughed cheerfully and patted Spike in the back. The white unicorn then proceeded to wrap one of his hooves around the dragon's neck and together they walked towards the castle entrance.
"Cadence and I are visiting you guys. It has been so long since we have seen Equestria that we just couldn't resist coming on a short vacation. A couple of days though. Nothing too long. Our duties wouldn't allow us to."
"Oh, so Cadence is here as well? Great!"
"Looks like you really love having us around, huh?"
"Yes! It is perfect. Twilight will surely come if you and Cadence come as well. Ah! I remember now!"
Shining didn't understand what Spike was talking about, so the little dragon had to elaborate a little more.
"I...well...I wanted to spend some time with Twilight today, so I told her we could have some sandwiches later. If you guys come, there's no way she won't come!"
"Oh, so you are inviting me to a date you had planned with my sister?"
Shining teasingly hit Spike's side with his elbow. Spike quickly moved his head from side to side, making sure that it was clear that was no date.
"W-what are you saying? This wasn't date. I...it's just...you know...I thought maybe we could spend some time together tonight. And...it'd be better if you two could come."
The grown unicorn took his time to reply to the invitation, surely in order to play around with Spike, but at the end he agreed and with a wide smile he accepted.
"So, what did you have in mind, little guy?" "Something simple, some sandwiches, some music, maybe a couple of games to play until tomorrow morning." "Until tomorrow morning!?"
Shining's sudden outburst made Spike jump in surprise.
"W-what is it, Shining?" "Spike, if it's going to last until tomorrow morning..."
Spike suddenly felt sad. But he should have realized it though. Busy ponies like them and Twilight don't have the time anymore for such long reunions. It'd be best he give himself satisfied with a short meal with all of them on the same table.
-"It's ok, Shining, if you or Cadence cant stay up that long, then we will just eat something and call it a ni..." "...I better make some arrangements." -"Eh?"
Spike took his eyes away from the ground and looked up at the blue eyes of the unicorn. Shining was smiling. With one of his massive hooves he pet the dragon's head and said he better hurry up.
"I'll make sure we have tomorrow's morning free so we can sleep until late. You go and wait for me in the kitchen."
With that the unicorn left, surely to talk with Cadence about the invitation. Spike started to run again after a few moments. His chest felt warm and fuzzy. Shining was a great guy. He had been his sister's assistant for the longest time, yet they never really spent much time together.
"What a waste. I looks like we could have been great friends too."
As he made his way towards the castle's kitchen Spike wondered about that last statement.
"What is wrong with me? It isn't like this is going to be the last time we were going to meet. This could very well be the day our friendship starts for good."
But for some reason deep inside him he couldn't truly believe his own words.
With everything ready for tonight's meal, Spike and Shining armor, let themselves fall heavily upon two wooden chairs in the castle's kitchen. They were exhausted, but on their faces were wide smiles of accomplishment. Cooks and assistants around them fanned them with pot lids.
"I still don't understand why you didn't let us help you. It'd have been done faster if you had asked us."
While fighting to regain his breath Shining armor just managed to form a sentence understandable enough to let them know that it wouldn't have had the same meaning to it if they had helped. Spike didn't say anything and just nodded in agreement. The ponies around them continued fanning them giving up on finding out the reasons for their actions.
Twenty minutes later Spike and Shining were in Spike's room, a medium size room located on the western wing of Canterlot castle, a few corridors away from Princess Twilight's chambers. Inside the room there wasn't much that could let one guess this was indeed the little dragon's. There was a wooden bed with some purple bed sheets and a small night table right next to it. In one of the corners one could see a small pile of comic books that judging by their worn looks had been read a lot. On the eastern wall of the room there was a green closet completely empty. That the room had so much space in it was actually good. It mean they could rearrange the few things in it to fit a table and a couple of chairs by pushing all the furniture to the corner. But Shining armor felt strange for the emptiness of it all.
"So, this is your room, Spike? It looks nothing like the room of a young male. Where are the toys, the clothes lying around the floor, the magazines with beautiful mares?"
Shining quickly went towards the piles of comics and began to turn the pages.
"This comic books are a good beginning though. Power ponies, huh? I'll have to get me a couple of these."
-"You can have those if you want."
Spike placed one chair around a dark and long wooden table the two of them had managed to, somehow, fit through the small room's door.
"What? And take away possibly the only thing you own? Don't worry, Spike. I'm sure I'll be able to find these comics in the crystal empire as well."
-"It's ok, Shining, really. I've read those comics like a thousand times already. I've had more free time that I could ever handle now that Twilight has her royal assistant squad."
In the unicorn's head pieces of a puzzle began to fall into place. But what the puzzle was, was still unknown to him.
"Besides, those aren't my only possession."
Placing the last of the chairs around the table, Spike crawled down the bed and brought back from its depths a single squarish box. Shining put the books aside and walked towards the little dragon with great curiosity. Once Spike opened the box inside Shining saw at least a dozen of small things ranging from pictures to jeweled bow ties.
"Wow, Spike, you have a small treasure box right under your bed." -"He he. I guess you are right."
With his claw hovering over all the elements in his box, Spike was unsure about which one to show Shining first. Shining then seemed curious about a single piece of paper with a drawing of a blue cupcake covered in what seemed to be pieces of glass.
"What is that, Spike?" -"What, this? It is a drawing of sapphire cupcake." "A sapphire cupcake?"
Spike elaborated on the drawing's story.
"No, no. There is this bakery in Ponyville. It's called Sugar cube corner. The store owners made it for my birthday a couple of years ago. I actually wanted to keep a piece of the cupcake here, but...well...I couldn't resist the temptation to eat it whole right there. So instead I put this drawing in here."
"Ho ho...I see. And what about this?" -"That is from Fluttershy?" "And this thing here?" -"A gift from Applejack." "And this?" -"From Pinkie pie." "And what about this one here?" -"The weights are from Rainbow dash."
Each piece of Spike's treasure was shown to the unicorn. The little dragon told him the story about each single object Shining seemed to be interested on. The unicorn replied with "woah!" and "wow!" to each tale of the dragon asking jokingly from time to time whether it would be hard or not having so many mares giving him presents. When asked this Spike would blush and claim that it was nothing like that.
"I left surely the best story for the last. Tell me Spike, what is the story behind that jeweled bow tie?"
From among all the other pieces the bow tie was the object Spike picked more carefully out of the box.
"This...is a present from Rarity."
Given away by the nostalgic tint in his voice Shining armor did not lose the chance to tease the dragon.
"Oooh! I feel a pink vibe coming from this one! Looks like this Rarity means quite a lot for you. Is she your special somepony?"
Spike repeated the same words as before "It isn't like that." But there was a certain melancholy around him now. It certainly was nothing like that. It was true that he liked Rarity, but it was virtually impossible that their relationship would develop into something else. It'd never go beyond the point of being her friend and her helper.
Noticing Spike's reaction to his comment, Shining began to look for a way to change the topic of their conversation. He looked again inside the box and saw again the drawing of the sapphire cupcake.
"Man...I wonder if I could swallow a bite of that cupcake."
Spike snapped his head in surprise and looked at Shining armor.
"What? Ah! I don't think you'd be able to. Those cupcakes are hard and have shards of real gems in them. Come to think of it, for a pony it'd actually be lethal."
Shining laughed loudly. A lethal cupcake! Spike started slow, but after a few moments he was laughing really loud as well. A bell rung eight times in the distance. There were only a couple of minutes left before the two princesses would arrive. But the two couldn't stop. Each time one tried to calm down the other complemented the idea of the killer cupcake with something else causing the both of them to explode again in laughter. When the two mares arrived they were both, Shining and Spike, rubbing their bellies from so much laughing.
"Ah, it looks like the two of you are having a lot of fun."
Both males picked themselves up from the floor in an instant once they heard the voice from the princess of love.
"Cadence!" -"Princess Cadence!"
At the room's entrance stood a pink alicorn with a long multicolored mane smiling at the nervousness of the two males.
"Oh, you are early sweetheart. I thought you'd be here at eight."
Cadence walked into the room and greeted her husband with a soft peck on his cheek.
"It is already eight, silly." -"Actually, it's already later than that."
From behind the princess another voice came. It was a voice familiar for both, the dragon and the unicorn. With the golden tiara over her head, Twilight Sparkle walked in the room without any of the royal aura Spike had been definitively seeing around her whenever she was surrounded by her new assistants.
"Twilight!!"
Spike jumped at Twilight's neck and hugged her. The action was so sudden it took Twilight a couple of moments before she hugged her assistant back.
"You came!" -"Of course. I told you I'd be here, didn't I?" "You sure did, Twilight."
After Spike let go of Twilight she went to greet her brother. After that, as Spike and Shining pointed out, she and Cadence took a seat at the table.
"Now, please wait for a moment. We will go get the food."
The two males disappeared behind the room's door only to reappear moments afterwards carrying bowls filled with fruit and baskets filled with bread. Different kind of sauces, fillings and side dishes were put in the table before the princesses. Everything was cut, spiced and ready to be placed on top of the bread.
When Spike and Shining finished putting the table, they took their places next to Twilight and Cadence accordingly.
"Alright, please, eat anything you want and don't hold back on anything. There's plenty more of everything you see here."
-"What? But there's already more than enough for the four of us."
"Well, this counts for tonight's dinner and whatever is left will be tomorrow's breakfast."
-"Ugh...everything looks so tasty. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow."
Dinner started with a laugh at Cadence's last comment. The mares ate without restrain putting everything imaginable on their sandwiches. Spike and Shining of course did the same.
Cranberry mayonaise, horseradish sauce, pesto cream mayo, pink lady sauce, Yogurt sour cream, Horseradish mustard, dill sauce and even a sauce Spike and Shining had made exclusively for themselves thinking the two princesses would not like spicy things, Ground roasted red pepper spicy sauce, were emptied as the group talked about many topics. Juices of all kinds, tea, water and even beer and wine for those allowed to drink it were poured non-stop on the glasses of each one of the ponies and dragon. Dinner was a success.
Spike felt happy for the first time in months since they arrived to Canterlot. He loved this atmosphere. Twilight laughed while Cadence merrily talked about a small misunderstanding in the capital of the crystal empire with Shining adding some funny footnotes to each part of the story.
While the three ponies continued telling stories to each other Spike silently watched while he made himself a sandwich with peanut butter and jelly. Despite what others might have said at the time, Spike was not bored. He was enjoying each second, laughing over each joke told while he looked at Twilight and Cadence.
"Ha ha...they get along so well." -"Yeah. You can rarely see Twilight laugh so much. Only when she's with Cadence or the girls in Ponyville." "You could say the same thing about Cadence. I've seen her laugh like this only a couple of times."
Suddenly the room changed. It was way bigger than before, with far more decorations Spike would even think of adding.
Actually it didn't look like his room anymore. It was more like a dinning hall. Instead of the dark table he had brought with Shining there was another one, so long that the pony at each end would have to use binoculars to see in fine detail the face of the pony on the opposing end. Six candle trees were atop of the table, placed every four chairs for the guests, but they weren't lit. There was no need. At the head of the table right behind the biggest chair in the room, there was a giant fireplace in which a restless fire roared and consumed the pieces of wood it had been feed, illuminating with ease the room, making the gold and silver decorations glitter, filling the air with sparkles. The dragon saw himself stand right next to the chair located to the right of the queen's seat, the big chair at the head of the table. On it there was a pink filly with an elegant dress sitting straight trying to figure out, with a royal expression on her face, which fork was for eating salad while an old grey stallion stood watching her every movement.
The filly reached for the longest fork, but quickly took her hoof back once she saw the stallion cock his eyebrow. Spike was cause of no sound besides the one he made when breathing. Each passing second felt like an eternity while the embers of the fireplace glowed red throwing ghostly shadows upon the hall's carpet.
"I am not hungry anymore."
The princess words echoed for a couple of seconds before they were swallowed by the oppressing silence of the room. The stallion spoke afterwards annoyingly slowly.
"Whether you are hungry or not is irrelevant right now princess. We are here because we have to make sure you have the proper manners when being at the table. Soon it will be Princess Celestia's fifteenth birthday and many ponies from all over the land will come here to meet her. It would not be well thought of if the princess' niece does not act properly during dinner."
The pink alicorn looked down at the silverware at her disposal irritated.
"I won't be at dinner then."
-"I am sorry, but you presence during the celebration is not optional. If you weren't at the table at the time it'd be perceived as rude by the guests."
"I'll apologize to them and then I'll go to my room."
-"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, instead of thinking about the many different ways of not attending the celebration, why don't you take the salad fork and eat?"
The old stallion came closer towards the filly and pointed at the right fork with his hoof. Using her magic the little filly picked up the fork and pierced a big salad leaf dripping with dressing, but before being able to put it in her mouth the stallion spoke again.
"No, no, no! Princess, do you remember at all our last lesson? You cannot put that whole thing in your mouth."
-"Watch me."
Opening her mouth far wider than any lady of the court should the little pink princess placed the leaf inside her mouth while generous drops of dressing fell upon her dress."
"W-what are you doing!?"
The stallion screamed alarmed by the behavior of the princess, and quickly took the salad away from her.
"Hey! I wasn't done with that!"
-"You, you...! Agh! I can't do this anymore. I'll tell the queen it's impossible to teach you proper manners!"
The old stallion left with those as his last words. The two of them, Cadence and the little dragon, were left alone in the huge room. The princess stared at the fireplace with her forelegs crossed over her chest and her eyes reflecting back the dancing flames. The young dragon silently approached her and with a napkin in hand started to get rid of all the dressing drops before they caused any irreparable damage on the dress.
"Was that really necessary princess?"
-"Hmph!"
"Princess, soon will it's be your aunt's, Princess Celestia's birthday and you're the only one that keeps having problems remembering which fork is for what."
-"Are you too going to scold me about this, Sagard?"
At the mention of his name the dragon looked up at the princess and saw her in the eye. They were face to face. The expression of the princess was an angry one. Her ruffled gown, despite being actually soft pink in color, appeared to be dark red like blood due to the light and shadows cast down on her by the roaring fireplace. But the apparent aggressiveness had no effect on the dragon. He knew how to handle princesses too well to be fooled by just appearances.
"Will you really let your pride get the best of yourself? Instead of just admitting you didn't remember which one was the right fork, you let things escalate to this point? He will surely tell the queen about this."
-"L-like I care. She's not my mom."
"But she's Celestia's mother. And your father's mother."
At that comment the little princess could no longer keep her angry expression.
"I d-don't care."
-"Princess. Please be aware of the weight of your words. You know not the harm they may cause."
The princess was no longer angry by then. Instead she trembled lightly in fear. She knew she was wrong and she knew how much it'd hurt Celestia or Luna hear her talk like that, but she couldn't admit being wrong. In a castle that wasn't her own, alone and surrounded by ponies she didn't know, her pride as the princess of the crystal empire was the only thing she could hang onto, the only thing they parents left to her.
"I-I don't care... I...sniff...I am the princess of the crystal empire.
This isn't my castle, nor my kingdom...sniff...I want to go back home already. Mother...Father..."
Childish tears ran down the cheeks of the princess non-stop. Unable to keep it inside her any longer the princess let her feelings free, crying for the loss of her parents during the revolt of Sombra.
"It's alright princess. You are not alone anymore. The loss of your mother and your father, Celestia's brother was a great loss for all of us, but don't think of yourself as being alone. You still have your aunts, haven't you? Despite being a few years older than you they still love you. The queen loves you as well, princess Mi Amore, you are her son's daughter and her beloved grandchild. Not to mention that every stallion and mare in this castle cares about you, including this humble Sagard."
The dragon wrapped his little arms around the filly's body while he let his heart speak free. The little princess continued to tremble while she muffled her sobs with the clothes of the dragon.
"Don't cry anymore, princess. As long as this Sagard, the princesses and the Queen are here, you will always have a home."
-"Really?...Sagard...none of you will leave me alone?"
"Of course. This Sagard has never broken a promise."
The pink alicorn slowly lifted her head, revealing her swollen red eyes and running nose to the little servant hugging her. Unable to help himself the dragon left a chuckle escape his lips. The princess shocked broke again in tears hiding her face behind her hooves.
"Liar! Liar!"
-"No princess! Please don't misunderstand. It is just that your face was so funny, this Sagard just couldn't resist."
"You laughed...you laughed because my face looked funny?"
-"E-exactly. It was not because I didn't mean my words."
"To make fun of a crying princess...you...you... a life in the dungeon suits the likes of you!"
The dragon felt a cold sweat run down his back at the mention of those words. Despite knowing that the little princess had no such power over his life, he could still sense the seriousness in her words.
"Princess, no, no! Anything but that!" -"It's too late already for apologies! But I might forgive your insolence if you swear your alliance to the ruler of the crystal empire for all eternity."
The expression the princess wore was a funny one. Her eyes were swollen, her muzzle covered partly by the snot running from her nose, but she was dead serious. Unable to do anything besides what he was told the dragon straightened himself up and with a deep bow he swore his alliance.
"This Sagard, as long as life is in these bones, shall be sworn ally of the crystal empire and its ruler, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."
-"No!"
The princess yelled so loud it made the dragon temporally deaf.
"Not as long as there is life in your bones. For all eternity! If you...if you die, you have to come back to me again, understood?"
"Yes! This Sagard, as long as it is possible, shall be sworn ally of the crystal empire and its future ruler, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!"
-"No, no, no! Repeat after me, Sagard: I, Sagard."
"I Sagard."
-"Swear eternal alliance to the ruler of the crystal empire, princess Mi Amore Cadenza." "Swear eternal alliance to the ruler of the crystal empire, princess Mi Amore Cadenza."
-"Because she's the most beautiful, smartest and most princess-like of all the princesses of all the lands of the world." "Because she's the most beautiful, smartest and most princess-like of all the princesses of all the lands of the world."
-"If I, Sagard were to find death someday." "If I, Sagard were to find death someday."
-"I'd drag myself out of tartarus if I have to in order to return to the side of my princess." "I'd drag myself out of tartarus if I have to in order to return to the side of my princess."
-"This I swear by the name of the first Alicorn." -"This I swear by the..."
At that instant the doors of the hall opened wide while a grown alicorn moved her figure through it.
"Queen Elicia!" -"Grandmother Elicia!"
Queen Elicia was a dark gray colored alicorn with golden eyes and a dark short cut mane. Her cutie mark showed seven stars positioned like the constellation of the great bear.
"I heard you were having some problems with your manners, Cadence. But instead I find you here, gaining the loyalty of my daugthers' personal servant."
-"Grandmother...I... it wasn't like..."
The princess' attitude disappeared progressively with each step of the Queen and it was instead replaced by nervousness and fear. Her little body trembled by just imagining what the Queen might do to her. She believed she'd send her out, banish her. Queen Elicia was famous for doing that. Her father kept telling her about how the Queen's rage drove armies of invaders away just because they were stepping on the flower fields at the borders.
"What is it, Cadence? Is your grandmother that scary?" -"N-n-no, o-o-of course n-n-not. I'd never think of you as scary, grandmother."
The pink alicorn filly tried to smile at her grandmother, but all she managed to do was put a cracked line on her lips. It didn't look like the Queen liked that expression. She raised her hoof in the air. Little Cadence flinched and closed her eyes tightly. It seemed like Queen Alice would hit her. But then all the Queen's hoof did was place itself softly on top of her little head, drawing circles and playing around with her mane.
"Little Cadence, there's no need to be afraid. I wonder what kind of image you have of me."
Realizing her grandmother would not hurt her, the filly raised her head and met her gaze. The queen's eyes showed nothing but affection and understanding. Little by little the filly relaxed her body with each caress of the alicorn.
"Are you still afraid of me?"
The filly shook her head slowly with her cheeks red due to the embarrassment.
"Grandmother you...you are nothing like my father told me you would be."
-"Oh, is that so? What did he tell you?"
The little dragon heard about the tales prince Aristoles, Princess Celestia's brother, told his daughter before going to bed: Great wars long forgotten in which a young Queen had shown her prowess in battle, earning her the name of the Great Ursa Major, tales about banished foes, and enemies that swore one day to return once more. As the filly talked about her father's tales on the queen face a smile began to appear, a nostalgic and sad smile that made Cadence grow progressively more quiet until she said nothing more.
"My Aristoles, he always liked that kind of tales due to his frailness."
The queen did not cry, but Cadence could see the pain beyond her royal expression.
"But still, those aren't tales a father should tell his daughter, especially about her grandmother."
Queen Elicia patted her grandchild's head one more time, before calling some servants into the hall. Each one of the ponies that came into the room carried a big tray with different kinds of food and pastries and placed them on top of the table.
"Now, about your manners on the table... It'd be best if we start on practicing right away. Just do as I do, dear Cadence. If you have any questions, just ask me." -"Yes, Grandmother."
Out nowhere the little filly's belly grumbled loudly enough to be mistaken with a wild beast's roar. She quickly wrapped her hooves around her stomach and blushed embarrassed. Cadence thought the queen would get mad, but the gray alicorn just laughed loudly and for a long time. Cadence laughed along. No pony in the castle had ever heard her laugh since she arrived. Somehow the happiness of the princess spread to every one in the room and every pony smiled, including the little dragon.
"What are you smiling for, Spike?"
Spike opened his eyes and saw no longer the big dining hall before him, just the black table, and three ponies too drunk to mind the volume of their laughs.
"Spike, what are you smiling for?"
Cadence repeated her question, while Twilight and Shining armor continued to laugh about a joke Spike didn't get.
The dragon took without warning the princess hoof between his claws and gave it a soft kiss, what drew the attention of all the ponies in the room and startled Cadence.
"To see with my own eyes the great princess you have become, is this humble Sagard's cause of joy, princess Cadence."
Cadence blushed slightly and everypony was quiet for a few moments.
"S...Sagard?"
Twilight and Shining armor said nothing and kept their mouths closed until they couldn't help it anymore and exploded in laughter.
"W-what..ha ha ha...what wash that all about, huh, little guy?" -"Oh, Shpike, have you been practishing that line? It wash sho good, I even felt my heart shkip a beat!" "I will have to be more careful around my wife now. It looksh like a late rival hash appeared, ha ha ha ha!"
Twilight and Shining were completely out of it. The beer and wine surely had gotten finally to their heads making them unable to take anything serious. Spike still hold Cadence's hoof in his claws, but with every passing second he became more and more aware of his words and his actions.
"What did I just do!?"
Spike jumped from his chair onto the floor and ran towards the door while Shining and Twilight tried to comfort him telling him they didn't mind his actions.
"Shpike...don't worry. I'm shure it was the alcohol talking!" -"Yeah, come back here, you are in no condishion to run around the cashtle. Ugh...bbbgha."
Twilight tried to go after Spike, but as soon as her hooves touched the cold ground she fell face first.
"Ah guessh Ah'm in no condition either... Shpike, wait!"
Twilight calling his name was the last thing Spike heard while he ran down the labyrinthine corridors of the castle without a set destination in mind. He just ran as if trying to outrun his embarrassment and the sensation of his blood rushing towards his cheeks.
"What was that!? What was that!?"
The dragon tried to replay all the events that took place during dinner, but all her remembered were bits and pieces, the sandwich and the kiss.
In the dragon's room, Twilight still struggled to stand on all fours while Shining had fallen asleep right on top of the table laughing from time to time in his dreams "Shpike...ha ha...what a funny guy". Cadence on the other hoof was sober again due to the shock. With haste the princess of love ran towards the door. She needed to go after the dragon and know exactly what happened to him.
"Sagard..."
She had not heard that name in ages. She thought she'd never hear it again.
In the distance Spike could hear now Cadence's hoof steps on the hard stone of the castle's floor. The alicorn was catching up to him, but the little dragon didn't give up on running away from her. Actually had he been left by himself, he would have by now ran out of strength to continue. The muscles of his legs ached; they were not built for long races. His lungs seemed to burn hotter than the fire he stored in his belly.
"Spike, wait!!"
He heard her call his name again and he picked up his pace despite the continuous pain his body was going through with each step.
"Spike!"
Turning on each corner the dragon hoped to lose his pursuer. For a few moments we didn't hear Cadence's steps and was about to stop, take a breather, but the distinctive fluttering of wings let him know Cadence was now seriously chasing after him. It was impossible to run faster than she could fly, he knew this for a fact. Looking around the hall and evaluating all his options Spike saw no other way out than through an open window that led to the castle's gardens. He jumped with all his might and saw himself float several meters above the ground before falling rapidly into a thorn bush.
While caught in the thorns Spike heard Cadence zoom down the corridor and sighed in relief. He had managed to get away...for now. He thanked the heaves for his hard dragon scales while he attempted to free himself from the sharp thorn vines that had wrapped themselves around his body. Anypony else in his situation would have hurt himself severely
With a somewhat fast pace Spike walked towards the heart of the garden, the maze. In there he knew Cadence wouldn't be able to find him as easily and it'd give him time to solve the puzzle in his head. It wasn't long before he had disappeared beyond the high walls of the garden maze without any idea of where to go or what to do beyond walking and thinking.
"What happened in there? Why did I do that? Why did I say those words? Why did I kiss her hoof! Ugh!"
Spike reduced his speed and began to walk calmly, giving his body some time to rest and regain some breath. The muscles of his legs were sore and his mouth dry. A glass of water was something he could not say no to at the time.
"Agh...It doesn't make any sense."
Spike walked and walked, turning on each corner he found with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.
The night was cold and a soft breeze wandered through the corridors of the maze accompanied by an eerie whistle and the rustle of the leaves. Above, in the dark and cloudy sky a pale yellowish moon began to shine through the grey clouds twisting the shadows of numerous statues placed randomly inside the maze. The moonlight reflected on their surface made them look almost alive, as if the figure carved could stop posing and leave for a walk.
"Why...? why...? what's going on with me?"
Spike continued walking ignoring the nightmarish illusions cast by the pale orb in the sky. It seemed as if he'd have continued walking until the end of the globe in that condition, but he was made to stop by one of the statues. He hit it hard and fell to the ground backwards with his face up. As he tried to stand up again he was able to detail with more clarity the figure carved from the stone. It was a tall, female alicorn judging by her slim figure and curves. She stood on her hind legs with her wings spread to their limits and her eyes looking down as if fixiated on the little dragon. Her mane was short cut and her cutie mark was a constellation Spike knew well, the Ursa major. Like all the statues in the garden the original carved expression of the statue was neutral, but the lightning and shadows caused by the moonlight made it look as if her eyes were half open, like the ones of somepony that has just been abruptly waken up from their sleep.
Spike was afraid. So afraid it made him forget about his memory loss and the embarrassing incident with Cadence. The statue looked as if it was about to say something to the little intruder that bumped against her.
"Sagard, is that you?"
Spike's heart stopped. Did he just hear her talk? Did the statue just talk to him? It can't be, it just can't be! Suddenly everything was pitch black. The maze, the statue, even the moon was gone. All he could see was an orange light coming from below a door, drawing a golden line on the floor.
"Sagard?"
The queen's words came from behind the sturdy wooden doors of her room. From within the darkness the hallway was submerged the dragon spoke once more.
"As you requested I have come, Queen Elicia.".
The queen remained silent for a moment.
"Come in."
The doors opened and the warm atmosphere of the queen's chambers spread across the corridor and around the little dragon. He stepped inside the room and the doors closed behind him and once more the corridor succumbed to the darkness.
The queen's room was a place he had never been into during his whole life as Sagard. The room was spacious with a balcony filled with white snow and a fireplace in which a gentle flame rested. On the walls hung paintings of the queen of varying sizes and shapes depicting her with family members or friends. While the dragon looked around Queen Elicia moved towards her bed and made herself comfortable.
"How did the princesses take the news?"
She spoke slowly and in a disinterested manner, something unusual on her, especially when it was about their daughters and granddaughter.
"The princesses have locked themselves in their chambers and didn't cross a single word with me after you told them."
-"I see. As expected they took the news rather badly. But well, that's nothing to be surprised about. No pony ever has been able to handle those news well."
"I'd assume so my Queen."
The dragon hurt inside as he remembered the news the queen gave him and the princesses that afternoon. I'd be a lie if he only were worried about the princesses. He was also still afraid of it, of ceasing to be.
"And? How are you feeling?"
The young dragon bowed deeply in order to avoid the queen's eyes. He did not want to let her see the fear that invaded him.
-"Me, my Queen? Well...I must admit I am afraid. Not even once crossed through this Sagard's mind that everything would end like this. You could say I feel uneasy."
"Uneasy? About what?"
-"My Queen...have I been of any help for the princesses? Have I truly eased their pain when hurt or sad? I...This Sagard thinks that it is not so. How could it be when I leave them behind so shamelessly?"
The dragon trembled while keeping his head down. He felt warm tears form at the sides of his eyes while he waited for the princess' answer.
"Fool." -"What?" "If that is what is really bothering you, you are nothing more than a fool. Raise your head."
The dragon hesitated before following that order.
"Raise you head!"
The queen's voice was like thunder. So loud it the dragon could still sense the vibrations of the air inside his chest seconds afterwards. Slowly he did as told and saw the princess' horn glow in a golden aura. She was levitating a big painting right in front of him. The dragon had not seen it never before.
"Do you know the story behind this painting?"
The dragon straightened himself up and looked carefully at the painting. The painting showed tents close to a forest. Armored ponies walked in the background with axes, spears and swords in their mouths. In the foreground there was a couple of alicorns and a small, purple figure with a helmet that covered his face. The first alicorn was small, grey with golden eyes and a dark mane short cut. The other one was the late queen Victoria. Both wore the same kind of heavy armor with a slight difference: Queen Victoria had her helmet on, while the filly had a crown of small white flowers on top of her head. It was obvious to him then that the panting was one of an old war in which Queen Elicia stood next to her mother in the battlefield. But before the dragon could start voicing his answer, the Queen Spoke again.
"There was once a little princess that knew nothing of the world besides war. She fought because she saw others fight. Her mother fought, her father fought, her brothers and sisters fought, even her kin fought. It was the most natural thing to do for her in those violent times. But she didn't know what she was fighting for, she just fought. On the day this panting was being finished a young squire suggested the princess she should wear a crown of her favorite flowers instead of the royal crown..."
The dragon, while hearing the story, felt weird...as if he knew the story himself despite the fact that he had never heard of it.
"...The princess didn't like the idea. She wanted to look like her mother and wear the royal crown. It was a symbol of power, of authority. It was the proof of her skill as a warrior and as a leader, one that could battle forever without ever getting tired or surrendering. It was then that the young squire said something to the princess that she had never thought about."
-"...Princess, I thought we fought hoping a day would come when we didn't have to fight anymore..."
The interruption was brief. His words were only those. The Queen smiled and levitated the painting back into its rightful place.
"Oh, so you do remember."
He looked at the Queen confused. He couldn't understand the meaning of her words.
"At the time you said you wanted me to wear the crown of flowers to let the others now that I'd put an end to all the fighting. And that when everything was over you'd make me a crown of flowers exactly like the one in the painting. Unfortunately by the end of that war you weren't around anymore."
-"My Queen, excuse me...I...I don't understand."
"I looked forward to that crown, I looked forward to the day when we wouldn't fight anymore. Had you not say those words back then I guess I'd still be fighting in some way or another. That's why I can't forgive you for doubting yourself. Despite being just for such a short time with them I know you've helped them a lot like you helped me."
The queen had never seen him in the way she was doing it right now. She seemed to look at something beyond himself. The dragon was speechless, he didn't know how to reply to her words.
Queen Elicia then lifted her bed sheets and cleared a space right next to her in bed. Once more the dragon didn't know how to react. The Queen's magic enveloped him and placed right next to her.
"That's why it's alright to go to sleep now. They are already old enough to go on without your help. Rest. When you wake up again you'll see with your own eyes what great princesses they have become."
The dragon felt his body sink delicately in the feather mattress while the soft the blankets wrapped themselves around his and the queen's figures.
Never before had he been that close to his queen. It surely was somewhat embarrassing, but at the same time it felt like they had slept on the same bed hundreds of times before.
"Somehow, my queen...I feel nostalgic while being here with you. As if I had dreamed about it countless times before, but had forgotten completely about it the morning afterwards. Elicia... I am really sorry about the flower crown."
-"Do not worry about it. You'll make me one next time we meet, Ailbert."
"Surely, Elicia. I won't forget next time."
They both fell soundly asleep. He dreamed of days past when they were together, of days when he was with her mother princess Victoria, and he even dreamed of days before that when he had other names, when he was with other princesses. All of this while the world around him disappeared in a blurry mess of colors.
**********************
"Are you sure about this, Cadence?"
Princess Celestia, princess Luna and Princess Cadence walked towards the castle's armory in their search for Spike. The princess of love, unable to find the little dragon anywhere had to resort to the other two princesses help.
"Yes, Aunt Celestia. I am completely sure about it."
-"Please sister, I think this is all a misunderstanding. Surely it is just a short confusion on Cadence's part caused by the alcohol. There is no way something like that could have happened."
From the two Luna had been the most skeptical since the beginning, despite being the first Cadence trusted with the news.
"Aunt Luna, believe me, were it just an hallucination caused by drinking I'd not be as worried. But this is actually a big deal. It has already begun. Who knows how long Spike's got left?"
The moon princess just rolled her eyes and continued walking next to her sister.
"This is a great miscalculation on my behalf. I believed it'd take a couple of years more before the new princess had to go through this."
Celestia seemed depressed. She could estimate very well the impact the news would have on Twilight when she told her. She had gone through it as well when she was young.
"I don't see why the two of you worry so much about it. We all went through this one day without preparation or warning, mother just told us and we coped with it as best as we could and we ended up fine. I don't see why Princess Sparkle cannot do the same."
The tone of voice Luna used when talking about the matter made Cadence angry. She talked as if the whole ordeal had been of no importance whatsoever in her life, just a short lived bad memory she easily had pushed to the back of her head, when Cadence actually remembered very well how much her aunt Luna changed when the morning afterwards he was nowhere to be seen.
"I say we let this whole matter be for tonight and we tell princess Sparkle in the morning. As intelligent and understanding as she has proven to be so far, I am sure she will care less about this than both of you think."
-"It is already clear that we are going to tell Twilight about this tomorrow Luna, but we should not quit on finding Spike. His condition is highly unstable. I don't think he'd be able to cope with this situation on his own."
"How could he not, sister? He has done this at least a hundred times. I'm sure that for him this is nothing different than changing his dirty clothes."
-Slap!-
It happened in less than a second and took both sisters by surprise. It was a clean hit on the moon princess' cheek. The skin was turning red and swelling already. Cadence just kept her hoof in the air. Her expression showed no regret for hitting her younger aunt. With her head still turned to the side Luna just looked at her niece with disbelief. Had she really just slapped her? Celestia kept quiet and so did the whole castle. It was Cadence who spoke first after the aggression.
"You know it isn't like that. He isn't like that at all. We are all special to him."
For a moment Celestia felt the hairs on her back stand. She saw violence in her sister's eyes, violence brought by Cadence's comment. Luna looked like she was ready to jump at her niece's throat in an attempt to prove her wrong. But luckily she didn't.
"Special you say? Hmph. Cadence, you should stop believing in fairy tales. It'll be the end of you someday."
Luna walked away whilst rubbing her swollen cheek leaving the two of them behind.
"I have to go already. Do as you see fit. I won't get involved in this matter."
The alicorn was spreading her wings, preparing to take flight, when one of her guards appeared around the corner running towards them.
"Princess, we've found him! He is in the...princess are you hurt?"
As expected of one of Luna's guards he cared first for the well being of his princess. Luna gestured with her free hoof that he should not worry about it and give his report to the other two princesses, then she shot up into the night sky.
The guard could notice something odd about her and the other princesses, but remained quiet. It was best not to get involved when such great powers had their differences.
"Please, continue."
-"Yes, your highness. Spike was found in the garden's maze. He is still there. It looks like he is sleeping in the in the arms of one of the garden's statues."
"One of the statues, you say?" "Which one?"
-"It is the statue of the late queen, Elicia."
Cadence was the first one to take off the ground, flying straight ahead towards the maze. She knew exactly where her grandmother's statue was located, at the very center of the maze.
To spot the place to land took only a couple of seconds, the area was brimming with guards of golden and black armors, all of them surrounded the little transgressor that had dared to use one of the statues of the royal family as his bed.
When Cadence and Celestia landed they could feel a certain hostility in the air around them. The guards knew who Spike was, but they still couldn't let such an act slide with a smile. All the armored stallions and mares wanted to at least reprehend him for such rudeness. Still, as ordered by the princesses no pony had gone close to him.
"Back to your posts."
Celestia gave the order just once. All the guards left without making a single protest, despite whatever emotion they might had at the time inside them, leaving the three of them there, Celestia, Cadence and a sleeping Spike.
"Spike! Oh, thank goodness he's still alright."
Cadence placed a hoof over her chest in relief and approached the sleeping dragon with a gentle smile.
"I don't know what I'd have done if we had found his egg instead. I don't know what I'd have told Twilight."
-"Still...I don't think there's that much time left, Cadence."
Cadence turned back and saw her aunt's face. Celestia was looking upwards, at the statue's head. She looked sad and yet somewhat happy, as if she couldn't decided how to feel about what she was seeing.
Queen Elicia had been given once more a crown. It was a delicate crown made of adam's neddles, the late queen's favorite flower, something only those who had lived with her could know. There was another thing also, but that was surely a coincidence. It was surely due to the way the moonlight fell on the statue's face, but somehow...the statue seemed to be smiling at the sleeping dragon.
Twilight woke up the morning after Spike's dinner with her brother sleeping on the floor right next to her, a serious hangover, and her face somewhat swollen.
The new princess strained her brain in order to remember exactly what had happened the night before, but without success.
To wake up her brother, Shining armor, didn't look like it'd be of great help either. He seemed to be enjoying his dream a lot. He hugged the bed sheets and mumbled from time to time nonsensical lines such as, "we are all eternal", or "one way or another pie always wins."
After having a look around the room Twilight noticed that neither Spike, nor Cadence were in there. The two of them had either woken up earlier and left, or they had not slept in the same room as she and her brother did.
After a long yawn Twilight stood up and started walking towards her room. She stopped trying to remember what happened. It was best to wait for her head to clear up a little more. Maybe then she'd understand why they left them there.
Twilight decided to worry about what she needed right now, a shower and some fresh clothes. There was no way she could attend her duties as a princess while looking like that.
As she made her way towards her room she started to remember more easily the jokes, the meal, and her embarrassing behavior the night before. The headache didn't recede, but it was more tolerable now.
The sunlight of the new day passed through the colored glass shards of the stained glass along the corridor, projecting their images on the opposing wall, making her walk down the hallways look like walking through a kaleidoscope.
The morning was cold, but the air was refreshing. The birds chirped and through the few open windows in the corridor Twilight could see the trees and flowers in the garden shimmer thanks to the drops of morning dew running down their leaves and petals.
Suddenly Twilight remembered something, a kiss. A polite kiss on Cadence's hoof and words of gratitude to her from Spike. She didn't know why Spike had done such a thing, but she remembered somewhat the expression Cadence had and the blush on her assistant's face. Twilight laughed quietly and kept going.
"Last night was really fun. I really needed that. I'll have to talk with Spike about drinking though. I don't recall giving him any, but he must have had a couple of sips whenever I wasn't looking."
Finally she was in front of her bed chambers.
Flash Sentry, an orange Pegasus that had been appointed as her personal guard, stood at the room's entrance and greeted the princess once he saw her coming.
"Good Morning princess Twilight."
-"Good Morning, Flash."
Using her magic, Twilight opened the doors of her room. But before she entered there was something she had to tell the guard.
"If anypony comes, please let them know I'll be ready to start my duties once I have freshened up. They should wait for me downstairs."
She was about to leave, but Flash Sentry asked her to wait.
"Actually, Princess. I'm supposed to give you a message from Princess Celestia."
-"The princess? I see. What is the message?"
"You are to meet with her as soon as possible in the throne room. Do not mind your duties, they will be taken care of at a later time."
After Flash was done giving her the message Twilight thanked him and closed the doors behind her.
It was not surprising that the princess had called her into her presence. She had done it dozens of times before, but after she became a princess it had become less common for Celestia to do so, making Twilight feel intrigued by the reasons the Princess might have for this particular meeting.
The purple alicorn threw her dirty clothes into a basket in the room's corner and headed towards the shower.
***************
One hour later Twilight was trotting down the stairs towards the throne room. She had asked Flash if maybe he knew what the princess wanted to talk about. But all the guard did was negate with his head and wish her a good day.
Unlike other times, the corridor to the throne room was deserted. Usually there would be a long line of ponies from all over Equestria waiting for their turn to meet their rulers and talk about any problem they might have. To see no pony around made Twilight feel a little nervous. It meant that whatever was the princess wanted to discuss was more important than her own duties as the ruler of Equestria.
As soon as the guards of the throne room saw her coming, they opened the massive doors without announcing her.
The throne room was a gigantic hall at the very center of the castle that was used constantly for a variety of events. In it usually was at least one of the two rulers of Equestria, either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. Despite being a princess herself, Twilight had no seat next to the thrones of the two sisters at the top of the stairs. The spot was reserved only for the actual ruler of the land, something Twilight was not.
Still, she didn't care much about it. The pressure of being the indisputable monarch of everything was something Twilight wasn't eagerly waiting for. It was bound to happen, as princess Celestia explained to her, but Twilight hoped it'd be in a distant future.
This time sitting on her respective throne was only Princess Celestia. Princess Cadence was there as well, but she sat on a wooden, highly decorated, chair that had been placed to Celestia's left, while Luna's seat remained free to her right.
Although the princess had told her countless times it was not necessary, Twilight bowed down in her presence. It was a habit hard to break.
Both grown alicorns lowered their heads courteously and asked Twilight to raise her head. Neither Celestia, nor Cadence talked right away after their greeting. Instead they all remained quiet making Twilight feel quite anxious.
"Ehm...Princess, I was under the impression you needed to meet me?"
Twilight spoke in a soft tone while smiling rather awkwardly.
Like before, Celestia made Twilight wait for her reply. The way the alabaster alicorn looked at her gave Twilight the impression the princess was earnestly thinking about whatever she was about to tell her.
Finally Celestia spoke.
"Tell me, Twilight. Is being a princess, what you really want?"
-"Huh? What do you mean, Princess? Have I done something wrong?"
"You have nothing wrong, Twilight. What I ask is exactly what you just heard. Tell me. Do you see yourself carrying out all the duties of a princess for the rest of your life?"
This question took Twilight by surprise. She never expected to have been asked that so early in the morning. Not to mention that it was maybe one of the hardest questions she had faced in her life.
Up until this point Twilight Sparkle had just pushed forward, concentrating only on passing which ever tests the princess might present her, without caring much about her future life or what she might do in it. But now that the princess was interested in her opinion about all that had been happening, Twilight had to begin asking herself about it too.
The two princesses saw Twilight straighten up. It was clear the question was something she could not respond right off the bat, so they told her to take her time to answer. Twilight nodded and thought deeply about what her life had been up to this point.
As she reviewed her life Twilight came to understand that even if she had not noticed, her life had been divided in three if not four stages: Her childhood before becoming Celestia's pupil, her life in Canterlot as the princess' apprentice, her life in Ponyville, and her life as the princess of friendship.
During the first stage of her life her only goal was to pass Celestia's test and go to magic school. At the time she thought of nothing else. After she officially became Celestia's apprentice, her only goal in life was that of studying and learning. At the time she thought she'd find sooner or later a topic interesting enough to spend her life researching it.
When she was sent to Ponyville and after she understood the meaning of friendship, to spend her life as a humble librarian in the small town didn't sound so bad. To be honest, had things not turned into what they are right now, she surely had remained in there, in Ponyville, with her friends, forever enjoying the simple things of every season.
Now, that she was a princess, it seemed only natural to her to take on her new role as a supporting pillar and leader for all of ponykind. Actually she had just started to get accustomed to it in the past few weeks. True, the pressure and little time she had for herself were something that had been bothering her, but after Spike's dinner last night she had come to realize that being a princess still didn't mean that she'd lose her friends. It just meant she'd have to treasure those moments a lot more.
While thinking about it Twilight noticed that she would have been fine despite how her life had turned out to be. It was as good for her to end up as a researcher, that ending up a librarian or even continue being a princess. Those were tasks she was perfectly capable of doing. But whether or not she was able to perform as a princess was not what Celestia wanted to know. What she wanted to know was if she saw herself doing it for the rest of her life without any regrets.
Twilight thought deeply about just that part. She tried imagining herself years later, whether or not she'd still believe that being a princess was the right choice.
"A princess is not the only thing you can be, Twilight. Although I did raise you and gave you the necessary education to stand where you are now, I cannot deny your wish to become something else."
Celestia's words were clear. Twilight was still the owner of her own life, despite being led to this point by her. One by one she imaged her possible futures once more and realized that despite being alright with all of them, there was one she believed would give her the greatest satisfaction. Twilight Sparkle did not want to be necessarily a princess, but spreading friendship around the land was something she did want to do. To make everypony understand the value of true friends as she had done in these past years had become her new goal in life and being a princess was the best way to reach that goal.
Cadence saw Twilight smile confidently and as if she had just been able to read her mind she knew her sister in law's answer before she even said it.
"I...I think...Maybe being a princess is a bit beyond any of the expectations I have had in my life. I had never given it a thought to actually wear a Tiara or assist to balls and parties of the high society. To be honest I don't care about that, that much. But I do want to spread the message of friendship all over Equestria. I want everypony to know how important is to have friends. I want them to see that friendship is one of the things that make life special."
The resolve in Twilight's eyes was undeniable and not easy to overlooked. Had it been possible she would have earned a new cutie mark right then and there. Celestia and Cadence were happy beyond words, but at the same time they suffered for her beloved friend, for what she would have to go through if she still insisted in becoming one of Equestria's rulers.
Twilight had expected the princesses to be happy about her reply, but instead she saw them grow sad, preoccupied. It was not that obvious, but behind their stoic expressions she could sense that something was off. Before she could ask about it though, Cadence asked her another question.
"As a princess, Twilight, you have received blessings beyond any given to any other pony in the land in order to lead ponies into a better tomorrow. Your body as an alicorn represents each and every kind of pony there is. It is so that you can understand everpony's point of view."
-"Your new found magic is proof of your connection to the source of all, my dear apprentice. It was given to you in order to protect them from all harm and even the one they can cause themselves."
"And the eternal life you have been granted was given to you because you are to understand a truth beyond what a mortal life time would allow you to."
The words of the princesses were ominous and carried a deep meaning. No longer did Twilight stand before rulers of a land, but before entities a pony could never hope to compare to or comprehend. Suddenly the true meaning behind her title was clear to her. To be called princess wasn't what set her apart from other ponies like Applejack, Rarity, or Fluttershy. It was the power she wielded now, the power of an alicorn that forced her to no longer consider herself a regular pony.
Her chest felt heavy then. To think of herself as different was something she had struggled against in all this time after her transformation. But it was time she faced it. Twilight Sparkle was no longer a regular pony. It was the price she had to pay for teaching the world about friendship.
As if something had made click inside her, the young alicorn felt no more doubts about her future and spoke to both the princesses and the mares that had taken care of her for so long.
"I understand my duties and responsibilities as a princess and the burden I might have to carry. But...I don't mind it. It might be hard, but I know in the end it will make everypony happy, including myself."
"Is that so, Twilight Sparkle?"
Once more Twilight could sense and see the expression of happiness and pride in the faces of both, Cadence and Celstia, but also their lingering suffering.
"Then there's something you must know Twilight. As of tomorrow Spike the dragon will be no longer with us."
-"What?"
"We understand he is one of your closest friends. But his absence is inevitable..."
-"Wait princess, why does Spike have to leave?"
"Oh, Twilight."
Cadence's sadness became obvious. The alicorn stood up and walked towards her sister in law.
"Twilight, it isn't something we decided. It is supposed to be that way. Spike...Spike just can't keep on any longer."
"What? Is he sick? That can't be! He...he was fine just as of yesterday."
Quickly Twilight dashed towards the doors of the throne room. She had to check on her assistant. If he was feeling ill or was affected by something, she had to somehow find a way to help him.
-"Wait, Twilight!"
Twilight stopped at Celestia's command. It was not without reason that the princess yelled. The young alicorn turned around. She did so in order to excuse herself for leaving. It might be the princess, but she just couldn't leave Spike alone if he was sick.
"Spike the dragon isn't suffering from any illness, nor is he in any sort of danger."
-"It isn't like we want to send him away either, Twilight."
"Spike will cease to be. For you see, Twilight...he...he isn't what he seems to be."
Twilight remained silent. Celestia's last statement was confusing. With one of her eye brows raised and a clear expression of not getting whatever she wanted to tell her, Twilight approached once more the princesses in their thrones.
-"...... Princess, what do you mean by that?"
Twilight looked at Celestia in the eye. It was clear that she needed a more detailed explanation to understand all that was going on. After heaving a long sigh the princess spoke gently.
"Spike is a familiar, Twilight. A familiar that was given to the very first princess as a lesson."
When the princess was done with her sentence, it was clear that Twilight still couldn't understand what both princesses meant.
"Spike, a familiar? With all due respect princess, but it's hard for me to believe your words. There is no way Spike can be a familiar."
Familiars were something Twilight knew well. She had read about them in many different books during her life. She had even wrote a two meters essay about them in magic school.
"As you know princess, familiars or familiar spirits are summoned powerful entities one usually has to make a pact with. They are supposed to protect and assist young practitioners of magic as they come into greater powers. If we go point by point, there is no way Spike could one. He is not a powerful entity, nor did I summon him, nor did I make a pact with him. Most important, he isn't a spirit. He eats, he sleeps, he gets angry about things, he...he even has feelings for some ponies, that go well beyond that of friendship or sympathy."
Twilight's arguments were sound and solid. According to her Spike didn't have any of the characteristic qualities a familiar has. Leaving this point quite clear she asked the princess once more to explain herself. This time with what she hoped would be a better argument. Yet the princess kept loyal to her story. For her Spike was a familiar. Twilight was quite annoyed by this, but she did her best to control herself and her words.
"Princess, as I told you before, that can't be. Spike isn't a familiar..."
-"Why is that Twilight? If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense for him to be one. Spike belongs to a powerful race. He is a dragon, the only one to be able to walk among ponies without problems."
The princess had a point there. Despite his current age, Spike still was a dragon, an earth dragon at that, meaning that in the future he would become a very powerful being. But still that wasn't enough to convince Twilight.
"Well, that might be true princess, but still. In order for him to be considered a familiar I'd have to have summoned him."
"Oh, and you did Twilight."
Twilight froze when she heard the princess' last comment. She was about to tell the princess otherwise, but on Celestia's face Twilight could see that she was about to elaborate her words.
"It was the same day you took the test for magic school. The very moment you started pouring your magic over his egg, was the exact moment the summoning began."
-"Wh-what? That is not possible princess. That wasn't what the test was about."
"Yes, that was the purpose of the test. If you knew about it, that is a completely different matter. Every year up until that day, I let hundreds of young unicorns try their luck with the summoning. That helped the teachers gauge their magic potential and if I was lucky enough I'd end up meeting an astonishing unicorn such as yourself Twilight. A pony that had the potential to become a princess in the future."
"N-no..."
Twilight spoke out a single word. She couldn't express her feelings beyond that single articulated noise that left her mouth. It was unbelievable, not to mention mean and cold from the princess. Celestia's heart hurt. She knew how much damage she was doing to her beloved student, but she couldn't stop now.
"After Spike hatched, I was the one that set the rules of your pact. Do you remember my words back then?
Take good care of this dragon, little Twilight. As long as you don't stray from the path of magic, he will be your cute assistant..." -"Take good care of this dragon, little Twilight. As long as you don't stray from the path of magic, he will be your cute assistant..."
Twilight and Celestia repeated the words at the same time. Twilight's strength had left her and she let herself fall on the hall's floor, distinctly depressed.
"Yes...I...I remember those words. How could I forget them, princess? They were very special to me."
It happened almost never that the princess didn't know what to say. But this was one of those times when the princess had no words of solace to offer to one of her most beloved ponies.
"What happened after that, is something you know, Twilight. Spike helped, supported, and protected you up until this day."
"Protected me? No... Spike... Spike is a little bit of a coward sometimes. He gets angry and he is selfish from time to time. There have been days, in the library, when he annoyed me talking about Rarity or his comic books while I tried to study. Spike, can't be a familiar. He is too moody for that, even devilishly cunning at times. He is just a baby dragon, my friend and..."
-"No, Twilight. Do not try to fool yourself. See things for what they are."
Twilight bit tightly while tears started to stream down her cheeks. She didn't want to believe it, but with each passing second it became harder to oppose the facts. Cadence and Celestia quickly stood up, but sat back right after that. Twilight had to cope with it on her own.
"No! Spike isn't a familiar! He has a life of his own! He isn't a spirit!"
Twilight yelled. Her voice was so loud it made the windows tremble and forced the birds outside to leave their nests. Cadence and Celestia sat. They were not surprised or alarmed by her outburst. It was something they had done as well when the late queen told them about Spike's true nature. It was about time then. Twilight was at the brink of despair and it was their task, Celestia's and Cadence's to see that she fell in the dark pit.
-"That is not true Twilight. Spike does not have a life of his own."
Princess Cadence was talking. Her voice was soft, like a whisper. It was hard for her to tell Twilight about this. Twilight stared at her with a blank expression.
"W-what do you mean, Cadence."
-"Twilight, Spike has never been truly alive. The body you see is nothing more the projection of your magic through his egg. Spike is one of the many forms the unborn dragon inside the egg could have taken if it had seen the sun light."
"Un...born?"
"Yes, Twilight. As you know, in order to make a familiar a soul is needed. The creator of Spike took the egg and soul of an unborn dragon and used it in order to produce him."
Twilight felt how her heart fell in a cold and dark place. She could still hear the words, but they were distant and overshadowed by ta white noise inside the purple alicorn's head.
"Spike has lived a thousand lives. None of them exactly like the other. With each princess he has assisted, his form and his personality have changed. The dragon aunt Celestia, aunt Luna, and I met was completely different from the Spike you know."
Twilight stopped crying. The last part of Cadence's comment had drawn her attention and she was more than willing to listen to her. Cadence started talking about her past with a certain nostalgia.
"When I met him, he was called Sagard. It was a tubby dragon that always wore a blue Victorian vest and a white shirt no matter where he went. On his left eye he used sometimes a monocle that he put on the pocket of the opposing side when he wasn't using it. On his head he wore a white and dusty wig tied back in a ponytail, that despite all his running around, always looked impeccable.
I was introduced to him the same day I arrived from the crystal empire after Sombra's coup d'etat. He was actually aunt Celestia's helper, but after aunt Luna's birth and my arrival he had become a helper to all of us."
-"Sagard?"
Sagard...that was a name Twilight had heard before. Spike had called himself Sagard and kissed Cadence's hoof during dinner last night.
"Yes, You remember it, right, Twilight? Spike called himself that way last night. It was a short lapse in his memory. It means that Spike doesn't have much time left. He can barely keep his own persona anymore. He's already running out of magic."
-"Then!! If, if magic is all what he needs, then I could supply it to him!"
Wiping her tears off with her foreleg Twilight lifted herself from the floor. If all Spike needed was magic then there was no problem at all. She was happy once more. She saw a glimmer of hope in the distance. But Cadence, as well as Celestia took it upon themselves to make it vanish.
"It isn't possible, Twilight. You won't be able to supply magic to him in his current form, and if you do it after he had turned into an egg again, he will reject it."
-"Why!?"
"Because you are a princess already."
Luna's voice, filled the air of the throne room; her words directed at the young princess.
Gliding through one open window Princess Luna entered the throne room. She hovered for a few moments above the three alicorns before landing gracefully on top of her throne with a couple soft flaps of her wings.
"The dragon won't accept your magic anymore because you are no longer a candidate for princess."
One side of the princess' face had a couple of white bandages that kept a thin wound on her cheek closed. It looked like it hurt, but Luna didn't seem to be even a bit bothered by it. Unlike Celestia or Cadence, the princess was calm, unaffected by the sad atmosphere.
-"Princess Sparkle. Do not try to come up with ways to keep Spike. The point of all this, is for you to learn to accept his loss. Just a few moments ago you even said you would be ready to carry the burdens that might come along with your new role as a princess. Seeing hundred of loved ones part is one of those burdens."
Speaking matter-of-factly Luna tried to appeal to Twilight's logic. But Twilight didn't seem to care about the logic of things at the time..
"Twilight Sparkle. It looks like there has been a grave mistake."
Suddenly the expression on the face of the moon princess changed. It was as if Twilight were nothing more than a lost pony that ended up in front of here by mere coincidence. Instead of smiling, Luna was now apparently bored by Twilight. The tone of voice of the princess of the night didn't try to hide that fact.
"It seems you really don't have the characteristics of a princess. As my sister mentioned before, your life is yours to decide. Whatever options you had before becoming a princess have not changed. But know that you will never be a princess again."
Luna stared down at Twilight making quite clear that her next words would seal her destiny. The young alicorn was depressed, her wings hanging loosely from her back as if she had no strength left to keep them against the sides of her body.
"I see, princess, Luna. If that's the case, then..."
-"Twilight!?"
From the other side of the thick wooden doors of the throne room Twilight heard Spike's voice accompanied by loud knocks on the door and the complains of the guards posted outside.
"Sir Spike, please step back. The princesses are now having a very delicate meeting and..."
-"Twilight, are you in there? Is everything alright? I heard you yell a while ago. Sorry I wasn't in the room this morning. I woke up right in the middle of the garden maze. Twilight, can you hear me?"
It was like magic, Spike showed up exactly when she felt the weakest. Come to think of it, this was not the first time something like this happened.
"You were saying princess Sparkle?"
Luna continued to press Twilight for the continuation of her sentence. But Twilight was unable to continue, for each time she tried to talk Spike interrupted her. "Are you feeling alright, Twilight?", "If you don't feel alright, ask permission from the princesses to leave." Spike was concerned about her. Anypony could tell that from his tone of voice.
"I...I..."
-"There's nothing to be ashamed of if you are feeling down Twilight. I'm sure the princesses will understand."
After the last of Spike's interruptions, Luna no longer felt in the mood to keep pressuring Twilight.
"It's alright, Princess Sparkle. You might leave. You may give us your answer tomorrow."
-"Then, Spike....?"
"The matter with the familiar is unavoidable. He'll be no more after tonight. It won't make any difference if you choose to remain a princess or not. His destiny was sealed since he hatched. The only difference is that if you don't become a princess we'll make sure to erase all the memories concerning him from the minds of all the ponies that knew him."
That was it. The two choices before Twilight were clearly explained to her by the princess of the moon. She either continued being a princess and remember Spike, or she chose not to and she and every one of his friends forgot about him.
"Then...if you excuse me, princesses..."
Twilight bowed down politely one last time and turned around towards the doors. Her step was slow and she was clearly depressed. Before the doors closed behind her the three princesses saw the little dragon pat her shoulder friendly while he inquired about her well being.
When the three of them were left alone in the room, Cadence was the first to speak.
"Incredible. He appeared even now to advice her. Had aunt Luna keep pressing her, she'd have surrendered her crown right there."
-"It just means he believes in her that much, Cadence. The dragon couldn't let her throw everything away just like that."
Both mares smiled at each other. Somehow they knew everything would be alright at the end. Luna meanwhile had spread her wings, ready to leave the room. Cadence called out to her before she took flight.
"Aunt Luna!"
Luna stopped and turned around. The wound caused by Cadence quite visible and quite painful looking.
"I...I really apologize for my behavior last night. I don't know what overcame me..."
The dark blue alicorn turned her back to her niece.
"Hmph! Do not worry about it. It is nothing but a scratch."
Luna talked nonchalantly, making clear that such a wound was of no importance whatever motives there could have been behind it.
"But still...sorry. I knew you couldn't just ignore the whole situation."
To this last part Luna had something to object though.
"We do not want any misunderstandings, princess Cadence. I did this because, as I told you last night, I believe this is not as difficult as you make it look. Twilight will pass this test like the ones before it and she shall become our new princess, or she and her friends shall forget everything about it. There's nothing more to it."
Those were Luna's last words before taking off to the sky. Cadence was outraged by her aunt's attitude. But Celestia could see beyond the abrasive mask, behind which her sister had decided to hide her true emotions.
Princess Luna was still hurting from the last time she met Sagard.
Spike happily welcomed Twilight into her chambers. He did so hoping, that it would lift her spirits if maybe a little. But the young alicorn kept her long face. She walked towards her bed and let herself fall, sending all the cushions and pillows around a couple of meters in the air.
"Oh, come on, Twilight. Brighten up! If you keep that attitude, it doesn't matter if we wait for a hundred years, you will never be able to face the princesses again."
Twilight's face was pressed against the surface of her bed, making it impossible for the little dragon to see what kind of expression she had right now.
"Come on, Twilight. What could the princess have said that she left you like this?"
Slowly Twilight's head turned enough to let Spike see one of her red and swollen eyes look back at him. Judging by the glimpse he had managed to catch Spike deduced that whatever it was the princess had told her was no laughing matter.
"Twilight, what happened? You know you can tell me."
The young alicorn talked between sobs with her mouth pressed again the fabric of her bed sheets. So it was very hard to understand a single word of what she was saying.
"What did you say, Twilight?"
Twilight repeated once more, but for Spike it was just distorted noise.
"Could you say it one more time? I, I didn't catch...well...any of that."
He really tried to understand her, but it was impossible. With each repetition of Twilight, Spike approached her spot in the bed until they were so close he could touch her.
"Alright, Twilight. Just say it once...no, two more times. Just to be sure."
When Spike was about to place his claw on her shoulder, Twilight unexpectedly raised one of her hooves in the air and pushed him away.
"Leave me alone, Spike!"
With a mess of a mane, her dress full of folds and stains from her tears, her eyes red and clearly upset, Twilight saw Spike fall on his behind on the floor, before she hid her face away once more among the bed sheets.
"Wh-what was that for, Twilight!? I just wanted to help you!"
-"I don't need help right now. I want to be alone. Leave me alone, Spike... I...I don't want to see nopony right now."
Spike sighed and dusted his behind with the palm of his claws.
"Is it really what you want, Twilight?"
Even inside her self-made igloo of bed sheets Twilight could feel the cold sadness in the dragon's question. She wasn't sure if she really wanted him to leave. She just wanted to be alone for a few moments in order to think. But she wasn't about to take her words back either. It was as if some kind of silly pride had got into the confusing mixture her heart was right now.
The bundle of bed sheets Spike recognized as Twilight nodded. She wanted him out of her room. Heaving a sigh Spike walked slowly towards the door while his friend continued to wrap herself in sheets.
"Then I'll live you alone, Twilight."
She clearly heard the door open.
"Is everything alright, Spike?"
-"It's alright Flash, she wants to be alone."
"Oh."
Spike and Flash talked briefly before she heard the deaf slam of the door closing and the sound of hoofsteps walking away.
As she wished, she had been left alone.
In the darkness provided by the covers of her bed, Twilight cried and bit and brood over all that had happened that day, allowing herself to rest just enough to have energy to cry, bite and brood over the same things later on.
The new princess didn't know what to do. She was stuck in her own mess of mixed emotions and tears. Twilight tumbled and turned beneath the sheets of her bed, fighting against the frustration and powerlessness that with each moment seemed to rise inside her. She cried and yelled at the solitude around her until her voice was gone and her tears had dried up.
She then laid there, on her bed, tired, empty and alone.
Suddenly everything was calm. The last loud noise she heard was a last pitiful sob. After that there was nothing.
The world had grown eerily quiet. She did not move. It was as if her body were weighting her down like a heavy shackle. Despite solitude was something she wished for, she felt abandoned.
"Is this how it is going to be?"
In the stillness Twilight began to hear her own voice inside her head. The voice talked about time and lifetimes. It questioned friendship and love, the bonds all living beings form during their lives alongside each other. It was a fatal voice. With each sentence it seemed to drain Twilight's will to live, to continue living. She felt like dying while being alive. But she knew it was just her imagination. To die out of sadness isn't that easy.
The air was hot and uncomfortably moist. The covers were wet with the tears and her sweat and her throat was dry. Suddenly Twilight saw no point in hiding anymore. She didn't want to be in that dark and lonely place beneath the covers. Little by little Twilight freed herself from the tight grasp of the darkness below, and began to see the light of the world outside.
"Puh."
The air was sweet and refreshing. Through the open window of her room she saw the crescent moon hang from the sky like a silver earring, surrounded by dozens of scattered gray clouds, of which a single one floated astray through the pitch black sea of stars in a completely different direction.
"Is...it is night already?"
It certainly was so. The night shift of weather ponies was gathering the clouds in order to set in motion a storm programmed weeks ago. A storm, huh? Maybe that's why the nightly breeze tasted so good.
Unlike other nights the twinkling starts that Twilight managed to see through the spaces between the clouds did not cheer her up. It just reminded her of lost time. This was Spike's last night, no last hours, and all she did was send him away in order to cry and feel miserable. There were so many things she could have done instead of that, so many thing she could have told him.
The stray gray cloud continued floating. It was very far from the group already and it looked like it'd go even farther away.
"That cloud...will it go on forever like that? After years have passed...always in one direction. Beyond cliffs and moutains...will it continue advancing?"
In her head a story began to take form, the story of that certain cloud.
Always pushing forward the cloud met many others, but it could stay with none. It was the wind's fault it was like that. Surely the cloud wanted to stay where it was, with other clouds it had come to know. But the wind kept pushing and blew them apart time after time.
How many kinds of clouds will that single gray cloud meet in a hundred years? How many has it met until now? It was hard for Twilight to make a guess. But she was sure of one thing: She won't forget about it easily, despite being nothing like her, just a fleeting condensation of water vapor, to see that lonely cloud float this night had a special meaning for her. With Spike was exactly the same. It was just a short amount of time when compared to the many years that awaited her, but it was an unspeakable special time they shared.
"There's still time. I...I can still make it!!"
Twilight jumped from the bed and turned towards the door. She had to meet Spike. There was no way she'd allow her last words for him to be "go away". It took her a while, but she finally really understood it. Before she could get anywhere near the door she stopped though. In the shadows of her unlit room she saw a familiar figure sitting right next to the door in complete stillness.
"It looks like you are feeling better now, Twilight." -"S...Spike? Did...didn't you leave?" "And leave you to wallow in your depression? Yeah, right. Like I could ever do that."
Twilight felt like crying again, but unlike before it was not because she was sad, but because she was...glad, maybe? It was hard for her to tell at the time.
"Is it alright if I turn on the lights, Twilight?" -"Y-yes, Spike. It's alright."
The little dragon turned and blew his green fire over a few candles on a chandelier, lighting up the room enough to see what was in front of his face. He turned around to see how Twilight was and was unexpectedly hugged by the purple alicorn.
"T-twilight!?"
The forelegs of his friends enveloped him in a caress so warm it was embarrassing. With red cheeks Spike stuttered a question.
"W-what is it, Twilight? Are you still feeling down?"
Twilight kept quiet. She moved her head from side to side and kept pressing herself against him, kept squeezing him gently.
"What is it then?"
Time passed slowly by and she kept hugging him. Spike hugged her back. It felt like the right thing to do. They enjoyed every second of their embrace, the most intimate and meaningful they had ever shared in their lives.
"Sorry."
Twilight spoke and Spike didn't know what to say right away.
"About what Twilight?"
-"Sorry I yelled at you and pushed you away."
"Don't worry about it, Twilight. I know you didn't mean it."
Twilight smiled in the darkness, against the hard scales of her friend and assistant. She felt like crying again, but instead she smiled.
"So, are you feeling better now?" -"Yes, a lot actually."
They let go almost at the same time and Spike finished lighting all the candles in his friend's room.
It was now clear as day inside Twilight's chambers despite the growing darkness outside caused by the agglomeration of rain clouds. The two friends had made themselves comfortable on top of the bed. Spike rested his head on the side of the mare by her request.
"So, Twilight, tell me. What did the princess tell you that made you this upset?"
The princess didn't know what to say to her dragon. Even if she had come to terms with it, to tell him he'd cease to be soon wasn't something she believed she could do. So she told him a part of the truth.
"The princesses told me that I'll live for a long time and that I'd have to face many sad things during all those years. They said that I still could do whatever I wanted. They didn't want to force me to become a princess if that's not really what I wished for."
-"Oh. A harsh decision. So...what did you decide?"
"I...don't know yet."
Spike looked up at the ceiling of the room. It wasn't surprising that Twilight had not made a decision yet. All the hours he saw her twist, turn and cry were only to assimilate the news. Not nearly enough to come to a decision. In a quick movement the dragon got off from the mare and stood on top of the bed. Twilight turned around and looked at him.
"Spike?"
"And why wouldn't you like to be a princess, Twilight? At the time it might still be hard for you to do all the things a princess needs to do, but I know that after a couple of years of practice it'll be a piece of cake. That I can assure."
The dragon stood straight and hit with his balled fist on his puffed chest emitting the same sound of a small leather drum.
"Besides no matter what those sad things might be, I am sure that with Rarity and the others you will be able to overcome them."
Spike smiled. He believed in his words. He had seen Twilight and the others done the improvable time after time, all thanks to the deep bond of friendship that tied them together. He expected Twilight to agree with him on that one, but Twilight didn't do it.
"But, Spike, what if they aren't around? As a princess I'll live longer than any of them will. When...when they aren't around anymore, what will I do?"
That was a troubling statement, not to mention depressive. But Spike wasn't about to let Twilight sink again into depression.
"That's alright Twilight. If they aren't around, then I'll still be next to you. Like always."
It was clear for Twilight then that Spike had no idea of what he was. He spoke that last line so confidently it seemed absurd to think he knew. Once again she felt sad.
"And...and if you aren't around? What then, Spike?"
Spike grew quiet. To think about his own death was something he never did. But as Twilight had left clear, it was possible also. Even if he was a dragon he was by no means eternal. It'd be maybe after a thousand or ten thousand years, but he might die as well. But...even if that was the case...
"It will still be fine Twilight."
Twilight saw Spike smile. It was the second time he had done so that night. Like the time before he seemed to be confident on his words.
"Even if we aren't there with you, there will still be others who will be. You'll have other friends."
-"But...!"
"Oh, come on, Twilight!"
Unexpectedly Spike seemed to be irritated by Twilight's interruption.
"Are you going to tell me, we will be your last friends? That you won't be friends with Applejack's son or Fluttershy's daughter? Are you going to ignore Pound and Pumpkin when they grow older?"
-"O-of course not! I'd never...!"
Spike placed softly his claw on top of Twilight's mouth.
"Of course you wouldn't. They are your friends too and their sons and daughters will surely be your friends. And before you even say it Twilight, even if the kingdom were to suddenly stop existing and there were no traces of any pony you have met, there are still going to be ponies to befriend."
-"But...they won't be you, Spike. They will be other friends. You...you and the girls would never come back."
"Well...that is true. But it isn't like we are going to vanish. We will always be with you. When you see apples a million years in the future you'll surely think about Applejack, or when you see somebody being nice to animals, you will think of Fluttershy. The same will happen when you see a fashionista, or a pony that claims to be the fastest in the world, or claims to be the best party pony around, you will always remember us and again we will be with you. You will need more than an eternity to forget good friends."
Pressed against the palm of his claw Spike could feel Twilight's lips turn into a smile. He let go of her and sat once more on the bed. Talking for so long had left him tired for some reason. It was weird. Maybe it was because he meant each an every word he said? Does that happen? Does one get tired when one speaks from the heart? Twilight used her magic to levitate the dragon's body closer to her.
"What would ponies say if they knew the princess of friendship was being lectured about friendship?"
-"I am sure they'd have their doubts about her."
"Owwwwwww..."
Twilight giggled behind a hoof. She didn't seem to be confused or worried about anything anymore. It was all clear now, thanks to Spike.
"Thank you."
-"You are welcome, Twilight."
"But don't think I'll let you off the hook that easily? Do you know what happens to dragons like you?"
The expression of the princess turned from a gentle smile, into a mischievous grin and her hooves moved in a strange way.
"They get tickled!!"
-"What? No!!"
Relentlessly Twilight attacked the little dragon with a barrage of tickles. While the dragon twisted and laughed while pleading for mercy Twilight giggled innocently. That was at least until one clean kick of the dragon hit her right in the middle of the face.
"Oh, dear Celestia! Twilight, are you alright? I...I didn't mean to... I mean, come on, I told you to stop, didn´t I? Twilight?"
The princess' shocked expression lasted for a while, while a red stream of her blood flowed out of her nose and dripped onto her bed.
"Why, you...!!!"
Without a warning Twilight jumped at the dragon. Luckily he was able to evade her.
"Stay still, Spike! How dare you hit me!" -"It was an accident, I swear!"
The room lit up with destructive multicolored beams that left deep marks on the walls of rock and stone. Tables were turned, drawers were taken out of their places, blankets were used as distractions in order to blind the raging princess.
"Twilight! Forgive and be forgiven! Remember, forgive and be forgiven!" -"Let me catch you and maybe I'll think about forgiving you!"
Several guards stormed into the princess' chambers, Flash sentry included. But they were pushed back outside by the young alicorn, who told them that they were to bring food and drinks to her room and to not enter again without them.
After the fight there was a feast, after the feast there was talk, and while they talked they drank many different things. The guards believed the princess had gone insane, but Flash easily cleared up the misunderstanding stating that the princess was just in a good mood again.
At the end, when the fighting, eating, talking and drinking was over Spike and Twilight fell exhausted on her bed.
"W-what was that all about, Twilight." -"I don't know...I just felt like it. And by the way..."
Twilight flicked the tip of Spike's nose with her hoof.
"Ouch!! What was that for?" -"It was for kicking me before." "I told you it was an accident. Twilight...you..."
Spike was dead tired. He didn't even have enough strength to finish his own sentences.
"Are you tired, Spike?"
-"Yes...very... A lot has happened today after all."
"Certainly."
Twilight's horn glowed purple and Spike felt how the blanket fell delicately on top of both of them.
"You can sleep with me tonight, Spike." -"Sleeping with you...? Man...I haven't...done that in...ages."
Spike's every third word was interrupted by a yawn. His eyelids closed and opened while he struggled to keep awake. His voice faded and his breathing became almost inaudible.
"Spike, are you asleep already?"
Twilight took his silence as a yes. She used her magic once more to turn all the lights off and closed her eyes while snuggling to her number one assistant.
*******************************************
On the nightly sky a gathering of Pegasi was discussing who should they send to retrieve it. The storm was almost ready, but they still needed a last cloud in order to get started. It wasn't like they had lost it though. They knew very well where it was, or rather who had it. But it wasn't easy to go and ask the princess to give it back to them.
"Ok, it is decided then. Who ever draw the shorter straw has to talk to the princess. No grudges or complains."
The pegasi nodded at the same time, and one by one drew one from a bunch of straws their leader had in her hoof until there was only one left. So far nopony had drawn the shorter straw, so it was safe to assume that the last one to draw would be the one getting it.
A black Pegasus sighed in resignation. He had to be the one to go and talk to her. It was just his luck. Had it been a lottery to win the princess' kiss, he would have never won. But now that it was about taking a cloud away from Princess Luna, it was just like him to hit the jackpot.
"Go on, Silent Flutter. Remember, no grudges or complains."
Silent Flutter, what the stallion was called, nodded once more and flied slowly towards the princess. While he did so he practiced what he'd say to her.
"Good night princess Luna. I've come here for the cloud."
Yeah. That sounded good enough...to be banished to the pits of Tartarus! The line was too direct. Maybe if he were to praise her first and then aboard the matter with the cloud...
"Ah! What a beautiful night, princess. Truly another of your master pieces. What a shame that the storm was planned for tonight as well... Speaking about storms..."
Waaaah...that sounded lame. Who was he, count Lickaboot? And who was cound Lickaboot anyways? No, no. He'd have to come up with something better than that. The Pegasus tried a new line after the other without being completely satisfied with any. By the time he had reached the princess he still had no idea how to ask for the missing cloud.
"E...ehm...P-p-p-princess?" ' Silent Flutter spoke in a voice that could compete against Fluttershy's in the tournament for the quietest pony. There was a reason why his mother gave him the name Silent and the stutter wasn't any help either.
"Ah...ahem...P-p-princess Luna?"
The stallion called the princess once more, but the alicorn didn't react in any way. She seemed to be concentrating on something. Making no sound the Pegasus turned around the mare and tried to look in the same direction she was looking. The princess had her eyes fixated on the lit window of the eastern-most room of the western part of the castle, princess Twilight's room. Come to think of it, a couple of minutes ago he and his squad heard a loud ruckus coming from that side of the castle. But the noise coming from there couldn't be the reason why she was there, nor the reason why she had borrowed the cloud from them earlier that evening.
Suddenly the light in princess Twilight's room went out. It took Luna as well as the black Pegasus by surprise.
The alicorn lowered her head before standing up and spreading her wings. She had seen enough. When she turned around though, she almost had a heart attack when she saw a black Pegasus flying right behind her.
"AaAaaaaAAa!!!! W-what are you doing here!?"
"AaaHahaaaaaa!!! I'm here for the cloud...princess.
The cloud, right. She had completely forgotten about that. She had borrowed that afternoon in order to check on Twilight without being discovered.
"That's right. Here, take it. I am sorry I took it for so long."
Already flying on her own, the princess pushed the cloud with one of her free hooves towards the Pegasus. She believed he'd take it and fly back to his duties, but instead he remained there, with his mouth half open and a look of disbelief behind his flying glasses.
"Is something the matter?"
-"P-princess...are you crying?"
The Pegasus got closer, but the princess was faster. Before he could even say the next word she was already a mile away from him, flying around the castle towards her own room.
Princess Celestia had been called by the guards of the castle, as a last resort of sorts.
Word about the princess crying had spread faster than any other gossip or rumor told before inside the walls of Canterlot Castle. It was astonishing news after all. Princess Luna had never been seen crying in all the time after her return, and the fact that she was considered a pony-eating fiend a couple of years before made it even more surprising for every pony in the castle.
The reason for her tears was different for every pony that contributed to keeping the gossip alive and appealing. For the chefs of the castle she was crying out of pain. They believed it was because of a wound on her face. The maids of the castle on the other hoof believed it was due to an unrequited love, and that the pony the princess was interested in was no other than Princess Twilight. Word among the soldiers and workers was that she was crying out of solitude. Like those there were many other things ponies in the castle believed were the cause for the princess' sadness.
A large crowd of Luna's guards had gathered in front of her bed chambers mumbling and talking among themselves, wondering about the condition of the princess, and pondering and discussing possible remedies for each and every cause thrown around in their conversations.
Already from afar Princess Celestia could see the sea of helmets, wings and horns gathering in front of her sister's room. She heard them talk about healthy food, aesthetic surgery, and even some very detailed plans for a romantic dinner between her and Twilight. The princess laughed mentally. It was really amusing to hear what the guards were willing to do in order to prevent the tears of the moon princess. It was almost a shame she had to stop all that.
"Ahem."
Celestia cleared her throat and the mumbling ceased instantly. The unorganized crowd of armor-clad soldiers suddenly made a path for her. The soldiers stood firm against the walls of the hallway, with their heads lowered and one of their hooves raised slightly from the ground.
"Our apologies, Princess Celestia! Please go ahead."
The sentence was one, but their voices many. The princess was somewhat impressed by the discipline and coordination of her sister's corps. Calmly she walked through the path opened to her towards a single soldier at her sister's door, one she had seen knocking on it a few moments ago.
"My apologies, Princess Celestia. I hope our call didn't bother you."
The stallion was already past his best age, she could tell by the white streaks in his mane and the many lines on his face. But his body was still strong and his expression was that of one that is always ready for a fight.
"There is no need for apologies, General Graitax. As her sister, I'm also worried about Luna's condition. Although I must say that I don't believe that a single one of the reasons for my sister's tears that I have heard on my way here is correct."
There was a massive blush on the cheeks of every soldier standing on the hallway, Graitax included.
"I-is that so, Princess? Forgive us for letting rumors get the best of us. I am sure that you know the exact reason for the princess' situation."
-"No. Actually I'm not sure what might have caused this."
Celestia spoke nonchalantly causing the soldiers to gasp at unison.
"Princess, then..."
-"That is what we are going to find out, right, Graitax?"
The princess knocked on the door of her sister softly. No pony around her made a single sound.
"Luna, may I come in?"
Celestia waited for her sister's response, but there was none. She knocked once more.
"Luna, it's me Celestia. I'd like to talk with you."
Again she waited. But like before her sister didn't reply.
"Princess..."
Graitax spoke once more.
"...please princess Celestia, tell princess Luna that if she's concerned about the wound on her face, there's nothing worry about. Roselax, the stallion over there, is the heir of a renown family of doctors, being him the only one that choose duty over tradition. I am more than sure that he'll be able to heal the wound without leaving the slightest trace behind."
Graitax pointed at an unicorn soldier among the lines. The unicorn simply nodded with his head as to let the princess know where he was.
"A wound on her face? Ah! No, I don't think that is the problem."
The princess of the sun made a gesture with her hoof negating that possibility. There was no way that "scratch", as Luna had called it earlier today, was the reason for all this.
"Could it be an internal pain instead, princess? Because, Nikoleif here knows much about..."
Graitax had already turned in order to point at another soldier, but Celestia quickly interrupted him.
-"I don't honestly believe any sort of internal or external pain would be enough to bring my sister to tears, general Graitax. I think you know her as good as I do to know that."
Ashamed the armored pony lowered his head and nodded.
"Certainly, Princess. Princess Luna is tough, made of a different kind wood than any of us. But I just couldn't discount the possibility that easily."
In that moment for some reason Celestia couldn't even begin to guess, General Graitax's expression changed. He seemed somehow flustered, embarrassed about what he was going to say.
"Then...do you think it maybe a problem of the heart, Princess?"
With a well disguised face of surprise Celestia saw how the cheeks of the old stallion and those of the soldiers under his command glowed red, brighter than before. Their embarrassment was so evident she could almost hear the steam coming out of their ears.
"E...Even if it is not something we should concern ourselves with, seeing all the suffering this matter brings to our princess, we can at least find a way to help her in this situation."
The old stallion didn't call a name that time. Instead, one of the soldiers broke silently the lines and approached them while keeping a stoic expression. Once he was in front of the princess he lowered his head as supposed to.
"This young lad here is Liebarz. He is our love expert. His dates are peerless; his hook-ups are always a perfect match. He is as good as he is ruthless. A dreaded foe in the matters of the heart, I must admit. I am sure he'll be more than capable to advice Princess Luna to come up with a fool proof strategy to conquer the heart of Princess Twi...I mean, the heart of whoever Princess Luna is interested at the time."
Liebarz raised his head and hit on his metallic breastplate with one of his hooves.
"Please leave it to me, Princess. I'll make sure princess Luna finds happiness no matter the consequences!"
Celestia knew then that if she left things like that, things would get beyond anyone's control in a matter of hours. The concern her sister's soldiers felt towards their commander was out of the scale, to the point where it was almost harmful. Not only that but there was something inside her chest that told her very clearly that Liebarz could make Luna and Twilight the perfect couple by the end of the week even if they had never felt anything for each other. There was something in his cold eyes that screamed to her that he was incredibly good at matching ponies, almost deadly so.
"I don't think that would be necessary, General."
-"But, princess...!"
Graitax stopped in the middle of his sentence, distracted by something that had been slid down Luna's door at Celestia's hooves. On the floor laid a piece of parchment with few scribbles on it. Using her magic Celestia picked up the note before Graitax could see it's contents and read it in silence.
"Is it a note from Princess Luna?"
-"It'd seem so Graitax. Apparently my sister doesn't want to be bothered right now."
Taking the piece of paper away from her sight, Celestia looked at the old general in the eye as to make sure the soldiers of Luna's guard understood.
"Y-yes, princess."
Graitax lowered his head, as did the other dozens of armored stallions and mares standing along the hallway. The sun princess sighed and with a look of resignation at the soldiers' worried expressions spoke once more.
"She also says there's something she would ask her guard, Graitax."
-"Oh! What might that be princess? A mission? A quest?"
The old stallion raised his head in a blink of an eye, expecting the orders of his liege.
"Luna would like to put you in charge of the night watch for tonight. She expects nothing but perfection while accomplishing this mission."
-"Do not worry my princess! There shall be on this night no invader or threat that could endanger any citizen within our borders! Luna's Guard, formation!!"
With a deafening sound, caused by the simultaneous movement all the soldiers, stallions and mares alike took their positions in a often practiced formation. Their eyes were set in the pony before them, waiting for the order to march. The old general gave a respectful nod to the princess, while thanking her for her help once more and turned towards his subordinates.
"As you heard princess Luna has placed her trust on us for tonight. We are to guard the night on our own. Let us not betray the princess' expectations of us. To our patrol stations!"
-"Yes sir!"
The thunderous affirmation of the soldiers filled the cold air of the castle's hallways. The unicorns, Pegasi and earth ponies in black armor trotted down the corridors towards their respective posts as if they were marching to the battlefield; something a bit exaggerated, according to the princess.
Celestia turned once more towards her sisters' door and attempted to reach to her.
"Oh, Luna...I know your soldiers are hard to command sometimes. But they truly care about you. I don't see why you'd treat them like this."
The princess read once more the two sentences written on her sister's note.
"Make them go away. They are bothersome."
-"Something like this would surely hurt their feelings."
The princess of the sun spoke softly at the wooden door of her sister, but it felt like talking to an iron wall, one she couldn't hope to tear down with even her strongest magic. On the other side Luna remained quiet, with feather and parchment enveloped in her magic grasp. A second note slid down the door. It was for Celestia as well, but the contents were different.
"I will go to bed now. You should do the same. "
The blue alicorn saw the shadow of her sister on the floor go away. The sound of her hoof steps became fainter with each second until there was nothing more than silence on the other side of the door. Slowly she walked towards her bed and let herself fall on top of it and into a deep slumber. She hoped it'd make her forget, but all it did was make her remember.
****************************************
The day was sunny, but somehow it was a cold morning.
From her bed Luna could see on the other side of her room's window a blue bird chirping at her mate from inside their nest. If Luna remembered well, the male bird's name was Cecil while the female bird was called Rose. She had named them after the protagonists of a fantastic story her father had read to her once before. Yes, she named them, but that was a long time ago. There was no way it could be the same birds. She remembered well the day she saw them for the last time.
"This is a dream."
As if the world around her was hurt by her statement, the shapes around her became hazy for an instant, but returned to their solid appearance right afterwards. A dream, huh? Things would make sense then. It would explain the childish pattern on her bed sheets, the stuffed dolls at her side, and the two birds outside.
Princess Luna was in her old room, in the old castle, located in the heart of what later was going to be known as the Everfree forest. She sat wrapped in thick and soft bed sheets filled with feathers, with a bad morning mane and half opened eyes.
"I haven't dreamed about this in the longest time."
Slowly she took a look around her old room. The dolls, the curtains, her closet, and wooden desk, things she had literally not seen in over a thousand years looked as if they had been bought yesterday. The polish of the wood and the silvery and golden metallic decorations of the furniture sparkled under the gentle rays of the sun. It was a scene from over a thousand years ago, copied to the slightest detail. There were just a couple of blurry spots and a few objects that changed form or even disappeared from time to time, but it was inevitable. Dreams are not peerless.
She stared in silence at her old things trying to find the source of her dream in vain. If one wanted to gain control over the chaotic mess dreams are, it was best to pinpoint the dream's origins. But for the life of her she didn't see the connections in her dream. It was just a repetition of a moment in time.
Luna wiggled herself free of her bed sheets. Her mother used to tuck her in bed so tightly that wiggling was the only way she could get out of them the next morning. She remembered telling her to stop doing it at some point. She didn't need it. Her mother stopped doing it, then they became distant.
"...in the meantime let's wait for her here."
Like every morning a millenia ago Celestia and Cadence had barged into her room without knocking. How she hated that. Luckily there was a time when they too stopped coming to her room.
"Oh, you are still here, Luna? I thought you were practicing already."
It was strange for the princess of the moon to see them small like that again. Among the three Luna was the second tallest, with Cadence being the third and Celestia, of course, being the tallest of them all. The color of her sister's mane was pink, like cadence's. They didn't have the different streaks of other colors that would appear later once they found their cutie marks.
Luna couldn't help but notice how much her sister had changed with the years. Celestia looks always elegant and stoic, in control, aware of the effects her persona could have on her subjects. It almost gives others the sensation she is surrounded by a tranquil aura that demands respect from anypony, but at the same time gives them peace, quite different to the mare that stood now in front of her. Young Celestia could be described with a single word, energetic. She gave the impression she was overflowing with energy. But it wasn't like she was hyper active, buzzing and jumping around the room. It was more like she didn't understand the word of feeling down, or being lazy.
"In that case we can have some fun together, right Cadence?"
Cadence, on the other hoof, was more reserved, even laid back. She usually walked behind one of them agreeing most of the time with their games because she didn't want to be left alone. It was surely because of her reasons for coming then to the Castle.
Sombra's revolt...Ponies that knew her today wouldn't even begin to imagine how hard her childhood was.
"We have just a few minutes before the bell rings for breakfast. So let's play something quick here. I'll wrap myself in Luna's blankets and you'll help me out, alright, Cadence?"
-"Alright."
"Alright, Luna?"
She didn't say anything. As the master of dreams she knew nothing good would come from humoring her the dream's inhabitants.
"What is it? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, Luna?"
".........."
Luna jumped off her bed onto the floor without saying a word. Both Celestia and Cadence followed her with their eyes, asking her about her mood, or if she was feeling alright.
"Luna? Luna! Where are you going?"
On her way out the future moon princess saw herself in a long oval mirror decorated with silver that she used to have. Small and weak, it was all she could think about when looking at her reflection. Her horn was not long enough to cast powerful magic like Celestia's, and her wings were so feeble that it was impossible to float for more than one or two minutes at a time, something Cadence could do already. Without a doubt this was the moment of her life when she was the most vulnerable, both physically and mentally. Certainly something she wouldn't like to live through again.
To spend time there with Cadence and Celestia would not be of any use for her. It was better to continue looking for the source of her dream. She grabbed the door's knob in her hoof and left the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, from inside the room came the sound of shattering glass and twisting metal. She did not turn back though. This was merely a dream, there were no real consequences to whatever happened in it. Celestia and Cadence would surely appear again later without a single scratch. This was nothing more than a way of the dream to catch her attention.
For what seemed to be hours she walked down the same corridors and hallways she did as a young mare. Events in the castle occurred in a disorganized manner at every corner. Servants, maids and guards from eons ago trotted busy around the castle, bowing down politely, greeting her whenever they saw her.
"Good morning, princess Luna. What a wonderful weather we are having."
-"Princess Luna, your mane! What would the queen say?"
"Oh, princess! Are you going to your morning practices? Please don't give up. I see you are getting better with each passing day."
"Useless banter"
The mirages of long dead ponies talking to her somehow irritated her. With every minute that she spent inside the old castle something inside her seemed to grow. She became more restless, more desperate to find already the cause for her dream in order to put an end to the charade.
"Oh, princess, are you feeling hungry? Please head to the main hall, we are about to serve breakfast."
-"Princess, you are late. The queen and the other princesses are already waiting for you at the entrace."
"Princess, are you doing night patrol on your own? Please head to your chambers. This is no time for a young lady to be wandering about."
Events and time mixed with one another endlessly. Sunlight and moonlight streamed through the windows of the same corridor at the same time. Weather was not different. At times she saw ponies wrapped in thick clothing shaking the snow from their backs, and one second afterwards they were fanning themselves, complaining about the summer heat.
The chaos was getting on her nerves already.
Her pace gradually picked up with each room that proved to be a dead end until it turned into an full trot. The castle's kitchen had held no clue to finding the dream's source. It was the same in the armory, the outer wall, the alchemy laboratories and the towers.
None of the rooms of the castle was of any help to her. It was as if the dream were a museum of memories, thrilled and satisfied by having them repeat the golden ages of the now destroyed castle over and over again, without trying to include her too much in the story that was playing out. That was already bad enough, but there was something that made the fruitless experience even worse.
"Oh, princess...! It is not often we see you at the castle's library. Are you looking for something in special?"
Those phantoms...they kept talking to her so familiarly...
"If you are looking for something to help you in your lessons, I would recommend you this section here..."
That sympathetic smile on their faces whenever they talked to her...
"Or are you looking for something to entertain yourself with? If so, I could suggest you some comedies."
As if they were her friends...hmph!
"Oh! I know. There's one book I'm sure will interest you. It was somewhere around here..."
What did they truly know about her? Nothing, that's what. They'd never live long enough to know. Nobody would.
"Ah! I remember. Sagard took it. Come to think of it, he wanted to show it to you. I'm sure he's waiting for you at the... Ehm...Princess?"
Little Luna had become awfully quiet after the young librarian, a caramel colored stallion with glasses and red mane, had mentioned Spike's former name.
"Sagard, huh? I should have guessed it."
Suddenly the attitude of the princess changed. Her restlessness had disappeared and it had been replaced by a cold calm.
"Princess, are you alright?"
The librarian came closer, worried by the fact that the princess had suddenly grown so unusually quiet.
"Princess?"
-"I remember you, Swift Feather, right?"
Surprised a little by the words of the princess, the librarian took a step back and straightened himself up.
"Yes, princess. That's my name."
"Yes, yes...Swift Feather. You were always re-shelving, cleaning and organizing every section of the library. There was no book you couldn't find here and always had good recommendations of different topics for me and my sister. You were a good friend of ours."
The earth pony hid the embarrassment clearly displayed on his face behind the back of his hooves.
"Oh, princess, I'm not worthy of such praise. It is just my duty as a librarian. Besides we are still friends, right?"
-"No, we are not. No one can be friends with those that no longer exist."
A gust of wind blew inside the library when the princess finished her statement. As if blown like dust by such a wind the body of the librarian disintegrated and the warm light that bathed the wood of the shelves turned into the cold and eerie glow of the moonlight. The thousands of books that stood next to each other in the shelves began to age and darken, while on the shelves themselves vines with thorns began to grow at an accelerated rate, covering them all.
"This library looks like this right now."
The windows in the room shattered and the metallic hoof railings rusted and twisted themselves producing a metallic, painful scream. The world trembled, the dream began to become unstable, just like Luna had wanted it to. It was her plan to know the world in the dream it was not real. That was another way to get out of any dream. But she still refused to wake up. Apparently the dream needed a bigger shock than just this to collapse.
She made sure to defy the reality in every and each room she had been in before. Unlike before Luna talked to everypony she encountered. But their meetings had a tragic ending. She kept telling them how and when they died. One by one the dream ponies disintegrated at the mention of their ultimate fate. Soon there was nobody but Luna standing in the empty halls. The wind whistled lonely through the spaces of the broken glass of the windows, picking up dust from the floor and creating short lived whirlwinds.
Despite the destruction the dream continued.
The world trembled, the walls of the old castle broke shook violently, creating big cracks in the structure every time one of the ponies in the dream vanished. But the dream refused to end. It seemed to hang onto something, a memory around which everything revolved and Luna still couldn't find.
The old castle was enveloped in the pale light of the moon with wild vines growing through the fissures of the rock, while the branches of the trees outside thew macabre shadows on the stone floor. It was now exactly like the castle in the real world, the one that had been swallowed by the untamed forest, desolated and in ruins. But what was missing? What could the dream be surviving on?
Luna began to think of all the places she had been to, hoping to find out the one spot she had missed.
"Luna, what happened here?"
A familiar voice called the princess' name from the other end of the hallway. Luna turned around and saw the late queen approach her. The queen was shocked by the condition her castle was in. But she was even more surprised by seeing her daughter stand in the middle of the devastation.
"Mother..."
To meet her mother again was something Luna wasn't prepared for. It was especially hard for her now that she had opted for the disruption of the dream's reality. It meant that she also had to take care of her mother as well.
"Luna? What are you doing? Do you know what happened to the castle?"
The queen looked at the desolation the structure was submerged in with clear sadness in her face. After all, even if for Luna this was a dream, for the dream itself was an undeniable reality.
To see her mother like that caused the princess' heart to ache.
Would that be the face she'd have made if she had known? Would have she looked disappointed?
For the first time the dream showed Luna something that could affect her. The destruction of the old castle in the middle of the forest was something she was responsible of. It was there that she turned into Nightmare moon over a thousand years ago. It was their battlefield.
Luna continued looking at her mother's face trying to figure out what to do. She felt like apologizing for everything she had caused, but at the same time she didn't need to, at least not to a dream of her.
"Luna?"
The queen called her name and came closer. With each step she made forward, Luna made a step back, keeping her at a distance while she continued thinking.
"Luna, what's wrong?"
It was confusing, even for the princess of the night. Something inside her wanted to talk to her mother and explain what just happened, but that nameless feeling was countered by a logical thought that repeated in Luna's head that the one in front of her was not her mother. It was just an illusion. The dream was using her image as a mechanism of defense. It wanted to keep living and that's why it had chosen something Luna was not strong enough to destroy. But the dream was wrong. Luna could do it. She was about to do it.
"That is right. You...you are not really her. "My mother left us already. The same day my sister was crowned as the new regent of Equestria, was the same day I saw her for the last time."
Like with the other inhabitants of her dream, the late queen was disintegrated by a gust of wind, leaving nothing but dust behind.
There had been nothing different this time. The process was exactly the same as the other times she had made a dream inhabitant disappear, but Luna felt different.
With each time she caused the disintegration of one of the other ponies in her dream, a sensation of power grew inside her. Power that dulled her sensibility and numbed her feelings.
She could feel herself become stronger after each passing, feeling less sadness or regret with each parting witnessed.
But when she saw her the image of her mother vanish, there was a pang inside her chest.
That was infuriating, maddening, frustrating, sad.
Not the disappearance of her mother, that was natural. What caused pain in the princess was the fact that she still felt hurt by the loss of others. Something she believed she had become immune to thanks to all the deaths she had seen over the years.
Dozens of years, hundreds of years, thousands of years believing she had overcome it proven wrong in an instant. The feelings that had been sealed inside her began to boil and expand, threatening to overflow her. Luna bit her teeth together tightly. She wouldn't let it...she wouldn't let it. She could feel the tears form in her eyes, but she wouldn't shed a single one of them. Luna tried to muffled the sadness inside her with pure anger and stubbornness. But it was futile. Her tears fell on the stone floor one after the other, and Luna let her rage free.
"WHEN WILL THIS DREAM BE OVER!?
WE ARE ALONE ALREADY!! WHY DOES THIS DREAM CONTINUE!?" "
Lightning and thunder roared while violent and stormy winds ate away at the remaining ruins of the castle, blowing around the dust left, turning into a dark sandstorm that swallowed the world around her. Luna felt her body grow larger, even larger than it actually was in the real world. And as her body grew so did her powers, but no matter how strong she became, the dream still seemed stronger.
"WHERE!? WHERE DOES THIS DREAM BEGIN AND WHERE DOES IT END!?
END!
END ALREADY!!"
The sandstorm the dream had turned into was dark, cold, loud and apparently endless. The princess flew around inside the maelstrom she had caused, looking for the elusive dream's source; looking for the way out of such a horrible place. She yelled and cursed. She ordered the dream to show its core to her. But nothing happened, nothing at all.
For a moment a terrible through crossed the princess' mind.
"And what if the dream never ends? What if this never stops? No...no...that can't be... We...we must wake up. We have to return to the real world. This isn't a dream...it's a nightmare!!"
Luna was about to fall in despair when she saw a squarish shape in the distance, a door.
At top speed she flew towards it. She was about to put an end to all of that. Finally she'd return to the real world.
The door opened and revealed a rose garden, the inner garden of the old Castle, the only place she didn't go to before. This place was the only one unaffected by the desolation she had brought upon the dream. Here there was still moon and sunlight, and the leaves of the trees and the petals of the flowers were still green and filled with color.
"Alright princess, just do as instructed in the book."
In the garden there were two figures. One of them was her, albeit a lot younger. She wore a blue dress with frills and a silver tiara decorated on top with a crescent moon. The other figure was Sagard's, the little purple dragon that once was her sister's and her assistant. Both were in front of a table made of stone, looking at a silver orb placed right in the middle of it. Sagard held a big, old-looking book in his hands, while Luna concentrated only at the orb on the table.
"Do you think it will work, Sagard?"
The young version of herself looked at the dragon, clearly doubting that whatever they were going to do would be a success. Doubt was something the princess didn't show often. Doubt meant weakness and weakness was something the princess had always striven to get herself rid off. But she didn't felt weak around him then. It was the only one she could show her weakest sides. After all it was with him that she practiced in order to become stronger.
"Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, Princess."
It was an everyday thing that Luna practiced with Sagard early in the morning. What they practiced was different every time. Sometimes Sagard helped her with her magic lessons, some others he helped her to polish her manners or her speech. To wake up early everyday in order to attend their practices was hard, but she didn't mind it. Back then the day just didn't feel right if she skipped practice. For her it was like losing a war on purpose or giving up halfway in an adventure. Besides, if Sagard was around practicing was fun.
"Alright. Here it goes."
Young Luna closed her eyes took the orb between her hooves, while Sagard watched attentively towards the moon.
Luna remembered that exercise well. It was visualization training. It is impossible to use magic without visualization and at the time it was impossible to her to imagine herself moving something as massive as the moon around the sky with little effort.
The exercise consisted in using the orb to trick the mind. Luna was overwhelmed by the size of the moon. She couldn't conceive in her head the idea of controlling it. But if she concentrated on the small orb between her hooves, if she made herself believe that she held the moon in her hooves, that is was nothing larger than a ball, she should overcome that mental burden and do with the moon as she pleased.
Princess Luna smiled with disdain at the dream displayed in front of her.
Was that it? Was this what the dream was living on, a delusion?
The events she saw before were based on events that truly occurred, but this one was nothing more than a construction, a fake memory.
It was harder for her to get rid of the dream about her mother than to get rid of this. This didn't even affect her. After all, she knew this was not what happened. That visualization exercise was something she did on her own, many years after Sagard had disappeared. She alone found the book in the library. She did the exercises on her own. And finally she was able to control the moon, all on her own, without Sagard's help.
She advanced towards the two of them slowly and spoke loud enough to make sure both of them could hear her.
"This is a lie. I did this on my own. Sagard had already disappeared by the time I started doing this."
Finally she heard the dream's core shatter like frail glass. The imagery around her vanished and the shape before her began to fade away like those before it.
Luna closed her eyes invaded by a distorted joy brought by this last disappearance.
Yes, yes...it didn't hurt. It didn't hurt as much. The loss of her mother had broken the armor she had wore for centuries, but Sagard's loss had not eve scratched it. Ah, it felt so good to know it, to know that she wouldn't be hurt again by it. Once more she felt a tear roll down her cheek, but she was fine with it. It'd be the last she would shed for somepony else.
The moon princess then just waited for the dream to end. She expected to wake up any moment in her bed the day afterwards to never talk or think about this anymore. But it was taking the dream awfully long to end. She opened her eyes and saw the cracks in the space around her grow gradually, but she also saw something else: Sagard.
"Why are you still here? The dream has ended. You should disappear!"
It was strange. It was not supposed to be like that. Dreams don't fade away progressively. They usually just end, and next thing you know you are in your bed, having a hard time trying to remember what they were about.
"Why, why won't you go away already? I don't feel like wasting my time with phantoms like you!
Her words were harsh, spoken out of anger in a hurry, with the only purpose of causing as much damage as possible.
The little dragon kept doing his reverence in silence while the Princess continued to lash out at him.
Seeing him there, taking all her hate without any kind of retaliation just infuriated Luna more. It was as if the dream wanted her to be the bad guy, when it clearly wasn't so. It wanted to make her feel bad, sour her victory over her pain.
Unable to keep herself in control she charged at the dragon, decided to make it vanish by force if she had to. But as soon as her hooves came into contact with the dragon, she stopped.
Luna froze. She held Sagard in the air, grabbing him by the shoulders, but was unable to do anything else to him besides that.
Sagard had weight...but that couldn't be...
"What...what is the meaning of this...?"
Her eyes remained set on the little dragon's while she tried to force with great effort her words out of her chest. Sagard, one of Spike's past lives remained quiet, just looking at her.
"Why...why don't you say anything, Sagard?"
The little dragon remained quiet for several seconds while the dream around them crumbled. Then he just whispered a single sentence to the princess.
"My apologies, Princess Luna."
After the words left his mouth, there were a couple of instants that the princess' face showed no emotion besides shock and confusion. But it quickly turned back into rage.
"Your apologies? Your apologies!? You apologize to me!? Are you mocking me, Sagard!! Is that what you were trying to do from the beginning, make me look like the bad guy?"
-"No princess, this Sagard would never..."
"Then why...!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS WAS YOUR DREAM!!?"
The moon princess yelled at the dragon one last time.
"I...I destroyed it believing it was mine. I left...nothing..."
Luna felt drained. The rage that had been fueling her just seconds ago disappeared, and in its place there was nothing but a sour sensation in her stomach. She released him from his grasp and he, without any surface to fall on, just floated in front of her with his head lowered, and obviously depressed.
Both of them remained silent, unable to say anything to each other. The little dragon wanted to greet her; he wanted to hug her, to tell her he had missed her and that he was glad to see her again. It had been ages since he had seen his princess, the real one, not the one he dreamed about, the one he didn't leave behind. But judging by Luna's expression those statements would have only made the situation even worse. Luna looked like she was hurting. And indeed she was.
The dream was not hers. To know that was like having a dagger stuck in her chest. No matter what she did or thought, it hurt, and it was impossible to ignore. It was one of the most horrible things she had done in her life.
Dreams are unique. Luna knows for a fact that everypony dreams something only once. Some may say they have the same dream every night, but it is not so. What happened in the dream may be similar, but it is not exactly the same. The perception of the world around oneself changes every day if just a little, and dreams are born from the conception one has about the world, about what happened in it, or what one believes will or could happen in the future. So, to reveal the ultimate fate of the ponies he knew meant that Sagard would never again dream of that. Not in the same way at least. If for some reason his subconscious drifted to the memories of this castle again, he would no longer see it in its former glory, but in the ruined state she had made sure to show him. He would not find the servants, nor the guards, nor her mother, or even that young version of herself.
"I...I will leave now."
Luna turned around, unable to say anything more than those words. The princess of the moon walked slowly on a non-existing path towards a non-specific point inside the dark sandstorm that surrounded them. Somehow this dream had been nothing more than a bad experience to her. She was exhausted. Ironically she wanted to wake up in order to get some rest from all this.
"Pr...princess."
From behind the little dragon called her, but he was ignored.
"Princess, wait please."
The dragon kept calling her, asking her to please wait. But seeing that she'd not listen to his words, he opted for a more drastic method. He jumped at her from behind, falling on her back, wrapping his arms around her barrel as tight as he could.
"Princess Luna, please wait!"
At the sensation of Sagard's weight on her back the princess of the night, in the roughest manner, began to kick around, trying to get rid of him.
"Let go, Sagard! I said I'll leave!"
Grabbing himself from the dark fur of the princess, the little dragon managed to spout a couple of words.
"But I don't want you to leave!"
-"Let go already!!"
There was great strength behind each of the princesses bucks. It felt like one of her kicks could easily break a boulder. It was scary, but the dragon just kept tightening his grip.
"Sa-sagard!! Stop it! What do you think you are doing? It hurts!!"
With each of her violent movements the mare felt a pain that tore through her skin, getting deeper and deeper inside her.
"I'm telling you it hurts, Sagard. Let go!!"
The piercing sensation became worse with each second.
"Your claws! Your claws are digging in my skin!"
-"That can't be princess! You know for a fact that this Sagard always keeps his claws short!"
"How can you do that!? This is a dream. You are not real!"
-"Then, if I'm not real; if this is a dream, how can I hurt you?"
The answer to that question was something she didn't know. All she knew was that it hurt her. To have him that close hurt her. Once more she felt herself crying.
"Quit it already! Don't hurt me anymore!! I don't like this kind of pain!"
The heaves and huffs of the mare mixed themselves with her wet sobs, while she kept trying to buck the dragon off. Luna was obviously not going to stop. The strength of the dragon waned. Neither he, nor Spike had much longer. It was better to put the time he still had to good use.
"Princess, how have you been?"
-"That is nothing of your concern! Grah...!"
"Have you been brushing your teeth?"
-"What are you saying? Huff... Do you think I'd let my teeth rot just because there's nobody around telling me to brush them? Hah...!"
"Princess, you surely have grown. I can't even wrap my arms around you anymore."
-"How insolent! Are you implying I'm fat!? Ngggh!!"
"N-no, princess, of course not!"
The hands of the dragon grew numb. He could no longer distinguish the touch of Luna's fur in his hands. Sagard continued inquiring about his princess Life, while he still could.
"Princess, is there somepony you like?"
-"No, there is not!"
"Can you fly, my princess?"
-"How...argggh...old do you think I am? Of course I can...fly!!"
"Do you still have problems with your magic? Do you need help?"
-"No...! I don't need anyone's help! I...hah...I am stronger now!!"
"To be strong doesn't mean that you don't need anyone."
"Are you going to give me a lecture? Ha...!"
At least she felt the weight of the disappear from her back. She had surely successfully sent him flying far away with one of her bucks. Luna turned around, expecting to meet face to face the little insolent dragon that had caused her so much pain. Half of his body was missing and the other half was turning slowly into dust.
"The time is up, it seems, my princess."
Sagard was disappearing like Luna wished. She saw him in silence, angry, but still crying.
"Please, princess, don't cry."
-"D-don't misunderstand. I am not crying because of you disappearing. It was your claws. I told you, you were hurting me with those."
"My princess, you know well that can't be. Please, don't deceive yourself for the sake of running away from pain. At the end all you will do is hurt yourself more."
The words of the dragon infuriated her. She? Running away? Never!
"I don't run away from anything, Sagard! You know that well!"
-"Then...make some true friends... Don't be afraid of bonding with others...just because you are going to lose them later..."
The dragon disappeared completely. The words he had managed to speak out before fading were nothing more than a faint echo in Luna's head.
"I am not afraid of bonding with others! I'll...*sob*...I'll show you I am not...afraid of losing anypony anymore."
-"That's...great my princess. This Sagard...is really happy. Also...don't bother worrying about this dream... I'll surely have better ones now that I know how much you have grown...and how much you have changed..."
-"Don't try to act cool now!"
The moon princess woke up in her bed with a jump. Yelling at somepony that no other could see. Outside the castle the dark clouds of the storm made it impossible to see. Bolts of lightning flashed in the distance, while thunder roared loudly.
"The dream ended?"
It surely felt that way.
Quickly she turned around and looked at her back. She had expected to see the marks left by the claws of the dragon on her back. But there was nothing there. Her fur was clear from every mark, or sign of having been touched. Somehow it was disappointing.
Silently the princess let herself fall on her bed. She didn't feel like sleeping, but she didn't feel like doing anything else either. Luna tried to make herself comfortable among her pillows, but all of them were wet. She had cried in her sleep.
"I'll show you... I am not afraid of making bonds with others."