Stairway to Equestria

by AlexUk

Chapter 12: Growing a Pair

“Blink . . .”

“But I don’t want to, Twilight! I hate hospitals,” I whined in a voice I rarely used.

Twilight, Spike and I were walking down by the huge auditorium towards the Hoofton Coltboro hospital, after she had insisted on me going there to get a full medical record set up.

“We need to get you registered like all the other ponies. Since you don’t have any proof of ever being in Equestria since now, that means you need a new birth certificate and medical history. Thankfully, Celestia sent word to the hospital so that we won’t have any problems,” Twilight explained, her head filled with all the rules and legislations around being an equestrian citizen.

“I still hate hospitals,” I said, drawing an annoyed look from the purple mare.

The tensed atmosphere between us had lessened since our moment in the castle’s gardens, but the unicorn mare was still affected by the influx of information she had received during the day, even though she didn’t show it. Spike seemed lost in his own thoughts, staring blankly in front of him as he idly walked on the busy street, still acting like an ice breaker in the rush hour sea of ponies. Every now and then he would quickly throw us a look, scratching at his shoulders as an excuse. I knew that we would need to talk to him about everything soon, given his initial reactions at the palace earlier that day.

We reached our destination in due time, a large hospital smack in the middle of Canterlot. Ambulance carriages were going through in and out of the main entrance, while up on top of the five story building large chariots pulled by husky pegasus would bring in more urgent cases.

The clinic’s waiting room was emptier than I expected. There were only a hoofful of ponies waiting to be consulted for their minor issues. We checked in at the reception and were told to wait for a nurse to come and guide me through all the tests that needed to be performed. I waited in a chair, flanked by Twilight and her dragon assistant. My right hind leg was tapping nervously on the hospital’s white floor, the sickening sensation of anticipation settling in. Soon enough, a white mare unicorn wearing a tight, matching scrub greeted me.

“You must be Midnight Blink. I see here that you need a full registration procedure and medical record set up,” she said, floating a clipboard in front of her. “I’m sorry for the incident about your previous records, we rarely lose patient data as well as the backup,” she added, smiling meekly.

I had a hint about the ‘incident’ being linked with Celestia’s message to the hospital and I was quite relieved to have someone in high places pulling ropes for me. Not that it would be the first time that happened, but I liked things going in my favor every now and then.

The nurse led me to an examination room and the tests started without any other delays. In the first one I had to bite down on a rubber-like plate, my teeth leaving behind a clear print. Next, I was asked to place one of my hooves in a tray containing a white paste and press hard. These first procedures seemed a bit weird to me, but I was told that every foal gets them when they are born. Apparently, a pony’s teeth and hooves can be recognized after their first prints even when they are adults. The next one was a vision test, where I got an almost perfect score.

During the following test I was asked by the nurse to channel magic in my horn while having a few sensors attached to it. The end results showed some irregularities but everything seemed within normal boundaries. The last of them was a simple blood draw but it proved to be quite taxing on my system, as I hadn’t eaten anything all day.

The nurse advised me to rest until all my results would come back. Thus, I found myself in a hospital bed back in the clinic, in the admitting room. The place was brightly lit and packed with nurses, doctors and patients alike, a large row of beds with privacy drapes between them stretching along its length.

Twilight and Spike soon found me and came to my bedside.

“Aww, little big guy got a boo boo?” the dragon patronized, poking at my shoulder with a claw.

“You will suffer so much when I get out of here . . .” I mumbled groggily, my vision slightly blurry from the blood loss. “Damn hospitals.”

“Fatigue and exhaustion are normal effects one would experience after getting his blood drawn. You should be much better in an hour or so,” Twilight said, agitating a hoof at her assistant, which hadn’t stopped his teasing yet.

The nurse came by after a while, placing the results on my bed and magically grabbing a clipboard, turning to me.

“Okay, I will need your details to get the rest of the paperwork complete; so, name and occupation?”

“Uhm . . . Midnight Blink. I work at a- hmm farm? Yeah, just a temporary job,” I answered, trying to get my thoughts in order.

“All right then, D.O.B and address?” the young nurse recited from the form.

“Well, that would be 22th of June 1990, and I live near a lake at the outskirts of Ponyville.”

“Uhh, what was that again?” the mare asked, slightly confused. “Did you say 1990?”

“He meant 3342, right Blink?” Twilight intervened, looking at me with hinting eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right. Silly me,” I stammered, trying not to look too surprised by the wild number that had just come out of Twilight’s mouth.

The nurse nodded, scribbling something down on the clipboard after which she left to finish the formalities.

“1990?” Twilight asked as soon as the nurse was out of hearing range.

“We’ll talk about this later, along with everything else . . . but 3342?”

“Well, I guessed you are the same age as me so I just mentioned the year I was born in. The current year is 3362 AC, After Celestia,” the purple unicorn explained quietly.

As I tried to wrap my head around the idea of living in the year 3362, I didn’t noticed the stallion passing in front of my bed take an interest in me. He approached my bed, and only after turning towards him I noticed that he had a slight limp in his walk. The stallion had a light brown coat and a red medical cross with a question mark on top as a cutie mark.

“I wonder what your special talent would be, creating annoying art?” he asked sarcastically, getting closer to my bed and grabbing my results. He seemed rather curious of me for some reason.

“Excuse me sir, but who are you?” Twilight asked slightly concerned.

“Oh, just call me Dr. Stable,” he retorted, not taking his eyes off the papers. “It says here you are healthy,” he continued, not letting Twilight say anything else, “but according to the creatine kinase count in your blood and muscles, you are either less than one year old or someone screwed up the tests.”

Meanwhile, the nurse returned, notifying us that everything was done and I was free to go. Dr. Stable watched her leave with stern eyes, clearly not happy for being interrupted.

“So, where was I? Ah yeah, have you experienced any nausea or pain in the chest area recently?” the stallion asked, still flipping through my results.

The three of us returned curious gazes and I started to get nervous about him figuring things out.

“It’s in my nature not to interact with my patients but I think we speak the same language here. A simple yes or no will do. A nod maybe? Sign language?” he said, looking at the three of us as if we were mentally impaired.

“Ugh, we kinda have to go, no pain whatsoever though!” I excused myself, quickly getting out of bed and proceeding towards the clinic’s exit, not before grabbing my new records from him. Twilight and Spike followed me closely, throwing occasional glances at the random doctor that we left behind by my bed.

“Interesting . . .” the doctor said to himself, watching us leave.

“Stable, stop scaring patients and go back to your clinic duty!” a mare with dark curly mane said as she passed by him, going into her office which was labeled “Dean of Medicine”.

We made our way towards Canterlot’s train station, arriving just in time to catch the last train towards Ponyville. The trip was as eventless as the one we had on our way into the capital, but we were clearly tired, both physically and emotionally.

By the time the three of us arrived back home the sun was already setting, creating a scene worthy for the name of the mare walking alongside me. With the library coming into view, I knew the moment was close; I was about to tell her everything about me and my origins. The truth had to be unfolded in order to make what we had to work.

“Guys, I’m done for the night,” Spike dismissed himself, waving a hand in the air, “don’t do anything too naughty tonight, you two.”

“SPIKE!” Twilight’s angry shout came a little too late, as the door to Spike’s room had been already shut by the sleepy, yet smirking dragon.

The mare turned to me with a sheepish smile, a little color in both our faces.

“So uhm . . . about that talk,” she started, looking to the side, avoiding direct eye contact.

“Yes, the talk. Have a seat, we have quite a lot to discuss,” I stated, pointing towards the table in the living room.

We both sat down at the large table, the room filled with the warm light from several candles and the small chandelier hanging above us. Outside, the moon was timidly showing up on the early night sky, casting its own, pure white light across Ponyville. Near one of windows, on a tall bird stand, Owlowiscious and Raven were sitting together side by side, silently gazing at us.

I looked around the room nervously, gathering up courage and ideas. How was I going to explain her everything over a casual talk like that?

“I didn’t used to be a pony, you know?” I grinned like an idiot. Not a good start.

“You told me that the palace. Would you care to be more specific?”

I felt her eyes on me as I tried to come up with an actually decent explanation. It was like she was staring into the depths of my soul.

“So. Back in my world, I . . . I was partying with some friends. It was night. I went back to the hotel and was attacked by some thugs. Then I-”

“Where was that?” She asked, as if she expected herself to know the place I was that dreadful night.

“It wasn’t anywhere around here. It was back home,” I said, letting out a sigh.

“Was it back in your empire?”

“Wha-”

“I mean, with the other changelings?” the mare looked at me, having an obvious false sense of understanding about the whole situation.

I remembered reading about those changelings in one of her books; insect-like creatures that could assume the shape of other ponies, driven by their common goal to feed off the love of others.

“No, you have this all wrong. I’m not a changeling. I’m not from this planet at all.”

The settling silence was slowly filling up with tension from me, and curiosity from Twilight.

“Did you come from Tartarus?” she asked after a lingering moment.

“No, I did not come from Tartarus. I was just coming back from a night out and got killed . . . sort of. I met Death, talked with Him and He sent me here. That’s the night Kazooie found me in the wheat fields. That’s the night you took me in!” I ended with a slightly louder tone than I would have wanted to use.

Frustration was washing over me, and I immediately regretted raising my voice at the mare in front of me. She looked at me like she would look at a complete stranger, but to my relief that lasted only a moment.

“Can you . . . tell me more about your home?” she asked.

I noticed a spark in her eyes. It was the same spark she would have whenever something new or interesting was presented to her. She had passed over the acceptance stage faster than I would have ever imagined, and now she wanted to know more.

“Sure. Well, it’s another planet. Close to the sun like this one, and with a moon as well. We have a lot of nations, cities and people . . . and forests, even if less than enough these days. Our wildlife is pretty similar, although I noticed you don’t have ravens, which is kind of weird.”

“Wait, you named your pet after the species it represented back in your world?” Twilight interrupted, smiling for the first time that night. “And how did she follow you here?”

“That, I don’t know. I think He sent her to me for some reason. And yes, Raven was probably not the most inspired name for . . . you know, a raven.”

“Okay. Well, do you have dragons?”

“Uhm, not quite. We call them lizards, and they are much smaller and harmless. Also, our animals are not smart like the ones here. They don’t talk or anything like that. Let me tell you, I had quite a surprise the other day when a cow asked me if I could pump her some water from the fountain near the town center.”

Twilight giggled a little, before presenting the next question.

“So, how is your kind like? I don’t assume you looked like this back in your world.”

I looked down at my hooves, trying to remember my former self.

“We call ourselves humans. Homo Sapiens, if you prefer the scientifically term. I don’t really know how to explain this but . . . basically we’re bipedal creatures, similar to your- umm, minotaurs? Yes, that would be the closest thing to a human I’ve seen around here; although we don’t have hooves, or horns for that matter.”

“Interesting . . .” Twilight pondered, deep in thought. “I presume you live in homes like ours, right?”

“Indeed, we live in houses or apartment buildings. I don’t know about your cities but some of ours are huge and can hold up to millions of people.”

The mare continued her barrage of questions: “Do you have the ability to fly, or use magic?”

“I’m afraid not. No flying or magic for us. We do have a lot of technology though. I’ve seen Equestria has some as well, but we are much more dependent on it. And before you ask: yes, we have books too, lots of them in fact.”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled at the prospect of reading such alien books, but she regained her composure as soon as she remembered the talk between me and Celestia back at the palace.

“So, when Celestia asked you today what your princess is called, you said that you don’t believe in your version of her. That means you don’t have a ruler?”

Pieces of said conversation sprung up into my mind, and I especially recalled Celestia’s reaction when I denied my belief in a superior being like herself.

“We have rulers, that’s not the issue. We even have princesses, queens and palaces but only in some parts of the world. I guess I just don’t believe in a human or a human-like being that watches over us and answers our prayers because frankly, we haven’t seen one yet. Celestia is a powerful and wise pony, and I wish I would have had someone like her present in our world.”

We looked at each other for a while, Twilight finally starting to understand me better. The conversation carried on for a while, as we discussed about random, trivial facts. We compared our worlds and tried to find the similarities as well as the differences. Both of us learned a lot about each other’s worlds that night, but understandably I had an unfair advantage.

I had to skip a lot of details about why some of those cities had similar names to the ones in my world, and most importantly, why there was a TV show that featured her and her friends as protagonists; frankly, I had no idea myself. For many long nights I’ve been thinking about where specifically Death had placed me when I first met Him. Was it in a different Universe? Judging by what little I knew about string theory and all that from back home, my conclusion was that all that could possibly be, was, but in different dimensions. I would have to remind myself to ask Him those details during our next unexpected meetup.

“So, anything else you want to know?” I asked, hiding a yawn. “There is a lot more to discuss but obviously it will have to wait, it’s getting late and your precious assistant woke me up too early this morning.”

The moon had traveled a fair distance across the midnight sky, and both of us felt very tired from the previous day.

“Yes, I would- I would like to know if you saw Him? The . . . other one?”

“The other one?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“You know, you’ve been selected by Death itself to be His . . . follower of some sorts. What about me? Who chose me?” Twilight inquired with a tint of hope in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t see anything else during my encounters with Him. I guess we’ll have to . . . wait and see? If the future proves to be half as interesting as the past few months, we sure are going to get a lot more questions answered.”

Meanwhile, I remembered Bellona and that time she showed herself to me when I was struck down by Discord and I started wondering. She couldn’t be the one that made Twilight the Lifebringer, before being a pony she was human, a Roman woman I knew very little about, but one of my kind nonetheless. I planned on telling Twilight about the mysterious Latin speaking mare later, when she would get used to the idea of me being an alien to her kind.

Twilight sank in her chair, disappointed that she didn’t find out about her other mentor. Without a doubt she was a curious unicorn, but there were certain limits when one can follow said curiosities. She was aware of her talents in magic, but was never able to explain the rare but strange behavior of her magic.

I got off my own chair and went to her, giving the purple mare a hesitant nuzzle. She accepted the small gesture and returned it gently. We stood like that for a few moments and for the very first time, the two of us, completely different beings that originated from worlds apart, felt closer than ever.

”It’s late,” she said, breaking the moment, “and I have a letter to write to Princess Celestia.”

Curse those letters . . .

“All right then, I’ll let you to it. Good night, and see you tomorrow. Raven, come!” I signaled towards the almost asleep bird. She stretched her wings and flew to me, landing on her claimed spot between my shoulder blades.

“Good night.” Twilight said.

I suddenly engulfed myself and Raven in a blue energy shield and in the next second I found myself reappearing in my house, namely my kitchen-dining-room area. The bird didn’t seem too impressed by my display of magic, flying off to the table and picking on some leftover bread crumbs.

“Come on, that was pretty bad ass. Wasn’t it? You think she was impressed?”

In response, Raven turned to me and cawed; I took that as a “yes”, even if it seemed to be the opposite.

The sun’s light slowly crept into my room and by definition, my eyes. For some strange reason, I couldn’t remember what I dreamt about the previous night, but I felt that it was something nice and pleasant. I opened my eyes, yawning and stretching all my extremities, when I noticed- a tent? Made out of my sheets?

“Ohh hell no . . .”

Indeed, my body had decided to remind me of the embarrassing condition that manifested every several other mornings to a man; and apparently to stallions as well.

“A quick cold shower,” I mumbled to myself, but soon remembering my bathing facilities, “or . . .”

Just before I could try to mitigate the effects of my little problem the old fashioned way, I stopped and looked at my front hooves; and then it hit me.

“Ohhh, come on! How do I even . . . with THESE?” I exclaimed, raising my forelegs towards the ceiling.

Something had to be done though, as I felt that my blood pressure was getting dangerously low in the upper part of my body and my brain was refusing to think of anything but a certain purple mare and how it would be to-

A sudden rustling sound from the desk across the room reminded me of the presence of my pet, who was starting to awaken.

Fucking hell, I can’t traumatize the poor bird like that!

Just before she raised her head from under the wing to witness my indecency, I teleported myself in a burst of blue lights and sparks. My aim was off, and by a lot as well since there was no solid ground under my hooves when I opened my eyes. I yelped like a little filly as I fell into the ice-cold water of the lake outside my house. I then panicked, agitating my hind and forelegs in the deep, cold water. My little problem was far gone, all my blood rushing back into my chest to protect the vital organs from the settling hypothermia. I then realized that I had never swum before with my new body. I may have been good at it back in the ol’ human days, but right then and there I was starting to sink like a brick.

My head went under the water, despite the struggles to keep myself afloat. An eerie feeling sank into my thoughts as I realized I was probably never going to get out of there alive. Focusing all the magic I could muster, I engulfed myself in another energy sphere and teleported right back to my room. Fortunately for me it worked, and I was once again in the safety of my bedroom; the bad news, however, was that along with me, I also brought back the large volume of water displaced by the protection field. It all wobbled in the air around me for a second, after which it cascaded on the bed around me, soaking it and generously spreading on the floor.

Raven gawked at me rather angrily because of her unusual wake-up, but I just stared around at the damage with a dumbstruck expression, my heart slowing down from the recent surge of adrenaline.

Well that was a quite the wet dream.

I started laughing like an idiot at my own stupid thought while the water kept dripping all over the place. I got out of the bed and went to the kitchen to grab a towel, shivering from the feeling of my water-damped fur. While levitating it to gently dry up my mane and body, I returned to my room and inspected the damage. The bed was completely soaked and most of the floor was wet as well. All of a sudden, Raven started cawing at the window. I looked outside and noticed a fast approaching bird, which I soon recognized to be Owlowiscious. I opened the window just in the nick of time and the bird came crashing straight onto my bed.

He got up, who-ed at Raven once and then turned her head towards me. Tilting it just slightly, he lifted a leg to reveal an attached note. I removed it from him and unfolded it carefully, as to not tear it apart with my still un-tuned magic.

After reading the contents of what proved to be an urgent message from Twilight, I dropped it and immediately teleported right in front of the library. I was already feeling the fatigue and lack of energy after a third teleportation in such a short time span. Sparing the formalities, I bulged right in and started looking around, trying to remember where Spike’s room was. Right then, Twilight got out of said room, wiping her forehead with a hoof while levitating off a white muzzle mask, like the ones the doctors wear during surgery.

“How is he?” I immediately asked her.

“He’s fine. I’ve set up the environment as soon as I could. I managed to sterilize the entire room and enchanted the walls to be heat-resistant. He’ll need round the clock attention for the next week or so. I should have let him stay at Canterlot’s castle; I didn’t know his wings would start coming out so soon!” Twilight paced around with a slight limp, obviously worried and very nervous.

“Don’t worry Twilight; I know he’ll get through this without a problem. He’s got you by his side, and after all you’ve practically raised him since he hatched,” I said, trying to comfort the unicorn.

“Yes, but Celestia could have handled this better than me. Nopony has ever done this before! What am I going to do if something goes wrong?”

“You have your friends to help and I’m here for him as well, just tell me what needs doing.”

Twilight let out a moan and flopped on the couch, tired and almost magically drained.

“As much as the others wanted to help, I had to turn them all down. There’s nothing they can do for him unless they are unicorns, and the more ponies Spike gets into contact with during this week, the more exposed he is to infections,” the mare explained. “And he won’t let Rarity help because he’s acting all stallion-like about it.”

Noticing the confused look on my face, Twilight got up and headed towards the dragon’s room, signaling me to follow her. She got a new mask from a stack on the table, plus a spare one which she wrapped around my own muzzle using her magic.

“A dragon usually gets his wings at about the same age Spike is now, right at the end of the first growth spurt. It shows a healthy development and signals the passage into adolescence. The thing is that during this process, the dragon is dependent on his parents, usually the mother.”

While she explained, we reached the front of his room and Twilight cast a spell on me, molding a purple haze over my body, and then on hers.

“This is a sterilization shielding spell, so that we don’t contaminate his room,” she said, opening the door.

Immediately, a wave of intense heat hit me head on and my eyes started watering from the smell inside. The air was filled with a dark steamy fog, the visibility well under a couple of feet.

“There is very little information on the process of wing sprouting on dragons. What I know from the few recorded cases by pony-kind is that it takes roughly a week, the development is very fast and quite invasive of the immune system.”

As I tried to understand what Twilight was explaining, we got close to where Spike was resting, and I noticed his bed had been replaced with a cobblestone nest-like arrangement. The young dragon was apparently sleeping, though from his cringed face, I imagined he wasn't taking it so easy.

“Hey Spike, you okay?” I asked, getting closer to him.

“He can’t hear you, I cast a sleeping spell on him; actually, the equivalent of twenty seven of them. It pains me to see him suffer like this,” Twilight said, levitating a damp cloth over to Spike and gently cleaning his face with it.

“Twenty . . . seven?” I asked, taken aback.

“Yes, along with his first growth spurt, the magic immunity dragons naturally possess starts to kick in. Every spell I use on him must now be multiplied several times to get the desired effect. I just hope that he’ll get over this safe and sound before I get a magical burnout.”

The mare got closer to his improvised bed and I realized that the heat was actually coming from the cobblestone nest from underneath him. Twilight leaned over the dragon and started removing the bandages on his back using her bare hooves. It was then when I noticed two equally disturbing things: under the dressings over his back were two bloody stumps going out from behind his shoulders. The wounds were opened and a yellow cartilage could be seen in the middle, having jagged ends and protruding out of the skin. The second thing that made me feel even more uncomfortable was the sight of Twilight’s front hooves. They were a bit swollen and slightly burned here and there, the fur thinned or even completely gone in the affected areas.

The unicorn mare gently removed the old bandage and replaced it with a new one, making sure she would not tighten it at all as to not block the wing’s growth.

“Twilight, your hooves . . .” I said in a low voice while gently grabbing one of them.

Most of the burns were recent and I noticed she was actually holding back tears from the obvious pain she was in. I wrapped my forelegs around her and held her softly as to not cause her even more discomfort.

“It’s all right,” she stifled a sob, “but I can’t use magic in that area on his back because I don’t want it to react with his wings, so I have to change the bandages by hoof every few hours.”

She was definitely overwhelmed by the responsibility of being the first pony to ever raise a dragon, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Spike was like her little brother to her and she was not going to leave him when things got tough for any reason in the world.

“How did you burn yourself like that?”

“His scales,” she responded, pointing at the dragon’s reddened skin, “I superheated them along with the bed I’ve put together out of some volcanic rock Big Mac and Applejack helped me get here this morning from the mountain near Everfree forest. I guess his mother would have placed him in a shallow pool of lava during this week or breathe fire over him, but this is all I could do so that he woukd be in a sterile environment.”

Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she rested in my forelegs and the stones from under the dragon turned red hot again. Spike didn’t even flinch at the sudden temperature change, still deep in his magic-induced sleep. We then walked out of the room, leaving the dragon to rest.

“Hey, I could help,” I told her, glancing back at Spike’s room. “We could do it in shifts so you can get some rest.”

Twilight was tending to her burn marks, using magic to diminish the swelling and heal the red patches of skin. She perked her ears and her face lightened up at my proposal.

“I could use your help; Spike could, in fact. Thanks,” she said, smiling kindly.

And so started a long week of sleepless nights and round the clock care for the young dragon. I tried to spend as much time at the library as possible, while resuming my job at Kazooie’s farm. The wheat season was ending and the brown earth stallion and his family could have not harvested and stored the whole field without help. After finishing work at the farm, I would go directly to the library and watch over Spike, changing his bandages and reheating his bed and scales with a special spell Twilight had taught me. The dragon would wake up every now and then but only for short periods of time, as the pain of constantly growing tissue and bone would be too much for him to handle.

On the third day since the start of the growth, a pigeon bearing royal marks came through a window in the living room, where Twilight was preparing new sheets of bandages for my shift. I was in the kitchen, making some sandwiches for what was about to be a long evening. When I went back into the room, Twilight was just finishing reading a small piece of paper.

“Blink, I got a message from Celestia. She sent it through a pigeon so that it wouldn’t disturb Spike,” Twilight explained, re-reading the message. “It says that she sent someone to assist us during the dragon’s last days of his growth spurt. I wonder who that might be . . .”

I shrugged at her and put a fresh surgical mask on, heading towards Spike’s door. “At least we’re getting some help-”

A loud cry filled the room, making me jump in surprise. I turned around and started looking after the source of the unexpected noise. A bright flame was flying around the room and I ducked to the ground right as it passed right above me.

“Twilight!!!” I screamed, less stallion-like than I would have wanted to.

“It’s all right, it’s just Philomena; although she’s smaller than I remember,” Twilight pondered, raising a hoof so that the bird would land on it.

I got up from the floor, staring at the magical being that gently landed on Twilight’s hoof. The bird was literally on fire but somehow, the unicorn mare wasn’t affected by the golden flames. Curiosity got the better of me so I approached the bird, which was casually preening her fiery feathers.

“Oh, I’m sorry! You’re Peewee!” Twilight realized, “Spike will be so happy to see you!”

At the mention of the dragon’s name, the bird let out another loud cry and flapped her wings, her whole body casting a brighter light for a few moments, while ashflakes gently fell from her.

“Ugh- Peewee?” I asked, still studying the creature.

“Yes, Peewee is Spike’s pet, so to say. He found her when she was just an egg a couple of years ago during a dragon migration and watched over it until she hatched.”

The bird nodded in agreement, turning towards me and returning my gaze.

“They were so happy together and I was thrilled to have a mythical bird like her with us. Sadly, we had to send her away to Celestia; as she got bigger, so did her flames. It was very dangerous to keep her in the library.”

“Ohh, I see. So, she’s the one Celestia sent to help us?”

Peewee nodded again, glancing at Spike’s room. She then flapped her wings, signaling that she wanted to go there. Twilight and I put our masks on and headed into the dragon’s room, followed by the phoenix. As soon as she found her master, Peewee rushed to him, landing near his head. Spike was still asleep in a curled up position, the bandages on his back wrapped around what looked like two extra members. The bird cuddled the sleeping dragon which, surprisingly, woke him up.

“Peewee . . .” Spike murmured, his eyelids barely open, “came to visit?”

He reached after her with a claw and the bird rubbed her beak over it in a heartwarming display of affection. We took that opportunity to give him liquids and some gems to eat; he was particularly pleased to find out the stones have been hoof-picked by Rarity herself. When he finished eating, Twilight cast a set of sleeping spell on him, enough so that he could rest comfortably without feeling any pain.

When we left the room, the phoenix stayed behind, finding a comfortable spot between Spike’s neck and the rest of his curled-up body. Before settling in, the bird spread her wings and her whole body gushed out waves of heat over the dragon, doing the job that Twilight and I would have done.

“I guess Celestia really sent Peewee to help Spike,” Twilight said, looking at the two of them.

The following days proved to be easier for us with the phoenix’s help, although Spike’s pain was still intense. The sleeping and numbing spells faded quicker than intended due to his newly acquired resistance to magic, and his moans or sobs would let us know he needed another dose. He was trying to be brave about it, holding the pain inside as much as he could. In the end, the agony of having tissue, bone and muscle grow constantly were too much. All of his friends came to see him at one point, with Twilight making sure the visits would be as short as possible, as to not put his immune system at any kind of risk. The progress was clearly visible, almost two centimeters of tissue and bone growing every hour. By the fourth day, the bases of his wings were completely formed, with small, sensitive, thin scales covering them already. The upper part of the appendages was coming up nicely but our bandaging task was made difficult because of the forming membrane between the wing fingers.

Peewee had never left his side during the whole time, helping us by heating the volcano rock beneath him. The shifts were tedious and exhausting, not to mention the burn marks I had acquired in the past days. The heat was nothing to take lightly as well, temperatures starting from fifty Celsius in the room and up to over one hundred near his bed. Even with the heat repellant spell I’d learned I couldn’t spend more than a few minutes near the dragon. But it was all for the greater good because any bacteria could sprout an infection, given Spike’s open wound.

I mumbled something incoherent, my senses returning to me as I was pulled from the realm of dreams. It was morning, and I found myself on the couch in Twilight’s living room. It took my brain a few moments to realize it but I had fallen asleep during my shift!

Twilight’s own shift was about to start and the mare could walk inside the living room at any moment. I stumbled down the sofa, hitting the wooden floor with a loud thump, and rushed to Spike’s chamber. It was empty and the air was clear, the windows opened wide.

Fuck. The one job I had!

The sound of the toilet flushing made my ears perk up towards the source of the noise. I went back in the library’s main room, only to see Spike casually leaving the restroom. He seemed relaxed and pain-free but then my eyes fell on his-

“Holy shit Spike, your wings!” I exclaimed, noticing his now fully healed new appendages.

The dragon’s wings were completely formed, tucked behind his shoulders. They were a bit small compared to his whole body but definitely passed as dragon wings. A small claw formed the joint in the middle of each of them, similarly to the ones of a bat. He was not the Spike I knew from back home anymore.

The dragon was now an adolescent, freshly out of his first growth spurt, rising up to over two meters in height while standing, having a longer tail, slightly elongated neck, head and broader shoulders. His hind legs were bulkier and their pads underneath his feet resembled those of a dinosaur. He actually started to look like a proper dragon. Allegedly, he was already growing when I first met him and even if I’ve been around for just several months, it was amazing to see how much he developed during his first sprout.

Spike spread his wings slowly, stretching them to their full length. My initial assumptions were a bit off. Those things were huge! Spanning almost four grown ponies in length, his spread-out wings were a magnificent sight. The thin, young membrane that formed them was filtering the sun’s light coming through the window, casting a reddish shadow on the floor.

“Like ‘em?” he asked grinning, his tone filled with pride.

“They’re pretty bad ass, I’ll give you that. Wait until Twilight sees you.”

“SPIKE!” A shout came from upstairs.

As I turned my head towards the purple mare whose voice had just boomed inside the tree house, she had already teleported down near her number one assistant and pounced on him, wrapping her forelegs around his neck.

“Spike, you’re okay!” she exclaimed between tears.

“Well duh, why wouldn’t I be, Twi?”

The dragon gently returned the hug, both of them enjoying the heartwarming moment.

“Your wings,” Twilight gasped after opening her eyes and noticing Spike’s new extensions, “they’re magnificent! They grew so fast since yesterday, and the membrane has developed beautifully,” she added, mentally comparing them with charts and drawings from her books.

Twilight then turned to me, a part of our talk from a week ago springing up in her mind.

“Is this how your lizards look like?”

I laughed, remembering how crude my explanations regarding that topic have been.

“No, our lizards don’t have wings like that, and are noticeably smaller. Also, they don’t breathe fire.”

“Uhm, what?” asked Spike, rather confused. “Lizards?”

“Yeah, I have something to tell you. You probably wanted to know what we and Celestia talked about back at the palace,” I said, also glancing at Twilight, “If she’s okay with this.”

“Sure, I think he can handle it.”

“Handle what?” Spike’s asked again, darting his eyes from me to Twilight.

And so I started talking. Again. We sat down at the table and I explained everything I had explained to Twilight just a week ago. Spike was listening carefully while munching on some rare diamonds the unicorn mare had brought for him as a treat. He seemed rather disappointed when finding out that actual dragons similar to him were just myths back from where I came. Needless to say, he was slightly outraged when I told him how rare diamonds and rubies were in my world.

“From what you’ve told me, your planet is larger than ours,” Twilight explained, having figured out the reason for which diamonds were so rare for me, “but apparently they share similar gravitational accelerations. That means that our planet is roughly the same mass as yours, and so its layers and core are more compressed.”

“And that means more diamonds for you guys,” I concluded, yet again impressed by her smartypantsness.

“Hey Blink,” Spike’s face suddenly brightened up, remembering something, “is your planet by any chance called Terra?”

I looked at him, staggered by the fact that he knew my planet’s name without me even mentioning it once.

“How did you-”

“I guess that’s for me to know, and for you to find out!” Spike smirked, teasingly.

“Okay boys, I think it’s time to go outside for a walk,” Twilight said as our discussion had finally ended, “you’ve been locked up in that room at over one hundred degrees for almost a week. You could use the fresh air.”

We left the tree house, taking a stroll in the library’s large backyard. Peewee was sitting on Spike’s head, teasing her master by pinching his scales every now and then.

“She did that to him ever since she was hatched,” Twilight said, chuckling at the two, “At first I thought Peewee was just considering his scales to be something edible, but phoenixes are smart creatures. She’s just doing it for fun, giving Spike a taste of his own medicine.”

But the dragon didn’t mind at all. He was happy to finally be over that horrific week, and to have a pair of wings.

“I wonder how we can help you learn how to fly,” the purple mare pondered, “maybe Rain-”

“Did somepony mention flying lessons?”

A sudden multi-colored blur flew past over us, executed a steep U-turn then landing in front of us, striking a pose.

“-bow Dash . . .” Twilight finished her sentence, rolling her eyes.

“Nice pair you got there, Spike. Wanna test them out? Come on, I’ll teach you how to do a barrel roll first, it will be awesome!”

“Ugh RD, I don’t even know how to fly; like, basic flying.”

“Ohh okay, I can do that, fly school 101. Easy!” Rainbow said, flapping her wings eagerly. “Does Monday afternoons work with you? I’m busy coaching Scoots during the weekend.”

“Sounds fine by me,” Spike confirmed smiling sheepishly, a bit anxious about the prospect.

“Well, see you then! Can’t be seen talking to no-fliers!” Rainbow concluded with a laugh, taking off towards the clouds.

“Is she always so-”

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed.

We took a few moments to watch her fade out in the distance, after which Twilight and I continued our walk. Spike lingered for a few more seconds, imagining how it will be to fly alongside his pegasus friend.

“Blink, I was wondering if you would like to uhm- come to my place tonight-”

What?

“-and watch the stars from my balcony together? I haven’t been stargazing for a while and I would like to check up on some constellations.”

Damn it.

“Yeah sure, I would like that,” I responded with a smile, my heart slowing down from my initial assumptions. “Does ten o’clock sound all right?”

“The stars would be out by then, so yes.”

I then remembered what time it was and that I had to be at Kazooie’s helping him.

“Damn it, I’m late for my work at the farm, see you at ten!” I said, galloping towards the wheat fields that could be seen in the distance. “Take care, Spike!” I wished the purple dragon as I rushed past him.

I breathed a couple of times in the back of my hoof, checking the freshness of my breath. It was a quiet night in Ponyville, and the library was standing tall in front of me. I felt a little bit nervous, but it was just a stargazing session, nothing serious. Or was it?

I knocked at the door, fixing a stand of my mane and puffing my chest out. Freshly bathed and groomed, I tried to look my best for the geeky date. Twilight opened the door, breaking into a smile at the sight of me.

“Hey there, how’s Spike?” I asked.

“Hello Blink. He’s fine, getting used to having those new wings on his back. I noticed they’re still growing, but much, much slower.” She paused for a bit, her eyes timidly studying my new look. “Also, someone’s been taking care of his mane for some odd reason,” she playfully said as I stepped inside.

My cheeks lighted up as if on fire. But this was a date! I was supposed to look good!

“Come on, the sky is perfectly clear tonight,” she stated, heading to her room.

I followed closely up the stairs, my eyes more or less involuntarily darting towards her . . . cutie mark area. Did she walk like that on purpose? I shook the thoughts from my head. I wasn’t that kind of guy- err stallion. I respected wome- err mares.

Her room was dark and the windows to the balcony were wide open. We stepped outside and I noticed everything had been carefully set up: a stack of astronomy books, a couple of small telescopes, two large floor cushions, and some blankets at their side. The pillows were a little bit far from each other for my taste but I wouldn’t expect more from her when it came to romance.

We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, copying Twilight’s movements and tucking my hooves under me. Sitting like that as a pony was new to me but proved to be really cozy while on the plush cushions.

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” She asked, watching me struggle a bit with the small telescope.

“Uhh no, actually not,” I said, smiling back nervously.

This was a date, but ironically I didn’t know what to do. She chuckled at my silliness and guided me through the fascinating process of tuning my telescope. When we were done, we started actually watching the stars, and she would occasionally note something down in her books. When I took a look through my telescope, I was surprised to see how beautiful the stars actually looked like up close. The magnification factor was quite large for such a small piece of equipment, but no doubt it was magically enchanted in some way. Ponyville stretched to our right, the numerous houses, the calm river passing through it and the various lights of the village forming a beautiful sight that I hadn’t seen before. The large moon was cresting the clear sky above, casting its aura over the peaceful lands of Equestria.

As the night took over, the cold air forced us to make use of the blankets Twilight had provided. After a couple of hours of stargazing, the cold had really settled in, a sign that the summer was nearing its final weeks.

My eyes noticed a slight tremor of her right shoulder. She was cold.

Finally things are going in my favor.

I decided to wait a little more before making a move. If I did it too early, it would seem that I am too desperate, if I did it too late, she would think that I don’t care about her. After just the right amount of minutes had passed, the mare shivered a bit, nestling into her pillow for warmth. That was my cue.

“Hey, you’re cold,” I more stated than questioned.

Without waiting for a reaction, I got up, dragged my pillow and blanket next to her and sat down by her side, using magic to gently lift her blanket and wrap it around the both of us.

“Uhm, thanks,” she said, her face red as a crimson rose.

Great success! The voice inside my head happily proclaimed.

We fiddled with our pillows, finding a comfortable position. Our bodies were touching only at the sides and I soon realized how warm she was, or I was. Actually the whole situation was quite intimate, and my heart was doing the usual marathon it would do inside my chest whenever that particular mare would be near me.

I could feel her heart beating, and it was beating fast too! But then that meant that she could feel mine as well, and that embarrassment made mine go even faster. An unexpected touch on my left shoulder made said heart backfire a couple of beats, the bones of my ribcage starting to sore a bit from the intense pounding.

Calm down man, you’ve done this before.

The fluttering sensation went on though, ignoring mind and reason. Then, her horn touched my cheeks, discharging a small static charge on contact. The amperage of the actual discharge wasn’t enough to stop my cardiac muscle, but the intimacy of the moment certainly did the trick.

Was she snuggling me, or did she want to kiss me? My body had completely frozen, my mind not prepared for such straightforward moves from her behalf. And that’s when I heard a faint snore. I mentally facehoofed, my heart jump-started back into normal rhythm and the hotness of the moment plunged to absolute zero values. She had fallen asleep on me.

Turning my head gently as to not disturb her, I noticed what a cute face she had when she was asleep. Twilight looked tired, most likely because of the sleepless nights of the previous week, yet happy and comfortable. My heart melted a bit, but not too much, as I then figured out I had the difficult task of getting her into bed.

I slowly got up, my horn glowing bright, keeping her head supported without my shoulder there. Wrapping the blanket around her, I then slowly lifted the purple unicorn in the air, focusing hard to maintain an even telekinetic lift force across her body. I slowly backed into the room, closing the large balcony doors after her. A strand of sweat fell from my brow as I concentrated in gently placing her on the bed, under the sheets.

Damn, that’s a big bed. I can definitely fit in there with her- No, that would not be appropriate. We have all the time in the world, why rush it, Blink?

I tucked her in, placed a small kiss on her forehead, silently wished her good night then went out of the room and into the illuminated hallway.

“Good call there, stud,” a sudden, deep voice made me jump in place.

Turning around I noticed Spike resting on the side of the wall, a rather condescending look on his face. I stared back at him, not really sure about the authenticity of the big-brotherly like attitude he was pulling. His lips turned into a deep smirk and then he let out a laugh, amused by my confused look.

“Just kidding, dude,” he said quietly, as to not wake up Twilight. “Look, I wanted to thank you for helping me the past few days, and helping Twilight as well. She would have exhausted herself trying to take care of me. I really appreciate you helping her.”

“No problem, man, but you owe me,” I retorted, winking at him.

“Sure thing. Hey, when I get a bit bigger, whenever that will be, and learn how to use these things,” he said, flaring his new wings, “you’ll be among the first to get a dragon ride.”

“Sounds pretty cool, Spike. Well, this was a big day, guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, casting a shield around myself in preparations of the teleportation spell.

“Pff, you call that date of yours a big day? Colts and fillies get more action then you two on your dates,” he added with a laugh, while going down stairs. “I grew a pair big guy, you should too.”

A flash of darkness and I found myself in my bedroom, the dragon’s teasing laughter echoing in my ears. My mouth was hanging open, ready to come up with a retort, but I had already teleported.

Damn, he’s mean.

I starting laughing at his words. Raven brought her head up from under her wing and looked at me, annoyed because of the rude awakening. She turned around in her spot on the writing desk, cawed at me once and resumed her sleep.

A couple of royal guards landed on the cobblestone road in front of an old wooden building at the edge of the city. Immediately after, a third shape landed next to them, its claws scraping at the surface beneath. It looked around and along the dark alleys and then went inside, its tail waving in the air behind it. The guards remained outside, guarding the entrance.

The inn’s doors swung open and the receptionist perked his ears at the new visitor. He immediately recognized her to be the guest mentioned in the important letter from the palace.

“Ambassador, welcome to the Starlight Inn,” the middle-aged stallion said humbly.

The stranger’s wings were settling down from the long flight. She wore a hood over her head, hiding a piercing gaze.

“I’ve prepared your room, right this way please,” the receptionist said, picking a pair of keys and strolling down a hallway, the guest right behind him.

He quickly found the door to her room and nervously opened it, inviting her in.

“If there is anything you need I’ll be at my desk, miss . . .”

She looked looked back at the stallion that was waiting for her name, and gave him a cold, unfriendly gaze.

“Gilda,” she simply said before closing the door shut.