A cold breeze ran through Spike and Twilight. The dragon shivered, the pony shivered from the sudden cold. The steppe appeared before them, stretching to the horizon. The hills left behind completely hid the trees by the river. They curved along the border of the steppe as far as the eye could see.
"Well, Spike, we've come," the unicorn opened the left saddlebag and took out cards with an image and a brief description of flowers from the pocket.
"I think this will be enough for you," she magically handed him ten cards and the same number of bags, "collect as many samples as you can."
He took the items entrusted to him. She pulled him to her with her hoof and rubbed her cheek against his.
"You are such a cute dragon, my friend and beloved assistant; I believe that you will cope. Don't go far away."
Spike felt sad again. She always called him that. He turned around and walked away.
He tied the bags to the strap of his backpack with twine, which connected them to each other in the form of a garland. Spike looked through all the cards. Most of the plants seemed familiar. Only two flowers he saw for the first time. He went on a search. At this time, Twilight has already filled one bag. Flowers swirled around her in a magical grip.
The dragon saw his first flowers ten paces away.
Spike carefully examined the neighborhood. He noticed a squat bush, and next to it was a cluster of unknown flowers. Fortunately, shrub flowers were on the list. He also decided to collect the unknown ones, they were not on the cards, but they seemed very beautiful. Since there was nowhere to put them, Spike stuffed them into the outer side pocket of the backpack after collecting the bouquet.
One hour later
Finding five more types of flowers was not a difficult task, although they were located far from each other. Spike had to travel dozens of yards between the flowers. Twilight came to the dragon once every quarter of an hour to keep it close to her and be aware of its movement in case of loss. By remembering his previous location, she could quickly find him.
The steppe favored the search. If it was not necessary to travel long distances to collect seven types of flowers, now the task has become more complicated. The remaining flowers were not visible in the field of view.
Spike was zigzagging, constantly turning around. He carefully peered into every rare bush and cluster of flowers. The endless sea of the steppe was filled with dozens of inflorescences, and it became difficult to find the right ones. The situation was aggravated by a strange fog, which from time to time slowly floated by. It was not dense, visibility when passing through it decreased to fifty yards. It was strange, in the afternoon any fog had to clear up.
Unnecessary flowers came across most often. In total, Spike and Twilight have already passed one mile from the hills that were left behind, they were barely discernible on the horizon, becoming a thin strip.
From the moment of collecting a bouquet of some flowers, which were the seventh in a row, Spike walked a hundred yards in search of the next ones. On the way, he overcame a large accumulation of fog, which was a continuous veil. He was very happy when he saw the flowers thirty steps away from him.
"How are things going?" he heard a voice behind him.
"I've already found eight species!" the dragon exclaimed happily, turning around.
"It's wonderful! I found only seventeen!" Twilight replied, "let's rest."
Spike agreed. When he sat down, dropping his backpack, only then did he realize how tired he was.
Twilight dropped her saddlebags and pounced on the dragon, pinning him to the ground. Her breast pressed against his chest, and her stomach held the entire lower part of his body, only his legs were free. She held his shoulders with her front legs.
"Are you cold?" she asked gently.
"No, you know dragons are cold-blooded."
"Only big, small ones can freeze at the slightest cold."
"I'm not small enough to freeze in the summer, even in the coldest summer in Canterlot I didn't freeze," the dragon was indignant.
"Okay, let's eat," Twilight freed Spike and took out sandwiches and a thermos from her backpack.
"Why didn't we take the gems?" asked Spike.
"They're heavier than pony food."
While they were eating, the mysterious mist floated past them at a low speed, only one foot per second. It seemed to have crossed an arc around them, after which it flew to the east. Another fog drifted in from the south, rounded them in a wider arc and headed north.
"I don't understand this place," Twilight said, "these mists don't obey the laws of physics. They should flow in the same direction and at the same speed. They can't change direction and speed so abruptly. They shouldn't exist at all! Any fog should clear up at dawn."
This was followed by a whole lecture on atmospheric phenomena. Spike sat quietly and enjoyed the voice of his, as he thought and hoped, mom. He thought he would talk to her all the way, but at first he slept, and then they completely separated. Even so, he was glad to spend time with her. Even the anxiety after Applejack's story about anomalies in these places no longer bothered him so much. Maybe now is the right time to find out the truth about their relationship?
"Twi?"
"Yes?"
His heart began to beat faster; he looked away towards the hills completely hidden behind the horizon. A slight fear crept into his heart. He was afraid of ruining the rest of the hike.
"I love you, you're the best!" he hugged her, pressing against her chest.
She responded to the hug by nuzzling the top of his head and stroking his back.
"I love you too, honey."
Another fog overtook them, completely surrounding them, the cold penetrated the dragon, he shivered, snuggling closer to the pony.
"You're so big and warm and fluffy."
She smiled at his comment.
"And you are small, cute and beautiful."
"I took the last one from you."
She didn't say anything. The two continued to embrace, they did not even notice how the fog surrounded them in a dense ring, and you could see only a yard through the fog.
Twilight hugged Spike harder when she noticed how the veil was thickening.
"Mom?" a barely perceptible voice came from all sides, it was so quiet that she thought she had imagined it.
"Spike, did you say that?" she asked, puzzled.
"What did I say?" he raised his head and looked at her questioning.
"Did you call me Mom?"
The Dragon was wary of her question. He didn't hear any joy or indignation in it, he couldn't tell what emotions she was experiencing, if there were any at all. The dragon decided not to take any chances at such a moment. The fog frightened him, and her embrace seemed like an insurmountable fortress that saved him.
"No, I was silent," he said uncertainly.
She noticed his hesitation, but accepted his answer, thinking that she had imagined it.
The fog around them slowly melted away, parts of it spreading in different directions.
"This place is very strange," Twilight concluded, "it's time to continue working."
She released the dragon. They broke up; she left him in the middle of the fog. Spike remained sitting a little upset. When she completely disappeared into the fog, a mysterious voice similar to Spike's voice rang out again from all sides.
Spike looked around, trying to determine at least the direction of the sound, but he failed. The dragon heard the sound of hooves approaching.
"Was that you?" Twilight seemed worried.
"No, I don't know what's going on," admitted Spike.
She turned around, upset, and quickly ran away.
"Why wasn't it you, Spike? I really want you to say that. It would mean that I'm doing everything right, that I mean more to you than anyone else. Have you never forgiven me? Maybe I'm really unworthy?"
The Dragon continued his search. It remained to find two more types of flowers. The ninth flowers were found three hundred yards from the lunch place. There were enough of them to fill the pouch completely. There's only one view left.
There were even more fogs, they scurried around in frequent clusters. The search turned out to be even more difficult. Twilight tried to dispel them with magic, but they moved extremely reluctantly. If it was possible to dispel at least some, they immediately gathered back. But the bigger and thicker the clouds of fog were, the more difficult it was to cope with them.
Spike walked a hundred yards before finding another cluster of flowers. After another visit from Twilight, Spike was ordered to send fireballs into the sky every five minutes so as not to get lost and not go too far away from her.
It seemed to him that he would get lost at any minute and he should return to Twilight, but her balls of magic sent into the sky kept him confident.
The dragon walked a few hundred yards more, making its way through the mists before finding a cluster of the last flowers. Judging by the range of his and her signals, they were separated by seven hundred yards, but Spike had clearly passed less, only two hundred or so.
"Here you are, dear ones," said the dragon to the flowers growing next to an old rotten stump.
The dragon released another ball of fire, which rushed at breakneck speed into the sky. It will be easy to notice it against the background of a tightening sky with clouds. Spike sat down and began to release three fireballs once a minute. It was a conditional signal that he had finished his work. Spike was tired and wanted to meet Twilight as soon as possible to warm up and relax. He was looking in the direction of her last signal and hoped that she would come running as soon as possible. He was getting scared. The mysterious fog began to frighten him, slowly tightening.
Finally, he heard the sound of hooves nearby, although the last signal was far away, about five hundred yards away. This did not bother Spike, and he went through the fog in her direction, but he did not find anyone. The sound of hooves was very close somewhere ahead, but no matter how much he walked, he could not find her. To make matters worse, the dragon returned to the place where he found the last flowers. The crumpled grass and the same stump at the place of his recent rest clearly testified to this. This was the place.
Spike released three fireballs again and scanned the sky. The Twilight signal sounded in the other direction, somewhere behind on the left, although it should have been ahead on the right. All the way, she walked mostly on his right side.
The dragon sat back down. The fog, constantly circling, was unusually dense, the dragon could not see a yard beyond it. It was as if clouds had descended on the earth. A sudden crackle of magic interrupted his contemplation of the milky veil. He turned around and saw the signal magic fire only ten yards away. Spike rushed in his direction, but again found no one. He walked a little further forward and came across his former place.
"This can't be, I was definitely walking straight."
The fog was already just everywhere, except for the old familiar place. It was unnatural.
"Twilight said something about the power of Coreolis when traveling, but it only works over long distances. She couldn't affect me at short distances, unless... No, I couldn't teleport without noticing it. I would have noticed that, wouldn't I? There can't be such inconspicuous teleports, right? I hope not."
The dragon sat down on the ground, leaning against an old familiar stump.
"Stump. A lonely tree in the middle of the steppe? Most likely, it was an oak tree. It is they who grow singly among the fields. It's not something to think about right now," Spike shook his head and released a few lights. The answering signal appeared half a mile in front of him. A minute after the next signal, the distance to the response magic increased.
"This is some kind of nonsense. It just doesn't make sense," Spike said.
"The meaning is in the truth," a voice rang out from all sides. It clearly didn't belong to a unicorn.
"Who's here?"
"And who do you want to see, dragon?"
"I want to find Twilight."
"Who is she to you?"
"What?"
"Who do you want to see in her?"
"I..."
"I'll show you something," the voice disappeared; a vision appeared in front of Spike in the fog, where he played with her when he was a baby.
Young Twilight was playing ball with him in her room in the castle. After the game, she picked him up, hugged him and began to kiss his stomach, neck and head. The baby giggled in her hooves and stretched out his little hands to her. She tickled him, he laughed even more. Twilight was even happier, sincere happiness, love and care were read in her eyes, and Spike's eyes were burning with love and adoration.
The dragon watching the painting calmed down slightly, a few tears of happiness rolled down his cheeks. But still, the dragon did not forget for a second where he was and what he had to do. Spike again emitted three fireballs into the sky and looked around carefully, but there was no response signal anymore. He repeated the signal fire a couple more times, but still there was no response.
This broke Spike's spirit, he fell doomed on the grass and curled up, crying.
"Cheer up, dragon, I want to show you some more of your memories," the voice rang out again. But Spike was no longer listening to him, the quiet sobs intensified, becoming unrestrained crying.