Twilight's attention was attracted by a fireball fired at a distance of seven hundred yards from her. It was quite easy to spot him in the overcast sky. Spike was fine, and the unicorn continued to collect flowers.
The last two types were found quickly enough. After collecting them and putting them in bags, Twilight looked up into the sky again and waited for a new signal. After a couple of minutes, three fireballs were released into the sky; it was a conditional signal indicating that Spike had finished work.
The unicorn went to the dragon. The fog didn't bother her, the sense of direction kept Twilight confident. She wasn't worried about him. Although the mists behaved very strangely, there was no danger from them.
After covering two hundred yards, Twilight, without stopping or slowing down, released three magic spheres. She was eager to get to Spike as soon as possible, hoping that he was not injured or lost.
Having estimated the distance to the place of release of the last fireballs at five hundred yards, Twilight stopped.
"Spike, are you here?" she shouted, "Spi–i-ike?"
There was no response.
"Strange. I've never been wrong about the distance before. I made it clear to him that he should not go far after the completion signal."
The unicorn circled around, looking at the sky in the hope of seeing a new signal. He did not take long to wait. Fireballs were fired in the direction from which she came running.
"This is very strange," she said, returning and releasing a response signal.
After a minute of running, she released another series of magic spheres, but there were no Spike fireballs in response. This made the unicorn worried.
He couldn't move that fast, Twilight thought, and the lack of a signal made her even more worried.
After a while, she noticed a fire in the sky, but now it was released half a mile behind her.
"How is this even possible? I ran through those places twice and kept calling him!" the unicorn was indignant, "this is some kind of anomaly that is playing with us! Please, Spike, be okay," she added quietly.
Soon Spike released fireballs again, Twilight immediately responded, after which she realized that she had moved away from him, although she was running towards him. She was already getting angry. Spike couldn't move that fast, and wouldn't. The fog clearly scared him, and now he looks ominous.
The unicorn continued to move. When she reached the place from where the fire was last released, she again found no one. Twilight ruefully lay down on the grass.
"No, I can't lose him, I just have no right to leave him," she began to whimper, struggling with the impending hysteria. The first tears of horror had already appeared in the corners of his eyes.
The sun was hidden by a continuous cover of dark frightening clouds, and the dense veil of fog was even more depressing and instilled doom and fear. For Twilight, for the most part, it was not the fear of the environment, but the fear of never finding Spike.
After lying in despair for about another minute, she still got up, gathering her willpower into a hoof and adjusting her spirit.
"I could have made things worse by missing a few Spike signals," she thought.
The sorceress lit the horn, focusing on the implementation of the search spell. The Green fire should sense Spike's presence and fly towards him, guiding the unicorn. But as soon as the glow appeared, it immediately dissipated, as did all the magical flows aimed at forming the spell. Twilight did not give up, forming a new fire, but this time it did not work out. This place didn't allow her to cast spells.
"Magic won't help you, the power is in the truth," a voice rang out from all sides.
"Who's here? Come out!" The mare stood in a fighting defensive posture, preparing for a sudden attack.
"What do you want more? Ask questions or find a dragon?" the voice replied.
"What did you do to him?" she growled, "if anything happened to him, you'll regret it when I get to you!"
"And what did you do to him?" the voice ignored her threat.
A vision appeared in front of her in a fog, where she played with Spike 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 more happy, sincere happiness, love and care were read in her eyes, and Spike's eyes were burning with love and adoration.
This did not impress the unicorn. She became even angrier when she realized that the anomaly had copied the memories of one of them.
"Do you remember who you were to him? But who are you now?" the voice asked, changing the vision in front of her.
This time it was her room at home. Twilight was reading a book while baby Spike was playing with cubes. At one point, he stopped what he was doing and crawled towards her. Stepping on her book with his front hands, he raised his head. She took it in her hooves without distracting herself from reading. The dragon was tugging at her mane, trying to get her attention.
"What do you want?"
"Mf, m, m-m-m, m-ma, ma, Mom! Mom!" muttered Spike, not stopping looking at her.
That was his first word.
Twilight looked at him with mixed feelings, on the one hand she was shocked and not ready to be a mom for him, but on the other hand she was glad that he spoke, was glad that his first word was about her, was glad that it was she who heard his first word.
But on the other hand, she wondered if she really should become his mom. Wasn't Spike's presence solely the dictate and task of the princess, and not her desire to be someone meaningful to him.
The real Twilight watched herself from the past, reading all the emotions and thoughts on her face. She remembered them all. Especially the last ones.
The sorceress in the vision twitched slightly, realizing something incredibly important. Immediately after the birth, Spike was most pleased to see her, his coloring was similar to hers, and any reaction and attitude towards her clearly indicated that he always saw her as a mother. In addition, he always understood her and learned quickly, grasping everything on the fly. These were clearly her features.
Twilight hugged the baby, hugging him to her chest.
"Yes, I am your mother and I will always remain so."
The vision faded into the mist. The unicorn was already looking with tears of happiness at the place where one of the brightest and happiest memories had recently unfolded. She remembered how, on returning home from the metropolitan school, leaving Spike with his parents, he ran up to her and snuggled up. She always felt better, no matter how things went at school. He always made her happy and energized her. He always tried for her.
"But what happened to you then?" the voice asked.
The vision was replaced by the following. It was still Twilight's room at her house, except Spike was already five years old. He was dictating some kind of report that Princess Celestia Twilight asked. She was magically holding books and scrolls around her at this time, pondering the sequence and structure of the report. At one point she stopped, Spike was waiting for the unicorn to start dictating again.
Twilight remembered how she performed this task; it was a report on a protective runic spell. It was almost finished that day.
In the vision, she could not decide how to finish the report, the necessary thoughts did not come to her head, she feverishly sorted through books, scrolls and her notes, but cherished thoughts still did not come.
"Mom, you're tired, let's take a break," Spike said.
"Not now, I only have a little left," the unicorn replied.
"Mom, you have a whole week, you can finish it tomorrow and prepare a performance on the weekend," you have to take it only on Monday.
Watching Twilight remembered that that weekend she promised to go with Spike to the northern garden of Canterlot. She couldn't remember what would happen next, some of the memories in her head surfaced only after what she saw in the fog.
"Spike, I have to finish it today, the rest of the days are already filled with other things."
The dragon was obviously tired, but he didn't give up. He saw that Twilight could not figure out how to finish the report. She looked tired and exhausted.
"Mom, it will be easier for you to finish it tomorrow. We won't have much to do, the whole evening is free tomorrow."
Twilight wasn't going to back down. She was confident that she could complete the task today.
"Spike, don't distract me, please.
"We could have dinner, you obviously need to eat."
"Maybe later, Spike," she said coldly, starting to lose patience.
The dragon was not going to give up, he decided to act differently. Spike walked up to her and put his arms around her neck.
"We definitely need a distraction; we've been doing the report all day."
"You need to rest, Spike. I'll manage on my own," she replied irritably, gently pushing the dragon away with her hoof. She was filled with determination to finish the report, despite the obvious fatigue.
Spike ran out of arguments, but he wasn't going to give up.
"Well, Mom, you really need to rest. Please!" The dragon hugged her again, stroking her neck.
"Get off, Spike! Find something to do and don't distract me!" she shouted, pushing the dragon away again. He almost fell on his back, but managed to keep his balance.
The unicorn, watching what was happening, became a little ashamed of her behavior; she did not remember whether she apologized after that.
"I'll give you a massage then, it will make you feel better," the dragon persisted. He came up to her side and began to run his hands over her back. Twilight was lying flat, and it was convenient for the dragon to massage her back. She was already pretty annoyed and wanted to distract the dragon as soon as possible.
"Mom, are you feeling better? Am I doing well? Mom?"
Twilight couldn't stand it.
"I told you to rest, Spike! How many times do you have to repeat it for you to hear?" She stopped for a second, something clicked in her head. A small idea flashed through her mind.
"But I just..."
"There is no mom, Spike! There is only Twilight that needs to work! I need to work, not wipe your drool and clean up after you! Be a good dragon and sit still while I work! I'll leave you alone in your room all night if you don't obey! You'll never have a mom again if you behave badly!"
Spike retreated contritely and looked at her in shock. When in the next second he realized the meaning of all the words, he sobbed and went to the far corner where his toys were. At first he wanted to sit here quietly, but changed his mind. The Dragon didn't want to distract her with any more actions or presence. Already in tears, he headed for the door, wondering where he should sit. The attic seemed like a good idea to him.
Twilight, who was watching, could not contain her emotions, tears flowed from her eyes. She didn't remember her breakdown at all. She was already scared to see what would happen next. She hoped she wouldn't hurt Spike any more.
When the dragon was already reaching for the handle, the door opened. Twilight Velvet stood in the doorway. She noticed the crying dragon, and then the annoyed daughter.
Wait here for now, honey," she told Spike.
Twilight, explain to me why you're yelling at him? I've heard every word you say and I'm not happy with your behavior! "What is it?" she asked coldly.
"Mom, I have a task that…"
You've told me several times today about its importance, and if that's all you can say, you should think about your behavior. And until then, you shouldn't be near the dragon. He's going to sleep in my room tonight.
Twilight Velvet abruptly turned around, picked up Spike with magic, sat him on her back and left the room.
Twilight just breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fine, now I can work in peace," she said quietly.
She sat for another quarter of an hour, unable to write or think. Giving up, she still headed to the bed, deciding to rest.
The vision in the fog dissipated, a milky veil floated before the observer in a continuous stream. The unicorn continued to cry, looking in front of her with horror and shame.
"How could I, I hope I apologized later," she whispered, her voice trembling.
"Everything is only getting more interesting," a voice rang out from all sides.
"No, you're trying to distract me! Spike needs my help!"
The unicorn got up and hurried to where she thought the dragon should be. She released a series of magic spheres and scanned the sky, but there was no return fire. Continuing to run, she continuously released magical signals and called Spike, but there was no response.
Meanwhile, at the rotten stump
Spike was lying on the ground and sobbing loudly. The unicorn's screams did not reach him. Only the soft rustle of the wind on the grass surrounded the dragon. Meanwhile, the clouds took on an even more intimidating appearance. The first thunderclap thundered over the valley.
Twilight ran tirelessly, looking around. She tripped over a bump and fell to the ground. Dense grass softened the fall.
"You can't run away from yourself," the voice rang out again.
A new vision appeared before the unicorn. Her home room.
Twilight was laying out textbooks on her desktop after lunch. It was the day after the quarrel. The door to her room opened, Spike entered and stopped two steps behind her.
"Sorry to bother you... Twilight. I didn't behave correctly. I promise I won't behave like this anymore," he said with sadness and disappointment.
Twilight, who was watching what was happening, still lying on the grass and crying, prayed that the sorceress from the vision would apologize to Spike and say that he was not to blame for anything. She watched the unicorn from the vision change in face.
But the sad look of the sorceress from the past was replaced by a neutral expression, the look did not express any emotions, and a sinister grin appeared on her face.
Twilight from the present became even more worried. She had absolutely no memory of what was happening from the vision.
After thinking for about a minute, the unicorn turned around and spoke.
"I accept your apology, Spike. But you should know that only good dragons deserve to be with Mom. Be a good boy and I'll be your mom. I know you're capable of it."
She walked up to him and patted him on the back, encouraging the dragon. The vision vanished.
Twilight sighed.
"You showed everything to Spike too, right? Why are you doing this? Why don't you want me to find him?"
The fog didn't answer; the following vision appeared before her.
Spike was sitting on the windowsill of the house in the living room late at night. It was raining outside the window.
"I doubt you want to be my mom," there was sadness in his voice; "I think you don't really want that. It is more important for you to study well, and meet all the expectations of the princess. I see it in you, you've changed, but why? I won't burden you anymore by calling you Mom and asking you to do what we used to do before you changed. But I will be the best assistant for you, I promise. I hope that one day you will want to be my mom again. Not formally as a reward for my good behavior, but really, from the bottom of my heart."
The vision changed again.
Twilight was standing in her room in the castle, taking textbooks out of her saddlebag. Spike was sitting quietly in the corner, hugging his legs and lowering his head on them. The unicorn put the last textbook on the table. Her gaze fell on a stack of sheets on the far edge. She picked it up with magic and scanned the contents of each until she came across an old report. Her face saddened, her gaze darkened.
"Spike, come here," she said gently.
The dragon came up.
Twilight hugged him, hugging him tightly. There was indecision and regret on her face.
"Am I still your mom?" she asked hopefully.
The dragon shook his head negatively. The unicorn lowered its head, looking at him sadly.
"We're going to be late for the meeting with Celestia," he said, pulling out of the embrace and running into the hallway. The vision floated after him.
"You just want me to behave, you want to make me do what you need," he whispered to himself, "I still want to be your son, and you don't want to be my mom anymore and use me. I don't feel like you're trying to change anything."
The vision returned to the room by Twilight.
"Why, Spike? What can I do to make you believe that I'm sorry for what I did? I've already tried to talk to you about it, but you always changed the subject. What am I doing wrong?
The vision changed again.
Spike stood on the threshold of the library, watching Twilight leave with friends for a picnic.
"When you made friends, you began to forget about me and overwhelm me with housework. You've completely forgotten what we were like before. I've missed you since we arrived here."
The vision vanished. Nothing else appeared before her. Only the wind rustled the grass around.
Twilight rose, her determination to find Spike filled her with energy again.
"When the school load began to increase, I began to forget what was really important. I ruined everything myself to please my desires. I didn't know how to fix it. I started taking you for granted, I... I forgot what it's like to be your mom. I should learn it all over again. New worries piled on old problems, and in Ponyville I began to forget again what was really important."
The voice did not react to her speech in any way, only a thunderclap rolled over the valley.
"I need to hurry up. While I'm hanging around here, Spike is lying somewhere cold and scared."
Twilight didn't know which direction she should go, but she had an idea. She closed her eyes and concentrated.
"I'm your mom, Spike. You have become the best and special for me since the moment of birth," the sorceress spoke. – "Thanks solely to you; I became who I am now. You were destined to become part of my family and take over my heart."
The fog around the unicorn lifted slightly. The range of visibility increased to ten yards.
"You made my every day better. I learned the most important responsibility when I raised you; even now I have something to learn. My goal was to be the best for you. Forgive me that one day I forgot about the most important thing."
The fog swirled around, slowly receding. A small piece of land was gradually being freed from the solid shroud.
"Forgive me for taking you for granted. Forgive me for giving up after a short struggle when I realized I was manipulating you."
A sharp gust of wind picked up the fog and drove it further from the river hills into the depths of the steppe. The milky suspension retreated, bypassing the clean island where the unicorn stood.
"I love you, Spike. I love you more than anyone in the world. Forgive me for betraying you. Forgive me for showing you less love than I should have. You deserve so much more love, you've always deserved more. You have always shown eternal devotion to me and care. It wasn't you who should have tried to be the best for me, but I should have always been the best for you. I should have backed up my words of love so much that you felt it with all your heart and did not doubt it."
When Twilight finished her speech, it was only then that she realized that her words were being carried all over the neighborhood. The fog was retreating into the depths of the steppe, slowly dissipating; it still remained behind her at a distance of fifty yards.
The sorceress was looking towards the hills; she turned around, but still did not see Spike anywhere. Turning in the direction of the departing veil, she found a rotten stump, and behind it a small silhouette. She approached the old plant to examine what was behind it.
"Spike!" she exclaimed, making a swift dash to the silhouette behind the stump. She lifted the dragon into her hooves, hugging it to her. He didn't react in any way, didn't even move.
"You're all icy!" she wanted to start a fire in a panic, intending to use a stump, but when the sorceress noticed an object out of the corner of her eye, she stopped. Twilight turned and saw a white stone house thirty yards away.
"He wasn't here a minute ago!.. I do not care!"
She grabbed Spike with magic and, throwing aside all caution, rushed inside, slamming the door. In the living room, she immediately came across a fireplace filled with wood. Without hesitation, she magically set it on fire, took a sleeping bag out of her saddlebag, laid it out next to the fireplace and carefully laid Spike.