The air blew cold at the peak of the mountain, despite it being Summer. Small icicles were forming around the grassy areas of the smooth crater that formed the tip of the mountain. Four dragons resided there at the time. Staring at the frozen grass was a fairly rounded red dragon with a green belly and yellow spines and horns. He flew a waft of smoke just short of the grass and watched as the icicles grew transparent as a coating of fresh water slicked them, causing the grass to look crystalised. Another dragon, thin and bony, rested in one of the sleeping spots, catching the sun’s morning rays. His blue scales glistened in the light, adding detail to his cyan spines and horns. His body heaved up and down, signifying to any watchers that he was asleep.
The third dragon, a female with white scales and dark purple horns and spines rested on their leader’s chair carved from a tree that once grew there. Her body was wrapped around said leader, whose purple scales shone brilliantly in the morning light, highlighting his green spines and frills. His eyes were closed as he gently stroked the female’s head, his mind elsewhere.
The calm and seemingly harmonious state these four dragons were in was interrupted as two more dragons emerged, one of them carrying something very noisy.
“Lemme go!” it carried on, swinging its… hooves at the approaching dragons. The one carrying the now identified pony was another red dragon with similar green spines to their leader. His companion was a yellow dragon with blue spines and frills.
“What have you done this time?” the leader spoke, waking his white concubine from her slumber.
“We found this.” the yellow dragon replied. His friend tossed the pony along the ground, making her roll straight up to the leader who eyed her suspiciously. She wore a safari hat and clothing. She reminded him of the popular fictitious character, ‘Daring Do’, only the colours were off. This pony was orange with a purple mane and tail. This put the leader in mind of a chicken.
“Hah, if it isn’t a ‘Daring Do’ wannabe. What are you doing here. We don’t host comic conventions up here, little filly.” The ponified chicken rose to her feet, her wings fluttering madly, making a buzzing sound.
“I’m out here looking for my ‘Cutie Mark’.” she stated bluntly, the distress and anger apparent in her voice.
“Your what?” the white dragoness asked.
“Her ‘Cutie Mark’; the mark that represents a pony’s greatest talent, which can be seen on their flanks. In short, this little filly is searching for her purpose in life.” the surrounding dragons all nodded as this information was added to their small archive of pony knowledge.
“Then I guess she should get a dragon’s mouth, because she’s going to be dinner.” the blue one had awoken in time to hear his leader’s statement. The others laughed, causing the little filly to shake on the spot. Only the leader seemed calm and composed as he eyes their dinner with a trained analytical gaze.
“No,” he began, causing the others to halt their laughter. “This filly wouldn’t even hit the sides of either of our stomachs. She’d be a wasted effort, especially divided between the six of us.” The other five dragons groaned in disappointment. The leader flexed his clawed hand, loosening the muscles and joints with a few loud cracks.
“Escort her back home to Ponyville.” he commanded. As the other dragons went to approach the filly, she addressed him once more.
“How did you know I was from Ponyville?” she asked. The two dragons halted their approach and looked to their leader for both an answer and a command to continue.
“It doesn’t matter.” he said after a moment’s hesitation. He waved his hand to the two, motioning them to continue. Before they could grab her, the filly shot towards the purple dragon, halting as a waft of flame brushed her nose.
“Spike, is that you?” she demanded. All the dragons froe where they were, the white one raising her head.
“How did she know your name, boss?” the red one asked, long since distracted from his grass. The white one gave a revolted expression.
“Oh god, you’re not a pony-hatched, are you?” she asked. Spike’s eyes flashed green and red and a dark purple aura escaped from out the sides. His scales lost their shine and darkened.
“Is that a problem, Scalia?” Spike’s voice deepened and became distorted, flanged and mechanised. Scalia drew back, lowering her head back onto Spike’s lap.
“N-no, sir.” she whimpered, clearly regretting her outburst. The orange filly grew excited.
“Spike, it is you! You’re alive. We all thought you’d died. You left Ponyville with no explanation. Twilight and Rarity looked for you for two years. Why’d you leave?” Spike’s scales returned to normal and he blinked once, dissipating the green and red colour.
“Like I said, Scootaloo; it doesn’t matter.” The purple dragon noticed his companion loosening her grip around him, but said nothing of it.
“But it doesn’t make any sense. Why leave, weren’t you happy with us? We missed you.” Spike recalled what it was that made him leave and his mood grew darker than his appearance.
“Leave us.” he called out. Every dragon, including Scalia shot out of sight as fast as their legs and wings could take them. Scootaloo watched as the last dragon shot over the edge of the crater at a speed that could leave Rainbow Dash in the dust. She turned back to her old friend, who had grown immensely since she’d last seen him. She approached him more casually, daring to hug him as she occupied the spot Scalia had once been. Spike negated to return the hug, but allowed her to continue.
“I don’t understand what made you leave? Did Rarity reject you or something? Because if she did, then you might be happy to know that she clearly regretted doing so. Spike sighed, recalling the night he departed pony civilisation.
“No, she didn’t reject me. I suppose you could say I didn’t give her the chance to.”
“Why not, did you wimp out on confessing your love for her or something?” Spike chanced a huff of amusement.
“I always wimped out, but this wasn’t why I left.” he replied. Scootaloo squeezed her friend tightly, enjoying the familiar feel of scales. There was a long pause, covering the dragon’s peak in silence, save for the gust of wind that promised cold on Scootaloo’s surface. She leaned into her old friend, using him as a shield from the cold.
“Then why did you leave if not because of Rarity?” she asked, breaking the silence. Spike replied with a sigh, then looked up at the sky.
“It had something to do with Twilight, that’s all I’m saying on the matter.” He leaned back in his wooden throne and finally resigned to hugging Scootaloo who enjoyed the affection.
“You’ve grown so much in three years. I knew you for two years and you barely changed. The next three years and you grew an inch. How’d this happen?” she asked, changing the subject. Spike chuckled.
“You still don’t read, do you?” the orange filly shook her head. With an amused sigh, Spike looked straight ahead.
“A dragon’s growth rate matches that of his peers. Starswirl the Bearded recorded the growth rate of a dragon-hatched dragon, like the others I rule over, and a pony-hatched, like me. He stated that very quote in his book. In short it means when I’m around ponies, I age as fast as they do, when I’m around dragons, I age as fast as they do. Funnily enough, we reach maturity pretty quickly, but then the aging just slows to a crawl and we live for thousands of years. Had I been born around the same time as Princess Celestia and Luna, I imagine I’d have outlived them.” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped as she realised what he was saying.
“So you’d live longer than any pony if you lived around them?”
“Yes, but I’d also live longer than any dragon if I lived around ponies.” Scootaloo clopped her hooves together, much like Twilight used to do when she got an idea.
“Maybe I should live around dragons. My lifespan would double then, right?” Spike laughed, bouncing Scootaloo up and down on his lap.
“It doesn’t work like that, Scoots. If anything, living around dragons will give you greys in your teen years.” Scootaloo whined as she leaned back into him, causing the dragon to laugh once more.
“You know, I am thirteen now.” she stated. Spike smiled down at her.
“Not a filly at all, then. You’re a young mare.” Scootaloo nodded.
“Which is why I’m so desperate to get my ‘Cutie Mark’. The Crusaders are still searching after seven years.” Spike almost jumped out of his seat.
“All three of you are still searching? Jeez, I’d have thought at least one of you would have gotten your marks by now.” The young mare nodded sadly.
“Well you won’t find them out here. Ponies don’t belong in dragon territory. Unlike you guys, my kind aren’t exactly very accepting of other species. We’ve had to exterminate some gryphons every now and then because they’re very territorial and they believe this mountain top is theirs. I managed to convince the others to let Gilda go once or twice.”
“Huh. How is Gilda? Dash says she hasn’t heard from her in a while.” Spike recalled the latest encounter with the rebel gryphon.
“She’s kinda… depressed. I think losing Dash as a friend has hurt her more than her pride will allow her to show. Other than that, she’s still got attitude.” Scootaloo giggled at this. She then asked the question Spike wanted to hear the least.
“Are you ever coming back to Ponyville?” The purple dragon dug into the wooden throne, taking large strips or wood with his talons.
“I can’t.” he replied. Scootaloo began her assault.
“Why not? Not even to visit? What’s wrong with you?” Spike rose to his feet, throwing Scootaloo across the ground.
“I refuse to return because it’s my choice and I hurt every time I think of that place. Now go home, Scootaloo.” Scootaloo refused his order and went to charge him. As she leaped at his head, Spike’s eyes returned to the scary green and red. The purple aura leaked out of his eyes. He took a deep breath and blew a plume of violet fire at her. Scootaloo screamed and covered her face, then felt nothingness.
Spike sat down again and crossed one leg over the other. His dark mood or figure didn’t dissipate like last time, instead, he growled in that flanged voice.
Scalia and the others popped their heads out from the edges of the crater. They slowly crept up before their leader, their bodies as low to the ground as they could get. The red one dragged a big groove in the dirt as he crawled.
“Is it over, Spike?” The purple dragon looked at his concubine and huffed.
“Yes. Go about your business. Pretend this morning never happened. The two dragons who had brought Scootaloo to him, flew off in search of another meal. The blue and red dragons began a wrestling match with each other to pass the time, and Scalia slowly took her place at Spike’s side, keeping her eyes on Spike to make sure he wasn’t against her actions. She rested her head on his lap again, scrunching her nose as the smell of pony filled her sinuses.
Back in Ponyville, the Elements of Harmony were planning out their day together, as it had been a month since they’d all had a coinciding free day on their calanders. Business with Weather control had kicked up this year and Rainbow Dash was busy directing the weather to her teams. The Library was busier than it used to be since Spike was no longer around to help. Rarity’s boutique had made a lot of sales in preparation for the Grand Galloping Gala, which they’d all received an invitation to. Fluttershy had become somewhat famous to the animals in the nearby forests and her aid was required on a regular basis for more animals than she knew what to do with. The Apple family had acquired another few acres to their property and tending those extra apple trees kept Applejack ‘busier than a beaver on a dam’ as she’d put it. And Pinkie Pie was focusing her attention on assisting the Cakes in Sugarcube Corner.
“So, we’re just about ready to go. I know I’m looking forward to getting under way. I feel like we’ve been separated for so long, and that can’t be very good for friendship, can it?” Twilight asked.
“Ah dunno Twi, I figure if the bonds of friendship are tightly knit early on, they can last forever, no matter the distance.” Applejack piped in.
“Well said, darling,” Rarity complimented, smiling sweetly at the farm pony. “And with that, perhaps we should be off. Our picnic will last longer if we get there ahead of schedule.” the ponies cheered excitedly as they made their way to the door to exit the Library. As Twilight went to move, a flash of violet emerged in front of her and Scootaloo popped into existence, falling on the coffee table.
“Scoots?” Rainbow Dash piped up. “What are you doing? And how did you manage to teleport?” The six ponies looked at the shaking young mare, who brought her hoof from her face and looked around.
“I’m alive? OH THANK SWEET CELESTIA I’M A-BUCKING-LIVE!!!” she began to grow into hysterics as she laughed at her second chance at life. It took the ponies several minutes to calm her down enough for her to get a workable sentence out.
“Scootaloo, what exactly happened?” The orange pony began to recant her ‘Daring Do’ like adventure to her peers.
“Darling, that’s all very amusing but I doubt you’d be here if two dragons took you away.” Rarity called a fib.
“That’s the thing. I thought I was dead meat when they took me to this strange mountain with the top blown off. They brought me before their leader who turned out to be Spike.”
“WHAT?!” all six mares screamed at her. Scootaloo cringed back and nodded.
“It’s true. Spike’s the leader of a small group of dragons. He’s even got himself a marefriend… or maybe it’s dragonfriend. She looked a bit like you, Rarity.” Rarity drew back from the group and began to consider how this news affected her.
“But Spike is alive and well?” Twilight urged. Scootaloo nodded.
“He’s living like a king. Got five other dragons under his thumb, including the Rarity dragon. He’s come across Gilda a few times, fending her and her kind off their territory.” Rainbow Dash took interest in the last bit of knowledge.
“Did he mention how she was?”
“He said she was still full of attitude, but I think she misses your friendship, Rainbow.” Rainbow Dash did as Rarity had done and considered the news she was given.
“Did he say why he left?” Twilight urged. Scootaloo shook her head.
“All he said was it had something to do with you and not Rarity. He wouldn’t give me anything more than that.” The ponies looked to Twilight for confirmation, but she was as confused as they were.
“What did I do? Have I been mistreating him again? I hate when I do that. No, I distinctly remember him smiling at me before he left, so he wasn’t upset with me… what could I have done? Did I say something that made him consider his life choices?” Twilight began to yell at herself as she worked in her mind what she could have done to cause Spike to leave.
“Why didn’t he say goodbye? Did he think we’d try and look for him again? Because we did that anyway.”
“Scootaloo, why don’t you come with us on the picnic and tell us more about Spike?” Fluttershy suggested.
“I’d love to, Fluttershy. Thanks.”