"Right, so should we start at the library?" Scootaloo asked while still prodding the amulet.
"Well, we could, but Twilight's not gonna be any help. She already thinks that it's just an amulet," Shyfrost exclaimed while picking it up and placing it back around his neck.
"Hmm, ah don't rightly know why she wouldn't think it's special. How can a amulet just feel warm all the time?" Apple Bloom questioned while pacing back and forth.
"I don't think stones are usually warm, right?" Sweetie Belle chimed in.
"I always just thought it was special and the, um, magic in it helped push me to do things like climbing that mountain to Canterlot."
"YOU CLIMBED THAT MOUNTAIN?!" All three screamed at him.
"Yeah, it's a long story, but if it can help me do stuff like that then it must be special, right?" All three simply stared at him and after a few seconds they nodded in agreement.
"Maybe Miss Cheerliee can help,! She owns plenty of books on history and rocks and crystals and stuff. Want to try her, Shyfrost?" Scootaloo asked and all three gave him a pleading look so he nodded, it did make more sense if the town's librarian was going to ignore them.
"Good idea, if we can't find anything then the library can be our last stop."
They set off for the school house, hoping to find their teacher. The sun was setting down for the day, but she was still there, grading papers. She did not expect to find four members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders come in after school.
"Girls! And Shyfrost, what can I do for you?" She questioned nervously, looking ready to jump out of her seat and run.
"We were wondering if you knew anything about amulet's and special crystals?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah, Shyfrost's amulet is acting funny and we figured we could try and earn our cutie marks in research. So, do you know anything on the subject?" Scootaloo poked at his amulet again, making him swipe it away. Miss Cheerliee was caught off guard but seemed to calm down at the mention of the word research.
"So you are all just trying to learn? Well I would be happy to help and as luck would have it, I know quite a bit about special rocks, but first, can I see it?"
Shyfrost shrugged and placed his amulet on her desk and she began to examine it. After several moments she shrugged.
"I don't see anything funny about it, what has it been doing?"
"Try touching it," Shyfrost said while touching it himself. She complied and her face lit up in shock.
"Right, there is definitely something weird going on...let me try something," the normally perky teacher said while gently picking it up by its chain. She walked over to the class sink and started to rinse some water onto it, after several seconds she stopped. Touching it she found it was still quite warm.
"Scootaloo there should be several books just over there relating to crystals and special rocks. This calls for a real study session." She grabbed the books and all five of them immediately began to read, looking for any clues or hints that might help.
For the next couple of hours they began to study every known rock and crystal type and compared it to the amulet. With no luck they all but gave up, Scootaloo had half fallen asleep and Apple Bloom was busy trying not to fall asleep. Miss Cheerliee was helping a bit, but she mentioned that she had work to do and papers to grade, but they were welcome to stay until night. Shyfrost was still busy looking in one last book and failed to notice Sweetie Belle was busy looking into some over looked books. Before she could grab one she began to sneeze, in one loud burst her sneeze caused some magic to accidentally disburse from her horn, which knocked the entire pile of books to the ground. She gave a sheepishly smile and promised to pick them up but then she noticed one rather old looking book right in front of her, it was titled 'Legends and Myths'.
"Hey Shyfrost, what about this book? It looks promising," she exclaimed while flipping through to some random pages. He tossed his book and walked over.
"Well, maybe it can help but aren't legends usually fake?"
"The Elements of Harmony were supposed to be a legends and they exist, so maybe it mentions your amulet!"
They both shrugged and began to read, it mentioned all manner of various artifacts pertaining to things of legend and myth. Each and every one sounded more ridiculous in nature than the last. Some promising wishes and others pertaining to world domination. Eventually the book began to talk of legends without the aid of pictures, the book mentioned that this particular section had no references to draw from and details would be scarce with even names possible being false. Out of all of them, one in particular caught both of their eyes, 'The Amulet of UNKNOWN ( Real name lost to the ages )'.
The original origin of this strange amulet dates back to before the reign of the sun and moon Princess's. It is believed it, along with several other artifacts, were constructed by a now extinct race of unknown origin (or ponies). The function of these artifacts is still only seen as pure speculation. Most believe they were meant to bring about warfare in an effort to combat Discord, the lord of chaos, in order to maintain everlasting peace. However, most believe that claim to be false since the Elements of Harmony have resurfaced thus making the original function of the amulet and it's related artifacts to be entirely unknown or moot.
The amulet can be recognized only upon activation, it will become warm (more research is needed to confirm this). The warmth is pure speculation and does not dictate its nature or what it does. The last known location was near the site of 'The Great Dragon Migration', it's believed the mountains surrounding where the dragon's meet, quite possibly hold another artifact. Though if true, nopony has ventured far enough to find out...
"Well, there you go Shyfrost, I told you that amulet was special!" Sweetie Belle said while slamming the book down to wake up their friends.
"But that barely explains anything at all! It says the amulet of whatever get's warm like mine so I guess that must be it. But we still don't know what it does!"
"Hmm, ah don't know, Shyfrost. It says here it's linked to that dragon migration that's coming up," Apple Bloom said while catching up on their reading.
"Um, I don't think our parents are gonna let us just go off on an adventure to find those artifacts," Sweetie Belle said while looking extra tired.
Scootaloo immediately woke up at the mention of the word adventure. She grinned. "But that sound so cool! They gotta let us go!"
"I kind of want to go, but Sweetie is right. Any of our parent's wont just let us leave for something like that," Shyfrost exclaimed while sighing to himself. All three of them came to the same conclusion and did the same.
Miss Cheerliee wished them all good night and made them promise to return to their homes. They all agreed that they had at least found something about his amulet and they would continue to do more research on it based on their vague findings. They all left for their respective homes but Shyfrost decided to walk slower, he was lost in thought. He had read about the Dragon Migration before and he could of sworn he heard Spike mention it once. Going off to find the other dragons seemed inciting, sure, and in truth both Spike and Shyfrost wanted nothing more than to find their own kind. Even if the amulet hadn't been involved.
"There you are! I was getting worried when you didin't come home, where have you been?" The cream colored pegasus asked in a stern tone.
"Sorry, me and my new friends were out doing some research on my amulet. Oh, I'm also now a Cutie Mark Crusader, apparently."
She relaxed and sighed in relief on his declaration. "That was nice of them to let you join, I told you that in time you would make friends. But what is this about research?"
Shyfrost told her all about the amulet and what they found. It wasn't a long story but she listened all the same.
"Do you know anything about the Dragon Migration, Fluttershy?"
"I know a little, I believe we are all supposed to watch them fly over us soon. I know it only happens once in a blue moon. You are curious about your own kind, right?" A simple nod was all she got.
"I think Spike is too, but Shyfrost it's not like we can just let you both run off to meet some dragons."
"Why not? It's not like we wont come back or anything. We want to see dragons like us, it's not fair..."
Fluttershy knew the answer, of course: because it was extremely dangerous. She did not want to lose her dragon after everything had just been settled, but he did have a point. If Fluttershy was raised by dragons her whole life and had a chance to meet her own kind, she would probably want to go also. But saying yes just sounded too insane.
"I understand you and Spike want to see dragons and meet them, and find out about your amulet," she said and paused while he nodded with a smile," but it is just far too dangerous, I don't want to lose you, Shyfrost."
His smile faded, but he never expected her to say yes. Even though his amulet was driving him crazy, it was not enough to risk his life. Dragons were not at all that friendly, even to their own kind. But he wasn't about to give up on the idea, he had time.
The following weeks were spent going to school, studying with Twilight and getting into plenty of trouble with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He had to give them credit for never giving up and they never needed an amulet to feel motivated. He tried his best to bond with Spike and, for a while, it was working, but soon it was clear that the purple dragon was starting to get lost in thought far more than he should be. He tried to confront him but Shyfrost already had a good idea on what was bothering him, the same thing that was bugging himself. One wanted to see dragons badly while the other one wanted to find out more about the amulet, both were similar goals.
After a couple of days of avoiding Spike he had finally had it. He already had a good idea on what to say to him and he knew that the Great Dragon Migration was coming up. He hated the thought of leaving Fluttershy but he wasn't going to be gone forever. Spike would come along even if Twilight said no, he figures. The only thing that had stopped him from asking recently was risking her rage. Twilight's rage was simply scary, if she did not want you to do something then the threat of her anger was enough to listen; except for mayte Rainbow Dash. And now he was about to take away her baby dragon on some wild adventure. I'm probably doomed... he thought with a gulp.
Feeling brave he decided to simply enter the library and ask Spike to talk in secret. Twilight was easy enough to foo, for a while, but if Spike was gone for too long and had no reason to, then she would suspect something was the matter. Fortunately he did not plan to keep his purple dragon friend that long, just enough to explain. He spotted him busy reading along with Twilight, but he knew that look. If one were to leave the other would not even notice, so without warning he grabbed Spike while placing his right claw over his mouth to stifle any noise and dragged him outside.
"Did you eat another bunny?" Spike asked in a sarcastic manner.
"That not funny, and no I wanted to have a quick chat with you, if that's okay?" Spike simple nodded.
"Look, don't think I haven't noticed how you keep spacing out. You keep thinking about the dragon migration, am I right?"
Spike looked at him dumbfounded but then let out a long sigh. "Yes, I know Twi would never let either of us go, but I wan't to see some dragons and I know that you do too!" Spike exclaimed in frustration.
"I do, but it's because of this," Shyfrost said while showing off his amulet," I know that Twilight thinks it is nothing important but me and the crusaders did some research a while back and found out something."
"What?"
And so Shyfrost exclaimed everything about the amulet, including the possible link to the migration.
"Well, so what, Fluttershy would never let you go and Twilight won't either."
"I never said anything about asking them," he paused to gauge his reaction which was strangely not as shocked as he would have originally guessed," after dark when we all finish watching the dragons fly over we can leave together."
"Shyforst, I dunno... Twilight would be so mad... and what about Fluttershy?!"
"Let them be mad and it's not like we will be gone forever. We can be gone long enough to meet some dragons and find out about my amulet. I'm sure, at the most it will take, two weeks. Hasn't this idea crossed your mind before?"
"Sure it has! But what if we get hurt? Or die! We may be dragons but were not full grown, we can't even fly!" Spike was clearly trying to talk his friend out of it, but Shyfrost was prepared for this.
"Fine! But next week I'm leaving, up to you if you want to come or not. If you do, meet me in the back of the cottage at midnight." He did not give him a chance to reply and simply stormed off back to Fluttershy's.
Spike sighed and was about to get lost in more thoughts to make his choice, but he knew that he made it the day that little dragon showed up. He would go with him to the ends of the planet and back.
One Week Later
"So are you ready to watch the dragon migration, Shyfrost?" The cream colored pegasus asked while packing up some supplies for a picnic.
"Yep! We're just going to the field so not much to pack."
"It's funny, if it wasn't for you, little one, and Rainbow Dash bugging me enough, I probably would not bother with watching them."
"Why?" Shyfrost was doing his best to remain calm and act natural. This was the last day he would have with her for a while after all. If all went as planned.
"To be honest, I have a fear of adult dragons, but I think after spending so much time with you that has changed. You may still be a little dragon but some day you will be huge and I will need to see through that," she said while smiling down at him.
The smile only succeeded in filling him with guilt. Still , it would pass in time, especially when he came back. Sighing to himself they set off for the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight had set up a hidden trench for them to hide in, to watch the dragons over head. Everyone was there when they arrived including a half nervous looking and half annoyed baby purple dragon. They all waited for the dragons to fly over, but Shyfrost could tell that Spike was glaring daggers at him and only him.
Slowly hundreds upon hundreds of dragons of various sizes, colors and designs showed up all hovering above them. Everyone let out 'gasps' and 'awws' while they simply watched them overhead. The dragons tended to fight with one another but Shyfrost and Spike were not paying attention to that. Both the tiny dragons were mentally tracing their paths based on where the dragons were flying to. The path was both away from the Everfree Forest and away from Canterlot in an entirely different direction.
That's out path.
They waited there a whole couple of hours until the last of the dragons had vanished. With nothing else planned they all finished off their picnic and left for the town. Both dragons remained behind.
"Well?" Shyfrost asked in an almost menacing tone.
"Yes," was all Spike said while he stormed off. Shyfrost wanted to follow him but there was not much to say. They knew that packing light was necessary for their tiny forms and they already knew where to travel. So with that Shyfrost shrugged and decided to spend the rest of the evening with Fluttershy as he assumed that Spike was doing the same with his caretaker.
The remaining evening was spent helping Fluttershy with everything imaginable. She took note of his eager attitude and assumed something was up but she did not bother to ask. She did however notice that his amulet was still draped around his neck, lately he had been not 'using' it but now all of a sudden he was. Too many suspicions but she did not want to think ill of her little dragon. Night soon approached and they had decided to stay up until near midnight.
"Well, goodnight Shyfrost."
"Um, goodnight. Fluttershy?"
"Yes?" She asked giving him a warm smile.
Those eyes.
In those eyes he saw innocence but most important he noticed that it was love. It tripled his guilt on the spot and it hurt even more knowing that he couldn't say anything. Even the slightest hint and she would figure it out, with heavy mental sigh he choose to keep quiet on his plans.
"Um, never mind, good night Fluttershy!" His sincere smile and warm hug was enough to make her drop the subject. He waited to hear the sound of her quite snoring before he went to pack up his things.
Emptying his school saddlebag of any schooling supplies he began to fill it with some things he anticipated that they might need. A bag of any remaining pearls and some regular pony food. He borrowed some medical supplies from Fluttershy in case of an emergency. He shoved in his amulet and filled the rest of the bag with some sleeping supplies. He left a single note to Fluttershy, he felt that it was enough to comfort her but not enough to give it away.
Dear, Fluttershy
I'm sorry for leaving, but I swear i will be back soon.
Love, Shyfrost.
He draped the bag over his body and left the cottage as quietly as possible. To his surprise he sound Spike already waiting, he looked extremely nervous.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, but first I want you to promise me something," Spike replied giving him a very serious glare.
"Um, okay what?"
"I'm doing this mostly because I don't want to lose you, Shyfrost. Yes, I'm curious and that is the only reason why I haven't told on you, but I need you to promise me that we will be coming back."
"Yes, I proi-"
"Look into my eyes and promise me," Spike grabbed his body and stared into his eyes.
"I-" he paused to gauge his emotions, Spike seemed very distraught. "I promise you Spike, we will be back."
Spike finally gave him a smile and released his death grip on him. Slowly they set off for the trench they all used before, it was from there that they would start their journey. They walked for a while in silence, Luna's moon shined the way.
"So did you leave a note for Twilight?"
"Of course I did! I just didn't say much...."
"Me either, just enough...."
Both dragons were now walking at a steady pace with their claws placed gently behind their heads. They turned to each other and smiled but then turned back to the unfamiliar road in front of them and frowned. The unnerving silence was not helping things, to Spike the creepy looking road was only slightly better than taking a stroll through the Everfree Forest. To Shyfrost it just felt weird, he had never been to this part of Equestria there were very little settlements.
"So, what do you expect to find with your amulet?"
"Honestly, I have no clue. The book mentioned that there were other artifacts too. Mine's still pretty warm..."
"I'm just in this to see dragons so, okay. Ohh and to make sure you don't get hurt," Spike replied nervously.
Shyfrost suddenly stopped walking. "Did I....Did I make you feel guilty for leaving?"
"Um, a bit yes. But mostly it's because I don't want to lose the only other dragon in Ponyville, you're a good friend. Even if the dragons we find turn out to be nothing like you, at least I'd still have, well .... you. If that makes any sense?"
"Yes, I didn't know I meant that much to you?"
"Ahh c'mon, of course you do! You are awesome, but you really need to loosen up around Ponyville," Spike said while giggling.
"I thought I had?"
"Getting into trouble with the crusaders doesn't count! I guess I just mean make more friends aside from those three, I mean you did listen to my advice about them and that's good. But now it's time to make the next step, well when we get back."
"Yeah, about that. How mad is Twilight and Fluttershy gonna be?" Shyfrost was surprised to find he sounded nervous.
"Fluttershy wont be mad, she will be frantic! Twilight on the other claw will be... pissed as Tartarus. In fact I'm sort of glad I'm not gonna be there to see her lose it... it won't be pretty, trust me!"
"Um, Spike, maybe it's a good idea to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible," Shyfrost replied while nervously looking back at the town that seemed to get much smaller.
"That is a really, really good idea," he replied and, to his surprise, he let out a laugh which he shared in. And with that they increased their pace. They both agreed they would travel for several hours and find a random clearing to camp at.
"Oh, crud! I forgot that Princess Celestia has a magical link with me, she can send me letters!"
"So? Can she use that to track us or something?"
Spike paused, stopped walking and then let out a nervous sigh. "Actually, no she can't. But I'm sure we will get a letter soon enough."
"That's not too bad, you can at least keep in contact with them. As long as you don't give away our position."
"Nah I won't, Twi is smart, but we can just reply with vague messages."
They traveled for several more hours until the path lead into a winding forest. They decided it was best to find a spot to camp for the rest of the night and travel as early as possible. Spike lit a fire for them after Shyfrost gathered up some sticks and rocks to make a fire pit. They both sat down to gather around the warmth to one realization, they were not the least bit tired.
"There's no way I'm gonna get any sleep tonight," Spike said while trying to massage his skull with his claws.
"I know what you mean, but it feels good to be outside again," Shyfrost exclaimed while looking up at the stars, he let out a long smile, Spike noticed this and grunted a bit.
"You okay?"
"Fine," he said while grunting but then his orange counterpart gave him a curious look so he continued, "I have never even been camping before Shyfrost. How am I supposed to survive out here? It might take us like two weeks to reach the migration spot!"
"I could teach you how to survive, it really isn't that bad or difficult." Spike looked at him and noticed the excited smile so he returned it and simply nodded.
"Sooo.... What was it like growing up with ponies?"
"Well I guess it was like any other foal pony growing up, well at first it was. Then I started to notice no other dragon's around and it became unnerving. I remember that day pretty good, one day I'm happy as can be and the next I'm questioning Twilight why I'm even...you know, living among ponies. It wasn't a fun week, but eventually she calmed me down. Still, it made me feel, for the first time in my life, lonely. But I act way more like a pony than a dragon, and even on your first day you mostly seemed to, if not a bit freaked out," he added while chuckling.
"I got attacked by Dash, and Rarity, and thrown onto AJ's back without warning on my first day, off course I was freaked out!"
"You should of seen the look on your face when I told you I lived with ponies," Spike said while he continued to giggle.
"You should of seen yours when I told you I lived in the forest!" he countered.
Spike huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I never heard of such a thing before, what was it like anyway?"
"Definitively not as nice as Ponyville." He looked over at Spike and noticed he was giving him that 'go on' look so he gathered his thoughts to continue.
"Most of the time you need to be on the move, you can't stay in one place for too long. The Everfree likes to switch things around, almost like it's alive. Some days everything is fine and other's I would get a pack of timber wolves chasing after me," he paused to gauge his reaction which was shocked but he continued anyway," timber wolves are easy to lose, they can't climb trees." They both let out a tiny giggle.
"Some days I would find paths that I used to take had simply vanished, and I would be trapped outside of it, near other pony towns. Those were.... weird times to remember. With the exception of your town and I guess Canterlot, none of them treated me with respect and would often run me out, but I found ways to hide," he added in a menacing tone.
"Hide, how? It does suck that most towns don't treat us with respect, I love Ponyville but I just don't get why ponies fear dragon's so much!"
"Whoa calm down, but yes it's annoying. Anyway, I would often sneak into city buildings when they were closed. You know, public libraries, kind of where I learned to read and all. And I may have stolen a few things, like food," he said while smiling sheepishly.
"Fine by me! Well, if you need food then you need it!"
"Um, yeah, you sound kind of... bitter?"
Spike looked down at his claws and noticed he had them clenched in anger, he was also releasing fumes through his nose. So he took in few deep breathes to relax. "Sorry, it just reminds me of what Twilight warned me about back at the castle..."
"Warned you?"
"She said that even though ponykind are mostly trusting and tolerant, that doesn't mean that most won't be... well, stupid. Especially in crowds. Ponies have it good, they are peaceful and don't know war. That also means that they don't know strangers, sure, every once in a while a griffon or a minotaur shows up in towns, but that doesn't mean they are automatically treated like any other pony. So, Twilight warned me that trust must be earned and not .... well assumed. Sorry if that sounds rehearsed, but Twilight made me remember it like a million times, it did help in the end."
"But why does it have to be that way? Why do most pones have to be so... stupid?" Shyfrost had gathered up a few sticks and placed them back into the fire, it was starting to dim.
"I dunno, Princess Celestia has tried to make her subjects understand. But judging a book by its cover is a lot faster than striking up a conversation."
"Ponies are weird."
"Yes, but Ponyville is our home and at least they mostly understand."
"Fluttershy sure did," he replied while smiling warmly.
"Yeah she kind of surprised everyone by taking you in, I mean she is-"
"I know, afraid of dragons? She told me later but I wonder why?"
"Maybe she met a dragon before me and you? If so then he must of been mean or worse..."
"Well, I just hope the dragons we meet are a lot nicer than the one that tried to kill you," he chuckled to himself and then realized that Spike was giving him a serious glare.
"I'm not expecting them to be nice, Shyfrost."
"Then why even go? I want to find out about this amulet but you said you wanted to meet dragon's. Why go if you know they will just be... well mean?"
Spike paused and was searching for the right words, he couldn't think of any so he decided to be blunt. "Well I already told you, because of you. But it's also something I have been meaning to do for a while, but I knew that Twi would never and I mean ever let me go in a million years. I always wanted to go out there and find my parents, clearly some dragon laid my egg and your egg... but you leaving gave me an excuse to just go for it."
"I guess finding either of our parents would be nice..." he trailed off not wanting to admit to certain feelings that he knew Spike was feeling as well.
"Yes, it would be nice. Do you ever think about that kind of stuff?"
"I used to, but I mostly just shrug it off. Plus Fluttershy is a good, um, mother."
"You don't need to be embarrassed, although I stopped calling Twilight my mom months ago, I think it bugged her when I stopped."
"Then, keep doing it?"
"When I see her again...I'll think about it. But we should at least try and get some sleep." Spike gathered up his sleeping bag and Shyfrost did the same. They both climbed in and stared up at the stars while listening to the crackling fire die down.
"Goodnight Shyfrost."
"Goodnight Spike."
Goodnight Twi