//------------------------------// // A Dragon's memories // Story: The Ice Pony and the Dragon // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// When morning came, Twilight and the girls after taking shelter in a nearby stable outside the Crystal Empire for the night, were on the move again, "Come on girls, we got not time to waste." Rainbow said as they got their winter wear back on. "Right. Spike needs us and we're gonna get him back." Twilight assured them. "How much further is the place we're looking for?" Fluttershy asked in concern. Twilight levitated the map up to check, "Once we pass through the snowy forest we should be half way there." she explained. "Well let's get a move on everypony!" Applejack ordered. "Just a moment," Rarity said as she finished putting on her last scarf, "All ready." Twilight smiled and thought, 'Don't worry, Spike. We'll be there soon.' Meanwhile at Gwyneira's palace, Spike was sleeping peacefully in his bed until he woke up with a yawn, "Morning," he said to himself, and looked around and remembered where he was, "Oh right. I'm not at the library," suddenly there was a knock at the door, "Yes?" "Mr. Spike, her highness requests your presence in the dining hall." the guard outside isntructed. Spike answered while making his bed, "I'm coming," after finishing his bed he walked out of the room and was being escorted by one of the unicorn guards. He was taken to a tea room, where Gwyneira was sipping some tea, "Uh good morning." he greeted her. Neira seeing him smiled, "And a good morning to you, Spike. Please come and sit down," she motioned to a spot next to her. So Spike taking her offer popped a seat next to the queen, "Tea?" she offered. "Uh sure," he answered as she used her magic to pour him a cup, which he gracefully accepted. After taking a sip he spoke to her, "I was thinking about last night writing to Twilight to let her know I'm safe. By now she and the girls are probably worried." Neira turned to him and answered, "Not to worry, I'll be sure to have one of my guards send a message." "Really?" he gasped in surprise. "Of course. I wouldn't want others to be worried about you," she thought to herself, 'But soon you won't care if they worry about you,' she spoke up, "But for now, you could use a good meal." she nodded to her servants who places some gems in front of Spike. "Wow." he gasped at the sight of them. "Not eat up." she insisted. "With pleasure." he answered as he started chowing. Neira smiled as she watched him eat, before speaking, "Spike, if I may a request. I would like to see some of your greatest moments in life." "My greatest moments?" Spike asked puzzled. Neira nodded, "Yes, since you saw a moment from my past I'd like to know more about some of yours." "Well I guess I could tell you more about some of the stuff I've been through." Spike admitted since it was fair he should tell her about him. "Wonderful," she smiled, and after Spike finished eating they both went to where the memory chalice was. Spike stood on top the pile of books so he could look into the chalice, "Just hold still while I search for a memory." she instructed. "Will this hurt?" Spike asked cautiously. "Not at all, though you might feel a slight twinge, but nothing serious." she assured him to ease his nervousness. So Spike stood still as Neira lowered her horn as it touched Spike's head. Her horn glowed turquoise as a spiritual thread was pulled out of him and she transferred it into the chalice, "What'd you fish up?" spike asked as they looked into it seeing a flashback occur. "What's this we have here?" Neira asked as they saw a giant purple dragon rampaging around Ponyville. "Oh no, not that one." Spike sighed seeing it was one of his least favorite memories. Neira turned to Spike, "Is that dragon really you?" "Unfortunately." he sighed dismally. "That's some growth spurt." she noticed. "Well that was my birthday about a year ago," he explained, "That was when I first got a taste of dragon greed. I kept craving more and more resulting in me getting bigger until I became that." he motioned to the giant dragon. "How did you shrink back down?" she asked curiously. Spike smiled as he watched the memory, "It was thanks to my act of generosity to the pony I love." they saw Spike with Rarity falling before being caught by Rainbow and Fluttershy. "That unicorn's your special somepony?" she inquired and he nodded. "Oh yeah." he smiled. "Here comes another memory." Neira said as the looked into the chalice. Spike looked seeing it was of him bringing the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence allowing them to destroy King Sombra and save the Crystal Empire, "Now this is a memory," Spike smiled, "Thanks to me the Crystal Empire was saved." "So that makes you a hero?" Neira asked with a smile. "Yeah. I guess I am." Spike smiled proudly as another memory played. They looked into the chalice as Neira spoke, "Now that's happening here?" Spike looked into it and gasped, "This was when I tried to be like other dragons." they watched the memory of Spike during the Great Dragon Migration. Neira watched the memory up until Spike left the three dragons crashing into a tree, "That was very brave standing up to those teenager dragons like that." she said. "Yeah, but still a part of me was left dismal after that. I mean all I hang around are my pony friends, being all girls. When I was with these dragons I felt like one of the guys... to some extent." he said. "I see what you're getting at." she replied. "I admit I have both good and bad memories." Spike admitted. Neira looked as she saw some bad memories surface into the chalice, " Hmm what's this?" Spike looked in and saw it was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. He sighed as he and Neira watched the memory of him being abandoned the moment they entered the castle by his friends who went off to do their own things. They watched as past Spike tried to enjoy himself, but without his pony friends whom he wanted to spend the evening with together he was just dismal. With no reason to stick around he left the Gala for Pony Joe's to drown his sorrows in doughnuts and cocoa. Neira watched as the girls entered the shop looking like they went through a roughhouse, "So they all went off to do their own things instead of listening to you about doing things together?" Neira asked. "Yeah. I wanted it to be the best night ever by spending it together, but they learned the hard way about what happens when you try to do too much alone." Spike admitted. "So sad." Neira laid a wing on his shoulder to comfort him, until they saw another memory. Spike looked in and saw it was when he got jealous of Owlowiscious, "Oh this again." he sighed. "Jealous of being replaced, I see." she noticed. Spike looked down and spoke, "Yeah I thought Twilight was trying to replace me, so i ran away that time. But I learned I could never be replaced." 'This could be useful,' Neira thought, until speaking up, "Maybe not now, but what if you do?" she questioned. "Huh?" Spike looked at her in confusion, "What do you mean by that?" "Eventually you will grow big and old, and how will you be able to continue being an assistant when you'll be taller than most other creatures?" she asked. "Well I probably won't be able to fit in most places." he answered feeling afraid to admit it. "Yes, eventually every dragon will reach their full size. Even you," Neira stated, "How much use could you be to your friend as an assistant when you have to fear your every step and hope you don't squash anypony?" "I never thought about that." he answered. "But I can always remake the size of my palace to house you no matter what size you grow." she explained. Spike looked to her, "You can do that?" Neira smiled and nuzzled the dragon's face as he laughed, "I would do anything for you, Spike." Spike finally realizing what she was doing backed away from the nuzzling, "Whoa! That's uh, a very nice gesture." "Just doing what I can to make you happy." she answered. Spike looked at her and spoke, "Is my happiness that important to you?" "It is." she smiled. "But we hardly know each other." Spike noted. Neira thought, 'I got him on the ropes now,' she spoke up, "Agreed, so why don't you and I get to know each other a little more?" she suggested. Spike looked skeptical before answering, "Well ok." he said still wondering if Twilight and the others will find him. Neira thought, 'Just a bit more and he'll be mine,' So the two walked off while passing a mirror. Spike did a double take at the mirror as he passed it in confusion, "Something wrong, Spike?" "Nothing, it's just that mirror took me by surprise." he motioned to the mirror. "Any reasons?" she asked. "Well I thought I saw something else in it." he explained. She thought, 'I probably shouldn't have passed the Looking Glass of Desire,' she spoke up to him, "Well mirrors tend to fool you." she said as she still led him off not wanting him to get distracted any further. Meanwhile, Twilight and the others had reached the snowy forest, and were walking through the snow covered ground past the trees, "Nice to see the weather around here is stable. Otherwise we'd be lost." Applejack said noticing the weather wasn't a blizzard. "Once we pass through here we should be closer to the palace." Rainbow said as they pressed on. Twilight nodded until she looked ahead and gasped, "Hide!" she dragged them all behind a tree. "Twilight, what's wrong?" Rarity asked, until she was shushed by the alicorn who motioned up ahead. They saw a bulky creature made from snow and ice patrolling the area, "That's one big looking snow pony." Pinkie said. "That ain't no snow pony, Pinkie." A.J replied. "That thing's seriously ugly." Rainbow said. "How in Equestria will get past it?" Rarity asked in concern. They all suddenly look to Fluttershy, "What?" she asked puzzled. "Well need you to distract it, you know give it a good taste of stare." A.J nudged her. "Well I..." Fluttershy began feeling unsure. "Fluttershy we need you to do this, for Spike." Twilight pleaded her friend. "Ok, for Spike." Fluttershy said in understanding. "Go get him!" Pinkie nudged her to go out. Fluttershy walked out form behind the tree as the giant snow creature had his back turn, "Um excuse me?" she asked as the creature turned around and saw her, "Um hello. Nice day isn't it?" she asked nervously while her friends face hoofed or rolled their eyes. The creature responded with a roar at her. Fluttershy eeped while backing away in fright but remembered this was for Spike. She put on her stare face and continued, "Now listen up, my friend's in trouble and we need to get to the castle," the creature growled in response making her glare get bigger, "Such language and I thought Mister Beaverton McBeaverteeth was bad," she flew into his face surprising the creature, "I may be a patient pony, but I won't stand to be treated with such dis-respect," the girls tiptoed past the creature as Fluttershy continued giving it a lecture, "And if I were you, I would go and sit somewhere and think about how to properly treat others smaller than yourself." The creature looked at her in confusion at the warnings she was giving him, before he started walking up to a tree and sat before it, "That's a good snow monster." Fluttershy smiled and flew off to join her friends as they saw the mountains. "There they are. The Glacier mountains." Twilight stated. "We're that much closer." Rarity gasped. Rainbow suddenly stepped on something, "What the?" she looked down at the snow and picked up a parchment with writing on it in Spike's handwriting, "Hey this is a note from Spike." The girls rushed and gathered around as Twilight snatched it and read it out loud, "Dear Princess Celestia. I am writing to tell you I am perfectly fine. Queen Gywneira is very nice and hospitable. I'm sorry to worry Twilight and the others with my disappearance, but I promise you I am completely unharmed." Pinkie spoke up with a sigh of relief, "How about that? We were all worried over nothing." she smiled. "Don't be fooled, Pinkie." Rainbow said in response to her naivete. "Yeah. Ya heard what the princess said about the Queen." Applejack reminded her. "Obviously she was forcing dear Spike-Wikey to write this to throw us off." Rarity added. Twilight placed the note in her back, "We better keep this just in case." "Well we better hurry." Fluttershy suggested as they continued on heading for the mountains. Twilight thought to herself, 'Hang on, Spike. We're almost there.'