//------------------------------// // The quest begins // Story: I don't belong here // by Clawder //------------------------------// Twilight had returned to the palace about midnight, and right now she was too exhausted to wake up unexpectedly. Spike got back to his room and picked a few blankets; then got to the kitchen and wrapped some provisions on them. He knew Princess Celestia could help him understand everything he needed. After packing the necessary, he left the palace without saying good bye in a note or anything alike. He saw the moon at zenith, instantly feeling annoyed by the idea of Princess Luna watching over him. Now… Spike paused at the palace’s gates How will I get to Canterlot without being seen? he thought several minutes and finally an idea came to his mind. Stealthy and quick, the dragon got to Ponyville’s train station and hid under its platform. Even though it was pretty dirty and narrow down there, Spike could fall asleep encouraged by his new quest for discovery. He was awakened by a lot of hoofsteps from above the wood. When he got up, a train had just arrived to the station, and hopefully it came from Canterlot. Spike could hear a pony announce the train was heading, indeed, to his destination. Twilight might be looking for me right now, I have to be careful he hated the idea of his best friend getting worried, but it was necessary, otherwise she would follow him like the other time at the dragon migration. He got up and walked towards the train, still unobserved by the ponies above. At the edge of the platform he noticed a problem: A big stallion was guarding the train’s entrance and if Spike wanted to get in, that guy would sure escort him back to the palace or tell Twilight. Making sure his provisions wouldn’t fall off , Spike got out of his hideout and sprinted to the back of the train to try to climb it as fast as possible. Some ponies saw him, but they didn’t pay much attention to him and boarded the train normally. When Spike got to the final wagon he was breathing heavily. What he saw didn’t help much to the plan: Standing in the wagon’s balcony, right in front of the door, two ponies were kissing and hugging. And to make matters worse, the train began to move. Spike didn’t know what to do. If he climbed up and asked them to move, the ponies would at least ask how he got there or why was he spying. Not good. But he couldn’t lose the trip either, so he clung to the wagon’s bars and waited for the couple to leave. Ten minutes passed and the lovebirds were still there. Spike’s arms were tired and he wouldn’t be able to keep himself hanging for too long Ok, this was a very bad idea he sighed Everything would be easier if I had wings… why is it that I have no wings? His frustration was increasing as more questions invaded his mind What kind of dragon am I? Or is it that I’m not a dragon completely? “Well, let’s get back, it’s getting frosty out here” said the mare of the pair. “All right, I guess I could use some rest after all” replied the colt. Those words were music in Spike’s ears. Right after the couple got into the train; Spike climbed the bars with exertion and collapsed in the sweet floor of the balcony. He didn’t move for about an hour, still, it wasn’t enough to fully recover from the previous effort. After rising and stretching, Spike opened the wagon’s door slowly and saw six bunk beds; three of them occupied by ponies. He really wanted to rest in one of those but then again, somepony would see him. He closed the door behind him carefully and crawled under one of the beds ready to sleep again even though the day had just started. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in Ponyville, Twilight was worried sick just as Spike predicted. She had called her friends, who didn’t hesitate and gathered at the palace. In the throne room, after they were all there, Twilight began: “Thank you so much for coming girls, as you may notice, the little throne beside me is empty; Spike is gone and I don’t know where he is,” she sighed and looked down to the floor. “But, but didn’t he say he was going to bed?” Fluttershy got worried too. “He did and to be honest I didn’t check on him last night… I just wanted to sleep and I thought Spike was in bed already,” Twilight’s voice began to lower “Maybe something happened to him on his way here…” “Now, don’t think like that Twilight,” Rarity tried to calm her down “Maybe our Spikey wikey has just decided to walk around Ponyville or fell asleep in the orchard.” “Yeah, he might be there,” Rainbow Dash didn’t stay for too long in her throne and flew around the room. She could never stay still for too long “I will go out and see if he’s around.” “RD may need help, I know the orchard better, we’ll begin the search there Twi’.” “Thank you. Pinkie, Fluttershy, I need you to ask everypony if they have seen Spike.” “Yay! we get to talk to all of our friends in Ponyville!” Pinkie beamed and jumped over her throne. “Oh well… I guess if I stay with Pinkie everything will be fine,” Fluttershy smiled. “What about me Twilight?” Rarity was almost convinced that Spike was near Ponyville, exploring or preparing something secretly, nothing dangerous. “You and I will go to the mines, maybe Spike is eating gems there, it’s the only other place I can think of,” Twilight finished. The six ponies left the palace and began the search on their respective areas. Of course none of them had luck. The only ponies that had seen Spike were in the train heading to Canterlot and the other ponies didn’t even know the small dragon was gone. Desperate and hurried to find him, Twilight returned to the palace with Rarity at evening. Their friends had already returned and the expressions on their faces indicated failure; it was getting dark. Where are you Spike… she and Rarity approached the other mares in front of the palace. “Sorry Twi’… he wasn’t there,” Applejack lowered her head as she reported. “Nopony has seen him since yesterday,” Pinkie said, she was serious this time. “Don’t worry Darling, I bet he will show up soon,” Rarity leaned a hoof over Twilight, beginning to doubt her statement “And-and if he doesn’t, we can continue tomorrow morning,” she couldn’t speak for her friends but at least she could try. “No,” Twilight sounded cold, making her friends look at her confused “I’m pretty certain Spike wasn’t kidnapped. He left for a reason and it’s up to me to find out why and where he is. Besides, you all have to do important things of your own,” she gazed at Rainbow Dash “You need to go with the wonderbolts, what would they think of a new member who’s not responsible?” then she stared at Pinkie; before she could keep going, Rarity spoke. “We all have things to do, but finding Spike is way more important. It is true Rainbow Dash has to leave but at least in my case, Fancy Pants can wait.” “The Everfree Forest can wait too,” Fluttershy said with determination. “I appreciate your help, with you two should be enough,” Twilight said before the others could cancel their commitments as well. She didn’t want them to make an unnecessary sacrifice. “If you need anything just let us know, we’ll be here before you know it,” Rainbow Dash winked and flew away. She hadn’t told her teammates where she was, hopefully there wouldn’t be consequences. Then it was Pinkie’s turn “Same here! Cheese and I could postpone a silly party if it’s about Spike,” she hugged Twilight before leaving. “Sweet Apple Acres isn’t movin’ sugarcube, ya’ know where to find me,” Applejack outlined a warm smile, letting her friend know she would be there for her too. “All right then, this is it for today, let’s get some sleep and try to calm down. We continue tomorrow morning; and again, thank you girls.” Fluttershy and Rarity nodded. Then they left. None of the six could sleep well that night, especially Twilight who was the closest to the dragon she considered fragile. While Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy were concerned and thinking why would Spike run away, Rarity felt guilty for never telling Spike how she thought about him. For Rarity, he looked just like a kid. Even though their age difference wasn’t big, Spike was still a baby physically. That’s why she had never given the dragon a chance. After wandering in her thoughts for a while, Rarity realized that Spike was not as immature as he was before despite what his body was saying, and that maybe she shouldn’t have treated him like a child just because of his appearance. But mostly, she felt guilty because all along she knew Spike liked her… It was like if she had played with his feelings. What if this is my fault? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- During the way, another thought came to Spike’s mind Why didn’t I tell Twilight? Why didn’t I just asked her to take me here in the first place? he didn’t even know why he hadn’t requested her help instead of going on his own. By the time the train arrived to Canterlot it was very late and the city was only brightened by lamps on the streets and the moon. As Spike got off the train through the wagon’s back door, the answer to his previous question emerged: he looked up to Twilight as a motherly figure just as she was a friend, and as such, she would try to hide any painful truth from him. Spike didn’t know if the truth would be painful but he could tell it wasn’t going to be what he expected. Deep in his heart, Spike wanted to hear Celestia say something like: Don’t worry, soon enough your wings will appear and you will grow normally, everything’s fine "yeah right… stupid reality…" He didn’t waste a second and ran to the Princess’ castle. At the gates, two guards saw the dragon coming and opened the doors. No one was more surprised than Spike when that happened, but then he knew why You don’t even try to hide it right, Luna? he frowned and walked into the castle greeted by Celestia herself. “Welcome Spike,” she said with a smile on her face “My sister told me you were coming.” “I kind of figured it out,” Spike was still frowning and said the previous with noticeable discomfort. “My apologies, I will tell her to be more discreet with her watch,” she turned around and gave a sign to the guards, who closed the castles’ doors “Now, come with me, I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Spike got nervous; part of him still wanted all of this to stay a secret. The alicorn guided him through the large and seemingly endless corridors until they got to a small room which had nothing but a table and two mattresses to sit. Both the guest and the host sat in front of the other. “I’m sorry for this princess, I shouldn’t have come like this,” Spike apologized. “Don’t worry, I can always hold over some royal duties to help my dearest subjects. Now tell me, what is exactly what you need? I thought you cleared your doubts back at the dragon migration.” “No. That week I learned how I should behave regardless of my origin or race. But this is different, it’s about where I should go now or what my future as the only dragon between ponies is,” he doubted about his next sentence “P-princess…?” “Yes?” Celestia was still smiling lightly at Spike, she wanted him to know she would listen and take it seriously. “Can I ask you something personal? about your life?” “Of course, ask.” “How do you put up with immortality?” he paused and imagined Celestia would feel uncomfortable with the question, but she was calm yet. “It has been difficult, I won’t deny it… seeing generations come and go is hard,” she stopped and erased her smile as she remembered many of her beloved subjects who were now gone “My sister and I have a very important duty and we cannot afford to be selfish and give up on it, not until somepony replaces us. Throughout the years, many alicorns have passed away because they didn’t want to carry such a burden.” “So, not all alicorns are immortal?” “Yes, we all are, even Twilight now; but just like our magic, we can give up immortality in order to have a normal life.” “Why haven’t you given away yours?” Celestia recovered her smile “I already told you, there has been no other alicorn willing to take our place and we can’t just give up on our duty. Luna and I have each other and that helps us a lot to overcome any problem. Even those thousand years while my sister was absent, I knew she was there and that she’d come back.” “So it would take two alicorns to replace you right? so they are not on their own.” Celestia nodded “There were periods of time in which Luna and I were the only alicorns for nearly a hundred years. Only a few are worthy of being an alicorn, so we could never find two at the same time… until now.” Spike knew what that meant “But what if Cadence or Twilight don’t want to be the next rulers?” “To be honest Spike, we no longer want someone to replace us.” “What? Why wouldn’t you?” “Because we know that it implies suffering, and together, Luna and I have learned to remember the good days and nights as well as forgetting the bad ones,” Celestia leaned a hoof on Spike’s shoulder “If Twilight and Cadence want to stop or keep being immortal we won’t complain, even now we don’t plan on suggesting them to replace us. Twilight has her friends and Cadence has Shining Armor. We don’t want them to suffer the loss of their beloved ones if they don’t want to.” “Wow…” Spike began to cry “You are pretty strong, Princess…” Celestia got near the baby dragon and hugged him “Don’t be sorry, because of friends like you, we are never alone.” A few moments passed before they broke the hug and the princess spoke again: “By the way, why did you want to ask that?” “Because I’m a dragon… and one day Ponyville was covered with black smoke; a smoke that came from a dragon’s snores; and according to Twilight, that dragon was just taking a nap… But it would last a hundred years! Can you imagine it?! A hundred years asleep! I don’t know how many centuries or millenniums we live but it scares me… I don’t want to be a dragon that takes generation-length naps and see my friends are no longer here with me,” Spike cried again, picturing the sad environment. Before Celestia could say something Spike kept going “I need you to tell me where I came from, why I have no wings and If I’m a real dragon or not,” he finished cleaning his tears with his arms. “Do you remember that phoenix egg you saved?” “Yes… I do.” “Well,” Celestia sighed “That is the same way I saved you.” Spike gazed at the princess with his eyes wide opened. Surprised and shocked. “When I found the nest you were in, the other eggs were being eaten by changelings. I could repel them and rescue you but none other survived,” she knew it sounded crude but he needed to know it. “Wha-what about my parents?” Spike said still astonished. “I didn’t see them, but by the looks of it, the cave had been abandoned years ago. I had to cast a spell on you so you wouldn’t die,” Celestia shared a tear with Spike “I’m sorry, but I have to confess something,” she hugged Spike once again “I linked you with my magic as part of an experiment. Your body was modified in a unique way not even I understand; that’s why you can send and receive my letters and that’s why you don’t have wings. I’m really sorry.” They shared a moment crying together, Spike embracing Celestia's front hoof as a sign of forgiveness. “It’s-It’s all right princess, thanks for telling me this. I know what to do now.” Celestia smiled again and cleaned her tears with a wing “Good, you may return with your kind.” “No, I didn’t mean that.” Celestia backed a little “What? Spike, to save you from suffering you must leave and stay with the ones like you. Those that live as long as you. You said you didn’t want to see generations pass while you’re still alive, didn't you?” “I don’t care anymore; I want to live in Ponyville where my true friends are. Dragons are not my kind!” “That is not something you get to decide-!” She couldn’t finish, Spike ran out of the room and got out of the castle before she could. He knew a way he could control his body to be pony-size: with greed. He would learn how to keep his body at the perfect state and then he would return to Ponyville to explain everything, or to be rejected. Either way, he knew he wanted to be with his friends for the rest of their lives. Only then, he would decide what to do next. The problem is, How do I keep greed in the perfect balance?