//------------------------------// // Fellowship of Harmony // Story: Where Dragons Soar // by Kavian Shadow //------------------------------// Fellowship of Harmony Translucent, golden rays from the morning sun steadily crept upon the sleeping form of the lavender alicorn princess known only as, Twilight Sparkle. Her former mentor's warming light seemed to elict a small sigh of satisfaction as said alicorn's eyes were already breaching their darkened captor by the time that the tendrils of light cascaded upon her face, welcoming her to the new day. A small smile graced her features as she roused the rest of her body from slumber to begin a new day. Running through her mental checklist, she had to groan when she realized that today was not going to leave her much room to catch up on her studying. She was far too busy, what with having to schedule a meeting with the mayor for some new improvements to the town, giving a foreign dignitary the 'grand tour' of Ponyville, have a lunch date with Fluttershy in place of Rarity, and even having promised to let Rainbow Dash give her some flying lessons. Using her magic, she amplified her voice so that she could shout out to her ever faithful number one assistant and adopted younger brother, “Spike! Time to wake up.” When she didn't smell breakfast cooking upon waking up she assumed that he was still sound asleep in his room. No response came, elicting another groan from the alicorn mare. “Sometimes I wonder why I keep him around.” She joked to herself as she finally forced her body down the stairs from her room. While Twilight was walking up the stairs to the dragon's room high up in the peak, she silently cursed the elements for giving her such a large castle with this many steps. She went even further to curse herself for letting Spike have the room in the first place. When she looked up from the steps however, she had to admit that the crystals that glowed with their own warm magic was not only impressive, but they were very beautiful, as was the rest of her castle. Sometimes it irked the princess to know that not only had her status changed, but also too that she hadn't even been a princess that long when she was given her own castle, and by the Elements of Harmony no less! It was funny when she thought back to when she was younger, she had never expected her life to turn out the way it had. Her one and only dream was to get into Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns, and it was her true passion for magic that drove her to want to get in. Instead of simply getting accepted however, she was personally taken in by Princess Celestia herself! For years she studied under the princess as her own personal protege. When she was older, nearly in the prime of her teenage years, she was whisked away on a mission to Ponyville, where she met her best friends and even became a bearer of an Element of Harmony. It only went on from there to the point that she had been crowned the Princess of Friendship. At times, she felt that she didn't deserve anything that she got, that she was just another unicorn. She couldn't defeat Tirek by herself, let alone Starlight Glimmer, even Discord was stronger than she was. She only even won when her friends stepped in to help. Spike, when he was just a little dragon, helped her during the return of the Crystal Empire. When she had gotten trapped by the crystals and dropped the Crystal Heart, Spike, with a heart of courage, jumped off of the tower where she had been caged and saved the Heart without thinking about what would happen to him if Cadence hadn't been there to catch him. He was a hero to the Crystal Empire, probably the most famous dragon in all of Equestria by the way that the Crystal Ponies all but worshiped him. A sigh escaped her as she finally reached her younger brother's door. “Spike! Wake up!” She yelled as she knocked, or rather banged, on the door with her hoof. “Spike! Do you hear me?!” With a puff of breath, she used her magic to open his door and step inside. Instead of gazing upon the form of a sleeping dragon sprawled out atop a pile of crumpled up sheets, he was nowhere to be seen. Twilight was perplexed to say the least when she saw that his bed was made up perfectly, that his floor seemed to sparkle, and that his pillows were placed neatly upon his headrest. After shaking her head to see if it was a dream, she made her way back down the long staircase thinking about anyplace that he might be or could have gone. Halfway down she realized that he must have been at Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack, seeing as how that would be the only place he would have gone since Rarity's departure yesterday. She laughed quietly to herself while making her way into the kitchen. If only for a moment of pure solitude, she wanted to forget about her days tasks and enjoy a nice relaxing cup of tea. Putting on some water and her choice of leaf brew, she set about tidying up the kitchen while she waited. For all that Spike had done upstairs, he never even glanced in the kitchen to see how dirty it was. Twilight was careful as she used a duster to reach every place that was in sight, until only the table was left. That's when she noticed that there was a rolled up scroll lying in the middle, a green sash tying it together. Carefully, she slid of the sash and unrolled the paper, her curiosity perking up as she assumed it was a letter from Spike explaining his absence. A few minutes passed as Twilight read the parchment in relative silence, save for the steadily rising whistle of her tea pot. It was of no concern however as her eyes darted over the paper a total of seventeen times, her breath getting more ragged with each pass she gave it. A few tears welled up inside of her eyes before she finally bolted out of her kitchen and castle as fast as her legs would carry her. “Spike! Spike!” Twilight called out loudly as she ran through the town, going wherever her hooves were taking her. All she could think about was her assistant, her friend, her brother, and what he had written on the paper. “Rainbow Dash!” Almost as if on cue said pegasus was zipping through the sky at breakneck speed, coming to a sudden halt when the alicorn princess enveloped her in a bright magenta aura and brought her close, eye to eye. “What's up Twi?” Rainbow seemed a bit nervous with the way that the princess was looking at her with her left eye twitching. “Its Spike, get all of the girls to meet at Sweet Apple Acres." Rainbow looked into Twilight's eyes for a moment longer to see the pure fear and terror that she held inside. When the cyan mare was released, she zoomed off towards Fluttershy's cottage, knowing that Twilight was most likely headed towards Sweet Apple Acres to let Applejack know that they were coming. It wasn't long before all five mares were gathered inside of the Apple family homestead, waiting for the reason that they were summoned there. Twilight was pacing nervously before them as they watched her in silence, each one worried about what she had to say since Rainbow had told them that it was something to do with Spike. Applejack herself had her own suspicion as to why Twilight was all worked up, but she didn't want to say anything and risk coming to any conclusions without knowing all of the more 'finer details'. Twilight finally stopped her pacing to look at each of her friends, seeing their worry and concern for her, before she finally found her voice. “This morning, w-when I went to make a cup of tea, I s-saw a letter on my table. It was from Spike.” Applejack was almost sure of where this was going, and glanced out of the corner of her eye to the packed camping saddlebag that was sitting just inside the kitchen doorway. “He's gone after Rarity.” Rainbow Dash felt as though a great weight that had befallen the room was lifted, of only for a moment as the full scope of what Twilight said finally struck her. She herself knew that Spike was a big dragon, and that he was more than capable of handling himself, but she felt that Twilight wasn't just upset about his departure. Talking to Applejack the night before almost made her realize that what she had said was right, they were wrong to let her leave like that. Fluttershy bowed her head. A few tears escaped her eyes as she ran through her talk with Discord the night before, and realized that what he said was right. Even though it was the day after Rarity had left for her journey, it felt as though there was a hole in their group. So, with Discord's help, she had prepared her bags for a journey, letting her critter friends know that Discord was in charge. For once in her life, she had felt the courage to go after her friend. Pinkie Pie's mane deflated some as she looked down at the floor with a frown. All night she had beaten herself up over not saying anything to Rarity, but with the way she had been acting, and the way she had been treating Spike, she only say the unicorn as a big meanie. Now that she was gone, she felt a twinge of guilt, as they all did, for not stopping her. Twilight felt the worst of all, thinking that Rarity had left because of her. She kept thinking that if she hadn't been so blunt in what she said, if she hadn't been so furious with what she did to Spike, that she could have prevented this. Somewhere deep down in her heart, she knew that it had to be said, but in her head, she kept asking herself questions of, What if? It was Applejack who finally broke their silence as she looked around the room and seeing their grim expressions, “Ah kinda expected this.” She was blunt and to the point, which sort of bothered Twilight a bit, and made her scowl at the country mare. “What do you mean by that?” She snapped. “If ya would've seen the shinin' in his eye last night, y'all would've known what it was he was fixin' to do.” Twilight lowered her head in shame as she realized that, though she hated to admit it, Applejack was probably right. She always seemed to see things when the rest of them didn't. She always looked at the finer details that created the big picture. Dash looked between the two mares, seeing a hurt expression on both of their faces. She took to her hooves as she embraced Twilight in a hug, “Let's go.” “Where?” The lavender alicorn barely whispered back. “All of us, let's go with them.” Dash was smiling proudly as the other mares joined in on the hug, growing closer together so that they could all see their friend's warm smile. “Come on Twi, you know that we always go on our most fun adventures when we're together.” Rainbow made a very valid point, and as much pain as it caused her to admit it, she liked the idea. She had wanted to go after Spike initially, but she didn't want to openly say it. Fluttershy seemed to pick up on this, as she spoke up for the first time since her arrival, “We know that you are worried about Spike, but he is almost a fully grown dragon without his greed.” “I know. It's just that, I don't think I'm ready for him to leave. He has always been there for me you know? I'm afraid of losing him.” A few tears rolled down her eyes when she looked away from her friends. Rainbow however didn't seem to want her to turn away, so brought her chin up with a hoof and flashed her a smile. “He may be moving out, but he isn't leaving you. Just like all of us have been there for you, so will he.” Twilight smiled as she nuzzled Rainbow Dash, making both mares glow with bright, radiant blushes as they realized that all of their friends were still in the group hug with them. Both just shied away before looking around to their other friends. Pinkie Pie gasped as she launched herself from the roof and attaching herself to the ceiling, in perfect fashion that would suit the party mare, she shouted out, “FRIENDSHIP ADVENTURE PARTY!!!” Together, the five mares laughed while the pink pony gently drifted back down to the floor. “What do ya say sugercube?” All eyes were upon Twilight as she looked about her friends once more, seeing their determined expressions, and the love that they had for their friend was evident. To her, this was what made their friendship stronger than anything else in Equestria, that in moment of need, where a friend was needing their help, they were always on the call, at the ready as it were, to assist them in the most minimal of tasks. This though, this would be their biggest adventure ever. They all knew it, but didn't say anything. It wasn't just Rarity's life that was going to change forever. They were all going to experience new things, and they would all discover something about themselves that would either excite them, or leave them scared forever with painful memories. She didn't know why, but Rainbow Dash felt that their friendship was going to truly be put to the test. Somewhere deep down in the pit of her stomach, she felt that things were going to change, that they would never see things in the same way. For some strange reason, she felt that one of them wasn't going to be coming back. “Rainbow?” The sky blue pegasus started as she felt a hoof laid out over her shoulder. Upon noticing the lavender color, she relaxed as she realized that all of their friends had already left to go grab their things, giving the two some time alone. Twilight, though still a little uneasy about what had transpired today, managed to at least put on a smile for her. “I'm sorry Twi. I was just lost in thought.” “About Spike?” “Well, yes, and no.” Twilight was bit perplexed, even more so when Rainbow had them both sit down. “I was thinking about this journey, and to be honest, it afraid Twilight.” “Of what?” “Of losing you.” Twilight blushed a little as Rainbow leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “We've been together for two years now, and they have been the best two years of my life.” Twilight looked a little hurt. She was afraid now that Rainbow wanted to end things. “That's why I've come to a decision, something that I have been wanting to do for a couple of weeks now, but never found the courage to.” She reached a hoof back beneath her left wing, pulling out a small velvet box that made Twilight's heart nearly freeze. Gulping, the cyan mare spoke up, “Twilight Sparkle, will you marry me?” It was a long few minutes before Twilight finally managed to brush aside her shock and look forward again to the object of her heart's desire. “Yes!” She shouted as she brought the cyan mare in for a kiss. Never before had they felt so happy as they did right then and there. Twilight, who had paused their kiss just long enough to slip on the hoof band, was more ecstatic than ever to know that she was loved so much, that somepony wanted to marry her. No, not just anypony, Rainbow Dash. When the happy couple broke apart, they both pressed their heads together with drunken grins plastered across their faces. “I love you Twi.” “I love you too Dashie.” Both mare giggled, or in Rainbow's case, chuckled as she liked to say, as they finally rose to their hooves again. Both couldn't be happier, and even though Rainbow still felt a bit uneasy about the trip, she felt that with Twilight by her side, everything was going to turn out alright.