Of Dragons and Ponies

by Mystic_Knightwolf

The Next Step

"Hello again, Ember." Grigori greeted as he landed in the mouth of Torch's volcano with Spike on his back.

Ember, who was busy walking around, kicking stones, looked up to see her old acquaintance and tiny purple dragon that he came with. "You make good time in coming here while my dad is out, you know that?" she queried, looking Spike up and down. Not that up and down was any different...

"I am smart." came the crimson drake's simple reply as he bowed his head for Spike to climb down. Grigori quite towered above Ember, even on all fours.

"I guess..." Ember said, taking a seat on a pile of rocks and moss styled into a comfy seat to lean back on. "So who's the shrimp?" she asked, resting her head in her arms.

Grigori gestured for the little drake to introduce himself. Stepping forward, somewhat nervous, Spike gave Ember a small wave. "Hey uh, Princess Ember. I'm Spike. Uh, Spike the Dragon. But just Spike is fine, I guess."

Ember raised a brow of bemusement. "I... see. Uh... hey, I guess." the moment was already so awkward, she didn't really know what to say. "Just Ember is fine... you can forget about the princess thing." she added as an afterthought.

"Oh uh, alright then."

"Yyyeah."

Grigori quite loudly cleared his throat to get the attention of the other two dragons. "As amusing as it is to watch the awkwardness for the both of you, there is a reason I bought him here." hearing their grateful sighs of him getting to the point, Grigori proceeded. "See, Spike is a dragon raised by ponies," if dragons could go pale, Spike would be undoubtedly so, if his frozen look was anything to go by. "Taught in the lessons of friendship. I myself am somewhat of a student of his work."

"Any of this important?" Ember got impatient fast at the mention of friendship.

"Yes." Grigori stated decisively. "You prefer brain over brawn. What Spike lacks in body, he makes up for in mind. Obvious, being raised by ponyfolk. He'll be a valuable ally to you in the Gauntlet of Fire, as well as make your point that much more meaningful. Together, the both of you can surely outsmart your competition. He already knows."

"You say that like you're not gonna be in it. You probably don't have a choice since you're just about the biggest dragon in Equestria other than my dumb dad." the dragoness pointed out.

Grigori just shook his head. "If you haven't already noticed, many of our fellow dragons have grown considerably, namely Garble and some of those he associates with. He's larger than me now." Spike's apprehensive gulp was so loud, it caught the elder drake off guard. "I'd just be part of the flock."

"So... what's the plan? Me and Spike work together to combat the forces of evil? Sorry, but I don't do friends. I can do this myself."

Spike had already drew a picture of what Grigori was trying to do, but forcing friendship never worked out, that much he knew. But that didn't mean he couldn't help plant the seeds. "Uh, Ember? If you don't want help in the Gauntlet of Fire, you at least wanna hang out till then? I know it's a dragon thing to, you know, keep to themselves, but uh, there's not a great many things to do around here, is there?"

Catching on, Grigori was reminded of what they talked about back in Ponyville. "In fact, Spike and I had already planned on... hanging out this week." not a term Grigori was used to, since he preferred a more refined edge, but it strangely rolled off the tongue better than he thought it would. "We'd appreciate your company."

Ember put some serious consideration in the offer she was just given. Spike did have a point on there not being much of anything to to in this entire region, other than kicking rocks, and a change of scenery from the monotonousness would be nice indeed. And to have someone to enjoy it with would be... Awesome... wait, what? Did I just think that?... Eh, who cares? It's not like life's gonna get any less boring staying in this forsaken wasteland. "Alright, I'm in. A change of scenery would be pretty refreshing. But don't think this makes us friends!"

Spike had to admit he'd have felt like a boss if he got her to do a full one-eighty on the whole 'I don't do friends' thing with just that simple offer. Eh, it's a start. "Alright, cool. I know this spot that has a lot of gems..."

XXXXX

"Alright, what the hay, Silver Spoon?! For the last few weeks, you stop hanging out after school, you stop visiting, you stop talking to me, and you didn't even say anything about it! What the hay is the problem?!" Diamond Tiara didn't spare a second in coming all out with it.

"Look DT, I'm sorry-" Silver tried to reason, but that seemed to just tick off her friend even more.

"Don't DT me, Silver! Okay? Don't DT me! You could've at least said something before you decided to just... just leave like that!" at the peak of her rage, Diamond Tiara's anger slowly began to make way for sadness. However, it was still burning bright, even after she took a deep breath to try to calm herself. "You made me feel like you wanted nothing to do with me, and all you have to say is you're sorry?!"

"It's not like that!" there was an edge of desperation to the grey filly's retort.

"Then why did you just up and stop talking to me? Is it the Blank Flanks?" there wasn't any malice in the nickname when she said it. By now, she just got used to calling the group that while they were together.

Silver Spoon sighed. "Di, this has nothing to do with them."

"Is it my mom coming back to Ponyville?"

"DT, none of this is you or your family's fault!"

That just aggravated Diamond again. "You did a good job of making it feel that way!" she snapped with a hefty stamp of her hoof.

"It's not you, okay? It's me! I've just been busy." before Diamond could get mad again, Silver decided to explain. "Look, it all happened a few weeks ago..." Silver Spoon proceeded to tell her friend about her recent apprenticeship to Grigori as he taught her the ways of the forge. Iron, silver, gold, maybe even gems sometime in the future, hammering, sculpting red-hot metal, the exercise, possible projects, and also how against the idea her mother was.

"So, let me get this straight; since he almost ran your mom out of business, you became the big dragon's blacksmith apprentice for the last three or so weeks so you could learn how to help your mom in her shop?" it was hard to decipher what emotion Diamond's recap portrayed, and that made Silver Spoon nervous.

Silver grew sheepish. "Uhh, I guess?"

DT perked up in an instant. "Well why didn't you say so?!" the pink filly exclaimed, hopping up and down like a ballerina. Spoon stared at her like she grew two heads. "You had me worrying all this time, and you went on to moving up in this town! You know how much more the tiaras I buy from your mom would mean to me knowing my BFF made them?"

Silver was overcome with overpowering relief. "Glad you're not mad. But I'm not quite there yet, DT."

"Hey, don't think you're off the hook!" the pink filly reminded, jabbing her friend in the chest with a hoof for emphasis. "You had me thinking the worst had happened! You're gonna have to make it up to me!" she jabbed her again.

"But I don't know how to make a tiara yet!"

"Not a tiara, silly! What I want now is for us to finally hang out again! Besides, you know how much my grades fell since we stopped having sleepovers? But honestly, are your lessons the only thing you think about?" Silver grew nervous. "Dumb question, don't answer that. Anyway, I'm just glad you're back." she said as she threw her hooves around her friend in an endearing hug.

"Yeah, I love you too, Di." she forgot how good this felt...

Author's Note:

I kinda had this grand idea of exactly how I wanted this story to... I guess feel, but chapter by chapter, it just got harder to maintain that idea in the writing. But as of last chapter, I stopped trying to keep the old scheme and just went with what I thought would be interesting, and after publishing the last chapter, it feels like a breath of fresh air.

I also wanted DT and Silver Spoon's argument to last a bit longer, but stuff that draws strong emotions is still fairly new to me. Forgive me.

Comments

[Grekoy]

Yes! My two favorite dragons will be hanging out. I'm looking forward to their interactions.

[Dragon of Shadows]

NEED MOAR NOW!!!!