The Ice Pony and the Dragon

by Wildcard25

Reunited and Choices

As the ponies were heading for the Glacier Mountains, back at the castle Spike and Neira were in a lounge room of the castle getting to know each other better, "So you really don't have anypony else up here?" Spike asked in concern.

"None, like I said before." she answered truthfully.

"Well that's sad," Spike admitted until an idea popped in, "You know what, how about I be your friend?"

"You'd be my friend?" she gasped.

"Of course. I love making friends." Spike answered with a smile.

Neira smiled happily and spoke, "I-I haven't had a friend in so many years."

"Well you do now." Spike smiled back at her.

Neira thought while looking at the dragon, 'This simple child of a drake has chosen to befriend me even after hearing all I did.'

Suddenly a snow pegasus flew to the two and spoke, "Your highness, forgive the intrusion, but I bring news."

"What is it?" the queen asked.

"We've just spotted a group of ponies coming up the mountain." the guard explained.

"What?" Spiek gasped, "It must be Twilight and the girls. This is great! Now I can tell them about how you and I are friends now."

Neira thought, 'Perfect, them coming here will be the finishing touches.'

"Oh I know you're just going to love them Neira, and I promise they'll love you too." Spike promised her.

"I can hardly wait," she replied in joy and thought while looking at Spike at her side, 'Because you yourself will tell them where you really want to be.'

Meanwhile, the girls were trekking up the Glacier Mountains, "How high is this mountain?" Rarity asked as they continued upward.

Applejack looked up, "Awfully high." she answered.

"This isn't so bad." Rainbow admitted having not run into any complications so far.

"No and let's hope it stays that way until we get to the top." Twilight put in.

Suddenly the snow Pegasus flew down blocking their path, "Hey!' Applejack called t the guard.

"Bad move getting in our way, pal." Rainbow warned him.

The snow pegasus motioned up ahead, "This way."

Pinkie's shocked look turned into a smile, "Look at that a tour guide."

"A tour guide?" Fluttershy asked in confusion.

"Wait a minute, what's this all about?" Applejack asked skeptically.

"Her majesty wishes your presence in her palace, and sent me to fetch you." the guard explained.

"Where's Spike? If you or your queen have hurt him!" Twilight warned the pegasus.

"There is no need for threats. Your dragon friend is safe I assure you."

"We'll believe it when we see all his scales remain on his cute little head." Rarity replied in skepticism.

He nodded and instructed them, "Follow me." So the six ponies followed the guard up the mountain path. When they reached the top they saw the beautiful ice palace.

"Oh my stars." Rarity gasped at the sight of it.

"It's so big and ice like." Fluttershy gasped in awe.

"Stay focused ponies," Twilight reminded them of the situation. They walked into the castle and reached the throne room seeing Queen Geyneira on her throne, "That's her." she whispered to the others.

"Your guests your majesty." The snow pegasus bowed his head.

"Thank you. That will be all for now." she dismissed him.

The guard nodded and left the throne room. Applejack spoke up first at the Queen, "So you're Queen Gwyneira?"

"I am bearer of Honesty." Neira nodded.

"So even you know about us?" Rainbow inquired.

"That I do, bearer of Loyalty," she answered and cleared her throat, "I welcome you all to my kingdom."

"Well we thank you for your generous welcome." Rarity admitted hospitably.

"But first of all, where's Spike?" Twilight demanded.

"Spike is perfectly all right. You may see him of course." Neira answered as the group saw their dragon friend walk out from behind the throne.

"Girls!" he called in joy.

"Spike!" the girls cried as they ran over to him coddling and fawning over him saying how relieved they were to see him and how worried he made them feel.

Neira watched them as Fluttershy spoke to Spike, "Oh we were so worried about you."

"Yeah we thought we'd never see you again." Pinkie added.

"They didn't hurt you or anything did they?" Twilight asked frantically, while searching Spike all over for visible signs of injury.

"It's ok, Twilight. I'm fine." Spike calmed her down.

"How can you say you're fine when you were kidnapped by the queen's pegasi?" Rainbow asked in outrage while cupping the dragon's face.

"Yeah and we came all this way looking for ya." Applejack put in.

Spike after getting Rainbow to let go of his face replied, "And I'm glad you did. I tried to send a message but my letter blew off."

"Well we found it in the snow," Twilight stated, "You said you were fine, but did they force you to write that?"

"No Twilight, I told you I was completely fine. Neira here isn't as bad as others say she is." Spike said while walking over to her. Neira smiled to back up Spike's words.

"Does she have you under a spell?" Rarity asked curiously.

Twilight used her magic sensing no other magic surrounding him, "There's no spell, it's all me," Spike assured them, "Gwyneira these are the friends I told you about. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight." he introduced them.

"A pleasure my dears." Gwyneira greeted them.

"Yeah, a pleasure." Twilight grumbled to herself.

Pinkie looked around, "Love what you did to the place, it's so icey."

"My taste in decor is unique." Neira admitted.

"Clearly." Rarity agreed.

Rainbow taking Spike and the girls by surprise flew into the Alicorn's face with a frown, "All right Queenie, give us back Spike and just maybe we'll reconsider mopping the floor with you."

"Is that a threat I smell?" Neira asked suspiciously.

"Possibly." Rainbow sneered.

Spike appalled by Rainbow Dash's action grabbed her by the tail, "Rainbow Dash, knock it off!" he tugged her away from Neira.

"Spike, we're just trying to look out for you." Applejack explained.

"And you still think I'm in danger?" Spike asked incredulously, "You're all being paranoid."

"Well in case you forgot, Spike," Twilight began, "You were just kidnapped in Ponyville, of course we'd be paranoid."

"And I admit I was in fact shocked and scared, but after spending time with Gwyneira I learned it wasn't that bad." Spike tried to reason with them.

"But what if she's luring you into a false sense?" Rarity pointed out.

"Yeah this wouldn't be the first time this happened." Twilight reminded him of what happened at her brother's wedding with the Changelings.

"Twilight, this isn't like last time," Spike retorted, "Gwyneira doesn't feed off love or anything like Chrysalis."

"We only want what's best for you, Spike." Fluttershy said nervously due to all the rising tension between the group.

"And you feel what's best for me is by not making new friends," Spike shot back as tears started filling his eyes which made the girls gasp at what their actions led to, "You know I was actually hoping you'd all be proud to see me making friends on my own instead of just making friends with others you befriended. But I guess I was wrong!" he cried before bolting from the throne room.

"Spike!" the girls called wanting to go after him only for the queen to block them with an ice wall.

"I think you hurt his feelings more than enough for one day." she scolded them.

Applejack frowned, "You said something to him, and we know you did!" she accused her.

"Why is it so difficult for you to believe what Spike said was true?" Neira asked in shock.

"It's not that we don't believe him," Twilight replied, "We just find you hard to trust."

Neira sighed and looked out her window speaking, "Yes, everypony I met found me hard to accept." she replied feeling dejavu.

"We understand you didn't choose to be what you are." Fluttershy spoke up.

"But still kidnapping Spike was not your best way at making friends." Applejack reasoned with her in a calmer tone.

"Think what you will," she began and saw the snow falling as night time came, "It is getting late and the storms will start soon. I'd be more than welcomed to offer you all rooms. Since you clearly won't be going anywhere any time soon."

Twilight sighed, "She's right, we'll never see through all that snow."

"All right we'll stay," Rainbow answered but flew back into the alicorn's face, "But we'll be watching you queenie."

"I understand." Neira answered calmly. And with that the six were showed to their guest rooms by a snow unicorn guard.

Meanwhile, Spike was in his guest room on his bed, burying his face in his knees while sobbing. Suddenly a knock came and he heard Neira's voice from outside the room, "Spike, it's me. May I come in?"

"Sure." he sighed with a sniffle.

Neira entered and went over to the sad dragon, "I know the girls didn't mean how they acted." she comforted him.

"I just would've thought they'd have more faith in me," Spike began as he sniffled, "But I guess I'm just Spike the baby dragon who can't take care of himself."

Neira went to his level, "I don't think you're just some baby dragon, Spike."

Spike looked at her still having some tears falling from his eyes, "You don't?"

"Not at all." she wiped the teas away with her hoof.

Spike hugged her leg, "Oh Neira, I don't know what to do."

"It's ok, Spike." she comforted him.

"I'm just so confused." he sighed sadly.

The alicorn picked him up and hugged him while stroking his back, "There-there, Spike,' she thought as she continued stroking the dragon's back, 'Excellent. With this he'll never want to return to them,' she spoke up, "Spike, I have a proposition for you."

"What?" he asked as he looked up at her.

She smiled and spoke, "Would you like to stay here with me?"

Spike was suddenly taken aback by the offer, "What, stay here?"

"Yes. Here you can live the way you wanted, no restrictions, no rules. And best of all I who believes in you." she promised him.

"Well I..." Spike trailed.

Neira spoke up, "You don't have to answer now. You can tell me in the morning."

"Ok. And thanks, Neira." Spike smiled.

"You're very welcome. Have a goodnight, Spike." she left the room closing the door on her way out.

Spike laid down on the bed in deep thought, 'Stay here in the ice palace?' Suddenly there was another knock at the door, "Yes?"

"Spike, it's us." Twilight's voice came.

Spike frowned, "Go away." he rolled away facing away from the door.

Applejack's voice came next, "Come on sugarcube, just hear us out."

"You made it very clear to me already." Spike answered still feeling hurt.

"Please darling," Rarity began, "We didn't mean to make it sound like the way you took our words."

Spike rolled back over to look at the door, "Then how were you trying to make it sound?" he inquired.

"Just open up so we can explain to your face." Rainbow answered hating to speak through a closed door.

Spike sighed, "All right, but make it quick." he went to the door and opened it, permitting them entry.

Pinkie looked in seeing Spike's room, "Wow your rooms even bigger than ours."

"Spike we're so sorry how we acted in front of you and the queen." Fluttershy appologized.

"We are?" Pinkie asked in confusion, and the girls glared at her, "I mean of course we are, silly."

"That not only hurt both Neira but me as well," Spike spoke up, "All she wanted was a friend, and I honored her wish."

Twilight replied, "And there's nothing wrong with wanting a friend, but don't you feel even the slightest bit strange at the methods she's taken?"

Spike understanding her words answered, "Well she can't just step hoof outside like everypony. I mean how often are mixed breeds tolerable? You know how others have been wrongfully treated. Zecora, Princess Luna, you all thought negatively about them, but it turns out they weren't as bad as you or I made them out to be. Now you're doing all that over again."

"And that was wrong of us to go making accusations." Applejack admitted.

"Yes. All we knew about her was the story Princess Celestia told us." Fluttershy added.

"It's not just about her. It's about me as well." Spike injected.

Twilight spoke to him, "Spike we know you'd want to make friends on your, own believe us we'd never keep you from doing such a thing."

"Yeah we know that's not fair to you." Rainbow added.

Rarity hugged the dragon close, making him blush as she spoke, "Your friendship is important to us as our own to each other."

"And we don't like it when one of our friends is mad." Pinkie put in.

"We promise to never judge you or what choices you make." Fluttershy promised and the other five nodded.

"So come on Spike, can ya ever forgive us fer bein' insensitive?" Applejack asked hopefully.

Spike looked unsure and answered while looking down, "I don't know."

Twilight replied, "We won't force it on you, Spike."

Spike looked up at them and spoke, "How about giving me until morning? Then I'll decide."

The girls smiled seeing that at least we was giving it some thought and group hugged him with Rarity squealing in joy, "Take all the time, Spike." Twilight answered with a smile.

"Thanks, Twilight," he hugged her back. Soon the girls left the room and Spike sighed to himself, "Now what do I do?"

Unknown to him, a windigo was watching the scene and suddenly left to report to the queen. It entered Neira's room and went to her side, "Hmm?" she wondered at the windigo's appearance. It whispered into her ear and suddenly her eyes were widening, "He musn't be allowed to decide to go back."

"What do we do?" the windigo asked awaiting orders.

Neira answered, "We'll wait for his answer, and if he chooses the wrong one. I will fix it."

That night, Spike could hardly get a wink of sleep with his choice of going back or staying in the palace on his shoulders, "What do I do? Ponyville's been my home for so long and my friends. But what about Neira? She's done so much for me, and if I leave I'll feel like I betrayed her," he hugged his pillow, "Oh what am I gonna do?" he walked to his window looking up at Luna's light and thought, 'I wish I had the answer,' he gasped, "Wait a minute. I wonder." he snuck out of his room and went quietly down the hall and happened across the mirror he passed before. He looked at it and gasped, "I knew it. I saw more than my reflection in it." he gasped. As he looked into the mirror he started seeing more reflections appearing in it. It was of Twilight and the others. He looked at his sides seeing they weren't even next to him and yet their reflections were holding his reflection close, "Girls." he gasped.

Twilight had opened the door of her room and saw Spike standing before the mirror, "Spike?" she whispered to herself before seeing the title above the mirror, "The Looking Glass of Desire."

Spike hearing her voice looked over, "Twilight?"

The young alicorn gasped seeing she was spotted, but spoke up, "Oh Spike, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to spy."

"Well it's ok. I just went to investigate this." Spike admitted as he continued looking at the mirror.

"This isn't an ordinary mirror isn't it?" Twilight asked seeing he was looking at it too close.

"No. When I looked into it I saw you and the girls at my sides." Spike explained.

"Let me try," Twilight looked into it and gasped, "Wow. I see me with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, you, and the girls at Canterlot castle. We all look so happy."

"I guess whoever looks into this mirror sees what they desire the most." Spike said seeing it's power.

"Looks like it." Twilight agreed.

"I'll bet Neira spent a long time looking at this seeing her desire to have a friend." Spike theorized imagining it must have caused her a lot of suffering.

"She was really that in need of one?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah Twilight, she was scared off and chased away because of who she was and what she was capable of." Spike answered.

Twilight spoke up remembering the story, "I guess I was so caught up in trying to find you I paid more attention to the negative side of her story. I was just so worried about you, Spike."

"I know, Twilight. And I shouldn't have acted the way I did either," Spike began, "I guess I was just angry about how I felt like I was being exploited for my services."

"Spike, the girls and I always appreciate you for what you do for us." Twilight assured him.

"I know. I keep telling myself that, but some part of me just felt like I was being taken advantage of." he explained.

"Oh, Spike. I guess I have been asking too much of you these last few days, as well as the others." Twilight sighed in guilt.

"Yeah I wanted to say something, but you all were too busy to listen." Spike replied.

"I'm so sorry Spike. I know no matter how many times I say it can't change what happened." Twilight apologized.

"I know." he admitted.

"But no matter what you'll always be special to me." Twilight put in.

Spike spike up again, "Twilight, can I tell you something?"

"Of course." she smiled.

"Neira offered me a chance to live here with her." he explained.

"She what?" Twilight gasped in surprise, "That's why you wanted to wait till morning."

"Yeah, I don't know what choice to make. And I still don't." Spike admitted in worry.

"What do you mean?" the alicorn asked puzzled.

"Well if I stay I might never see you all again, but if I go back I'd be betraying my friendship to Gwyneira." he explained his predicament.

"I can see how that puts you." Twilight realized it.

"Twilight, what do I do?" Spike asked in worry.

Twilight answered as she lifted his chin with her hoof, "Think on this, Spike. I know the answer will come to you in the morning. All you need to do is listen to what your heart is telling you."

Spike smiled, "I will. Thanks, Twilight." and the two hugged each other warmly.

"I really missed you, Spike." Twilight whispered as she nuzzled him.

"And I'm glad you and the girls came looking for me." Spike answered back.

Watching from around a corner was a windigo, 'She's not going to like this.' he thought before flying off, as Twilight and Spike returned to their rooms.

Gwyneira meanwhile was looking through a spell book, "Let me see, where is it?" she looked through the pages.

"Your highness." the windigo said entering the room.

"What is it?" she asked in annoyance.

"I just witnessed something you should know," he began and started whispering into her ear. Suddenly Neira started to hyperventilate, taking the windigo by surprise, "Milady!"

Neira spoke through her deep breaths, "No, he can't. He just can't!" she fired a blast of ice magic at the wall forcing the windigo to back away in fright. She started flipping through the pages of her book more desperately, "I won't let this happen," she spotted a page, "Ah perfect," she thought to herself, 'I will not lose my one friend,' she turned to the windigo, "Return to your post."

"Yes your highness." he left.

Neira thought as she studied the spell, 'I will have to use this to ensure I never lose another friend again.'

Comments

[Lag Incarnate]

God damn, making me want the "villain" to win.

[FlyingMushroomxii]

3618476huh! What are you implying that Gwyneira is a "villain", she's just a lonely soul or at least she's good at making it seem that way

[Lag Incarnate]

3618778
Not at all, it's just that she's the closest thing we have to an antagonist in this story, and the terms are usually interchangeable. And I just can't but help getting a bit of a "White Witch" vibe, even if she does mean well.

I'm seeing this as like an alternative to Discord's reformation, he gives up just about everything to keep his only friend, while Gwyneira is willing to do anything to keep her only friend.

[DARKPHANTOM13]

I can understand that she wants to keep her one friend. The problem is that she is willing to do almost anything to keep him.

[moguera]

"It's so big and ice like." Fluttershy gasped in awe.

...
...
...
Ya don't say.
qualmdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/obvious1.jpg

[Frankie2]

Be careful girls. Desperate people (and ponies) do desperate things. She has been without any real friends for at least one thousand years.

[Author of MADness]

Considering how Spike nearly died in Winter warm up, never got invited on Twilight birthday and the young fliers competition and oh let not forget Pinkie party in the party of one I can say I will understand why Spike wanted to be with the ice Queen ..

[StrigidaeFan]

Nice story!