New Beggining
A mare flew through the clear sunny sky. She could barely contain the smile on her face as she flapped her wings towards her destination. This mare had a lavender fur with a dark shade of purple as her mane and tail and each had a pink strip on them. The most curious thing about her was that not only she had wings, but also a horn.
She was Twilight Sparkle, one of the princesses and rulers of Equestria. She had grown up during the years and she was just as tall as Celestia now.
She flew towards a mountain area heading towards a particularly big one. It had a huge entrance near the top. The alicorn cringed a little as she remembered how much time and effort her friend spent digging that cave.
Once she flew inside she took a look at what it had inside. Twilight looked with a soft smile at a huge sleeping purple dragon with green spikes across his back. He wasn’t covered by anything this time. She remembered how many times she had to go there to clean the moss off him.
The name of this gigantic dragon was Spike. Twilight’s number one assistant, her best friend and her adoptive little brother. She slowly walked towards him as she reminisced the old times.
She was used to having to wake him up. She did it countless times when he was smaller than her. Now he was big, strong and had his own pair of wings, which started to grow when he was thirty years old.
The princess chuckled (and cringed) at the mental images of him crashing everywhere as Rainbow Dash tried to teach him how to fly. Thankfully, he had a sturdy body.
She stopped when she reached the side of his head nuzzling it a bit, feeling the warmth coming out of him. “It time to wake up, Spike.” She said as she used her magic to gently shake his body.
The alicorn heard a few grunts before the huge dragon opened his eyes, revealing two big emerald irises whose pupils had to adjust themselves to the clarity. He blinked a few times to see better and then moved his claws to rub his eyes as he yawned.
He looked around to see what had woken him up and when he saw Twilight there, he smiled and said “Good morning, Twi.”
The alicorn raised a hoof and said: “It’s afternoon, actually.”
“Details.” He said chuckling as he sat on the floor raising his right hand with his palm upwards not too close nor far from his face. His voice got considerably louder and hoarse with the centuries.
Twilight recognized the invitation and flew to his hand so they could look at each other better.
Once she got comfortable there, Spike looked around and frowned a little bit. “Sorry, Twi. I have no refreshments to offer you.”
“It’s alright, Spike, after we talk we can go out and find something to eat together.” She replied.
Spike usually kept fruits and other pony foods available for guests. But he had decided to either eat or donate them before going to sleep for a long time, otherwise they would spoil and stink.
His cave wasn’t very full, thou. He had a big desk, which was custom created by Twilight so he could write and do paperwork. Some treasure chests, which contained mostly photo albums, mementos from his friends and his precious Power Ponies comics, which were concealed in plastic for preservations. Other than that, he had a few piles of gemstones for eating and some small mountain of bits, which were obtained thanks to his job as diplomat and researcher.
She wasn’t very worried about his cave being robbed while he was sleeping or away from home. She had placed a spell that only Spike, she and the other princess can get into his house freely. Any other would have to be invited by Spike himself every time.
Spike had to do several travels to talk with the dragon elders to try establish some peace and even diminish the prejudice between the two species. While the relationships between dragons and ponies weren’t perfect last time he was awake, he was happy that he helped them go a long way.
Now dragons started to talk, trade goods and even befriend with ponies.
“So, Twilight, did anything happen while I was sleep?” he asked almost knowing the answer for that. She wouldn’t have woken him up for no reason, especially after how adamant she was about making him take many hundred-year naps.
That was Spike’s third hundred-year nap in his life. 800 years ago, the two had discovered that this long “hibernation” helped dragons to live longer. For every 100 years sleeping a dragon could gain 200 to 400 years of extra life spam. However, every dragon had a limit to the amount of times they could sleep for so long. It depended on the dragon, but usually they could have from five to seven hundred-years naps, but it wasn’t unheard of dragons managing sleeping more or even less than that.
The reason for that was because Twilight was scared. She was scared that one day she would lose Spike just like she lost all her other friends and family. She was going to live forever, just like Cadence, Celestia and Luna. But Spike, while being able to live for over three thousand years, would still die eventually.
At first she thought ‘It’s still a long time from here.’ But then she realized that a thousand years after he was hatched had passed already. No matter how distant is a deadline, it will always arrive.
She wanted to have him by her side for as long as possible and she was a bit conflicted about waking him up, but she was sure she could convince him to go back to sleep again after one or two hundred years.
The princess, however, feared how Spike might resist this time. He understood that a bigger life spam meant more time with twilight, but he didn’t like the prospect of being asleep if something dangerous happened because he wouldn’t be able to help.
“Well” she started clearing her throat “The Elements of Harmony have chosen their new bearers. I wanted you to meet them.”
Spike’s eyes went wide and he gave a wide smile: “Really? That’s fantastic!” but then he frowned and asked: “Wait, did some crazy monster show up for them to appear once more? Did Tirek escape?”
Twilight quickly shook her head to sooth the anxious dragon: “The elements don’t necessarily re-appear only when the world is at stake, Spike. They have found six new candidates. They have appeared on Manehattan this time, thou. But, for some coincidence, the Element of Magic…”
“It is your new student, right?” he finished with a sly smile.
She could only nod in return.
After Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack passed away, the elements were divided by Twilight and, surprisingly Spike as well. He had to admit he felt surprised for being chosen to bear the Elements of Laughter, Generosity and Loyalty, while Twilight inherited the Elements of Honest and Kindness.
Twilight explained to him that it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Initially the elements were shared between Luna and Celestia and after Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and was banished, Celestia inherited the Elements for a few hundred years until the moved away to its new bearers.
Spike once told Twilight that having the Elements during critical situations made him feel like the girls were right there with them. Twilight could only agree with that. Every time they had to use them to protect Equestria, she felt their warmth and presence. It was like they were right there protecting them from all evil.
But, sadly, the Elements of Harmony had left them two hundred years prior to this encounter. Celestia explained that, while they still are embodiments of the virtues, the Elements require to permanently change the bearers from time to time. That was the reason why they had left Celestia to twilight and her friends in first place.
The two were saddened at first, but they understood the importance of that. Without the change, the Elements would eventually lose their power and the not just Equestria, but the entire world would be in grave danger.
For some reason unknown to them, the new Element of Magic is attracted to the former one. This made Twilight have a long conversation with Celestia about free will. But the Sun Princess assured her that this attraction is nothing more than the desire to learn and improve oneself.
“His name is Desert Sand. He’s a very talented unicorn. He’s been attending the School for Gifted Unicorn for a few years now. He’s ten years now.” She explained.
With his free hand Spike rubbed his chin and replied: “So, how do you know he’s the one?”
Twilight grinned sheepishly and said: “Well, there was an accident. You see. The entrance test required the candidates to focus a continuous beam of magic towards a magically enhanced fire ruby to see how it reacted, since we don’t have baby dragon eggs to serve as a substitute, as you know.”
Spike just rolled his eyes at that. “I guess it’s for the best. We don’t want a literal copy and paste from our old team.”
Twilight tilted her head: “Copy and paste?”
Spike chuckled and said: “Sorry. It’s the Element of Laughter speaking.”
Twilight merely dismissed the comment and continued: “Anyway, the moment he started the test his magic kinda got out of control and not only he blew up the fire ruby, but he also punched a hole on the wall. Thankfully nopony got hurt.”
“I see…How about the other five? Are you going to send your student to Manehattan once he gets older?”
Twilight nodded and answered: “Yes. The Princesses and I managed to narrow down who are the potential candidates for the Elements. I don’t think Desert Sand will have much difficulty finding them and befriending them like I had. He’s much more social than I was at his age. But he does have a big appetite for knowledge.”
“Also, are you going to have him send you friendship letters as well?” Spike asked already knowing the answer for that one.
Twilight grinned widely as she replied “Absolutely. You know how those letters are important, Spike.”
“I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t forget.” He replied with a big fgrin as well.
It was Twilight’s turn to roll her eyes.
Twilight finally understood the meaning behind the friendship letters Celestia asked her and her friends to write her. It wasn’t just to report their findings, but also to make sure they understood the lessons and also because…Celestia needed them. The Sun Princess needed the letters because she enjoyed to see her students mature and become better ponies. She also needed the letters because she always wanted to remember the precious life lessons, so she wouldn’t forget about the good things of the world. It’s easy to get out of touch with the reality and the problems of mortal ponies because of her longevity and power.
Celestia loved to read those letters because they always reminded her of the things that truly matter and improve herself as a teacher. Twilight wasn’t the first nor the last student to write her friendship letters. Celestia even managed to convince Luna and Candence to do the same.
Twilight then decided to adopt her mentor’s strategy for the same reasons, plus it gave her a nostalgic feeling whenever she read one.
“So, you want me to meet him?” Spike asked while giving another yawn.
Twilight nodded and said: “Yes. He’s read a lot about you and he asked me many times to meet you. I was already planning to wake you up, so why not? Besides, I know you would like to see who the Elements chose this time.”
“You can bet on it, sister.” He replied lowering his hand to the cave floor for Twilight to get out. Not that she needed help, but he did it out of courtesy.
He then got all on fours and started to walk out of the cave with Twilight by his side. “Do you know any good place where we can eat breakfast?”
Twilight felt an urge to remind Spike of the time of the day, but decided not to. An afternoon snack did sound great since she didn’t eat much at lunch because she was anxious to see Spike again. “Well, there’s a restaurant for both ponies and dragons not too far from here, to the north. But It’ll take an hour of flight. But I can teleport us there, if you wish.”
Spike thought for a second and then replied: “I think I would rather fly. My body needs the exercise. Plus we can chat on our way there.”
Once he got at the entrance of he stretched his wings and with a mischievous smile he said: “Let’s bet a race. The one who gets there last, has to pay the bill. OnetwothreeGO!”
After that he flapped his wings quite fast to dash into the sky to the direction Twilight had said. The wind brought by his wings made Twilight close her eyes, but with a smile of her own she replied: “Hey, no fair!” then she stormed after Spike determined to not lose. After all, she would lose all her money she brought up with her since Spike had a huge appetite.
The two giggle as the they raced looking forwards what the future awaited for them.
The End