> From Lands Apart (FiM / Dragon Tales) > by Yosh-E-O > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I Wish. I Wish... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Okay, Spike,” Twilight said as she put her ‘little brother’ into his crib. “Me and Smarty Pants have a lot of homework to do. So take your nap and I promise to read Daring Do to you when you wake up.” Spike, who had been spending more time with Twilight and her family since becoming the young mare’s first friend, took hold of the crib’s wooden bars and said, “Not sleepy, Twii.” The need to do her homework was growing and not getting it done on schedule made Twilight start to panic. “All good little brothers need their rest to grow real-real big, Spike,” she insisted. “So get comfy and I’ll tuck you in all nice-and-cozy.” “But Twi,” he pouted. “I don’t want to sleep. I want to be with you.” The young, purple-coated Unicorn felt herself tense with each second she was not working towards that perfect grade she had to have. “Do paper with me,” cooed Spike. “I help do Twi homework. I read book, too.” Twilight could not let her schedule be broken much longer. The desire to get her book-learn on and treat herself to a good grade was causing the purple-eyed Unicorn to anxiously move her hooves up-and-down. “What if I…,” she thought. “Okay, Spike. How about you take this book, read it, and give me a book report when I come back?” TING SHOO Twilight’s magic brought a colorful book gently down into the baby dragon’s crib. “I be like you, Twi?” he asked. “I read book and do fun writing with crayons?” “Yes!” cheered Twilight with enough enthusiasm to give even today’s Pinkie Pie a run for her bits. “I’ll be right back!” GALLOP-GALLOP KA-REEK TING SHOO-CLICK Twilight was getting better with her telekinesis magic and had almost shut Spike’s bedroom door when she made one last effort to keep Spike from wanting to leave the room. “I’ll give you some yummy little shinies if you stay in here while I do my homework,” she stated with a wink while closing the door the rest of the way shut. “Be good for Twi!” Spike began to drool at the thought of those delicious, pretty, and very shiny things that he was given as a snack. They tasted so good and always were better than the vegetarian diet Twi, Shiny, mom, and dad served him. CLAP-CLAP Spike was now lost in thought over how he could not wait for his gem treat… *** …And after two minutes he became bored and impatient. “No want to be by self in bed,” he pouted. “Not sleepy.” The green-eyed baby dragon stood up and toddled about in his crib. “No like being by self,” he groaned! “No need nap!” He continued to scurry about the crib faster-and-faster. It was the only thing keeping him from crying at the top of his lungs for Twilight and he knew she would be mad if he made her come in. He also wouldn’t get those yummy treats if she had to come in as he had been given ‘time outs’ along with no treats when she was unhappy. “I wish. I wish,” he said while increasing his frustrated scampering about. “I wish to not be by self-” THUNK CRINKLE BOOF BWARF! Spike had finally collided with the bars of his crib, fell back on his diapered bottom, and unleashed a magical burp. “Excuse me,” he said with a blush as he watched the green flame start to swirl about in mid-air until a burst of light flashed before his eyes. “Whoah!” e gasped while covering his eyes. PSHOO POP THUD Spike opened one eye and then the other. “Huh?” he wondered upon noticing a shiny, sparkling, and rainbow-colored shimmering something in front of him. “Treat!” he squealed as he merrily flailed his arms and legs about. FWIP “Wha?” he thought as a piece of paper gently landed on top of the beautiful stone. Twilight was always spending time teaching him how to read. She said it was very important and fundamental. “Me read!” he cheered while grabbing the paper and allowing himself to fall on his padded bottom. Diapers made him never feel he could be hurt as long as he fell on his backside. They kept him safe and protected. This brought questions as to why Twilight, Shiny, mom, and dad didn’t wear them. However he just thought it was because they didn’t fall as much as he did and, once he was a better walker, he wouldn’t fall so much either. “Okay,” he said while wiggling his tail upon the shiny stone as he looked at the words on the paper. “Read aloud so I can hear good what read.” ‘I wa-wa wish, I, uh, wish with ah-all mm-my he-art,” he read aloud. “To fly with dra, dra, drag, drog-ons…” The ‘stone’ sparkled and shined more-and-more as Spike did his best to read the words on the paper. However he was tired of reading and just tossed the paper aside. “…Want someone to play with me!” he wailed before realizing he had made a loud noise. This made him worried Twilight would hear and be mad. So he took drastic measures to not get caught by curling up in a ball and covering his eyes. FWA-WHOOO-FWA-OO TING TING-TING The young dragon was neither seeing nor hearing how he had read a spell that was intended to be done correctly. However the fact his tail was touching it infused some Equestrian Magic that altered the stone’s abilities in a way that the one who sent it would never have believed possible. > A Land Apart > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassie, a pink-scaled dragon who had yellow feather-like hairs from the top of her head and down to her back, was patiently waiting for her friends to arrive. “Looks like I got here first,” she said nervously upon noticing nobody else was around. “I’m sure Ord and zak & Wheezie will be here soon.” WHOO WHOOSH TING-OOSH “What the?” panicked Cassie as she felt something lift her above the ground. “What’s happening?” WHOO-TING-WHOO Colored streams of light formed around the young dragon along with numerous magical sparkles. “Help!” cried Cassie as the appearance of sparkles grew faster along with the speed of the, now moving, colored streams… PYOOM! …And then she was gone. *** WHOOSHE! FWUMP! PWOOM Cassie had her eyes closed as she felt herself land on something soft. She was quite scared and didn’t know if she even wanted to open her eyes. However she knew she had to in order to truly understand what had just happened. “Ord?” she asked nervously. “Zak … Wheezie…?” The young dragon opened up her blue eyes and caught notice of something purple and green. “What happened?” wondered Cassie as she looked towards what she thought was Zak & Wheezie. “Where’s Ord?” The two-headed dragon look-a-like moved enough to show it was a but a single dragon that was neither Zak nor Wheezie. “Hha-hi,” it greeted upon hearing the gentle voice of Cassie and seeing how she looked more like a plush toy than a threat. “You friend?” Cassie started to feel very anxious. Her current view was that she was in a giant crib with a baby dragon that may, or may not, be friendly. “Uh, hello…,” she nervously replied while reaching into her belly-pouch. She always had a few baby toys on hand in case she needed to help calm one of her younger siblings. “I Spike!” the purple-colored dragon greeted. “Please can have gem?” “Gem?” wondered Cassie as the baby dragon crawled towards her. TUG-TUG “Hey!” she panicked upon feeling her necklace being yanked upon. “That’s my dragon badge!” “Candy!” gleed Spike as he continued to pull upon the round, blue jewel that was attached to Cassie’s necklace. “Want candy!” The pink dragon wanted to give a firm ‘No!’ to the baby dragon. However she didn’t know if that would be the right thing to do. What if she hurt his feelings? What if someone was watching from outside the crib? PSHEW “Huh?” wondered Spike as the gem shrunk in size along with Cassie herself. It wasn’t long before she was about the same size as Spike. “Oh, no!” she cried. “I ca-could really you-use some ha-help.” Spike noticed how the ‘smaller’ dragon looked afraid. He never liked to feel scared and decided he should give the surprise guest a comforting hug. “It’s okay,” he assured while wrapping himself around the pink dragon. “It’s okay.” PAT-PAT Cassie’s felt less worried by the gentle patting she was receiving upon her back by Spike. It seemed like he was a nice dragon and not one to be worried about. “Thanks,” she said while trying to get out of the hug. “I’m sorry but I want to know if you know where this is?” Spike put his tail into his mouth and sucked upon it as he thought about what he was being asked. “Well,” deduced Cassie. “You’re a baby dragon, right?” Spike nodded his head to say ‘Yes’. Cassie looked outside of the crib bars to see a room much like those her youngest brothers and sisters had. “Is this your room?” she asked. The purple dragon nodded again. TINK FWA-THWUMP! Spike stopped playing with his tail as he noticed his guest trip over the pretty rock that had fallen into his crib. He then also noticed that the smaller dragon wasn’t wearing a diaper. “Uh-oh,” he said with a giggle. “New friend no dipper.” Cassie sat herself up. “Huh?” she wondered while watching the baby dragon start to climb up-and-over his crib. “Wait!” Cassie’s motherly instincts kicked in as her feather-like wings started to give off ethereal sparks while she took to the air. SNATCH! “Whoa!” she cried after catching Spike by the tail and doing everything in her power to slow their descent towards the floor. Spike, out of instinct, worked to position himself so his padded bottom would hit the ground first. Unfortunately this motion caused Cassie to lose her balance as she fell with a solid ‘THUD’ to the ground. “Ow!” she moaned. “I just want to go home.” Spike smiled upon safely reaching the floor of his room. He then eagerly scampered off to get a diaper for Cassie. “Okay,” she told herself while scanning the room. “You can handle this, Cassie. You can handle this. Everything is going to be okay…” SHIMMER-SHING “…A dragon scale?” she wondered with amazement upon spotting the very object she must have tripped over while still in the crib. “I can use that to go home!” Cassie started to search within her ‘hoard’ for the notebook she kept for taking important notes. Two of which were the poem for how to go to Dragon Land and return back. PWIFF “Ah!” Cassie gasped with surprise upon having a diaper flopped over her face. “For you,” Spike beamed. “No fall and go boom.” Cassie blushed at the thought of wearing the garment she was all too familiar with thanks to all the younger siblings she had been a part of helping to raise. “Umm,” she hummed nervously. “No thank you.” Spike remembered what Twilight did when he was stubborn and moved to push the pink dragon on her tummy so she’d lie down on her back. “No!” she protested. “No means no!” Spike’s eyes started to fill with tears before crying uncontrollably. Cassie panicked. This technique worked with her siblings but this little dragon wasn’t one of her brothers nor sisters. He had different feelings, routines, etc. Now whomever looked out for the baby dragon was sure to come and find her. “Twili!” a voice called out from the other side of the door. “Your little brother needs you!” “What?” another voice replied from further away. TING CLICK Cassie started to fidget nervously with her dragon badge. She had also started to rock herself while wondering what the blue aura around the opening doorknob meant. PSSHEWWW Cassie shrank more in size for how her worries of how to handle this situation made her extremely uncomfortable. However, to her surprise, her shrinking made the baby dragon stop crying. KA-REEK The head of a Unicorn colt popped into a small opening made into the room. “Hmm,” he said. TINK KA-CLICK “Never mind, Twili!” the colt called out. “False alarm.” “False alarm?” the other replied. “Can’t you see I’m studying?” “Loosen up, Twi,” the colt replied while trotting away from the room. “Where’s Cadence when you really need her?” Cassie heard a slight argument start before a far older voice made a statement that caused it to come to an abrupt end. “Tada!” cheered Spike as he successfully diapered the notably smaller pink dragon. “Oh, my!” she gasped while being helped up by the baby dragon. “Play with me?” he asked politely. Given her current state, Cassie felt she did not have much choice. However she had a plan that, if this baby dragon was like Kiki or Finn, would have her back in Dragon Land in no time. > To Fly With Dragons > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Due to her recent size decrease, Cassie felt lucky that she was a bit smaller than baby Spike The Dragon. The diaper he put on her was loose and it allowed her access to her pouch pocket. “Look!” she announced while removing a purple berry that was bean-like in shape. “Who wants a squishy?” Spike’s toddler, along with draconic, nature immediately demanded he go for what was now being presented for him. “Me!” he cried while raising his hands up to take hold of the ‘squishy’. “Here you go,” Cassie said in a mothering tone while lowering the fruit into Spike’s hands. If he was anything like Kiki, Spike would take the fruit, feel its softness, and curl himself up around it. This would give her time to fly up into the crib, grab the dragon scale, and speak the rhyme that would take her back to Dragon Land. SQUOOSH SWISH-SWISH Spike awed at the squishy texture of the juice-filled berry. It was like how he felt when he got out of the warm bubble baths Twi, dad, or mom would give him. “Okay…,” the pink dragon said anxiously. “Now to get home before he notices I’m gone.” FLAP-FLAP CHIME-TING SHIMMER-DING “Huh?” wondered Spike upon hearing the sound of Cassie’s magical little wings starting to lift her off the ground. The colorful sparkles left him in awe and distracted him from the squishy fruit. CLASP “Hey!” cried Cassie as she felt herself being grabbed around the leg. It didn’t impact her ability to fly but it did pose the problem that the baby dragon was now on to her and that there was no way to kindly evade him if he was still attached. Not to forget that contact with her as she spoke the rhyme would bring the purple dragon back with her to Dragon Land. “Whee!” squeed Spike. We fly!” Cassie was surprised at the little dragon’s strength. Usually one of her siblings would be struggling to hold on if they did such a thing. This would force her to land and comfort whomever had latched on while letting them know they will be able to fly soon enough. “Wait,” she thought aloud when she realized that Spike had no wings. “What happened to your wings?” The pink dragon landed in a way that allowed Spike to properly position himself for the diaper he wore to cushion the short fall to the floor. “Maybe these are your wings?” she asked while observing Spike’s ear-fins. “Though I never saw a dragon whose wings were on their head.” PAWUMP! Spike admired how the pink dragon grew to his size. However his true interest went back to the blue jewel around her neck. “Candy!” he cried while reaching out. “Want candy!” “No, no, no!” corrected Cassie with a wave of her finger as her other hand clasped around her Dragon Badge. “This is not food!” Spike started to sniffle upon being ‘corrected’ by the experienced dragon-sitter. Cassie knew a tantrum could bring back whatever may be on the other side of the door, so she quickly reached into her ‘hoard’ and pulled out as many dragon berries as she could. “Here!” she panicked. “These are far better than my dragon badge.” Spike moved so his nose was by the berries. SNIFF-SNIFF SNATCH SPLAT Cassie sighed with relief as the purple dragon happily chewed the tasty fruits she had. “Okay,” she said nervously. “You like dragon berries. So…,” The pink dragon went about searching her entire pouch for all the dragon berries she may have had. Since Ord was usually hungry for them this meant she had a lot to offer. Of her group of friends, Ord was the biggest and stood over two-times her size even at being the same age as herself. Spike smiled as berry juice dripped from his mouth and tiny fangs. “More please,” he stated more than asked while he scooted his padded rump closer to Cassie. “Yummy!” BOOF Cassie found herself backed against the nursery wall. “Okay, little guy,” she said while reaching into her pouch yet again. SNAG “Ooh!” awed Spike as his hand took hold of the kangaroo-like pouch that fought against the form-fitting diaper Spike had put on her when she was smaller. “Toy box!” This wasn’t good for Cassie. So she decided to not worry about finding something and just went with the first thing she could find. FWIP SNAP-CRINKLE The feather-winged dragon pulled a book from within her pouch before letting it just snap back in. This kind of stung a bit but was better than having the emerald-eyed dragon begin to dig through what she kept within. “Hehe,” Spike giggled as he plopped back on his backside and clapped his hands and kicked his little feet. “Book! Read book!” Cassie had yet to realize she had removed one of the few books she kept in her hoard for reading to pass the time. It was one that she was borrowing from her teacher, Quetzal. As such it had magical properties that just may be of help to get her back home. “You like stories?” she asked cheerfully. “How about we go back into your crib and I’ll read it to you?” Spike grew puppy-dog eyes as he put forth his most adorable look. “Please?” he pleaded while shuffling about. “Read me story!” SHWIP “Whah?” Cassie wondered as the diaper she was put in by Spike seemed to fight back against her returning to normal size. It was very tight and a quick attempt to try and take off the tapes resulted in some sort of magical resistance that always made her miss getting the right hold to do so. “No take dipper off,” corrected baby Spike as he shook his head and wiggled a finger towards Cassie. “No make mess that make Twili unhappy.” The pink dragon shrugged and giggled nervously. “Okay,” she said. “Then how about I read this book to you?” “Whee!” cheered the young dragon as he went to latch onto cassie. “Here we go!” she announced while taking flight with Spike held firmly against her torso. PLOP-CRINKLE PIT-PAT BOOF Spike sat on the crib mattress before Cassie completed her landing and sat down in front of the little dragon. “You’ll love this one!” she announced. “It’s about a little baby dragon who needs to sleep.” Cassie, being known for her above-average intelligence, knew how to get the story within the book to activate its special effect. TING-TI-TING SHOOM Some wiggling of her fingers caused a gentle cascade of sparkles to fall upon the pages in the book. This made the tome give off a light-purple glow that filled the room with a strong scent of soothing lavender. Spike found himself pulling his tail up to his mouth as his body grew calm and drowsy. “Once upon a time…,” Cassie read as the ethereal-purple light formed into a baby dragon who slowly bounded around Spike as she read the tale of the fussy dragon who sought a way to get the best night’s sleep. This made the effect of the book focus on Spike and not Cassie and, after barely getting halfway through the story, the baby dragon was off to slumber land. DING! Cassie couldn’t help but feel proud as her dragon badge glowed a most vibrant shade of blue. This was definitely a difficult time for her to get through but she did it and her dragon badge acknowledged it. “Okay,” she grinned while covering the baby dragon with his blanket. “Sweet dreams.” Once Cassie was sure Spike was not going to wake up she took hold of the dragon scale. “I wish. I wish. With all my heart,” she said cheerfully. “To fly with dragons in a land apart.” The young pink dragon found herself suddenly lifted in the air as rainbow-colored streams of light surrounded her. They quickly gained speed as magical twinkles appeared and… POOF …She was gone. *** EPILOGUE: Twilight came in to check on Spike. However he was fast asleep and clutching onto the magical dragon scale. He was in a very deep slumber and suckling on the scale. “Hmm,” shrugged Twilight. “I don’t remember giving that to Spike. However, if he is still asleep, I can work on that extra credit project!” Twilight giddily clapped her front hooves together before leaving the room. This would be the last time the enchanted scale would be seen as, upon waking, Spike would be quite hungry and his appetite for gems would make him quickly gobble down the whole thing. Cassie reappeared in Dragon Land with a crinkly thud. “How do Max and Emmy do this?” she wondered while knowing how the two pre-school siblings always seemed to arrive without falling on their backsides. “Cassie!” a tall blue dragon with a sun-shaped dragon badge cried out. “We were looking everywhere for you!” “You had us really worried,” stated the right-head of a two-headed dragon. “We were just about to go and get Quetzal to help us find you!” “What’s with the diaper?” asked the purple-colored left-head of the two-headed dragon. Each head had its own dragon badge featuring musical notes. Cassie brought herself to her feet. “Ord!” she merrily cried while rushing to give her tall friend a hug. “It’s so good to be home!” “Home?” wondered Ord. “Where did you go?” “And where did you get the diaper?” asked the sister-head of the twin dragon. “Better yet,” scoffed the brother-head. “Why are you even in a diaper!” Cassie blushed as she faced the pair. “It’s a long story,” she replied as she tried, without success, to unfasten the diaper that tightly hugged itself around her waist. “Though I think I need to see Quetzal about this as I can’t get it off.” “But, Cassie,” cooed Ord. “You look so cute!” The green head of the twin dragon put his hand over his face. “You’re not going to use it, are you?” he groaned. The purple head laughed obnoxiously before letting out a snort. “Oh, Zaky!” she dismissed. “You were the one that held us up on getting potty trained.” Zak squeezed his eyes shut as his face burned red. “The potty was scary and the dark is scary, too!” he tried to argue back. “And, if I remember, you didn’t want to wake up, Wheezie!” “You got me there,” Wheezie replied. “Though Cassie needs our help and I’m sure Quetzal can get her out of that magic diaper.” “Magic diaper,” giggled Ord. “That’s funny.” The group of friends then took flight off to The School In The Sky to seek the advice of their teacher while sharing the story of a land that would never be visited again as all the magic of the scale was now making its way through a baby dragon’s digestive system.