Hey guys! Look who made the deadline! :D Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter: y1fellas, Endymion Blue, Alex Barkhorn, AlbinoHamster, Jake-Everfree, and Timon64!
I don't own MLP!
…
Twilight stared incredulously at the little purple dragon, her heart pounding. She had doubts that the creature even reached two feet in height, even with the large green spikes running from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. It was absolutely identical to the one from her dreams… although this one was undeniably real.
"No…" Twilight breathed. "This… what… I-I…"
Spike looked worried. "Um, Twilight? Are you okay?"
Twilight panted, her mind searching wildly for an answer while her body continued to press itself against the door. "You don't exist." She said, as if hoping that this realization would make everything go back to normal.
"Uh…" Spike said, raising an eyebrow. "Yes I do?"
Twilight hesitated, then took a cautious step forward. Then another. Spike didn't move, but simply watched as the girl came closer to him. When Twilight finally reached him, she sunk to her knees, and held out a shaky hand to him.
Spike looked more weirded out than anything as Twilight touched his scaly forehead then promptly retracted her hand. She stared at him, her hazel eyes wide and confused. Somehow, the small, illogical part of her that knew this might happen was correct. "How did you get here?" She whispered.
Spike grinned. "Princess Celestia sent me. Remember? She told you the other night that she was going to send me over."
Twilight shook her head and groaned. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Sure it does!" Spike said happily. "I mean - " Spike paused suddenly, and clasped a clawed hand over his mouth. Twilight was certain he was about to vomit, and backed up in alarm. This ended up being a smart move for a different reason, as the tiny dragon belched out a series of green flames that licked the air and very nearly caught on her wooden desk. Twilight screeched in alarm as she felt the heat in front of her face, but the flames were gone as suddenly as they had appeared. Twilight stared in shock at Spike, who was nonchalantly reading a scroll that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He glanced back at her. "It's for you." Spike explained, and handed the scroll over.
Stunned, Twilight reached forward and accepted the scroll with shaky hands. It was written in a fancy handwriting:
To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle:
This letter is to make sure that Spike made it over to your world safely. I'm sure you're a little bit overwhelmed right now, so I'll make this brief. In your absence, I have acted as a surrogate caregiver for Spike since he was an egg. While he's in your care, try to watch over him. As I'm sure you've already figured out, he has the ability to send letters anywhere – even across worlds! I know you two will get along just fine.
Please write back as soon as possible to confirm Spike's safe arrival. I will be in touch with you again at a later date.
-Princess Celestia
"Heh," Spike said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "She worries about me too much. So, uh, do you have a quill?" He asked, glancing around.
"…A quill?" Twilight asked incredulously, but before she could say anything further, the door creaked open, and Fluttershy walked in, yawning and carrying her sweater.
Twilight and Spike froze as Fluttershy's gaze landed on the purple dragon. "Oh… Twilight." She said, smiling. "I didn't know you had a pet lizard… he's adorable. Um, but you know we aren't allowed to keep those in our dorm rooms, right?"
"Lizard!" Spike yelled, crossing his arms and puffing his tiny chest indignantly. Twilight glanced back and forth between the insulted dragon and her surprised roommate desperately, but had no idea how to deal with this situation. "I'm not a stinking lizard! I'm a dragon!" He finished, and blew a small cloud of smoke for emphasis.
"O-o-oh…" Fluttershy said, frowning. "I'm so very sorry… I didn't mean to insult…" Her eyes widened as the oddness of the situation finally seemed to catch up with her strong instinct to apologize, and she clutched desperately at the closet beside her for support. "Did… did you just talk?" She gasped. Twilight feared the shy girl might pass out, so she stood and guided her to her bed, where she sat staring at Spike with huge eyes that held both fear and curiosity.
"Yup!" Spike grinned. "The name's Spike! You must be Fluttershy… I know we haven't met like me and Twilight had, but the princess told me you were Twilight's roommate."
"…U-um… that's… right…" Fluttershy looked desperately to Twilight, clearly praying for an explanation.
Twilight wished that she could tell her that this was all a dream. That her hunch of something like this actually occurring was incorrect like it should have been. Instead, she tried to keep her voice steady as she thought back to what had happened in the past week. "Fluttershy… remember when I told you I was having weird dreams?" Fluttershy slowly nodded. Twilight sighed. "Well, here goes nothing…"
Twilight told her everything – from the pure white winged mare to the evil purple pony with the armor all the way to Spike. She mentioned the elements only in passing, since she was still very unsure of what they were exactly.
When she had finished, Fluttershy was silent for several moments as she tried to absorb the information. "…I've had dreams about ponies too." She finally managed to say.
Twilight looked at her with a surprised expression. "You have?"
"Oh, yes." Fluttershy said, closing her eyes as she thought back. "But not like yours. There was never any talking. But as a child, I dreamed a lot of a world where these colourful little winged horses roamed on top of the clouds… It was scary to be up so high, but I felt so… free. It was so different from what I lived through when I was awake… I looked forward to those dreams so much…" She sighed, and opened her eyes sadly. "But they didn't come as often once I got away from those people I told you about last night, Twilight. Almost never."
Twilight was reminded of the dreams she had as a child where she had a unicorn family. "Could it be just a coincidence?" Twilight asked out loud.
"No." Spike said, causing both girls to look at him. "I-I mean… well, I'm not suppost to tell you much, but Fluttershy's definitely describing Cloudsdale."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Cloudsdale…?"
"It's a city in the sky in Equestria."
"Equestria?"
"That's the name of our world."
"Okay…" Twilight said, deciding to give up probing for information for the time being. Her brain was already overwhelmed enough.
Spike twiddled his thumbs. "Soooo, we should probably get on that letter to the princess, right?"
Twilight remembered with a jolt. "Oh, right…" She scanned her desk briefly, then grabbed a pencil and a piece of looseleaf. Spike looked confused as Twilight handed him the items.
"You're going to write to the princess with cheap paper and a pencil?" Spike asked, staring at her skeptically. "Don't you at least have a quill?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm fresh out." Spike crossed his arms. "Look," Twilight continued. "I'm sure she won't mind. After all, she just wants a quick note to know that you're okay."
"I guess…" Spike replied, but continued to look at her expectantly.
"…What?" Twilight asked, finding his gaze uncomfortable.
"Aren't you going to tell me what to write?"
Twilight looked at the baby dragon, confused. "You can't figure that out yourself?"
"Well…" Spike said slowly. "It's suppost to be from you, after all."
Twilight sighed. "Okay, okay, fine, write this:" Spike readied his pencil. "Dear Princess Celestia… Spike's here, and he seems fine... um, hope to hear from you soon?"
Spike chuckled as he scribbled it out. "That's it?"
"What else am I suppost to say?" Twilight asked, beginning to get annoyed.
"Well, at least end it with something!"
Twilight thought for a few moments. "End it with: 'your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle'. I think she'll like that." Twilight said, and gave a small smile in spite of herself.
Spike finished off the letter, and then scrambled on top of Twilight's chair in order to reach the open window. "Here it goes…" Spike said, then took a deep breath and blew green fire over the note, which disappeared with the flames.
"Oh my…" Fluttershy whimpered. She still seemed a bit uncertain over the situation, though she was taking it better than Twilight would've expected her to.
"Yeah, I know." Twilight commented as Spike jumped down triumphantly from the window. "Makes you question how reliable the fire alarms here are."
Fluttershy smiled in appreciation, but her eyes were drooping. "I think I'm going to get ready for bed." She stated, and then rose, collected her toothbrush and yellow nightgown, and exited the room.
This left Twilight and Spike alone again. Spike yawned widely. "I'm tired too." He said. "Big day."
Twilight nodded, feeling the same way. She stood, and fished in her closet for a few moments until she brought out a few clean towels. She placed them on the floor between the two beds, then took one of her own pillows and placed it beside the towels.
Spike looked at the arrangement skeptically. "What are you doing?"
Twilight sighed. "Look, we don't have a lot in this tiny room. I'll see if any of the others have spare bedsheets or something, but for now." She gestured to the sheets on the floor. "Here's your bed."
Spike looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. "Thanks Twilight." He said, and gave a small smile of gratitude before trying to make himself comfortable on the ground.
…
When Twilight awoke the next morning, it took her a few moments to remember the events from the previous night. Once she did however, she quickly sat up and looked towards the ground, where Spike was sleeping peacefully. She stared at him, slowly realizing that this meant she hadn't been dreaming. Twilight glanced over at Fluttershy's bed. The other girl was lying down, but awake and watching Spike like Twilight had been doing.
"Fluttershy," Twilight whispered, causing Fluttershy's blue-green eyes to shift towards Twilight. "What are we going to do?"
"About Spike?"
"Yeah!" Twilight hissed. "I mean, we aren't suppost to have anything more than a fishbowl in our rooms." Hiding a dragon didn't seem like an easy task. "We'll get expelled!" She said, a hint of panic in her voice.
Fluttershy laughed softly. "I'm sure he'll be really quiet. Nobody will ever know."
Twilight sighed. "Yeah, but he needs to eat! You know what dragons eat, right?" Fluttershy looked something between amused and uncertain, so Twilight continued. "Okay, me neither, but in books they eat people… like us! And besides that, he's bound to set the place on fire!" The hint of panic in her voice had grown.
Fluttershy shook her head, smiling. "Twilight, everything will be alright. Just take a deep breath." Twilight complied. "Good. I'm sure the princess would never send you anything dangerous. And besides, he seems nice. He wouldn't do anything to hurt us."
Twilight opened her mouth, then thought about what Fluttershy had said. She paused for a moment before continuing. "You… you believe what I said about Princess Celestia last night?"
Fluttershy giggled. "How could I not believe you?" She asked, glancing at Spike. "Twilight, just calm down a bit, I promise everything will be okay." She reassured gently.
Twilight knew that Fluttershy couldn't possibly know that… but on the other hand, if Fluttershy of all people was telling her to calm down, then she had to be at least a little paranoid. Twilight nodded slowly. "You're right… you're right, I'm getting worked up."
"Well, just a little bit." Fluttershy said kindly.
Spike rolled over in his sleep as Twilight watched him. On one hand, she was hoping he would wake up so she could ask more questions, but she was still a tad uncertain… though it wasn't like she had much of a say in any of this. Twilight wished that she understood why this was all happening, but it was all so vague. The elements. Canterlot. Equestria? She was determined to find out more.
…
I don't have a ton to say… other than Fluttershy never seems scared of animals, especially after she gets to know them. Makes sense to me that she'd be calmer than Twilight after the initial WTF factor was over. Also, I apologize for the small typo last chapter (*nothin' not othin'). Mah spellcheck don't much like th'way poor ol' Applejack talks… so, uh, I'm suppost to proofread those parts myself, but I'm not perfect. lol
Still working on the job thing… I had a three hour long group interview today. Whoopie. Yeah I'm wiped. I have another interview on Saturday for an amusement park about fifteen minutes away from my house, which is sort of cool. I have a friend who's a manager there, so hopefully that'll help, right?
Anyways, reviews are always appreciated. Constructive criticism and your opinions are always loved!
