Attempted automated wordcount. Please use LibreOffice/MSOffice for an accurate count: 3080

thanks, author! If you wish to have this removed from this list, email ra.llan.pcl+complaints @ gmail.com, making sure to provide proof that you are the author.

                                                 Prologue:

It was a frigid winter night. A filly was curled up in front of an open flame dancing in the moonlight that surrounded the world. A green and purple speckled egg lay in a nest of twigs in the back of the room. To the young Twilight Sparkle, the egg was a very curious item. Princess Celestia told her that a great friend would one day emerge from it but the idea seemed very silly to her. Occasionally the egg would make a slight movement and a crack would dart across the side, but it would not hatch. Tonight was already different than those times. Not only had the egg been making sounds all night, cracks were formed all along the top and side. The filly walked over to the egg and looked at it quizzically. Is tonight the night that she would finally solve the mystery? The answer came very quickly for pieces of the egg started falling off. Twilight’s face lit up and she watched intently. It shook vigorously until silence fell in the room. For a few moments nothing moved. Then, like Celestia said, a little creature appeared on top of the shell fragments. It was about half of the size of Twilight and she was already quite small. The creature yawned a mighty yawn and tried to shake the pieces of shell on his back and tail. It seemed as if it didn’t notice the pony yet and continued to clean itself up. Could the thing talk? And most importantly, what was it? It obviously wasn’t a pony, though Twilight didn’t know where ponies came from either. Maybe that’s how all ponies look when they are born. She had so many questions, but since she was only a filly she was very tired. She walked back to the cozy fire and lay down on a blanket in front of it. Her questions could wait till tomorrow morning…

                Twilight Sparkle woke the next morning with a big smile. Hopefully she would learn about the thing that came out of that strange egg last night. She stood up, stretched, and let out a big yawn. She gave a glance towards the old dirty nest that housed the un-hatched egg just the day before. But something was wrong. The creature that she met yesterday was NOT there. Where did it go? Maybe it wandered off! It could get hurt! Twilight walked around the house yelling, “Whatever you are, come out please!” Her attempts to find the creature had been unsuccessful. She needed help. Help from a big strong pony. An idea popped into her head. Princess Celestia! She would want to hear about the egg hatching in the first place and she could do help Twilight with anything!

She threw open the front door to her little home and surveyed the outside. It was a beautiful day even though the tree’s were bare and snow blanketed the ground. She remembered that she left her scarf hung up on the rack, but it was too late to go back now. For all she knew, the thing might be in some sort of danger! The filly ran for what seemed like an hour. Finally, she approached the large metal gate that was the entrance of the palace where Princess Celestia lived. The guard ponies stopped Twilight as she nearly slammed into the gate.

“Name please.” The first guard growled.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and I need to see the princess IMMEDIATELY. Its very important.”

The guards gave each other a quick glance then returned their ice cold gazes back towards Twilight.

“State your business with the Princess.” The second said. They were ponies of few words.

“Well, I had this egg and then the egg hatched in the night and then a little thing appeared on top of it! I didn’t know what it was, so I planned to show it to the Princess tomorrow but now its gone and I don’t know what to do!” Twilight said rather quickly. The guards again shared looks, but instead of them looking angry they looked confused. They exchanged a quick nod. She wished they would stop doing that.

“Follow me.” Guard one said, still keeping the gruff accent. She looked back at guard number two and saw that another armored pony had already replaced the one that was guiding her right now.

When they walked into the palace halls Twilight gasped. The place was magnificent! Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and glittered like stars as the sunlight hit them. The walls were adorned with beautiful paintings and plaques. Stallions and mares were all wearing the most formal attire and carrying trays filled with food samples and beverages. She had never seen the inside of the palace this busy. Heck, she had barely ever seen the palace to begin with. They finally arrived in front of a large wooden door. The guard stopped Twilight and proceeded to list a bunch of things she had to take into consideration when talked with the princess.

“Address your princess with ‘your Highness’ and ‘your Excellency’. Never talk unless spoken to. Do not...” He continued to list rules while Twilight wondered about what she would tell the Princess. And on the occasions she had talked with the princess before, she would answer with strange answers like “Soon, you will find the answer.” This bothered Twilight a great deal and she decided that today she would not accept silly answers such as those.

“Miss, are you ready?” the guard inquired, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.

“Yes I am sir. Thank you.” She said, and gave a little bow towards him. Before he turned to open the door, she saw him give a small smile. She felt confident.

The great door swung open and she was led into a very large room with a throne at the far back. Princess Celestia’s mane wavered in the wind as graceful as a butterfly. Guards were positioned at the bottom of the incredibly large throne. As Twilight approached the group of guards next to her, she was something lying next to the Princess. It looked like the creature she saw last night... But it couldn't be! How would it know to come all the way to castle? And how would it get in without the guards noticing it? She was even more confused now than she was last night or in the morning. Twilight gave a bow to the Princess before she started speaking. But when she tried to speak, her mouth became dry and she was speachless. Celestia gave a little laugh.

“Hello Twilight Sparkle. I was expecting you here.” The Princess said. This snapped Twilight to attention.

“Good morning your highness.” She gave another short bow, “I’m here because of... Well... That.” She pointed her hoof at the small creature lying next to Celestia.

“Remember the evening when I left the egg in your care and said that a great friend would one day break out of it?” Twilight nodded. “Last night was that night. This ‘creature’ is what they call a dragon and he shall stay with you through thick and thin.” Princess Celestia said.

Twilight understood. She didn’t TOTALLY understand but she knew that the dragon would be her responsibility. Maybe it would be a great friend like the Princess said. But how could that possibly happen?

“What is his name then?” Twilight inquired. If she was going to take care of him she might as well know his name.

“I think I shall call him Spike. Yes, the name is very fitting for a dragon such as him.”

The Princess led the tiny dragon up to Twilight and nodded.

“He is a large responsibility but it will pay off. You will one day understand.”

Twilight hated when she said things like that.

                            FIVE YEARS LATER...

                Twilight’s book bag was weighing her down. Earlier in the day she was scouring the school library, and now she was headed back to her medium sized home. Today was a hard day. She had a boatload of assignments to do and the bullies never left her alone. They would call her awful things and throw her things around. Princess Celestia always said that they were just jealous of her special talent... Not that she had one. More than half the ponies in her class already had their cutie mark but some of the others didn’t too and she remained neutral with them. It wasn’t the cutie mark that the bullies took advantage of; it was the fact that she spent more time studying and having a thirst for knowledge than the other ponies. She sighed. At least she knew that at home she would find comfort. Her young dragon friend, Spike, always tried to counsel her after she dealt with a hard day. For being so young, he was very mature. Well at least he was sometimes when he wasn’t fooling around.

At first, Twilight didn’t like the responsibility. Taking care of a baby dragon was hard work, like the Princess had said but she didn’t know it was THAT hard. Sure he was a handful at times but it had all been worth it. After about a year he started to talk and actually say intelligent things. It was very interesting. It almost seemed that he learned things while he was inside of the egg. He continued to grow up, as did Twilight, and they both learned new things. Spike from another larger dragon he occasionally met during the week and Twilight learned from school. On the way home from school she always tried to reminisce about happier times. She remembered a whole day that she got to spend with Princess Celestia as she approached the front door of her house. The Princess had moved her from her previous home into a larger one with a full library. The day Twilight saw the expansive wall of books, she knew she was in paradise. She knocked on the door, which was already a bit silly since she already lived there but she thought it would be courteous to knock, as Spike could have guests over. The small door swung open and Twilight was happily met by Spike’s toothy grin.

“Well hiya Twilight! You didn’t have to knock you know” He said jubilantly.  He always seemed to be in a good mood.

“Its always polite to knock!” She said back to him, pretending to be just as joyful. He opened the door and let Twilight in the house and she threw her heavy book bag to the floor. She let out a sigh of relief as the pack slid off of her. As much as she liked to read, it had its downsides such as the bullying and the weight of the books. She strolled into the house and shut the door behind her.

“How was today? Just like usual?” He asked. Twilight recalled the day’s events. Nothing really stuck out besides the fact that the bullies found even more ways to torture her. She gave a tiny sigh.

“No, it’s as bad as usual. Glitter says hello, by the way.” She said as Spikes face flushed a bright pink.

“She - She did? Go tell her I said hi back. Right now.” At this, Twilight gave a small chuckle. Glitter had been Spike’s crush for about a year now. Even though he was so young he still could know whether a filly was beautiful or not, he would always say. Spike wasn’t great with ponies as he always got nervous around them.

“Don’t be silly; she’s probably not even home yet. And lets not forget the last time you made me carry messages for you.”

The last time she helped the two, all it resulted in was a very awkward conversation and left her hooves aching. Spike gave Twilight a wave of dismissal and headed back up to his bed on the upper floor.

Twilight unlaced the cream colored book-bag and carefully placed her schoolbooks on a near by table. She gave another heavy sigh and proceeded  to take a seat at the table. It was just going to be another average night. Do homework, maybe read a book, and go to bed. She started to prepare for the rest of the day by sorting out what to do first. The nice chime of a doorbell broke her concentration. That was strange. Most ponies didn’t come to see her, as she wasn’t the most social person. She got off her elegant chair, and headed back to the door. She cleared her throat and took on a confused expression as she saw who was standing in the doorway. It was Glitter, Spike’s crush...

        Who was she here to see? Questions popped up all around her mind.

“Hi! I’ve seen you around school studying a lot so I thought that maybe we could study together!” She said enthusiastically. Boy, this pony cuts right to the point.

“Umm, yeah we go to school together. I was just going to read now so you should probably-”

“Great! we should get started now so we can have more time to have fun after!” Maybe too enthusiastic, but who was she to stop her? Twilight pushed the door open all the way, and let Glitter walk in to the house. Glitter was a semi-popular pony in her school but like most, she didn’t have her cutie mark yet. One thing that helped her popularity was her incredible attractiveness. Her dark pink mane fell down to her neck, and around that was an amulet that was a great silver. She had a light yellow body and there was a small braid in her tail that made it look like it was split two ways. The filly was beautiful to say the least. Spike obviously heard the commotion from upstairs and he leaned over the railing and his reactions was priceless. His face turned pale and his eyes grew very wide. Save for a few hello’s and goodbye’s here and there, Spike has never really had a normal conversation with Glitter.

“Oh, who’s up there? Is that Spike? He lives here?!” she asked.

“Yes, he lives here with me. Spike, why don’t you come down here?” Twilight asked politely.

It took him a moment, but he appeared at the top of the stairs with legs quivering slight. He made his way down the stairs and stood in front of Glitter, not saying a word. He quickly snapped out of it.

“Oh! Um, hi ther-there Glitter. Its uh nice to see you!” He said. Glitter took Spike’s claw and shook it profusely even though they have met in the past.

“Well hi there Spikes! I can call you that right?” Spike nodded “Okay that’s great! Thats your what I’ll call you from now on!” She said quite loudly.

“I’m going to go get a textbook that I left under my bed so you can talk with “Spikes” until I get back.” Spike shot Twilight a very nervous glance and she started up the stairs. It was hard to get a word in when talking to the pony, but she seemed like she had good intentions. She could still hear spike trying to speak to Glitter without stuttering or saying something incorrectly. It made her smile a little bit. The book that caught her eye was on the night stand between her and Spike’s bed. Looking at the book alone brought back bad memories. She HATED algebra, but what is due is what to do, as she would always say. Carrying the book with magic, she stood at the top of the stairs and looked down at the two. They were actually having a real conversation. Well, I shouldn’t disrupt them she though as she backed out of view of Spike and Glitter.

        As soon as their conversation became more awkward, Twilight knew it was time to head back downstairs. Glitter noticed her almost immediatly.

“Oh hey TS! Got the whatever book?” She asked.

“Its Twilight Sparkle, and yes I brought the algebra book.” Twilight stated sarcastically.

Spike’s face instantly relaxed and Twilight thought that she saw him give a little sigh of relief after Glitter turned away.

“Well, whatever lets just get to studying. I’ll talk to you later then Spikes!”

“Um, yeah okay. I’ll see you later” He said confidently as he walked back up the stairs with his chin held high.

“What a nice dragon!” She said loudly, but quickly hushed her tone and said, “That’s what he is right, a dragon?”

“Yes, now lets focus on our work okay?” Twilight received a nod from Glitter and they started working for what seemed like hours.

        The sun was almost gone as Twilight closed the door for the final time that day. Studying took quite a long time because Glitter wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed to say the least. Being herself, Twilight almost knew the material by heart already but it was good to talk to another pony every once in a while. She started to walk back up the stairs and when she reached the top she noticed something. Spike wasn’t sleeping like usual, but sitting on the side of his bed kicking his small legs back and forth. Obviously something was wrong here.

“Oh hey Spike. Is there something wrong?” She asked meaningfully. Spike turned to her with a sad looking expression on his usually grinning face.

“I think I royally messed up with Glitter today. I’m just not good with ponies and there are no other dragons around here. Its like I’m all alone here in Canterlot.” He said.

“Spike that’s not true. You probably felt more nervous than you really appeared to be and you are definitely not alone. I’m here with you aren’t I?” Twilight could be a bit socially awkward at times but when it came to Spike, she was great.

Spike looked up with a small grin on his face. “Do you really mean it?”

“Yes Spike, I mean it.” His face brightened even further as Twilight sat next to him on the tiny bed.

“Thanks Twilight. Y’know, you’re a really great friend.” He gave Twilight a small hug. “Just because I’m opening up like this doesn’t mean I like all that girly stuff okay?”

Twilight returned the hug and gave a small laugh.

“Yeah, okay. Maybe I’ll believe you when you grow up” She pushed over Spike and they laughed and started rolling on the bed. It was days like this that made all of that responsibility worth it.