"I'm truly sorry, my dears," Mayor Mare told the three of us, "but I'm afraid there are no empty houses left for renting, at the moment."

"Really?" Twilight asked. "Not a single one?"

"Try to understand, Twilight, Ponyville is not very known for being a place for vacation. It has been 10 years already since somepony rented a house, and even more so when we built the last one. I wish I could help, I really do. But right now I'm afraid it will be very difficult for our guest to find a temporary house to stay while curing recovering."

"There's no need for an actual house, for me," I intervened. "An attic or basement would be just fine!"

"My gosh,darling!" Rarity shouted. "You're not being serious, are you? Living in such dusty places..."

"Oh, I can take that," besides, I used to sleep in much worse places," I noted.

"I protest, darling! You're our guest now, and I would never let anypony in such an awfully dirty place!" she countered.

'Yeah, well, when you've slept in a certain boutique that has been abandoned for two centuries, who's walls are caked in vulgar graffiti and with dead cats hanging from the ceiling, then we'll talk about awful places,' I thought to myself. Thankfully, I kept my mouth shut, or somepony there would've had an heart attack...

"Actually," Twilight intervened, "an attic wouldn't be that bad. All we would need to do is making a space big enough for a pony to move around, cleaning it a little from the dust, bring in a bed and a night table with a lamp, and I think it would be enough. Right, Littlepip?"

"Oh, sure. That would be perfect, thank you," hell yeah, it would: couldn't remember the last a time I had a real bed.

"Great. Now the problem would be finding a pony that will let us sort his attic a little bit."

"Uhm, uhm," Mayor Mare called our attention to herself. "If I can give you an advice, I still remember the time when your friend Pinkie Pie came to me asking for a home to stay, and since the problem was pretty much the same you have now, I asked my good friend Cup Cake and her husband if they could host her in their house by turning the attic intoan actual bedroom. What I want to say is that, perhaps, you can ask one of your friends for help..."

I saw Twilight gasping like she just had a moment of enlightment. "That's right! Thank you Mayor, you were a great help," she then looked at both Rarity and me with an excited face. "I know who's the right pony we can ask."

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "Oh I'm sorry darling, but I'm afraid that's impossible for me. My attic is very tiny, and it's full of things I would need in the future for the new dresses I'm working on, and I don't have any other place where..."

"Don't worry, Rarity, I wasn't thinking of you," Twilight said interrupting her friend, Rarity sighing in relief. "I was thinking of a pony with a much bigger attic..."

So at the end, I was returning at Sweet Apple Acres, uh? Returning back when I started my journey, the place where Stable 2 was built... except that, in this case, it wasn't even going to be design until some decades later. Somehow, I felt like somepony above was laughing at me.

We were back in the market again, though this time less ponies were around; enough for me to not feeling out of breath again. Twilight and Rarity were once again a couple of meters away from me, discussing with eachothers about the situation.

"Twilight, darling, are you really sure really that's a good idea? I mean, not to have prejudices about Applejack and her family, but they're not quite the cleanest ponies around, you know?"

"Nonsense, Rarity," Twilight protested. "I visited their farm more than once, and I can assure you that, while they deal with soil and mud all the day, they're as clean as anypony else in town when they're not working. Not just that, but they're also some of the most hospitable ponies you can find around. Trust me, Littlepip will feel like home!"

The two mares continued discussing about the matter, but I could hardly listen to them at the moment. My eyes were staring at a strange creature: a bipedal purple lizard, with light-green spikes that run from the top of its head along the center of its back, stopping only at the tip of the tail, was buying at one of the market stands. It was also pretty little, not bigger than a little filly or colt, and with a pretty chubby built. None of the ponies there were looking at it when it passed them, which meant that it probably was another inhabitant of the place. But the strangest thing of al was that I was pretty sure I had seen those green spikes somewhere else...

A the end, it was Twilight who noticed it as well;

"Oh look, it's Spike. I was wondering if he returned home or not."

Wait! How did she called him?!

The two mares changed direction and went toward him. "Ooh, Spikie!" Rarity called with a very girlish tone, "What are you doing here in the market all alone?"

Spike? She called that lizard creature... Spike?!

"Oh, uhm..." he mumbled while blushing, "Nothing special, really. Just buying some fruits and daffodils for dinner tonight. Daffodils are Twilight's favourites, you know!"

It couldn't be! This couldn't be the same Spike I knew; a huge, scary dragon with wings on his back and teeth sharper than blades. This Spike didn't even have wngs!

"Ooh, you're such a gentleman, Spikey-wikey!" Rarity said while caressing his spikes, "Always caring about Twilight's needs firsts."

And yet... the colors of its scales and spikes... and his relationship with the two future Ministry Mares... it all fit altogether!

"Well, yeah, uhm... someone has to buy things to eat, you know." Spike face became even more red. Twilight, in the mean time, was looking around, as to find something to change the topic. Eventually, her eyes pointed at me.

"Oh, by the way Spike, there's somepony here we'd love to present to you", Twilight said while grabbing Spike with her magic and putting him right in front of me. He looked at me with curiosity. "Spike, this is Littlepip. She will stay here for a little while, so we're searching a temporary home for her. Littlepip, this is Spike. He's a baby dragon, and my personal assistant."

"Ehm, hi. Nice to meet you", he said a little shily.

There was no more doubt, now. This was the same Spike I met before. This was Spike... as a child.

I felt the same need to cry I had when seeing Scootaloo, but this time it was even stronger. Right in front of me, there was the one who would've become one of my greatest allies and friends. The dragon who will survive the war, who will see all his friends dying and will only blame himself for it, who will spend two centuries guarding the last hope for Equestria, The Gardens, and who will help me survive the wasteland the first time I will face it. And here he was now standing in front of me, except now he's just a little, innocent child who can't even imagine what kind of tragedy he will face in a not so distant future.

"Uhm... Miss?" Spike called me. I was too deep into my sad thoughts to even paying attention to his voice.

"Littlepip, are you okay?!" Twilight shouted, with a clearly preoccupied tone in her voice.

"Uh... w-what?" I asked while trying my best to look confused.

"You stood still staring at Spike for like ten seconds, is something wro... wait, are you crying?"

I checked my chhecks with my right hoof and noticed that some tears drop out from my eyes. Great, how was I going to explain that?

"Uhmm... well... y-you see, uh..." I stuttered while panic started built inside, when at the last minute I decided for a pretty risky answer, "I loves dragons very much!"

"Oh, really?" Twillight asked interested.

"Yeah, and... well, I never saw baby dragon, not even in books, and seeing how little and cute they look like, uhm... I was moved by it."

Gee, nice played Littlepip. Not even a kid is so naive to fall into that.

"Oh boy, eheh. I'm not so special really," said Spike while blushing and smiling widly. Uh... apparently a child did fell for it.

"Wait, you knew that you love dragons already, or you just remeberd it now?" asked Twilight.

"Uhm... to think about it, it just came into my mind only now."

"Great!" twilight said with joy, "That's another piece of your memory that just came back! Piece by piece, you're regaining all of it."

"Uh?" Spike exclaimed, "Wait, what's the deal with her memory?"

"Oh right, I didn't tell you. We found her unconscious in front of Fluttershy's cottage, and right now she's an amnesiac; she doesn't remeber where she comes from nor why she came here."

"Oh. Boy, i'm sorry about that," he said while looking away with a guilty face.

"Ehm ehm!" Rarity suddenly called the attention to herself, "Sorry to interrupt you all darlings, even you Spikey-Wikey, but I think we should hurry to Sweet Apple Acres already. It's almost late afternoon, and I have orders from very important ponies to work on."

Yeah, you're right Rarity," Twilight apologised. "Spike, you can go back to the library now. I'll accompany Littlepip to Applejack and her family, then I'll head back home."

Spike nodded, but before moving on there was something I felt the urge to do. "W-wait, Twilight! Before we go, I... uhm, well..." The request was pretty weird, but it was something I wanted so badly, even without really knowing the reason. "Can I... can I hug Spike, please?"

The was silence for a couple of seconds, I think, and I felt all three of them looking at me like a weirdo. The hay was I thinking again?!

"Uhm... sure, no problem with that!" answered Twilight. "Just... can you please explaine why?"

"Well, it's... uhm..." Come on, Littlepip, think of something! "It's because I love dragons! Yeah, I... saw many pictures of them, but never actually met one in person... let alone a baby one."

"Oh, I see now! Guess I'm nopony to deny you this privilege, then. Spike, let her hug you please."

"Uhm... okay," he said while blushing a little. He came closer to me with his arms open; I made him come against my tummy and wrapped my fore legs around him. For the firs time in my life, I was feeling the scales of a dragon against my body. They were surprisingly softer nd warmer then I expected them to be. His big head was right next to my neck, and the paws wrapped around my back. I never hugged someone this little before; it was... nice.

Why was I doing this? It's... hard to explain. I really don't have a straight answer myself. Perhaps it was a way to thank him for all the help he gave me, despite right now it was something that still needed to happen, two centuries from now. Or maybe... it was like a way to comfort his future self. To tell the baby dragon of the past that no matter how bad the future was going to be, everything was going to settle down in the end. Perhaps a hug from someone from his future would be carried as a pleasant memory for him; didn't know how that was going to work, I just hoped so.

Dunno how long me and little Spike hugged eachothers, but eventually a familiar voice broke that long moment. "Uhm, Littlepip..." said the voice of Twilight Sparkle in my hear, almost whispering, "I know by experience that Spike gives the best hugs, but you two have been hugging for quite a while right now. He needs to go back home to clean it a little bit before I'll be back, you know."

I looked at little Spike with subtle expression of sadness; I kinda felt happy in that moment, like hugging a friend I hadn't seen in a very long time. I slowly placed him on the ground again.

"Sorry," I said while an expression of embarrassment spread across my face. "That must've been very awkward for you".

"Oh, nah, not at all," Spike said blushing, while trying to keep a cool demeanor. How cute. "I'm used to have that from Twilight and her friends. that was, uhm, very nice of you. Anyway, gotta get home now. See yah later, Twilight." He said while taking the grocery bags and moving away from us as fast as possible.

I then heard the two mares giggling behind me. "Uhm, what's so funny?" Apart from the obvious of what just happened.

"Oh, nothing Littlepip," Twilight responded. "It's just that we haven't seen Spike being that shy for a long time."

"Indeed," Rarity added, with one more giggle to follow. "Now come on, darlings, let's go. We have lost an awful lot of time."

As we walked out from the town, we took a road surrounded by little hills, covered in green life, like I never saw before: while Twilight and Rarity were up right ahead, talking about things I didn't bother to listen, my mind was lost into a flow of memories and thoughts; since we left Spike, I kept thinking about all that I saw and learned about Equestria and how it was in the past. Suddenly, memories of me telling Pinkie Pie to tell everyone about the bombs, but Pinkie refusing to because it was "a secret", and yet she still worked out things for me to uncover the past and found a way to heal Equestria... maybe, that was the point; maybe I shouldn't try to change the past, because things will already repair themselves, and any kind of forced intervention would make anything null. But if that's so... then what am i doing here? Is my presence here, in the past, a mistake? What did cause it then? I spent the entire walk trying finding answears, only to returning into the same point everytime, like running in circle with no way out. In the end, no more time remained to find explenations...

"There we are, Littlepip. Look..." Twilight called me back to reality. The part of the road we were now made us standing right above those little hills, and right in front of us, not much in the distance, there was a building I was familiar with... except I didn't realize that immediately; it was the barn of the Apple family's farm, but instead of the ruins I saw before, this time the barn was standing up in all it's massive presence. My jaw was hanging out. I never realize how amazingly built the barn was, in times of peace; the bright lilac of its walls and the violet of its roofs made it standing apart from the green of the hills, creating an hipnotizing effect similar to those of some pre-war paintings I saw that time didn't ruined completely.

"That's Sweet Apple Acres, were our friend Applejack lives," Twilight explained to me; not that I was paying much attention, too occupied being mesmerized by the barn, even when all the other building of the farm were in sight. "Oh... well, i can see you like the place already, eheh."

"W-what?" I asked her, called back to reality. "N-no, it just... uhm... uh..." I babbled while while becoming red on the cheecks.

"It's okay, don't be embarrassed," she said while patting her hoof on my back. "I had the same reaction, when seeing it like this, the first time. My friends, the Apple family, aren't just good at picking apples from trees, they're pretty good at constructing farm buildings."

Hearing those words made my mind going back to the memory orbs that showed me Applebloom and how she projected the Stables, Luna's school, not to mention the entire technology behind the pip-bucks. Yep, they were really gifted into building stuff. "Yeah... I know," I inadvertently said while smiling melanchonically.

"What? You... know??"

"Oh! Uhm, yeah, uh, I mean I know because i just saw it in front of me, eheh..." I swear to Celestia's big rump, I would've smash my head on tree one hundred times in a row, if I could at the moment...

We continued our way by climbing down the little hill, until we were in front of the farm's gate, the house of the Apples staying right in front of it. I sighed inside of me; I was now going to see once again the place where my journey started, but being so much different then how I saw it the first time; different in a form that was too much beautiful to be real.

But hey, maybe everything was going to be just fine. Maybe...

Author's Notes:

From the deep side of my heart, I am awfully sorry for the long wait for this chapter; some of you might thought thise fic to be dead, with good reason. It wasn't, I just had a block of sort, what with all the things that I was involved during these year, and with just a deep laziness overall. And despite this, many of you still came and liked my incomplete story, despite no updates whatsoever. It means that my story means something for you, and I'm so happy about it :3. I assure you though, no more long waits like this one; I have no intention to just leave this story, like many others did with their fics, and I'll do my best to make the time between chapters to be as brief as possible...

In the meantime, there's another fic I just started... a pretty "hot" one. Will post the first chapter of it soon ;).

And that's all for now, thank you again for your faves and likes...