Discoveries
"Spiiiiike! Oh, Spiiiike!"
Silence.
"Maybe he's not here. He didn't go with Twilight, did he?"
"Um, no, he couldn't have, because he was helping me get Angel to take his heartworm medicine yesterday."
Rainbow Dash snorted. "What's so hard about getting a bunny to take a pill?"
Fluttershy flushed. "Um. It's a suppository."
"And that will be QUITE enough of that story, thank you," said Rarity, trotting further inside the castle. "SPIKE!" she called out again.
"Seriously?" asked Dash.
"It comes in two forms," admitted Fluttershy. "And he was being very rude to Discord when I ordered it. I may have been a teeeeensy-weensy bit peeved."
Dash just grinned and bumped a hoof against Fluttershy's shoulder. "Nice."
"Y'all quit horsin' around an' find us that dragon," drawled Pinkie.
"Yeah! Because it's super-awkward having our muzzles swapped like this and not knowing what's about to come out of my mouth is really really really disturbing sometimes especially when I end up saying things I don't even KNOW about and then they come true and Pinkie just gives me that LOOK like I'm stealing her bit and I sort of kind of maybe am but I don't know how to stop doing it so I keep doing it and then I end up eating a dozen cakes at once or something!" exclaimed Applejack. Who then clamped her muzzle between her forehooves in an ongoing effort to stymie herself.
"Twilight?" asked a yawning dragon, opening his door and looking around. "Were you calling?"
"Spikey-wikey!" cried out Rarity, galloping up to sweep Spike into a hug. "You're just the dragon we were looking for!"
"Anything for you, Rarity!" he declared, grogginess instantly forgotten.
"Marvelous, darling," Rarity said, setting him back down with an air of relief. "Would you please be a dear and send Twilight a letter asking her to help us with a little bit of a magical conundrum? I really don't even know quite what caused it, but SOMETHING seems to have transferred Applejack's muzzle onto Pinkie's face and vice-versa."
"Can't you just fix it, Rarity?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I mean, it's just a spell, right? We don't need to bug Twi, just find the right book and you cast it. She was all excited about that thing in the Badlands she wouldn't tell us about."
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Really, Rainbow. Have you ever SEEN me cast a spell? Aside from my gem-finding spell, but that's a Cutie Mark spell, not a scholarly one."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Well, no, but can't you? I mean, just because Twi is better at that kind of stuff doesn't mean you can't, right?"
Rarity sighed. "Rainbow, only a very, very few unicorns are remotely qualified for Celestia's School for Talented Unicorns. Have you ever seen MOST unicorns cast a spell in their entire lives, beyond lifting things or every now and then firing a simple magic blast? Even if we had an appropriate spellbook right in front of me, I wouldn't know where to begin with it."
"Here," said Spike, putting the appropriate spellbook in front of her. He flipped it to the correct page. "Look at this diagram, clear your mind, and picture this bit here moving in a triple-diamond shape, like your Cutie Mark, envision it shifting into the shape of this diagram here instead, and then imagine the whole thing moving up your horn and over to Pinkie and Applejack."
"What?" asked Rarity, taking a half-step back. "Spikey-wikey, darling, I don't think you have, ah, the, shall we say, physical capability for unicorn magic?"
"So?" he said with a shrug. "I went to all Twilight's classes with her once I got old enough. Just because I can't cast anything doesn't mean I didn't learn all the theory. I couldn't do the practical, but I got my diploma too."
"Oh," was Rarity's response. "Erm... repeat those instructions for me, please?"
Spike breathed out his green flame, dropping a notepad and pencil into his claws. "Let me write it out for you."
***
Dear Spike,
Please take the next train to Appleloosa. I've arranged to have a Royal Chariot waiting there for you to take you to the Badlands. I've found something extraordinary, and you deserve to see it yourself.
Sincerely,
Twilight
P.S. Queen Ember will be coming to see this too. Yes, it's Dragon Business.
***
Spike shot out the doors of the traincar the instant they opened. Evidently Celestia's golden chariot hadn't been available, as Luna's somber-hued ride was waiting there instead, complete with a pair of her bat-winged guards. He was in it fast enough that Rainbow Dash couldn't have found fault with his speed. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" he urged them.
"Hold your... dragons," said one of the guards calmly. "We have to wait for Queen Ember. She should be flying in any time now."
"What does she need a chariot for?" asked Spike. "She can fly right there."
"The same reason ponies take cabs in Manehattan when they have perfectly good hooves of their own," the guard said.
"Laziness?" Spike asked, confused.
"Because the cabbies know how to get from point A to point B," the bat-winged guard clarified.
"Oh. So the archaeological thing isn't easy to find?"
The guard shook his head. "If it was easy to find, it would have been discovered before now. The sand got shifted by a storm and uncovered a cavern. A pegasus flying over the area sheltered in it for the night and found some pre-Unification relics there. Wingblades, hornspikes, things like that. I don't know what they've found that got the Princess so excited."
"I guess we wait, then," said Spike, taking a seat. He lasted five seconds before his feet kicked. "Come on, come on... I bet this is how Rainbow Dash feels all the time."
"It's part of guard life too," the guard agreed.
"Yeah, well, usually I have something else to do," Spike commented, scanning the clouds.
"Like what?" the guard asked, interest in his voice.
"I dunno, comics, or cooking, or something?" Spike said. "Why?"
The guard shrugged slightly. "Curiousity. It can't be easy, being a dragon among ponies. We get enough shying away just from our armor's enchantments."
Spike heh'ed, giving their batwings another glance. "Yeah. There is that. I learned that in Canterlot early. Lots of ponies take one look and run screaming from the dragon. So you have to make sure they see something harmless in that first glance."
The guard nodded, and they shared a moment of contemplative silence. Then Spike returned to skywatching.
Queen Ember hadn't arrived by the time the train pulled out. It was almost an hour after that when Spike first spotted dots in the sky. One blue, flanked by a green one on either side. It took forever for them to reach Appleloosa. It gave Spike plenty of time to think of what he could say.
Ember landed, stretched, and flexed her wings. "Hello, Spike," she said, beating him to it.
"Your Highness, your chariot awaits," Spike said anyway, with a grand bow.
Ember cracked her neck, then looked over at the green dragon on her right, who was similarly stretching. "See, guys? That's the kind of thing I keep telling you about," she said to her escorts. They were both far larger than her; their chins, Spike estimated, would have cleared Iron Will's horns with room to spare.
"What kind of thing?" Spike asked cautiously.
Ember climbed into the chariot and ruffled his spikes. He hadn't even known that was possible. "Manners. I asked Celestia for an ambassador, and he's been telling me all sorts of interesting details about how ponies do things. You're the only dragon I know who does them." She gestured at the two green dragons. "You two wait here. That was a long flight. You'll pop your wings if you don't take a rest." Then she gave Spike a look. "And thinking of that, how'd you get here before me? You can't fly."
Spike pointed at the tracks leading out of Appleloosa. "I took the train." She looked blank. Spike cleared his throat. "Uh. Big pony box on wheels that gets pushed by magic so lots of ponies can ride it and go faster than they could walk?"
"So that's what those things are," muttered Ember. "Trains. Okay. Fine. Let's get going. I want to know what Dragon Business came up in ponyland."
The guards didn't need to be told twice. They might have had guard training, they might have trusted that Princess Twilight wouldn't summon pony-eating dragons for a visit, but getting more distance between them and the two green dragons was plenty of incentive. The idea of getting more distance from Spike never crossed their minds.
The cavern was a quarter of the way around the outer mountainous 'wall' of the Badlands. Piles of sand and a magical barrier made it easier to spot from the air, but Spike could see that most of the sand had been moved recently. Twilight's doing, no doubt. Based on how far down it was, only the first few feet at the top could have been exposed when that pegasus sheltered there. Spike and Ember spent the flight catching up. Ember's stories had a repeating theme of "Say this, repeat it louder, give up and use the scepter."
Twilight was waiting inside. She wasn't bouncing on her hooves in excitement, but Spike could read the flicks of her tail and see that she was holding back for diplomatic reasons. "Hi, Twilight!" he called, and climbed down from the back of the chariot.
Ember hopped over the side. "So, what's this you have to show me?" she asked without preamble, then squawked as Twilight gave her a hug.
"It's good to see you too, Queen Ember," Twilight said gleefully. "Let's go in and..." She turned, but the side passage she headed for was blocked off by an old-looking wooden door with a thick metal lock on it. "Oops!" she declaimed. Spike promptly grew suspicious. She was a terrible liar. "I must have locked that behind me. Spike, could you get that?"
"Sure thing, Twilight," he said anyway. He stepped up to the door and inhaled.
"Wait!" cried out Ember, holding out a claw. "What's in there? Don't burn it all down!"
"Don't worry," said Spike, and aimed a tight green blast of fire at the lock. The metal drooped like wet clay and fell from the wooden door, landing in the sand underfoot.
"..." said Ember, staring.
"... What?" asked Spike, glancing between Ember and a strangely gleeful Twilight. "... What?"
"How did you do that?" asked Ember blankly.
"Do what?" Spike asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "Breathe fire? C'mon, I know that's a dragon thing..."
"Breathing fire, yes," said Ember, tilting her head as she looked at him oddly. "But that's a wooden door, and wood does this thing called 'burning' when you breathe fire on it. And there's no way ANY baby dragon should be able to get a fire hot enough to melt metal like that. Most ADULT dragons don't get hot enough for that. But you just blasted the lock clean off, and barely a scorch on the door. How'd you do that?"
"Umm... I breathed on it, I guess?" answered Spike, taking another look at the door. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to?" He summoned up a notepad and pencil. "Did I do it wrong?"
Ember just gaped at him. "What in the WORLD was that?" she demanded.
"I... learned how to store things with my flame?" Spike hesitantly said.
Ember stared. "How exactly do you store things inside a fire? Paper things, even!"
"I think there's two factors at play here," said Twilight merrily. "One is in there. But the other, I think Queen Ember can answer. Ember, what do most dragons eat at Spike's age? Or size, anyway?"
"Rocks?" she answered cautiously, still looking at Spike. "A gem every now and then if they can find one, every year or two. They're good for a growing dragon. Stronger scales, sharper claws, stronger muscles, things like that. Most adults guard their hoards from younger dragons who just want the gems."
"... Every year or two?" said Spike faintly, trying to imagine that.
"They're not easy to come by," protested Ember.
"Not, like... every day or two?" Spike asked anyway.
"Just how is a young dragon supposed to get gems every... day... or..." Ember trailed off, eyes widening as she looked at Twilight.
Twilight beamed. "Growing up in Canterlot helped a lot in that regard, I think. I'm pretty sure Spike's much, much, much stronger and tougher than any dragon his age has been for a long, long time. Spike, you've carried Rarity's luggage on your own, haven't you? And I've lifted it all magically, and I know for a fact that grown stallions have collapsed under all that."
Ember gave Spike a new look. Appraising. "You did pull me out of the water and swim all that way carrying me," she said. "I didn't think about it then, but a baby dragon shouldn't have been able to make that swim at all. And Garble mentioned once about you swimming in the lava with them. You should barely have been able to dig in it, at your size."
"Uh... so what's the other factor, Twilight?" Spike diverted. Just the idea of getting one gem every couple of YEARS was making him feel weak. There wasn't anything WRONG with rock, of course, but it just wasn't nearly as satisfying. And one gem? Not even one bowl of gems, but one single solitary gem?
"Through here," Twilight said, and pushed the door open. When she did, Spike realized that the bottom swung over the sand - and the exposed wood on the hinge side was much too fresh to have been an original part of the cave. Cautiously, he followed after. Ember did as well, right claws on her chin, regarding him thoughtfully.
The chamber beyond had one thing that captured Spike's attention instantly. A skeleton of a dragon, the size of a train car, on its side against the far wall, all four legs splayed out.
"... Where are her wings?" asked Ember quietly.
Twilight lighted a spark in the air. Writing appeared on the wall. An unsteady, scratchy script, but clearly writing. Spike couldn't understand the language, though.
"'Changed,' it says," Twilight translated quietly. "The writing is fragmentary. I think she was fighting to remember even as she was writing. 'Made us things. Fire and greed. Horn inside my throat. Breathe magic. Walk ponies for slaves. Wing ponies into wing things, breed things. I breathe escape. I not breed things. Few magic things. Many wing things.'"
There was a long silence.
"You meant 'dragons,' not 'things,' didn't you, Twilight?" Spike said unsteadily. "She had a horn and magic."
"She breathed magic," Ember agreed quietly. "Like you, Spike."
"Yes," said Twilight. "Someone, a long time ago, turned unicorns and pegasi into dragons. But today, almost all the dragons we know can fly."
She turned her horn toward a side wall. The light shifted, illuminating five curved shapes, still half-buried in the sand. There was one divot next to them, where some sand had filled in a hole. It didn't look recent.
"How do you feel about some little brothers and sisters, Spike?"
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Interesting. Ill be back for the next chapter.
It is intresting. Will there be any more?
7971419
Not that I'm planning on at this point, though I reserve the right to be fickle and/or inspired later. I just felt like a random bit laying out a few bits of personal headcanon and one hey-that's-neat idea.
Headcanon: Spike got a full education about magical theory, since he was with Twilight, while most unicorns learn only basic telekinesis. It rarely comes up because Twilight is usually with him when there's magic to do, and she's a doctorate to his master's degree.
Headcanon: Spike got a much better diet during his upbringing, and so is much stronger and tougher than a normal dragon his age. He shrugs off things that should be bone-shattering with ease, his scales are very strong, and he carries loads that make stallions collapse.
Headcanon: Spike learned early to present himself to ponies as harmless, because otherwise they notice that he's a predator.
Headcanon: SOMETHING about Twilight hatching Spike gave him a magical super-boost or something similar, since no other dragons seem to have any magical properties to their fire at all.
Idea: Spike is the only wingless dragon and only magic dragon; he is more akin to a unicorn than a pegasus. And in an earlier incarnation of MLP, there was a villain who liked turning ponies into his enslaved dragons...
Pretty neat, all things considered. It's a tad sparse, but only in the sense that there's much that could be followed up on. The interactions felt really genuine, and I would not be averse to seeing more.
Nice bit of headcanon there.
7971439 ah, makes sense but the story just seems short-lived, especially considering how you ended it.
Oh come on you can't end it there, just as I was getting hooked >.<
A fascinating idea, though I would've loved to see you do more than just present it. And while I can see how you intended the bit at the start to act as foreshadowing, it ends up feeling like a disconnected chunk of another story entirely.
In all, this is an unhatched egg of a story in need of further incubation. I hope you revisit the idea.
Also, five bucks says Discord was involved somehow.
If you ever continue this, please let me know.
To quote the CMC “ Oh come on” this cliff hanger is so high you can't even see the bottom.
orig12.deviantart.net/3440/f/2016/235/a/4/unique_sapphire_by_hillbe-daf21ul.jpg
more please
yes! 
brothers? 
sisters? 
twins? 
omelets? 
7972636
Heh!
And it is notable that Spike shares Twilight's primary colors...
7973374 born with her magic ...poof he's part unicorn?.... beats the Cake twins (earth ponies having unicorn and Pegasus babies? Oh Mrs. Cake !?!)
img03.deviantart.net/4489/i/2016/228/0/9/family_photo_by_hillbe-dae7kt7.jpg
Excellent way to show your headcanons sir
, and i agree with you with most of them, especially the strenght one, lifting someone out of the water that is almost three time bigger than you AND to top it off with an golden armor? only powerfull unicorn could do that.
in the diet of the other dragons i kind of disagree, as we see both the normal dragons and spike, once they got a hoard, the greed make them to think thats is better to keep any object they have locked and secure, they dont use it in any way. maybe normal dragons dont eat enough gems because they fear they cant restore their hoard as quickly as spike can do.
either way this fiction goes to my fav section!
Interesting headcanon.
Nice headcannon, but I think the masses an myself demand moar
I am reminded of a particular animated movie with a particular set of ponies whom were changed into dragon-things by a black rainbow found in a bag which was in the hand of one particular centaur... *And I just now noticed the author already brought that up in an earlier comment*
This story FEELS like it need to have more. Sure, it could work as a one-shot that helps others springboard the imagination, or we can get more awesomeness out of Fluttershy being stern to Angel!
Very interesting and believable. Would like to see more about the difference between, Spike and other dragons, in stories and the show.
Oh sweet merciful God and mighty God-Emperor, yes.
Yes.
YEEESSSS!
7971439
If the Rainbow of Darkness turned ponies into the original dragons, why didn´t the Rainbow of Light or the Elements of Harmony turned them back all into ponies?
The dragon is better in unicorn magic than an actually unicorn?
Rarity, go back to magic kindergarden. Now.
(Had she succeded or is she still waiting for Twilight's return)
But I really didn't get the last quarter of the story.
Just what did they find inside the cave, and, most important, what does it mean?
7980653
That's a bit of my headcanon for Spike, yes. Basically the only unicorns we ever see casting spells other than 'lift thing' 'zap thing' or 'make horn glow' in the show are unicorns who have 'magic' as a special talent in some way (like Twilight, Trixie, and Starlight Glimmer). So I think that learning to do more than the basics with unicorn magic is an unusual thing, and generally only ponies with a specific reason to do so ever learn what's involved. Rarity doesn't need to go back to Magic Kindergarten - she passed that. But she never learned anything else about it. On the flipside, Spike has been with Twilight Sparkle for his whole life, and she's been a study-holic ubernerd. Of course he's going to have learned a lot about it along the way, even if he can't cast it!
As for the ending: a unicorn-turned-dragon escaped before she could be forced to lay her eggs in captivity. She found a cave and managed to carve some information in a wall of the cave before expiring. There are five magic-dragon eggs there - and one spot where one was removed, suggesting that the removed egg was Spike himself.
7980911
Ah, now I get it.
And now Celestia would have to explain how she got the egg in the first place...
7981029
Most likely? A pony found it, could only carry one, presented it to Celestia as a gift, and before anyone could go back, it got buried in a sandstorm, and no one could find it again until now.
Very interesting. I've seen more then a few people write stories that help to explain the many differences between Spike and other dragons. I will say that this is one of the more unique explanations I've seen and it does a very good job of coming up with logical in universe reasons for his differences.
Though didn't Gauntlet of fire establish that Spike is at around the same age as dragons like Ember and Gable? Maybe I'm miss remembering but it seemed all the dragons that competed were in the same age bracket.
7988251 That was an odd thing to me, yes. There were no older or larger dragons competing at all - so apparently only younger dragons have any interest in being the ruler of all dragons? But I believe it was established that Garble is an adolescent dragon, and Spike is a baby dragon, so I'm still assuming that they're older.