//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: To rekindle the flame // by Sky Trotter //------------------------------// Walking over to his bed, Obsidian pondered to himself the nature of the relationship that he now found himself in with the young princess as well as her young charge. Speaking to himself “I still find it astounding that Celestia never told her about the soul bonding.” No sooner had the words left his muzzle when a brilliant flash of light exploded in his room. Blinking away the afterimages, he felt two solid hands grip his shoulders and force him against the wall. “YOU TOLD HER WHAT!!!!!!” Still recovering from the flash bang of her entry, he realized that it was Celestia who had appeared in his room. Responding to her outburst, he replied: “Of course I told her, both she and her son have a right to know.” "I realize that but….How do you expect her to cope with that, they are both so young. Twilight has never had this kind of responsibility.” He looked into her eyes with a gaze that oozed annoyance. “Then please, explain to me when were you planning to tell her about her relationship with her son?” he quickly scanned the room to check for soundproofing spells, upon finding them firmly in place he continued. “From what I can tell, she has been acting as his mother for some time now, how could this change the dynamic between the two of them?” Princesse Celestia blushed at his response as he continued. “They have the right to know what they are to one another. Would you rob him of his family? To understand where he comes from and from the bond that a mother and son can have? Now knowing what I do about them, this is going to be interesting. I suspect that if Spike has had any interaction with other dragons, he would have already noticed that he is different. I saw that something was off about him during our first interaction. How many Purple dragons have you ever met before Princess? He is utterly unique, and to be honest. After having met him, I am excited to see how high he can fly.” Celestia looked at him with a mournful eye, “I realize that they needed to know, I just wanted her to have a little more of her foalhood before everything falls into place.” Showing a warm smile “I know that you must care for her deeply. All of your pupils have always carried a distinct air about them. They are driven, but they all suffer from the rather bad care of neurosis. We both know what that can do to the mind, lest we forget the brothers.” Celestia slowly turned her head and stared at him with a gaze that could have liquefied steel. “don’t speak about them, they represent one of my greatest failures” her eyes fell “as well as one of my greatest successes.” With understanding, Obsidian nodded “I know how it must pain you. They were both once great assets to the empire. But unless you work to break down the barriers that exist, force them to deal with it…” the silence that existed between them was deafening. Taking a deep breath “We must use our experience in this situation, to avoid the mistakes of the past. They needed to know, and I can think of no reason why this would hurt them. I imagine that up to this point that they were like siblings. Being an older sister is not so much different from being a mother. Although I am curious, do you know which dragoness it was that laid his egg?” Her response did not come quickly, averting her eyes from looking at him “That is a bit of a touchy subject. His hen didn’t want her identity revealed. Her passing the egg to me was of the most secret nature. No one knew that she had even had another egg.” Nodding with understanding, Obsidian responded “I get that. However, I would very much like to know. It could offer some good insight into what kind of abilities I can expect to see from him. As you know, a dragon gets a vast amount of their power from their hen.” Celestia turned her back on Obsidian before she continued. “I know, and you will be surprised to know that you and Spike have quite a bit in common... Most especially since you share the same hen.” Obsidian was very old. Some would say that he had experienced everything, he had thought that he was beyond surprise of any kind. However here he was, Blown away with what he had just been told. He responded In a voice that was almost too calm, “what do you mean we share the same hen?” Turning back to face him Celestia locked his eyes in a gaze as she stated it again “exactly what I said, Spike and you share the same hen. After you disappeared off the face of Equis, apparently you hen was so broken hearted that she had lost you, she must have sought comfort in any way she could, Spike’s egg was the result of that. As you know she was forbidden to hatch another egg after you, so rather than give it to your clan to be destroyed, she gave it to me. I kept it safe for 300 years. I had no idea that eggs could stay dormant for that kind of time. That is why we started to use it as a test to monitor how a foal handled failure. Twilight was a surprise in every way, not only did she succeed in doing what was thought to be impossible, but she also grew so much.” Her eyes began to tear up. “I think of both of them as my foals.” Still shocked he dropped his eyes to the floor “I guess the matriarch was right. She did have a cursed womb.” Celestia turned on him with anger in her eyes “Your hen did not have a cursed womb, she gifted this world with two dragons that I love dearly, even if one of them is a bit of a child, and I am not speaking of Spike right now.” Chuckling he countered “You would be one of the few that think that way, my entire clan, to this day likely still think of me as the worst possible thing to have happened to them. Thoe I am happy that my mother found love again.” Thinking on it further he continued “By the way, do you know how she is doing? I kind of lost touch and stopped corresponding with her quite some time ago.” The pain in Celestia’s eyes spoke volumes “She…oh Obsidian I am sorry but… She is no longer with us in the mortal realm. She…” Raising his hand, “Please… do not continue. I understand, if you would not mind, please I need some alone time. There is much I must think about. I need to digest this information.” Celestia turned to face her once greatest friend “I understand if you decide to tell Spike… well, I guess at that point it is family business. But please do not hold yourself responsible for her passing. We both know that she would not want you to.” She turned as if to leave then continued “If you ever want to know more, I am willing to tell. Goodbye Obsidian” And with a small pop accompanied with a blink of light, she was gone. Now alone in his room, Obsidian took a shuddering breath “I have a brother, and our hen is dead.” Lying his head down in his hands, he dropped to his knees his head on the bed and began to weep. _______________earlier that night_______________________ Back in the sitting room, Twilight and Spike sat in silence. Having decided to break the awkward silence, Twilight looked at Spike and spoke up. “So… I’m your mother. That is um…” Spike looked over at the purple alicorn sitting next to him. I-I’m not sure what to think about this. I mean, I kind of thought of you that way already.” Jolting from surprise, she looked at the small purple dragon “Really? You already looked at me like that.” He responded with a slight smile “Well yeah, I mean you were the first pony that I ever saw. You helped raise me; you kept me fed, you taught me everything I know. I mean I know that Celestia did a lot of the work when you were little, but I always thought of you as my mother.” Twilight felt her heart melt, as her eyes began to glisten with tears she pulled Spike into a hug “I never knew, I feel like such a failure. All your life you have thought of me like that and all I saw was something akin to a little brother. I’ve treated you so poorly.” No longer able to hold it back she began to cry into his shoulder. Seeing the mare that had been there for him all of his life crying because of this, caused a deep ache in Spike’s chest. He responded by pulling her closer into the hug, rubbing the back of her head as he held his mother. “shhh, it’s okay… we will get through this... mom.” Twilight hiccupped “y-you called m-me mom.” Smirking with his crooked toothy grin “well you always have been to me. All this means is that I get to call you that out loud now.” Looking up at him Twilight smiled as tears streamed down her cheeks “y-you have really have grown up haven’t you.” She responded as more of a statement than a question. Pushing her back a bit to look at her Spike responded “yeah I guess I have. You have always been there for me you know. You taught me how to read, you taught me how to talk, everything. You have been my mom my whole life, and if this means I am allowed to finally call you what I have wanted to call you my entire life. If this means that I finally have a real family to call my own. Why would I ever want to give that up.” Smiling back at the young purple dragon “I guess this means I need to tell my parents that they have two grandfoals now. I also get to tell Cadence that I was a mom first.” The two held each other close as they experience their first mother and son moment. The day continued forward into the evening, Obsidian stayed in his room until the evening, trying and at times failing to deal with the death of his hen, and the revelation about his younger brother. At a little past seven in the evening a knock at his door disturbed him from his musings “Um… Obsidian it is time for dinner. I’m not sure what you like so I just stuck to what I know. We have hay burgers with hay fries. I added some ruby shards to ours. I hope that’s okay; they are kind of one of my favorites.” Obsidian smirked and let out a small chuckle “yes that is fine. They are one of my favorites as well.” Standing up he went to his door to open it and looked down at the small worming, “And to keep this professional, it would be appropriate for you to call me master, as this will be the nature of our relationship for quite some time. Keep in mind, this will not be some fly by night training. What we are looking to undertake will take many years to master.” Spikes eyes grew wide “really…years. Um… do you have any idea how many?” Smirking and allowing a glint of glee to enter his eyes “I would think no less than two to three hundred to get everything down.” The color drained from the smaller dragons face “t-t-two to three hundred years?!” Locking eyes with Spike, Obsidian continued“Yes young one. I have no intention to give you any less than a full education. We have much to learn. But at the same time, we have a seemingly endless amount of time in which to learn it and don’t worry about your mother. She will be around for it all. Alicorns are immortal, just as you and I are. We will not die as long as we are not directly killed. Interestingly enough it is harder to kill an alicorn than it is to kill a dragon. My deepest wish is that you will not have to say goodbye to her for many millennia.” Spike’s eyes seemed to stretch even further “really, we are. I guess that explains why I am still so short.” Smirking Obsidian asked “just as a guess you are what? 17 years of age.” Looking into Obsidian’s black eyes, Spike nodded. Obsidian continued. “Well, then young one tell me when was your hatching day?” A smile broke across Spikes' face “It’s next week on Friday. Why do you ask?” Obsidian’s face broke into a grin, his fangs now on display “oh you will see, let us just say that this is going to be a big hatching day for you. Now before we let your mother waste away from lack of food. Let us go down to dinner.” Following Spike down the hall Obsidian watched as the young wormling walked with a bounce in his step. Thinking to himself ‘yes young one, we have much to learn from one another. When the time is right, I will tell you who your hen was. But for now, please enjoy the full experience of having a loving family.’