As Spike’s parents twirled their long lost son in their arms, still alternating between crying and cheering with joy, the rest of the group was still standing to one side observing this beautiful reunion.
“Wow, they missed him quite a lot I take it?” said Rarity.
“Can you blame them? They had believed their first born son was dead for over a millennia, now fate has finally returned him to their loving arms.” interjected Yam “the beauty of it all almost brings a tear to my eye.”
Crystal chuckled “well I guess this means they’ll have to tear down that shrine of him.”
“Shrine?” Twilight said with a raised eyebrow.
“Well being an egg, they didn’t really have anything of Artair to bury so they settled for painting a picture of said egg and making a shrine around it; it’s got flowers, jewelry, offerings, the whole nine yards. It’s actually pretty nice, of course now that he’s alive they don’t really need it anymore….” Crystal replied.
Twilight hummed slightly and returned her gaze to the trio of dragons that were hugging it out and the very first thing she noticed was the expressions on the parents’ faces; it was one of happiness and love, pure untainted love for the dragon they had clutched in their arms, like a massive cloud of darkness that had been hanging over their heads for their whole lives had finally been lifted, Twilight could tell that having their son returned to them meant the world to them.
‘They love him, they really love him with all their hearts, maybe even more than I do, could I really take that….no don’t think like that, they could still be hiding their true colors’ Twilight thought to herself.
She stopped her train of thought when a large shadow fell over her, looking up she saw that the dragon she assumed to be Spike’s father was now towering over her, the paragons had taken a step back leaving the elements of harmony completely alone in front of this absolute beast.
The warm and light that had existed moments ago had vanished and gave way to what can only be described as a level of intimidation that struck fear into the ponies right into their very primal instincts that were screaming at them to get as far away from that dragon as possible, but the glare he was giving them had frozen their limbs in place.
He was only slightly taller than Princess Celestia but from Twilight’s perspective he might as well have been a hundred feet tall and his wide ripping muscles bulging under his armor looked like they could crush her head like a watermelon if they wanted to; she had taken on dozens of Equestria’s greatest threats but the dragon standing before her made her want to sink down to the floor in terror.
“So are you the ponies that have been taking care of my son for all this time?” thundered the dragon, the walls themselves seeming to shake with every syllable.
Twilight meekly nodded.
“Have you raised him right? Kept him safe and happy?”
Another nod in response, where was he going with this?
Before she could even realize what was going on, she found herself and all of her friends wrapped up in the dragon’s arms in a massive bear hug, his cheek snuggled into hers.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! Words cannot express the gratitude I feel towards all of you! If there’s anything I can do to repay your kindness you just have to ask.” bellowed the dragon.
The entire group did a collective double take, somehow the overly threatening dragon that had been standing before them mere seconds ago had been replaced by one with a warm and inviting aura, his features softened, and the previous primal fears had dissipated; although the hug seemed to be squeezing the life out of them
“Honestly Frinad do you have to do that every time?” said the female dragon, Spike still cradled in her arms “they’re just ponies.”
Setting Twilight and her friends back on the ground, allowing them to suck in air again, the male dragon turned to address his wife. “You know it’s the only way to ensure they were telling the truth, I wanted to be absolutely sure that their intentions with our son were pure.”
“OKAY TIME OUT!” shouted Rainbow Dash “what are you two talking about?!”
“Oh just a little technique I developed a while back, I call it the dragon engine, it’s a sort of aura I give off that makes me appear far more intimidating than I actually am, and I’m already pretty scary to begin with.” explained the dragon “it causes weaker foes to immediately surrender and prisoners to start spouting the truth in the face of it; I do over my apologizes for using it on you, I was merely attempting to test the strength of your character and whether or not you had actually been treating my son with kindness, the fact that none of you broke down speaks volumes for yourselves and-”
The dragon froze as his eyes sunk to pin pricks and realization washed over him.
“By the gods where are my manners? I haven’t properly introduced myself!” said the dragon before extending a hand towards the group. “I am lord Frinad of the noble dragon clan, co-ruler of the Vlemm Enclave. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“And I am Lady Layla of the noble dragon, the co-ruler of the Vlemm enclave and Frinad’s wife, it’s nice to meet all of you.” added Layla “we have much to discuss concerning current affairs.”
Twilight and the rest of the girls took turns shaking the royals’ hands and giving their own introductions.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship.”
“I’m Pinkie Pie! The world’s greatest party pony!”
“The name’s Applejack.”
“Rarity, and the pleasure is all mine.”
“I’m….I’m Fluttershy.”
“Rainbow Dash, the fastest Pegasus in Equestria!”
“Starlight glimmer, Twilight’s student.”
Frinad and Layla smiled. “Well now that introductions are over and done with.” said the former “how about I give you a full tour of our lovely home while Layla makes dinner, assuming she’d be alright with such an arrangement.”
“Of course my love.” replied Layla, finally placing Spike back down on the ground. “I’ll inform the rest of the help that dinner shall be ready within the hour.”
With that the dragoness sauntered off into the halls of the castle
“Right then. Allow me to show you all where you shall be residing for the time being.” Said Frinad.
*******************
The castle itself was nothing short of a marvel of technology and architecture that combined together to make the castle of friendship seem like a summer cottage.
The home itself occupied two acres of land and stood at five stories tall with dozens of rooms; including an indoor swimming pool, ballroom, workshop, a game room with dozens of amusements, a hedge maze, a kitchen that could fit at least 50 chefs within it comfortably, a massive library, and more bathrooms and bedrooms than anyone could count.
“And this is the dining room.” Said Frinad, pushing the doors open to an ornately decorated dining hall with a long handcrafted wooden table with matching chairs, covered by a silk tablecloth with an intricate design, a gold and diamond chandelier hanging overhead. Fancy paintings adorning the walls.
“Amazing. Even the dining hall in Canterlot isn’t this nice and I would know!” Said Twilight in awe.
“Well personally I don’t much care for it, I feel it to be too much.”
Rarity looked at the dragon with a raised eyebrow “whatever do you mean?”
“Miss Rarity, I am a simple dragon with simple tastes, I care not for such superficiality and status symbols. I prefer functionality; Give me a small wooden table with enough room for my family lit by candle light and I am content.”
“So why do ya have all this stuff then?” Asked Applejack
Frinad shrugged in response “when they were first building the house I had asked for a simple concept, one that would be enough to house my wife and I along with any hatchlings we may have had. But according to the architects we had done so much for the noble dragons and the Vlemm Enclave that they insisted on such extravagant decorum and design, I tried to talk them out of it but they persisted.”
Frinad motioned around the room. “It just feels completely unnecessary. Just because I lead the dragons doesn’t mean I should be placed on a pedestal above the rest of them. But enough about me and my problems! Layla should have dinner ready right about-“
“Now!” Said Layla as she burst through a set of doors on the opposite end of the room, a covered plate balanced on each arm, followed by several other dragons in formal wear having additional plates balanced on each arm.
They made quick work of the set up, placing each plate the exact same distance from each other with near perfect precision.
“Now we’re aware of your species’ dietary habits and have accommodated with a strict vegetarian menu.” said Frinad
“He’s right. I’ve prepared quite the feast for us all without the use of meat: I made Colcannon which is a mix of mashed potatoes and cabbage, a cheese fondue bowl with beer and bourbon, baked potatoes, soda bread with brown butter, vegetable shepherd’s pie, spinach quiche, and for desert dark chocolate mint cookies with white chocolate mint frosting” said Layla as she placed down the final plate.
The mares blinked in confusion at the sight of such a large quantity of food
“um, Layla. Ah don’t mean ta be rude but ain’t this a little too much food for just us?” said Applejack
“Oh it’s not just for us, some of the dragons who work within the castle walls will be dining with us as well. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Why exactly?” Twilight asked, back in Equestria royals didn’t tend to eat together with the ponies that served them
“Well first of all mom and dad hate eating alone, always have.” Interjected Griffith. “And secondly we believe that the help deserves the exact same amount of respect that every other dragon does and having dinner with them is one of the many ways we like to show that respect towards them, but enough chatter, let’s eat!”
Whatever tension was left in the air had quickly dissolved away as everyone joined together at the dinner table, the sounds of eating and chatter filling the air. The ponies were largely ignored in favor of Spike; who every single dragon at the table, sans his family, wanted to talk to. They were nearly climbing over each other to have the privilege to talk to him.
The conversation somehow found it’s way over to the subject of Spike’s wings and with it came the story of his molt and how he tried to hide it from his friends at first, but when they found out he had no choice but to seek out Zecora for her advice on the matter.
It was only when Spike mentioned his fight with a certain avian predator that Frinad spit out his wine.
“Y-you took on a fully grown roc all by yourself?! Fresh out of a molt no less?!” stuttered the dragon as he wiped the spit off his chin.
Spike shrugged “It was no big deal, I just did what I had to, and considering I was working on nothing but instinct I’d say I did pretty well.”
Frinad let out a hearty laugh and pulled Spike into a one-armed hug.
“THAT’S MY BOY!” he boomed, squeezing his son tight.
While every other dragon at the table was distracted by the so-called ‘lost prince of the Vlemm Enclave’, Applejack seized the opportunity to survey the group and see if she could discern anything from the way they acted around him.
Unfortunately there really wasn’t much to see, they seemed to be kind and polite enough, not to mention they all showed a genuine interest in Spike and getting to know him not just as a legend but as the dragon he was if their inquiries were anything to go by.
It was only when she shifted her gaze to Spike and his parents was her curiosity piqued.
The pair seemed to completely gush over their son, keeping him as close as they possibly could without making the baby dragon uncomfortable. Almost like a mother hen trying to keep her newborn chicks close, Frinad and Layla seemed to be sitting next to Spike in a protective manner.
In a way it made Applejack slightly jealous of Spike, since he had something returned to him that she had been so cruelly robbed of: family.
Don’t get the wrong idea, she had plenty of family between Granny Smith, Big Mac, Applebloom, and the dozens of relatives scattered around Equestria and she loved them with all her heart. But no matter how much she loved them, there would always be a part missing, a scar that would never heal from the day her parents had been ripped away. It wasn’t a loud accident by any means, there was no dramatic climax or violent death, it was simply the fact that they had went off on an apple delivery one day and never returned.
Her siblings were naturally devastated when they heard that their parents had disappeared, just as much as she had, but one of them had to be strong and pull them out of the muck so that they could keep going and never quit like a real apple family member; but of course it came at the cost of making the poor filly grow up far sooner than she would have liked.
To this day she holds onto the vain hope that one day Pear Butter and Bright Mac may come back home one day but she knows in her heart that it will never come to pass, their family will always be missing a few branches from its tree.
And here Spike was, sitting between a pair of parents who loved him more than anything else in the world, parents he had lost so long ago but had finally been returned to him and made his family whole again, which was the sort of thing she could only dream off.
But that quickly gave way to another thought; sure he had her parents taken away from her in the past but at least she got to know them and have fond memories of them to treasure for the rest of her life, but Spike didn’t, the poor baby dragon had never even gotten to know his parents until now and even with the rest of the girls at his side he was still fairly alone in this world. But now he had a family to call his own, a whole one, and the elation he must have felt from such a reunion, to actually have that unconditional love that only true family could give…..could she really take that away from him? She could see the smile on his face clear as day, sitting between his ma and pa like that, not to mention the joy he had shown when he had met them for the first time a mere few hours ago.
Applejack shook these questions out of her head, it was too early to make any judgement calls about the current situation, she had only known Spike’s family for a few hours now, there was still the chance that they were hiding skeletons in their closet; no, until she knew for certain that their intentions with spike were pure, the farmer pony would err on the side of caution and remain vigilant.
“And that’s why you should never cast transmutation spells on yourself.” said Layla, finishing up her story right as the orange earth pony tuned back into the conversation.
“Oh that reminds me.” said Starlight, swallowing down another bite of food, she had to give it to Lady Layla, this was one of the best meals she had ever had. “Griffith told me that each noble dragon has an ‘aura’ that gives them specific powers and abilities, and I was wondering what yours are?”
Frinad scratched his chin for a moment in thought and then smiled mischievously, “how about I show you mine? Here take this.”
The dragon handed Starlight one of the larger knives from the table, placing it in her hoof, before standing up in front of her and spreading his arms.
“Now then, stab me.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Stab me, go on stab me.”
Starlight’s eyes began to dart back and forth from the knife and the dragon.
“You really want me to stab you?”
“Of course, don’t be shy now! Trust me, I’ll be fine.”
“Well okay.” Starlight meekly said as she brought the knife down onto the dragon’s chest.
But to her complete and utter surprise, instead of digging down into his flesh like she expected it to, the knife bent and warped upon impact with the dragon’s broad muscular chest. The unicorn quickly looked up at Frinad in confusion.
“Unbreakable scales my dear! Nothing in this world can cut through them!” said Frinad with a laugh, placing the now useless knife onto the table “I’ve been stabbed, shot, sliced, caught up in explosions, and even had corrosive acid dripped onto my scales and none of them have managed to draw a single drop of blood for all the years I have walked this earth!”
“That is so cool!” said Rainbow Dash “It’s like you’re invulnerable!”
“Very nearly” said Frinad “but my scales only protect me from external damage; internal damage such as the type that results from bludgeoning or impacts will still hurt me but that’s what all the muscle is for!”
“And what about Layla?” asked Twilight.
“Well I am what you would call the resident sorcerer of the Vlemm Enclave, my powers are closer to yours then they are to noble dragons, princess. I am essentially a master of spellcraft and magical manipulation, being able to cast a wide variety of simple and complex spells for any occasion. The staff I carry around with me isn’t merely a scepter, it acts at a focus for me, something to funnel my naturally occurring magical prowess through and enhance the overall effects of my spells. I’d offer you a demonstration but this is not the proper place to do so. Perhaps later this week I may show you my abilities.” explained the dragoness, holding up the staff for emphasis “Now then, since we’ve given you a bit more insight to our lives, how about you tell us about yours? Namely how exactly you came into contact with my son in the first place?”
Pinkie Pie nearly lept out of her chair at the question, waving her hoof around in the air. “Ooh! Ooh! Let me tell it! It all started during the summer sun celebration in Ponyville a long, long, long, long, long time ago….”
******************************
After an abridged version of what they’d all been up to since that fateful day so many moons ago and a delicious dinner, the crowd cleared out of the dining hall and split off to attend to their own matters; in the case of the Scorchearts, it was finding a place for their pony guests to sleep, or rather finding a bedroom for each of them. Griffith had long departed for his own room to do ‘things’ as he called it.
“Didn’t we see like a hundred bedrooms during the tour?” asked Rainbow Dash
“Yes but most of them are occupied by the help and I don’t think any of them would be willing to share a room with ponies.” Layla replied.
“That’s another thing I was wondering” said Starlight, looking up at the dragons “why do noble dragons hate ponies so much after so long? Was it just because we didn’t help you all out during the war?”
Frinad and Layla came to a screeching halt in their tracks, the ponies behind them nearly colliding with their backsides, and turned around to face them.
“Oh that prejudice runs far deeper than just that my dear.” growled Frinad, his expression darkening “and it was all your kind’s fault.”
“Wait what did we do to you?”
“You want to know what you did?! We asked for your aid and in return we received nothing but persecution and misery!”
Layla sighed “we had just lost the dragon lands to the horde dragons, our numbers were dwindled and spirits low. We sought to seek out Celestia’s aid, believing that with our combined efforts we could have repaired the damage to both of our kingdoms and create a brighter future for both our peoples. But we could barely send a foot on the mainland before we were attacked; upon sighting us, angry mobs of ponies attempted to lynch us, skin us alive, ‘monsters’ ‘freaks’ they shouted. We were chased right out of the first town we entered, and the next one, and the next one until we had to constantly be on the move since none of your people would accept us. They even organized groups of warriors to hunt us down, we lost thousands of our own to those barbarians.”
The female dragon began to tear up “my….my mother was among those killed by hunters”
Frinad brought his wife into a tight hug as she broke down crying. “We tried to contact Celestia, to get her to call off her ponies but our pleas fell on deaf ears and we were ignored. What was once a one-hundred thousand strong army had dwindled down to a mere few thousand. In the eyes of the noble dragons, you killed just as many of us as the horde dragons did and for that you are no better than they are.”
“B-b-but Celestia never mentioned-”
“And why would she?! Even if she was aware of our suffering at the time, admitting that she doomed an entire race to near extinction would be a massive black spot on her so called utopia of friendship, something that would bring great harm to her own personal image” barked Frinad, slowly beginning to seethe with rage. “You would like to think that you have the most perfect kingdom in the world where every creature can grow happy and strong, but where was that happiness when my people needed it the most?! WHERE WAS IT?! NOWHERE.”
Frinad stopped himself mid-rant and sucked in a deep breath of air, bringing himself back down to a calm state of mind. “I apologize for that outburst, it’s just that the war of the Broken Fang and what followed it is a rather sore subject for Layla and I. In fact it’s bitter for all noble dragons, I’d avoid bringing it up in conversation if I were you.”
“But Frinad things have changed, ponies have changed, we may have been less accepting of other species in the past but we’ve come such a long way since those times.” said Twilight.
Frinad turned around and continued to lead the group down the hall, still holding his teary eyed wife close to his chest. “I’m willing to give you all the benefit of the doubt and believe you princess, we’ll even go so far as to extend the olive branch and provide you with a warm welcome and pleasant stay on the Vlemm Enclave while you remain here. But I warn you now, if I discover you have hidden interests that threaten my people and the enclave as a whole, none of you shall leave this place alive.”
The seven ponies let out a collective gulp at the dragon words.
“Do not be so nervous little ponies, if you are all as accepting and friendly as you say you are then you honestly have nothing to fear, noble dragons do not bring harm without reason. Anyways, here we are, I hope it’s to your liking.”
The dragon pushed the door open to reveal a quaint little bedroom with two triple decker bunk beds nestled in on corner of the room, hand carved out of wood, a door leading into a rather futuristic bathroom occupied the opposing wall and a set of sliding doors leading out to a balcony lay directly across from them, there was also a small living room with a set of couches arranged around what looked like a television embedded into the wall.
It was like a simple but beautiful hotel room.
“That remind me.” said Layla wiping away her tears. “We were hoping that you might be as so kind as to let Artair sleep in our room for the night, it’d be very pleasant to have some more alone time with my son. Please? We’d only be right down the hall from you all.”
Twilight rubbed a hoof under her chin. “Well you have been pretty nice and welcoming to us so far and he won’t be too far from us…sure, but Spike yell for us if they try anything.”
“Thank you princess Twilight, thank you” replied Layla with a slight bow.
On that note, the trio of dragons walked down the hall to their room; leaving the ponies alone in their new room.
“So….what did you all think of them?” said Rainbow Dash as she threw herself onto the couch.
Rarity quickly took the seat next to the cyan Pegasus “well they certainly seem to care for Spike.”
“Pretty nice too, fer the most part that is.” added Applejack.
“I know” said Starlight “it’s amazing how Frinad can go from extremely kind to absolutely terrifying so quickly, it’s like he’s flipping a switch.”
“Not to mention Layla, one way or another I’m getting that cookie recipe from her” Pinkie Pie pulled out another mint cupcake and bit into it for emphasis.
“That may be true but we can’t let our guard down, we’ve only been here for a day. There’s so much more of the enclave we have to see, be on the lookout for anything suspicious.” said Twilight.
The rest of Twilight’s friends murmured in agreement before settling in, it was a long day and they all wanted to get some rest. They’d certainly need it for the big week ahead of them.
******************************
Speaking of which, while the mane seven were winding down, Griffith was busy at work in his room for the coming days.
He had a large holographic screen pulled up in front of his desk, the faces of all of the other Paragons displayed on the screen in real time.
“Okay so how do you guys want to do this?” said Griffith.
“I still think that it was a bad idea to bring them here.” grumbled Dylan.
“We know, you’ve said that three times now Dylan.” replied Saphria.
“Well I think the most logical route would be to split up in teams of two and show them the various aspects of the Vlemm Enclave we are the most involved in, Connor for example can show them the agricultural basing and the woodlands.” Yam explained.
Crystal spoke up “but we can’t hide anything from them, we have to lay it all bear good and bad, otherwise they might think we’re trying to pull something over them...and to be honest we kinda are.”
“Crystal, planning a fun week for Artair’s pony friends is not underhanded.” the mechanic said with a snort. “Getting Artair to stay with us is just a side benefit. But you’re right, we have to show them all the sides of the Vlemm Enclave if this is going to work.”
“Don’t sweat it Griffith. If there’s one thing I know how to do it’s show everybody a good time. Besides.” Mia leaned back in her chair “this place is great, we just gotta prove that to Twilight and her posse and we’ll be good to go.”
“Either way, we’re going with Yam’s plan. Everyone clear? Remember that the fate of the vlemm enclave is riding on us.” said Griffith.
“When is it not?” said dylan before exiting the video call alongside everybody else.
Griffith took in a deep breath and fell down onto his bed, gazing at some of the scorch marks on the ceiling from failed experiments.
‘Bahumut watch over us this week….I….I can’t lose my brother.’ Griffith thought to himself as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
He never thought that the fate of the future would come down to a simple week long vacation, but here we are. He just hoped that everything went right….yeah, like that ever happens.