Feathered Scales
Snow falling from the sky. Carollers singing in the streets. The smell of freshly made bread and cocoa filling the air. Ponies running up and down exchanging goodwill, buying presents and ensuring everything for a prosperous night. Happiness and cheer echoing all around Canterlot as ponies broke into impromptu songs here and there. Only once a year could this be seen in the capital city of Equestria.
Hearts Warming Eve.
As the bustling activity continued throughout the city, an odd couple walked down the street. A griffon and a dragon, walking side by side, with the slightly taller dragon resting his tail on the back of the griffon at his side.
Ever since Princess Twilight Sparkle’s ascension to the throne more and more interspecies relationships sprung up. Not a rarity before her rule, but definitely not as common as it was today. Even then, a dragon and griffon couple was not a common sight to behold.
“Are you sure this is going to work out, Spike?” The griffon, Gabriela Griffon, or simply known as Gabby, asked looking at the purple and green-scaled dragon at her side.
“Why wouldn’t it? It not like they don’t know who you are, Gabby,” Spike replied with a warm smile.
“They know who I am but we have never spent time together! I’m almost a stranger to them!” Gabby replied, dread visible in her face. “What if they don’t like me? What if they disapprove!?”
“Gabs, dear, I love you to bits, but you can be so silly sometimes. Literally no one dislikes you and you already know Twilight quite well,” Spike reassured. “I’m telling you. It’s going to be fiiiiineeeee~.”
“O-Okay, if you say so,” Gabby took a big breath. “I’m just really nervous. This is the first time I’ve spent the holidays away from Griffonstone and the first time among non-griffons. Much less with royalty…,” Gabby shuddered.
“Relax, Gabs, all you have to do is be yourself!” Spike exclaimed before he gave her a one-arm hug.
Gabby blushed and smiled. “I guess you’re right, Spikey.”
The couple continued their walk through the streets until they reached their destination a few minutes later. Instead of the castle, they stood in front of a nicely overdecorated house. Spike knocked on the door five times in quick succession and waited. In moments they heard hoofsteps coming near the door.
“A shadow in the morning, and a light in the dark?” A soft, gentle, but still somewhat serious voice called from behind the door
“Sell me cookies, they are fine!” Spike chanted confusing Gabby.
The door swung open to reveal a light blue-coated stallion with a deep blue curled mane. He was visibly getting on in years as the few wrinkles and crows feet under his eyes indicated. Despite that, he looked fine and healthy. He was smiling at Spike a moment before he lunged himself at the dragon.
“Spike!” Night Light shouted.
Spike spread his arms wide to receive the stallion. “Dad!” Spike called back.
“Ah, my boy, it has been far too long since I last saw you!” Night Light exclaimed after their hug ended.
“I came last week, dad,” Spike replied smiling.
“What did I just say? Ages!” Night Light and Spike laughed for a few moments. Then the stallion looked at Spike’s companion. “Ah, you must be Gabby. Spike has told us so much about you! Name’s Night Light, the old stallion of this fine and dandy boy. Pleasure!” Night Light bowed his head for a moment at Gabby.
Gabby’s feathers ruffled themselves as she took a step back and bowed her head. “H-Hello! I’m Gabby, Spike’s girlfriend. Nice to meet you!” She ended looking at Night Light with a big smile.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Come on in! Everypony’s already here!” The overly excited stallion moved to the side giving the couple full access into the house.
“Woooowwww,” Gabby exclaimed as she walked inside the house. Her eyes drifted all over the place until she discovered the absurd amounts of photos hanging from the walls. And not just photos, framed drawings and other similar, silly, seemingly pointless things were adorning the walls of the Sparkle Household. “Mister Light, your house is really pretty!”
“Why thank you, Gabriela. But I’m sure it isn’t anything special or that different from griffon houses,” Night Light said with a mild blush adorning his cheeks.
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Gaby breathed out tiredly. “Oh! I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be so informal!”
“Relax, Gabriela, it’s alright,” Night Light chuckled as he guided the couple to a room where many voices could be heard.
Spike merely contained his laughter at seeing his energetic girlfriend being so awkward and shy for once. On the other claw, Gabby looked like she was about to experience a nervous breakdown.
“Look who is heeeeere!” Night Light announced as the trio entered the ample room filled with ponies.
“My little boy!” Twilight Velvet, showcasing the same signs of age as Night Light but sharing his vitality rushed from her seat next to her daughter to hug Spike.
“Uncle Spike!” Flurry Heart leaped into the air before dashing for her favorite uncle.
The dragon, now standing slightly above the stature of a regular stallion, nearly got tackled to the ground by the mare and filly. No words of greeting were needed as they were more than happy to embrace tightly. With a secure footing, Spike hugged each pony with an arm, picking them up and spinning them once as they laughed. After he stopped, he released the two ponies and noticed the rest of his family getting up to greet him.
“Brooooo,” Shining called walking tall and proud.
“Broooooo,” Spike repeated as Shining reached him. Immediately after Spike held Shining’s hoof in a hand and both pulled away, made a clicking sound, and then made a hoof bump. “Looking good, Shining.”
“Says the growing piece of muscle,” Shining replied with a sincere smile. “Where is my scrawny lizard of a brother and who are you?”
“I’ll tell you only if you manage to hold it in for a ten-second long trip?” Spike answered with a cocky smile, flapping his wings for added effect. Shining’s smile fell and grumbled away making way for his wife.
“Good to see you again, Spike,” asked the pink alicorn standing barely above himself.
“Likewise, Cadance,” they shared a short-lived but tight hug. “Hey, did you get my gift?”
Cadance nodded. “Thank you for that, Spike. We were almost out of them,” Cadance replied stepping aside for her sister-in-law.
“Spike. Gabby,” Twilight greeted. She didn’t hug Spike but she did embrace the silent griffon for a second. “Everything is sorted out, I presume?”
“Yup. Made sure everything was ready. I even triple-checked,” he replied making Twilight clap her hooves contently. The lavender alicorn now standing a head smaller than himself but growing steadily, albeit slowly, same as Cadance. Spike looked around the room. “Hey, where are Mom, Aunt Luna, and Blueblood?”
“They’ll be here in an hour or so. Celestia got lost during a stroll and ended up in a chicken den,” Cadance said trying to not giggle.
“...So that was the scream we heard earlier?” Gabby said out loud. Realizing she had spoken, she coughed and dusted her chest puff of feathers. “Hi! I’m Gabriela Griffon, or just Gabby for short!” She said extending a claw to the gathered ponies.
A loud gasp was heard and Gabby looked up to Flurry Heart, all this time resting on Spike’s shoulders, and found her staring down at her with a telling shine in her eyes.
“You’re Gabby!?” Flurry yelled before she teleported in front of Gabby. Grabbing her by her cheeks before the griffon could react, Flurry pressed her snout against her beak. “I’m so happy to finally meet my uncle’s girlfriend! You’re even prettier than he said you’d be!” The filly exclaimed happily.
“T-Thank you!” Gabby replied with a smile as she heard a few chuckles and giggles from around her.
“Alright, come here you little ruffian,” Spike said picking Flurry up with a single arm. “Everyone, this is Gabby, my girlfriend. Gabby, my family,” Spike presented.
“Come with me, Gabby,” Velvet said nudging the blushing griffon. “We have so much to talk about!”
*******************************************
Gabby sat next to Spike, who in turn was sitting next to Celestia, having arrived earlier than expected to the Sparkle Household. Greetings had been exchanged and she got to see Celestia and Luna smother Spike as Velvet had done. It was a bit confusing hearing him refer to Celestia and Velvet as ‘Mom’, but to him, it made no difference. Both mares were his mother in equal measure. Meanwhile, the infamous Prince Blueblood had acted in a similar manner to Shining Armor. Out of everypony, he was the only one she didn’t feel really comfortable around.
At least until Spike explained to him that their relationship was a serious one and that she wasn’t ‘one of those’ kind of mares. After that, Blueblood’s mood changed and was as amiable as the rest. They had been talking about oddities here and there, slowly descending to more personal, relaxed talks.
“--And there he was! Pulling a move that could only come from a villain, crown and all!” Shining said to Gabby as Spike, smugly, smiled at his brother. “The little purple goblin tricked us, played us, and slithered his way into victory right under everyone’s noses!”
“Sibling Supreme, if you please?” Spike retorted smiling at Shining and Twilight.
“You really did that? Why didn’t you tell me anything about it before!” Gabby exclaimed, amazed.
Spike showed his fangs. “Because I was saving it for a moment like this!”
“Uncle Spike is so cool!” Flurry exclaimed, still perched on Spike’s shoulders.
“My own daughter looks up to my little brother more than she looks up at me. I have failed as a father,” Shining lamented.
“Don’t be so eager to make another statue of me, Flurry. I’ve done my fair share of mistakes here and there. Like that time I got greedy and turned into Spikezilla? Or when I got jealous of Owlowicious?”
“Or the Timberwolf incident?” Twilight added sipping on her eggnog.
“We don’t talk about that one, Twi,” Spike replied. “I’m hardly perfect, Flurry.”
“Don’t care. You’re cool to me, Uncle Spike,” the filly said nuzzling him. “Hey, have you and Gabby kissed yet?”
Spike nearly choked on a gem he was eating and Gabby blushed intensely.
“Flurry!” Cadance said while everypony else laughed. “You shouldn’t ask such things!”
“I’m curious,” Flurry began. “I wanna see how they kiss! Gabby has a beak and Uncle Spike has lips. How does that even work?”
“I-It just does, okay?” Spike replied lightly hitting his chest. “Hey, Dad, how about we go on a round of Bingo?”
“I see you want to lose to your old stallion,” Night Light laughed darkly. With a quick cast, his personal set of Bingo appeared on the table sitting in the middle of the room.
“You should be prepared, Night Light, for I, Luna, am a master of this most treacherous game!” Luna said rubbing her hooves together.
“It looks like I may have a worthy opponent for once,” Night Light smiled darkly.
“Are they always like that?” Gabby asked softly to Spike.
“Only when it comes to Bingo… and games… and anything that has to do with competition. So yes. Always,” Spike replied.
*Half an hour later*
“How…?” Night Light said in a tone the reflected incredulity and anguish.
“Indeed… how?” Luna added looking at their Bingo boards.
“I didn’t know Bingo could be this fun!” Gabby exclaimed putting yet another board on the neat stack of boards on her side. Victory boards.
“That is statically impossible,” Blueblood muttered at the twelfth game ended in another victory for the griffon.
“As a Trivia Time fanatic, I have to agree with you, Blue… but I also know how possible the impossible can be,” Twilight commented with a smile.
“How about we change it up a bit?” Cadance offered seeing the current mood in the room. “Anyone up for a game of Ogres and Oubliettes?”
At that, five ponies and dragon’s ears perked up. “I’m in!” Shouted Spike, Blueblood, Shining, Celestia, Flurry, and Velvet in unison.
“Wait, who’s going to be the DM?” Gabby asked. “I also forgot my character sheet. I didn’t think I would need it,” she said searching through her backpacks.
“I’ll be the DM,” Twilight offered. “I actually have a fairly detailed and complicated Battle-Royale style campaign ready to go. I was saving it for later buuuuut I think the girls won’t mind me using it for this occasion,” she said teleporting a large board, figures, the rule book, and everything the game would need. “I also have a few of the predetermined characters with me, just in case,” Twilight winked at the griffon.
“Thanks, Twilight, you’re a lifesaver. Spike, how do we-- Spike?”
“So everypony is for themselves, eh? Your puny wizard shall fall before the charms of my Bard, son,” Velvet taunted looking at Spike.
“Oh please, mom, we all know to whom the most powerful character here belongs to,” Spike replied.
“My Barbarian Berseker, of course, dear Spikey,” Celestia aid presenting her character sheet.
"Say that to my Thief. I dare you... if you can find her," Luna taunted.
“Fools, all of you, my Enchantress shall dominate all of you!” Flurry laughed manically.
“My Paladin will teach you some respect, young lady,” Shining said grinning.
“As if a mere Paladin could be a match for my Cleric, cousin,” Blueblood said before the two of them sent daggers at each other’s eyes.
“Time to pick up my ballista again and snipe some rookies with my Ranger, it seems,” Night Light laughed.
“You shall learn to fear my Druid,” Cadance said as seriously and calmly as she could.
“Then I’ll taaaaake… the Lich! It’s not my Necromancer, but it’s close enough!” Gabby said.
“Very well, everyone, get to the starting point. Now, the story takes place in the Empire of Virmola, a land ravaged by demon incursions, undead, political conflict, and roaming bands of warlords. And you are no different. What do you fight for? Glory? Fortune? Fame? No one but you know and no one else cares. Everyone is a competitor…”
After Twilight introduced her world, the campaign began. It was an adventure for the history books, with drama, betrayal, romance, despair, victories, and defeats. For the two hours that the campaign lasted.
“HOOOOW!?” Shining cried slamming his head against the table as he cried.
“Nothing but 20’s… nothing but 20’s!” Blueblood exclaimed in the same boat.
“My girlfriend is way too good at everything she does…,” Spike lamented in much the same manner. “And especially when she’s competing…”
“Hours of planning…,” Twilight shook her head. “A--At least I know where I have to improve! He he he…. Heh…”
“Yay, I won!” Gabby exclaimed. Suddenly, she began sniffling. “Oooooh, that smells good!”
“That’s my call,” Velvet said getting up from her seat.
“I’ll help too,” Cadance offered.
“May I help?” Gabby asked.
“Of course, dearie. Come this way,” Velvet replied.
All the while Spike watched with a smile on his face.
*******************************************
“So you’ve never seen any pictures of Spike when he was a hatchling?” Velvet asked Gabby.
“Not really. I saw a few on the walls, but nothing else. I can’t believe he was so tiny and cuuute!” Gabby replied.
“I know! He was so wittle and wovavle and you could mush his chubby wittle cheeks all day long!”
“Dad, please!” Spike begged with a furious blush on his face. “Not in front of Gabby!”
“You may be taller than me and older, young dragon, but you will always be my precious little babuh.”
“DAD!”
“PRECIOUS LITTLE BABUH!” Night Light yelled as he picked up a photo of baby Spike suckling his tail. Flurry, Cadance, and Celestia giggled. Luna and Blueblood were almost choking on their cocoa, and the rest of the Sparkle Household just sighed happily. He then turned to a giggling Gabby. “Gabby, sweetheart, I remember this one time that Spike didn’t want to go to sleep. No matter what we tried, he just wouldn’t.”
“Oh please no,” Spike whispered. “Gabby, dear, love of my life, don’t listen to that crazy stallion!”
“At that time, I was still working as a Royal Guard. But even with two foals of my own, I still had no idea what to do.”
“Shining, please, I beg you, stop dad!” Spike implored as Gabby was ensnared in Night Light’s tale.
“I would, little bro… but it is not my place nor my right to deny him now,” Shining said in a solemn tone.
“...Please tell me grandpa isn’t going to do it...” Flurry whispered with fear in her voice.
“And I don’t know much about griffon laws. So, tell me, if you can… If a child refuses to sleep during nap time, are they guilty of resisting a rest?” Night Light asked dead serious… for about two seconds before he burst into laughter.
The collective groans of Blueblood, Flurry, Spike, and Luna resonated across the house.
“Grandpa, your jokes are terrible, I swear. Ugggh, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Hi ‘So Embarrassed’. I’m dad,” Shining replied without losing a beat.
Another round of groans echoed across the house. The remaining mares and griffon chick opted to laugh instead.
*******************************************
After dinner, the family spent their time talking, enjoying a peaceful evening together, singing a few rounds of karaoke, dancing, and singing carols as midnight approached. They laughed, cheered, and embraced each other to celebrate another Hearts Warming Eve conclusion.
“May I speak for a moment?” Gabby asked gaining everyone’s attention.
“What is it, Gabby dear?” Velvet asked.
“As you may know, griffons aren’t the most amiable of species. I’m kind of an exception, heh,” Gabby scratched the back of her head. “This isn’t the first time Spike has invited me to spend time with his family. But I never accepted because I was afraid and nervous that you wouldn’t like me or approve of us dating,” she said quietly at first, but her voice increased in volume as a smile formed on her beak.
“But after seeing you all together like this for the first time made me realize I’ve been a dummy for thinking like that. You are all so wonderful and loving and caring and wonderful!” Gabby exclaimed with a little jump.
“You said wonderful twice, Gabby,” Flurry said tilting her head.
“That’s how wonderful you are. Double-y wonderful! Spike,” she turned for a moment to her backpacks, shuffled for something, and then turned to face said dragon once more. “We’ve been dating for five years and we've been friends for over ten. I’m sorry for only now meeting your wonderful family. And I thank all of you for giving me a chance and for letting me be at Spike’s side. You are everything I ever dreamt a family should be like.”
“Gabby…” Spike smiled, tears forming in the edges of his eyes.
“Spike… I love you. I really, really, REALLY love you. With all my heart… I ask you, in front of your family,” Gabby dropped to a knee and revealed a box held between her claws. Opening it, it revealed two sets of white rings. “Will you… will you allow me to be a part of your family and grant me the honor of being your mate?”
“Omygoshomygoshomygoshomygosh!” Flurry said over and over again trotting-still.
“Gabby, my feathered lady. My love…,” Spike breathed out a cloud of green flame in the shape of a heart. When it vanished, a pair of rings were resting on Spike’s stretched out right hand. “You beat me to the punch. You wonderful griffon you!”
The two lovebirds closed the gap between each other, hugged, and kissed passionately right in the middle of the room in plain view of everyone present.
“So that’s how they kiss! Omygoshomygosh!” Flurry exclaimed as she fanned herself with a hoof.
Everypony else cheered on, clapping their hooves or simply watching the loving exchange. Except for the three stallions in the room. They instead huddled together as they let out ‘liquid pride’.
The couple broke their kiss and exchanged rings. Each other them wearing a piece of the set in each hand. They hugged and shared another quick kiss.
“How do I look?” Gabby asked.
“With your eyes,” Spike answered without thinking. A moment later he realized what he had said. “Oh no…”
“He is ready,” Night Light and Shining Armor said at the same time, letting out even more ‘liquid pride’ while Blueblood, Luna, and Flurry groaned.
Gabby giggled and snuggled against her mate.
My mate, Gabby thought and sighed contently.
It sounded so right.