//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Happy Father´s day! // Story: Journey to the past // by Dianabel //------------------------------// “You´ve been beyond Equestria? That´s wonderful!” said Twilight as she filled her cup of tea. “Yes!” answered Starswirl. “It´s been really fun and we´ve learned so many things about other creatures. Right Stygian?” The small grey unicorn stallion nodded as he sipped from his cup of tea. “Alright. Here you have some cupcakes. I would have brought them sooner but I had a little incident with the oven and I had to restart.” explained Spike, laying the cupcakes on the table. “They sure look delicious.” commented Stygian while licking his lips. “And where exactlty have you been Starswirl?” Twilight asked curiously. “Let´s see… We´ve been in Mount Aris, Yakyakistan, the Dragonlands…” Spike gasped. “You´ve been in the Dragonlands?” Spike interrupted. “How did it go?” “Well… There was some hostility toward us from some dragons , but the Dragon Lord Ember kept them under control. A good dragon indeed.” explained Starswirl. “Although she told us we looked the same.” added Stygian, a bit annoyed with that memory. He sipped some tea. “Believe me, it´s not the first time that happened. She also said to me and Starlight that we were alike” reassured Twilight. Stygian shrugged. “Talking about Dragon Lord Ember, she´s told us that she would like to see you soon." claimed Starswirl. "She´s really grateful with what you did for the dragon eggs. You must be really admired there." Spike bit his lip. “Well… Not really.” Starswirl widened his eyes in surprise. “I mean, sure, now dragons are friendlier than before, and some have accepted the ways of friendship such as Garble, but there are still dragons who still have the idea that friendship is a pony thing. Despite that, I´m much more appreciated now.” Spike continued. “You didn´t fit with the other dragons, did you?” asked Starswirl, his eyes full of sympathy. “Since I´ve always lived with ponies, I used to wonder where I came from. So, I decided to go to the Dragonlands on my own, however the experience wasn´t…. (how to say this) pleasant. That´s when I realized that these ponies are my family.” he said while hugging Twilight. “The best family I could ever hope for. But I do have some dragon friends. Like Smolder!” While Spike was telling his story, Stygian was eating Spike´s cupcakes. “Interesting.” he said before taking a mouthful. Meanwhile, Starswirl´s eyes filled with melancholy. His story reminded him so much of another creature´s story. Spike´s gasp made Starswirl come back to reality. “Oh my goodness! What time is it?” “I think it´s 12:00 A.M, why?” answered Twilight. “I have to go!” Spike exclaimed. He jumped from his seat and flew to the castle gates. “Wha- Why?” asked Twilight, yelling from the table. “I promised Smolder that I would meet after school! See ya!” Spike slammed the gates. The three unicorns were left astonished by Spike´s sudden exit. “Well that escalated quickly.” commented Stygian. “I´m curious Twilight, how did that little dragon of yours end up with you?” asked Starswirl. Twilight sighed sadly. “The thing is that I don´t really know where he came from. I hatched him from his egg in my test for entrance to Celestia´s school. I know nothing of his family. That´s why I always try to teach him about dragons so he doesn´t feel different from the other dragons. Fortunately, he feels part of the family, but still… I wish we knew about his parents. Why do you ask?” “Nothing, it´s just….” he stopped for a moment. Stygian put his hoof on Starswirl´s shoulder. He gave out a warm smile and nodded. Starswirl smiled back. He breathed in and out and finally started talking. “It´s just that he reminds of a very special creature I met thousands of years ago. A creature from whom I haven´t heard anything all this time and that I wish that I could talk with him again. But I don´t know if he wants to know anything from me...” Twilight had her suspicions about who this creature was. “Let me guess… You´re talking about Scorpan, right?” Starswirl nodded. “Let me tell you a brief story, Twilight: Thousands of years ago, in a faraway land named the Kingdom of Midnight, there lived a special gargoyle named Scorpan. He was the son of King Vorak and Queen Haydon and as you know, Tirek´s younger brother. Unlike his brother, Scorpan was kind-hearted and well-meaning and as different as they could be, Scorpan was loyal to the bone to Tirek. He even went to Equestria even if that meant to help him to steal magic from ponies! That, of course, changed when he met me. At first, I was afraid of this new creature, but then I saw that he was pure hearted. Slowly, we became friends, but he never talked to me about Tirek. And when I discovered his and his brother´s plan, I became furious. We fought. I told him that I never wanted to see him again. And so it was… From the moment he left Equestria, he never returned.” “There´s something I don´t understand.” intervened Stygian, chewing one of Spike´s cupcakes. “You admitted yourself that before the whole Pony of Shadows incident you didn´t understand friendship and yet you befriended this creature before we even met.” Starswirl shook his head. He laid his hoof on Stygian´s shoulder “There was a time that I had friends. But certain events of my life, such as this one, made me lose all hope in friendship. But now thanks to you,” he said pointing at Twilight “I want to fix what I´ve done. In case you´re wondering, gargoyles have a long lifespan. I know this because Scorpan told me about his species when we were friends. However, they´re not immortal. In other words, there´s a chance that he´s either around or not. If we are lucky, we could find him in his kingdom.” “Do you know where that is?” asked Twilight. Stygian got a book out from his bag. He opened it and flipped some pages as he explained to Twilight the situation. “Before sending you that letter, we did some research in Canterlot´s library. Since nopony has ever been to kingdom of Midnight, there´s really few information about it. But according to this book, that kingdom could be some kilometres away from Somnambula. You see this map?” he asked as he tapped the page. “If we keep going south from Somnambula, we could find it there” “We´re planning to travel there and visit Scorpan.” claimed Starswirl. “However, I´m not an expert on friendship yet and this is a huge challenge for me. I don´t know what to say or what to do, so... I could use some help from you. What do you say Twilight, will you help me to make amends with an old friend?” Twilight was stunned. Having letters written by your idol or being thanked by your idol was one thing. But having your idol trusting you this much to tell you something really personal and ask you for your help... That´s beyond anypony´s imagination! She felt so honoured and excited. Without anpony expecting it, she jumped and wrapped Starswirl with her hoofs. “Of course! I´m so glad you asked me to join in your mission!” she exclaimed. She hugged him so tightly that Starswirl could feel his eyes going out from his orbits. Stygian was a bit surprised by the sudden princess´ outburst at first, but then he suppressed a giggle. “Ow I´m sure this isn´t the first time somepony has asked you this.” Starswirl said, a bit suffocated by Twilight´s hug. “Yeah. But this is the first time her idol has asked her to help him fix a friendship problem.” replied Stygian with a smirk. Starswirl smiled warmly at Twilight. Spike flapped his wings as fast as he could. He slowed down once he was in front of the School of Friendship. Beneath him, was a crowd of students. He looked down to see if his friend was there, but the crowd was only formed by ponies “I don´t think she´s here.” he muttered to himself. “Maybe she´s inside.” He entered the building and landed on the hall to rest his wings. “Smolder?” he yelled. No response. “Has anypony seen Smolder?” he asked to some of the students who were passing by. They shook their heads. Seeing no evidence of Smolder there, Spike opened his wings and flapped them again. He flew around the corridors. “Smolder?” Again no answer. He searched for his dragon friend in the library, in the students´ rooms, in the classrooms, throughout the whole building while screaming her name. By doing so, he got shushed in the library, or thrown some frowns by Applejack for interrupting her class. He asked the student six but they didn´t know either. After flying for so many time, Spike went outside and sat on a rock. He panted in exhaustion. “Ok, she´s not in the school, nor with her friends, and nopony has seen her! Did she forget about our meeting?” Spike gasped. “What if I made her wait too much and she´s angry at me? Maybe she told everypony not to say a word about me if I asked them where she was because she doesn´t want to see me!” After Spike said that, a tall shadow covered him. “Don´t be such an idiot, pony boy.” A masculine raspy voice said behind. Spike looked up. A tall red dragon was flying over him. He was wearing a huge smirk in his face, showing his sharp teeth. When Spike recognized this dragon he flew back a bit scared. “Gah! Garble!” Garble lifted his claws in the air to claim he came in peace. “Don´t worry, I´m not here to pick up on you.” he said as he put a claw on Spike´s shoulder. “That´s all in the past.” “Yeah, I know that. It just it surprises me that you, of all dragons, came all this way to Ponyville. So... Why are you here?” “Why? To pick up Smolder of course!” “You´re picking her up?” “Yes! She wanted to come to the Dragonlands for some days.” "Now?" Garble nodded. "But Smolder told me that we were meeting after class.” “Oopsie….” a feminine voice said behind their backs. Spike and Garble turned around. They saw Smolder approaching shyly. She was scratching the back of her head and laughing nervously. “I guess I forgot to tell you.” “Smolder!” Spike exclaimed. He flew towards her to hug her. “Tell me what?” Spike noticed the two big dragons behind Smolder. At the left, there stood an orange female dragon with blue eyes. She really looked like Smolder. The only differences were that she didn´t have any horns or wings. Right next to her, there was a male dragon. He was red, muscular, almost identical to Garble. “Oh…” mumbled Spike. “So this is the pony dragon you were talking about, huh Garble?” the male dragon said. “He´s… tiny I must say.” the female dragon said. “I´m not that tiny!” complained Spike. “I´ve just had the molt.” he continued as he opened his wings. The two big dragons burst out laughing. Spike felt a bit offended. “Don´t worry. They´re not mocking you.” whispered Smolder in Spike´s ear. Spike raised his eyebrow in confusion. Then, Smolder winked. “I like you young dragon!” the male dragon finally said. “What´s your name?” At first, Spike was a little confused. He looked back at Smolder, who urged him to continue to talk. “Um… My name´s Spike.” “Spike…” the female dragon replied. “That name is too cute for a dragon. I like it!” “Smolder, is this your…. family?” Spike asked in Smolder´s ear. Smolder nodded. “Spike, let me introduce you to my parents: This is Kira, my mother, and this is Draco, my father.” “Nice to meet you. What brings you to Ponyville?” asked Spike. “It´s father´s day!” exclaimed Draco. “Oh! So that´s why you couldn´t meet with me today. You´re going with your parents, right?” “It´s been long since the last time we have been together as a family. And what Draco wished more than anything, was to be with his whole family on this very special day” explained Kira as she wrapped her husband with her wing. “And for three more days too, remember?” Smolder reminded her mon. “Exactly, my little Smolder.” said Draco as he rubbed Smolder´s head. Draco, Kira and Smolder proceeded to hug each other. Garble drew away a little to avoid the hug, but his father made sure that didn´t happen. “Come here you!” Draco exclaimed as he dragged Garble towards the hug. “Daaaad! You´re embarrassing me!” complained Garble. “Come on, don´t say that to your old folk!” Smolder and Kira laughed. Meanwhile, Spike watched the warm scene from the ground. His heart began to hurt. He never hugged his real parents, nor celebrated father´s or mother´s day with them because he never met them. He never saw them. He didn´t know what they looked like or how they behaved. Suddenly, the desire to meet his parents returned again. It was intense and hurt so much. It felt like a stab on the heart. He felt tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to cry, but resisted the urge so as not to bother Smolder and her family. But they quickly noticed that something was wrong with Spike. He seemed a bit off. “Are you ok young dragon?” asked Kira. After he heard the big dragoness´ voice, Spike got back to reality. “Oh! Yes. I´m fine.” he replied while rubbing his eyes and putting the most forced smile that the four dragons standing in front of him had ever seen. That´s when it hit Smolder. Spike must imagine his dragon parents like hers. Big, strong, bold, but also loving and caring. And even though he loves dearly his pony family, he wants to feel his biological parents´ presence. She flew down to talk to Spike face to face. "Spike, please... don´t feel sad." “I´m not sad!” Spike lied. “I was just… moved by your beautiful dragon family moment. So emotional!” Smolder raised an eyebrow. “Come on Spike, I know what you´re really feeling. If you just let me-” “I´m fine, ok? Now, go before I interrupt all of you more on dragon father´s day.” “Spike…” mumbled Smolder. “I just-” Spike took a deep breath. “Need some time alone.” Spike flew away without saying goodbye. Smolder tried to follow Spike, but Draco put his claw on her to stop her. He shook his head sadly to tell her to leave him. “Don´t worry. He´ll be alright” he assured her. The four dragons watched Spike leave in pity and sympathy for the little dragon. “Thank you for accepting my request, Twilight. You don´t know how much it means to me.” Starswirl said, leaving Twilight´s castle. “It´s nothing, really.” said Twilight humbly. “When do you think it´s possible to set out?” asked Stygian. “I´m not so sure. I´ll have to check if I don´t have anaything important to do these days.” “Anyways, when you´re ready, write us a letter, ok?” Starswirl added. Twilight nodded. The three unicorns waved goodbye to each other. Just when she was about to close the castle gates, she saw Spike in the distance. She raised an eyebrow in confusion when she realized he was alone. “Spike!” she exclaimed. Spike´s eyes widened when he heard Twilight´s voice. His breath stopped for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to talk about what happened with his pony family. What he needed was some time alone, that´s what would help him to forget about it. Besides, what would she think? He didn´t want to make her think that he didn´t love her anymore. “Oh no…” he muttered as he watched her approaching in the distance. He tried to fly away but Twilight had already caught up on him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with Smolder.” Spike nervously clenched his teeth. “That was the original plan.” he tried to explain. “But…” “Yes?” Twilight asked, urging Spike to talk. Spike struggled to find the right words. How to tell her? The first thought that came to his mind was to lie to her. “If I say that is nothing serious, she´ll leave it be.” he thought. But Spike knew that lying wouldn´t do the trick. The best thing to do was telling the truth. He sighed heavily. “It´s dragon´s Father´s day. Smolder wanted to spend some time of the week with her family.” Twilight gasped softly. She slapped herself mentally for not remembering it until now. Smolder asked her for a week off so she could spend a week with her family for Father´s day and she accepted. Despite having written it down on her agenda, she completely forgot it was this week. “Yeah… She mentioned it a long time ago. Do you want to talk about it?” she said while putting her hoof on his shoulder. “It´s just… I want to know what happened to them! Are they still around? If that´s the case, why aren´t they with me? Did they-“ Spike paused for a moment. The emotion was making him choke in his words. “Leave me? What if they never... loved me...” Tears formed in Spike´s eyes. Twilight pulled Spike closer to her. He started crying on her shoulder. Twilight patted his back to calm him down. “It´s ok. Let it all out.” Spike´s problem reminded her a bit of Starswirl´s, which gave her an idea. “You know? You´re not the only one who´s looking for somepony from his past. Starswirl has requested me for a very special mission: to find his old lost friend Scorpan.” Spike lifted his head from Twilight´s shoulder. “There is an old kingdom called the Kingdom of Midnight. Starswirl and Stygian came up with the idea to go there. I was thinking that you and the girls could come too. Any help is accepted. It would be like a… family trip.” Spike sniffed. He smiled softly, appreciating Twilight´s sweet gesture as he dried his tears. “Ok. I´ll go.” He hugged her tightly. “Now, let´s go to tell the girls and specify a date to set out, shall we?” Spike nodded. Twilight opened her wings and set out to her friend´s homes. Spike was going to do the same but he saw Smolder and her family flying in the blue and sunny sky. He sighed sadly and followed Twilight behind.