A small dragon, a rather quiet orange pegasus filly, and two rather large royal guards walked down the empty halls of Twilight’s crystal castle. While the dragon and filly weren’t carrying anything, the two guards were laden down with Scootaloo’s worldly possessions.
“And, this will be your room,” Spike explained casually as he opened one of the large crystal doors to reveal a rather empty crystal room.
“And that wraps up the tour,” Spike added as he stepped out of the way, so Scootaloo could peek around the dragon, and see her room.
The small orange pegasus didn’t seem to bite. Instead, she moved her head a bit, and then went back to following the dragon very quietly. Spike couldn’t help but feel like the normally energetic filly seemed off today. Quieter, more aloof even. His thoughts were interrupted by one of the two stallions wearing heavy armor.
“Umm… can we unload the stuff now?” one of the two guards quietly asked Spike. The two guards had reached their limit of patience and strength about four rooms ago. But, they had diligently muscled through, as their mission from their princess was pretty specific.
“Sure go ahead,” Spike conceded with a shrug.
“Hey Scootaloo you hungry,” Spike offered, finally getting a bit of a reaction from the filly. Her stomach growled, causing her to blush. She then gave a wane smile and a nod.
“OK. Follow me. The dining room is this way,” Spike explained as he doubled back and started walking where the two had just come from.
“Hey wait! I got to get my medicine,” Scootaloo realized with a small startle. Quickly she ran over to one of the stallions, and grabbed some saddle bags from his back with her teeth, and then she gallopped back after the small retreating dragonling.
It took a little while for the dragonling to realize he’d left the pegasus behind, and even longer for him to finally stop and let her catch up.
“I didn’t know you took medicine,” Spike said with a hint of surprise.
“You seem healthy enough,” he added casually. “I mean, aren’t you the one doing all those fancy scooter stunts?”
Scootaloo nodded as her mind seemed to switch gears into a lighter mood. “Yup. I got to get my wings stronger somehow. If my wings don’t grow out, then my only hope for flight is to muscle through it. And that means, I got to get stronger!”
“So, what’s it for?” Spike couldn’t help but ask.
“Nothing,” Scootaloo said with a blush.
“It’s not important,” she insisted a bit brusquely.
“Hey, no need to get worked up about it.” Spike retorted defensively as he raised both claws in a defensive stance.
“I don’t think it’s anything stranger than Twilight’s had to take over the years. I remember when she was a teenager, she had like four different medications just to keep her acne under control,” Spike said with a snort, and a small laugh. Those years had embarrassed poor Twilight, but he’d just thought it was amusing, really.
Spike frowned a little when he noticed the small pegasus didn’t even smirk.
“I don’t know,” Scootaloo said as Spike saw the two into a rather large room with enough space to comfortably sit eight. “This stuff is pretty funky...”
“Oh come on. Don’t be so worked up about it. It’s not that important, and you might as well tell me. I’m going to be pestering you until you tell me,” Spike admitted as he took one of the empty seats. Scootaloo then took the seat next to him.
“Fine,” Scootaloo conceded in defeat.
“But, I want some bread, a knife, some peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a teaspoon,” Scootaloo demanded. Spike shrugged, and conceded to her demands. He grabbed the small list of items, and then set them casually down on the table as he returned to his seat.
“Well, this blue stuff is for my heartburn,” Scootaloo explained as she plopped a large medical bottle full of some kind of paste down on the counter. The contents were hidden by the tinted plastic. But Spike could see it was a deep blue.
“Heartburn?” Spike asked casually as he looked at the blue paste.
“Yeah, I get this whole burning sensation from my stomach, clear up my throat,” Scootaloo explained as she scooped two teaspoons worth of paste from the bottle, and slathered them onto the bread.
“Ohh, it sparkles,” Spike said in awe as he eyeballed the glittering paste. It actually did glitter like gems when free from the confinements of the tinted medical bottle.
“It tastes bad though,” Scootaloo complained as she stuck out her tongue.
“It kind of tastes like Salt water… But, nothing like Salt water… If that makes sense?” she tried to explain, before she looked away in frustration.
“Huh…” Spike said as he rubbed his head. Carefully he reached over and dipped his claw into the bottle, before pulling out the now blue tinted substance.
“Hey! That stuff is expensive. Mrs. Sweet Home is going to…” Scootaloo started in a panic, before she figured something out. The rest of her argument then died in her throat.
“Never mind...” she mumbled as she looked away with a slight huff.
Spike shrugged, and licked the paste off of his claw. He then shook a bit in revulsion. “Ugg. It tastes just like a Water Sapphire.”
Spike then pulled the bottle over, and sniffed the contents.
“Smells like it too,” he complained as he made a point to plug his nose in the most obvious way possible.
“Can’t be,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. “Miss. Cheerilee had a lesson about edible rocks when we visited that rock farm, and she said to never eat Water Sapphires.”
“I guess you’re right,” Spike conceded with a shrug.
Scootaloo shrugged back, and then reached for her other medical bottle. This time she was less careful, and just dumped out a small mound of the contents. It was a rainbow of colors, but also glittered like fine gems. Spike could also smell it. It smelt delicious. Spike reached a claw towards the bread, only to get a sour look from the pegasus. He withdrew his claw, and attempted to return the conversation to the blue paste.
“Dragons can eat them. But, they make it so we cannot breath fire for a while. Twilight usually makes me eat them when I have a bad cold,” Spike explained as he passed the bottle back.
“What about the other stuff,” Spike asked as Scootaloo began to spread the paste evenly.
“It’s…. It’s…” Scootaloo struggled to say anymore. Her face was flaming. And, her ears and tail drooped with an obvious embarrassment.
“It’s what?” Spike asked with a building curiosity.
Scootaloo buried her muzzle in her forelegs. “It’s for my skin condition…” She mumbled almost completely unintelligibly into her forelegs.
“Skin condition?!” Spike shouted in surprise.
“Shoosh!!! Not so loud!” Scootaloo half shouted as she covered the dragonling’s mouth with both hooves.
The dragon continued to look at her with that questioning look. Even after a few seconds, he just didn’t seem to give up on the question he was sitting on,
“Fine…” Scootaloo sighed.
“There’s some kind of hard scab or something growing under my fur. The doctor couldn’t make it stop, so he just said to use that stuff to keep it from cracking and bleeding,” Scootaloo whispered into Spike’s ear fin.
“Wow… That is freaky,” Spike marveled causing Scootaloo to blush harder, her face turning completely red with humiliation.
“Can I see it?” Spike pleaded with the orange pegasus, who shot him a grossed out look.
“Why would you want to see that?” She hissed.
“Oh come on, I’m just curious,” Spike explained as he raised his claws in a defensive posture.
“Boys…” Scootaloo muttered to herself.
“Fine… There’s some up here on my foreleg. Just don’t tell anypony about it, ok?” She grumbled as she shot her foreleg out, and rested it on the wooden table.
“Right…” Spike accepted as he gently slid her fur out of the way to poke at the reportedly scabbed skin.
It was solid, but had a bit of give to it. It was rough to the touch, but didn’t feel rough in the complete way that a scab might. It also looked like it was broken up into several smaller circles. Furthermore, Scootaloo’s fur seemed to be growing out of the odd skin without any difficulty, something that Twilight’s scabs never did.
“It kind of feels like Scale,” Spike decided as he gently rubbed the odd skin a bit more. Carefully he looked over the small scale like growths. The skin had turned from it’s usual hairless pink to a shade of orange to match Scootaloo’s coat.
“It’s not scale,” Scootaloo groused as she slapped Spike’s claws away. She then huffed, and began to slather the jelly and peanut butter onto the other slice of the bread.
“Sorry… Geez, what’s getting you so worked up?” Spike asked with a hint of concern.
“For starters, you are asking me embarrassing questions, “ Scootaloo hissed.
“Before that. You’ve been sulky the whole time you’ve been here,” Spike pointed out calmly but firmly.
Scootaloo opened her mouth to object, only to get cut off. “And don’t try to deny it, I could tell,” Spike pointed out.
“It’s nothing,” Scootaloo retorted defensively.
“Not to you,” Spike pointed out firmly.
“Come on, out with it. Holding it in is only going to make you feel worse,” spike insisted.
“I… I… you said ‘sister’,” Scootaloo mumbled as she mashed her sandwich together with a little too much force, causing it to smoosh into two smooth lumps of flatbread with filling oozing out from all four sides.
“What?” Spike asked as he rubbed his ear fins.
“I just wanted a family. OK!?” Scootaloo admitted as she slammed her hooves on the table, and stifled a whimper. She choked a couple of times, and then rubbed her eyes.
“But, nopony wanted me. And, if anypony even showed a little interest… any interest at all, Mrs. Sweet Home would always have a list of demands. Not even those two monster hunters wanted me after they saw all the requirements Mrs. Sweet Home had… I…. I… I guess: I just wasn’t worth the effort,” Scootaloo grumbled as she desperately suppressed a whimper.
Finally, she began to furiously attack her bread with her teeth, tearing large chunks off, and then chewing it like it was her worst enemy. Her furious eyes still looked wet, but she didn’t seem like she was actively crying now.
“I’m sorry,” Spike apologized. As he went quiet, and watched the little filly continue to attack her bread. His mind raced for a good thing to say. Something to cheer her up.
“Spike,” Interrupted another voice, drawing Spike’s thoughts away from the current issue.
“I got a summons from Twilight. And, I’ve been looking everywhere for her. Do you know where she is?” asked the familiar voice of Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkles current student. Although, “student” was pushing it a bit at this point.
“I think she’s still in her throne room. At least, that’s the last time I heard from her,” Spike said as he rubbed his chin.
“Do you think it has to do with my sister? Celestia’s letter said today, right? I swear that’s what it said,” Spike asked the pinkish purple mare.
“I think so. Maybe that’s what she wanted to talk to me about,” Starlight Glimmer offered as she made a beeline out of the kitchen.
“You have a sister,” Scootaloo asked with a hint of curiosity, poking through her dour mood.
“Apparently,” Spike admitted.
“I never knew my parents, and I assumed I didn’t have any family,” Spike conceded.
“But a few days ago, we got this letter from Princess Celestia saying that my mother had two eggs in the clutch I was born from, and that she was sending the other dragon from the clutch here,” Spike explained casually.
“Oh… Now I see what you meant by ‘sister’,” Scootaloo mumbled with a hint of guilt.
“It’s ok. I guess we aren’t that different after all. Neither of us knew our parents,” Spike offered as he reached a claw out, and gave the filly a little pat on the withers.
Scootaloo gave the dragon a small smile as her face brightened up a little. At least, she could appreciate the empathy.
---
It was fairly late into the evening by the time Spike or Scootaloo saw anypony again. The rest of the day had been a few odd board games, or comic books as Spike had tried to entertain Scootaloo for the rest of the day. Naturally, he’d picked the Crystal table, it was the best place to spread out a board game. And, Twilight, Celestia, and Starlight Glimmer were not currently using the room. Wherever they had gone and whatever they had been talking about, it was no longer there.
“Double Six, that means I land on Go!” Scootaloo bragged as she reared up a bit in her chair, and waved her hooves a bit in the air.
“You won’t be bragging once you land on my Neighyork Avenue!” Spike gloated back, only to hear the doors to the throne room open.
“Spike, I need you to go. I need to coordinate with my friends on an important friendship problem,” Twilight demanded as she and her five friends stepped into the throne room.
“Right…” spike grumbled as he started grabbing clawfulls of game pieces to throw back in the box.
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo eagerly shouted as she waved a hoof at her honorary sister.
“Hey half-pint,” Rainbow Dash said eagerly as she flew over to stand on the table, and look Scootaloo in the eyes.
“But, is it true? Are you like half-dragon?” Rainbow Dash eagerly inquired as she squeezed her cheeks. “That must be super amazing!”
“What???” Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with a look of pure confusion. Her eyes blinked a couple of times as she tried to decipher what Rainbow Dash was trying to say. Was it a joke?
“Rainbow Dash! That was supposed to be a secret!” Rarity chastised the cyan mare in a rather brusque whisper. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soft enough to not be heard by the little orange pegasus.
Scootaloo squared her withers at that statement. Her body snapped to attention, and her eyes locked onto the white unicorn. Rainbow Dash would play pranks… Scootaloo had never taken Rarity for the joking sort… Applejack was the only other pony she knew to be less likely to play jokes.
Scootaloo could feel her mind racing. Rainbow Dash was joking, right? If so, why was everyone acting so serious about it? She would have expected comments about the tastefulness of the jest… not this response.
“Darling, did you forget what Twilight told us, already?” The white unicorn tisked with a click of her tongue in her hushed tone. A thought crossed her mind, and her eyes peeked over towards Scootaloo with a look of fear behind her carefully cultivated expression.. Unfortunately, Scootaloo had heard that too.
Scootaloo felt a tinge of a headache building. It wasn’t a joke. A secret? What? Why? How? No way, it couldn’t be true. She didn’t look anything like Spike…
But, then why the secrecy?
“Yeah, breaking a promise is not ok dashie,” Pinkie Pie added in a subtly chastising tone. The bubbly pink mare’s usual quirky smile had been replaced by a gentle but firm look of disappointment.
“Dragon? What? Huh?” Scootaloo stuttered. She’d been a pony her whole life. She didn’t have scales, or breath fire. She had wings, but they weren’t webbed.
“Wait? You hadn’t heard?!” Rainbow Dash said in shock. She then noticeably flinched at the rather sour looks that most of the other ponies in the room were shooting her.
“Whoopse…” Rainbow Dash breathed quietly as she rubbed her head nervously with a hoof. Twilight Sparkle noticeably shook her head.
“Uhh. Nevermind!” Rainbow Dash said with a clearly forced smile.
“Funny joke, eh Scoots? You a half-dragon...? Uhh… never!” Rainbow Dash tried, her weak retort only serving to cement the opposite in Scotaloo’s mind.
“Half… Half… Half-Dragon? When?!!” Scootaloo shouted in confusion. Her mind was racing now. Celestia had said her body was changing. Was this what she meant? While Scootaloo would normally be intrigued by the prospect, the thought of her body changing was overriding her playful side.
Everything that she’d thought suddenly didn’t seem to make sense anymore. The meds? Was that to fix her dragon-ness? Was it to make her change faster? Was everything a lie? What else didn't she know? Scootaloo’s breath continued to grow more and more frantic as she tried to work through the new information.
Is this why I cannot fly? Do dragons even get Cutie marks? Scootaloo could feel a fresh wave of panic hit her.
Is my cutie mark going to disappear? That thought almost stopped Scootaloo’s heart entirely. She’d spent so much time just getting it, and if it could just go away in the same way as her scales grew in.
What if things continued to get worse? Would she need to worry about turning into a 50 foot tall monster? Would she need to watch her every thought for greed? Would she rampage through town square like Spike did?
“Scootaloo, please breath!” Fluttershy’s panicked voice whispered, as the whole world began to spin. The last thing Scootaloo felt was her face hitting a stack of Mare-opoly bits.
—-
Scootaloo slowly came to. She was greeted by a soft comforting hum. Two warm forelegs cradled her. Gently she felt herself rocking back and forth. “W… What?” Scootaloo croaked as her mind slowly returned, and her eyes slowly creaked open.
“Are you ok?” whispered the gentle voice of a yellow and pink blob as Scootaloo’s eyes slowly came into focus.
Scootaloo knew that voice. “Miss. Fluttershy?” she asked groggily.
“Good. You’re ok. Please, take your time. No need to wake up too quickly,” Fluttershy cooed as she continued to gently rock Scootaloo back and forth.
“I’m ok,” Scootaloo insisted, a bit weaker than she meant to.
“Still, you gave us a big shock there, little filly,” Fluttershy gently cooed in a tone that hardly sounded like the chastisement the words implied.
“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo murmured apologetically.
“See Scootaloo’s ok. Now, can somepony please explain why this is a secret!” Rainbow Dash growled.
“Didn’t you hear Twi, when she explained it? The less ponies that know, the less likely the curse is to hurt them,” Applejack explained astutely.
“C...Curse?!!” Scootaloo murmured with a slight tinge of fear.
“It’s not a curse, it’s some kind of prophecy, or maybe an oath,” Twilight snapped back.
Curse!? Scootaloo's mind repeated. Scootaloo’s eyes went wide.
“Shh… Shh… no need to worry, we came here to protect you. And, maybe figure out a way to make sure you’re never in any danger,” Fluttershy whispered directly into Scootaloo’s ear.
“Does this mean I’m some sort of freak? I just wanted a normal family, and a normal life,” Scootaloo whimpered into Fluttershy’s fur.
“What if I things keep changing?” Scootaloo murmured as her fears from earlier returned, despite the comfort Fluttershy was showing her.
“It’s ok,” fluttershy whispered. “Nothing bad’s going to happen.”
Scootaloo took a couple of deep breaths… She wanted to believe that, she really did...
“Twilight dear, I was curious. Does this mean Scootaloo is a Kirin, like in the old bedtime stories?” Rarity asked.
“Will she explode into flames if she gets too mad?” Rarity added, as she remembered the old lullaby.
“I’m not sure. It’s inconclusive whether Kirin are actually related to dragons, or if they are another tribe of ponies,” Twilight Sparkle lectured.
“Even if they were half dragon, that is not what Scootaloo is. Frankly, she is something new.. or at the very least, something not previously recorded,” Twilight explained.
“To be honest, this opens up a whole new realm of questions,” Twilight added with a growing glee at what she could learn.
“Stop!” Spike shouted.
“I think they’re something you aren’t telling Scootalo and I. Things that we need to hear!” Spike accused with a claw pointed directly at Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight opened her mouth a couple of times, but nothing came out. Instead, she looked back at Spike with a look of guilt, remorse, and anxiety.
“Twilight, does this mean Scootaloo is my sister?” Spike continued to press rather rudely with a clearly irate expression on his face. Twilight looked down at the floor with an obvious look of shame on her face.
Scootaloo looked up in shock. She then looked at Spike with wonder, and curiosity.
“How long did you know? Were you planning to hide this from me all day?” Spike huffed.
“It was for both of your safety,” Twilight insisted. “Frankly, I shouldn’t even let you two leave until we have a good plan. This is why I wanted to discuss this matter with my friends and Starlight Glimmer first...”
“But, I wanted to go to school tomorrow. My friends and I had plans. And...” Scootaloo insisted. Her cries interrupting both twilight and spike.
“it’s ok. You can probably go to school tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll have it figured out by then,” Fluttershy assured the filly.
“Actually…” Twilight started, only to lose her resolve at the pleading look Scootaloo was currently giving Fluttershy.
“For now, I think you need to go to bed. Too much excitement is bad for fillies your age,” fluttershy purred as she carried Scootaloo off.
“You should go to bed too, Spike” Twilight commanded.
“Not till you tell me: when were you going to tell me?” Spike snapped
“I just found out today,” Twilight hedged.
“Never… I see,” spike said coldly. His voice actually did a wonderful job of sounding disappointed. But, there was no new fury in it. The small dragon waddled off leaving the six mares alone.
“I did it for your good…” Twilight called as Spike stormed off. He didn’t respond, and she couldn’t be sure he even heard...