//------------------------------// // Episode 64: Cats in the Cradle // Story: The Drake Six // by JNKing //------------------------------// Between learning how to utilize his new wings and keeping an eye out for possible changelings or imposters, the last thing Spike needed was a distraction.  But, at the same time, he had come to accept that the wider world didn’t care what he needed or wanted.  After all, it was already distracting watching the griffons, pegasi and dragons argue about the proper way to teach flight.  “No-no-no,” Smolder was insisting. “You have to bend your wings in order to compensate for the scale weight.”  “Bending your wings puts too much wind under them,” Swift was arguing. “You’ll shed feathers like no one’s business.”  “Do you need glasses, Winds?” Phoenix growled. “Dragons don’t have feathers.” “Honestly, this is Dragon 101,” Smolder sighed. “Usually dragon parents teach this stuff.”  “Wait a minute, what?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “But Spike just showed that dragons don’t get their wings until after the Molt, and the Molt ensures that dragon parents kick their kids out.”  “And you think they just throw us out without at least giving us a few tips on how to survive?” Smolder replied. “They did for me,” Gallus muttered.  Everyone paused, staring at Gallus in shock. “That’s weird,” Gabby said. “My dad kept me right by his side. Outright cried when I said I had to leave the nest.”  “Well,” Diamondback replied, an oddly snide tone in her voice, “Sounds like you get a few freaks in every egg clutch.”  “Whoa!” Swift yelled, covering Gabby with his wing. “Uncalled for!”  “Seriously, what the heck, DB?!” Smolder agreed.  Spike, however, peered at Diamondback. There was a darker tinge to her scales. And her eyes had a more icy sheen to them. Could it be…?  But before he could reach out and confirm… “Wait a minute, what’s that?” Smolder asked.  Everyone looked up. There was a bright yellow ball of what looked like flames curving through the air like a shooting star.  Except it was the middle of the day.  “I don’t know…” Spike admitted. “But I think…” His eyes widened as the ball grew bigger. “IT’S COMING RIGHT FOR US!”  The pegasi, griffons and dragons all scattered as the ball of flames crashed into the ground, leaving a small crater.  Spike looked around for ‘Diamondback’, but sure enough, she had vanished. “Great,” he muttered, brushing rubble off himself before turning to the crater with irritation in his eyes.  Irritation that turned to surprise as a lime-green portly adult dragon pulled himself out of the crater.  The new dragon coughed. “Hey there,” he said with another cough. “Name’s Sludge. How’re yer tails shaking?” He paused and clutched his arm with a groan.  Spike tilted his head. “You alright?”  “Yeah, what happened?” Smolder agreed. “To what?” Sludge asked.  “Uh, you?” Gallus offered. “Seriously, you see another dragon that plummeted out of the sky and left a massive crater?”  Sludge scoffed. “I don’t need to explain myself to a bunch of baby dragons and a feather-brained…”  “Well, then maybe you can explain it to me,” Diamondback’s voice declared.  Spike narrowed his eyes as Diamondback loomed ominously over Sludge, but the shade of her scales seemed the right color, and her eyes - though narrowed in suspicion - were the right tint of lapis blue.  Sludge blinked and backed up. “Whoa, Mama…” he mumbled.  “What are you doing in my territory?” Diamondback growled. “My?” Spike asked, unable to keep the indignation out of his voice. Luckily, Swift covered for him.  “DB?” he asked. “Do you know this guy?”  Before Diamondback could say, Sludge spoke up. “Well, I don’t know about tall, bright and beautiful up here…” He turned to Spike. “But I know this guy really well.”  Spike blinked, his surprise only going up further when Swift - of all people - got between him and Sludge.  “What are you talking about?” Swift asked, a more characteristically nervous tremble in his voice.  “I was looking for you, Spike,” Sludge said, completely ignoring Swift as he stepped forward. “I’m your father.”  There was a pregnant pause. Spike could feel a looming sense of emotions just waiting to swallow him whole.  Then Diamondback burst into a round of utterly hysterical laughter.  For about thirty seconds solid, everyone could only stare as the large white dragoness flopped on the ground, howling with sheer, undiluted laughter, beating her fist on the ground. Briefly she seemed to compose herself, taking a massive breath as she stared at Sludge… and then she devolved into another fit of giggles.  Smolder and Gallus had to hide their faces as her laughter started to get to them, but Spike only started to feel a wave of anger rising up.  “What is so funny?” he demanded.  “Yeah!” Sludge agreed. “What’s the matter with you?!”  Diamondback drew herself back up, briefly doubling over with another fit of giggles, before taking a even larger breath. For a split second, Spike thought she was just going to start laughing again, but instead… “Shiva, darling,” Diamondback called.  One of her diamond dogs burrowed up from the ground. “Yes ma’am?”  “Get that lovely parentage tracker of mine,” Diamondback asked. “Yes, ma’am.” Shiva jumped back down into the ground.  “And while you’re at it,” Diamondback called after her. “Tell your pups to get some scales off these two gentle-dragons.” She waved a hand airily at Spike and Sludge.  “Already done!” another voice replied, before two claws punched out of the ground and plucked scales off both Sludge and Spike.  “OW!” they yelled in sync. But before they could even look down at where the dogs had plucked them, Diamondback was already pulling out some sort of strange bowl with sparkling white water. She donned a pair of glasses before taking the green and purple scales taken from Sludge and Spike.  “In the case of Sludge and Spike,” Diamondback declared grandly as she deposited Spike’s scale into the water, causing it to glow and turn a vivid shade of blue. “Mr. Sludge…” Diamondback deposited Sludge’s scale into the water. It glowed brighter - almost a pure white - before fading to an angry looking red. “You are NOT the father.”  Spike stared at the bowl in confusion. “I”m sorry, but… how does red water tell you that?”  “I had this made by a unicorn associate of mine from way back,” Diamondback replied before shooting Sludge a dirty look. “It was quite useful for dragons that didn’t learn not to mooch off their parents, trying to insist to me I was their long-lost child, or their long-lost lover, or their long-lost… what was the last one you used for me, Sludge, darling?”  Spike gaped at a blushing Sludge in disgust. “You tried to pretend to be BOTH her kid AND her ex?!”  “What, NO!” Sludge protested, but his protest was drowned out.  “Dude, that’s just wrong!” Smolder agreed.  “Messed up, man,” Gallus shook his head.  “I’m gonna be sick!” Gabby moaned, Swift immediately getting her away.  “I mean, like, not to her, but…” Sludge winced, feeling Diamondback’s glare on him. He sighed. “Okay, fine! I just said that I was your dad so I could get in on that sweet castle life you got going for you!” He indicated the Castle of Friendship. “I mean think about it! National Dragon Hero; the personal adopted kid of an alicorn princess? There was an opportunity there! I did what any dragon would.”  “No, you didn’t,” Smolder growled back. “Dragons may be rude and rebellious, but we’re not lazy lumps who would take advantage of parent-less kids.”  Spike internally winced.  “Not all of us, anyway,” Diamondback noted. “After all, he proves you get a few bad eggs in the clutch, so to speak.” She tilted her head at the dirty looks everyone shot her. “What?”  “Maybe it’s more accurate to say that the way we’re raised has an impact on who we are,” Gallus offered. Smolder chuckled. “Look at you with the friendship lessons.”  Gallus huffed. “Don’t get used to it.” Though he couldn’t hide a small grin.  Sludge growled and huffed as well, though he wasn’t grinning. “You know what? I don’t need this! I’m out of here!” He stomped off. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Diamondback noted with a malicious grin, reaching down as her dogs returned with something else.  “What door?” Sludge demanded, turning back to her. “We’re out…” The next thing anyone knew, a four foot, crystal hewn door flew at Sludge’s face, hitting him hard enough to send him flying over the horizon.  “...S IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII DDE!” Sludge’s last wailing word echoed as he vanished over the horizon.  “You never were good at following orders, were you, Sludge?” Diamondback chortled again. “Oh, I haven’t laughed this hard in ages!”  Even though the others chuckled and congratulated her as well, Spike still couldn’t help but feel an empty pit in his stomach. Parentless kid.  “No, that’s not me,” Spike insisted. “Twilight’s my family. My rider. No one can replace that.”  Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t help but remember what had gotten him to meet Diamondback and Swift and all his friends.  ## A day later, Sombra watched from the shadows as his thrall Cozy Glow returned with more scales and fur.  “What took the brat so long?” Shade demanded impatiently.  “Security is tightening,” Sombra growled. “It’s becoming harder and harder for our infiltrators to spread discourse without the alternate personalities being noticed. I think they’re onto us.”  Shade brushed his chin in thought. “This means we’ll have to speed up our preparations.”  “Don’t fret,” Sombra replied. “There’s still chinks in the armor we can exploit.” He turned with a grin. “The leader of the Drake Six… what is it my traitorous subjects have been calling him? ‘Sir Spike the Brave’?”  “And Glorious,” Shade clarified. “That whelp is just lucky though. And soon enough, his luck will run dry.”  “Well, either way, it seems he has something on his mind.” Sombra chuckled. “I was able to slip dear Cozy right under his nose; he was too busy brooding about whatever goes on in that empty little dragon mind of his.”  Shade hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe I can tamper with the whelp’s clone,” he thought privately. “Then I can have him as my student once these fools have outlived their usefulness.” He chuckled with malicious glee. “That whelp will have no idea what hit him.”  Sombra chuckled as well, mistaking Shade’s laughter for eagerness about his plan. “Whatever’s bothering him, let’s hope it torments and agonizes him,” Sombra said with an evil grin. “Our forces are almost ready.” He lifted a blue scale with glee. “And we will soon have the key to turning our enemies’ best defense against themselves.”  ## Spike smacked his head angrily. Had he just seen Applejack with green apples instead of red? Unfortunately, she was already out of his sight. And he was certain he’d look like a crazy person if he started yelling for her.  He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to focus! If there were changelings in the school, and one of them was loyal to Chrysalis, he had to stay alert.  But that gaping hole in his chest wouldn’t leave him alone. Smolder’s comment - harmless as it should’ve been - kept circling his brain like a vulture. Parentless kid. Parentless kid. Twilight was his parent. His family! That should’ve been the end of it. He had her. He had Diamondback. He had Swift and Jackknife and Star Wing and Phoenix and so many friends and loved ones. Why should he care about whoever actually made his egg and brought him into the world? “Spike?”  Spike jumped and turned to see Diamondback looking at him in concern. Briefly, he scanned her, but her scales were the right color and her eyes still the right tint.  “You look troubled,” Diamondback noted.  Spike turned away. “Well, we’ve got imposters in the school,” he noted. “And I’m starting to worry they aren’t here for a good reason.” “That’s not the only thing,” Diamondback said. “If it was, you might have noticed that Applejack briefly had a green apple cutie mark rather than red. Spike gaped - so it was true. He turned. “Is she…?” Diamondback shook her head. “She got away before I could question her.”  Spike seethed and punched the wall, resisting the urge to swear.  “Spike,” Diamondback said firmly. “The last time you got this angry, you threatened a family of griffons. That should have taught you how dangerous it is to bottle your emotions up.”  Spike rested his head against the wall. She was right. He couldn’t keep this to himself.  “I thought I was past this,” he whispered. “Wondering who I was. Where I come from. What I really am.” He turned back. “But after Sludge? I-I can’t…” “Stop thinking about who birthed your egg, yes?” Diamondback asked.  Spike nodded reluctantly.  Diamondback rested a claw on his shoulder, her eyes motherly and kind. In the other claw, she brought up the magic bowl. “This isn’t just for determining parentage,” she said. “It can track down biological family.”  Spike blinked. “R-Really?”  Diamondback nodded. “Sometimes, my dogs would get sick, and need to have… certain parts of their bodies… replaced.” She swirled the sparkling water within. “This let me find family members of theirs who had the right… parts… that would be compatible with their bodies. Ensure that they would heal properly.” She smiled. “And it led to more than one heartwarming reunion between families.” She gazed at Spike. “Twilight will always be your family, Spike. But there’s no shame in wanting to know about how you were created.”  Unable to hold back his emotions any longer, Spike plucked a scale from his arm, and held it over the water. Just before he could drop it in, however, Diamondback gripped his hand.  “Just be prepared,” she warned. “Family reunions like this can be good… but they can also be bad. Whatever happens… take comfort in knowing it’s the truth.”  Spike nodded, and Diamondback let him drop his scale into the water. As it once again glowed a shimmering blue, Diamondback swirled the water and spoke a strange incantation - almost like a song.  The water evaporated at her words, turning into a sort of scent trail that led out of the academy. “Let’s go,” Diamondback said.  Flaring both their wings, Spike and Diamondback took off. Their departure noticed by Jackknife, who - curious - ran after them.  ## After several days of flight through the Dragon Lands, Spike started to worry that this was taking too long. He had left the Academy with imposters in the mix. What if something happened and he was busy searching for himself?  “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he muttered. “I should be back home; watching over Twilight, the Academy…” “You were trying to do that and this was preventing you,” Diamondback reminded him. “This way, you’ll have an answer, and can move on past it. Trust me.” She gripped his arm. “It’s never a good thing to be haunted by the past.”  In her eyes, Spike saw pain. Pain that did not come from mere wounds. “Sludge actually took advantage of you, didn’t he?”  “Not him specifically, but I’ve seen his kind of dragon before.” Diamondback looked away. “I was wild in my youth,” she admitted. “I fought other dragons, mated with them, or just danced the night away. I experienced so much, yet learned so little.” She shook her head. “And then the day came when a young dragon came up to me and claimed I was his mother.”  Spike blinked. “You… had a lot of kids?”  She sighed. “I had many affairs with many dragons before then. I had left eggs with the father, either through him winning them or me just not wanting them. It was easy for me to believe that one such egg could have grown up and wanted to reconnect; be part of my treasure.”  Spike looked back towards the vapor trail they were following. It wasn’t pointed at Diamondback, yet… Spike couldn’t help but wonder. Was it truly possible?  He wanted to ask, but at that moment, Diamondback glowered, and Spike wisely decided to keep silent. Luckily, she didn’t seem mad at him; just embittered by the part of her story she had reached:  “But he just wanted my treasure. His father had never rejected him during the Molt. He let him stick around, growing fat and lazy on the fortunes hard won by his father. And when his father failed to protect him and his treasure from other dragons, he didn’t learn to survive on his own… he just became a parasite. Moving to other dragons, trying to use their pity and greed to mooch off their treasures.”  Spike grimaced. “And he never learned to look out for himself?”  “Once one has tasted the easy life,” Diamondback replied. “It is very hard to go back to a life of challenge and hardship. It can build character, yes… but it is a miserable existence. A life of comfort can be very tempting in comparison.” She nodded at Spike. “And you show that a life of comfort can still produce strong, brave and good souls.”  Spike looked away. “I… don’t know if that’s a compliment, considering Sludge…” “Sludge would take advantage of examples like you,” Diamondback replied. “That’s the fatal flaw of a good soul. They will try to help, even when they know it does not benefit them.” She flew closer. “You must balance your nature, my friend. Be willing to help, but also be aware of when evil will try to take advantage of your kindness.”  Spike looked away, pondering how he could do that… only for his eyes to widen. “Oh, no…” The vapor trail was finally ending. But it ended at a grave.  Spike tucked his wings and dove, racing ahead of Diamondback and skidding to a stop before the tombstones.  The stones were… beautiful. Carved from pure white stone, and engraved with golden lettering. Sparks and Cinder Two Heroes Among Dragons The Sacrifice Made by the Fallen Heroes can never be repaid, but it can be honored.  Spike reached out, tracing the golden lettering… the familiar handwriting. The very familiar handwriting.  “Diamondback,” Spike said, his voice hollow.  “I’m here, Spike,” she assured him.  “I need a quill and paper.”  She handed them over without a second thought. If Spike’s mind wasn’t overwhelmed by the hurricane in his heart, he might have laughed at just how prepared Diamondback was for any situation.  But this wasn’t about Diamondback. He still had questions that she could not answer.  He wrote his letter quickly, and breathed on it with his teleportation fire. Then he waited.  Diamondback stayed vigilantly by, only speaking to offer him food or drink. He refused both, for the hunger wasn’t in his stomach, but his heart. It was a burning sensation that not even the tastiest fire gems could sate.  But relief soon came, as Princess Celestia appeared in a burst of soft yellow light.  “Princess!” Diamondback quickly bowed, but Celestia only gave her a passing nod, walking over to join Spike at the graves.  “I… suppose I’ve been waiting for this day,” she admitted, shifting on her haunches and sitting next to Spike.  “What happened to them?” Spike whispered, his voice choked with grief, anger and confusion. “Why did you make this for them?”  Celestia looked down. “Star Wing.”  Spike looked up at her. “What?” Celestia gazed at Spike, weariness and sorrow weighing her down, and making her look less like a princess, and more like a pony. “Did Star Wing make you think I was so cruel that I would just let my niece - the last piece of my sister after Nightmare Moon took the rest - run off into the wild without at least trying to search for her?”  Spike shifted, giving Celestia his full attention.  “I knew the nobles would never help,” Celestia admitted, her voice turning bitter. “And the guards were all in their pockets. Any search they did would likely have resulted in Star Wing’s death, faked or otherwise. So I took personal charge of her search.” She looked up and around. “My search for her led me into these mountains. Into dragon territory. I knew it was risky, but my fear for Star overturned my caution.” She looked down. “And I paid for my impulsiveness.”  Spike glanced at Diamondback, who was watching Celestia with rapt attention. “Star… learned how to become a dragon,” he remembered.  “And I’m guessing her less than stellar experience with me led to her telling the other dragons nasty stories about myself.” Celestia sighed. “Not that they weren’t untrue at the time. But they did lead to problems.”  “Yeah?”  Celestia nodded. “Twilight mentioned how ponies feared dragons for a time. That was because several of them jumped me. When I returned from the Dragon Lands - without Star and heavily injured - I had unintentionally established the dragon’s power. If they were capable of beating me to such an extent… ponies knew they stood no chance.” She shuddered. “And it would’ve been worse if I had died.”  Spike’s eyes widened. The grave. The quote. The elaborate handwriting.  “My parents saved your life,” Spike breathed.  Celestia nodded, and tears slipped down her cheeks. “Your father fell first; holding them off long enough for your mother to get me to safety.” Her voice cracked, but she looked directly at Spike, and seemed to take strength from his gaze. “Your mother had enough time to heal me - just enough so that I could fly - then she left to join her husband. And before I left… I saw you. I saw your egg.”  “And you took me?” Spike asked. “Because…” He couldn’t stand to say it.  Celestia nodded. “If I had left you, the other dragons would have plundered their home. Taken every last bit of treasure. And as for what they would’ve done with your egg…”  Diamondback spoke up. “I… don’t think they would’ve harmed it,” she said. “It’s supposed to be a great crime to destroy a dragon egg.”  “I couldn’t trust that,” Celestia said. “One of the dragons had mocked me; told me that Star Wing…” she shook her head. “Star assured me after she returned that he was only trying to damage me emotionally - that she would never have agreed to him using such cruel taunts. But either way, I feared what they would do to you.” She lowered her head. “So, I took you, Spike. I took you, and I melted down some of their gold, and gave them a tribute that no dragon could ever take away.” She nodded at the grave. “Something that I personally enchanted to stand tall, as a permanent reminder that though there was great evil among dragons… there was also great good as well. And it was worth remembering.”  Spike gazed at his biological parents’ tomb, Diamondback’s words running through his head. “That’s the fatal flaw of a good soul. They will try to help, even when they know it does not benefit them.”  His parents had tried to help. They were good dragons. Good souls. And they had paid for it.  “No,” he told himself. “Because of them, Celestia is alive. And I’m alive. And thanks to us… Equestria is a safer place.”  “There’s one last thing I don’t understand,” Spike noted, looking to Celestia. “I was given to Twilight… as a test. How did you know she’d hatch me correctly? H-How did I stay in that egg for almost a thousand years?”  “You were separated from your mother,” Diamondback replied. “More than likely, your egg when into a protective standby mode. It kept you in a sort of hibernated state - more like a stone than an egg - until your mother could reclaim you.” She looked to Celestia. “You must have had to use a great deal of magic to keep the egg in such a state for so long. And Twilight’s magic must have been quite powerful to be able to convince the egg to hatch after it had been in hibernation mode for that long.”  “It was something I had expected of her.” Celestia gazed at them with eyes old as time. “The future is an odd thing,” she admitted. “So many directions it can take; like an ocean in a storm.” She looked at Spike. “I’ve received visions of the future, Spike; hints as to the best course to take, that will lead to the smoothest waters. And there was one constant in all those visions.” She pointed at him. “You and Twilight. Together, you two would bring an age of peace to Equestria. Not a permanent one…” she smiled hopefully at him, “But a good one.”  “So you saw… everything we’ve done…”  Celestia chuckled softly. “No, Spike. Not everything. But enough. Enough for me to have faith. In Twilight… and in you.” She touched his chest gently, and looked back at the grave. “Sparks and Cinder would be so proud of the dragon you’ve become.”  Spike felt his heart lift. He nodded and stood up. “Then… I need to get back. Someone’s going to try and threaten that age of peace you believe Twilight and I will protect. And I’m going to prove you right.”  Celestia smiled at him with tear stained eyes. She wrapped her wings around him in a hug. “You already have,” she promised him.  As she teleported away, Spike took one more moment at his parent’s graves. He rested a claw on both their tombstones.  “Goodbye Mom,” he thought. “Goodbye, Dad.”  Then, with a breath to steady his nerves, he turned, spread his wings, and took off, heading home with Diamondback.