//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Magic is Fun // Story: A Dragon's Wake // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// Following what was quite possibly the loudest noise to ever come from within Canterlot castle was the sound of three bodies falling to the floor. Then, only silence filled the air. In Princess Celestia's entire reign, in her entire life span, which seems infinite to most, she had only ever been knocked out three times. One was by Discord in their first battle. Thankfully, Luna was there to back her up. The second time was during the Changeling invasion and the third and final time was at the claws of this young dragon and her pupil's misfired spell. All living creatures who were patiently waiting outside her chambers immediately fled in and found three unconscious bodies. They first saw Princess Celestia, who looked quite out of place sprawled out on the ground. She seemed very much unharmed. Princess Luna used her magic to gently levitate her sister up and plop her down on a cushion. When checking for injuries, she found none. All five of the Elements of Harmony ran over to inspect Twilight Sparkle. Although she was unharmed, the smoke rising up from her horn did not go unnoticed. Finally, Claws ran over to inspect his friend. Like Twilight, he had smoke coming up, but it was coming from his now slightly altered claws. "What in the hay happened?!" Applejack, having concluded that her friend was fine, turned to Princess Luna along with everyone else. "I'm not sure. I have never used the spell before." "Um, P-Princess Luna, I think something is wrong with Spyro," Claws hastily said. "There is something wrong with all of them." "No, I mean, look at his claws!" The frantic act he put on was enough to warrant everyone to come over and inspect the youngest dragon. The nails coming out from his claws had stopped smoking, revealing their new form, lavender. All eight of his nails were now the color lavender. They took note that it was the exact same hue as Twilight Sparkle's horn and coat. The change of color was the first thing to warrant panic. The second thing was their new shape. Where smooth, sharp nails once grew from his claws were now rigid and spiraled nails. They were not unlike… "Unicorn horns!" Everyone turned to face the announcer, Pinkie Pie, who was just smiling away. "Pinkie what are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash was staring down at the young dragon's claws, too perplexed by the strange site to even look up at Pinkie Pie. "Just look at his nails…" She paused, letting them all deeply study his nails. "…and then look back at Twilight's horn!" Princess Luna was the first to abide. Looking each and every nail over, she came to one conclusion. "I have no idea what is going on, but Pinkie is correct. His claws do, in fact, remind me of Twilight's horn." "Um, so what does that mean?" Fluttershy questioned. For a moment, her need to care for the hurt was overwhelming her shy nature, but seeing as how she was unsure on Spyro's health, she began to revert to a passive state of panic. "At this point, nothing. And I feel reluctant to even try any healing spells, or scanning. for that matter. For now, we simply wait for them to wake and then we question them." The lunar princess was swift to answer, but, in truth, she had no clue what to do. All of them simply waited in the room, unwilling to speak and unwilling to even move. All of the elements were now more reluctant than ever to take in the youngest dragon. They knew he couldn't possibly be the cause, but Twilight did cast the spell on him. His nails were now almost freakish in nature. They now contained something that should not be on any dragon, but here they were. Spike decided to sit by Spyro's side with Claws and wait, something they had been doing a lot of. After several hours, Celestia began to stir. To her, it was quite the foreign feeling to be both knocked unconscious and wake up from an unnatural sleep. Unlike most beings in her state, she knew exactly what happened and decided not to ask the almost cliché question. "Luna, where is Twilight?" Celestia looked around and noticed all the odd stares from the fellow Elements, but they all gestured to the other cushion where she found her student resting peacefully. "What happened? Was it a magic spike?" Luna asked, but Celestia shook her head. "Far too violent of a reaction for it to be anything like that, but it was certainly unexpected. Where is Spyro?" She looked around and found the desired dragon resting peacefully. "Princess, his nails, they’re—" "I see them. Thank you, Fluttershy." She gave her a motherly smile, but returned to concentrate on his lavender nails. She looked up to the Elements and then to her sister and each were just as perplexed over the situation as she was. "Does this mean he can use magic now?" Spike asked, breaking the unnerving silence. "No," Celestia said, looking over the group and noting their ever-curious stares. "While it is true that all living creatures in Equestria harbor some form of magic, whether it's for flight or simply living with nature, it would be impossible for a dragon to manipulate magic on a level that a unicorn or even a changeling would. I do not know why he has these… well, horns now, but I'm sure we can figure this out. I'm sure my student has an answer." They all gave Celestia curious looks while she gestured to Twilight. It was at this point that everyone in the room noticed that she was now awake and rubbing her head for support. "Twi!" Spike ran over and hugged her, which caused her some physical discomfort. Most ponies have poor memory skills so when knocked unconscious they tend to forget the event in question. Twilight was not that type of pony. She remembered everything, but it didn't stop her from trying to ask a million questions before her teacher could calm her down. "Twilight, everything is fine. Except for Spyro's nails, that is." "What happened to his nails? And why did the spell fail? I don't get it!" "Come see for yourself. As for the reason, well, I have a theory, but perhaps you could enlighten us." She looked him over in his sleeping form, but decided against doing any form of magic-detecting spell. After inspecting his nails, she came to an uneasy conclusion. "The spell didn't work because dragons are resistant to magic! But I used so much magic in that blast. I mean, I can levitate Spike if I concentrate hard enough so the spell still should’ve worked," she said while shaking her head. Meanwhile, Princess Celestia was actually smiling to herself. "While it is true that dragons are resistant to magic, it is not enough to warrant a failure of the spell. I'm confident in your ability to pull it off correctly and I did not detect any missteps in your actions. Do you think there is any other reason why this happened?" Twilight looked over the spell and then turned her head back to her teacher and then read over the spell again. Finally, after a minute, a look of realization dawned on her face. "It refused to work because he didn't need it in the first place?!" "It would seem so, but I only just realized that myself." "But I don't understand. You said that if this spell wasn't used he would go insane." "That is what I believed to be true." "You said this spell was required to sever his 'humanity'." "I did, but it would seem that was not necessary in the first place. Can you think of why?" That motherly tone, to Twilight it was always soothing, but in some cases, this being one of them, it was frustrating. She furrowed her muzzle and concentrated. "It was already severed?" A simple nod was all she received. "But I was talking to him earlier. He knows he is from another world and he always talks about stuff from it, at least I think he does." Claws was scratching his head. "That is because he still has his memories. I do not understand how that part is possible, but it would seem this little crisis was averted the day he woke up in his dragon body." "So he still knows he was a human and has all his memories?" Twilight asked while still examining his nails. "I believe so, but we can't know for sure until he wakes up." "Y'all won't have to wait long." Applejack pointed over to Spyro's previously sleeping form. He let out an ear-screeching yawn, then looked around. Every single eye was on him. Unlike previous encounters, this unnerved him, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Stop staring!" Half of them did a massive synchronized face hoof while the others just rolled their eyes. Twilight was the first to speak back. "Spyro, how are you feeling?" She seemed genuinely concerned for his well-being over what exactly happened, but on that question, he had to think. Normally he would feel fine and say just that, but this wasn't the case. He felt weird. What should I say? I guess the truth. Stupid truth, Spyro thought while sighing. "Honestly? I feel weird, my claws feel tingly and I feel…" "Dizzy?" She finished, noticing the child was almost certainly not going to come up with that last word at the rate his voice was trailing off. He nodded. He then looked down at his claws and his eyes widened. There is no way this is a dream anymore. And what happened to my nails? He thought while looking them all over. Out of all the sensations he was physically feeling right now, his claws felt the oddest. "I'm sorry, Spyro, but we're not quite sure why your claws are like that now. But the good news is we did not even need the spell in the first place." "Um, okay." He blinked and continued to study his new nails. He was certain that he noticed tiny horns instead of nails and, like it would any child, it gave him an idea. There is no way this is gonna work, but why not try? He lifted up his right claw and focused on a gem that was resting on a tray nearby. He strained his brain, imagining the gem floating in the air. All of them were looking at him like he was crazy while Celestia and Twilight were giggling to themselves, having already guessed that it won't work. After a moment, a faint light appeared over the gem which immediately ceased all laughter. After another second, the gem shot up in the air at a violent degree and hit the ceiling, causing a small dent. The gem then fell down from where it came. Spyro couldn't resist. "COOL!" He turned around, hoping to find smiling faces or amazement, but, instead, he saw shock, on everyone's faces. Simple and pure shock. He stood up, snapping some of them out of their daze, and started towards the princess. He walked up and started waving his hand in front of her. "Earth to Tia!" This statement caused even more shock, but to different degrees depending on who you were looking at. Most of the Elements winced when they saw such a young child use the princess's nickname instead of addressing her with the proper title. Twilight and Celestia noticed the term he used. Earth. Clearly, he was referring to where he was from and not where he is now which proved he had not lost a single memory. Celestia shook it off and decided to address a less serious issue, attempting to come to grips with what they all just saw. "Spyro, did you just address me as Tia?" Her head tilted to the side. She betrayed her amusement with a light chuckle. "Yeah. That's what your sister calls you, right?" He turned back to Princess Luna who simply smiled and nodded, which caused him to relax. "Indeed she does." She giggled some more which caused him to laugh. Finally, Twilight broke the silence the only way she knew how. "THAT'S IT?!" The sudden outburst caused Spyro to flinch, but then he shrugged it off when he noticed both Princesses were just smiling away. "What do you mean, dearest Twilight?" "He, that…" She paused to collect her thoughts and took in a few deep breaths. "Not only does he keep his memories, but he seems perfectly fine AND he just performed unicorn magic with his CLAWS! And it doesn't faze you?! Princess forgive me, please do, but WHAT THE HAY?!" To her, the sheer impossibility of what Spyro just did was too much to handle. She had long since passed the point of losing it. No, she was having a nervous breakdown while her mind tried to piece together how it was possible when, in terms of basic logic, it shouldn't be. Spyro was quite literally an impossibility, yet he was standing right in front of her smiling away. This infuriated her and, against her better judgment, she interrupted what the princess was about to say to tell him off. "AND YOU!" She pointed to Spyro which caught him entirely off guard. The furious tone in her voice did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room. "You got changed into a dragon, whisked away to a new world and now have access to magic. And you’re not even scared?! How can you not be scared? How can you just be happy?!" Okay, mean crazy lady… he thought while trying to come up with a response. Again, he decided on the truth before any of the princesses could intervene. "I was living in an orphanage! Do you think those places are fun?" He raised his voice as high as it would go, attempting to mimic her scolding. "Well… I—" "Do you think that I was happy there?!" "I wasn—" "Do you think, 'oh, all kids on Earth are just happy?'" She sighed and waited for him to continue, but he had nothing left to say. "You seemed so happy here, I just thought—" "Of course I'm happy here! MAGIC EXISTS! This place is amazing. And now I'm one of my most favorite things, a dragon!" Spyro was giving her a smug smile, one that seemed very out of place on someone so young. The things he said struck her heart. He wasn't happy on his planet, but was very much the opposite here. With a loss for what to say or do, she turned to her teacher who simply smiled and spoke. "Twilight, my sister and I have lived for over one thousand years. When we see something that is impossible and yet happened, we accept it as that. Young Spyro here has proven us wrong on something that we have known for eons. He just used magic. You saw this and you cannot deny it. How this is happening? I'm afraid I don't know, but I think it's a safe bet that it has something to do with you." ME?! ME? What did I do? I just cast the spell on him like she told me. I concentrated the magic and just used en— Twilight stopped thinking when she noticed Celestia had gathered her into a hug using one of her wings. "I know that look, Twilight. It's when you are trying to figure something out without evidence. But since we do not understand how this happened, then perhaps it is best to let it be. I do not mean to ignore his new ability. We all know how dangerous magic can be when left unchecked. But we have more than we could ever hope for now and no memories need to be erased, so forgive me for feeling overly pleasant to this strange situation." Twilight looked up at her teacher and accepted her motherly embrace and smile. She nodded. "Okay, he has magic now and that's fine. Spyro, I'm sorry for yelling." "It's okay," he said while smiling. It was the kind of smile a child gives after having finally caught an adult doing something wrong and not the other way around. "Right. So now what, Princess?" "Now we focus on the problem which is still present. Both Claws and Spyro need homes. I will talk to him about his magic later today." Spyro smiled up at her sheepishly, but he couldn't help but feel giddy. He had magic! "Who has decided to take them in?" Princess Luna asked with an air of authority. All of them gave her a very sheepish smile. "We didn't, Princess. This isn't an easy decision and now with Spyro's new magic it just became far more complicated." Twilight slumped down and let out an exasperated sigh. "Can't I just stay with you? And what's so bad about me having magic?" "Because you have never used it and are most likely prone to magical outbursts. The reaction you had to the spell was a good example of one. They can be dangerous." "Oh. That was still pretty cool!" He smiled, but the annoyed stared caused him to stop. "Princesses, we tried ta decide on who would be best ta take care of young’uns. Ah have experience, but never took in a dragon before or handled a magical child." "I still say I can take them both!" Pinkie said. Claws looked over at the pink pony. To him, it was a mixed bag sort of choice. Spyro wasn't sure about her either. She looked so pink! "I wouldn't mind taking in one of them. I do need extra help around the shop after all. I earn plenty and the idea of raising a child does appeal to me, believe it or not." Rarity was thinking of Claws more so than the youngest one, but he did not go overlooked either. "I have no problem with taking in one of them if that’s okay, but I have never raised a child or a dragon. Sorry." Fluttershy's squeaky voice did not go unnoticed. "Unless one of these dragons can walk on clouds, it ain't happening." Clouds? Whatever. She looks weird anyway, Spyro thought. He attempted to scratch his head but decided against it. He felt defensive of his new nails, fearing that he might break them. "I see. Then perhaps I might suggest talking about this over dinner. Getting to know our little dragons better before making an informed decision." It was tough to deny the unquestioning wisdom of the sun goddess. Plus, she was hungry. They all nodded, most just hoping to get their crazy day over with. "Wonderful. I will inform the chefs. LuLu, do you think you can escort them?" At the mention of Luna's nickname, both Spyro and Claws giggled. Luna scowled at her sister but held her tongue. She knew the reason Celestia used the nickname. An attempt at a prank and the use of her nickname was enough to warrant it. "Yes. Come, everypony and dragon, we shall all trot down to the dining room." They all followed the night goddess, with only a few snickers. "Right behind ya, LuLu!" Spyro yelled, purposely not concealing his voice for his own humor. Rainbow Dash had to give it to Spyro. Kids got guts. The dining room had been set up. Everyone was now sitting uncomfortably in silence. Three dragons sat near each other, only one of which was perfectly happy. Two pegasi, two unicorns, two earth ponies and two alicorns were all stealing random glances at the two new dragons. Food had been set up with the dragons getting their own courses. They had everything a pony would like embedded with gems, all sorts of gems. But only one of the dragons was eating happily. The other two felt too nervous to move. Everyone at the table felt too nervous, so, with an air of authority, the two alicorn ponies dug into their food which caused a huge sigh of relief from everyone just begging to do the same and they copied. Twilight also had to give it to Spyro. That dragon can eat. And so soon after his outburst over his planet. Something does seem off, though. Then again, children do eat when they are ner— "So," Rainbow Dash said. She was eyeing Spyro intently while he was still eating gem after gem. He finally stopped and humored her. "What's up?" Spyro offered. He failed to notice everyone was now eyeing their 'private' conversation. "Well, what's Earth like?" "It’s… Well, what do you mean?" He felt that, usually, when adults asked these types of questions they were after something specific. "What do humans eat?" again Dash asked. No one seemed brave enough to speak up despite their eavesdropping. "Same stuff as ponies except hay and flowers. Oh and hamburgers, steak, chicken—" It was the mention of the last type of food that caused the distinctive sound of a spoon dropping. The ponies did not know what he meant by hamburgers or steak, but the word chicken was all too common. Fluttershy was the culprit. She had dropped the spoon. Spyro looked up and noticed all the uneasy looks. Claws looked just as confused as he did. "What? All I said was we eat chick—" "SPYRO!" To his surprise, Princess Celestia had spoken up to interrupt. Her voice was stern. "Ponies do not eat meat. We understand that being a human is different and so is being a dragon. However, for the sake of a certain pegasus at the table, perhaps it is best to not mention the consumption of meat." Spyro looked confused and then looked over at the only two pegasus ponies sitting at the table. Rainbow Dash looked indifferent and seemed to shrug it off, however, Fluttershy almost looked sick and very uncomfortable. What is the big deal, Flutters? Gilda ate fish all the time, it's meat so what? Rainbow Dash thought while sighing. I have no problem with animals eating meat. Some require it, after all. But somepony who can help it… I can't help but feel sick. If I take one of them in, I hope they can live with just fish! Fluttershy grunted in annoyance at her thoughts, but decided to take a deep breath and calm down. It worked. "Oh." He paused and looked over at Fluttershy who was giving him a nervous smile. "Sorry, um, hmm?" Spyro just realized that no one other than the princesses had introduced themselves. He actually found it a little funny. Usually, that was the first thing that adults asked off the kids. "Oh, goodness. I'm sorry. My name is Fluttershy." He smiled then turned to the other ponies. "Name's Applejack." "Rainbow Dash. "Rarity. Charmed to meet you both." Spyro rolled his eyes. "Twilight Sparkle. But from my previous, um, outburst, I believe you know that. "And I'm Pinkie Pie!" Unlike the others, she sprang up from her seat and refused to back down until they both shook her hoof. "Name's Spike," he grinned, having already gotten over the shock regarding Spyro's situation. "Okay, no talking about food. What el—" "What do you like to do in your free time, Spyro?" Celestia offered this question. She sensed everyone in the room feeling far too uneasy and missing the point of getting to know them. "I love to play video games, but Captain Sailing Winds said they don't exist here. So that sucks." "Sucks? I'm unfamiliar with that term. And what, pray tell, is a video game?" Ponies are weird, he thought while trying to come up with an answer. "I've never had to explain a video game before. I guess it’s like a movie only you get to play as a character in it?" He was mostly questioning himself. He knew this was very inaccurate. True, he was young, but gamers knew what a game was and they were not movies. "I see. And by movie I'm assuming you mean a film?" "Yeah," he deadpanned when he realized something. "Please tell me you at least have those?" "Of course. However, they are rather uncommon, being quite new technology. I'm going to go ahead and assume that they are very common back on Earth?" "There are, like, thousands of movies, probably more. I guess explaining them doesn't matter." Twilight had decided to finally join the conversation at the mention of his question. "Actually, since you did not lose your memory there may be one way for us to experience some of your movies and these 'video games'. But we can only see what you have seen and nothing more." "How? Magic?!" Twilight nodded with a wink until Celestia spoke up. "Before we try something like this, I would still like to have a chat with him regarding his magic. While I'm sure it would be entertaining and educational, we still do not know how magic will react to you, dear Spyro." "Oh," Spyro said while everyone joined him in a sigh. They were all curious about his planet and his life. "So who are we staying with?" He looked at all the other ponies. So far, he had no real opinions on them other than the fact that Twilight could get REALLY mad. "That choice is left up to them. We are merely here to observe." Luna looked around, hoping for somepony to voice their opinion on the matter. Oddly enough, Pinkie Pie was the first to catch the hint. "Do you dragons like parties?" It was such a blunt question, but Spyro had to admit, it made the pink one sound far more interesting than the others. "Sure, I love parties!" Pinkie grinned at this comment. "How come?" "Well I love to throw parties! Every single occasion you can think of, I find a way to make a party happen. Like when Twilight first came to Ponyville. Oh wow, she was nervous. I then grabbed everypony in Ponyville and planned a surprise party for her. She was definitely surprised. Then again, she was acting real frantic, probably over eternal darkness or something about Nightmare Moon." Spyro had to admit, he now liked Pinkie Pie more than the others. Claws had to admit, he was more confused than he had ever been in his young life. Pinkie then began to describe their adventures in stopping Nightmare Moon and saving Princess Luna and all of Equestria. She did give the short version, but she was speaking so fast that Spyro could’ve sworn that he heard the other ponies trying to interrupt or get a word in. She finished with both dragons jaws wide open. "Wow," Spyro said while looking back at the others who were all smiling back and blushing. "You girls are crazy." His statement was blunt, but he was smiling. Pinkie was just grinning even wider. Rarity looked insulted while Applejack took it as a compliment. Both Twilight and Fluttershy just giggled a bit. Following that, everyone decided it was best to dig into their meals and see what would happen as time passed. Spyro, however, had finished early and was feeling quite bored. He was used to eating at various diners back on Earth where he had to wait for the adults to finish their meals, but this time he at least had something to experiment with. Looking around, he noticed no one paying attention to him, not even Spike or Claws, so he shrugged and put his little plan into action. Here goes nothing! he thought while grinning. Spyro took both his claws and gently placed them underneath the table. The long, elegant table was adorned with various decorations, food items, silverware, plates and everything else. Spyro was attempting to use his new magic to levitate his plate and other items in front of his eyes. He closed his eyes and slowly began to imagine his plate floating in the air. After a second, he strained his head and concentrated as hard as he could. Experimenting was always fun for a child except when things go wrong. When he opened his eyes he was astonished to see the world in a new light. To the other ponies, his eyes were glowing. To him, the entire world was glowing. Everything on the table slowly began to levitate and, after a moment, every single item was hovering at least ten feet in the air. No one spoke. No one wanted to ruin the moment, but every single unicorn-type pony at the table knew what was about to transpire and it wasn't going to be fun. Without warning, Spyro's eyes twitched and, in an instant, everything was thrown out into chaos. Not one item was traveling in the same direction. Time started to slow down for everyone, but for one pony in particular it slowed even more. In a manner of milliseconds, she knew exactly what to do and how to prevent the oncoming disaster. To watchers, a blur of pink swept passed them at an impossible speed. Even Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words or even thoughts. First, the silverware was neatly put back where it belonged, with the plates and their food slammed down gently. Then the decor was whisked back to the table as the pink blur ran from the beginning of the table to the end. Following the blur was every single piece and missing item being thrown back down to their original locations. Finally, the blur ended in the location of Spyro with his magic spike coming to an abrupt end. When it was all over, everyone spotted Pinkie Pie holding two towels which were now gently wrapped over the young dragon’s claws. Pinkie was saying soothing words to him to calm him down which ended his confusion over what just happened, but not everyone else’s. They all gave her a glare, but she was ready. "Oh, Pumpkin Cake has these magic surges all the time. Spyro just had one so I acted, I recognize those signs anywhere." Pinkie was just smiling away over the fact that she just defied the laws of physics themselves. Spyro just felt grateful that he hopefully wasn't going to be in trouble thanks to the pink pony that he was starting to like more and more. He couldn’t resist commenting on what he just did and almost caused. "Magic is fun!" Pinkie gave him a wink, but the rest of the table was now glaring at him. He was in trouble. He gave a sheepish smile and let out one big gulp. Twilight, however, was busy staring at Pinkie. Okay, Pinkie, you can take him in, she thought, hoping the others would agree.