//------------------------------// // Family Matters // Story: The Twilight Child // by Detectivefish //------------------------------// Since Ponyville was not known for its active nightlife, the eventual result of Midday's declaration that they go out was eight ponies and one dragon sitting in a restaurant, and for the most part they were eating calmly. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had been content to slob out until Rarity made her feelings on such acts clear, at fork point. Midday noticed Twilight Sparkle was staring at her, or trying not to. Fluttershy seemed unusually nervous about something, though she was still eating her meal. "So why exactly were we all invited out for this meal?" Rarity eventually asked. Midday just smiled. "I felt like celebrating, is why" "You said you'd found your father" Twilight said, after a small pause. Midday turned to look at her, and nodded. "And you couldn't at least introduce us?" Rarity asked. "He had places he needed to be" Midday said quietly, "So he couldn't stick around" "A shame" Rarity smiled. "What does he do for a living?" Fluttershy asked. Midday gave this some thought, "Well, right now he's really between jobs, but he used to be an astronomer. Or am I thinking of astrophysicists?" "So how come he's between jobs, then? Did somepony blame him for something that wasn't actually his fault?" Trixie asked, shooting a glance at Twilight as she said this. "No. Discord did... something to him. And by something I mean I'm not sure what happened, and that's the best I've been able to narrow it down to" she looked at the confused glances everypony was giving her, "Anyway, long story short: He's back, somehow. So I'm feeling cheerful" "Okay then" Fluttershy said, before returning to her meal. The rest of the meal passed without incident, save Pinkie Pie agonising over dessert, wondering which selection of ice cream to eat, and Rarity yelping when she saw the word 'cheese'. "I thought you were gonna go see a shrink about that" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Well, I was," Rarity said as she tried to catch her breath, "But things occured. And then more things. And the occasional shennanigan," a nervous smile went across her face, "But I am getting better about it. So I believe I will have the cheese board, and nothing will stop me." And nopony tried to, though Pinkie did take a few slices of cheese while Rarity wasn't looking. ***** Eventually, they finished their meal, with Midday paying for the whole thing, and they all set off home. Midday noticed Twilight looking excited. "You're still thinking about the dragons, aren't you?" she asked. Twilight turned to look at her. "Of course I am. It's an incredible opportunity for studying, and I'm-" Horror flashed across Twilight's face, "I'm still not prepared. And it begins tomorrow!" she yelped and rushed out of the door, leaving Midday, Spike and Trixie. "So, Trixie, how did things go between you and Ditzy?" Midday asked. The showmare looked about. "They went... okay. We had a talk about things, and eventually she was okay with Dinky being on stage" Trixie smiled as Midday just stared at her. "She was accepting. She was hesitant, but eventually decided it was Dinky's decision, and I had to tell her she wasn't in any danger at any point, but she seemed to be understanding after that." Trixie coughed, and muttered something under her breath. "Not that Trixie's going to have a chance for a show while there's a Dragon Migration going on. Not that Trixie can blame anypony for that" She quickly added, before sighing. "Giant creatures ruin any show" she muttered darkly, "Which is why Trixie is most assuredly not stepping hoof outside until this migration has passed by Ponyville" ***** The rest of the day passed without much incident, save Twilight looking through every book she could find on camoflauge. The next morning, Twilight woke everypony up in her excitement about the dragon migration. Midday came downstairs to find Twilight going over a checklist, and shook her head at the sight, and after breakfast found her just finishing off the triple-checking of her checklist. She looked up at Midday and smiled. "Are you ready?" she asked. Midday nodded. "It's a shame Trixie isn't feeling alright" Twilight said, and on seeing Midday's confused looks explained, "Trixie said she wasn't feeling well enough to get out of bed, which is regrettable, because I thought that she'd really enjoy joining in." She sighed, and rolled up her checklist. Midday decided not to mention Trixie's comments from yesterday. "Spike!" Twilight called out, "Are you ready?" "Just a moment" the dragon responded from the kitchen, "These cupcakes are being difficult. I might be a while." Twilight stood there, thinking about this. "Well, you know where we'll be when they're ready" she said, turning to leave, Midday following after. "Where will we be?" she asked, having avoided listening to most of Twilight's preparations due to her elation at having her father back. "Just outside town. I thought I told you that." ***** The two ponies walked through town, passing by Sugarcube Corner and Carousel Boutique. Rarity had informed them she required Pinkie immediately hopped out of the door and rushed ahead of them, pausing only to warn Midday not to enter her apartment above the store. "Why would I go inside?" "So that you can discover the awesome surprises I have planned for your birthday party, of course." "But I'm not going to" Midday said. Pinkie frowned at her and leaned in closely. Her breath smelt of peppermints. "You just keep it that way!" She said quietly, before smiling and bouncing away. "See you at the trench" They continued onward to the outside of town, where they found Applejack and Pinkie Pie arguing over two entirely identical shovels, and Rainbow Dash looking incredibly impatient. Twilight Sparkle looked around, and frowned. "Where's Fluttershy?" she asked. Rainbow Dash shrugged. "She said she'd show up, but I'm gettin' worried. It's been five minutes, and her house is just over there" she said, pointing a hoof to a small hill, beyond which was the Everfree Forest and just in front of that, Fluttershy's house. Twilight pondered Rainbow Dash's information. "Do you think we should go investigate, and make sure Fluttershy's okay?" Rainbow Dash nodded, and the two mares set off toward her house. Midday turned to watch as Pinkie Pie and Applejack agreed on which shovel to use, and began digging. Some seven minutes later, Twilight and Rainbow Dash returned, Rainbow Dash looking and sounding notably winded. "Guessin' Fluttershy didn't want to watch the dragons, huh?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash just muttered something under her breath. "Fluttershy just attacked Rainbow Dash and ran off" Twilight said, "I didn't know she was so... assertive." Pinkie Pie and Midday exchanged knowing looks. "What did she do?" Applejack asked. "Kicked the crud out of me" Rainbow Dash groaned. Midday just shook her head. "Let that be a lesson to you: Don't try and make Fluttershy do something she doesn't want to do." "We were trying to do something nice for her" Twilight said. A thought occured to Midday, and she turned back to the two mares. "Were you trying to drag her out of her house?" Rainbow Dash looked almost sheepish. "Kinda..." "Well, we probably won't be seeing her for the next week, then" Midday said solemnly. "No matter" Twilight said calmly, "She's made her choice, for better or worse, and we'll just have to make do without her. Now then..." her horn glowed, and her saddlebags, which she had left by Midday before she and Rainbow Dash had gone to try and talk to Fluttershy, removing several drab piles of folded clothing, along with a few pairs of binoculars. After putting on the camouflage gear, they spent several minutes testing out the binoculars, the only real noise being Rainbow Dash's occasional groaning and wincing, and Pinkie Pie giggling due to her holding her set of binoculars the wrong way around. "I don't see any dragons" Twilight eventually said, albeit quietly. "Me neither" Applejack added. "Ne neither neither" Pinkie chimed. "Shoot! You don't think we missed them, do you?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I think you probably would've noticed if you had. Dragons aren't exactly easy to miss" Midday smirked. "We're probably just early" Twilight mused, before smiling, "And I'm glad we are. This way, we can watch every moment of the migration without bringing any unwanted attention to ourselves" And at that point, Rarity arrived. A red carpet rolled towards the very edge of the makeshift trench, trumpets began to sound, and then the mare appeared wearing... Midday wasn't sure what exactly she was wearing, but whatever it was, it was unlikely to blend in anywhere but a catwalk. She was too stunned to facehoof, and from the looks of it, she wasn't the only pony taken aback. "What do you think?" Rarity asked, "Am I the toast of the trench or what?" "You'll be the toast alright, when the dragons see you parading around in that get-up" Applejack said. "Only a comedy toast, methinks" Midday chimed. Twilight smiled gently, "You look... nice, Rarity, but could you maybe look nice down here in the trench with us?" Rarity looked at her, and scoffed. "Nice is an understatement, I look fabulous! Who says camouflage has to be drab?" "Camouflage: noun, and sometimes a verb; to disguise something in order to mislead somepony (or something), often somepony (or thing) percieved as a threat. In other words, everything your wardrobe is not!" Midday sighed, "Not that it matters, because dragons have excellent eyesight, and will probably notice a bunch of brightly-coloured ponies trying to watch them anyway, regardless of whether we're wearing disguises or not." She looked at the alarmed and hurt look on Rarity's face. "Thought it does look nice" she added. Then Pinkie Pie started making some noise. "Ahoy, maties!" She whispered in an entirely out-of-place accent, "Dragons ho!" Six pairs of eyes turned toward the sky, and the air was filled with the sound of leather wings beating, and the occasional distant roar and snarl of dragons jockeying for space, and occasionally bumping into each other. There were numerous 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. "Amazing!" Twilight breathed. Rainbow Dash just scoffed as she watched the dragons show off to each other. "Pretty lame move. Is that all they've got?" Her question was rewarded by a jet of flame which passed right over the trench. Applejack looked at the startled pegasus. "What do ya think of that 'move', Rainbow Dash? Still think they're lame?" Rainbow Dash twitched slightly, before trying to rub the ash from the flames off of her face. "Not so much. The word 'fierce' comes to mind" "And formidable" Rarity breathed in an awed tone. "And super-duper-scary!" Pinkie Pie squeaked from the corner of the trench, where she was curled into a ball. This gave Midday some pause, since she honestly couldn't tell if Pinkie Pie was genuinely scared, actually scared but exaggerating for comic effect, or not scared at all and just pretending completely. Then Midday saw a scaly, clawed hand placed a cupcake on top of Pinkie's hoof. "Yeah," Spike laughed, "Us dragons are definetely a force to be reckoned with." "Hey, Spike" Midday smiled. The dragon waved back to her. Rainbow Dash however was laughing at what Spike had said. "Yeah, right, Spike. That's one of the scariest aprons I've ever seen!" Applejack and Pinkie Pie giggled. Spike looked like he was trying to ignore Rainbow Dash's taunts. "What's wrong with an apron?" he asked, "You won't be laughing when you spill blueberries over your scales." He paused and shook his head. "Feathers," he amended, "That's one tought stain!" Rainbow Dash just laughed again. "One tough stain against one lame dragon" At this Midday had a flashback to being taunted by pegasi at various points throughout her childhood, and without even realising it gave Rainbow Dash a sharp kick. "What the hay was that for?!" Rainbow Dash growled. "If you can't say anything nice, then keep your mouth shut" Midday growled back. The two stared each other down while Spike just looked down at his feet. "Quite," Rarity said, after a while, "Spike's style is unique. He doesn't have to look like other dragons" "Or act like them" Twilight nodded. Spike looked confused. "I don't act like other dragons?" he asked quietly. Before Midday could say anything, Pinkie Pie joined in the conversation. "Oh, not even close!" she said with her usual cheeriness. This didn't cheer Spike up, which Applejack at least noticed. "But why would you want to, Spike?" Rarity walked over to him, smiling brightly, "Yes. You've got something those dreadfully fierce dragons can only dream of" Spike looked up at her as she started trying to tousle his spikes, and Midday was certain he wasn't looking forward to whatever Rarity was about to say next. "What's that?" he asked, at which point Rarity pressed her hooves against his cheeks. "The cutest chubby-wubby little cheeks" at which point Spike began to blush. "Cute?!" he said, sounding increasingly mortified, "Dragons aren't supposed to be cute!" he looked about at the six ponies. "Right?" Midday shrugged. "Depends on who's asking. Pretty sure Luna finds the average dragon cute." Twilight looked at her. "What could you possibly be basing that on?" "Well, that was her dog that nearly ate part of Ponyville just the other day." There was a small noise from Applejack. "That would make sense, 'specially after what happened on Nightmare Night..." Rarity, meanwhile, was still fussing over Spike's blush, which seemed to be spreading all over his face, which was becoming unbelievably red. "Oh, sweetie," Rarity continued, "You are turning the most delightful shade of red, it is most becoming" At this, Spike turned and walked out of the trench, for a split second turning back to look, and running faster as he saw five ponies smile at him. Rarity opened his mouth to say something, but then Midday spoke up. "Rarity, if you say another sentence I swear I will turn everything in your store into plaid leg-warmers" Rarity turned to look at her with her mouth hanging open, "You wouldn't!" she hissed. "That wasn't really a sentence, so I'll let it pass" she said calmly, "Now stop embarrassing Spike" Rarity bit her lip, as Midday walked past her. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to him. Enjoy watching your dragons, ladies" she said calmly. ***** She returned to the library to find Spike sitting and staring at a mirror. He didn't seem to notice her approach. "Hey, Spike" she said quietly. He jumped at that. "Hey" he smiled, but it quickly vanished. "I'm alright" he said after a while, "You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine." Midday looked at him. "Is this some old-timey definition of 'alright' I'm not aware of, or does the meaning change in the next twenty-two years?" "I'll be fine, really" he insisted, his voice wavering. Midday nudged him. "But... I don't even know where I'm from. I don't know anything about the dragons who hatched my egg. All my life I've been around ponies, and the only other dragon I met tried to eat me." Midday looked at the little purple and green dragon, who looked seconds away from breaking into tears. "Rainbow Dash was right. I am lame" he sighed, "Just a lame baby dragon." Midday stood up, and glanced down at him. "Spike, you are not 'lame'" he looked up at her, and frowned. She sighed. "I wish I could say more. I wish I could tell you about some of the things I've heard about what you'll go on to do, but... time-travel and all that. But you aren't 'lame' to me, or Twilight. And definitely not Rarity, even if she does have a really counter-productive way of showing it" Spike looked up at her, and frowned. "But I haven't done whatever it is you've heard about Future-Spike yet, so they don't count yet, so I am lame" he huffed. Midday frowned, and rubbed a hoof against her head. "Well, if I can't pep-talk you into feeling better, then do you want to go get some ice cream or something, see if that might help?" "Don't eat ice cream anymore" the little dragon muttered. Midday raised an eyebrow. Spike had sworn off ice cream after managing to eat several metric tons of the stuff over half a week, then becoming violently sick afterward, and it looked like he was sticking to that promise. "Really? You're not tempted, just a little bit?" There was a pause. "No" Spike said. "Not even for a huge serving of Rocky Road? or mint and chocolate chip? or Cloudsdale Rainbow, with all seven flavours?" she asked, slowly. "... No." "Not at all? Not for a second?" Spike was trembling slightly. Then he threw up his hands. "Fine, yes, I would like some ice cream" "If you insist" Midday smirked, turning toward the door. "You're evil" Spike said. "I'm your little sister, Spike. I'm required to annoy you into doing what I want to do. And what I want to do is see you being cheerful. So it's a win-win situation. A victory for the morally ambiguous mare" she smiled. Spike tried not to look like he was smiling. ***** Ten minutes later, and they were in Sugarcube Corner, Spike eating an incredibly large serving of ice cream, while Midday just ate a small pie. She wasn't really hungry, but there is only so long she could stare at Spike eating a massive serving of ice cream (which for whatever reason wasn't melting in the mild spring winter). After a few minutes Midday noticed a bright yellow pony wearing a dowdy sweater-vest, sunglasses and an utterly out-of-place hat that did nothing to hide her obvious wings, and bright pink mane and tail, or the highly visible Cutie Mark of three butterflies. So of course Midday waved to her, and Fluttershy quickly made her way over. "What's with the disguise, Fluttershy?" "Oh, well, I hadn't actually ran very far. I think that might have been because I ran into the Everfree and got... lost. And I didn't want Twilight and Rainbow Dash to worry about me" Fluttershy sighed. "'Lost'?" "Lost" the pegasus said firmly, and Midday decided not to enquire further. Then Fluttershy looked around. "Is Rainbow Dash okay? I might have hurt her a lot, but she was incredibly insistant I attend the dragon migration" "You didn't miss much" Spike muttered inbetween mouthfuls of ice-cream. Fluttershy looked at Midday, who looked to Spike, who looked back at her. "Don't ask" Midday eventually said, "But Rainbow Dash will probably tell you. Or at least give you the general idea, more or less" "I hope I didn't cause too much worry. Maybe I should go find Twilight and apologise to her" Fluttershy said, looking out of the window. Then there was a distant roar from a dragon. "Maybe later" she squeaked. ***** Eventually Midday and Spike returned to the library to find Twilight waiting. Upon entering the door, Twilight grabbed Spike and started nuzzling him. "Hey, there's my number one assistant!" she smiled. "Hey, Twilight" Spike smiled. "The girls and I all felt incredibly bad about what happened back at the trench, so for the rest of the day, whatever you want to do, we'll do that instead." Spike looked over to Midday and just gently pushed Twilight away. "That's alright, Twilight. I'm not bothered about what happened, and you don't need to do anything to make it up for me" Twilight looked uncertainly between Spike and Midday. "Okay... if you insist" she said, hesitantly. ***** For the next few hours, everything seemed to be okay, with Spike helping Twilight sort her notes on the Dragon Migration. However, after a while Spike kept sighing increasingly notable sighs, occasionaly asking out loud where he came from, who he was supposed to be, and other similar questions, and each time Twilight could only respond with the same three words: "I don't know", becoming both more and less sympathetic toward Spike with each question. His questions continued on, through the day, past lunch, past dinner, all the way through the afternoon, and the evening, and far beyond his bed-time. And so it was, as the moon lazily moved along the night sky, Spike kept pondering, and his pondering was keeping both Midday and Twilight awake (Trixie's status at that point Midday could not determine, but she wasn't making any noise, so she was probably awake). "What am I? Where am I from? Who am I supposed to be?" There was an irritated groan from Twilight, who had tried to block Spike's monologuing with a pillow over her head, to no avail. "I don't know!" she snapped. "For the last time, Spike, you were given to me as an egg! I don't know who found you, or where they found you." There was a tiny pause. "Really?" Spike asked, "That's all you know?" Twilight's expression, just barely visible in the moonlight, shifted. "I'm sorry, Spike." Spike slouched out of his basket. "That doesn't tell me anything about who I am! I need answers!" he walked across the room to a mirror, "I feel like I'm... I'm looking at a complete stranger" There was a small sigh from the dragon as he curled into a ball. Both Midday and Twilight walked over to him. They stared at each other. "Why don't we do some late-night research?" Twilight suggested, "See what we can find out." Spike looked up at her, then over to Midday. "Really?" he asked, "You'd do that?" "Of course" both mares said at once, before staring at each other. Twilight recovered first. "I'm sure we can find something" "Do it downstairs, for the love of Celestia, downstairs!" Moaned Trixie. ***** However, despite Twilight's assurances, and determination, they did not find anything relating to dragons. Or rather, they found nothing useful or constructive, however they did learn that dragons were large reptilian apex predators that could fly (except when they couldn't), breath fire (or sometimes ice, or things that made one wish they were being incinerated), gathered hordes of gold (and jewels and assorted finery. Except when they did) and laid eggs. "Nothing" Twilight sighed as she set down another book, "Nothing in this one either!" She set it down on the double-check pile. Spike frowned. "Nothing at all about dragons? This is getting ridiculous!" Twilight lifted another book and scanned it, "I know! It's hard to believe, but ponies know next to nothing about dragons" "Except the ones who know too much" Midday said, cautiously putting down a book on qillins. "Do not read this book" she said to the confused looks on Twilight and Spike's face. "Apparently dragons are too big and scary to try to talk or study!" "What are they afraid of? Laceration? Disintegration? Incineration?" Midday shook her head, "I blame not studying the appropriate children's literature" she said, as she eyed the row of Daring Do books. There was a small sniff, and both mares looked to see Spike with his head buried in his arms, tears plainly visible on his face. "I wonder if dragons cry..." he said. In an instant both mares were upon him, Twilight levitating a handkerchief over to wipe the tears away, though Spike quickly batted it away and walked off. "It's okay, Twilight," he said, turning to face them and looking resolute, "I'm going to find out who I am if it's the last thing I do!" Any further discussion between the three of them was interrupted by Rarity and Rainbow Dash opening the front door. "Hey guys!" they smiled. Midday looked past them to see clear sunny skies outside. "Huh. It's morning. We studied the whole night through" Midday observed. Spike meanwhile was startled from their sudden appearance, leaping into the triple-check pile. "You wanna join us for breakfast?" Rainbow Dash asked, making Midday wonder how in the world that agreement had been made, considering Rainbow Dash wasn't usually awake until after ten in the morning. There was a small rumble from Twilight Sparkle's stomach. "That sounds great" she smiled, "I'm famished" Spike, meanwhile had walked over to the door, and examined the sky, completely clear of dragons at that moment. "Count me out. I've got to get an early start!" Rarity blinked. "An early start?" He turned back to face the four mares. "Yes! I'm going on a quest of self-discovery! I need to learn what it means to be a dragon! And the only way I'm gonna do that is if I join the dragon migration!" Identical exclamations of 'what' came from all four mares, as Spike fetched a medium-sized stick. "Spike, that's nonsense talk!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "I know you're a dragon, but those dragons mean business!" Spike ignored her, fetching a small polka-dot blanket. "They're big, and tough, and scary!" Considering Rainbow Dash hadn't even expressed fear of Discord (at least according to most accounts), this was saying a lot for her fear of them, especially after the fact that she'd once kicked a full-grown dragon in the face. "And I'm small, and meek... and I like to wear aprons" Spike said, with a notable tone of distaste, "See? That's exactly why I need to spend time with them" Rainbow Dash's expression was alarmingly soft. "All I'm saying is, you could get hurt" she said, quietly. Spike had by now taken a sandwich out of a cupboard, and placed it in the centre of the piece of cloth, and was beginning to tie it around the stick. Rarity walked over to Spike. "Darling," she said, "This time I really do have to agree with Rainbow Dash" she began to tousle Spike's spines, "I don't want those big, ugly, nasty dragons to hurt one scale on your cutesy-wutesy head!" Spike finished tying up his bindle. "I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind" And at that he began to walk toward the door. Rarity grabbed Rainbow Dash. "Quick, do something!" she wailed, "Stop him before it's too late!" Rainbow Dash soared over to Spike and bit down on the bindle, resulting in a small tug-o-war between dragon and pegasus, which Rainbow Dash won. Until the bindle was grabbed by Twilight's magic and floated back to the dragon. "Really?" Spike asked quietly. Rainbow Dash looked in shocked confusion at Twilight. "Don't tell me you think he should go?" Twilight looked from Rainbow Dash to Spike. "Yes" she said. "Spike. I couldn't answer your questions" she looked pained at what she said next, "My books couldn't either. I understand why you want to look elsewhere. I truly believe you need to go on this quest" her voice began to falter slightly. "And we have no right to stop you." Rarity considered this. "I suppose not" she said, reluctantly. "I still say you're nutty" Rainbow Dash smiled, "but hey, I've done lots of nutty things" "We know" everypony said, causing Rainbow Dash to growl under her breath. Spike turned to Midday. "Aren't you going to say anything?" he asked. Midday looked at him. "Can I change your mind?" she said quietly. Spike looked down at his feet. "Then, no." "Well then," Twilight said, "I guess this is good-bye, Spike." The two embraced. "We can't wait to hear about it when you return" Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, we hope your trip-" "Quest" Twilight corrected her. "- your quest," Rainbow Dash said without missing a beat, "answers some of your pesky 'Who am I?' questions" Spike smiled. "Thanks everypony. I know it will." At which point the dragon set off, three of the four mares waving to him as he went. The reason Midday was not waving was because she wasn't there, having surreptitiously slipped out after him. ***** Spike slowly walked down the streets, looking at the many buildings he'd come to see as his regular haunts as he walked by, and feeling his heart grow increasingly heavy. He'd only been living in Ponyville for two years, and it had felt like home from almost the first day he'd been there. He began to wonder whether he would ever see Ponyville again, ever hear the noise of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to scrounge victory from their latest disaster, Pinkie Pie's usually ditties as she worked, all the normal background noises of the average day in Ponyville. Speaking of background noises, he noticed the sound of hoofsteps behind him, and turned to see Midday coming up behind him. "Hey" she said. "What?" he asked, not breaking stride. "I thought I'd walk you up to the edge of Ponyville" she said, smiling a tiny smile. The two continued walking, Midday's pace slowing so that Spike could keep pace with her. "Nice day" Midday said. Spike nodded. "Got everything you need?" she asked. Spike looked up at her. "Yeah, I'm prepared for anything" "Good." Eventually the two reached the border of Ponyville, and turned to each other. "Here we are" Spike said. "Yeah." "Guess this is it." "Guess so" Midday said, before kneeling next to Spike. He smiled. "Before I go, do you have advice you feel like giving?" She paused, and considered this. "Well, always keep your wits about you, stay safe, and no matter what, don't panic." The little dragon hugged her. "Thanks for this" there was a pause before he added, "little sister." "Wishing you all the luck in the world, big brother." For a moment, Midday considered placing a tracking charm on his back, until she noticed the faint, spidery glow of one already on his back, and she smiled as she leaned out. "Goodbye, Twinkie." She smiled slightly at his use of her nickname, then he turned away. He stood there for a moment, looking at the wide stretching lands before him, going on into the distance. He slowly raised one leg, and then placed in down in front of himself. He then moved his other leg, then moved his right leg again, then his left leg, then right, then left, right, left, and so on. Then Midday turned and headed back into town to find Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. ***** "What... exactly am I looking at?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's a dragon!" Rarity pouted, "Is it not obvious?" "What kinda messed up dragons have you been looking at? Or did Sweetie Belle design this thing?" Rarity glowered at her, and turned to Twilight Sparkle, who was examining the dragon disguise. Rarity had been hoping to design something that looked like a proper, traditional dragon, but time constraints, and some insisting, had resulted in the strange, gem-encrusted design she had produced, with a single pink bow around the 'neck' to indicate gender. She had been hoping to gain Fluttershy's expertise for some help, but thanks to Twilight and Rainbow Dash's slightly overzealous attempts to get her to watch the dragon migration, she'd 'vanished' (which meant she was probably at Zecora's, but nopony wanted to go bother Fluttershy, just in case she took issue with such an act, or found somewhere else to hide that they didn't know about). They had asked Pinkie Pie and Applejack if they wanted to help recover Spike, but they'd refused (Pinkie going on a strange bent about how she could not just go 'sauntering off into the blue', while Applejack had just politely declined). "Well, it's going to have to do" Twilight said, clearly fighting down the urge to point out the many inaccuracies of the model. "The dragons are gonna take one look at us, and 'whoompf'!" Rainbow Dash declared, "We're a half-price griffon barbecue! They'd have to be stupid to not notice such a stupid disguise" Rarity muttered something under her breath that sounded amazingly like the words 'Mare Do Well'. Then the door opened, though before Rarity could sound off her usual greeting, Midday Eclipse entered. "I thought you'd be ready by now" she said. The three mares exchanged looks. "What do you mean by that?" Rarity smiled, innocently. "You mean you don't have a plan for following Spike to where the dragons are congregating?" "Of course we do" Twilight said, "And we appreciate your offer to help." "Now, are we ready?" "Almost" Rarity said, "I just need one thing" Her horn glowed, and a small saddlebag floated over to the mare, and a small box floated into that, followed by a tea cup, and a spoon. "Now, we are ready" she smiled, as Rainbow Dash facehoofed. ***** The effort of the four mares to follow Spike's trail was not as much trouble as they had assumed, what with Twilight's tracking spell, and the fact that Spike, for all his determination, was still a baby dragon, meaning he couldn't go very far or very fast, not for very long, and he kept stopping every now and then to eat. Breakfasts, second breakfasts, elevenses, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, and assorted snack times. Quite often, they'd had to stop and wait, just in case they overtook him. Of course, following after Spike in a homemade dragon costume also proved to have difficulties, right from the first few steps. Midday had been unable to resist the urge to hum a tune as they started walking. "Do you need to hum that?" Rainbow Dash asked after a few minutes. "What, you don't like it?" "No." So Midday did not hum. For a while, at least. Then she started humming a slightly different tune as Ponyville sank behind the horizon. It was a tune that started off quiet, but then quickly built into large, dramatic tune. "You know," Rarity said as they climbed a hill, "I think I preferred the first one." "I kinda like this one more" Rainbow Dash said, "It is a kinda cool one. Sounds really epic." "You should hear it performed." Midday laughed. And so their journey continued onward, the landscape seeming to strangely alter after the shortest distances. One moment they were walking along grassy plains, then there was the occasional large outcrop of rocks every now and then, followed by more plains, followed by rocks, followed by a forest, where the first complication arose. It began to rain. "You did waterproof this thing, right?" Midday asked. "Of course I did," Rarity said, with a notable air of offense. "Rainbow Dash? Why don't you do something about this... deluge?" "It's just rain, Rarity. Keep your panties on" "Midday?" the fashion designer asked in the sweetest possible voice she could manage. "Yeah?" "Would you kindly flick Rainbow Dash's ear for me?" "Why?" "Because I'm a lady, and besides which I can't possibly do it with you in-between me" Midday decided to let the 'lady' remark pass, and took on a weary air to her voice as she said, "Rarity, it is raining. And the rain is going to continue to rain until the rain stops. And I'm not gonna bother Rainbow Dash just because you want me to." "Can we behave like grown-ups?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "Please?" "But, mom! Why did I have to sit between these two? They're the ones being childish!" "I'll turn this dragon around if I have to!" Twilight responded angrily, before pausing and adding, "I have honestly no idea why I said that." And so they continued, with the rain quickly letting off some time later, and the forest giving way to more plains, with, as Rainbow Dash observed, more rocks. Midday was quick to point out that while the rocks were hardly original, they were at least scenic rocks. Rainbow Dash did not seem to appreciate that. When they stopped at nightfall, they removed the cumbersome dragon costume, which due to its design could be turned into makeshift tents or sleeping bags, depending on who slept where, with each pony taking shifts where one of them stayed asleep and the other four slept. This continued for days, as they ascended incredibly steep (and cloudy) mountains, with only the occasional avalanche brought on by Rarity pouting about snow soaking her hooves, they travelled along winding rivers that Twilight couldn't identify, which nearly drove the poor mare to madness trying, and when they were done with the river, their path continued on through an incredible forest that, while nowhere near as expansive as the Everfree, was still quite a trek, with them having to stop during the night, as well as endure Rarity complaining about moths. "Moths?" Rainbow Dash asked, batting one away from the fire, "Really?" "They are ghastly things" Rarity said, shooing one away from her side. Twilight meanwhile seemed engrossed by the distant sound of birds calling. "I think I've heard that sound before" she said. "Sounds like a bird of prey" Midday observed, "And it'd have to be a pretty big one" "What do these horrible moths eat when then don't get pony?" Rarity asked, as several of them swarmed around her. The next morning, their path took them out of the massive forest, and Midday was certain in the distance she could see a tiny purple and green speck, moving toward several large volcanoes. Catching up to Spike proved easy enough, even in the disguise. Staying behind him and out of sight, slightly less so, however, they managed to ascend the peak of one of the volcanoes, and all the way up the slope, Rainbow Dash felt the need to point out they were something the griffons called a 'sausage'. "This costume is fabulous," Rarity said, "One of my finer creations." "I doubt that" Midday said. They were all shushed by Twilight. "We'll never pass as a dragon if they hear four voices coming out of one dragon!" The mare shuffled slightly, "Now, come on, let's go" ***** So the four mares slowly made their way down into the basin of the volcano, to find Spike associating with the worst possible sort of dragon he could possibly have chosen. Teenage dragons. "Oh, Belgium" Midday said to herself. There was one dragon, in deep crimson, who appeared to be the ringleader of the group, who was currently mocking Spike for hailing from Ponyville, calling him 'half-pony'. Midday had to fight down the urge to point out he obviously looked nothing like a qillin, much less a baby qillin. "Who, me?" Spike asked, "I'm not part pony! I'm all dragon, see?" At this point he gave out an endearingly pathetic attempt at a roar, which of course the lead dragon seized upon. "Or maybe you're a pony in a dragon costume" he grinned, although considering the size of his teeth, Midday wasn't sure whether grinning was just his natural expression. The other dragons seemed to find this incredibly hilarious, and one, who seemed to be able to see despite his eyes being covered, wrapped his arm out the disguise's 'neck'. Twilight, who was playing the part of the head and neck of the disguise, tried to lower her voice in order to sound more 'dragon-y'. Spike and the lead dragon meanwhile, had decided a way to prove Spike was a 'real' dragon. A belching contest. Midday could pracitcally feel Rarity's ice-cold disapproval, especially since she was standing right next to the mare. The dragons began belching up impressive plumes of flame in blues, and greens, and classical orange, the last of which scorched over the head of the disguise, and Midday silently thanked Rarity for remembering to fire-proof her design, unlike a certain other Rarity-designed outfit Midday had been in that had been destroyed by dragonfire. Then Spike tried to belch, which resulted in a small scroll bearing the royal seal. The lead dragon snatched it up, and managed to surpass Midday's expectations of him by beginning to read it, though he went straight back to form by laughing again after a few seconds. Midday was aware of a new burning smell that didn't belong to the volcano or the dragons, but which was coming from her mane and tail. "Get this guys! Spike's pen-pals with a namby-pamby pony princess!" At this, from the sound of it, he scrunched up the report and threw it into the lava. Midday could hear the horrified gasp from Twilight. "How can he just throw that away?! That letter could be something important!" Fortunately Rainbow Dash stepped up, "You can't worry about that now, Twilight. We're here to help Spike!" "I know, I know" Twilight said, though Rainbow Dash didn't look convinced. "There's no reason to disrespect Princess Celestia that way!" Twilight hissed. "Twilight, I can assure you, you are not the only pony in this dragon who wants to hurt that idiot out there. But I would advise not doing so right now" Midday said, strongly resisting the urge to try and do something incredibly violent to the lead dragon for what he'd said, although more on the grounds that he'd tarred all the Princesses of Equestria under the same brush, regardless of how Midday felt about Celestia herself. Then they heard the lead dragon say, "Maybe tail wrestling is more your speed" Four mares exchanged nervous glances as best as they could. ***** The dragons quickly set about splitting up into groups, then wrapping their tails around the others' and wrestling with them. This led to a clear problem. "We can't let Spikey-wikey wrestle one of them!" Rarity pointed out, "He'll get clobbered!" The four mares nodded. "Let's go" Twilight said. Carefully, they walked over to behind Spike. "I challenge Spike to a tail-wrestling contest!" Twilight declared. There was a short pause, punctuated by the lead dragon asking who they were. "I think he's Crackle's cousin" the strangely non-sight impaired dragon said, motioning toward a distant dragon that happened to be a dead ringer for Rarity's disguise. The mare, upon seeing the incredibly bizarre looking creature, made a triumphant hoof-pump of accuracy. The explanation seemed to suit the teenaged dragons, and they allowed the tail-wrestling between Spike and 'Crackle's cousin' to proceed. Which of course meant the three mares put the barest effort into making it look like they were trying to win. Still, the other dragons did cheer when Spike 'won'. "I can't believe your plan worked" Rarity smiled to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash smiled, though there was little of her usual confidence or smugness behind it. And at that point they heard Spike holler as he tried to tail-wrestle an actual dragon, and therefore be hurled some distance as a result. ***** The next thing the dragons tried was called 'King of the Hoard', wherein the dragons fought to see who could get to and stay on top of a small hoard of treasure. Spike, much to his credit, did well at that, being small and fast enough to move out of the way of the larger dragons, with some interferance from the mares, though he was unable to retain control of his horde, slipping off of the pile. Then the dragon ringleader mentioned something called 'Lava Cannonball'. ***** Lava cannonball, as it turned out, was exactly what it sounded like: Dragons leaping into a lava pit from a great height. "Shouldn't we... I don't know, do something?" Midday asked. Twilight shook her head. The dragons had been willing to leave 'Crackle's cousin' down on the ground. From the way they were acting, it was entirely possible they thought the 'dragon' was liable to randomly attack them if they tried to make 'her' do anything. "Spike's on his own this time" Twilight said quietly. One by one the older dragons began diving into the lava, which of course had absolutely no effect on them, leaving only Spike, who seemed to be more than a little bit put off by the height from which he had to dive. "What's wrong, Spike?" the lead dragon called out, "You afraid the lava will hurt your soft pony hide?" The dragons began laughing, and this seemed to be enough to motivate Spike to jump. He screamed as he plummeted toward the lava, which turned out to be absolutely nothing like water, and the little dragon landed face-down in it, and didn't move for several seconds. There was a strange silence between the dragons. "Was... I that bad?" Spike asked once he could move again. "No, dude," the lead dragon said, "that was awesome! No pony could live through a belly-flop like that! You are one tought little dragon" "Well," Midday said to herself, "Now we have a firm grasp of the obvious" Rarity quickly shushed her, as the dragons led Spike away. The mares once again looked nervous. ***** The dragons quickly set up a small ceremony, not to disimilar to a royal knighting ceremony, though it was incredibly unlikely that the lead dragon, with his dislike of 'namby-pamby' ponies, actually knew that. "Spike, by belly flopping so hard, you have proven yourself worthy" the lead dragon announced, "I hereby dub you 'rookie dragon', and will now perform the initiation ritual" At which point he lifted Spike up and gave him a vicious noogie. "Now, let's party dragon style!" Partying dragon style turned out to consist mainly of eating as many gems as possible, headbutting each other, body-slamming each other, and generally trying to inflict as much pain as possible. Some dragons occasionaly tossed gems toward 'Crackle's cousin', and the gems were handed to Rarity, while Midday and Rainbow Dash imitated belching sounds, leaving Twilight to generated small plumes of flame. Eventually, though the dragons grew weary of injuring each other and stuffing their faces, and since they were keeping near Spike, the mares heard his remark to the lead dragon. "Man, was that a great party" The lead dragon looked at him, "Great? Maybe by Ponyville standards" "Stick with us Spike. We've still got plenty to teach you about being a dragon" Spike looked back to the red dragon, "I'm not going anywhere. The way I feel right now, I could hang out with you guys forever!" "Forever?!" All four mares repeated. "Spikey-wikey is going to stay with these awful dragons? Forever?" Rarity wailed, albeit at a greatly reduced volume. Twilight looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Oh no," she whispered, "this is terrible!" Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, just sounded defeated, "I should've stopped him back at the library when I had the chance!" "No," Twilight said, "Rainbow Dash, this is all my fault! I encouraged him to go!" Outside the dragons began talking again, while Midday was focusing on her own internal guilt. Just like Twilight and Rainbow Dash, she was blaming herself. 'Because you could've stopped him. Should've stopped him from leaving. But you didn't even try, did you? Did you?!' she ignored that eerily angry voice in her head, fighting it back down. "Girls, we can either blame ourselves till the cows come home, or we can try and put our heads together to find a way to get Spike back" she hissed. "Can we blame ourselves afterwards?" Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "We have another problem" Rarity said, motioning her head. Twilight turned to look. "Oh, no. They took Spike!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "We gotta go after them!" And at that, the pegasus took to the air. Without bothering to get out of the costume. Fortunately none of the dragons were still around to witness such a peculiar sight. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelped, "Stop! We can't fly!" "And you're ruining my fabulous costume!" Rarity thoughtfully added. "Which we do need to convince the dragons we are one of them" "I'm sorry" Rainbow Dash sighed, "But we gotta help Spike!" There was a moment of silence before Twilight spoke. "Well, we'll just have to hoof it!" They slowly turned the costume as Twilight followed the direction Spike had been taken, the tracking charm on the little dragon still going strong. ***** Eventually, the charm led the mares back into the forest they'd been through only the other night. Rarity had been listening to the dragons talking, and had heard them mentioning doing something to some phoenixes they'd found. "Phoenixes!" Twilight exclaimed with joy, "I knew I'd heard those calls before! Philomena!" "Philo-who?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Princess Celestia's phoenix? Remember? Last year? Fluttershy thought she was sick, when she was just old? And then you pranked two of the guards?" Rainbow Dash nodded, and grinned as she remembered. "I liked that bird. She had a sense of humour. Not like some ponies I've met" she said, shooting a glance at Midday. "Completely ignoring you, Dashie." She smiled, "Do you know, I've never met a phoenix." "Day of firsts" Rarity said. "Hey, Twilight," Rainbow Dash asked, "What exactly are those jerks gonna do to a phoenix anyhow?" "Well..." Twilight paused, as whetever she was thinking of began to alarm her, "Let's just get there before Spike's made to do something he'll regret" she said firmly. ***** "No! It's just a defenseless egg, like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!" The four mares, running as fast as they could, arrived to find Spike holding a small orange and yellow egg, as the leader of the dragons (Garble, as Spike later explained his name was) menacingly loomed toward Spike. They quickly rushed behind him, and discarded Rarity's costume, all four of them assuming confrontational poses, with Midday preparing several spells designed mainly for the purposes of keeping the dragons away from them. "Nopony's gonna lay a claw on him!" Rainbow Dash yelled "That's right!" Twilight added. "Fighting's not really my thing," Rarity said calmly, though she was still standing on her hand legs, looking prepared to fight, "I'm more into fashion. But" her tone suddenly became threatening, "I'll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!" Midday just looked at the dragons, and tilted her head. "Yeah, I'm not really going to do the whole threatening thing. Although, if you like I could point out that I could make your head explode if I wanted to" The dragons had been laughing up until she'd said that, in an eerily calm fashion. One or two of them looked nervous, and began whispering to each other. "Oh, you're so scary!" Garble said mockingly, "Spike! Are these namby-pamb-" he didn't get much further as Midday's horn began to glow. "Feel that? That strange pressure in your head? That's a magical force-field, courtesy of moi. Now then, I suggest you let us leave right now, with Spike and that egg he's carrying, or I'll do something I really don't want to do again, something I said I wouldn't let myself be defined by." Garble growled and snarled at her, and began to take in a deep breath. "So be it." She said, before turning to the others. "You know what to do" she said. They nodded. Spike turned to look at Garble, "This is what we ponies do when confronted by jerky dragons" he took a deep breath, and increased his grip on the egg. "RUN AWAY!" They did, the dragons chasing after them for a few moments, until they ran into Midday's force-fields. The mare laughed as there was a satisfying 'clunk' and the dragons collapsed into each other. Once they were sure they were far enough from the dragons, Twilight managed to teleport them. "That was... not how I had expected it to go" Rarity said, standing close to Spike. "Yeah, that was a close one. Thanks, you guys" he smiled. "Of course," Twilight smiled, "What're friends for?" Spike just kept smiling, and looked at Midday. "You're more than friends. You're my family" Midday rolled her eyes at the obvious statement as the four ponies and one dragon embraced. Then she looked about and saw dim lights on the horizon, and noticed they were just outside one of the exits of the Everfree Forest. She decided not to comment on how far Twilight must have teleported them. "Now let's go home" Twilight said. ***** The return to Ponyville was quiet, although they did pass by Pinkie Pie, who had fallen asleep waiting for them to return to Ponyville, and after a while decided it was best to let her remain asleep, lest she wake everypony in town up. Rainbow Dash and Rarity returned to their residences, while Twilight and Midday returned to the library, with an increasingly asleep Spike on Twilight's back. "Something occured to me," Midday said, not very loudly, but enough to startle Twilight, "I believe today was the eighteenth, which makes it also the nineteen, seeing as it's already after midnight. One more day until my birthday. Doesn't time fly when you're travelling." "It's a shame Spike didn't find out who he was" Twilight said. "It's more of a shame he just didn't meet any nice dragons. Besides, I think Spike already knows who he is." "'m still awake here" mumbled the little dragon, as he tried to keep his eyes open. The two mares smiled at that. Once inside the library, the two mares made their way to their beds, Twilight gently setting Spike down in his basket, while Twilight placed the egg on a smaller basket, mumbling something about making a proper nest in the morning. As Midday clambered into her bed, she looked over at Twilight, and considered just telling her absolutely everything about herself. She bit her lip. "Twilight..." she said, in the gloom, she could just barely see the mare's eyes turned to face her. "Yes, Midday?" 'Just tell her' Midday thought, 'just tell her, now!' "... Goodnight, Twilight. See you in the morning" "Goodnight, Midday" Both mares were asleep in minutes. ***** The next morning, Midday was woken by Pinkie Pie asking why she hadn't been informed as to when her friends had returned to Ponyville, and was then informed that this had damaged Pinkie Pie's partying schedule for the day, and before Twilight could shoo Pinkie out of the room so Spike could get some sleep, told Midday not to worry about her birthday party. Midday shook her head and laughed, before Twilight's head poked back into the room. "Just because Spike gets a day off doesn't mean you do" the mare said sternly. "Do I get a day off tomorrow?" Midday asked. "Perhaps" Twilight said, though there was a noticable smile. Midday sat there for a moment, then rolled out of bed, noticing the small egg which sat in a small basket on a desk, the basket apparently having been made by Rarity, judging by its design. She frowned. She couldn't remember Spike ever having had a phoenix chick as a pet, nor of her mother recounting anything to do with a baby phoenix. She stared at it, as if expecting it to do something, or indeed anything. It wriggled slightly, but nothing more. Midday went downstairs for breakfast, but not before looking at the sleeping form of Spike, a smile quite evident on the dragon's face. Her horn glowed, and his blanket readjusted itself over the dragon. "Th'nks" the little dragon mumbled, apparently still asleep. Midday looked at the contentment on Spike's face, and then realised she hadn't eaten in hours, and rushed downstairs for breakfast. But not before she said one last thing. "Good to have you back, brother."