//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: A Dragon's Nest 
// by Phantom Wolf 
//------------------------------//

Everypony sat there, stunned into silence. Spike was breathing heavily, at the edge of a panic attack.

"He. . . he just died? Just like that?!"

Spike jumped to his paws, eyes glossy with tears. Celestia hung her head.

"I am sorry, Spike. There was nothing I could do at that point. Maybe if I had reacted to the sound of fighting earlier, he would have lived. . . but I did not, and for that I am truly sorry."

Spike sat down heavily on his haunches. His mind was racing. His father had died. His nest mates crushed. Except for him. Why?

"Why? Why was I the only egg not crushed?"

Twilight ran her hoof down Spike's back spines, trying to comfort him. Celestia looked at him with tired, sad eyes.

"I do not know. Maybe you egg shell was harder. Maybe you were just in the perfect spot in the crop. Even I do not know why."

Spike started to cry, the boiling tears rolled off his cheeks and evaporated before they could hit the ground.

"Why?! Why did that dragon take everything from me?! My father, my siblings?!"

Everypony watched fearfully as Spike started to loose it. He was beginning down a steep, slippery slope. He mourned for the family he had lost before he was born. Spike turned and fled from the library, knocking over one of the guards by the door. He could hear as the girls called to him, tried to follow him. He slipped between houses and snuck through alleyways. Spike made a break for the Everfree, using his long legs to push himself faster.





Pinkie Pie followed her itchy hoof into the Everfree. Her Pinkie Sense led her to a clearing, Spike in the center. This was where they had rescued the egg. Spike was hunched over by the scorched earth, the dragon ashes having blown away. His shoulders shook as he sobbed. Pinkie's hair deflated slightly as she came up and sat beside him. Spike looked over at her before turning his head away. They sat quietly as Spike tried to stop his tears from falling.

"Well? Aren't you going to say something?"

Spike was angry. He wished Pinkie would do something, either talk to him or leave. This silence from her was unnatural. Pinkie looked over at him and gave him a small, sad smile.

"What is there I could say?"

Spike growled and started to pace in front of the pink mare.

"I don't know! Maybe 'It's not your fault Spike!', or 'Be glad you survived Spike', Buck! Even 'It's for the best Spike!' I don't care! Just tell me something!"

"You have Twilight as a sister."

Spike paused and turned to look at Pinkie Pie. She stood there, not frowning, but not smiling either. Her words weren't an accusation, just a simple fact. The adolescent dragon had never thought of it that way. For most of his life, he had sought after his biological family. The thought that he could only have one of his two families never crossed his mind. Pinkie continued.

"I know it hurts, Spike, but it's life. I wish I could say that a good joke or long laugh could fix this, but it can't."

"Will- will it ever stop hurting?"

Pinkie looked down, hair almost completely flat.

"No. There will be some days where you feel like everything is hopeless. Days where getting out of bed is hard, but on days like that, there's always something that makes it all worthwhile."

"What?"

"Friendship. . . love. Ponies say you can't choose your family, but I disagree. You guys are my family. The Cakes are like parents to me, the girls like sisters. And you? You're my big, strong, brave little brother."

"I. . . you're right. I may have lost my first family. . . but I got this one instead."

Pinkie Pie leaned into Spike as he wrapped his tail around her. The sat in comfortable silence before Spike spoke quietly.

"Who did you loose?"

The mare looked up at the clear blue sky, watched as birds flew by.

"My little brother. He was my responsibility and. . . and I-"

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me now."

Pinkie leaned further into Spike's side, content to just sit quietly with him. That was how the others found them.

"Spike?"

Twilight was worried. She didn't want him to feel sad, she hated seeing him like that.

Spike smiled slightly at them as the mane six gathered around him.

"And as sad as I am about loosing my family, I'm happy I ended up here with you girls. You're my family now, and I wouldn't trade any of you for the world."

Spike was soon in the middle of a group hug, and he felt a spreading warmness in his chest that had nothing to do with his fire pouch. The Princess appeared to the side. Twilight looked over at Celestia and rubbed her chin.

"Princess, I meant to ask, but did you say you found Spike's egg 300 years ago?"

Celestia nodded.

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation back at the library."





Celestia sat on the couch opposite the girls plus Spike.

"I was not able to hatch Spike's egg, even I could not use magic to force him to hatch. So I put a time vortex spell on the egg, freezing him in time. And I placed him in the unicorn entrance exams as a test."

Twilight flicked her ears back before turning them forward again.

"But. . . why?"

"Hatching Spike's egg was not the actual test. If somepony made it to that stage to try and hatch him, then they were already accepted into the school. It was a test to see how young filly and colts reacted under stress. It is a no-win scenario."

Pinkie bounced to her hooves.

"Oh! A Kobayashi Maru"

Rainbow Dash looked at the pink mare questioningly.

"A what?"

Pinkie giggled

"Never mind!"

Celestia shook her head in bewilderment before continuing.

"But Spike's egg was not only there for that. For the only pony who could hatch a dragon was one of the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight's eyes widened.

"You. . . you knew?"

"Yes. The moment Spike's egg hatched, I knew what power you had."

Fluttershy swallowed and raised her hoof. Celestia turned to her, nodding. Fluttershy squeaked and tried to hide further behind her mane, but asked her question.

"Did you know that the elements would be needed to stop Nightmare Moon?"

"Yes. That is why I sent Twilight to Ponyville. I could sense that the other elements were here."

"Sense? How could you sense them?"

Celestia paused.

"I. . . used to be the bearer of half the elements."

Nopony spoke, letting that sink in.

"Wait. . . half?"

"Yes. My elements were Magic, Loyalty, and Generosity. Luna wielded Honesty, Kindness, and Laughter."

Twilight held up her hoof.

"Wait wait wait wait. If she also held half of the elements, then how did she become Nightmare Moon."

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes.

"She lost them. She became jealous and vengeful, and the elements would not respond to her. In a last ditch effort to not kill her, I was able to use all the elements to banish her to the moon. In doing so, I also lost the power to wield them."

The princess of the sun paused, but nopony spoke.

"With no bearers, each element split in two. Half of each element stayed in their physical forms, while the other half of each element wondered the lands as pure energy. When the time was right, the elemental energy entered into six unborn foals. The six of you."

Rainbow Dash looked confused.

"What the hay does that mean?"

"It means that you are not only the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, you are the Elements of Harmony."