Family and Fliers.
"Very good, now I want you to recite to me the tenants of the 'Treaty of Guardianship'," Warden paced back and forth in front of a prostrate Spike who was steadily working through the latest set of push-ups his tutor required of him. He let out a low growl before sucking in his breath.
"One: A dragon remembers his origins, and of his purpose in this world," Spike managed to snarl out as he lifted his heavy frame with his trembling arms. Warden continued to observe the young drake as he lifted up once again.
"Two: We are to earn our way in this world, not live off the labours of others," Spike's arms felt like they were on fire as he struggled to press through the painful result of many hours of exertion. All the while Warden's stern eyes watched the adolescent drake with a determined grin.
"Three: We watch other dragons to make sure they continue in their duty as we do ours as," Spike gasped out. He was visibly struggling now, screwing his own eyes shut with the effort of ignoring the painful burning in his arms and chest muscles. Spike's hot sweat seeped from between his scales before running down his long snout to fall hissing to the earth below him.
"Four: A dragon is to respect other life, even when we must take it for they all bear some part of our great mother Whisper within them. In doing so we show our respect to her," Spike's head spun and try as he might the dragon couldn't focus through the haze that was filling his mind.
Warden noted the pause, "And?"
Spike shook his head back and forth as he tried to force his fatigued brain to summon the correct answer from amongst all the facts Warden had been drilling into his head for the past few weeks, but try as he might the dragon felt his focus slipping.
"And?" Warden repeated, his impatience growing.
Spike felt his fangs chatter as his strained body struggled to obey his command to keep going. He was determined, but Warden had been driving him hard today and that next point stubbornly lurked at the back of Spike's mind; just tantalisingly out of his grasp. Warden gave another disappointed click of his tongue and Spike felt his frustration rise. He knew the answer, come on Spike don't slip up now!
"Do you need to be given a hint hatchling?" Warden asked in mock support. The exhausted Spike gave another snarl, forcing the memory into focus.
"Five: Should another dragon or sentient creature be found violating the land or these laws, then the noble dragon must bring them to account: By whatever means he has at his disposal," Spike roared out this point before finally letting his much abused arms relax and left himself lying face down on the grassy ground.
"Good," Warden complemented in a genuine tone as Spike rolled over to peer at the pale sunshine over head. The sky was dull as autumn's act was concluded and made way for the approaching winter. As he caught his breath, Spike wiped his brow, feeling every muscle in his body crying out for rest. Warden had been driving the young drake harder and harder recently, so much so that Spike was beginning to wonder if the older dragon was trying to work him to death.
"That will do for now hatchling," Spike focused his stinging eyes on Warden who was nonchalantly hovering with slow beats of his wings just off the one side of the grassy plateau chosen for his student's exercises. The area of flat ground has a wonderful view of the surrounding country side and Spike studied the results of the shifting season. The trees foliage had gradually turned gold and amber before the dutiful ponies of Equestria cleared them with the annual racing celebration.
The teenage dragon had long since grown used to the event: Enjoying the festivities even when the shine wore off only to be replaced with the comfortable feeling of familiarity. It took a few moments for Spike to muster the effort to sit up once more and began procedures of 'warming down' his aching limbs.
Spike used to think he was a fit and strong creature, but he had quickly discovered that his time with ponies had once again skewed his views. He was naturally stronger than your average pony, even big ponies like Bigmac, but warden had shown Spike that just meant the dragon had to work harder to keep in shape and how pointless the comparison was.
"You will never reach your full potential without pushing yourself hatchling, by keeping yourself fit and strong you will work out a large amount of the frustrations you have been feeling," Warden explained. As with everything the older dragon taught there seemed to be multiple levels of reason behind the action. Warden wasn't just getting him fit; he was keeping Spike's mind clear. Warden always managed to lead each lesson back to the first found principles of dragon lore.
Spike was forced to admit he did feel much better about himself and the world in general these days. He was proud of himself, even if his body screamed at him from the exertions Warden was placing upon it. Warden had taken great care to explain that the 'Treaty of Guardianship' was the core code of honourable living, a set of rules which all right thinking dragons aspired to live by. This had confused Spike once again, all the dragons he had encountered before didn't seem remotely interested in such things and raised that point with warden.
"You say all these things are so important to us dragons Warden, but I can remember when I joined the last great dragon migration; the drakes there didn't seem to be all that well behaved or noble?" As Spike explained his confusion Warden's eyes filled with understanding.
"Migration? Oh you mean the time of gathering?" Warden's expression became troubled. "I am afraid you have not seen us dragons at our best there. Many of the younger and rising generations have been taken in by some more selfish ideas these days." Warden gave a resigned sigh and Spike was sure he recognised genuine sorry on his face.
Warden looked out over the underlying lands spread out before their perch and Spike was sure he saw tears beginning to form in Warden's sad eyes. "It happens every so often you see, the younger dragons think they know best, they think their elders are foolish old lizards with no idea about what the 'modern' dragon needs or wants."
Spike listened as Warden chuckled morosely to himself, "They always want an easier way of doing things and ask themselves Why not just take what we want, we have the power? or The whole world can go turn to ash, see what I care as long as I have my hoard!." The bitterness in Warden's voice caused Spike to pause. He had seen Warden angry, amused, fascinated and even happy on occasion, but this was a dangerous coldness that the younger dragon didn't like one bit.
Warden's shoulders slumped and he gave another sigh, "We all have it within ourselves hatchling, to be monsters or bullies and not just us dragons I suppose." Warden seemed to shrink even smaller as he confessed such to Spike and suddenly he saw an old dragon, who's eyes had seen too much of the world, "We dragons are just much more prone to such and should we ever fall to that level again...." Warden turned his head from the fiery destruction he imagined before him and smiled again.
"That's why we keep our lore alive, if we didn't have that to remind us who we really are we would become little more than the monsters the world normally sees us as," Warden said and Spike wasn't sure how to respond to such a statement.
"So um the time of gathering?" Spike prompted before Warden came back to the here and now, his normally impassive face seamlessly replacing his melancholy one.
"Yes the gathering or 'Great Meet' serves a number of purposes; keeping track of the dragon population, settling grudges and discussing recent events," Warden said, his tone once again that of the confident teacher. "As dragons are usually highly territorial until we have cooled with age it was best to have an appointed time and place where we can all meet on neutral ground as it were."
Warden cocked an eyebrow at Spike, "You said you attended the last gathering? That was less than fifty years ago and you are certainly not that old. Why you couldn't have been even bigger than a pony at that point!" Spike nodded and Warden chuckled to himself, with no little surprise in his voice.
"Well hatchling you are a tougher dragon than I gave you credit for; you must have made your way there over land and I imagine you didn't receive a very pleasant welcome," Warden who seemed to find the whole idea very funny and Spike folded his stiff arms in annoyance.
"Well I don't see what's so funny, it was hard going and yeah they were real jerks when I got there too. It was the first time I tried to find out about dragons and if I'm being honest, it put me right off the idea," Spike grumbled in the face of Warden's amusement.
Warden gained control of himself once more before explaining in a jovial tone, "Well you see as I said before fresh hatchlings are still in their 'helpful' stage. Many dragons see the time of gathering as an opportunity to get away from the enthusiastic little tykes and have some peace from their constant demands for attention," Warden smiled indulgently, "I would have loved to see the looks on the older drake's faces when you showed up."
Spike remembered only too well; The first dragon to have seen Spike as he crested the crater's edge tried to roast the baby where he stood. Then there had been the teenage dragons and all the trouble they had gotten Spike into. Warden studied his student as the pupil took a trip down memory lane.
Warden's face became more serious again, "The gathering used to be an official and well respected event, one that I was proud to attend with my Lord Thortax, but over the years it has eroded to become an excuse to laze about and attempt to show off to the other dragons; Very little actually gets achieved anymore and it has been a great number of years since Thortax came to a gathering." Warden explained in a distant way.
Just for a moment Spike caught the impression of an old and tired dragon, a dragon that missed better times but had little hope of them ever returning. He put his arm around the black dragon's shoulders in a reassuring way, "Well as long as there are grumpy old lizards like you around to teach hatchlings like me, then maybe there is still hope huh?"
There was a brief moment of silence with only the wind howling around the peak before Warden burst into laughter, "Whisper preserve me, if you're what dragon's have come to then the world really is going to be inherited by ponies."
"What makes you say that?" Spike asked in an astonished way.
Warden smiled indulgently, "Well hatchling it was something Thortax said to me just before I left to begin your lessons: 'Teach him to fly straight Warden. The world has enough greedy, selfish dragons and we could do with another drake who understands more than just fighting and hoarding'." Warden closed his eyes before finishing up, "If we don't stop this current trend then dragons may not be needed anymore and the world may think it’s better off without us, leaving more worthy creatures such as ponies to inherit it."
Spike was flabbergasted, "Your elder said that to you? What happened to 'we dragon's are the earth's protectors and need to defend it with our lives'?" Spike went on in very poor mimic of Warden's reserved manner.
Warden bristled as he stood up, failing to reach even Spike's shoulder as the fire come back into his eyes, "It took me a long time to understand what he meant and I have been worried by those words from since before you were born hatchling. It's not the first time Thortax has cautioned us so."
Spike was pleased to see some of the vigour return to Warden, even if that meant a scolding from the older dragon, "Remember Spike, it wasn't Whisper that stopped her children fighting, it was the regents of the Moon and Sun. Ponies lead by example and we dragons followed once, avoiding destroying our selves or forcing others to do i for us."
Spike saw the conviction mixed with guilt in Warden's eyes. "We dragons are powerful and proud creatures, it's one of the reasons we don't want others to know our history; It really doesn’t paint us in the best light."
"I can understand that Warden, but why would we be at risk of......." Spike began only for Warden to interrupt him.
"Spike our world is one of order and there is more at work than just what we see around us. The two royal alicorns who rule Equestria are not all powerful, did you ever consider that? It is possible for them to fall and fade even with all their strength." Warden's frustration was returning again as he tried to explain the whole concept to a much younger dragon.
Spike stopped to consider the idea, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had always been near mythical beings to Spike; he honestly thought they could do anything, but as he listened to Warden Spike was reminded that they were far from perfect. They had needed to rely on others more than once and they had certainly both made mistakes. Yes the princesses had even suffered defeats in the past, but Spike couldn't see them ever being truly gone. They always had overcome and returned to their duties.
"Whisper who was arguably the most powerful of the Appointed needed help, if that teaches us anything it is that no one race or power is to stand alone. The world has a purpose and so do we. Should we fail or Whisper forgive us: We try to fight against such then the world may see us as more trouble than we are worth," Warden's eyes were full of pleading now, "It almost happened once before and I would not see us come that close ever again."
Spike felt his stomach lurch as the impact of Warden's warning became clear; Spike understood why the old drake was so obsessed with history and lore. The dragon had taken time to look ahead, not just back and was frightened by what he saw. The whole concept of a dragon; a creature that lived for centuries and had the power to burn whole villages to the ground could worry so scared Spike.
"If we don't learn from the past we are bound to repeat it," Warden recounted before his head shot up and he sniffed the air.
Spike followed suit and the familiar smell of home and love was carried by the wind as Twilight crested the lip of the plateau. She softly landed and greeted both dragons with friendly smile.
"Hi you two, I see Warden is working you hard Spike. Sorry I'm a bit late but the Buffalo representative insisted on......." Twilight trailed off as she saw the two dragons watching her with a strange stare that was unnerving before her ears pressed down in fear, "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Twilight had gotten the whole afternoon off today and had been so excited to spend it with Spike; now she wasn't so sure. The pair of dragons seemed oddly reserved and resisted her best efforts to chat about their day together. What was worse was that Spike didn't seem to be able to meet Twilight's eye and she felt a fresh surge of annoyance.
After spending several minutes trying to get a conversation going, Twilight gave up and the three just sat quietly eating the refreshments she had brought with her. What was even more unnerving was when Warden accepted a supplement pill, which he ate with no complaint and even showed some sign of approval. Okay, who are you both and what have yo done with my friends?
Concern warred with frustration within Twilight as they sat there saying nothing. She had especially arranged her day to be able to spend as much time with the dragons as possible and they were just sitting there moping. Finally the mare's patience wore out, "Okay what's gotten into you both? Things were going so well recently and now I come here to find you both glummer than stormy cloud."
Neither dragon seemed inclined to respond to this so Twilight upped the stakes, "I have better things to do with my time you know. I was going to show you both the new airship that's coming close to its first few endurance tests and even invite you to help, but if you're both too busy being miserable then I will just have to look elsewhere.
Finally Spike perked up, "Wow that was fast. The first batch of tests weren't planned for at least another month last you told me," Twilight smiled having finally caught her brother's interest at last.
"Yep Chief engineer A.B has been working over time to get it ready," Twilight announced happily. Mostly to keep out of the way of Applejack it seems Twilight noted silently to herself.
Warden's interest was caught also, "What is so special about this particular airship if you don't mind me asking Princess? I have been around Miss Sparkle and ponies have been making those flying contraptions for years." his voice was back to its condescending tone, but Twilight was just happy to be met with anything more than the awkward silence from before.
"Well, the previous airships were light weight assemblies, without much cargo capacity. They could only practically be used for relatively short flights and were terribly vulnerable," Twilight listed off the potential hazards of the earlier designs, "We have sought to eliminate many of these troubles, this latest design should be more durable, stable and so forth," She proclaimed proudly.
"That doesn’t sound like anything completely revolutionary to me," Warden said in a dismissive way.
"Well that isn't the best bit either and it's also where you two come into it," Twilight grinned in a knowing way as Spike cocked an eyebrow. "We need to calibrate the defences we are planning to install, and I just happen to have two big scaly friends who I think would be perfect for the job," both dragons looked apprehensively at Twilight who just smiled back at the pair.
"What kind of defences Twi?" Spike asked in a suspicious way.
She did her best to look innocent, "Well as I said it will be a set of endurance tests, designed to see if the airship is ready to face the world. I can assure you it's completely safe on your part and with your particular traits I have to insist on your support." Twilight's confident manner dipped a little, "Plus it's been weeks since you were last seen in Ponyville Spike and our friends are starting to worry. I told them you were only on a short break and then will be back good as new."
"That was partly my fault princess, I have been working the hatchling very hard, but I feel confident with the new skills I have taught him Spike should be a much better behaved dragon," Warden explained and Spike looked to him in surprise.
"You mean that's it, I have learnt all I needed?" The younger dragon's voice was a mixture of excitement laced with a tinge of sadness.
Warden studied Spike for a short while before replying, "No I would say that you still have some to learn hatchling, but you have the basics at a level where I would feel comfortable having you interact with others respectfully," Warden graced the pair with one of his seldom used grins, "Plus as I understand it this arrangement was for us to learn from each other, well I have been doing a lot of teaching but not so much of the learning and would like to remedy that."
Twilight smiled happily at the suggestion, "Of course I would love to show you around Ponyville and the research centre. I admit it's still unfinished but we are already up and galloping with many of the core elements," Twilight hadn't felt this excited in months, Spike was coming back to Ponyville and she was almost ready to try out some of the prototypes she had been working on for years to the test.
Warden bowed, reverting further back to original manner Twilight had come to expect from the dragon, "I would be happy to have you come along as well Warden, I'm sure a dragon of your mind set would be interested to see what we are developing."
"Of course princess I would be honoured to visit with yourself and Spike," Warden said as he bowed once again, reassuring Twilight that he was once more returning to his old self.
"Brilliant!" Twilight exclaimed happily. "I'll just need to fly ahead and let the teams know, be back soon!"
Spike was pleased to see his sister so happy again, but as he looked to Warden he noticed the older drake's face had become dour once more, "Defences designed to stand up to a dragon, now why do you think ponies would want them?"
Spike gave Warden a disbelieving stare, "I'm sure she just wants to involve us that's all. Twilight is always looking to make pony's lives better and will be trying to design something that will be as strong as can be. It's not aimed at us I promise you," Spike continued on despite Warden's increasingly sour look. "Plus I can see the sense; if it can stand up to dragons, then what in Equestria would have a chance against it?"
Spike trailed off as he realised what he had just said and thought back to the conversation they had shared before Twilight arrived. "Leaving more worthy creatures such as ponies to inherit it," Warden repeated once more and Spike felt his heart lurch in his chest.