After choir practice, all the sirens, Spike, Cobalt and Dax went downstairs into the basement for lunch. To Spike’s surprise, he learned that sirens are actually vegetarians, which came as a nice relief to him. Of course Dax and Cobalt weren't and he knew that, but they decided to have what the sirens were having anyway, probably for his best interest. The music the choir had sung earlier was unbelievable, the sound of the group melded so perfectly with each other, it was truly something to behold. Something else Spike quickly learned was that Sirens didn’t talk all that much. He found out that it wasn't because they didn’t like talking to him or were nervous, but because sirens need to preserve their voice for when they needed it, which was daily, so they didn’t speak unless they needed to.
After lunch, the sirens flew down to the city and headed home. He was sort of sad to see them go, but it was a pretty cool experience, one he hope would happen again. As he walked back into the main hall, Spike noticed that Cobalt was looking over the book that Dax had pulled out a couple days ago to show them their parents. He cautiously walked over and noticed that Cobalt was staring at the same page intensely, a look of sadness in his face.
“Hey, Cobalt, you okay?” Spike said innocently. Cobalt jumped a bit at his voice before realizing who it was and looking over to him. He could see that Cobalt was upset about something, his eyes looked like his mind was elsewhere. Cobalt gave him a dissatisfied smirk before returning his attention to the book. He lifted his claw and made a motion to Spike, telling him to come to the pedestal. Spike quickly walked over to his brother’s side looking at the book with him. The book was on the same page that it was turned to the other day. “What’s wrong?” Spike asked his brother as he tried to follow where Cobalt was reading.
“Something doesn’t add up.” Cobalt said factually as he kept reading it over. The book was in Mhalotian, so Spike couldn’t understand, a fact proven by his confused face. Cobalt looked up at his younger sibling and couldn’t help but smile. “See this?” Cobalt said as he pointed to a paragraph. “This paragraph states that when we were stolen, all that was left was a blue feather.”
“Yeah, so? Doesn’t that mean that it was a Pegasus?” Spike responded, giving Cobalt a raised eyebrow of confusion.
“It might, but then there was last week’s incident with the whole spying thing. What was left? A blue feather.” Cobalt said as he took his attention away from the book to explain things to Spike.
“There’s a lot of Pegasus’ that have blue feathers, Cobalt. I really don’t see what you’re getting at.” Spike said as he put a hand on his brother’s arm. Cobalt shook his head in frustration.
“But you don’t get it. A Pegasus has their wings closed when they’re walking about, feathers don’t come off at that time, they’d come off if they were flying. And yet we found the feather behind a bush where it didn’t even come into contact with the shrub, and the feather found in the nursery was left beside the nest, where you can’t fly even if you’re a pegasus.” Cobalt said as a look of thought replaced his look of worry. Spike started to understand why Cobalt was so concerned about it.
“So… what does that mean?”
“It means that whoever is behind both events was either covering their tracks… or injured.” Cobalt said, almost as if he just realized what was happening. “Look at the feather in the book; it leans to the right. If you remember, the feather that was left behind that night was also leaning to the right.”
“Okay, THAT is a little much. How can you even tell if it’s right side up, upside down or backwards?” Spike responded with a skeptical tone.
“You can tell by how the plumage fans up and out, that’s a distinct trait of Pegasus feathers. the way this one is drawn is shown right-side up. I saw the feather we found up close, it was the same thing.” Cobalt said as he read on, trying to find out more about the night they were stolen. “Mmmmhh… If only I could catch the scent of the feather 750 years ago… I would be sure then.”
“But wait, didn’t we already find out it was rainbow dash’s?” Spike asked as he leaned up to look at the book. Cobalt looked down at him with a confused scowl, making Spike retract a little. “I mean, isn’t that who you were pointing to at Sugarcube corner?”
“Oh… n-no. Did you guys think I was?” Cobalt said hesitantly, his look of confusion quickly changing to apprehension with a nervous twiddle of his thumbs. “Is that why you guys… Oh dear, I’m so sorry.” Cobalt said in somber as his ears dropped. Spike put his hand on Cobalt’s arm and leaned into his big brother quickly in comfort.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. We kinda jumped to conclusions anyway, was everyone’s fault, not just yours.” Spike looked at his brother with an increasingly mischievous look before tickling Cobalt’s side, making him jump in surprise and giggle. “C’mon, let’s get rid of that frown!”
“Hehehehehahah! O-Okay okay! Jeez!” Cobalt said quickly as he snatched his little brother up and held him tight. “Hehe, you know, you’re good at that.”
“Good at what?” Spike returned as he got his legs around Cobalt’s upper waist and locked tight.
“Making me smile.” Cobalt replied warmly with a nuzzle to his brother’s nose. “It’s good to have you around, especially with this whole anxiety thing.”
“I’m glad you’re around too, Cobalt. You’ve taught me so much in such little time I can barely comprehend it. I just wish Twilight could see it too.” Spike trailed off as he looked down and away, sliding down from his brother and walking to a bench to sit. “I… I don’t know what happened last night. I felt… angry. It was like she was denouncing my family, but she is family and… and-”
“She’s right.”
Spike looked up at Cobalt in disbelief, a harsh look slowly following.
“A-Are you serious!? She called you a bad influence! Y-You’re anything but!” Spike responded with a growing anger within.
“Am I? Listen to yourself. How many times have you flown off the handle and just screamed? If I wasn’t here would you have lost it on Rainbow Dash for pushing you over? If I wasn’t around when Rarity showed off her boyfriend, would you have stormed out like that? I’m teaching you to be a dragon. Dragon’s are inherently very passionate, it’s in our blood. I’ve spent most of my lift till now trying to control it and I’m still new to it all. You’ve been at this for what? 3 weeks?” Cobalt said factually, looking at Spike with a stern expression at the end. Spike froze and looked forward, then slumped and very slowly started to tear up.
“You’re not a bad influence…”
“I’m not, I know I’m not. You know it too. But her… She doesn’t understand this; it’s just as new to her as it is you.” Cobalt took Spike sat him into his lap, letting the young dragon face him and cry into his chest as he held him close. “It’s okay, little one, let it out.”
“I… I just… I’m so scared that I ruined-ruined everything,” Spike said through his heavy breathing. “Sh-She looked so h-h-heart broken when I screamed at her. I-I should have been more patient.”
“Shhhhh, don’t worry about that. She’s your sister, blood or not, she’s your sister. All you need is time and patience, love. Hey, look at me.” Cobalt stated softly as he nudged his little brother’s head up to gaze into his puffy, red eyes. “You mean everything to me. You’re my blood, my brother and the only true family I have left. It’s been 2 days and I can already say that I’ll always love you, no matter what. She’s been your sister from day 1. I’m VERY certain the same rules apply.” Spike wiped his snout on his arm and stared into his brother’s brilliant eyes.
“Y-You think so?”
“I know so.” Cobalt said with a big smile, leaning in and giving Spike a soft kiss on the nose. “Love ya, lil guy.” Spike couldn’t help but smile and nuzzle Cobalt’s nose in return.
“Love you to, Cobalt.” Spike curled up in Cobalt’s lap as they sat there, listening to the soft pitter patter of rain as it started to come down. “Hey… Speaking of Dash, are you still going to race her tomorrow?” Spike asked as he looked up to Cobalt. Cobalt's ears flared up as he remembered the bet he had made a few nights before.
“Hmm… Well, I suppose I should, so… ah why not. Just don’t make any bets for me in the future without me asking, okay?” Cobalt said as he gazed at his brother authoritatively. Spike’s ears pinned back as he grinned sheepishly, earning an eye roll from his older sibling. The two got up and walked out of the room, chatting idly as the door closed behind them.
~~
“She’s been like this all day. I don’t know what to do.” Fluttershy said in her quiet worry as she looked on to Twilight’s bed. Twilight hadn’t slept the night before and she sure didn’t feel like getting up that morning. The word that Spike shouted at her felt just as loud in her head as it was when he uttered them. It just rang over and over, earning a knot in her stomach and a lump in her throat every time. Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all stood down in the library and talked among themselves.
“What happened to her, Fluttershy? I’ve never seen her like this before.” Applejack stated as she looked back to Twilight, who was obviously not paying attention.
“Better yet, why is this place in such a heap?” Dash added with a confused head swivel.
“I don’t know. The only thing I could get out of her is something about Spike having a real sibling.” Fluttershy responded, looking up at Twilight in worry.
“Well, we’re not going to get answers standing down here and talking amongst each other.” Applejack said sternly as she walked upstairs to the bed area and put her hoof on the side of Twilight’s bed, making Twilight jump a little in surprise. “Twilight? C’mon, sugarcube, you’ve been there all day. We need to get you up.” There was a moment of silence before Twilight finally spoke.
“I don’t want to get up… I don’t want to do anything.” Twilight said emptily as she hunched over more in bed. Fluttershy and Dash slowly followed behind Applejack and stood behind her.
“C’mon, Twilight, you have to. You’re a princess now.” Dash added.
“So what? Being Princess isn’t going to change anything.” Twilight said with a slightly annoyed tone.
“Twi, c’mon. At least tell us why you’re like this and the library is in such a mess?” Applejack said in a softer tone to try to convince her. Twilight said nothing for a moment before sighing and slowly sitting up. Her face showed just how distressed she was and her eyes we’re bloodshot red. All three of the ponies stepped back in shock as they looked at her; shock turning to worry as Twilight looked down at the foot of the bed.
“...Spike and I got into a fight last night.” Twilight said quietly and half-heartedly. “It was about how he was acting with Cobalt-”
“I knew it! I knew it had something to do with-” Dash interjected, but was quickly silenced by a stern look from Applejack. “Ahhh… sorry.”
“No… it’s fine.” Twilight said as she got up out of the bed and walked past all three of them. She looked down at the library, now seeing it in daylight as all the books were thrown everywhere from Spike’s outburst. “I was saying that he was a bad influence to Spike, but he defended him really strongly. And then…” Twilight trailed off as she looked down at the floor. Applejack walked up behind her and put a hoof on her side.
“And then what, Twi?”
“He told me that… Cobalt and him are Brothers. Like; real, blood related brothers.” Twilight said defeatedly as she sat down where she was. The other three Mares exchanged confused glances as they tried to make sense of what Twilight just said.
“What are you talking about, Twilight? they don’t even look like each other!” Dash said confused as she walked up next to the purple mare.
“That may be true, but they are brothers.”
“WHAT!?” exclaimed everyone in their own way.
“What the hay are you talking about, Twi!?” Applejack stated firmly. Twilight simply started to walk to the pedestal that held the dragon book, which was just about the only book untouched by Spike. Using her magic to flip the pages, she stopped at page 11 495 and began to read a bookmarked paragraph.
“‘15th of the First dew, 1266 G.C.E. The royal hatchlings of the Grand Siren and Alpha Male we’re stolen by a perpetrator supposedly of blue feathers. The next three months saw the fall of most of the Pony empire under the rule of Princess Celestia.’ Look at the drawing of one of the eggs. Look familiar?” Twilight said as she pointed to the drawing of a purple and green egg. Everyone gathered round and quickly looked at the picture, immediately recognizing the egg.
“Is… Is that Spike’s egg?” Fluttershy said quietly in the back of the group.
“At first I wasn’t too sure. I thought it was just a strange coincidence. But then I remembered Spike said something about being related by blood so I decided to look up blood relations and dragons on a hunch.” Twilight said as she used her magic to flip to another bookmarked page. “It says here that the best and only way to relate two dragons is by checking their bloodline. Dragon blood acts almost like a time machine and can relate two dragons back thousands of years. Dragon bloodline testing is a very serious and crucial part of dragon culture and can only be done by a spirit whisperer in a Sky Temple. That’s where Cobalt and Spike went last night. So putting two and two together wasn’t hard at that point.” She sat down as she looked to her friends , who were all still trying to come to terms with the fact that Spike was so much older than they realized.
“Is that all Twi?” Applejack said worriedly, noticing the spark that Twilight had just a few moments ago started to vanish once again. Twilight shook her head in despair and turned around to the book again.
“After learning all that, I found this. It’s a drawing of Spike’s father, look.” Twilight said as she stepped aside. The three mares gathered around the book and all gasped quietly as they looked at the image.
“Well I’ll be…” Applejack stated quietly.
“It’s a spitting image of Spike, just… older and more bronze-y.” Fluttershy said in her timid voice.
“Yeah, it looks like Spike jumped in a mud pool and then took a picture!” Dash stated as she moved aside for Twilight to get through.
“That’s exactly my thought, girls.” Twilight said as she flipped the book to near the beginning. “The last thing I looked at was Dragon behaviour. I wanted see if they had anything on why Spike acted so violently last night…”
“Wait, what do you mean… Violently?” Dash said with a concerned expression. Twilight looked at her and then all around the library.
“This was all him.” Twilight said monotonously. Everyone’s jaws practically hit the floor as they looked around to see all the books strewn everywhere. “On top of that… well, he said some pretty nasty things to me. Before reading this I thought that he had gone completely insane, but…” Twilight started to tear up again, her voice trembling quietly. Applejack quickly got beside her and wrapped her hoof around her shoulder.
“Aww c’mon, sugarcube. We’re all here for you now; go ahead and tell us what you found.” Twilight looked at her and nodded gently before getting back up and reading the marked paragraph.
“‘Young Dragons often have troubles coping with their emotions because dragons can be easily irritated and their moods can change very swiftly. Emotions tend to circle around things that are important to the dragon in question. Because of this, close relationships like blood-related siblings, often share a much stronger bond than any other Draconian relationship. Siblings will heavily and sometimes violently defend their family member, even when faced with a life-threatening situation.’” Twilight ended her reading with a defeated sigh. “I really wish I knew that before I decided to go off on him. I thought… I thought it was Cobalt who was making him like that, but I guess I was wrong. And now, not only have I probably gone down a rung with him in the ways of family, I also probably lost him for good after what I did.” Twilight began to sob quietly, feeling completely lost and defeated at the whole situation. The Three other mares looked at each other in sorrow and confusion. Applejack finally spoke up to break the silence.
“Hey, c’mon now. Spike and Cobalt may be a closer relation, but he grew up as a pony, with you. There’s a lot of things that Spike doesn’t do as a dragon, and I’m certain that he hasn’t forgotten that.” Applejack tightened her embrace around Twilight as she spoke, making her look up to listen. “You’re his sister, that ain’t gonna change, no matter what comes yer way.” Twilight looked at her friend and managed to put on a faint smile followed by a nod.
“I sure hope so, Applejack. Right now, though, I have to clean all this stuff up. Mind giving me a hand, girls?” Twilight said as she levitated the books and started to sort them back to how they were. Both Applejack and Fluttershy nodded and started to help.
“Sure thing, but I have to work fast. That race with Cobalt is tomorrow and I’m gonna make sure that I win!” Dash said as she reared up and hoofed the air. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh a little before looking back to her books and sorting them out.
~~
Cobalt awoke with a quick flutter of his eyes, quickly squinting as the light from outside shone down on him. He looked back under his arm to see Spike holding it tightly as he curled up under the larger dragon’s wing. Carefully, Cobalt nuzzles his little brother’s head, hugged him tight and then got up and walked outside onto the balcony. He arched his back and lifted up his tail to touch his nose, cracking his back and stretching out his body. His wings spread out and stretched, cracking all the joints and wiggling them before getting up on the railing. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as he ever so slightly leaned forward, letting the breeze caught by his wings hold him up as he angled steeper and steeper.
“Cobalt?” Said spike as he rubbed his tired eye. He watched as his brother turned back to look at him, smile and then lean off the ledge. “Cobalt!” Spike yelled as he ran to the ledge and looked down, finding no trace of his brother as he frantically looked.
Cobalt followed the slope of the mountain as he gained speed at an incredible pace. The wind blistered by his face, making him switch from breathing through his nose to breathing through his mouth vents as he neared a change of direction in the mountain. he angled his wings up and followed it flawlessly as he maintained his blistering speed up, blazing past the edge of the mountain to fly in the open sky.
Spike finally found his brother as he blazed past the mountain before flipping up and coming back up towards him. He watched as Cobalt barely even flapped his wings to maintain his incredible speed as he got closer and closer. Spike’s eyes went from awestruck to terrified as he realized that Cobalt was headed straight for him. His body froze in place as Cobalt passed by him at a distance of no more than a couple centimeters. Spike’s head snapped back to watch his brother clear the top of the temple and do a loop before spiraling around the entire structure and using that jet-stream to power himself forward into a barrel roll.
“Wow…” Spike exclaimed dumbfound as he watched his brother fly so effortlessly. he looked back at his wings and flapped them, becoming a little disappointed that they were still so small. Suddenly, Cobalt landed behind him with a thud, causing him to jump in surprise. He turned and looked at his brother, watching all of his muscles flex with every powerful exhale. Cobalt looked at his sibling and smiled as he shook his whole body .
“Heh, sorry, bud. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Cobalt said through his heavy breaths. Spike blushed and smiled.
“Aww, it’s alright, I was already kind of awake. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” Spike said as his ears pinned back. Cobalt quickly walked up to Spike and hugged him, holding Spike’s head to his chest.
“mmmh, was it about your sister, buddy?” Cobalt asked quietly. Spike simply nodded and clung to his brother tight.
“Every time I close my eyes, I see her face... It looks so broken. Cobalt, I messed up so bad. I really hope you’re right,” Spike said as he buried his head into Cobalt’s chest. Cobalt rubs down his brother’s headplates and comforted him as best he could. They stayed there for a few moments in silence before Cobalt decided to speak.
“Well, we’re not going to find out just standing here. C’mon.” Cobalt got down on all fours and let Spike climb on his back. A little struggle and adjustment later, Spike was holding on tight as Cobalt took to the skies once again.
It was about an hour and a half before they cleared the brush and got to open field. It was at about this point where Spike decided to break the weird silence between the two with his stomach which made a grumbling sound that even Cobalt could hear with the wind rushing past him. Spike blushed and chuckled nervously, to which Cobalt shook his head and smiled.
“Looks like we’re taking a lunch break. Hey, there’s Cloudsdale, we’ll stop off there.” Cobalt said as he leaned to the right and changed course to the cloud city. Spike looked down at his brother in confusion.
“Wait… I thought only Pegasus’ can land on clouds?” Spike noted with a hint of concern.
“Oh, right, you haven’t flown yet. No, dragons can too. Remember that Cloudsdale isn’t made with regular clouds. Also, if they’re anything like the other Pegasus we should be caught up by the air force. You guys call them... Wonderbolts, right?” Just as Cobalt finished his sentence, Two Pegasus’ flew up beside him, one of which getting close enough to speak to them both.
“You are in Cloudsdale sanctioned airspace, state your intentions or we have orders to take you down!” The Pegasus stated in a deep voice as he pointed to the anti-air cannons they had directed at them. Spike suddenly got a lump of anxiety in his throat as the cannons followed ahead of them in the air. Cobalt, on the other hand, seemed like this was routine to him and he calmly answered.
“We need to stop off and get provisions, chipper over here needs some chow. I can give full I.D. once on ground.”
“Alright, let’s bring you in.” As the Pegasus motioned to his wing man to take the two in, he got on his earpiece and radioed in to the tower off in the distance. “Tower this is Bolt 9, we’re bringing in the unknown craft. Be advised the runway needs to be cleared, he is a big one. We’ll be coming in at 245.” The Pegasus gave them a signal to follow him in as his wing man got behind them. As they neared the runway, Spike could see all the airmen getting out of the way as the two pegasus’ taxiing them in landed out of the way. Cobalt leaned in sharp and flapped his wings hard to slow the descent, the turbulence caused by his wings kicked up all kinds of rubble on the runway as he glided in for a landing. Even with his preparations, he still had to jog a little bit on all fours before he got to a complete stop.
“Nice landing.” said a voice behind them as Cobalt let Spike down. Both turned to see Spitfire accompanied by two sergeants trotting up towards them as they both turned to face her. “well, this is an interesting sight. Didn’t think I’d be seeing you here before you got your wings, Spike.” She walked up to Spike, who gave her a hoof bump and chuckled.
“Well, didn’t think I could come up here to begin with. This big guy over here proved me wrong. Spitfire, this is my older brother, Cobalt. Cobalt, this is Rainbow Dash’s C.O; Spitfire.” Spike backed up as Cobalt nodded and saluted Spitfire as she returned the gesture.
“Corporal Cobaltin Sertingue. It’s an honor, Ma’am.” Cobalt shook hoof with Spitfire and stood at attention as she spoke.
“So besides a visit, what’s two dragons doing in my airspace?” She asked with a hint of playfulness.
“Well, we were headed to Ponyville until Poofer here’s stomach started piping in. I was hoping you can spare a few provisions for the lil guy in the mess hall?”
“Yeah, I think we can spare a few. You’ll need to go through reg, first, but I can vouch for Spike. Head on in to the tower and the desk is there as soon as you head in.” Spitfire and Cobalt exchanged salutes as she took Spike to the mess hall. Cobalt went into the tower and completed his registration. On his way out, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
“So, you decided to show up after all.” Cobalt turned around to see Rainbow dash standing behind him, leaned up against the wall. “You got a lot of nerve showing up around here after what happened. Where’s Spike?”
“Follow me.” Cobalt said with a sorrowed undertone. They both walked over to the mess hall where Spike was gorging himself into what he got for lunch. “He got hungry on the way here.” Cobalt looked over to Dash who was giving him a stern stare down. Cobalt grunted and laid down, laying his head on his arms. “Look… I know what you’re thinking. I’m not stupid, I know what you’ve seen and heard. But I don’t control this. I can’t control this…” Cobalt looked on to Spike as he continued to pig out on his lunch. “If it was up to me I would have rather him not know we were brothers.” He continued with regret. Dash looked at him in surprise.
“Why would you want that?”
“Because he wouldn’t have been like that if he didn’t.” Cobalt replied with a sigh. “Look, he’s a young male dragon. This was going to happen whether I was here or not. The only major difference is that now he has an outlet because I’m his sibling. In fact I think if I came any later, this would have been much worse.” Cobalt shifted his gaze from Spike back to Dash. “Hey, I know a lot of strange things have really stirred up since I’ve come around… but you have to understand that I never wanted this. I’m scared of hurting others, I’m nervous in big crowds because of these freaking wings… I never wanted to endanger or hurt you or anyone else.” Dash’s look slowly shifted from harsh to pity as Cobalt barely kept eye contact. “Everywhere I go I’m labeled dangerous. I can turn a being into red mist if I wanted to, I can snap someone in half with my wings… but I couldn’t bring myself to do it even if I wanted to. I’m bullied for being an anomaly with my element AND these pieces of shit strapped to my shoulders. I just want to escape that… just once.” Cobalt let a tear slip from his eye and splash the floor.
Dash suddenly started to feel rather crummy, finding out that Cobalt wasn’t the monster that he was capable of being. She slowly walked up and put a hoof on his shoulder. Cobalt looked up at her in surprise as she returned a gentle smile.
“Hey, you know I was bullied too. I was… and well, still am, very headstrong in flight class. I often tried to show off… most of it resulting in Dash imprints on the clouds,” Dash said with a chuckle; Cobalt returning it with a small smile. “I’m sorry, Cobalt. It wasn’t as much as I didn’t trust you as it was I just wanted to make sure my friends and where I lived was safe. I’m like that with most outsiders, and… well you’re a dragon. The only interaction I’ve had with dragons, besides Spike, is when they’ve tried to kill me.”
“I know… and I understand. I would have defended myself if I hadn’t known that. You’re headstrong, yes, but you’re also very loyal. You’d make a great dragon.” Cobalt couldn’t help but laugh, which Dash followed up with. After they both chuckled at Spike making a mess of himself, Cobalt decided to speak once again. “Can you guys do me a favour?”
“Sure, what’s up?” Dash responded quickly.
“Give him time… those wings are going to start growing fast within the next few weeks. He has never been with dragons before so all these emotions that he SHOULD have started going through a few years ago are all bundling up and showing at once and it’s a lot to handle. He’s going to be very unstable for the next little while. I’ll do what I can to quell it, but he’s going to slip every now and again. Please don’t hold it against him… he’s the only true family I have now.” Dash nodded immediately with an approving humm.
“What’s going to happen with him and Twilight?” Dash said as she motioned back to the purple dragon.
“He’s a dragon. He’ll have hardcore fights with his siblings, but he’s known her all his life. He threw up after the incident and it’s been making him lose sleep. They’ll be fine.” Dash smiled and sighed.
“Good. Now, I believe we have a race to attend. Shall we?”
“You’re on.”