Reassignment
The twins were now four years old and just a few weeks short of five years, and just as difficult to handle as ever. Lightning Twist had been called to Cloudsdale for reasons he was not fully aware of at the time, he really hoped he wasn't in trouble. When he got to the official weather control complex in Cloudsdale he was directed to the office of the head weather manager, a one Stormy Night. However when he knocked he heard the voice of a mare that was more well known telling to enter. When Lightning entered he noticed the bright orange coat of the one and only Spitfire. “Have a seat mister Twist,” said the orange mare with a very professional tone, “first off I'll get your obvious question and the requisite greeting out of the way. Hello, I'm Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts and yes I know this is unusual seeing as you expected Stormy Night to be in her office. Long Story Short miss Night was called to Canterlot for a last minute meeting for one reason or another, I'm sure it has to do with the event of this past summer sun celebration. In case you haven't heard, Princess Luna has returned as is in the process of reacclimating herself to modern Equestrian society in addition returning to her Nightly duties.”
Lightning just stared at the orange mare in surprise, “So” continued Spitfire, “I will be handling her duties until her return, which is believed to be later this week. Quick question, how's the family doing?”
“Fine, why do ask?” responded Lightning.
“Your sister is an old friend of mine,” said Spitfire, “and she says you have some of the cutest foals she's ever seen, also that your wife is gorgeous and keeps refusing auditions for modeling.”
Lightning gulped down a large chunk of air before saying, “Yes, well my wife has a unique heritage which is very pronounced in our foals, we're not comfortable letting them out of the house yet.”
“With good reason I assume,” said Spitfire, “anyway, an incident happened in Ponyville a few weeks ago and enough of their local weather team decided pack up and move to other places to drop past the minimum requirement for a weather team in the town, so you will be taking up new weather duties in Ponyville. You have three weeks to prepare after that I will personally see to it that you are dragged there, ready or not.”
“Understood, miss Spitfire,” said Lightning with a shaky voice, “we'll start preparations for the move the moment I get home. However, since I'm here the wife wants me to run a few errands.”
“My sympathies go out to you,” said Spitfire in a sarcastic tone, “dismissed.”
“Thank you ma'am, and please don't patronize me,” said Lightning as he made his way out the door. Dead, I am so dead! Either a national hero kills me for my being to forward, or my wife kills me for not being assertive enough in the situation. Thought Lightning Twist as he mad his way out of the complex. He quickly took to the streets, Silver had asked him to pick some foods that had a higher protein concentration, after all she could only make tofu so many ways before the foals could tell that it was just the beans. As he trotted the streets a sign that read “Sunrise Books” caught his attention or more accurately a book in the window with the title “The Complete Guide to Rare and Mythical Creatures: Revision 12” caught his eye. He asked the mare at the desk, who went by the name of Novel Concept, how much the book in question was and bought before his return flight.
*********************
After his hour and a half flight, Cirrus was considerable distance from Cloudsdale, he was back home. “Honey, kids, I'm home,” said Lightning as he shut the door, “and I'm sorry I didn't pick up any food in Cloudsdale, but I did get this fascinating book. I leafed through it on the way here, it has a section dedicated to explaining what our foals are.”
The sound of rushing hooves greeted his ears before the book was snatched up by Snowfall's tail before she scurried off to a place she knew her brother wouldn't approach without their mom or dad. Silver trotted in with Steel in tow (and in pegasus form) and said, “so what was the call to Cloudsdale about? Nothing too serious I hope.” At this point Steel Wing trotted off to look for his sister.
“Nah, just reassignment to a new town, which means we need to start packing, we have to clear out to Ponyville in a couple of weeks. There was an incident in the town a few weeks back and a considerable portion of their local weather team decided to pack up and move somewhere else, I was selected as one of the replacement ponies.”
“We'll have to pack in such a way that the foals are well hidden,” said Silver, “we don't want the mayor or anypony else starting ruckus regarding the twins being out. Why doesn't he like the idea that one of the citizens is a benign dragon? I've done nothing to make anypony doubt I'm anything but a friendly soul.”
“Dusty's just stuck in the old times,” said Lightning, “also this past Summer Sun celebration was very eventful, Princess Luna returned. Who is that exactly? I didn't want to show my ignorance when I was told, especially since it was a Wonderbolt telling me.”
Silver gave him a 'really, you don't know the history of your own nation' look before saying, “She's Princess Celestia's younger sister, she fell victim to a dark force about a thousand years ago and became the villain known as Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon creating the iconic image of the Mare in the Moon about a thousand years ago. Seriously, how is it I know your history and lore better than you? I'm a dragon, I can tell you all about different kinds of dragons without a thought, easily, but when it comes to a set of foal's tales that anypony should know you fall flat are your face.”
“In my defense I never really paid much attention to those old stories, I just sort of tuned them out.”
“We all have our shortcomings Lightning, and true love is sticking with your partner in spite of their failings.”
“The foals are in another room now,” said Lightning.
“Snowfall hasn't learned how to read just yet, she's probably looking to see if the book has any illustrations, in the library.”
“Steel won't enter that place without either of us,” said Lightning with a smirk, “I'll get Steel, you get Snowfall and we can all start packing. The move is probably a good idea, the foals are almost school age and we'll have to come to a decision regarding their lesson plans by then.”
“I know,” said Silver with a sigh, “I've been telling them stories that are intended also teach lessons. They think they're just pretty stories right now, but they'll probably come to an understanding to the lessons taught in the stories when they're older.”
With that the two went their opposite ways to gather their children and prepare for the move.
***************************************
It was two hours later and about a dozen boxes were filling the front room of the complex, Snowfall was hugging the newly purchased book tightly to her (she had decided it was her new favorite thing in the world, especially since there were a dozen hypothetical renderings of what a kirin would look like), her mother had to read the chapter sections too Snowfall and had promised the filly that she would teach her how to read after the move. The twins were both excited to be moving, it would mean seeing more of the world (they were considerably less excited to learn that they would be hiding amongst the luggage during the majority of the move).
Silver was preparing a set of moving boxes done up like a play fort which would act as the hiding place for the twins during the move when Snowfall said in her inquisitive little voice, “Mommy, will our new home be a place where we can run around in the yard or walk around town?” Snowfall became very articulate with her words at only three years, a major accomplishment since Silver had been told most ponies can't properly articulate their words until around the age of five. Steel Wing was still stuck in foal speak.
While checking over everything before heading out to ensure that everything was indeed packed Silver said to Lightning, “So, who's the new boss? Are they nice?”
“Stormy Night,” said Lightning with a hint of dread, that Silver apparently decided to disregard or didn't seem to catch discomfort in his voice, “I was told by one of the Wonderbolts about my reassignment,” This is it, thought Lightning, I am so going to die, “captain Spitfire to be precise.”
“Oh,” said Silver with a smirk, “what was your impression of her?”
“Very formal, honestly I think she needs to relax, it's like her plot was way too tight,” that's it, I am one very dead stallion.
“I sincerely hope she didn't get the impression that you're a pushover,” said Silver with a smirk that she meant as reassuring, but Lightning found both as attractive as it was terrifying.
“I'm... I was submissive in her presence, so that's likely the impression she got,” said Lightning with a hint of fear in his voice, this is it, he thought, I am so going to die at the claws of the dragon I was foolish enough to marry.
“Well, to be honest,” said Silver calmly as she looked over the move carrier that would be hiding the twins, “you are far less dominant than most stallions, I don't see it as being too bad.”
Lightning gave a deep sigh, “I thought you were going to kill me for not being more assertive.”
“Lightning,” said Silver with a chuckle, “I'm over three centuries old, I have a gotten better and longer experience being able to tell the nature of ponies and animals than most would think possible. The last time I checked I've been able to better manage my emotional state since I had the twins. If that were not the case you would've had to explain how a berserk dragon got to the town without anypony noticing a few dozen times already. So, where are we moving to again?”
“Ponyville.”
____________________________________________
At the same time a certain pink party mare in Ponyville got a series of sensations in her body and gave an explosive deceleration that four new ponies were coming to town and started her mad rush to prepare. “Let's see a stallion, mare, and two foals,” said Pinkie Pie to no pony in particular as she minded an empty Sugurcube Corner, “all fliers, this might be a little tricky, but absolutely tootsly doable. Oh wait, only one is a pony and two are sort of ponies, and one isn't a pony, but totally the kind of... individual we can be friends with.”
________________________________________________________
Silver blinked a few times before saying, “I just got the strangest feeling that we're going to have an interesting reception, it is almost like I caught a glimpse of my dreams.”
“Really?” said Lightning, “what did you see?”
“Pink, a lot of pink,” said Silver, “whatever is on the way is going to involve something very pink, maybe somepony. It's hard to tell, the vision-like dreams blink in and out on me.”
“Oh well,” said Lightning, “at least we got fair warning, I'm still not sure how you get those dreams that you say help you divine the future.”
“Possibly a family trait,” said Silver, “after all my dad could do magic, maybe one day Snowfall or Steel will show an aptitude for magic as well.”
“Well you can sort of do magic,” said Lightning.
“Five spells does not a spell caster make me,” responded Silver in a teasing voice, “besides I haven't used any of them since before the twins were born and for the most part they're not all that useful so it's no big loss.”
“You used that old Equestrian dialect again, you do that when you feel like being ironic. You're a dragon with more than one breath type, I'd say that's impressive enough.”
“Thanks honey,” said Silver with a smile, go get our son while I grab our daughter it's almost time to go.” Lightning nodded and was off. Silver rolled her eyes as she headed to the house's former small library. She found her daughter hugging her new favorite book in front of the place where she had kept her finished memorial image of her father. “You know,” said the disguised dragoness causing her daughter jump in surprise, “my father could do magic, maybe someday you will show signs of being able to cast spells.”
“Really?” said Snowfall with excitement.
“Provided we can find you an instructor,” said Silver, “mommy doesn't really know any spells. But that won't be possible if you just sit here, go take your place for the move,” with that Snowfall rushed out of the room to her designated place for the move. When the two got back to where they were going to move everything out they found Steel Wing tied down with cloud chains, something that caused his sister laugh hysterically and his mother to look over at his father with a look that said there would be explaining at length (and a trouble verdict would be decided after the explanation).
Taking a closer look at her children as she made some fine adjustments to their carrier Silver could see how they had changed physically over years a bit more closely. Steel Wing's hind legs had developed a set of bony pads around the knees for extra protection in addition his tail hairs were speckled with scales that were the same color as his coat. Forest Snowfall's tail had continued to grow until it was almost a quarter her total length on its own, in addition her wings had grown to be a little over twice the size of those of a pegasus that was equivalent to her size, fortunately she had much finer motor control over tail and stronger wing muscles to ensure that she didn't trip over either, she also wore her ribbon like a bow in her mane (something she had insisted on after she was able to hold her wings to side without the aid of the simple accessory. Both had figured out their wings were collapsible like their mother's wings (a trait she had explained was highly common among winged dragons).
After the last minute checking Silver nodded and the luggage was placed around the twins before the securing walls were placed around said luggage. The flight to Ponyville would be around 2 hours, even if the twins could be seen flying with their parents they wouldn't have been able to maintain their flight for such an extended period(despite Steel's insistence that he could do it and then some). After making sure the twins would remain quiet during the flight, with Snowfall it was easy, Steel was a bit more of a chore. After getting him to promise to be quiet in exchange for some free flight time once they were settled in they were off.
*********************************
The two hour flight with the cart bearing all their possessions was tiring for Lightning, whom had fallen asleep a half hour before the town came into view. Silver roused her husband after landing, she wasn't adverse to picking up his slack (especially considering her natural strength). She had landed them just outside the city hall building so that Lightning could take care of the final process, he had been told all the preparations were already made. The stallion headed in to finish the process of moving.
While looking about with genuine interest the pegasus with an indigo mane and tail disguised dragoness noticed a few sites that would be of interest. She spotted Carousel Boutique, she'd probably end up their as a model at some point; Golden Oaks Library, she could read the sign with her incredibly sharp eyes and noted that Snowfall would probably be found there more often than other location town. Turning her eyes upwards she spotted a cloud house a short ways off and up, that would belong to a pegasus for sure she thought.
As Silver looked around she got the sensation that somepony was watching her. A short ways off Pinkie Pie was in a tree hanging by her tail taking notes, in her usual way, on the new arrivals. She noted that the mare that had arrived was a highly noticeable color, that apparently had a coat that clashed with half the party supplies she was planning on using, while her mane and tail were far more normal by pony standards. She saw the mare whispering something to a section of the cart, she correctly assumed this was where the foals were hiding.
Pinkie watched a dark green pegasus stallion with a sky blue mane and tail walk out of the town hall build with a set of keys and say something, after listening to him the silver coated mare pointed in Pinkie's direction and said something, Pinkie saw the stallion raise his eyebrows in surprise before muttering something before unhitching the mare and hitching himself to the cart. The mare walked over to Pinkie and said in a cool feeling motherly voice, “I assume you are Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie just nodded and went back to her notes, “I'm Silver Fall, it's a pleasure to meet you. The mayor said you would know how to get us to our new address, also something about a rampaging dragon scaring off almost half the weather team along with a sizable portion of the rest of the town,” Pinkie nodded again as she continued her notes, “well then, she also said you can take us to our new address,” the mare passed Pinkie a small piece of parchment, the overly pink blue eyed pony put her notebook and pencil into her mane before taking the sheet.
After looking at it for half a second she said in an overly cheery voice, “Oki, doki, Loki, let's get you to your new house. Ooh, and you'll get a welcome party in a few hours, gotta make sure you're kind of settled in before we start the party. Don't worry I'll make sure there's plenty of fun stuff for your foals.”
Silver gave the pink mare a surprised look before saying, “how did you... never mind, yes I have two foals, twins in fact. One of them is showing signs being a little scholar, she's a very well behaved girl, her brother is very athletically minded and will probably not want any sort of game that doesn't feel like it's testing him. Now can we please lead my husband, children and belongings to the address on the paper I just passed you.”
“Sure thing,” said Pinkie as she hopped toward the cart, this is going to be an interesting first day, thought Silver, hoping it went well. After they got to their new house, a surprisingly spacious two story building for ground based ponies, and Lightning was bringing his keys to the house when Pinkie hopped off humming, Silver's ears thought she heard the pink mare humming a song about either cupcakes or meeting some new friends before deciding it was a song of the mare's own devising that was about both.
“Well,” said Silver after all their luggage was loaded in to the spacious front room, “she's an interesting one, reminds me of a unicorn called Party Punch from a while ago, I wonder if she could be related in some way.”
“What was that unicorn like?” asked Snowfall as she and here brother let out of their carrier.
“When you meet Pinkie Pie you'll know,” said Silver with a chuckle, “although she was little different in color, being a happy blue, don't ask me how that's possible, seems to do that. Now that I think about it her mane was the same color as Pinkie's eyes and Pinkie's coat was the same color as her eyes. Of course I could be mixing a few things up, after all mommy's a bit of and old codger.”
The twins giggled and Lightning said, “You take the twins and their things to their new room I'll handle the rest of our things.”
“Don't forget to check the appliances in the kitchen,” said Silver with a teasing voice, “our last house was assured to have working appliances and...”
“The fridge cut out so much we ended up calling for a service to haul it away after we found a new one, that fridge is still back in Cirrus, I liked that fridge,” replied Lightning.
“So did our son,” said Silver as she ascended the stairs with twins in her natural state while holding a set of boxes that had the impression the twins on them in her tail. Snowfall still had her favorite book in her tail.
Out the window after getting to the new room for the twins she spotted what looked like a blue maned black unicorn mare with... leathery wings? And a small bat winged cream and white filly walking past. Silver blinked a few times and put more focus into her eyes to improve her visual perception and noticed the mare had dark blue draconic eyes while the filly had yellow cat like eyes, and fangs? Well, thought silver, the last time I saw one of those was... 156 years ago, of course it was a scout looking for a new place to put their colony, never talked to the poor stallion though.
**********************************************
Two hours later what sounded like a mariachi band and polka band were having a musical duel came from down the stairs along with garbled words from Lightning Twist. Silver's sharp ears picked up on the sound of somepony ascending the stairs, and quickly shouted, “We'll be down in a moment, just making sure all the twins' things are all here, you know how moving can be.” The sound of stairs being climbed turned into going down them. Silver gave a little sigh of relief. “Alright you two, since keeping it hidden until we feel everypony is ready is no longer a viable option...”
The voice of an irate mare, with what sounded like a slight roar to her voice to Silver's ears, cut through the din with the simple expression, “It is way too loud in here, Squeaks has really sensitive ears. Pinkie Why does it sound like you have a pair of bands having a duel in here? And for that matter, why is it Squeaks and I got here before the rest of your friends? Especially since Twilight is technically the closest to this place. Did you get permission for this one?”
“They didn't say no,” came Pinkie's voice as the music suddenly cut out, “sorry, I got a little carried away.”
“That doesn't explain why I'm here,” came the voice, “or why you insisted every foal we could get our hooves on come to this party. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Dinky, Pinchy, and Twist are all here in addition to Squeaky. I would have brought Autumn, but mom took her and Orange out of town for the wee.”
“So, why is the piñata in the shape of a manticore?” came a much younger squeaky sounding voice.
“It was the only one I could find,” said Pinkie with a despondent voice that quickly went back to chipper, “guess that means I have to go shopping for more party supplies, definitely need more...”
“Not that your conversation isn't scintillating,” came Lightning's voice, “but my wife and foals are still upstairs and I'm wondering why the party, couldn't you have just given us a welcome fruit basket or flower bowl instead?”
“And what fun would that be,” came Pinkie's voice, “those don't make ponies get to know new ponies like a party does.”
“Dreadfully sorry about this dear,” came a prim sounding female voice, “but this is just how Pinkie is, you get used it after a while.”
“Um,” a very low voice that Silver figured was far too low for anypony to make out, and proven right when the question, “are they nice ponies?” went unanswered for several minutes.
A brash feminine voice following a rather loud whoosh came out saying, “Woo, made it, didn't want to miss a Pinkie Party.”
“Rainbow Dash we specifically told you this party would be a full two hours earlier than it was supposed to in order for this exact thing to not happen,” came a female voice that denoted a considerable amount of book learning.”
“Ya'll need ta just calm down,” came a country mare's voice, with an accent that sounded very familiar to the dragoness.
Well time to meet my doom thought Silver, the dragoness told the twins to keep close and opened the door before walking out. As she made her way gingerly down the stairs the twins rushed down the steps, the dragoness gave and exasperated sigh. Looking up she noticed the black mare looking to her direction then the twins and back several times. It was doing so that the mare noticed the book in Snowfall's tail, and only caught part of the book's title.
“Ooh,” said Pinkie, “your foals aren't like any I've...” the pink mare stopped when she noticed the literal dragon in the room.
Silver gave a deep sigh before saying, “I'm sure you all have questions, I will do my best to answer the ones I am able to.”
A lavender unicorn pulled out a notebook and quills, it was at this point Silver noticed the purple and green baby dragon in the room giving an awestruck look.
“I see we have a wyrmling in the room,” Silver said, quietly chuckling at the faces everyone in the room made, “that's what you call a baby dragon.”
“Really?” asked a soft yellow pegasus with pink mane and tail in a really soft voice.
“Yes,” said Silver, “and don't worry about me I haven't had meat in centuries, I'm strictly a herbivore. By my own volition”
“Really?” came the peagasus's voice with excitement, “how did you manage that?”
“I have some very special beans that I eat that contain most of the nutrients I need, I supplement the rest with other plants.”
“Wait,” said the country mare, “yer sayin' that ya, a fully grown dragon, made the conscious decision ta not eat meat.”
“Yes well, I'm actually rather... unique when compared to other dragons,” said Silver.
“How unique?” came an excited voice from the purple mare, “I want to know everything, this will be such a wonderful presentation to the academic community.”
“Twilight, calm down,” shouted Pinkie to the purple unicorn, “they just moved here, sheesh, give them a few days before the interrogation.”
“Pinkie telling everypony to take it easy, well...” the cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and maroon colored eyes was cut off.
“We need to know about where they just came from and what they're like before all that,” continued Pinkie.
“That's kind what an interrogation is,” snarked the black mare, which now that she looked at her more closely Silver noticed said mare towered over the rest of the ponies in attendance. “So, you had a pair of kirins, it's nice to see I'm not the only one in Equestria. Of course the Princesses will want to meet you,” she gestured to the foals which were now just running around and playing like nothing awkward was going on, “and them.”
“I'm well aware of that,” said Silver, “I just don't know how well they'll take it when they learn about me.”
“Probably as interested as Rarity,” said the Cyan pegasus with a giggle.
Silver turned her head to notice a white unicorn mare with well styled purple mane and tail inspecting every inch of her. “Can I help you miss...” said Silver.
“Rarity, darling,” said the unicorn in the prim voice she had noticed earlier, “your scales are just absolutely beautiful, is there a way I can get a hold of some while they still have their luster?”
“Not to my knowledge, but if you want I could probably give you a few lustrous pearls.”
“You mean make her some pearls,” said Ligtning playfully before realizing what he just said.
Silver shot her husband a look that told him that he would sleeping outside on their first night in town, which he didn't read quite right.
“What does he mean make?” came the voices of Twilight and Rarity simultaneously.
“My tears coalesce into pearls,” said Silver with a sigh, “you just have to make me so happy I'm crying tears of joy. Well you can also make me so sad I cry tears of sorrow, but those are atrocious things that bring back a lot of bad memories.”
“So we just have to make her laugh so hard she's crying her happiness,” said Pinkie with excitement.
“Challenge accepted,” said the cyan pegasus.
“Getting back to the matter at hoof,” said Silver, “I believe you said this was supposed to be a party, the only ones taking advantage of that are the foals.”
“So,” said Pinkie excitedly, “what are their names? I like to know everypony in Ponyville.”
“Befer ya'll get ta that,” said the orange earth pony with a blond mane and tail, “Pinkie you said there was a silver colored mare tha' moved in here, but all Ah see tha's silver is this um... what is the term ya use fer uh girl dragon?”
“Dragoness,” said Silver with a smile, “and I am the mare in question.”
“Sugurcube ya don' look lahk uh mare,” stated the orange pony.
“Well, ya see darlin',” said Silver in a perfect imitation of the Apple clan's accent, and shifting to her pegasus form, when she did everypony talking to her took notice of how every muscle, fiber and hair changed before their eyes, “Ah've got uh few little tricks uhf mah own,” she then shifted back to her natural look and said in her usual voice, “it's a trait I inherited from my father.”
“Yah were mockin' me while ya did tha',” said the orange pony with a strong note of anger, while all the fillies that had heard the exchange were giggling in the background.
“Applejack lighten up,” said Pinkie, “I think she was just trying to lighten the mood.”
“So, you're part of the Apple clan,” said Silver with a note of pride, “I could tell the moment I heard your voice. By the way your cousin Apple Chiller in Mustang is a nice little colt, I should know I was his foal-sitter and happen to be good friends with his wife.”
Everypony, including the foals stopped at this, “um, just how long have you been around?” asked Twilight with care.
“I've been around for a little over three centuries,” said Silver with nothing other than honesty in her voice, “and thus the only older beings in Equestria proper are...”
“The princesses,” finished Twilight, “how long is your life expectancy?”
“A few thousand years,” said Silver, “I think.”
“What do you mean you think,” said Pinkie with interest holding a plate covered in chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting and adorned with apple slices cut to look like little version of the black mare.
“You see I'm a mixed blood, which means that I'm two different tribes of dragon blended together, so my abilities aren't as clear cut as a pure blood. I know this isn't a big deal for ponies these days since the tribes of pony have been intermingling lineages for quite some time now, but to some dragon clans it's far from a term of endearment.”
“Well,” said Twilight, “I guess that explains why you look the way you do. What kind of dragons are there?” The black mare just kept watching with a wary eye, almost like she was unsure what to make of any of what was happening in front of her.
“There are numerous tribes of dragons,” started Silver, who paused when she heard the sound of writing only to see the young dragon and Twilight both in the act of taking notes before continuing, “the tribes each belong to different groupings. The Fire Tribes, Wind Tribes, Water Tribes, Earth Tribes, and Thunder Tribes are the most common in the Equestria area, to my knowledge.” more scribbling, “the Fire Tribes are the most well known and are often characterized by hotheadedness and their immense obsession with their hoards in addition to destructive tendencies. The Wind Tribes are mostly characterized by their flighty personalities and immense sense of speed. The Water Tribes are mostly characterized by their gentle nurturing personalities and wishie-washy mindsets. The Thunder Tribes are mostly characterized by their impulsively competitive natures and erratic behavior. And the Earth Tribes are mostly characterized by their immense devotion, levelheadedness and strong sense of acceptance.”
“Ooh, Princess Celestia said that Spike is an Earth Dragon,” stated Pinkie.
“Really, could you give me the details of your wyrmling associate? Leave out coloration, that tends to change over the course of an Earth dragon's life cycle in some tribes.”
“Well he's super friendly, really devoted to his work, seems to suffer from a sense of unrequited love, is a really good digger when I take him gem hunting and breaths fire,” said Rarity.
“Ooh, and he turned into a big dragon the size of big hill when he went all greed crazy, of course that was after a short period where he was a pony sized dragon with wings,” said Pinkie.
“Hm,” Silver started mumbling, “can't be a Terra-Claw, they don't have any combustible breath abilities or develop wings during maturation cycles; maybe a Vulcan Crawl, but those usually go seeking volcanoes during all forms of maturation,” Silver's muttering took on in a musing tone, “could be a Pyro Tunneler, but they have tendencies to go looking for the nearest place with high gem deposits and ignore everything else up to and including the massive hoard they've been collecting.” The sound of a quill snapping brought Silver back to reality, “alright that's it for Silver's primer course on dragons, “we'll have the full course another day, at which point I will answer all your questions regarding dragons. Everypony back to the party.”
With that she headed for the buffet table. While in the process of enjoying a piece of broccoli with a creamy white dip she was unfamiliar with when the black mare, with the little cream and white bat filly in tow trotted up to her and said, “I know you said you would answer all questions regarding dragons at a later date, but could you at least give me a brief summary of Wyverns. My Father was one, I never got to know him,” the mare looked around apprehensively like she wasn't sure she wanted the other guests to hear her or not.
“Wyverns have a tradition of passing their family names down to each generation, most breath fire as a defense or weapon, however between twenty and forty percent have been known to belch blasts of high pressured high speed air instead and will often combine it with their roars to make themselves come off as more dangerous. They technically belong to Fire and Wind Tribes as result of this.”
The mare blinked a few times before saying, “sorry, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Midnight Storm and this is Squeaks, my daughter.”
“Well that's nice,” said Silver, “technically since my mother was a member of the Fire Tribes I could be considered a distant cousin to you, Midnight. That means Squeaks has been playing with her new little cousins, the twins are only five years old so it's your job as an older member of the same generation to help them out when they need it.”
“Really,” she said with excitement, “wait, you still didn't say what their names are.”
“The filly is Forest Snowfall, she's the own with feather covered dragon wings and articulating tail, and the colt is Steel Wing, I think you figured out which one he is.”
Squeaks ran off to play with the other foals and share the news.
“Was that really necessary?” Inquired Midnight.
“Probably not, but I think it's nice to have more ponies to lean on, and seeing foals happy is one of the things that makes me feel most accomplished. A little word of warning Midnight, from what I've been told about hybrids the likelihood of them being fertile enough for bearing offspring is very low, I'll explain how low for everyone at my little... seminar on the subject, there will be a separate one from dragons on what dragons where I openly share my knowledge regarding kirins.”
The black mare just nodded and trotted off. Turning her attention to the foals as she grabbed a cupcake from the tray behind her she said, “how long are you going to just stand there not saying anything miss Pie, from what I've read about you during prior interactions you have something you want to get off your hooves and chest.”
“Well,” said the pink pony in her chipper voice, “I think you said that mostly because you want to be called auntie, but seriously you don't look a day over thirty years.”
“Most dragons grow slowly during their first twenty years, then experience annual growth spurts for the following forty years, also we experience the aging process at a slower rate than ponies. What is twenty years to a dragon is roughly fifty-two to a pony. We just feel time passing differently.” The sound of a belching and the smell of something burning in reverse met Silver's senses shortly after.
“It's for you,” said Spike in a youthful yet annoyed voice that had an undertone of snarkiness as he handed Silver a scroll.
Silver looked over the letter shortly later after watching the young dragon walk off, by this Pinkie had gone to somewhere else. Inside the letter, which had some of the most beautiful penmareship the dragon had seen, said,
“My dear Silver Fall, I look forward to meeting you and hearing how it is you came to be the mother of some of the next generation of kirins. Although due to my schedule structure I will not be able to visit Ponville for quite some time and see your foals for myself. However I am inviting you to the Nightmare Night festivities in Canterlot, I hope you can find somepony qualified to look after your foals at that time, knowing the head of Ponyville's weather team your husband may not be able to look after them that particular night.
~ to our first official visit, Princess Celestia
ps Do your best to make a memorable entrance.
Silver stared at the message for a moment before looking over at her husband who was being talked to by Rainbow Dash.
Silver walked over and said, “And what are you two talking about? Nothing too hazardous I hope.”
“Not at all,” said Rainbow as she puffed her chest out, “although I would say go and get your stallion fixed, this guy's a pushover.”
“Yes well,” said Silver with a smile, “he's a sweetheart and hard worker.”
“And she's my new immediate boss,” said Lightning pointing to Rainbow with a wing.
“If you want a pony that understands competition I suggest you look up Night Racer,” said Silver, “she's an old friend of Lightning's, last I checked she was still in Cirrus.”
“That little rundown town,” said Rainbow, “I heard they have some rather out of date mindsets, that and the mayor there is a jerk.”
“Yes, well,” said Silver, “Dusty Skies is a bit of an archaic mind. When I revealed myself in Mustang the ponies there just took it in stride, same with the ponies that belonged to families I got into the good graces of over the past two-hundred years, but Dusty Skies and his supporters freaked out and started trying to say I was an attacking dragon,” she gave a huff of annoyance, “they were the only aggressive ones in the time I was in my natural state before the whole town, after I made it back to our house I reverted to my pony persona and those jerks had the gall to say they 'chased off the violent dragon' and went to acting like my whole shifting in front of the whole town was nothing more than a hallucination or bad dream. We could only let the twins out on Nightmare Night because of it.”
“Dude, not cool,” said Rainbow, “you just walked away? I would have flown straight up to his face and...”
“Whoa Nelly,” said Applejack cutting the rainbow maned pegasus off, “we are in the same room as foals, Ah don't think they'd appreciate 'earing something potentially hazardous ta somepony's 'ealth.”
Silver chuckled and said, “I think Steel Wing might try to follow Rainbow around and learn all her flying secrets, he has that kind of mindset. Snowfall seems to have taken a shine to Twilight, they're both academically minded. Looks like Twilight is asking if she can see Snowfall's favorite book, the poor dear can't read just yet. I'll be giving Snowfall some reading lessons for the next couple of days, tell your friends I'll give the full lecture on dragons in four days, we still need to acclimate to the town.” Rainbow nodded and zipped off.
“My heroine,” said Lightning with a smile.
“You are still in trouble mister,” retorted Silver.
“I know, I know,” said Lightning, “I'm spending the night on the couch.
“No that's too comfortable for you,” said Silver with a smirk, “we have a lovely tree right outside behind the house. You. Are. Sleeping. Outside. Tonight. And. If. I. Ever. Hear. About. You. Spending. The. Night. At. Somepony. Else's. Place. Then. You. Keep. Spending. The. Night. Outside. Until. It. Stops.” The dragoness punctuated each word of the sentence and threat with her claw lightly digging into Lightning's forehead. The stallion gulped loudly and nodded mechanically before dashing away. The sound of Rainbow laughing followed shortly after. Looking over at Applejack the country mare just gave tip of her stetson hat and a curt nod.
As the party finally began to die down, a three hour affair, Twilight trotted up and said, “quick question before I leave and we have to wait for the seminar to talk about this, how do you know all the stuff you do about dragons?”
Silver gave the lavender mare a smile and said, “how do you think kept myself occupied for the past three centuries? Little joke there, to answer your question I learned it from my parents from the time I was five to the time I was eleven. Most other dragons were given the same lessons, but the ones in mom's clan ignored the lessons in favor of pointless acts of strength and strength enhancement. The thing is even though it was part of the common dragon education system most of the dragons from mom's clan didn't pay attention because the were too busy doing musclebound things. I don't see why, considering that only dragoons were allowed to take part in duels.” Twilight, as before, jotted everything the dragoness said down. “Why are you recording ev... right not many official records that say how dragons actually are, and to answer that coming question a dragoon is what you call an adult male dragon. Get going home and I will give the seminar in a few days, although you might end up seeing me beforehoof.”
“Why is that?” inquired the purple mare as she was getting ready to leave.
“Two reasons,” stated Silver, “one my daughter has taken a shine to you, and two, I'm probably going to be over to the library, which I heard you are the caretaker of these days, to see if there are any easy reading books to help her with her education. I promised her I would teach her to read once we we get settled in, and I am of the camp that always keeps its promises. I gave Juicy an oath to maker feel more at ease about me keeping a promise.”
Twilight nodded and trotted out the door, “Um, who's Juicy?” came Applejack's voice from behind the dragoness.
Silver turned around to see Applejack and Apple Bloom staring at her with interest. “The daughter of Apple Chiller and Cider Press,” said Silver with a smile, “her name is Apple Juice, but Cider and I call her Juicy. She's a little over a year older than the twins. Oh and before I forget, the last time I saw her she had no cutie mark.”
Apple Bloom's face lit up before she dashed out the door, presumably to set up for telling her friends in a grand manner she has a cousin around their age with no cutie mark.
“Tha' was uh good thang you did,” said Applejack as she trotted out the door and once again tipped her brown stetson hat to the dragoness before exiting the portal.
“You simply...” started Rarity on her way out.
“Must come to the boutique so that you can try a few things,” finished Silver, “I've encountered a few ponies like you over my time, never took them up on their offers though. I'm sure you must have heard rumors over the years of a mysterious exotic beauty that has made the decision to never be a model,” Rarity slowly, yet primly, nodded her head, “chances are I might have been the originator of such rumors with my constant refusals. Now, I will see you another day.”
The white mare trotted out the door after calling for Sweetie Belle.
“So,” said Rainbow Dash on her way out with Scootaloo in Tow, “can you do any other awesome stuff?”
“You'll just have to attend that seminar in four days to find out,” said Silver with a teasing voice, “besides a form shifting dragon should be enough for you right now.”
“I guess,” said Rainbow, “come on squirt, it's time I got you back to your parents.”
A groan and whining followed by a string reasons to stay spilled from Schootaloo's mouth as she followed Rainbow out. Silver just shook her head. The rest filed out without a word until only a certain yellow pegasus remained.
“Fluttershy, was it?” said Silver, “what is it I can help you?”
“Wh-wh-what...”
“was it I supplemented my diet in place of meat,” finished Silver, she quickly walked into the kitchen and came back with soybean a little bigger than the mare's head, “these,” she said, “I'll be growing a small garden to these, I should be able to take a few to market in a few months. You can have this one, I'll also show you how to make tofu at another date if you want,” she smiled as the mare trotted out the door with the bean. “Alright you two,” she said to the twins, “time for bed, this is the most excitement you've had in your lives, and I have a feeling it's just going to get better.” Without complaint the the twins ran up the stairs, “As for you mister,” she said as she turned to her husband, “you are still in trouble, and that means...”
“I'm sleeping outside tonight, and if I try circumvent my punishment the act will continue until the whole town catches on and doesn't let me spend the night with them.”
“Good boy,” said Silver, “now, you...door.”
“Yes dear,” said the pegasus stallion with resignation.
“Oh and before I forget,” said Silver just before he reached the door, “clouds are off limits until sunrise.” Lightning gave out a sound that that was somewhere between a groan and sigh as he exited the house and closed the door and quietly behind himself. Silver quickly opened the door and just said, “keys,” Lightning passed her his keys, “and the other sets,” he gave her the rest with a resigned sigh, holding all the keys in her claws and silently counting them all Silver had her tail slide out to be in front of the stallion as the sun was setting behind him, he passed two more sets of keys to the dragoness who just gave prim nod before pulling her whole body into the house and the sound of doors locking could be heard. Before long the sound of Silver heading to the master bedroom.
****************************************
Silver awoke to the sound of the door being knocked on, the sunrise still in its infancy. She figured it was her husband banging on her door, she was quite surprised to see a very irritated looking white rabbit sitting on Fluttershy's head. “Um, Fluttershy why are you here at sunrise?”
“Oh, um I cut that large been you gave me into pieces” she said in her usual soft voice, “and shared it with with Angel and some of my animal friends, they really liked it. Angel was very insistent that we get another.”
Silver gave a sigh before saying, “Come on in, I might as well make breakfast since I'm up so early, feel free to join us.”
“Oh, um, thank you,” said Fluttershy, “I saw Lightning Twist in the tree behind your house, he didn't look very comfortable, why wasn't he in here with you?”
“He needed to be punished for saying something like that too soon,” said Silver, who quickly realized that the yellow mare probably hadn't heard the conversation that prompted the stallion to sleep outside.
“Oh, um, I hope you weren't being too harsh.”
“As long as nopony else let him stay the night it was only for one night,” said Silver as she made her way into the kitchen. Once the two were in the kitchen Silver opened the fridge door and pulled out a small red clay pitcher and poured the contents into a pair of glasses she got by opening a cupboard with her tail. “This should keep him satiated until breakfast is cooked, you should try it as well.”
“What is it?” asked the yellow mare with interested as the white rabbit sniffed the glass.
“Soy milk,” said Silver, “I raised the twins on it when the came time to wean them,” she pulled out a platter with large block of what appeared to be some kind of white gelatin from the fridge, after setting it on the counter next to sink she went through motions of washing her claws, carefully with one of her claws she cut off a small chunky piece before placing the chunk on the counter and placed the block back in the fridge. The dragoness then began washing her 'hands' before going to turn on the stove and getting a high walled frying pan out and placing it on the activated surface of the stove before getting back to the slice of gelatin. After a few minutes of seeming to message the gelatin what looked like two pairs of white thin strips and a collection of a mass of thin noodles were in front of the dragoness who then got out set of spices from another cupboard and with a practiced claw moved different mixtures of the spices over each group of items before messaging them into the pieces of white food without distorting their form. She then threw the strips in the pan before opening a drawer next to the stove and pulling out a set of tongs and after a minute or two used the tongs to flip the strips and opened another cupboard with her tail and pulled out a set of five large plates and two small plates and set them down on the counter by the stove before using the tongs to remove the strips from the pan and place them in even divisions on two of the larger plates before bringing noodles into the pan.
After a few minutes of tending the noodles they were broken into portions on all the plates. A small plate loaded with noodles was before Angel, a larger plate with noodles was in front of Fluttershy. Fluttershy saw the plates with the strips were placed closest to the stairs and the other plates were to the right of those, making sort of circle around the round table in the kitchen. The sound of foals bounding down the stairs was heard while Angel sniffed the white noodles dotted with spice specks.
“Oh boy,” said Steel Wing, “bacon,” immediately snatching up one of the strips and almost inhaling it.
Forest Snowfall shot her twin an annoyed look before saying, “mommy, may I please have some silverware for my meal.”
“I was just getting to that, Snowfall,” said Silver as she opened a drawer and the sound metal clinking was heard as her tail grabbed at a bunch of the utensils. With a practiced motion Silver's tail dropped a fork on the right side of the plate and knife on the left side of the plate, for each and every plate (there was even a small set of the silverware for Angel). Snowfall thanked her mother and started using her silverware to gracefully eat her food, with her tail holding the fork, while her brother just seemed to ignore the utensils and ate more like a mad goat.
Silver set some glasses in front of the plates that didn't have any yet and poured some orange juice from a gray clay pitcher into the glasses in front of the twins before returning it to the fridge and pulled out a brown clay pitcher and poured a blue liquid into the glasses that were still empty before seating herself in front of one of the plates that had yet to have an owner. Just as Silver was starting on her third forkful of noodles, Fluttershy her first (with Angel following Steel Wing's example), the door flew open and a very exhausted Lightning Twist dragged himself in before almost collapsing in front of the remaining plate, him muttering something about being forced into an early morning exercise routine with a cyan terror.
Silver giggled around her drink as she carefully sipped it, her daughter following her mother's example while Steel just chugged his drink like he was rushing off somewhere.
“Um,” said Fluttershy as she brought the drink to her lips, “aren't you going to get him to work on his manners?” she took a sip of the white liquid and gave startled look before taking a deeper sip, Angel just chugged it once he saw it wasn't an immediate threat to the yellow mare (then made a motion that he wanted more).
Silver gave a light chuckle before bringing out the pitcher for the soy milk out and pouring a new glass for the rabbit before setting it in front of Fluttershy and saying, “I'll teach you how to make the soy milk too, although it might take a few months what with me having to grow a whole new stock and the actual process of instructing you how to make tofu and soy milk.”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy, “okay then, but you really don't have to if you don't want to.”
“That's just it,” said Silver, a loud belch came from Steel wing causing the mare, filly and dragoness to shoot him a disapproving glance, “I want to. Steel, for being so disrespectful in the presence of company you are grounded both figuratively and literally. Snowfall, get the wing chains and cloud lock when you're done with breakfast.”
“Wing Chains?” said Fluttershy with quite a bit of fear.
“They're just cloud chains,” said Silver, “and it's only for the day, we've tried stern lectures to no avail. This is just his punishment for ignoring one of the house rules, when the twins do something that Lightning or I disapprove of we take away something they prize for a day. Snowfall hasn't done anything bad in months, as a reward for being such a good filly I'm going to allow her to spend the day anywhere in town she wants with anypony she wants.”
“No fair,” retorted Steel Wing.
“Well then you should have more incentive to behave when we have company around, what if it were Rainbow Dash at joining us? Would you want to be rude in front of her?”
“No mom,” said Steel Wing, “I'll be good. Also, miss Fluttershy's stare is scary.”
Silver looked over at the demure yellow pegasus before saying, “I find you to be one of the least intimidating entities I have ever encountered, so please don't take offense when I ask, why did my son just say that something about you scares him?”
“Oh that,” said Fluttershy, “that's 'The Stare', it's a little trick I developed a while back to help keep difficult animals, and in some cases ponies, in line. I know that it's going to be blown out of proportion when the foals share the story, and I don't like to brag, but I used it to beat a cockatrice in a staring contest once, when it was all over I had the cockatrice removed it's stone affect from everything I was aware it had turned to stone.”
The foals and stallion in the room just stared at her in awe, Silver responded with, “I've faced down a Phobarian Hound on three prior occasions, all before I had the twins. I also have deliberately not shared the story of my encounters with it because of what I'm afraid they might to try and do, that and I don't want to give them nightmares.”
“But, you just said you faced something that sounds really cool and don't want to tell us,” said Steel Wing. “Not cool.”
“You want to try for two days of grounding?” Responded Silver with a smile.
“No ma'am,” said Steel Wing. The sound of dishes entering the sink gently before the sound of little hooves leaving the room followed that, looking over to where his sister had been Steel noticed she was no longer there, he gave a resigned sigh and trotted over to the stairs after looking back at the table and noticing his plate of hastily devoured food was missing.
“She's very polite,” said Fluttershy, “and didn't even bother us with anything, “so, um, what's a Phobarian Hound? I've never heard of them.”
“A sort of magical canine,” said Silver, “they have abilities that revolve around putting fear into other creatures, I still have no idea why they would have such abilities. Their howl makes you feel every fear you've ever had all at once,” Fluttershy eeped , and Angel gave the dragoness a skeptical look to the dragoness, “their bite makes you see your worst fear everywhere, and they have a third ability I won't tell you just yet. They have an appearance that looks like something out of a nightmare and they're one of the only creatures I'm aware of that fully matured dragons will actively avoid. Anyway, it seems we've both done some amazing things in our time. I trust Angel liked his tofu noodles and soy milk.”
Turning to the mare and rabbit she was treated to the sight of Angel Chugging the pitcher, “I guess so, I should say that some have found the bitter taste that's sometimes in soy milk so unappealing that they actively choose to no longer consume it.”
“I did notice a slight bitter aftertaste,” said Fluttershy, “but it was still pretty good. You should share it with everypony, I think they might like it.”
“Fluttershy,” said Silver, “as far as I know I am currently the only one who knows how to make soy milk in Equestria proper, I would have establish a course for every chef, cook and homemaker interested in learning the process. How many of those do you think would probably disregard what I tell them are key steps in the process and try to make the same thing by omitting those steps?”
“I suppose it depends on how self-assured of their skills that pony is,” said the pegasus mare.
“Exactly, which means for those overconfident ponies I'm going to need a task that highlights their skill levels, which I have by the way.”
“Really?” said Fluttershy, “what is it?”
“You just ate it,” Silver stated with a chuckle, “depending on how it's prepared and cooked tofu can emulate any food you want, the tofu bacon the foals had almost the exact taste and texture of the real thing. By giving them a meat analog I can help sate their carnivorous cravings until they either learn to manage their urges for meat like I have or find another way to satiate their cravings for meat.”
“Oh, um, how do you know what bacon is like? What is it?”
“I was forced to eat meat until I turned eleven,” said Silver, “sometimes wild pigs were brought in and their belly meat was used to make bacon. I know that sounds cruel, but you have to remember I grew up with carnivores until I was twenty.”
“What happened when you turned twenty?” asked Fluttershy, just as Snowfall was trotting back into the room with a cloud key in her mouth.
“Thanks Snowfall,” said Silver as she took the key from her daughter with her tail, “Lightning you already know this story so you better head to work,” the stallion groaned and left the table, he had been so sure the two females had forgotten he was still at the table, Snowfall you may not like hearing this, I don't think you're old enough for this, how about you go find some books that you think you'll want to read in the future and bring them to the door so we can go to the library, Snowfall dashed out of the room, once Silver heard the filly at the top of the steps she said, “my mother's clan exiled me, my mother couldn't go against the clan's decisions without being seriously hurt, I haven't seen mom in centuries.”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy, “can't you just go for a little visit? I'm sure she'd like to see you, and hear about her grandchildren.”
“It's not not that easy,” said Silver, “when a dragon is exiled they aren't allowed back into the the territory of the clan that exiled them or any clans that clan is on friendly terms with,” she let out a deep sigh, “there is nothing I want more than to see my mother and have a long talk with her that could last days on end, but the truth is if she has passed on by now I will have more of a reason to avoid the Infernal Sky clan's territory.”
“Why is that?”
“Mommy I found them them all,” came Snowfall's voice.
“What they do to their dead should never be heard by foals, or wyrmlings,” said Silver flatly as she raised herself from the table, “you should get going Fluttershy, I'll tell Twilight about some things she will want to not have Spike hear, also keep all the foals that were here for our welcome party out of earshot.”
“How long will Spike remain a baby dragon?” inquired the yellow mare as she followed the dragoness out of the kitchen.
“That depends on the kind of dragon he is,” said Silver, “you'll have to attend the seminar in three days for more details.”
“Okay,” said Fluttershy, “I'll tell the rest of the girls about the things we've discussed.”
“Thanks,” said Silver, she then turned her attention to the door to outside, “Snowfall! I meant some of the books you want to learn to read at a later date, not all of them,” the kirin filly gave a sheepish grin from her now impromptu high walled nest of books, “okay, put most of the books back and leave the four you like the most. I can wait to see Golden Oaks, can you?”
Forest Snowfall started making a mad dash around the house returning all the books she had taken to the rooms she had removed them from, Silver quietly chuckled to herself as she watched her daughter in a mad dash to clear the entryway. Once a small pile of four books was in front of the door Silver opened the door and gave a very loud warning a minute before the her daughter colliding with door was heard, which was promptly followed by the sound of Steel Wing laughing like a hyena, Silver immediately responded with his sentence of grounding being doubled which was followed by Steel yelling a loud, “Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
“And that is why you keep telling me to not run in the house,” said Snowfall as she rubbed her muzzle with her tail, “why didn't you remind me?”
“Because experience can teach you much better than anypony or thing ever could,” said Silver, “and you have to remember mommy has different thoughts on how to teach ponies, mostly because she's older than most of the other parents,” replied Silver, “now grab your books, we are off to the library.” With that the two were out the door with it closing closing close behind them and Fluttershy (with Angel on her back) with the aid of Silver's tail. Fluttershy gave the two polite goodbye and headed back to her home.
On the way to the library they ran into a sea foam green unicorn with mint green mane, with a white stripe in it, and lyre for a cutie mark.
“Hello,” said Silver, “I'm Silver Fall,” she gestured to Snowfall with a claw, “and this is my daughter Forest Snowfall, we just moved in yesterday, I take it from your lack of a fear induced reaction you've been told about us and have made the appropriate actions to tone down your... miss, why are you looking at our tails.”
“How are they doing that?” the unicorn asked in an excited voice.
“They're articulating tails,” said Silver, “they let us manipulate things with a level of fine detail, but compared to the tail of another dragon they aren't all that strong.”
The unicorn gave deep gasp before running off, “Mom,” said Snowfall, “she is an odd pony, and she didn't tell us her name either.”
“That happens sometimes, honey,” said Silver as they continued towards the library, “she'll see us some time later and apologize while giving her name, or somepony else will do it for her, either way you need remember to not assume somepony is rude or mean after a first encounter.”
“Alright mommy,” said Snowfall.
As they continued towards the library Silver noticed a smiling lavender unicorn mare in the door to the library.
“I'm surprised to see a foal up so early,” said Twilight, “and she doesn't even have school yet.”
“I'll be enrolling the twins in the next school year,” said Silver, “they're only five right now, and they need to learn some basic skills before their first official classes. Could you find some beginner's reading and grammar books for us?”
“Sure thing,” said Twilight, “it might take longer than usual since Spike isn't quite up yet. By the way, do you really know some members of the Apple family personally?” she shut the door with her magic. Snowfall was about to ask excitedly about how long it would be before she learned to do that when Silver quickly stopped her daughter with a claw and motioned for her to come closer, after whispering something to Snowfall the filly nodded and they continued into the more open area of the library.
“So,” said Snowfall, “when do I get to read my favorite book?”
“When you've finished the books on the basics of reading,” replied the mare and dragoness in perfect sync, after looking at each other they shared a giggle.
“Snowfall, sweety,” said Silver, “your favorite books are going to have some difficult words, you'll need to know the basics of Equestria's grammatical structure before you can read them. The reason I said you could bring your favorites was to be a reminder of why you're doing this and act as an incentive to see it through. I'll mostly be the one teaching you, Twilight is a very busy mare and might not have enough time to help you with learning the nuances of written works. However once you've learned the rules for grammar and basics of reading you can start writing and that's when your creative side will really start showing through.”
“You'll even able to do my favorite system,” said Twilight, “the checklist, it helps you keep track of everything you want to keep track of. But if you can't read it then the whole act of making the checklist is meaningless.”
“But, favorite books,” mewled Snowfall.
“You won't be able to learn everything from just pictures in books,” said Silver, “and some books have no pictures other than one on the cover, in many cases the covers have no pictures.”
“Okay, I'll read the beginner's books,” said Snowfall with resignation.
“It's also a good way to learn new words,” said Silver, “there's a big set of books called dictionaries, and those tell you the meaning of words and in some cases how to pronounce them, but you still need to get through the beginner's reading books to understand what's in the dictionary you're reading.”
Snowfall's eyes lit up and in her excitement she accidentally froze the floor under Twilight's hind legs as the mare was trotting away from them, causing said pony to slip.
“Sorry,” said Snowfall, “sometimes when I get excited I can't control my dragon's breath.”
“Ice?” said Twilight, “How? This is...”
“All will be explained at the seminar in three days,” said Silver, “which reminds me, I'm going to need to borrow some chalkboards to help provide visual aids.” Twilight nodded and floated up a long list before writing something down and exasperating how she was going to have to rewrite all of her checklists now.
Twilight brought over a small set of stack of beginner's reading and grammar books, in neat little stacks. Silver picked up a book with her tail after they were set gently on the table next to the dragoness and kirin filly. The book was entitled Grammatical Rules for Beginners, “Perfect,” said Silver as she cracked open the book, “I'll read the words and move my claw along for you to follow, once we've made it through the book I'll go through the motion of pointing with my claw without reading and let you practice each of the words and sentences.”
“Okay mommy,” said Snowfall with a bit more joy than before. Twilight just smiled at the sight before her, with a look of interest.
“The foundations of grammar are as follows...” began the dragoness as she read through slowly the book and slowly pointed to each word as she came to it.
****************************
Four hours later Snowfall was giggling with a ring of twelve beginner's reading books around her.
“That is the fifth time she's read through them,” said Twilight as she and Spike were going through and rewriting her checklists for the week.
“Um, Silver,” said Spike with a little apprehension, “when can I expect to be more matured?”
“That's dependent on which Earth Tribe you belong to Spike,” said Silver, “to my knowledge there are five-hundred and seventy different Earth Tribes, I'll only go over the four to six most populace for the sake of time, although if you want I can write a series of books on the different dragon tribes, but if I did that you would have to wait an excess of nine months just for proofreading. I have a lot of information on dragons up in my noggin, and that's not even even my most detailed aspect.”
“Wait, there are more than five-hundred Earth dragon tribes?” came Twilight's voice in surprise.
“There are nearly twice as many fire tribes, Twilight, fire dragons are among the most populace dragons you will find, not to mention the seventy-thousand Water variations I'm aware, Four-hundred Wind variations, and that's not including the lesser known tribes like Light, Shadow, and... you know what I'm going to stop now before this act of eating my own hind leg goes further. If you want to get to know a fraction of my knowledge then just attend the seminar in three days.”
“But, books,” mewled Twilight.
“You sound just like my daughter did four hours ago,” teased Silver, “but yes I'll see about writing up a series of books regarding each of the tribes of dragon if it makes you feel better, but still it'll be a few months before the rough drafts are ready to be proofread. Well, that and I'm not sure how anypony could possibly catch some of my mistakes, maybe Princess Celestia would be able to if she had the free time.”
“What about Princess Luna?” said Twilight.
“All I have to go regarding her are a bunch of old dragon legends,” said Silver, “granted the same was true regarding Celestia until I started regularly interacting with ponies, but as it stands all that I have to go off of regarding Princess Luna in terms of ponies are the old stories of Nightmare Moon and the tale of the battle of 'Divine Equines' in a dragon legend.”
Twilight's eyes practically lit up before she said, “Dragon legend! Where can I find those?”
“Oral tradition among dragons,” said Silver Fall, “those sorts of tales aren't written to my knowledge, sorry Twilight. Besides by Pony standards of time it would be more allegorical story than than any sort of second claw history.”
“Oh,” said Twilight with disappointment.
“Um,” said Spike, “should we be worried that Snowfall has been spending hours with those learning books?”
“Better than the past four revolving around us chasing her around the library telling her to read just one of them,” said Silver, “besides, it's just for today. I told her this is her reward for being such a good filly the past few months.”
The purple mare and young dragon looked at the dragoness with surprise for a few minutes before Twilight said, “She wanted to come here?”
“For the whole day,” said Silver, “I'll be leaving her in your care, I need to check in on my son, actually I should have done that two hours ago.”
“You're awfully calm about all this,” said Spike, “shouldn't a mother be a bit more, I don't know, ecstatically loopy about something like that?”
“Spike,” said Silver, “I have a few centuries under me, it's to be expected my approach to things is... a little different. You see I've figured out a while ago regardless of what you do young foals will just do their own thing, so instead of trying to manage their actions you just have to find ways to mitigate the results to something more favorable. Children need opportunities to make their own mistakes, that and I've kept my ear on him this entire time. He's been debating with himself how to get out of his punishment without waiting for it to end, every one of them has been shot down the moment he realized that if I ever found out his sentence would be far worse than it is now.”
“Your house is two blocks down from here,” said Twilight, “nopony's ears are that good.”
“You are forgetting I'm a dragon with a few hundred years of practice at such things,” said Silver, “I could probably give Midnight and Squeaks some lessons on focusing their hearing, at most Midnight could probably only hear about five blocks and Squeaks would probably be able to hear about three or four. I can easily hear somepony on the other side of town and then some if I put enough focus into it. You see, Twilight, dragons have really good hearing.”
“What about me?” said Spike, “I'm older than any of the foals in this town.”
“One you're still considered newly hatched by dragon standards,” said Silver, “and two I was planning on giving you a few practice courses after the seminar on dragons in a few days. By this time next year you might be able to make out a pony in distress half away across town by just the sounds of movement,” said Silver, “but if you don't want the lessons I'll understand, not a whole lot of wyrmlings like to learn about focusing their senses.”
“No, I really want to learn how to do that,” cried Spike, “can it work the other way too?”
“Dulling certain senses,” said Silver, “is possible, but not recommended, and I will not even entertain the thought of teaching you how to do that. It is impossible to cut out a sense entirely. Take it from a dragon that was mostly emotionally dead most her life when she says going your life without something potentially crucial to you is not fun.”
“What do you mean?” said Twililight.
Silver gave a long sigh before saying, “I could only fully experience 5 emotions before I met my husband. Those five were Compassion, Generosity, Concern, Loneliness and Sadness. Do you know what it's like to live your life unable to recognize love? Never be curious? Go entirely without fear? Not have any days of happiness? Of course you don't, Twilight I'm telling you now you should treasure your emotions as much as you treasure your friends.”
“You really didn't know what it meant to be happy?” laughed Twilight, “you playfully tease, and show enjoyment in things, you show us the full breadth of your emotions.”
“Now that is true, but when I was your age such things were nothing more than thought exercises for me. My complete lack of curiosity made such acts a bit of a moot point though and nothing more than something to pass the time and keep loneliness at bay.”
“That is so sad,” said Pinkie, seeming to pop up out of nowhere, “you really couldn't feel any emotions, you were really cold before you had your foals?”
“If you had been here earlier,” said Silver with amusement, “you would have heard I was capable of expressing only five emotions, and that the rest of my emotions were freed when I met my husband. I'll be going now. Twilight, when it gets to four bring Snowfall home if you would, she insisted that she spend her day here and that her time with you when you are able.”
The lavender mare looked over at the kirin filly before saying, “Can I do some research on her?”
“Maybe in a few months, when we're all settled in,” said Silver as she opened the door, “and only if she wants to,” with that she closed the door behind her and made her way back to her house.
The moment she got to the door she noticed a certain pink pony was still with her, just looking at Pinkie for a few seconds expecting the pony to say something, when that didn't happen she just shrugged and opened the door. The moment the door was open Pinkie said, “So, what was your first encounter with Lyra like?”
“Was that the unicorn I encountered on the way to the library?” mused the dragoness, “a little odd, she ran off after I told her what an articulate tail is.”
“Oh,” said Pinkie, “I don't know her all that well, two of the ponies that best know her are Berry and Midnight, you'd have to ask one of them what she's like. So, where's your colt?”
“Grounded,” said Silver as she entered the house after unlocking the door, he was very disrespectful to the guests I had this morning and laughed a little too loud at his sister's lack of stopping before hitting a door.”
Pinkie giggled as she entered house, “Have anything to snack on, I'm getting rumbly in my tumbly.”
Silver rolled her eyes at mare's word play, “All we have is soy products at the moment, all made by me by the way. It's something dad taught me when I was really young.”
“Whatcha make?” asked Pinkie.
“Soy milk and tofu,” said Silver, “the milk might be a bit bitter, although Angel seemed to enjoy it.”
“Oh, Fluttershy came to visit you this morning! What for?”
“I gave her a soybean yesterday,” said Silver, “apparently Angel liked it so much that he 'insisted' that Fluttershy come to get more. Now tofu is different, you can eat it as is or prepare it anyway you want. You see, depending on how you prepare it tofu can be any food you want, it just depends on how your prepare it. But that's only if your a good cook or chef, if your skills are lacking then all you have is a mass of tofu with whatever seasonings you decided to use with it. And since it can keep for months on end as long as it's kept cool you don't have to do much when you get hungry.”
Pinkie's eyes went big before she cried out, “You have the best emergency party prep food in your fridge and I'm just now finding out about it, show it to me now.” At the last word she was so close to the dragon's face it started to make her feel uncomfortable, and she immediately went into the persona of a caretaker watching over a young foal.
Her mother matron voice caught the pink mare completely off guard, “Pinkie Pie you are being a very overactive foal, what do overly active foals get?”
Pinkie just sat like a school-filly that just got caught passing a note during the teacher's lecture before raising her hoof and saying, “Um, nap time?”
Silver's eyes narrowed before saying, “Cleaning duty before snack time, and no naps for the day. Before you begin to complain just remember that every sound or act I see as a complaint will earn you another five minutes of cleaning duty, your current time on cleaning duty is ten minutes and starts, now. And no running.”
************************************
Ten minutes later Silver was in the kitchen with a small glass of soy milk and small plate of unaltered tofu which she slid to Pinkie when the mare crawled into the room looking exhausted, the dragoness gave a chuckle before saying, “Sorry about that, I was the go to foal-sitter for Mustang for a little over a century. When you got in my face like that I felt a need to go mother matron on you.”
Pinkie chugged some of the soy milk before saying, “It's okay, I liked feeling like a school-filly again,” she then turned her attention to the white gelatin in front of her and said, “So, this is tofu. Alright tofu, I'm going to teach you what it means to party and meet new ponies, right after I give you a taste,” with that the pink mare scarfed down the white gelatinous cube, “a little slimy, are you sure you can turn it into any food?”
“If you don't believe me,” said Silver, “how about a test, any food that you can think of I'll make only using the tofu in the fridge.”
“Then make me some strawberry-chocolate cupcakes,” said Pinkie licking her lips.
“I thought you would ask for something hard,” chuckled Silver as she headed to the fridge and opened up the cupboards and pulled out a variety of spices (some of which were unfamiliar to Pinkie). Pinkie watched as Silver cut out some small slices from a large block and started kneading some of the ingredients into the blocks until they were small smooshed piles with the color of the requested confections. Next she saw Silver shape them into the form of cupcakes and lightly breath a burst of crimson fire over them, the scent of genuine fresh baked strawberry-chocolate cupcakes filled the room, Silver blew a light cold burst of air over one before passing it to Pinkie with her tail.
Pinkie took a bite and found the flavor and texture were so close to the real thing she probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if she didn't spend so much time baking in the kitchen at Surgarcube Corner. “This is amazing,” said Pinkie as she downed the rest of the confection, “I almost couldn't tell the difference,” she then grabbed the other four and downed them as well.
“And it's healthier for you too,” said Silver with a chuckle, “think about it, you could make healthy snacks for foals that are almost indistinguishable from the genuine article.”
Pinkie's eyes lit up before she said, “You need to give me the rest of this stuff and tell me the secret to making such yummy foods with just it.”
Silver chuckled a bit before saying, “Sorry Pinkie, I won't be able to supply you with the core ingredient for tofu for a few months, I have to grow the soybeans and that takes quite a bit of time, even with magic. The tofu in the house will run out by the end of the month. I think there might still be some in my garden that I grew the soybeans in is in Mustang. And if Rainbow pushed her limit she could probably make the run in a little over an hour, but she would be really exhausted. So, you'll just have to wait a few months.”
“Oh, phooey,” said Pinkie, “I was hoping it would be just a matter of weeks at most.”
“Look at it this way, the longer wait means the more special everything will be after you figure out how to make it. From what I hear you are very competent baker, so you figuring out how to use tofu to make existing dishes, and new ones, shouldn't be too hard. I managed to make such high quality food because I have the benefit of a few centuries worth of experience. I deliberately make the food the twins eat like something is trying to imitate the food so they will go and try it for themselves, but as it stands they have no intention of turning down what I've made them. Oh and since you asked yesterday, and I never got around to telling you, my daughter is named Forest Snowfall and son is named Steel Wing.” With that she headed up the stairs to check on Steel Wing.
What greeted Silver Fall when she opened door to the room the twins shared was what looked like a perfectly cleaned room, everything looked as if it was tucked away where it was intended to be and the beds were done up neatly without a crease to be found. “I... I wanted to do something nice for my sister,” said Steel Wing, “she's been such a good foal that I can understand why she's your favorite child, maybe...”
“Steel,” said Silver cutting her son off, “I don't love one of you over the other, I give praise to actions that I find beneficial to your futures. I was praising you every flap of the way way when you figured out how to fly, your sister felt neglected because she was having trouble lifting her wings. Snowfall has wings that could easily intimidate other ponies when she flares them, they're almost twice the size of a pegasus her size and she can fly now, but she still feels envious of your natural flight aptitude. Your sister is somepony that prefers to know things and using that knowledge to help her, you're more of the mind that believes actions are what need to be done. That might help you in the future, but your aversion to reading and writing will hurt your advancement when we put you in school next year. Try to be a little like your sister and just maybe she'll try to be a little more like you. You're both twins, you share a kind of connection that's akin to magic while being its own amazing power. Every good parent has a special magic, even if they can't do magic. Do you know what it is?”
“No,” said Steel Wing, “what is it?”
“A boundless love that is like an armor for their most precious treasures, their foals, when they can't be there to keep them safe in body. It's just as vibrant and strong for your sister as it is for you because your father and I love so very much and never stop doing so, we do everything in our power to show our love, even if you don't think so sometimes. The force of a family with genuine love can overcome even the most terrifying forces you can think of.”
“D'aw, that is so sweet,” came Pinkie's voice.
The two turned to see Pinkie with happy tears in her eyes. “Um, it's the pony that threw our welcome party,” said Steel, “why is she here?”
“Pinkie followed me from the library,” said Silver, “Pinkie, why were you at the library.”
“Coming to visit a friend,” said the pink mare with a chipper voice.
“You are good friends with Twilight, I can see why you would want to visit her,” said Silver as she inspected her son's wings and legs.
“Nope,” said Pinkie, “I came to see you, Silver.”
“Pinkie, we just met yesterday,” said Silver, “that's hardly enough time to become friends. Becoming friends takes time and work, it took me weeks to form most of my friendships, and at most I knew you for about an hour before today.”
“Most?” came the pink mare and colt in perfect sync.
“I somehow formed my friendship with Night Spell in a matter minutes, I'm still unsure how it happened.”
“What's she like?” inquired Pinkie, “where's she live? What's she do?”
“A fun loving black unicorn mare,” said Silver, “very studious, takes everything seriously when she dedicates to it. Her cutie mark is a staff and spear crossing each other with a bright blue tome acting as their backdrop. Last I checked she lived in Canterlot. Last I checked she was in the Royal Guard, and a sargent.”
“Now for the most important question,” said Pinkie with a serious face, “what's her opinion of parties.”
“She doesn't hate them,” said Silver, “she usually finds them as an inconvenience when she has no clue what they're for.”
Pinkie nodded and bounced out of the room. After Pinkie had been gone a full minute Steel Wing said, “Mom, she's a little odd.”
“But her energy can be a little infectious,” responded Silver, “you did a pretty good job cleaning this room,” said Silver, she then looked over at the closet, “so good in fact I want to see how thorough you were.”
Steel started sweating bullets as his mother approached the closet door before saying, “Um, Snowfall doesn't really use the the closet, it's all me, no need to check it.”
Silver gave a knowing chuckle before saying, “I knew this is where you stashed everything from the get go, this isn't the first time I've come to such a sight as this,” the dragoness stepped to the side and opened the door so it acted as a shield for her as a flood of foal's toys and various other items poured out easily missing the dragoness, “since you were so dedicated to the illusion of a cleaning the room you can do it for real and your grounding will be dropped back to a day, and if you're really good I might consider lifting it before the day is out. Just remember to not rush it, that's a good way to make mistakes.”
Steel Wing just eagerly nodded as Silver made her way down the stairs after closing the door behind her gently. What greeted her at the bottom of the stairs was the sight of a white mare with with well quaffed purple mane and tail. “Let me guess,” said Silver, “you want me to visit your shop so you can feel the inspiration closer to home.”
“Um, yes,” said Rarity in surprise.
“One moment,” said Silver before she headed to the master bedroom, the dragoness returned with a large white box which she passed to the white mare.
Rarity took the box in her magic before saying, “What is it? I hope it's something truly magnificent.”
“It's my wedding dress and the chain for my personal jewel,” said Silver with a chuckle, then realized what she just said and made a worried face.
“Personal jewel?” said Rarity, still floating the box in her magic.
Silver gave a long drawn out sigh before saying, “Dragons from dad's side of the family had a property where they kept a specific gem close to them at all times. I like to refer to it as a Dragon Gem, dad called it a Dragon Stone. They're part of the dragon, and I don't mean in a figurative way. A piece of the dragon's essence is embedded in the gem, it has properties that you don't see in an ordinary gem. A dragon giving their gem to anyone else is a big deal because it means they have absolute trust that individual won't use it in a way the dragon does not agree with.”
“That's all fine dear,” said Rarity, “but why did you look worried when you started mentioning this?”
“Because the magical connection between the dragon and their gem can be used to influence the dragon if you know how or put enough power into it, I haven't even trusted Lightning with my gem once over our entire time together. I love the stallion, but sometimes his worrying over the family can mean he could use it to make me put everypony I care about in danger while I'm trying to keep them safe. Not to mention my gem is quite a rare sight, like me.”
“I will admit you are rather unique to look at, but rare could be pushing it. I admit I don't know much about dragon mixes, but they can't be that rare.”
“Rarity, I was born with the power to breath ice,” said Silver, “from what my parents told me there haven't been that many dragons in all the world with that kind of ability, I may very well be the only ice breathing dragon in all Equestria, and the surrounding areas, I'm a precious jewel among dragons. Do you know what my mom's clan said about me?”
“Well no dear, but it couldn't be that bad, right?”
“They said I was failure of a dragon, granted they said it to my face when I couldn't feel the range of emotions they wanted from me. But now that my emotions are free and remembering those moments hurts more than it probably should. I've come to accept myself for what I am, and have no intentions on changing that for any pony or thing. There are still a few things I'm trying come to accept, but everypony has those events in their life they are still trying to full come to terms with.”
“Yes that's all nice dear, but you still haven't said what kind of gem has a piece of your spirit in it.”
“It's a pearl,” said Silver with resignation, “in particular a rainbow pearl, those kinds of pearls are so rare that you could live over a thousand years and the closest you'd get would be is unconfirmed rumors about where one might be. I didn't find it like most dragons would, it literally grew inside me. I don't know how or why, but it did.”
The dragoness gave a deep sigh before saying,“I know about your ability and how you'll probably use it to find my pearl because you want to surprise me with something incredible that uses it as part of the design. So I'm going to ask you refrain from such thoughts or actions.”
“Why dear?”
“Shortly after I moved into my cave near Mustang and discovered my gem I encountered some overzealous diamond dogs,” Rarity gave a prim nod remembering her experience with the creatures, “one tried to take chip of my pearl after finding it so that they could better inspect the authenticity of the gem. Every strike of the chisel on the pearl caused me physical pain, in particular it felt like someone was trying to chisel my heart.”
Rarity stared at the dragoness for a moment before saying, “Can I at least see it? maybe I could try making a duplicate for you to keep ruffians from doing anything unscrupulous to it.”
“I suppose,” said Silver in a wary voice, “I'm just tired of hiding all these things, that's why I offered to share as much as I have.” The dragoness lead the white mare into the living room area and carefully removed a panel that was blended seamlessly into the wall.
What greeted Rarity's eyes was the largest pearl she had ever seen, in every color of the rainbow with a sheen that was all natural and gave off a serene glow she had only ever seen from the Princesses during her encounters with them. “You, keep something so beautiful hidden away from everypony, you should being going around with it on display.”
“I'm a dragon,” said Silver, “and I've had some pretty bad experiences regarding things this precious. That jewel holds the key to my life, if it were to be broken so would my body, if it were to shatter my life would end. Rarity that pearl is as much me as the dragoness telling you all this, and as much I want to be able to trust you with it I'm afraid of what you might do with it or somepony might do with it because upon seeing it they say how much they want it as part of a piece you are doing for them regardless of how much you try to explain you're just holding it for me, and what if your sister decides to take it for some reason. Don't feel too bad, I've been having these kinds of thoughts about all of your friends, all of mine and Lightning's family. The fact is that giving somepony easy access to this gem is too much of a threat to me and temptation for them, I've even had this line of thought regarding Celestia and probably would be having similar thoughts regarding Luna if I ever had the honor of meeting her. I might have come to trust it with Celestia if I had grown up with her as an individual that was there for a large portion in my life. I like to think that if she met my father, Guiding Guardian, the two would have become fast friends.”
“I thank you for sharing all of that with me, darling,” said Rarity, “and I promise to do everything to keep this confidence you've placed in me. But I have to ask, why share any of it at all?”
“My generous nature,” said Silver, “the two emotions of the five that I could feel before meeting Lightning that were generally positive were Concern and Generosity. When I was old enough to take part in a certain rite my mother's clan dropped me in a pit specifically designed to induce greed, I felt greed for about three seconds before I started rushing about sharing all the treasures in that pit, I was the only dragon to do that in the entire history of that ritual.”
Rarity giggled a bit before saying, “You really should have been born a pony dear, you would have done well in Equestria. What kind do you think you would have been born.”
“Probably an earth pony or maybe a unicorn,” said Silver, “considering... you'll just have to attend my little seminar in three days to hear the rest of that.”
Rarity nodded primly as Silver returned the panel. “A few questions, dear,” said Rarity, “when did you install that panel? How long may I keep keep this outfit? I assume you want to keep it close to show the foals eventually.”
“I had trouble getting to sleep after the party last night,” said Silver introspectively, “so I decided to do something that would help calm my mind and help me sleep, I'll probably end up making a proper dragon's nest another day,” she gave a light chuckle, “so I installed the panel last night, you can keep my wedding vestments for the whole week before returning them, or if you want the entire month.”
Rarity's eyes went huge before she just uttered a long stream of gratitudes before rushing out the door with the box in tow within he magic, Silver just shook her head as she closed the door behind the mare.
“I hope the next visit is expected,” Silver said to herself as she headed for the kitchen to make the next meal. She found herself humming a song to herself as she made the meal, one that made her happy and sad at the same time. The song was one her father had sung her in the years before his passing, a song about finding the balance in your life and world around you. Silver stepped away from the counter where she was preparing the meals to capture her tears on her tail. A small shiny black pearl rested on the dragoness's tail after she pulled it away. She smiled at the small dark orb, mostly because she saw the balance of her expressed emotions in it (almost equal parts happiness and sadness). After curling her tail around the jewel she set it above the fridge on a simple stand that was intended for glass spheres that she kept as a spare for her Dragon Gem. Looking at the clock she saw it now read two-thirty, she smiled to herself before going back to her prep work.
At three-thirty-four a knock at the door pulled her from the kitchen, where she was uncharacteristically fussing over the six sets dishes for reasons unknown to her (she wanted to be sure there were some extra places in case they had another unexpected pair for the coming meal). What greeted Silver was Twilight (wearing a set of saddlebags that looked like they were loaded for an expedition) and Spike with a very happy Snowfall at the door when she opened it.
“Oh, when I said four I didn't expect you bring her back so early, especially considering the tendencies I heard Twilight has.”
“Yeah, well Rarity dropped by a half hour ago,” said Spike, “when she told us about that item Twilight got all excited, Snowfall and I made her promise to only do a set of basic analyzing spells and not take it out of your house,” he shot Twilight a look that said that she wasn't to overdo it.
“And I want to see mommy's pearl again, it's soooooooooooooo pretty,” said Snowfall.
Silver chuckled and said, “come in, all of you. I was in the midst of making dinner, I put up some extra places if you would like to join us, you know what that that means Snowfall.” The kirin filly nodded and bounced a bit, much to the amusement of the others in the room, as Silver closed the door behind them. “I put it up in a hidden section in the living room, follow me.”
After a short trot through the house they came to panel and silver removed it again. Twilight and Spike just stared at it for a few minutes before Twilight shook herself of her trance, then shook spike out of his, “Spike, the notebook and pen,” said the purple mare.
“Oh right,” said Spike before reaching into the bags on Twilight and pulling out a brown notebook and red fountain pen.
“No,” said Snowfall with a heavy note of disappointment, “you said you were going to use the gray notebook, because it most closely matched mommy's scales.”
Spike looked at the notebook in his claws with a sense of embarrassment before saying, “Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking.” He quickly put the notebook back before he made a good show of rummaging through the bag closest to him.
“Other side” said Twilight in a deadpan voice when she heard the dragon rifling through the bag.
“Oh, right,” said Spike.
“How did he forget that?” said Snowfall, “he's the one who packed that side of the bags.”
“Sometimes Spike doesn't pay full attention to what he's doing,” said Twilight in her natural voice, “it's to be expected, he is only a baby dragon.”
“Still older than the foal that pointed out I packed this side of the bags,” responded Spike, “but I know what you were getting at.” He placed the pen and gray notebook in front of Twilight who then took them in her magic, did a quick test of the ink level in the pen on the first page with a curt nod when she saw it at an acceptable level before floating the items back into Spike's claws.
“While they're doing that how about you give me a hoof in the kitchen,” said Silver to her daughter, “all we need to work on is the dessert, you can decide what it is and help me make it.”
“Ooh, rice pudding,” said Snowfall with excitement.
“Sure thing,” said Silver, “I checked the pantry, we have plenty of rice, so that won't be a problem, all the other ingredients for it are in the house too. I have a feeling they'll be joining us for dinner regardless, once we have the pudding ready for cooking I want you to get your brother.”
“Where is he?”
“Your room, I told him that if he did a good, and real, job of cleaning the room I'd cut his punishment down a bit.”
“Thanks mom, I didn't want to spend a night with a mopey Steel, that's never fun.”
Silver gave a warm maternal chuckle as they entered the kitchen.
**********************
It was ten minutes, and seven chastisements from Spike to Twilight regarding her promise, later when the the the mare and wyrmling entered the kitchen. Spike looked annoyed, while Twilight looked a little exhausted and happy. “Why was that so hard?” said Spike, “Twilight's one of the most talented spell casters in Equestria.”
“I probably should have warned you about the magic resistance that dragons have and how it grows to incredible levels when we mature,” said Silver as she passed a small bowl of cinnamon to her daughter, “now remember, Snowfall, just a really small and light sprinkle over each of the bowls,” the filly nodded and rushed off to the area of the kitchen where the nearly completed bowls of pudding were, “my resistance to magic must be shared with my pearl, it makes some sort of wacky sense. Especially considering that I actually do know five spe... oh, scales.”
Twilight put the pieces together quite quickly and said, “you can do magic? Dragons aren't supposed to be able to do magic.”
Silver gave a resigned sigh before saying, “Dragons on dad's side are capable of magic, he tried teaching me when I was little, I could only get five spells down. I haven't used four of them in centuries. I suppose you're probably wondering about my daughter now, I'll get to all I know about kirins after the seminar on dragons, which means you'll have to wait almost a week for that one, I want everpony to have a few days to digest everything on dragons I tell them before moving on to kirins.”
“Makes sense,” said Twilight, “there's something else you're hiding, I think it would be best to come clean with somepony. Since I'm the most knowledgeable on a lot of things that what you say will pertain to I suggest you let me and Spike know now.”
Silver gave another sigh before saying, “Snowfall go get your brother, but wait a few minutes to come down, mommy needs to have a complicated talk with Twilight and Spike.” Without a word the filly was out of the kitchen.
“Okay, spill,” said Spike when the sound of Snowfall half way up the steps could be heard.
“I don't just have one kind of breath,” said Silver, “ice was just the first to manifest, Snowfall has ice breath too,” the mare and young dragon stared at each other a moment before Silver continued, “my other breaths are fire, lightning, wind and mist. I got the mist from dad, it has healing properties and really has no application as a combative ability. Steel Wing can also spit lightning, he's a little more impulsive than I would like. Also from time to time I have prophetic dreams, I had one just before the twins were born and it had told me about my breath abilities. I've had a few over the years, but none in the past year or so.”
“Um wow, I think you should share all this with Princess Celestia when you meet her,” said Twilight.
“I got a message from her during the welcome party, Spike passed it to me,” said Silver, “she invited me to meet with her this coming Nightmare Night, I'm going to have to find somepony to look after the twins that night, just in case Rainbow has Lightning pulling a night weather shift.”
“It's always good to have a backup plan just in case,” said Twilight.”
The sound of little hooves running down the stair cut the rest of the conversation short. “How about we sit down and enjoy a nice meal together,” said Silver as the foals dashed into the room and sat down in front of the places they usually took at the table, “any preferences for beverages.”
“Could we try some of that soy milk stuff,” inquired Twilight, “Fluttershy told me you made it yourself and it piqued my interest.”
“Sure thing,” said Silver, just as she was getting the soy milk from the fridge Lightning came in and almost flopped in front of the plate closest to the kitchen entrance. Causing the foals to giggle as Silver set the pitcher on the table and began bringing the prepared food to the center of the table as she said, “Tonight is serve yourself night, dig in and enjoy, just remember to let everypony have some of what's been made.” With that dining and a set of light dinner conversations began.