//------------------------------//
// Dragon Ponies: Part 1 
// Story: The Sparity Family 
// by Zexoguy 
//------------------------------//

	Rarity walked from her car up to the front door of her house as the sun descended into the horizon, ready to give way to the evening. After a long and tiring day of working to create stunning new works of fashion, she was starving and ready for a little relaxation. She did a quick inspection of her person and fixed her posture before opening the door.

"I'm HOME!" she sang as she raised her hand in the air, making a grand entrance. No sooner did she enter than when she was greeted by her big strapping hunk of a dragon husband, Spike. They embraced each other and exchanged a quick kiss on the lips.

"Mommy!" cried a little voice as their youngest daughter Ruby ran up to greet her mother with a big hug. Ruby was 7 years old and despite being about 30 percent pony, bore a striking physical resemblance to her father at her age. She was primarily part dragon with scales of bright red and short, curly golden hair with eyes to match. She wore the most adorable pink bow in her hair.

"Mommy, I brushed Opal today," she declared excitedly as her mother picked her up.
"Oh, wonderful," Rarity replied.
"Yeah. You should see the job she did," Spike chimed in.
The cat in question walked by, seeming to have a few chunks of fur missing. A part of Rarity wanted to laugh while another part was a little bit repulsed. She gave Ruby a nervous smile.

"Very good, but perhaps next time, let's try to be just a little more gentle, shall we?" she said delicately.
Ruby chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess I got a little too excited."
"Oh that's alright, sweetie," Rarity said with a chuckle as she put the child down. Her attention shifted as the most heavenly scent entered her nostrils. They all followed the smell to the kitchen, where the oldest daughter Citrine waited with a slightly messy apron and a joyful smile.

Citrine was 17, the firstborn of the family, with her coat being the same yellowish color as the gemstone of her name, her mane and tail a dark red, which she kept in a ponytail, and her eyes green and reptilian like her father's. Her fingernails and toenails were actually dragon claws and her teeth were also sharp dragon teeth. Her cutie mark was a jewel-encrusted fork due to her passion for cooking a culinary arts. As far as her parents were concerned, Citrine was also the most well-behaved and the most like her mother in personality. She held her arms wide open and greeted her mother as she entered the kitchen.

"Oh, darling. Something smells delectable," Rarity commented.
"Thanks, Mom," Citrine replied. "I made chicken parmassan tonight."
"And I helped." Spike submitted, pointing a thumb to himself in pride. Rarity gazed at the delicious looking meal and noticed the tiny green flakes covering it all.
"Are those emerald flakes?" she inquired.
"Peridot, actually," replied Citrine. "It was Dad's idea." The grown dragon just shrugged.
"You'll thank me," he bragged, earning a laugh from his wife.

Since the table was already all set, Rarity instructed Spike to call the rest of the family down for dinner. 
"Kids! Dinner's ready!" He called from the top of the stares. He heard a clatter and then, instantly, one of the bedroom doors flew open and out ran a dark grey adolescent dragon with two heads on the same body, glaring and shouting at each other and running straight for the staircase. Spike tried to stop them, but he barely had time to get out of the way before they started running down the stairs. They tripped and fell onto the floor before they reached the bottom.

The two heads in question were Onyx and Obsidian (Obi for short), the second oldest of the kids at age 16. Nobody knew how it was possible for a dragon to be born with two distinct heads on one body, but they usually didn't bother asking. The real issue with these two was the fact that they were always arguing and fighting with each other. They were both equally greedy and selfish, which tended to be pretty typical among dragons anyway. Other distinguishing features of theirs were they're rounded eyes, the only part of them that was pony, as well as their two tails and lack of a cutie mark. Their dad had to step in and break up their fight.

"Alright, boys. What is it this time?" he asked with a stern annoyed tone as they stood up.
"I wanted to get down here first because I'm hungrier, but this guy got in my way," Onyx started.
"Dude, I'm starving! I haven't eaten anything since breakfast!" his brother argued.
"I haven't, but you ate like half a bag of chips today!"
"That was you, dumbass."
"Shut up!"

"HEY!" 

Both of them stopped and turned back to their dad who pinched his forehead in frustrated.
"Okay. First, you both got downstairs at the same time and second, you only have one stomach so neither of you can be hungrier or fuller than the other. Get it? Now do I have to knock some heads or are you guys gonna go sit down and behave?"
Both twins sighed and sulked in defeat as they responded "Yes, Dad" and sat at the table. Rarity wished that Spike wouldn't be quite so hard on them, but she knew that it was the only way they listened.

Next down the stairs came a young light blue unicorn colt named Topaz with lavender colored hair and thick square glasses. Topaz was 12 years old and primarily a pony. The only part of him that was dragon besides his teeth were his eyes, which were the same color as his hair. His cutie mark was a book with a dragon's eye in the middle due to his aspiration to be a great magic user. He was easily the most studious in the family always dressing like a college professor and devoting most of his time to studying magic, which reminded his father of his aunt Twilight. He entered the dining room without much expression or even saying anything and sat down in his chair.

"Topaz, honey!" His mother greeted him. "How are you doing today?"
"Hi Mom." He responded rather blandly. "I'm doing fine."
"Oh, come now, dear. Give your mother a hug." She held out her arms for him. Topaz rolled his eyes, but there was definitely a smile there.
"Alright," he said as he got up and let his mom give him a big hug.
Onyx and Obi laughed at him. "I don't know about you, Mama's boy," Obi teased, "but I'm starving."
"Yeah. Let's eat," Onyx agreed. The boys picked up their knife and fork and went to pick up their food, until their mom gave an 'ahem' and they stopped and saw her glaring at them. 
"You boys know the rules. No eating until every one is at the table," she scorned. They both dropped their utensils and grunted, annoyed that they still didn't get to eat. "Ugh, now where the blazes is Jade?" Rarity got up and headed upstairs to find their last family member so they could all start dinner.

She reached her daughter's room and heard the typical sound of rock and roll music blaring inside. A noise she herself did not really care for. She knocked on the door. "Jade?" she called. No answer. She tried again. Still nothing, so she opened the door and the music became even louder as she entered the bedroom. The chamber was an absolute pigsty with dirty clothes spread all over the place and decorated with posters of metal bands and musicians as well as a small television on the nightstand. Rarity always hated to step inside this place. On one side were the speakers blasting out the music. On the other side, spread out on the bed and sleeping like a rock was Jade.

Jade was the middle child at 14 years of age. In terms of her genetic pony to dragon ratio, she was exactly half and half. Her coat was the same shade of green as her namesake gem and her mane was jet black with yellow dye at the ends and on her tail. She had dragon eyes, teeth, claws, a tail with hair at the end and even large wings, as well as patches of glimmering scales on her legs and arms. She wore ripped grungy clothes, including shoulder length fishnet gloves, spiked armbands, a chain necklace and a belly button piercing (which her mother NEVER approved of). Her cutie mark was an electric guitar wrapped in barbed wire because she loved playing rock music with her band The Blood Dragons.

Out of all of Rarity and Spike's kids, Jade was the most troublesome and the most rebellious. Her mom turned off her speakers called her name again, making her jump awake. 

"Ugh, what is it, Mom?" Jade groaned as she looked at the clock on her bedside. She was annoyed at seeing her mom in her room and also that she had woken her up and turned off her music.

"It's dinner time and everyone is downstairs waiting on you. Would you please be so kind as to join us so we can eat?" Rarity tried to speak in the most calm tone possible.
"I'm not hungry," Jade replied, lying back down, but her stomach immediately betrayed her with a loud rumble. "Fine." She got out of bed and stretched as her mom gave her a sly smirk. "But I've got band practice at Rip's house tonight, so I gotta leave pretty soon. We got a gig coming up." She packed up her electric guitar in its bag and through over her shoulder. 

Then she reached under her bed, pulled out a fresh apple and held it up to something hanging from the ceiling: a vampire fruit bat named Shadow who happened to be her pet as well as another reason for Rarity to feel repulsed. The creature snatched up the apple and sucked it dry in seconds, then spit out the seeds into a small pile on the floor. Jade whistled and Shadow flew down clung onto to her necklace. All three of them then proceeded down to the dining room.

Once everybody was present at the table, it was finally grub time. Topaz barely touched his dinner and instead just stared at it mostly. He knew Citrine was an excellent cook and he didn't mind eating meat, but he didn't have much of a taste for gems. His father took notice of this and decided to speak up.

"So, Topaz, why don't you tell us what you've been studying lately." 
"Well..." the colt began with a sort of half enthusiastic tone, "today I was reading up on the techniques of the Great Mage Meadowbrook. Did you know that she came up with a spell that allowed her to astro-project out of her body? She was able to explore the heavens and discover all kinds of fascinating magical..."
"Dude, you are such a nerd." He was cut off by both of his brothers at the same time. Instead of continuing, he just sat back angrily in his chair.

The rest of the meal went by without much conversation. Pretty soon, Jade picked up her guitar and started to leave.
"Well, I gotta go. See ya later," she said, but her mom grabbed her shoulder and made her sit back down.
"Not until you finish your spaghetti."
"Aw, come on, Mom. I'm gonna be late."
"I have to go out, too," Citrine said. "I'm meeting Pearly at the library so we can work on our science project."
"Do you have your phone on you?" her dad asked.
"Yes."
"Okay. Don't be out too late, honey."
"I won't." 
Citrine got up, grabbed her jacket and headed out, leaving Jade in disbelief.

"Are you kidding?!" Jade shouted. "How come she gets to go out and I don't?"
"Jade," her dad said, hoping to calm her down. 
"You can go as soon as you finish your dinner," said her mom.
"But I have to go now or I'm gonna be late."
"I'm sure your band can wait a few minutes for you."
Jade was extremely frustrated. It was only a couple weeks until The Blood Dragons' upcoming performance and she needed to be there to practice. The way she saw it, her parents were just playing favorites again and she was losing to Citrine. She picked up her guitar and headed for the door.

"Jade! Where do you think you're going?!" Rarity called after her.
"To be with ponies who get me!" 
"Jade!" her parents called as she stormed out into the night.