Twilight and Spike quickly packed up their things, and made their way to Canterlot. As they did so, Spike couldn't help but wonder just what it was that Princess Celestia wanted to share with him.
Almost before Spike realized it, he and Twilight had arrived in Canterlot, and were on their way to the royal palace.
If Twilight was nervous, she tried her best not to show it, as she and Spike made their way past the royal guards, and into the throne room. Upon entering, there stood Princess Celestia, who seemed to project an auroa of seriousness. As was evidenced by the noticeable slant to her eyebrows, and the lack of a smile that was as bright as the sun she raised.
"Ah, you have arrived. Good," Princess Celestia greeted with a somber tone of voice "Once again, I apologize for the vaugeness of my letter, but this information is something that I fear, could be used against us if it were to fall into unfriendly hoofs, claws, or talons."
"You said it had something to do with my past," Spike replied, trying his best not to show how worried he was. "Does it have to do with where I came from? And why not even Twilight knows why she was given my egg as a filly?"
Princess Celestia nodded "I have known for some time now, that you have questions about your past, Spike," she explained "Questions that not even Twilight has been able to answer. And that is because, the information you were looking for, was kept secret."
"But why would it be kept secret?" Twilight asked "And why didn't you tell me about it when I hatched Spike? Surely, if I was going to raise him, and make him my assistant, I would've had a right to know about his past."
"You know, Twilight's right," Spike frowned "Why would the truth about who I am, and where I came from, be kept a secret? It's not like I wasn't already a fish out of water, being a dragon living amongst ponies and all."
"I assure you, that were it not for the circumstances in which your egg was obtained, I would've told Twilight everything about you from the day you were hatched," Princess Celestia said seriously, her eyes reflecting an odd mix of regret and concern. She then sighed "Alas, your birth parents insisted that I swear to secrecy. They said, that if anypony knew who you really were, it would defeat their entire reason for sending you to me in the first place."
Spike was shocked at such a statement, this was the first time he'd ever heard his birth parents be mentioned. But rather than answer the questions he had, this information only left Spike feeling like he knew even less than he did before. "What do you mean? My parents had to be dragons, so why would they want you to not tell anypony about who I really was? It's not like they had some kind of secret to hide."
Much to the surprise of both Spike, and Twilight, Princess Celestia responded with "Yes. They specifically sent you here, so that you would be safe," she then pulled out a fire ruby "But I think it's best if you heard it from them, and not from me."
"But how would that be possible? If they sent me here to keep me safe, how would they be able to contact me?" Spike wondered out loud.
"Follow me, and all will be explained." Princess Celestia replied, and motioned for Spike and Twilight to accompany her out of the throne room.
Princess Celestia led Spike and Twilight through the castle, and down into the crystal caverns below. Twilight recognized them as the save caverns that Queen Chrysalis had banished her to, and where said queen had imprisoned Princess Cadence during the royal wedding. Even if that had been a long time ago, the memories of such events were enough to make Twilight shiver uncomfortably. "Why couldn't Princess Celestia have just told us everything in the throne room? I don't understand why we have to come down to these cold, dark, caverns." she thought to herself, not daring to say it outloud. She almost never questioned Princess Celestia's judgement.
After several minutes of navigating through the caverns, Princess Celestia came to a halt before the very spot where Twilight had been tormented by projections of Queen Chrysalis, disguised as Princess Cadence. Beneath the large, mirror like crystal walls, rested a small stand with a hole that was just big enough for the fire ruby to fit.
Spike and Twilight watched, as Princess Celestia inserted the fire ruby into the hole in the stand. Suddenly, a bright red glow began to spread from the ruby, down through the stand, and into the crystal themselves. Several small mounds of red crystals began to appear, and then, on the walls, an image began to take shape. It was blurry at first, but it gradually became more clear as the seconds passed.
The image turned out to be a light purple skinned male dragon with fire red scales, and a crimson red skinned female dragon with green scales. The male had eyes majestic blue in color, and the female eyes the most vibrant green.
Spike and Twilight gasped, but Princess Celestia did not seem to be shocked at all. In fact, judging by the expression on her face, one would've concluded that the two dragons displayed in the image were old acquaintances of hers.
Princess Celestia nudged Spike forward "The time has come for you to know the truth," she encouraged with a motherly smile "You needn't be afraid, the two dragons you see, are your parents."
"You mean, Mom and Dad?" Spike replied, his mouth hanging open in shock.
Princess Celestia nodded "Their names are Brimstone and Samantha, and this image contains a small portion of their souls. How they were able to do so, I have no idea. But they insisted that they speak to you through this image, when they decided you were old enough. And it would seem, that today is the day."
Spike nervously walked forward, and gazed up at the two dragons. He could see where he'd gotten his looks from, but part of him still felt uneasy. "Hello?" he greeted nervously.
"Ah, my son. So, this is what you look like," Brimstone commented with a smile "You have become a fine young dragon."
"Princess Celestia has told us everything about what has happened to you," Samantha added "We know about Twilight, and we couldn't be more proud of her for raising you so well."
"It was nothing, but I'm glad you approve." Twilight said, trying her best not to look too nervous.
"Why did you wait all this time to see me?! I had so many questions about my past, and you could've answered them!" Spike said angrily, clenching his claws into fists "Instead, you had Princess Celestia swear to secrecy!"
"Son, you must understand," Brimstone spoke up "Your mother and I sent to this world for a very important reason."
"What reason could possibly justify all of this?!" Spike replied furiously.
"The safety of your life," Samantha told Spike "While you were still an egg, a conflict arose in the Dragon Kingdom. A conflict that tore apart the peace and unity we had enjoyed since our founding."
Spike suddenly felt his anger be replaced by a new emotion, worry. "What kind of conflict could possibly do that? I mean, I've seen ponies and other species get into arguements, but things have always worked out for the best in the end."
"A conflict over a code, that seperated us into noble dragons, and self serving dragons," Brimstone explained "A trio of teenage dragons tried to remove our leader, King Drake V from the throne. And as we learned too late, most dragons believed that King Drake V had illegally snatched the throne away from Prince Drax."
"When King Drake IV passed away, the noble dragon code he had founded was in danger of being ripped up," Samantha added "And when Prince Drax proclaimed himself the rightful heir, we feared the code's days were limited."
"Fortunately, in the end, the elders determined that Drax's claims were illegal, and under King Drake V, we thought the reign of noble dragons would continue," Brimstone finished, before his shook his head "If only we'd realized how foolish we were."
"What was so wrong with thinking that the code could stay?" Spike asked "I mean, I once whipped up a noble dragon code of my own, and based it off the one I'd learned about from books."
"King Drake V was unpopular, he lacked the influence and power that made the dragons a feared race. Especially us noble dragons, who created the code as a way to prevent ourselves from giving into our natural greed," Brimstone explained "For it is that greed, which made so many of our own grow so big and so powerful years before they reached their physical maturity."
"By attempting to keep King Drake V in power, we lost sight of what the code truly meant, and tried to force its influence onto the whole kingdom," Samanta chimed in somberly "But we realized this mistake too late to prevent the outcome. We noble dragons were hunted down, and exterminated for treason. Even your father and I could not escape this fate."
"But if you're dead, then how can you talk to me right now? And how could you have talked with Princess Celestia for all these years?" Spike asked, nervously backing away. He didn't like the idea of talking to zombies.
"It is through the magic of this enchanted fire ruby that we obtained from Princess Celestia, as a gift for our hard work in maintaining peace between Equestria's citizens, and the Dragon Kingdom," Brimstone answered "We sealed a portion of our souls into it, thus allowing us to communicate with you, periodically."
"Periodically?" Spike replied, he didn't like the sound of that.
"Yes," Samantha said glumly "It requires a lot of magic to make this fire ruby work, and part of its magic is to be used for a greater purpose. A purpose, that you must determine for yourself."
"But we sent you here with the ruby, to keep you safe from our enemies. And because we could sense, that Equestria would benefit from a savior such as yourself," Brimstone told Spike "Now, take this ruby, and hold it tight. You will soon discover, that its magic can be used for things no one has ever thought possible. But you must use it wisely, or you are likely to become a monster far worse than the one you became on your birthday." And with that, the displayed image faded away, and the fire ruby was ejected from the stand it resided in, landing firmly in Spike's clutches.