After further consolation, Spike returned to his work. Twilight tried to tell him to relax and just stay back, but Spike insisted he had to do something. If he didn’t do something helpful to some pony, he just felt useless. More than that, it gave him something else to focus on.
Twilight and the others did try to comfort Spike, saying that he had no way of knowing what happened with his parents, and they could still be looking for him. The hole in his heart was still there, but his friends made at least a little more tolerable.
So they went about cataloguing the various books. Well, everyone but Pinkie Pie did. She was tilting books out of their places on the shelf with a determined expression. Eying every one closely.
Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Pinkie, we’re not here to do,” she looked at Pinkie searching for the perfect coolest catchphrase but gave up, “whatever you’re doing.”
Pinkie Pie turned around, “Oh, I’m just looking for a secret passage way. And the best way to find a secret passage way,” she leaned against the shelf, “is by accident.”
Nothing happened. Pinkie banged her back on the bookcase a few more times, and a few more times. She eyed the shelf with a suspicious glance and then walked away slowly all while staring at the shelf.
“I don’t know Pinkie,” said Applejack reaching for a book on a shelf in front of her, “I don’t see how you could find something if you weren’t looking for –“
As Applejack tugged on the book a metal sound clicked behind the shelf, and the shelf swung open like a door to reveal a secret passageway. All of the ponies looked at the entrance in surprise, except for Pinkie who had a smug grin.
“Well,” Applejack blinked feeling baffled, “I’ll be.”
Pinkie Pie bounded down the passageway. “Pinkie!” Twilight yelled, “Don’t go wondering off on your own!”
Too late. “Come on,” Twilight grumbled, “we better get her before she hurts herself.”
The group walked through a rather long tunnel and descended multiple flights of stairs. Twilight and Rarity lit the way with their magic as the others tried not to stumble down the steps.
“Hey Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, “Did Princess Celestia ever mention having a super long secret stairway in this castle before?”
“There are a lot of things Princess Celestia never mentions,” Twilight replied maintaining an aura of calm. Especially to me she thought feeling slightly rueful. “She might not even know about this passage.”
“She grew up here, didn’t she?” Applejack asked, “If you ask me, it seems kind of strange if she didn’t.”
“Well, yes. But that doesn’t mean she would know everything about –“
“Twilight! Spike!” Pinkie’s high-pitched voice interrupted their thoughts and almost made the whole group stumble, “come here, you’ve got to see this!”
“Pinkie,” Twilight admonished, “Stop goofing around – “
She stopped speaking when she saw Pinkie standing in a room filled with more books, and disheveled papers. Glancing around the room, she saw four torches in each corner of the room and instructed Spike to light them. Whatever materials fueled the torches, they illuminated the room as though the sun was shining directly over them. With this lighting, they noticed a table map, similar to the cutie mark map that appeared in Twilight’s castle a few weeks ago, in the center of the room. On it was a detailed map of Equestria, but there were several color-coded pins on various locations. What truly caught Twilight’s attention was a solitary purple pin on the badlands in the southeast.
“What is this place?” Spike asked Twilight.
“Well, this book,” Pinkie Pie said as she lifted a small journal with her hoof, “says Property of Starswirl the Bearded.”
“What?!” Twilight could barely suppress her eagerness. She quickly took the journal from Pinkie, who moved to sit on a barrel in the right corner, and began carefully flipping through its weathered pages. The ink should have faded but it was still largely visible. To be certain of its authenticity, she examined the signature on the front. It fit the signature she had studied so many times in magic school. This was indeed the property of the great unicorn, Starswirl the Bearded.
Applejack had moved towards the map and inspected it curiously, “any idea what all these places are marked on the map?”
“Hang on,” Twilight said as she scanned the pages, “I’m looking.”
Finally, she found an image of the map and a color key and began to read aloud, “red marks places where exceptionally talented unicorns have been born, blue is where important magical achievements were brought about, green where ponies have yet to explore, orange marks locations of the greatest donuts shops,” she stopped for a moment, scowling slightly at the thought of a great unicorn such as Starswirl seeking the greatest donut shops in all of Equestria.
“Oooo,” Pinkie Pie said with interest, “let’s go there some time!”
Twilight sighed. Well, even unicorns had to eat, she supposed. Scanning the page further, she finally found the purple mark and let out an audible gasp.
“What is it, Twi?” Spike asked wondering what could possibly have bothered his friend.
“Purple marks the one known place of a Dragon Archive!” Twilight exclaimed.
Spike gave a quizzical look. The name sounded familiar but he couldn’t tell why. Was it something Twilight mentioned before at her studies in Canterlot?”
“The Dragon Archives aren’t even supposed to be real. I thought they were just a myth,” Twilight said as she flipped through the pages eager for more answers.
“Hold on, sugar cube,” Applejack motioned for Twilight to stop, “what are the ‘Dragon Archives’?”
“Well, supposedly, some dragons who were smart enough to write began recording major events, and information surrounding dragons all over Equestria, and sent them to the Dragon Archives to preserve their culture and history. Many ponies theorized some dragons developed the ability to transmit messages through fire solely to stash their work in those archives,” Twilight responded excitedly as she continued reading. “I remember reading rumors about them at Canterlot but they were never discovered. Or supposedly they never were. I never once imagined they could be real.”
“Yeah,” Spike remembered now where he heard the term and frowned, “dragons don’t seem like the kind of creatures to take up writing of all things. At least, the ones I’ve met so far.”
Rainbow Dash and Rarity grimaced. They remembered when Spike went out on the dragon migration to discover what it meant to be a dragon, only to find every other dragon was a bully. It didn’t help that many of the other dragons they had met were also unkind or simply animalistic.
Rarity quickly spoke up, “You don’t know how all dragons behave, Spike. For all we know there hundreds of them who are almost as kind and thoughtful as you.”
Spike blushed at the compliment from Rarity and smiled his thanks.
“Here,” Twilight caught every pony’s attention as she found a page that renewed her interest, “After some time exploring the badlands, I have found the entrance to what I believe to be a Dragon Archive. Unfortunately, the entire cave is infested with dark mites –.”
“Dark mites?!” Fluttershy who had been quiet this whole time seemed rather shaken at the name, “Oh my.”
“What is it, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked her friend, “Do you know what those are?”
Fluttershy nodded and continued nervously, “Dark mites are extremely rare and nasty creatures. They’re too dangerous for any pony to study.”
The group never expected Fluttershy to call any animal nasty much less dangerous. She cared for bears and put up with Discord, what creature could possibly be too unpleasant for her?
“Why’s that?” Applejack questioned feeling she wouldn’t like the answer.
“Well, they have a natural immunity to all sorts of magic, unicorn magic, and have even resisted the effects of alicorn magic. So no pony can really safely study them. Because, well, they can consume almost anything within seconds and have a paralyzing poison that can immobilize a pony for minutes.”
“Just a few minutes?” Applejack said optimistically, “That doesn’t sound too bad.”
Fluttershy gave her a very serious look that sent a shiver down every pony’s spine, “a few minutes is all they need.”
“Couldn’t you just use your stare on them?” Spike asked trying to be helpful.
“They don’t have eyes,” Fluttershy explained, “and they’re not like any other animal. They’re just, well, unnatural.”
“Goodness,” Rarity uttered, “why haven’t we heard of such creatures before?”
“They’re not supposed to exist anymore,” Fluttershy explained. “They largely thrived before Princess Celestia and Luna brought order to Equestria and began raising the sun. Dark mites just can’t live in the sun. They had to move to caves and places where the sun couldn’t reach. If they’re guarding the cave…” Fluttershy couldn’t finish the sentence but they all understood her message.
“Maybe Starswirl has more information,” Twilight tried to turn away from Fluttershy’s train of thought. “And I have yet to breach the entrance. If this was truly a Dragon Archive, how could dragons store their scrolls within while all these dark mites buzzed about? There had to be an answer. I waited out in hiding and after three weeks, a medium sized dragon appeared and entered the cave. With a breath of fire he illuminated several torches on the wall and the dark mites willingly moved away. I can only surmise that the dragons have conditioned the dark mites to instinctively fear their flames, or perhaps these creatures simply obey the dragons in return for using the cave as a home. In any case, this symbiotic relationship makes for a brilliant defense. Still, I can hardly see the point of writing something if you don’t intend to share it. It’s just selfish and unfair.”
Twilight paused at this, sharing similar thoughts with this ancient unicorn. Then Spike urged her to continue. “I decided to take a chance and follow the dragon into the cave. The torches shared one fuel line, which ran throughout the cave and was filled with a substance I cannot discern. I collected a sample and will analyze it for later use.
“I followed the dragon further down the passage. We descended several feet into the earth to reach a large room, which could likely fit the entirety of Canterlot. In this room, were shelves of books and scrolls. They all seemed too massive to hold, much less read. The dragon placed a hand on a rather large pedestal near the front of the room panel and breathed more fire into an opening above the panel. He then spoke something into the panel and a large book came flying off the shelves and shrunk itself to fit perfectly in his hands. This is a monumental discovery. It proves dragons are capable of their own level of magic and could come close to rivaling unicorn magic. That is if they ever pursued the art. As he proceeded to read the book, a scroll appeared before the pedestal. Two small dark shapes appeared beneath the scroll and moved it to a nearby shelf. I believe the dark mites act as a sort of librarians to this place, organizing scrolls that dragons send them. Perhaps, this is why some dragons have the unique ability to teleport scrolls through their fire. They never even have to visit the library; they can just use their fire breath as I and many other ponies have theorized.
“Before I could explore the library, the dragon’s ears twitched as if he heard something. All I heard was a high-pitched humming. The dragon instantly breathed flames towards my direction. I raised a protective shield but he quickly distinguished the flames and the dark mites instantly breached my shield and began to bite me. By some miracle, I managed to teleport away before their poison could take full effect, and drag myself to my hiding place outside the entrance. I had to wait out the effects of the poison for three minutes. This was a most unpleasant experience. I felt sweaty, light-headed, a throbbing headache, could barely stand on my own four hooves, and could not perform a simple illumination spell.
“That was a misadventure but not a fruitless one as it left me with some greater understanding. That humming noise I heard before the dragon attacked, it most likely came from the dark mites, as they were the only other being in the room that I could see. Perhaps, dragons and dark mites have some method of communication that ponies cannot hear. And this liquid oil-like substance I collected, I believe it is reproducible. It could serve as excellent lantern fuel.
“Unfortunately, I cannot breach the cave with regular fire. I tried it a few days ago, and barely escaped. These dark mites appear to be a hive mind; they worked together to block my path and trap me. I am faced with a true conundrum. Even if I could trick a dragon into lighting a lantern with his fire, it simply would not be enough. Yes, it might ward off the dark mites but I doubt it would stop them completely from storming, especially around night when they are particularly vigilant. The entire cave needs to be lit up with dragon fire and a dragon must be present. I believe this is the only way to calm these creatures – no, these monsters. I will reproduce this substance and detail my process for doing so, but until I find a dragon willing to show me these caves, I’m afraid, we will never truly know the history of these proud dragons. I hope to come back some day. I have so many questions and this Dragon Archive surely has all the answers. For the time being, I think it’s best to leave this place alone for the safety of other ponies.”
Twilight finally stopped reading as the rest of the group looked on in reverent silence. So much was fitting into place. For Spike, he finally felt a new sense of hope.
“They could give me the answers,” he said breaking the silence. The ponies turned to look at him.
He repeated himself with increasing excitement, “They could give me the answers. Who I am, where I came from, who my parents are.”
Twilight had been sharing similar thoughts. This could be the perfect opportunity for Spike to receive some clue of his origins or even some closure. He had been anguishing over these thoughts all morning, but now he had a chance to find answers. She should have shared his excitement but found some reservation kept her from doing so.
“Now hold your horses there, Spike,” Applejack interjected, “even if we got in these Dragon Archives, we have no idea what we’re looking for.”
“I’m pretty sure dragon eggs gone missing would be an event worth recording,” Spike explained. Then he narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean ‘we’?”
“You seriously didn’t think we would let you do this alone?” Rarity questioned her friend. “If those archives are as big as they sound, you’ll need all the help you can get to search those records.”
Spike considered this for a moment and admitted there was some logic to it. Spending years reading endless scrolls and books in a room large enough to hold all of Canterlot was certainly not appealing. With friends, it could certainly go by more quickly.
Then he shook his head. “No,” he stated firmly, “I’m not letting any of you risk your lives for me. If those dark mites hurt any of you, I could never forgive myself.”
“And if they hurt you?” Rarity walked over to Spike to look him in the eyes with a fiercely protective gaze. “For all we know, they might turn on you if they see you are not a dragon who, well, lives with other dragons.”
Rarity’s stumble on her words did not go amiss to Spike. She had said the dark mites might attack him if they saw he wasn’t a dragon who lived with other dragons, but he understood she had almost said they might not see him as a dragon. He took no particular offense to this statement and recognized that he was not the traditional kind of dragon. Spike liked to think he was his own kind of dragon. He grew up with ponies, who taught him to be kind and generous. He did not like hoarding all of his belongings to himself and actively resisted his dragon greed. On the outside, he was a dragon but on the inside, he was a pony.
With all this in mind, he had to admit his friend had a point. If these creatures turned on him because he was not like most dragons, he did not think he would fare particularly well.
“Well,” Pinkie Pie decided to join in, “we could always go in with lanterns lit by Spike.”
All of the ponies and Spike turned and looked at Pinkie Pie uncertain how to respond to her statement. She shrugged nonchalantly, “it seemed like the obvious thing to do.”
Sometimes, Pinkie Pie could point out the obvious solution when every pony was overthinking the issue. It could be both frightening, that behind her happy persona there could be a brilliant mind, and humbling, that the party pony came with the solution when the others could not. Rainbow Dash glanced and Pinkie and frowned.
“There’s still a problem,” she pointed out, “we’d be exploring this place for hours, maybe even days, and candles burn out.”
“Candles?” Pinkie asked with a slightly confused, “I thought we were going to use that stuff the bearded guy took from the cave. You know, the stuff in the barrel I’m sitting on,” she gestured to the barrel and pointed out a label on the side, “It says Dragon Archive Fuel, so I figured this was what we would be using.”
They all noticed the barrel and the label, both of which had been before their eyes this whole time. Pinkie never ceased to amaze.
Twilight walked over to the barrel and after flipping through the journal’s pages found a similar-looking barrel illustrated, along with instructions how to create the substance and safely use it as fuel. She began performing silent calculations in her brain, accounting for the probability they would have the place to themselves for some time, how often they would need to break for food and water, how many scrolls or books they could read through in a given day, and various other factors.
“I think,” she spoke slowly, “this could work.”
The ponies and Spike all glanced at each other in excitement. They were really going to do this. They were going to explore some place only the unicorn Starswirl the Bearded dared to venture. They would be the first ponies to learn about dragons, through their own writings. Spike could barely contain his excitement. He was going to learn more about his culture. He was going to find his family.
“Um,” Fluttershy nervously mumbled.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash glanced at her shy friend, “Is something wrong?”
“It’s just that,” Fluttershy continued with more confidence, “we probably shouldn’t stay in the caves when it gets dark out.”
Rainbow Dash gave her friend a playful sneer, “what? You afraid of the night?”
“When it comes to dark mites, yes,” Fluttershy spoke grimly, “they become very active at dark. They probably won’t go outside the cave, knowing that the sun will rise within hours, but they will be very aggressive in the cave. I’m not sure having a dragon or dragon fire would ward them off completely.”
“So we work by day,” Rainbow Dash felt a bit shaken at the thought but wouldn’t let it show, “and leave before it gets dark outside. We can have some pony keep watch over the time and we’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” Fluttershy replied unconvinced and wary, “for our sakes. There’s nothing more scary than dark mites at night.”
***
So the friends each set about their own tasks in preparing for the journey.
Following the journal’s instructions, Twilight succeeded in replicating the substance, which she started calling dragon oil, until she had produced ten more barrels. She figured they would be working for a while so they might as well have a surplus of it. Plus, the ingredients were actually common and could be largely found at a pony market, so she had no doubt she could visit the closest town to retrieve more ingredients if needed. All the while, she continued feeling nervous as to what Spike might discover.
Using Fluttershy’s information on dark mites, Rarity fashioned each of her friends a protective outfit to ward them off. She knew they would not keep a dark mite from eventually breaking through incredibly tough fabric, but it would delay them long enough for their friends to bat away the dark mites with their lanterns. In the mean time, she asked her friend to take care of Sweetie Belle in her absence, giving her instructions. All the while, she was eager to set Spike’s heart at ease.
Applejack gathered camping supplies and a horse drawn cart. They had plans to camp near the archive so they could wake up at first light and fully utilize the daytime to explore the records. The horse drawn cart was to carry the barrels of dragon oil Twilight had made and their other supplies. Rainbow Dash and she had agreed to pull the cart together, seeing as they were the physically strongest of the group. All the while, her mind was set on helping Spike find the truth.
Pinkie Pie gathered a weeks worth of food and water. It was mostly traveling food, stuff they could eat quickly while having a decent meal. As a afterthought, she also gathered some gems for Spike just in case he had another bout of unhappiness. All the while, she focused on making sure Spike would be happy no matter what they found out.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash found lanterns matching Twilight’s descriptions, and a seven hour sand timer from a certain dental pony. The lanterns were light-weighted, a dull grey, and could be carried with magic or hooves. They were capable of enhancing the light of a fire and sustaining it for hours. When combined with the dragon oil and Spike’s fire, they had no doubt the lanterns would ward off almost any dark mites. The timer was to keep track of the day, so they could keep track of the time and leave the cave come night. Fluttershy even managed to find a dark mite anti-venom, but she had doubts about its efficiency. Rainbow Dash also thought to pack a first-aid kit just in case of an accident. When Fluttershy asked why Rainbow Dash had such a kit, Rainbow Dash explained there were too many answers to that question. All the while, both were steeling themselves to protect their friends and help Spike see his mission through.
Spike packed more parchment and quills. He reasoned that it would be useful to draw a map of the Dragon Archive, not only so they would know where they were going, but also so they could gauge how the dragons organized their records and find the ones most relevant to him. All the while, he felt a mixture of excitement, for the chance to finally find out where he came from, and unease, at putting his friends in danger. He promised himself that he would not let them come to any harm. He also felt unease at the prospect of finding the answers. What if he didn’t like what he found? He wasn’t sure he could take another heartache.
It took time, but they managed to gather all of their supplies and meet up at the train station as the sun began to set. They had agreed to take the train to the city closest to the badlands and then proceed to the Dragon Archives on foot. When they finally entered the train bound for their city, Spike and the others were already feeling somewhat tired. After eating a meal provided by the train service, they went back to their trolley and soon found themselves drifting into slumber as the train departed.
***
Twilight sat at the caboose of the train wide-awake. She just had too much on her mind to get a peaceful sleep. By morning, they would arrive at the city, by afternoon, the Dragon Archive. She wanted to be excited for Spike; he was going to learn about his family, but instead, she found herself rather apprehensive.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy’s gentle voice interrupted Twilight’s thoughts and she turned around to see the yellow pegasus accompanied by Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie.
“Sorry,” she smiled apologetically, “did I wake you up?”
“We’re fine, dear,” Rarity assured her although Rainbow Dash gave a brief snarky look that suggested otherwise, “but is there something troubling you?”
As much as she wanted to say no she was perfectly fine or she just woke up and needed to take a little walk, she knew better than to lie to her friends. They deserved to know the truth.
“I guess I was just worried about what Spike may discover in the Dragon Archives,” she confessed moving over to her friends.
“What?” Rarity prompted remembering when Spike almost left them to join the dragon migration, “are you afraid he might find out who his family is and leave us to find them?”
“Well, yes, that thought had crossed my mind,” Twilight admitted, “but I’m a bit more worried that he might find something,” she searched for the proper word, “something bad.”
“What do you mean?” Applejack asked with a look of concern.
“Well, what if he finds out his parents are no longer around, or they were monsters,” Twilight’s mounting dread began to take control, “or they forgot him as an egg and just left him unattended, or they didn’t want him so they abandoned him completely, or what if, what if he doesn’t find anything at all and learns he was always alone?”
The group looked at her with unease as though they had never thought of such a possibility. Before Twilight could continue worrying any further, Rarity stamped her hoof decisively making every pony jump with surprise.
“Well, Miss Sparkle,” she spoke with irritated certainty, “I’ll tell you what we’ll do: exactly what we did for him this morning, hold him, wipe away his tears, and remind him that we are his family and we will always love him!”
They all stared at Rarity with shock until she realized how un-lady-like her outburst was and blushing tried to dial back, “well, um, what I meant was, that we would be there for him in such an unfortunate event.”
Applejack smiled at her friend’s conviction and passion and joined in, “she’s right, Twilight. For all we know, Spike might be having the same fears you’ve been having. If those fears come true, well, we do what any good friend should do.”
“Let him know that in our eyes, he is still important to us as a friend and a member of this family,” Rainbow Dash finished the thought, then realizing how un-cool she might have sounded quickly added, “and tell him that his family’s a bunch of jerks so he shouldn’t sweat it.”
Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a hard stare and she smiled apologetically, realizing her statement was rather inappropriate.
“Well, don’t tell Spike,” Pinkie chirped in as she instantly brought her voice to a whisper, “but I brought him some gems to munch on if he ever feels unhappy or unloved again.”
Twilight smiled at her friend and chuckled, “I’m sure Spike will appreciate that.”
“Whatever happens,” Fluttershy spoke quietly but firmly, “we have to let Spike know we will still care for him. If he chooses to go find his family, he can always come back to Ponyville and find us waiting for him. If he doesn’t like something about them and stays with us, we shower him with love tenfold and show him that he is home with us.”
Twilight smiled at Fluttershy’s heartfelt statement and felt her eyes water a bit with joy. They were right. That’s how she had always tried to be with Spike. Whenever he was upset as a hatchling, she did her best to comfort him. When he wanted to know what being a dragon meant, she let him go to join the migration. Maybe she didn’t always do the best job of being sensitive to his feelings, but she would do the best she could to raise him and remind him that he would always have a home with her.
“You’re all right,” Twilight declared with a new-found confidence, “we might not be related to him by blood, but we are Spike’s family because we are connected by bonds of friendship and love.”
The friends smiled and embraced. Unbeknownst to them, a certain purple baby dragon had watched this whole exchange. Seeing these ponies accept him as a friend and family member was more than he felt the right to be. As he snuck back to his sleeping place, the tears he felt this time were very different from the tears he shed this morning. He was accepted, more than that, he was loved. As he closed his eyes once more to drift back to sleep, he found himself lighter and more peaceful than he ever felt in his entire life.