//------------------------------// // ...And A Tale Begins // Story: Dragon Bro Z // by MrWriterWriter //------------------------------// "Wow..I've seen some stuff in my time, but...that's definitely a new one on me." Spike commented as he and the others stared at the sight; the group had been so caught up in their reunion they never noticed being teleported to the Tree of Harmony until the sound of rumbling caught their attention. They had managed to just catch the chest flying up through a hole in the chamber roof via rainbow, followed shortly by another, even louder rumble that seemed to come from somewhere in Ponyville. Before any of them could really react to it, they found themselves promptly teleported once again. This time, though, they found themselves in front of what could only be described as a large crystalline tree. Except this tree had a castle wrapped up in its branches, and...growing from it too, apparently. The entrance was visible at the tree's base and a massive multi-pronged crystal star was visible atop the castle's main tower. Since the storm Tirek summoned had cleared immediately after his defeat, the whole structure glinted and sparkled slightly in the returned sunlight. "But..where did it come from?" Twilight asked, "And who's is it??" "That would be your castle, Princes Twi...light...?" A voice spoke up behind them, only to trail off. They all turned to see Celestia, Luna, and Cadance standing there, with a grinning Discord popping up in the middle. All three were looking like they had seen a ghost, "Spike...?" Celestia said in a half-whisper, her eyes eyes visibly welling up. "Hi, Mom..." Spike started to say before the princess tackled him in an almost bonecrushing hug that belied her slender build, sending them to the ground. "'Mom'?" Rarity looked at him when she heard that. "Yeah, she adopted him not long after he hatched. I was way too young to look after a baby then." Twilight replied. "You never said anything about that!" Rainbow commented. "You never asked. Would've been kind of rude to just shove it out there unless you wanted to know." Spike responded. "You're alive!" Celestia choked out through sobs of joy and relief, quickly followed by the other two, "When we couldn't find you after Twilight's ascension, we thought..." She trailed off, burying her face in his shoulder. "It's ok, Mom. Like I told Twi and the others, I'm back." It was at this point that Discord spoke up. "Um, not to throw off this heartwarming moment, but does anyone else notice he looks a different from when he first showed back up?" "Now that he mentions it, yer scales do seem a lot darker, Spike." Applejack said, "And didn't ya have spikes on yer head?" "My scales?" Spike's eyes widened slightly and he laughed, "Whoops. forgot to drop out of Endless Dragon mode." Ten sets of eyes widened as he suddenly reverted back to his original coloring and the jagged fin shifted back to spines. "'Endless Dragon'?? What...how...Spike, what happened to you these last six months??" Twilight yelped out, unable to contain her bubbling curiosity. "Before you vanished you were barely up to my shoulder. Now you're tall enough to look Celestia and Luna in the eyes and you're all..." She prodded his bicep with a hoof, "Muscly!" "Yeah, and you know how to use it too, if Tirek was any proof!" Pinkie chipped in, hanging onto his back. "Only six months? Been over thirty years for me." "THIRTY YEARS!?" The group of mares screamed. "It's a long story." " And something tells me you're gonna end up telling it here shortly." King Kai's voice piped up, startling the three alicorns. "What the!? Who said that!?" Cadence looked around in shock. "M-Mr. King Kai, is that you?" Fluttershy asked. " Just call me King Kai. The 'Mr' stuff makes me sound old. Sorry 'bout the silent treatment, but I didn't wanna interrupt your reunion. That and I was having too much fun watching Spike whoop up on that Tirek clown." They all heard him snort out a laugh, " So, Spike, you gonna introduce us? If I'm gonna help you with this story, I may as well get to know your pals."