Chapter 1
Cliff Runner was a trained warrior and explorer. He had spent years traveling and living in some of the most dangerous areas of the continent. He was smart, he was driven, and he was careful. Unfortunately, at the moment, he was also terrified, completely immobilized, and facing down one of the three most powerful beings on the planet. In a dark alleyway. In the middle of an enemy capital.
It hadn't been a very good night.
He poured every last ounce of strength and willpower into breaking free, but the magical field around him didn't so much as budge. Not surprising, given that the Princess of the Night herself was the one maintaining it.
The dark blue alicorn barely spared him a glance before moving to help the unicorn stallion that Cliff had been holding down just seconds earlier. “Did this young dragon harm thee, citizen?”
“N-no, I'm fine.” The stallion bowed deeply. “Thank you so much, Princess Luna!”
She acknowledged the thanks with a nod. “Wouldst thou tell me what happened?”
“Yes, your highness. I was just on my way home when that dragon attacked me! I didn't even know he was a dragon at first, because of his cloak, and by the time I realized, it was too late to get away.”
Liar! Cliff thought. He had walked up to the unicorn and said, 'excuse me, I need your help.' When the stallion turned around to face him, and saw into his hood, he had screamed and run away.
For being such a vicious race, ponies were surprisingly cowardly when caught on their own. It probably had something to do with being herd animals. In any case, Cliff had tackled him to the ground so that he could at least ask a few questions. Then, well, this.
Princess Luna turned back to Cliff, her eyes glowing white with power as her ethereal mane and tail billowed out behind her. “YOUNG DRAGON,” she shouted in a voice that threatened to shatter windows, “WHY HAST THOU ATTACKED A CITIZEN OF GREAT CANTERLOT?!”
If the stories were true, Princess Luna had recently returned from her thousand year banishment, and spent her nights hunting down and destroying any creature that threatened her subjects in any way. Cliff figured that his odds of escape were about zero, and survival, if possible, even lower. He closed his eyes, cleared his heart, and waited for the inevitable.
“I ordered thee to speak.” Her voice wasn't nearly as loud, but somehow, it was much harder, and far more close.
Cliff opened his eyes to find the alicorn only a foot or so away. He also found that his jaw had been released. “I didn't attack him, Immortal One,” he said at once.
Her white eyes narrowed. “What I witnessed says otherwise.”
“I just need information, Princess. I was going to release him as soon as he answered my questions.”
Princess Luna's eyes faded from white to blue, but the look she gave him certainly wasn't friendly. “Pray tell, what is this information thou dost seek?”
Cliff considered lying... to an immortal, god-like being. 'Stupid' didn't quite cover how bad of an idea that would be. He took a deep breath. “I'm here looking for another dragon; my older brother.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
Several minutes later, Cliff Runner found himself standing in the royal throne room, confronted by not one, but two legends. Princess Luna explained to her older sister that she had noticed a cloaked figure moving through the alleyways, and had followed him until the incident with the unicorn.
While they talked, Cliff weighed his options. His emotions were screaming at him to run, but the logical part of his mind pointed out that he wouldn't get very far. There were guards surrounding the door, and even if there weren't, it would only take a fraction of a second for one of the Immortal Sisters to grab him with their telekinesis again, and probably break a few bones for trying to get away. He could only remain in place, and pray they were feeling merciful.
Celestia's eyes widened when she heard that Cliff was looking for his brother, but remained silent until Luna had finished her account. “There are very few dragons living in Equestria, young one,” she said at last. “Why would you come here looking for your brother?”
Cliff embraced the Stillness, washing away all his emotions so that they couldn't distract him. “His egg was stolen from my parents many years ago. We have searched for it ever since. I recently heard that a young dragon without a family attended the Great Migration. I also heard that he was exchanging letters with a pony princess. I came here hoping that princess was one of you two.”
The Princess of the Sun studied his purple scales and green spikes. “How long ago was his egg taken?”
“Twenty-seven years, Princess.”
“And you believe that it was ponies who took it?”
Cliff Runner nodded silently. If I'm lucky, they'll just sell me into slavery. He could handle that. Getting away from some rich pony would be much easier than escaping from these two... unless one of them decided to keep him for their own. He tried not to think about that.
The white alicorn sighed. “It is true that dragon eggs are sometimes stolen and sold on the black market, despite my attempts to prevent it. I know of an egg that was confiscated from smugglers twenty-seven years ago, and I do, in fact, exchange letters with the dragon who hatched from it. I would be happy to tell you where he lives. However, may I first offer you my deepest apology for the cruelty your family suffered at pony hooves?”
Cliff stared at her in confusion. He could feel her sincerity, but this was the god-like ruler of Equestria. How could he be sure that anything she did wasn't a trick? Still, she was offering him what he had come to Canterlot to find, and being polite to a veritable goddess couldn't be a bad idea. “I accept your apology, Princess Celestia. If you can indeed help me find my brother, then I would be most appreciative.” He bowed deeply.
A small smile touched the Princess's face. “There is one thing you should know first. This egg lay dormant for quite some time before we were able to hatch it. The brother you seek may be much younger than you were expecting.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
The ride to Ponyville was somehow both too short and too long. Cliff spent most of it lost in thought. The Immortal Sisters had been... nice, especially Celestia, and it was making him question what he thought he knew about ponies. Sure, they might have lied about egg theft being illegal, or wanting peace between ponies and dragons, but what would be the point?
Cliff was a lone dragon, hardly a powerful ally, let alone a threat. The Sisters had absolutely no reason to help him, and yet they had. Maybe she put me under a mind control spell. It would explain why he was even considering that his kind might be wrong about ponies. But there it is again, why would she bother?
Princess Celestia had cast some sort of spell on him, but she claimed it was to verify his relationship to Spike. That was the young dragon's name, Spike, and if what the Princess said was true, he really was Cliff's brother.
Spike was the personal assistant of a new alicorn princess, whom he had served for his entire life. Both Sisters had assured him that Spike stayed with her voluntarily, but Cliff couldn't imagine why anydragon would choose to serve some bratty princess. Is this all part of some scheme?
He briefly considered taking the baby dragon and running, but dismissed the idea as too dangerous. Either of the Sisters could lay waste to his entire coven. Cliff couldn't gamble all of their lives on the chance that the alicorns might track him with their magic.
They were nearing the cluster of lights that Cliff had to assume was Ponyville. He sighed. If he couldn't risk upsetting Celestia or Luna, then he really had no choice but to play along with whatever they had planned.
The chariot touched down near a large crystalline tree/building hybrid of some kind at the edge of Ponyville.
Cliff had to wonder why anydragon would bother to make a building out of a tree. Ponies are just strange. He climbed down and thanked the two bat-winged pegasi who had brought him.
They made some indecipherable noise, and took off for Canterlot again.
Cliff watched them go with a sigh. At times he couldn't help but envy those with the power of flight. Shaking his head to clear it, he turned to the door, and paused. All these years, he had imagined meeting an older brother, and returning together to their parents. Somehow it had never occurred to him that the ponies would have taken nearly two decades to hatch Spike's egg, or that he would have a life among them. Will he even want to come home with me? There was only one way to find out. Brushing his worries aside, Cliff gave the door several firm knocks.
…
He knocked again.
…
Do ponies hibernate or something? Cliff knocked again.
“Coming,” a voice called. A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a tired, and slightly grumpy looking purple alicorn. Her eyes widened when she saw him. “Spike? No...” She looked more closely. His coloring was the same as Spike's, but he was as tall as she would be standing on her back hooves, and his face was a little different. The tattered cloak he wore failed to hide a lithe body and whip-like tail, very different from the cute baby dragon she knew and loved. “Who are you?”
“My name is Cliff Runner, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” He was getting sick of bowing, but did so anyway. “Does a baby dragon named Spike live here with you?”
“Of course he does,” the Princess confirmed. “Is he a friend of yours?”
“We've never met, but,” Cliff took a deep breath, “he is my brother.”
“Brother?” Stars literally appeared in her eyes. “Spike has a brother? That's wonderful! Come in. I'm so happy to meet you!” Cliff was ushered inside amid a barrage of questions. “How old are you? Where do you live? Why haven't we met before? Why are you wearing an old cloak?”
He waited for her to calm down before he tried to answer anything. “I'm twenty years old. My coven lives in the south-west, past the borders of Equestria. Spike's egg was stolen from my parents many years ago, and we've been looking for it ever since. I needed a way to blend in with ponies.”
“Spike has parents!” The stars grew even brighter. “Tell me everything about them!”
“I have what?!” a new voice said.
Cliff and the Princess looked behind her to see a baby dragon with Cliff's exact colors staring at them.
It was strange. He had rehearsed this moment thousands of times in his head, but now that it was finally here, Cliff didn't know what to say. His body seemed to take action on its own, pushing past the alicorn and walking towards this new arrival. “You're Spike...” he breathed, “right?”
The little dragon nodded. “Y-yeah. Who are you.”
Cliff didn't answer. He didn't care if this was what Celestia wanted, just looking at the baby dragon was enough to confirm that they were related. He knelt down and pulled Spike into a hug. “You have no idea how long we've been searching for you,” he whispered, “brother.”
“I, huh, what?!” the younger dragon sputtered. “Brother?!”
Another pair of limbs wrapped around them both. “Oh Spike, he's your brother! I'm so happy for you!”
At any other time, Cliff might have cared that he was being hugged by a pony princess. Tonight, however, his every thought was for the small body in his arms that had stopped struggling, and then slowly returned his embrace.
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These seems interesting and I can't wait to see how Spike and everyone react to the new addition to Spike's family. I see there is a romance tag I hope Runner doesn't take Rarity or Twilight from him. That would put him on the fast track to Spike's 'fuck you' list lol.
Okay, lets see where you go with this.
interesting, lets see where you run with this
First thing I have to ask: Cliff is 20 years old. Apparently Spike's egg was stolen close to 30 years ago. I wonder how many years was his egg in hibernation?
And my second question is in realation to the first: Is Spike truly Cliff's older brother, or we are to believe that his age would be relative to when he was hatched---in essence, is Spike's age is younger than Cliff? The fact that it is apparently showing Spike as a baby could make him the "younger" brother.
Maybe there is something to dragon magic that would make Spike his true size/age, better tuned to his older brother role.
4442248
Spikes egg was laid before Cliffs, so Spike should be about 27 years old and be Cliffs older brother by around 7 years. But Spikes egg was dormant for the 20 years before it hatched which would make him only 7 (or so)years old while cliff is 20…
Excellent!
They never told us spike had a brother
LEGASP!!!
This is your FIRST FANFICTIC!!!??? Tell me your secrets. . .
Very impressive for a first fic, but if I make a suggest: get a proofreader. There are a couple spelling errors here and there, and while they're not intrusive, anyone that notices will be taken out of the stories flow, which is never good.
Also, and this might just be me, but Twi seemed just a little out of character when she immediately accepted Cliff Runner (btw, kudos for coming up with a better dragon name than what the writers could come up with
) as Spike's older brother, without any evidence or explanation given beforehand.
And one final thing: I'm not so sure how many people are going to buy the whole 'Spike's egg was hibernating' thing. I know dragons are mythical creatures, so anything about their lifestyle, including birthing habits, is up to personal interpretation, but it just doesn't seem practical to have dragon eggs hatch only through magic, since we've never seen dragons use music themselves. If you don't mind me making a suggestion, this could likely be fixed if you have Celestia say that she put the egg under a spell to protect the life inside it, so it doesn't get injured from staying in the egg for too long because she lacked the means of hatching the egg herself.
If you've already addressed some, if not all, of these issues in the following chapters, keep in mind that I've only read the first chapter at the time of writing this comment.
Well, with all that said, I look forward to reading the next couple of chapters
Quick start
Amazing.
for your first time posting something , this is pretty good quality. I wont say its fantastic, but its still impressive.
This is a very different idea from what I got from your description. I was going into this expecting either a dragon who's very, very suspicious and untrusting of ponies and only trying to retrieve Spike while keeping his cover, or a parody fic where the ponies truly were dragon slave masters and were incredible cruel. I'll keep reading though, since if not that then I'm curious to see what the plot will be.
Owwwww its awesomeeee
"He knows he won't stand a chance if they catch him"... misleading description. story is not even touching on cliffs fear of the ponies.
This was pretty good. Hopefully I can finish the rest of it later.
Heartgasms Initiate...
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This was... meh.
Everything seemed way too rushed. There was no build-up or tension, no focus on the scenery. It seemed like you were just hopping from point to point, with no space to let the story breathe.
The premise was very interesting, but you didn't really play with it. Aside from that, you didn't even really deliver what you promised in the description. Having Princess Luna show up kind of... well, it destroyed everything.
The description said that dragons feared ponies, and I was expecting a fic where Cliff Runner had to stay in the shadows, undetected; and if he was ever caught, he'd have to run and hide. I was expecting a story where this dragon was legitimately afraid of ponies. Then Luna showed up and the Princesses were like "Lol, u don't have to be ascared of us." And then Runner was like "Okay." And then we got a pay-off scene for a build-up that never really happened.
I think I'll keep reading, but I'm not expecting much any more.
I was in the same situation, not getting enough courage to post a story until now!
Amazing. I've seen only one story with that concept before, but it was different and kinda rambling. Also, I know I shouldn't turn into a ball of fire when I see literally rather than figuratively, but I do.
Omfg so unfair. When I tried hugging my brother when I was younger he'd just punch me in the gut until I gave up or was able to endure through it and get my arms around him and he didn't have enough leverage to deal the pain.
4455363 Same here.
4448498
hes not scared, he just knows the princesses are badasses
I found a typo I missed the last few times I read through is story, you say "Cliff at her in confusion" I believe you meant to say 'Cliff stared at her in confusion', still like this story.
dang, i'm already crying from that.
Meh, i'll keep reading...
A group of dragons is a "thunder of dragons" a coven is witches but that's just nitpicking. Good start.
7642830 Actually a group of dragons is called a flight
7774716 Well they're imaginary creatures so we can call them whatever we want.
Hence why i call a large group of zombies a clusterfuck.
Excellent first chapter. You have my attention.
10437702
Thanks. Fixed!