Of Flame and Shadow

by Garuda IV

Chapter 47- Word from Aero

The rest of Dark's and Twilight's week at her parents' house went by rather quickly after Hearth's Warming night. The following morning, Night, Velvet, and Spike were surprised to see how much more Dark and Shining were getting along with each other. Even Cadence was a little bit surprised by them, and even more so when the two went out to have a beer and play some pool together that night. When they got back though, they were confronted by Cadence and Twilight about how they'd overheard them the night before. So, the four sat down together and talked about it.

A few days after that, Shining went over to Celestia. He told her that he showed Dark his memory gem, and that unknown to them at the time, Cadence and Twilight had overheard him, so they knew now too. While Celestia wasn't very happy that Twilight found out like she did, she did understand Shining's reasoning for telling Dark. As it turned out, Celestia had considered telling Dark about Shining's history with kirins, but she didn't know how to go about starting it.

The following morning was the day that Dark, Twilight, and Spike would be returning back to Ponyville. With Twilight's family there to see them off, they each gave their goodbyes before boarding the train. During their ride, Dark and Twilight snuggled against each other to look at the memories of Dark's memory gem, while Spike was busy eating the gems that he got to snack on and reading his new comic books.

A few hours later around the early-afternoon, their train finally arrived at Ponyville Station. For a moment, Dark and Spike had half-expected that their friends and Spike's fillyfriends would be there to greet them. But, after they unboarded, Twilight explained to them that they would be having a snowball fight later on in the day before heading on to Sugarcube Corner for some hot chocolate. Licking their lips in anticipation, Dark took Spike's luggage before the two guys ran towards the castle, leaving Twilight rolling her eyes in amusement before teleporting herself there ahead of them.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the doors to Twilight's Castle before Twilight herself opened the door from the inside with a smug grin. Knowing what she did, Dark chuckled before giving her a peck on her lips and walking inside. Setting their luggage off to the side, Dark was then approached by one of the Shadow Wraiths that he left to guard the castle in their absence. Getting the report from them that nothing tried to enter the castle while they were gone, Dark gave them his thanks before letting them continue their patrols of the castle. While he'd originally created them to guard the castle during the time that they were gone, after some talking with Cadence and Shining, Dark and Twilight agreed that having fulltime guards patrolling the castle would be a good idea, considering how much of a hotspot Ponyville has been lately.

"So, what do you two want to do before we meetup with the others?" Dark asked.

"If it's alright, I was hoping to see the Crusaders," Spike answered him.

"Sure, go on ahead, Spike," Twilight told him, getting a quick hug before watching him run back outside.

"Well, I guess I should've seen that coming," Dark chuckled. "So then, what do you want to- mmph!"

Before Dark could finish, he found himself pressed up against the wall by Twilight with her lips firmly pressed against his. As they continued to make out and playing tongue twister with each other, Dark quickly spun them around and pinned Twilight up against the crystal wall. After some time had passed, they finally separated their lips and gazed at each other with half-lidded eyes.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to do this again with you," Twilight whispered before kissing him again.

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea," Dark smirked when they broke apart again.

"Really?" she teased seductively. "Well then, why don't we take this somewhere else?"

By this point, Dark was emanating a low, throaty growl. "Bedroom?"

"Five minutes."

In the blink of an eye, Twilight teleported herself away, leaving Dark alone. Before he could Shadowport up to their bedroom though, he noticed that their luggage was still sitting where they left it. Letting out a small sigh, Dark took their luggage into his magic, Shadowported himself and it back to their bedroom, and began unpacking. Just as he finishing putting their luggage and suitcases away, the doors to the room were thrown open.

Snapping his head over towards the doors, Dark's jaw dropped and felt himself heat up upon seeing Twilight wearing dark-blue socks, and a transparent lavender nightgown. Seeing the look he was giving, Twilight giggled inwardly while giving him a sultry look. Pulling the window blinds and closing the door shut, Twilight sashayed her way over to their bed and laid down on it.

"Well? What are you waiting for, big boy?"

Snapping his mind from his daze, Dark began looking hungrily at Twilight.

Sweet Luna, if I'm dreaming, please don't wake me, Dark thought before pouncing onto Twilight.

---

Out in the streets of Ponyville, Spike sprinted as fast as he could over to Carousel Boutique. Thankfully for him, the streets appeared to have been cleared a few hours before they returned from Canterlot, which allowed for him to arrive quicker than he'd originally thought. Reaching the door to the building, Spike knocked on it and waited for somepony to answer. Few moments later, Spike heard hoofsteps coming closer before Rarity opened the door.

"Oh, hello there, Spike," Rarity warmly greeted him. "How was your Hearth's Warming in Canterlot?"

"It was great!" Spike happily said. "We went to see the Hearth's Warming Play, then the Hearth's Warming Ball, opened presents, had our traditional Hearth's Warming breakfast, ate with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, played some board games with the family, got to-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Spike, but perhaps we could continue this inside? It's getting a little chilly standing here with the door open."

"Oh, sorry about that."

Making his way inside, Spike removed his winter clothes and hung them on the coat hanger. After wiping his claws off on the welcome mat, he followed Rarity further in.

"Anyway, I'm guessing that you're really here to see Sweetie Belle?"

"Well... yeah, that's mostly the reason. Of course, it's nice to see you again too," Spike quickly added, not wanting to sound rude.

"Thank you, Spike."

"Did you say 'Spike', Rarity?!" Sweetie called from upstairs.

"Yes, Sweetie! Spike's here to see you!" Rarity called up.

As soon as those words left Rarity's mouth, they heard a stampede of hooves coming down the stairs. Starting to fear for himself, Spike slowly began to back away, but before he could take a third step, a blur of white, orange, and yellow collided into Spike, knocking him on his back. Opening his eyes with a small groan, Spike came face-to-face with the three Crusaders before they each began kissing him. As they continued to show their affection towards the little dragon, Rarity looked at them with a mixture of amusement, happiness for the four, and shock for their unladylike behavior.

"Girls! Get off the poor drake!" Rarity scolded, causing them to look back to her and slowly get off of him. "That isn't any way for a lady to act! Honestly, running down here like you're apart of a stampede and bowling into him like that."

"We're sorry, Rarity," the three fillies apologized.

"Thank you, girls, but I don't think that it is I who you should be apologizing to."

With a look of embarrassment, the Crusaders turned around to face Spike.

"We're sorry, Spike," Sweetie Belle said.

"We were just so excited when Rarity said that you were here," Scootaloo added.

"We missed ya, Spike, and we just wanted ta see ya again," Apple Bloom spoke.

"It's alright, girls," Spike told them as he walked up to them and hugged all three of them. "To be honest, while I did have fun up in Canterlot with my family, I missed you girls a lot. I really wished that you could've all come with."

"So did we, Spike," Sweetie Belle agreed. "But we all had plans for Hearth's Warming with our own families."

"I know, and I understand that you all need to spend time with your families during that. I just wish that we could all spend some time together."

"Well, we can now," Apple Bloom happily said. "So, how was Hearth's Warmin' for ya, Spike?"

"It was great!"

"What kind of presents did you get?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, I got a box of gems to snack on, a book on dragons, a bunch of new comic books-"

"Really?! Can we see them?!"

"Sure."

"Rarity?" Sweetie Belle called. "Can the girls and I go over to Spike's and spend some time with him?"

"I suppose," Rarity said with a hint of unease. "You're still going to join us later this afternoon, right?"

"We'll be there. Right, Spike?"

"Yep," he nodded. "I'm really looking forward to it. By the way, who else is coming?"

"Besides you and the girls," Rarity began, "our friends and I will be there, including Big Macintosh and Discord."

Counting in his head, Spike began thinking of teams.

"Won't the teams be uneven though?"

"Well, I'm sure that Discord could do something about that, like make a clone of himself or something of the sort. I suppose we'll just have to wait and find out."

"Okay. Anyway, you girls ready to go?"

With a round of nods from the three fillies, they and Spike put on their winter clothes and left the Boutique. Walking down the road back to the castle, the Crusaders kept exceptionally close to Spike, both because of how much they missed him, and for the extra warmth he was emanating through his winter clothes. As they got closer, they told Spike about their Hearth's Warming with their families before Spike began telling them about his. By the time he'd finished, they were inside the castle.

Letting the Crusaders go on up to his room, Spike went on over to the kitchen to prepare some snacks for them. A few minutes later when he was just about done, Sweetie Belle came walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, Sweetie, what-" Spike paused when he noticed the look on Sweetie Belle. "Did something happen? Your face is all red."

"Yeahhh, about that," she slowly began. "We might not want to read your comics in your room."

"Huh? Why not?"

Her face turning redder, Sweetie Belle began nervously shuffling a hoof against the floor.

"Trust her, Spike, you don't wanna know."

Looking behind her, Spike saw Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walking in, both having the same look on their faces as Sweetie Belle's.

"Yeah, Spike. Ah don't think we should be readin' in your room right now," Apple Bloom agreed. "Especially with... that noise."

"What noise?" Spike questioned. "There shouldn't be anypony else here beside Twilight and..."

Spike's voice trailed off as he began to piece everything together. Adding onto his guess of what happened, Spike looked at the Crusaders again and noticed that they all had the same blush on their faces, nervous looks, and most noticeably, Scootaloo's stiffened wings. Giving an irritated groan, Spike facepalmed.

"Okay, the snacks are almost done. When they are, just take them to the lounge and wait for me there. I'll go and bring the comics down from my... bedroom."

With another groan, Spike walked past the Crusaders and made his way up the stairs to his room. As he got closer, the sounds that he'd guessed they'd heard became more audible.

I'm gone for almost a half-hour and they're already going at it, Spike thought with a huff. Seriously, you'd think that they would at least wait a little bit before they started doing that again. I just hope that the girls aren't too traumatized by hearing it.

Doing his best to ignore the sounds echoing through the hallway, Spike ran as quick as he could to his room, grabbed the box of comics, and just as hastily ran back down. He didn't stop running until he was at the lounge door, panting for air. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he opened the door and sat his comics on the table.

"Okay. Here you go."

"Wow! That's a lot of comics!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she eyed them. "Hmm, X-Mare, Spider-Mare, Iron Mare, Captain Equestria, The Bulk..."

"Hey, look!" Apple Bloom said, holding up a comic in her hooves. "He's got volume one of The Revengers!"

"Sweet! Hey, AB, open it up already! I wanna see!"

"Hey, Spike?" Sweetie Belle called. "Didn't you say that you also got a book about dragons from Twilight?"

"Yep... did you want to see it?" he slowly asked.

"Yes, please."

"Oh... okay."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well... it's just that the book is back in my bedroom."

"... oh. Never mind then."

"Thanks, Sweetie," Spike said with a sigh of relief. "If it's all the same, I'd rather not have to listen to them... doing that."

"But you sleep just across the hallway from them, so shouldn't you be used to it?" Scootaloo questioned.

"They usually have a soundproofing spell or something up, so I don't know when they're doing it or not."

"Then why don't they have one up now?"

"If Ah had ta guess, Ah'd say that it's because they didn't think that Spike would be back so soon, right?" Apple Bloom guessed.

"Well, I did tell them that I was going over to Sweetie Belle's place to visit, so I guess that they thought that I'd be gone longer."

"So, us overhearing them is our fault then," Sweetie Belle said, looking away in embarrassment.

Seeing no other way, Spike and the others agreed with Sweetie Belle that this one was on them before turning their attention away from Dark and Twilight's activity, and towards the stack of comics. As they read through them, they downed Spike's nachos and cheese before he left to get them another plateful. Forty-five minutes later, Spike looked away from the comic he and the Crusaders were reading together and looked up.

"You wondering if they've finished by now?" Scootaloo asked, noticing his gaze.

"It's been almost an hour, so I would think so," Spike replied before getting up off of the couch. "I'm going to go back to my room and grab that book I was talking about for us to read. I'll be back in a bit."

Exiting the room, Spike made his way back up to his room to grab his book. Deciding to wait for him, the Crusaders put down the comic and began talking to each other. Five minutes later, they heard the door to the lounge close with Spike standing there with a book.

"Wow, Spike, that was pretty- uhh, Spike? Are ya alright?" Apple Bloom asked.

Without answering, Spike walked back over to his spot on the couch and placed the book on the table. As he sat there in silence, the Crusaders looked at him worryingly until they saw one of his eyes twitch irritatedly.

"Spike?" Apple Bloom called again.

"Oh, no," Scootaloo groaned. "Don't tell me that they're-"

"I swear, I'm this close to messaging Princess Celestia and asking her to sent a crew to enchant their room with a permanent soundproofing spell," Spike said with a huff.

"Oh, come on!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Are you serious?!"

"It's been like an hour now!" Scootaloo added. "How are they still going?! Did they decide to take a break and Spike just happened to be there at the wrong time?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Spike told them with a headshake. "Okay. They have ten minutes left. After that, I'm ending it. Besides, we're suppose to meet up with the gang for the snowball fight."

"Y-You're not gonna do what Ah think you are, are ya?" Apple Bloom nervously and embarrassingly asked.

"All I'll do is pound on the door, let them know that we're here, and tell them that it's time to get ready to go."

Leaving it at that, Spike opened his book on dragons and began to read through it with the Crusaders. Once the ten minutes were up, Spike reluctantly got up and made his way to check on Dark and Twilight. Feeling guilty for having him do it alone, the Crusaders all got up from the couch and decided to go with him. And though he told them that they didn't need to, they didn't listen and started walking on ahead of him.

Feeling a little better for not having to suffer through this alone, Spike joined up with them and made their way up to Twilight and Dark's bedroom. As they got closer, they'd expected to hear the sounds that they'd heard before, but instead found the hallway silent. Curious, the four of them went up to the door and pressed an ear up to it.

"Okay, so who's going in first?" Scootaloo quietly asked.

"I say we play Rock-Paper-Scissors to find out," Spike suggested, earning him a half-lidded glare from the fillies. "What?"

"Just for that, Spike, you can be the one to check on them," Sweetie Belle told him.

"What?! Why?!"

"Because whenever we play that game, you always win because Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I can only pick rock."

"Oh, fine!" he huffed.

Turning back towards the door, Spike gulped before knocking on it. A few moments of silence later, he knocked again. Getting no reply again, Spike slowly opened the door and called out their names. When he got no answer again, he poked his head inside to see Dark and Twilight in bed, but not like he'd expected.

"I can't believe this," he muttered to himself before pulling his head out from the door and looking at the Crusaders. "They're asleep!"

Hearing him quietly shout in anger and annoyance, the three fillies quietly giggled at him while his eye continued to twitch.

"Wow, Spike," Scootaloo giggled. "I guess that you really do have bad timing when it comes to stuff like this."

"... shut up," Spike embarrassingly told her, causing them to giggle at him a little louder.

"It's alright, Spike," Apple Bloom said, patting him on the head. "You know that we're just teasin' ya, right?"

"Yeah, I know. So, how should we wake them?"

"I have an idea," Sweetie Belle answered.

"Okay. So, what is it?"

"Simple, we just jump up on their bed and wake them."

Walking past, Sweetie Belle led them into the bedroom and over to the side of the bed. Motioning them, they all jumped up onto the foot of the bed to see Dark asleep on his back with Twilight resting her head on his chest while hugging him in her sleep. With a quiet "Aww" from the fillies, Spike groaned and began poking them awake until they began to stir.

"Hey, Twilight, Dark," Spike called. "It's time to wake up or else we'll be late for meeting up with the others."

"Five more minutes, Spike," Twilight groaned as she tried to bury her face into Dark's coat.

"Seriously," Sweetie Belle began adding, "it's time to get going."

"Alright, Sweetie Belle," Dark tiredly groaned before snapping his eyes open. "Wait... Sweetie Belle?!"

Catching the extra voice as well, Twilight too snapped her eyes open before she and Dark looked down at the foot of their bed to see the Crusaders all smirking knowingly at them, while Spike gave them a half-lidded look and shook his head.

"Seriously, you two," Spike began lecturing, "you should start considering a permanent soundproofing spell or something."

"Wait," Twilight nervously spoke, "you heard?"

"We heard you over an hour ago!" Scootaloo complained, throwing her forehooves into the air in exasperation.

"And Spike heard ya again a little over ten minutes ago," Apple Bloom added.

"Didn't you go over to see Sweetie Belle at her place?" Dark asked Spike.

"I did, but then I told the girls about the comics that I got for Hearth's Warming and they wanted to come over here to read them. When we got here, they went up to my room to start reading them while I was down in the kitchen making us a snack to eat. That was when they came back down and told me what they heard."

"T-They did?!" Twilight shockingly asked, looking at the fillies who each meekly nodded to her. "Oh my gosh! I-I'm so sorry! We didn't think that there would be anypony here for a while and thought that we'd have some alone time together until then."

"Yeah, we figured as much," Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Guess this'll teach us not to assume that we're actually alone anymore," Dark said before flopping back onto the bed and sighing. "Well, nothing we can do now. We might as well get ourselves ready to meet up with our friends. Also, girls, sorry that you had to hear... that. Just please don't tell your sisters. They'd probably try to kill me if they found out."

"Oh, Ah don't think that they would go that far," Apple Bloom said before grinning at Dark. "Although, if you were ta get us some ice-cream, that might help keep us from tellin' our sisters about what happened here."

As Spike and the other Crusaders began matching Apple Bloom's grin, Dark sighed in defeat and shook his head.

"I can't believe I just got blackmailed by a bunch of fillies."

---

Taking a moment to clean themselves up, Dark and Twilight met Spike and the Crusaders down in the lounge before putting on their winter clothes and heading on outside. As they continued their way to Sweet Apple Acres, Dark watched the three fillies as they ran around and laughed with each other. Whether it was because they were simply happy, excited for the upcoming snowball fight, or because he owed them all ice-cream, he didn't know.

While the fillies were busy talking and laughing with each other, Dark and Twilight were apologizing to Spike for them not having placed a soundproofing spell on their room... again. While he was in an unpleasant mood, a Pinkie Promise from Twilight that they would take precautions so that they couldn't be heard lightened his mood a bit where he was no longer glaring at them. That, and Dark also offered Spike some ice-cream, but more so that he wouldn't feel left out then as an apology.

Eventually, they walked into the orchard and made their way down the road, noticing their friends, Big Mac, and Discord already gathered and talking to each other in front of the barn. Once they came to the end of the road leading them to the front lawn, the Crusaders each ran to their respective sisters before Dark, Twilight, and Spike followed up behind them.

"Glad ta see that 'all could make it," Applejack happily welcomed before going up and hugging Twilight.

"So, how was your guys' Hearth's Warming?" Rainbow asked as she hovered above them.

"It was great, Rainbow," Twilight smiled. "I was really happy that the whole family was able to be together for the holidays."

"Sooooo," Pinkie slowly said expectantly.

"'So' what?"

"Did you get any cool presents?"

"I did... but, there was one in particular," she answered as she glanced over at Dark.

"Can we see it?!"

"Sorry, Pinkie, but I left it back at home so I wouldn't accidentally lose it while we played. Don't worry though, you can all see it later today if you want. I think that you'll especially like it, Rarity."

"Well then, I'll be looking forward to it," she said before giving them a knowing smirk. "And speaking of your time in Canterlot." Rarity paused as she levitated a rolled-up newspaper out from her saddlebag and unraveled it for everyone to see. "I believe that you and Dark have some explaining to do regarding this."

Taking it into her own magical hold, Twilight and Dark both looked at the headline to see a picture of them kissing at the Hearth's Warming Ball. Noticing their faces turning red, Rainbow hovered behind them to get herself a look before grinning at them.

"Wow, you two, I wouldn't of thought that you'd be so open with showing everypony how close you two are."

"It's not what you think!" Twilight quickly said.

"Sorry, Twilight, but this picture of you and Dark sucking face is saying otherwise."

"Well... you'd understand if you were there."

"Yeah," Dark nodded. "We started dancing with each other, but between the music, setting, and the mood from the dancing, we just forgot about everypony else."

"I wish I could've been there," Rarity dreamily sighed. "Seeing you two dancing together would've been quite the romantic sight."

"I agree. I would've liked to have seen little brother and Twilight dancing too."

Turning around to look at the direction the female voice came from, Dark, Twilight, and Rainbow saw nothing but snow lightly falling from the clouds.

"Um, did anypony else hear that, or was it just me?" Rainbow asked.

"No, Rainbow, I heard it too," Twilight said.

"Then were did it come from?"

"Right in front of you, silly."

Slowly coming into view just a few feet away from Rainbow, was a sleek and elegant white dragoness. Surprised by seeing a dragon appearing so close to her without warning, Rainbow let out a yipe before flying back away from her to join the others that had also backed away. While they'd gotten some distance and Fluttershy took cover behind Discord, Dark, Twilight, and Spike all looked up to the dragoness with varying levels of surprise.

"You two really do look very cute together in that picture," she told them.

"Hello, Aero," Twilight greeted her. "It's good to see you again."

"Uhh, hey, Twilight?" Applejack somewhat nervously called. "Mind explainin' why in the hay this dragon is here?"

"And why's it flying without any wings?" Rainbow questioned.

"I think that I should explain that," Dark said before gesturing to Aero with a claw. "Everypony, and Discord, this is Aero, the Lady of Air, and she's-"

"Dark's big sister!" Aero interrupted as she scooped Dark up and hugged him to her chest like a stuffed teddy bear, eliciting a groan from him.

"Not that I'm complaining, but is this really necessary?" he asked.

"Let me think about it... yep. Besides, the others all did it to me when we were younger, so now it's your turn."

"Hold on a second," Rainbow intervened. "How can you be Dark's sister? You're a dragon, and he told us that his family was wiped-out by-"

"My eldest brother, Nocturne. I know," Aero sighed.

"Look," Twilight began explaining, "according to Aero, when Dark became the Lord of Death in place of Nocturne, he essentially became their newest and youngest sibling."

"And to answer your question about why I can fly without wings," Aero began answering Rainbow, "it's because of my magic."

"Pfft, figures," Rainbow muttered.

"Wait a second!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So you and Darky are really brother and sister now?!"

"Yep," Aero happily answered.

Before anyone could blink, Aero found Pinkie grinning ecstatically mere inches away from her face as she stood on top of Dark's head.

"This is so super-duper-amazing! I have to throw you two a 'I Have a New Sibling' party!"

"But, what about the others?" Twilight asked, causing Pinkie to slowly turn her head to her.

"What others are you talking about, Twilight?"

"Her three dragon siblings. Aero has two older brothers, and two older sister."

"WHAT?! So, Dark has five new brothers and sisters?! This is the greatest news ever! We need to get them over here so that they can join the party too!"

"I'm sorry," Aero slowly said, lifting Pinkie away with her tail and setting her down on the ground, "but they're not anywhere near here, so they wouldn't be able to attend."

"Awww, that's too bad. Oh, well! I can still throw one for you two."

"Thank you, but I'm not very used to being around large groups of ponies while visible."

"You did alright when you visited with my family," Twilight pointed out. "Besides, I'm sure that Pinkie can make it a private party so that you won't feel overwhelmed."

Unsure, Aero looked down to Dark as she continued to hold him against her chest, seeing him looking back up at her and giving a shrug.

"Well... if it's only us, then I suppose it's alright."

"YIPPIE!" Pinkie exclaimed with a bounce.

"Are you girls alright with going?" Twilight asked them, getting unsure nods while Fluttershy peeked out from behind Discord.

"It's alright, everypony, she won't eat or bite any of you," Dark told them.

"Speaking of them, Dark, who are they?" Aero asked before giving him a toothy grin. "Are you in one of those pony herds with them?"

"W-What?! NO! I'm in a relationship with only Twilight!"

"Oh, okay. So then, who are they all?"

"From right to left we have Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, her surrogate sister Scootaloo, Rarity and her sister Sweetie Belle, Applejack, her big brother, Big Macintosh, and their little sister Apple Bloom, Discord, the Lord of Chaos, and behind him is Fluttershy."

"A pleasure to meet you all," Aero said with a small bow. "But why is Fluttershy hiding behind Discord like that?"

"Sorry, I didn't get to tell you yet," Twilight began answering. "Please don't take it personal, it's just that Fluttershy has a fear of dragons."

"I see, but I can assure you that I'm not like most other dragons."

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry," Fluttershy squeaked. "I-I just find d-d-dragons to be s-s-scary."

"You don't need to be sorry. I understand that not everyone likes dragons, but hopefully someday we can overcome that?"

"M-Maybe s-someday."

"Thank you," Aero softly thanked before looking up to Discord. "Nice to see that you're not causing anymore destructive chaos, Discord."

"Ahh, Lady Aero," Discord smiled. "You haven't aged a day. How long has it been since I've last seen you and your siblings in the flesh? One? Two thousand years?"

"Since you've seen us, maybe. When we heard of your escape and release, we've kept an eye out for any of your chaos."

"Pardon me, Miss Aero, but if you've been keeping an eye out for his chaos, then why didn't you know of us already?" Rarity wondered, examining Aero.

"We only looked out for him and his chaos specifically, not those he associated himself with."

"Ah, I see."

"Is there something that I can help you with?" Aero asked, noticing Rarity's gaze upon her and snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for staring at you like that," Rarity apologized. "I was just admiring how beautiful your white coat is. It's so slick and almost shiny."

"Thank you."

"So, Aero," Twilight spoke, "what brings you here today?"

"Huh? Oh, right... well, that can wait until later," she said, trying to hide the hint of nervousness in her voice. "It's rather poor news and not exactly the thing for everyone to hear. I can tell you later about it."

"Okay."

"Thank you. So then, it looked like you were about to do something before I showed up?"

"You bet we were," Applejack answered. "We were about ta have ourselves a snowball fight, but we had a little problem with evenly dividing up the teams. Now that you're here though, we can have a fair fight."

"A 'snowball fight'?" Aero repeated with a small smile. "Ooh! I used to have those with my sister Aques when we were hatchlings."

"Does that mean that you're in?"

"Yep!"

"Great, but first, could you put me down please?" Dark asked.

Remembering that she was still holding him, Aero let out a giggle before setting Dark back onto the ground. Once his hooves and claws were back on the ground, Dark arched his back with a few audible pops.

"Alright then, here are the rules," Applejack began explaining. "Ta make things fair for everyone, besides castin' spells ta give us some light, there'll be no magic allowed. Everythin' ya build or throw will be done by hoof or claw. Also, no usin' your wings for anythin'. Ah'm lookin' at you, RD."

"What?! Why me?!" Rainbow irritatedly complained.

"Because the last time we did, you created a blizzard over on our side while your team continued ta throw snowballs at us!"

"... fine."

"Okay, we know the rules now," Pinkie said before pulling out a white military jacket and hat out from her mane and slipping it on in a single motion, "so let's get to the snowball fighting already!"

Splitting up into two teams, they began their snowball fight with Rainbow, Scootaloo, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applejack, Applebloom, and Spike on one team, while the other team was comprised of Twilight, Dark, Discord, Fluttershy, Aero, Big Mac, and Pinkie. After casting a few spells to give them some light to allow them to see in the early setting sun, both teams began creating their walls of snow. By the time their thirty minutes of preparation had passed by, Rainbow's team looked proudly at their team's six foot tall by twelve foot long wall of snow. Once they turned around to see the other team's wall, each of their mouths dropped as they saw a twelve foot by thirty foot long wall of snow, complete with parapets, towers at each corner, a gate, and even a drawbridge with chains, all made of snow.

"Gosh darn it, Discord!" Applejack snapped. "Ah said no magic!"

"This wasn't my doing!" Discord said defensively.

"Oh, yeah? Then how did y'all make that snow castle in such a short amount of time?"

"I was meeee~" Pinkie sang from the center of the gate with a grin. "And you better get ready, because I hereby declare snowy war on you!"

Pulling a nearby lever, the snowy gate dropped while the drawbridge of snow was pulled up by snowy chains before it sealed the gate. Watching Pinkie take her place upon the wall, she and the rest of her team each armed themselves with a snowball before throwing them at Rainbow's team. Taking shelter behind their wall of snow, they each grabbed a snowball and blindly threw them back.

"Next time, Applejack," Rainbow grunted as she threw another snowball, "we need to add to the rules that Pinkie can't do stuff like that."

"Ah agree," Applejack grunted.

"Take cover!" Spike shouted, ducking for cover.

Curious, Applejack and Rainbow both peeked out from over their wall of snow to see a grinning Pinkie sitting on top of her party cannon that was aimed directly at them. Seeing that it was primed and filled with snow, they looked to each other and sighed.

"And her party cannon too."

---

After Pinkie had fired her snow-filled party cannon, there wasn't much left of the other team's wall and soon surrendered. After that, they quickly made a rule that Pinkie wasn't allowed to do whatever she just did to create that snow castle again, which also included the usage of her party cannon. Agreeing to switch sides to makeup for it, both teams repaired the damages that their new bases had taken before starting another round.

A few hours later, everyone who'd participated in the snowball fight was lounging around in Sugarcube Corner with a cup of hot chocolate, and a slice of cake. Deciding that it would be efficient and everyone would already be gathered together, Pinkie went on ahead and threw Dark and Aero's party. After the snowball fight though, instead of serving her usual punch, she exchanged it for a few thermoses of hot chocolate. Half way through the party, Dark ordered some ice-cream for the Crusaders and Spike. When he was asked why, he told them that it was because he owed them, which was technical true on his part, but wouldn't go into detail about it.

While they sat and relaxed from the eventful afternoon, they'd gathered around and began talking to Aero. Or, most of them anyway as Fluttershy opted to partially hide behind Discord. As time went by though, she slowly started getting used to Aero, but not quite enough to completely come out from behind her hiding spot.

A few moments after they talked with Aero, Rarity brought back the topic of Twilight's gift. With that reminder, Twilight teleported the item from her bedroom over to her. Smiling happily at it, she laid it gently on the table for everyone to see. While most were in awe at the necklace, Rarity began to closely examine it while Aero looked at it with a hit of shock and hunger. Noticing the look she was giving it, Dark quickly gave her a warning glare, which she saw and ceased anymore thoughts about eating it.

As they continued to admire Twilight's necklace, the sound of Apple Bloom yawning reminded them of how late it was starting to get. After helping Pinkie clean up after the party, they each went their separate ways for the night. However, seeing as Aero still had something to say, Twilight offered for her to stay over for the night, to which she accepted and followed her, Dark, and Spike to the castle.

By the time they got there, Spike had fallen asleep on Dark's back. After bringing him up to his bedroom and tucking him in, Dark made his way back down to meet up with Twilight and Aero in the lounge. Once he was seated down by Twilight on the couch, they both looked over just as Aero got herself comfortable on the couch opposite from them.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay here for the night," Aero thanked Twilight. "This is a really beautiful castle you have."

"Thank you," Twilight thanked.

"Now then, onto why I'm originally here. Remember back when I had to leave you abruptly on Hearth's Warming Eve?"

"Yeah, I remember," Dark nodded.

"Well, as it turned out, I was right."

"About what?" Twilight asked. "You didn't tell us anything about why you had to leave so suddenly."

"I know, and I apologize for that. But first, is there a way to talk to the other princesses? It's important that they all know about this too."

"One moment."

Using her magic, Twilight teleported a crystal over to her and began pouring her magic into it, causing it to project a screen up above it. A few moments later, the screen was split, showing a tired Cadence and a curious Luna.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna addressed. "This is quite the surprise call you've made."

"What is it, Twilight?" Cadence tiredly asked before noticing Aero in the background. "Oh, hello again... Aero, was it?"

"What?"

"Hello again, Cadence," Aero said with a small bow.

"Wait a moment," Luna told them, "are you saying that this dragoness that we're speaking to is one of the Scaleless Dragons?"

"Yep. I'm Aero, the Lady of Air."

"... please excuse me for a moment while I go get my sister."

In a flash of light, Luna was gone, leaving only the image of the throne on her half of the screen. A few seconds later in another flash, she returned with a slightly-disheveled Celestia standing by her side looking at the screen with wide eyes.

"Well now, this is rather unexpected," Celestia said. "To what do we owe this pleasure, Lady Aero."

"Are you aware that I was in Canterlot last week?" Aero asked.

"Yes, Twilight told me about your visit and how you've adopted Dark as your sibling."

"True, but while I was here, we also talked a bit. One topic was about a certain pony who managed to escape from Twilight and Princess Luna."

Luna furrowed her brows. "You talk about the fugitive that got away from us, correct?"

"Yes. Twilight explained to me how he got away, and I think I might know who this pony is."

"You do?"

"Well, sorta."

"Care to elaborate for us?" Celestia asked.

"Of course. Now, I didn't find anything about this pony unusual at first, but after what Twilight and Dark both told me about the details of them being blinded, I had a suspicion of who, or rather, what this pony could be. After hearing about it, I left Canterlot and made my way towards my sister's sanctuary."

"Are you talking about Aques?" Twilight asked.

"No, Twilight, I mean my eldest sister, Aurora." Aero took a moment to steady herself. "You see, after hearing that this pony casted a blinding spell that had a hidden aurora borealis within it, I went to Aurora's Sanctuary and found evidence that she'd taken an apprentice."

"Wait," Luna interrupted. "Do you mean to tell us that you take on apprentices?"

"It shouldn't be that hard to believe, Luna," Celestia calmly said. "After all, Twilight was my student."

"Well, we used to anyway. At one time, we would scour the world in search of an apprentice to teach. However, throughout our thousands of years of searching, it was only Nocturne who was able to find himself a promising candidate. He was the first and last apprentice that any of us had taken... until now."

"Why's that? Did something happen to the apprentice?" Cadence wondered.

"Kinda. While he was very gifted with Nocturne's type of magic, he was also corrupted and evil. After a few years of training, he became dissatisfied with the rate of progress and demanded more power."

"And Nocturne didn't take too kindly to that," Dark said with an eye-roll.

"Correct. Nocturne told him to remember his place as his apprentice, but instead attacked Nocturne. Nocturne trained him so well in that short amount of time though, that by the time their battle was over, the apprentice managed to escape Nocturne with one of his fangs, and his Death Reaper."

"What's a 'Death Reaper'?" Celestia asked.

"It's the name of Nocturne's Living Weapon," Dark answered.

"So we have an unaccounted Living Weapon somewhere in Equestria?! How long ago did this happen, Aero?!"

"Calm down, Princess. It happened little over a thousand years ago, so you shouldn't have to worry about it anymore," Aero calmly answered Celestia.

"But if he was a student of Nocturne, then shouldn't we be worrying about him returning?"

"No. While Nocturne did teach him his magic, he didn't pass on anything that would allow him to prolong his lifespan, so he should've died a long time ago."

"Okay, but what does this have to do with this apprentice of Aurora's?" Twilight asked.

"After his apprentice fled, Nocturne forbade any of us from taking on any apprentices in fear of having a repeat. I don't know why she did, but Aurora must've found a candidate and took them in. And now, Nocturne's fears have been realized as history has repeated itself."

"You mean that Aurora's apprentice fought her?"

"And somehow won and killed her," Aero said, eliciting a small gasp from everyone but Dark.

"But that can't be! When Dark was sent into the other world, the balance of death was thrown out of balance. If what you say is true, then wouldn't that mean the end of new life?"

"It would, but Aurora isn't exactly dead."

"Could you be a little more specific?" Cadence asked.

"Of course. You see, since Aurora is the Lady of Life, she has a unique ability that'll allow her to be reborn as an egg instead of dying."

"She's alive then?"

"Yes, she is. In a few years, she'll hatch from her egg with all of her memories intact. Until then, my siblings and I are keeping a very close watch on her egg, for if she's killed as an egg, then she's gone for good."

"Okay, but how was she defeated to begin with?" Dark asked. "From what I was told, the only things that could kill her and Nocturne are life and death magic."

"True, but a weapon enchanted with either magic at the time could have the same result."

"So, any weapon could've been used on her?" Cadence questioned.

"Yes. From the wounds that I saw on her body, I could easily tell that it was from a bladed weapon. And that besides the weapon enchantment, no other magic was used on her."

"Twilight, didn't the fugitive have a sword strapped to his belt when he fled?" Luna asked.

"I think he did," she unsurely answered before looking back over to Aero. "Is there anything else that we should know about?"

"There are a few, but..."

"Yes?"

"Well... it's about our fangs. Before I say anything though, none of you can speak of this to anyone else, alright?" Aero asked, getting a nod from everyone present. "In that case, our fangs are rather precious to us."

"Why?" Twilight curiously asked.

"Because each of our fangs has an amount of our power stored within them, but there's a catch. If one of our fangs are removed before we die, then it'll contain our power, but if it's removed after we're dead, then the magic within it will fade."

"Is that why both Nocturne's and Aurora's apprentices took a fang?"

"That would be my guess. It would be even worse if he used that fang in place of a unicorn horn."

"Ponies can't do that though," Celestia told her.

"With one of our fangs, they very well can," Aero corrected. "Even if they're not a unicorn, they can still attach the fang to their forehead and use it in place of a unicorn horn. However, if they're a pegasus or an earth pony, then they'll have a harder time using their new powers at first. But it'll still doable for them once some time passes, like six to eight months."

"Okay. So, is there anything else that we need to know on that subject?" Twilight asked.

"No, that is all."

"Alright. Now, what about the other thing that we should know about?"

"This one specifically involves Dark."

"Hmm?" Dark hummed questionably.

"To put it bluntly, Pyre is very mad about Aurora being reverted back into an egg, and wants to come and see you once winter is over with."

"Okay, but why?"

"He didn't say. All he told me was that he wanted to see you as soon as he could, so he'll be coming over to visit you on the first day of spring."

"He won't be causing my ponies any problems, will he?" Celestia concerningly asked.

"No, he won't. All he wants to do is to meet with Dark and talk with him about a few things. He didn't tell me anything else after that."

"Very well then. However, Luna and/or I might drop in to see him after he arrives."

"I'll let him know when I return home," Aero smiled.

"Thank you. Now then, if none of you would mind, I'm going to get myself some sleep before I have to raise the sun."

"Alright. Goodnight, Princess Celestia."

"And a goodnight to you too, Lady Aero."

Following their lead, everyone else there gave their goodnights to each other before heading off to bed.

---

In the frozen north, just a few miles south of the Crystal Empire, the cloaked stallion wandered the peaceful, snowy landscape, his surroundings illuminated by the bright lights of the aurora borealis overhead. If anypony saw him, they might think that he'd gotten himself lost, but that was far from the truth as he knew his destination... or, at least the general area. Continuing in a straight line, he came to an area and stopped, took a moment to scan the area around his hooves, then begun to dig through the snow. As time went by, he would dig in one spot before moving to another just a few feet away in search for something.

"Where is it?!" he asked himself in a huff. "I can clearly sense it, so I know it's somewhere around here."

For the next half-hour, he dug around the nearby area. Soon enough, after over an hour of digging, he finally found what he was sensing. As he looked upon it though, he was mildly confused as to what he found.

"What the Tartarus?" he muttered, taking the item into his hoof and examining it. "Is... this a dragon's fang? How did it get all the way up here... and why do I sense life coming from it?"

Examining it closer, he began to notice some of the details about it. While it was unusual for a fang's color to be a dark-gray like this, what made it more curious was that the color changed to red the closer towards the tip it went. Unsure what to make of it and feeling a headache coming on, he began to rub his forehead before bumping his hoof against his horn. Sparing it a glace, he then noticed the similarities between his curved horn, and the fang he was holding in his hoof. Feeling a spark of realization, his eyes darted between the two as a wide grin spread across his face.

"No... it's not a fang... and yet it is." Feeling a sense of excitement, he laughed loudly out into the night sky. "This is unbelievable! I can't believe that somepony else had the same idea of turning a Scaleless Dragon's fang into a unicorn horn! You, my soon-to-be friend, are coming with me. And after I regenerate you in a few months, we'll see if we can't work out a new partnership."

Comments

[Mythic Night]

I feel like you should really try to narrow the focus of the tags, considering it basically covers EVERYTHING except Slice of Life, and I suspect the only reason you don't have it ALSO cover Slice of Life is because the system won't allow it alongside the Adventure tag.

Having said that, I haven't actually read any of your story yet, it's just hard to even know as a new reader what I'm getting into when the variety of tags tells me the answer is basically "EVERYTHING!!!"

[Gem of Memory]

Oh s*** Sombra's coming back!

[Snowfyre]

the return of Sombra!

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Oh... Crap...
Awesome work as always, keep it up!

[Kingmoonwar19]

More

[Snow]

Problem || Correction

Ch. 47: So then, why are they all?" || So then, who are they all?"
Ch. 47: "I-I'm just find d-d-dragons || "I-I just find d-d-dragons
Ch. 47: Well, we use anyway || Well, we used to anyway

Critique:
Ch. 47: Light Wing, Sombra, repeated encounters in which they make nuisances of themselves and Dark demonstrates new powers now and then, making escapes each time, or decoys, one of the two of them stealing the Death Reaver, which eventually turns out to be a death sentence instead, Sombra betrays Light Wing in a tearful attempt at making him seem like an actual character rather than a plot device, big showdown with Sombra, possibly at which point the Death Reaver turns on the jackoff with a stair fetish creating an opening for him to be killed, everypony lives happily ever after until the next big batch of nonsense. Plus or minus advice from Aurora after her hatching.

Other extremely likely outcomes involve Sombra being a throwaway character and it being Light Wing filling in the final boss slot, but this would defeat the SPOOKY OMINOUS WARNING and GLOOMY DOOMY FORESHADOWING about the scythe and the fang.

Red Herring: A distraction to fool readers familiar with the concept of a literary conservation of detail in that any property or item described significantly will inevitably show up as something important to the story later on. You may wish to use a few of these.

The story's interesting, and not beyond the point of no return, but thus far it's been very predictable and straight forward. I'm pretty sure a lot of people realized that Light Wing was the SPOOKY UNNAMED CLOAKED PONY way back around the time it was revealed that they didn't get along and LW hated Dark's guts and had a bad case of horn envy. So the eventual big reveal won't really... affect readers. Like, at all. That said, if you as the author realize this issue, you can play on it and, for example, twist at the last second to another sensible, but unpredicted choice. Too far and it breaks suspension of disbelief, though.

I suggest thinking long and hard about the story you want to tell. If I managed to guess within a reasonable degree of accuracy how the rest of this story is going to play out, others can too. Sometimes it's better to look at what you have planned and imagine a few of the ways it could go off the rails, then give serious consideration to letting it, if any of them seem interesting enough.

[Nightingalehound]

He's about to make a big mistake.

[Skoll]

7164394 I'd think she should probably be a unicorn so it's less confusing, but then again it would be hilarious if Dark Flame would come home to find two Twilight Sparkles

[Hewolf]

Im just curious, is there gonna be a chapter or two following spike and the crusaders being together?

[Garuda IV]

7167790 I have some in mind. Right now, one will take up a good chunk of the chapter while the other will revolve mainly around them. And while I do have them planned out, I'm still open for ideas.

[Hewolf]

7167883
I know ONE thing Id like to see a brief appearance of. they go and see the NEW look for Blueblood!!!! *EvilLaugh*

[Truthseeker]

Well now we know where Sombra got his power.

[Jonny Bench]

Great way to explain king sombra to everyone

[Hipparcos]

Spike seems a bit jaded to the whole Dark/Twilight thing.

[Amos Anon]

"Because whenever we play that game, you always win because Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I can only pick rock."

Haha, nice.