The Rise of Species: Dragons

by Zarmflamekin

Dragons: The Gathering

Spike was slow to stir from his sleep. As he slowly came to consciousness, he groggily noted how rested he felt. Apparently not having an active consciousness when you should be sleeping helps. What did make him wake up a bit faster was the weird bed he was on, because for one it was a rock, and for a second, it was warm.

Spike propped himself up and looked around in a small panic before remembering he was supposedly in Dazzle’s house at the moment, but he oddly felt at home. Aside from the bed being a large, round, heated rock, the room was circular with only one archway out, the walls were bare of any sort of remembrance, with only what looked like a dresser with a finely polished emerald on top, all lit by a low glowing crystal in the ceiling.

There was a silent voice saying Dazzle slept here rather than lived here. But seeing as Twilight and Dazzle were both absent, Spike was pretty sure they were both up already and were kind enough to let him sleep. As he was now confidently awake, Spike hopped off the bed and made his way to the door.

The room beyond further reinforced the idea of this being a sleeping space rather than living space because Spike found himself in a large oval room, an extensive set of cabinets and shelves set to his left, and a low table and couch-like setting to his left, again lit by a crystal in the ceiling above them, though quite a bit brighter. Immediately ahead of him was the door to the outside, there was nothing else to Dazzle’s living arrangement, and honestly, Spike couldn’t tell if he liked this or the expansive castle better.

“Spike! Nice to see you’re finally up.” Twilight chirped. She was sitting on the couch, apparently expecting for Dazzle to show her something, as she was currently digging through a cabinet. “Did Pyrathy visit you again?” That made Dazzle quickly stop her search and pop her head out expectantly.

“No, not tonight, I’m right and rested now.” Spike exemplified as he began twirling his right arm backwards. Dazzle rolled her eyes and went back to her search. Twilight smiled and patted the stone next to her. Spike happily obliged as he hustled over and hopped up beside her, taking a surprised second to find the seat was also warmed, but to a lesser extent than the bed.

“I see you’re quick to notice.” Twilight chuckled. “Do you like it? Dazzle showed me how to make some of the etchings myself.”

“Really?” Spike glowed, as it was a very comfortable seat. Normally any seat they had at the castle was rather cold or fluffy, but the firmness and the heat just felt right to him.

“Yeah, and the temperature controls to.” Dazzle chuckled as she pulled away from the surprisingly dark cabinet with a rather large slab. “You should have seen her when she first plopped down, she practically flew to the ceiling!”

Spike snrked at the image of Twilight’s butt on fire as she was launched from the couch, to which Twilight firmly coughed.

“As it was, I believe there was something you wanted to show me?” Twilight redirected the conversation.

“Yes yes, it’s right here.” Dazzle hefted the tablet up a little before tucking it under one arm. She walked to the side of the table and reached to the floor, to which she seemed to pull a Discord and pull a stone sitting chair out of the ground. Spike could only stare wide eyed and slack jawed at the spectacle. For Discord, he wouldn’t blink an eye, but Dazzle?

“I know right?!” Twilight gestured at the chair. “She did the same thing for this couch! It’s apparently somewhat like your cup from last night, except she can put the stone back!”

Dazzle sighed. “It’s like you two have never seen geoforming before.” She said as she sat down, holding the slab against her.

“Because we haven’t!” Spike let out. “That is so cool! I wanna do it!”

“Maybe later Spike.” Dazzle smiled almost nostalgically. “But here’s what you wanted Twilight.” Dazzle set the tablet down on the table.

It was a picture oddly enough, somewhat like any polaroid like they would have, except the borders were stone. It depicted a much smaller Dazzle, with horns barely sticking out and wings lax at her side, smiling as she was held in the crook of an arm by a much larger, pale yellow dragoness with matching amber eyes who took up most of the rest of the frame. Spike could easily tell who this was, and looked up between the two as to why Dazzle would take out a photo of her mother.

“It’s the last one.” Dazzle admitted. “Any other memorabilia were destroyed to erase her shame on the clan. I had a few more, but they were forced down by others.” Spike couldn’t help but well up with a few tears as Dazzle forlornly looked over their head, presumably where a previous picture hung.

“Well, nopony else is going to take this from you.” Twilight said as she charged her horn. A soft purple beam cast down and around the picture, engulfing it in its glow until a beam shot out toward the top of the door leading outside. As the spell concluded, the magic faded and Twilight smiled. “There, nopony should be able to take it outside or break it without you or a mountain of forced behind them.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Dazzle smiled as she took the photo into her room, Twilight looking after her with what looked like pity.

“So how did bringing out mom pictures come about?” Spike asked.

“Hm? Oh, well the doorbell rang, waking Dazzle and I up. Dazzle went to answer, but turned out that I was right about last night and the Broiled Pit delivered a breakfast for me. So that turned into a bit of an awkwardly silent breakfast before she started to ask what it’s been like living with and raising you, and we got to chatting, and I brought up Early Light, and she said she only had two things left from her. One is the emerald on that dresser, and the other was that photo, and she asked me if I knew some protection spells to put on it. I didn’t know it was the last one though.” Twilight explained.

“I had even forgotten I had it when the sweep came through.” Dazzle added as she came back. “It was about a month or so before I found it at the bottom of some amethysts. It’s from when I first properly sprouted these.” She continued as she sat back down, patting her horns. “But a few years later, she... changed.”

There was an awkward pause as the heavy subject hit the room, but Spike was quick to pick up something else.

“Speaking of breakfast, is there a ruby or a sapphire I could have?” He asked, gaining a bemused humph from Dazzle.

“Sure, grab a few from the cabinet one in from the right and toss some my way, I’m still a bit peckish myself.”

Spike was all too happy to oblige as he hopped out of his seat and jogged over to the specified cabinet. As he opened it, however, he had to marvel at the site of a row of rubies as wide as he could stretch his arms spanning further back than the light showed. After the shock wore off somewhat, he grabbed four decently sized rubies and turned back to the others, closing the door with his tail as he did.

“How do you even have so many?” Spike asked as he walked over, handing two rubies off to Dazzle.

“Their mostly payment for the things I do. Messenger, patrol, breakdown, whelp sitting, you name it.” Dazzle said as she bit into a ruby, relishing the flavor. “Mhmph, good pick, nice and smooth.”

“It’s a talent.” Spike smirked as he hopped up back next to Twilight, munching into his own gem.

“That does sound like a lot to do Dazzle.” Twilight commented. “Especially for a chief’s daughter. Shouldn’t you be learning how to lead your clan when Mourning Star passes it on?”

“Anything specific is for when Mourning Star chooses the next chief, and until then I’m just getting to know the people who will get to know me and defend the clan like any other member would. The only real privilege for me right now is going to any big clan leader meeting, like the one today.” Dazzle waved dismissively between bites of her gems.

“What one today?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, when that delivery came by, it was super busy outside. You can’t tell right now because there’s a noise cancelation rune - another rune I really loved to learn, by the way- around the door. Apparently Mourning Star made an announcement to a lot of different clans he was going to be saying something important and wanted others to hear, so everypony else was scrambling to set up for them.” Twilight explained.

“Oh no, how long was I asleep? Do we need to be there right now?” Spike began to fret.

“Relax Spike, all we have to do is walk outside.” Dazzle tried to placate. “You did cut it a bit close, but we should still have a bit before any other clans show up and we should probably show our faces.”

“Cutting it close? What time is it?”

“It’s about 11:30 or so.” Twilight answered. “from what we gathered, the announcement shouldn’t be happening until-“

She was cut off as a massive shaking came through the den. The three craned their necks to see out the door, and while it might have been silent, there was quite a commotion as dragons seemed to be scurrying about. Dazzle stood up, laced her fingers, and stretched her arms over her head, letting her wings flare out in the process.

“Well, better go greet the guests. Come out when you’re done.” Dazzle indicated to Spike’s remaining half-eaten ruby as she walked away.”

“Guess we have some early arrivals.” Twilight chuckled as Spike nervously nibbled on his snack. “The announcement shouldn’t be for a half hour or so.” Twilight noticed Spike’s distant stare as he nibbled, obviously terrified of something, but not so much guttural fear as more like stage fright. She nudged him in the shoulder, gaining his attention. She put her hoof to her chest, took a deep breath, and exhaled as she moved her hoof away. Spike smiled back as he took his gem out of his mouth, closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, deeming to forego any gesture.

“Thank’s Twi.” Spike sighed.

“Not a problem Spike.”

“Um, guys?” Dazzle said as she peeked back into her den. “You may want to come see this.”

Spike and Twilight gave each other a bit of a worried look. Twilight left to follow Dazzle while Spike took a second to finish his gem and quickly hurried after them.

What Spike immediately notice was that they were on the bottom ring of the crater with the market a fair bit away with a multitude of dragons standing still and looking up above him. Dazzle and Twilight were still a bit away to see whatever it was that was above them, so Spike made his way to them, turning as he did. Turning, Spike only saw the second ring, but as he jogged cautiously backward, looking up, he could see the head of a massive dragon poking over the edge far above them. This slightly confused Spike as to why dragons would be shocked to see dragons, but as he got closer to Dazzle and Twilight, he began to see why.

These were not dragons as he had seen around here. Their heads seemed flatter and they did not have any horns, nor wings. At least not from their backs. These dragons stood on all fours with their wings seeming to be splayed from their wrist and elbows.

These were Wyverns.

And if Spike knew anything from his readings and dealings, Dazzle’s clan and pretty much any dragon that did not look like them, were on extremely bad terms.

There seemed to be three of them, one massive deep green one and two smaller ones at the lip of the crater, though who knew if there were more behind them. They seemed content to dismissively gaze over the crater until an irritatingly familiar voice rang out from within the market area.

“What are you doing here?!” Starset bellowed. Spike looked behind him to see the drake taking to the air, putting himself halfway between the Wyverns and the rest of the market.

The main, massive wyvern seemed to have expected this, as there was a small raise to the corner of their lips. “We were invited whelp.” Came an oddly cold, motherly voice. “Your preparations are as obvious as the invitation was sudden, but at least you knew to expect guests today. So don’t be so surprised when a guest arrives.” There was a knowing, cold smile to follow her words.

“We wouldn’t invite worms like you here.” Starset glared back.

“Learn your biology, meathead!” One of the smaller wyverns snapped back. “We’re wyverns, not wyrms!” Spike had a small chuckle at both the misunderstanding and the apt comeback, as indeed, wyrms were much more serpentine in nature.

“There’s no difference to make between the lesser races.” Starset snapped back.

“Watch your tongue whelp.” The main wyvern glared, obviously angered. “It is obviously not your place to know which clans were invited and who were not. Tuck your tail and speak to your chief, or continue and face me for your insults.” Smoke had begun to come from the wyvern’s nostrils as she berated Starset, who seemed to hold her glare without budging. Until…

“I will see what Mourning Star has to say about this.” He replied flatly as he turned and made his way to the center of the crater. The smaller wyvern who snapped out gave an affirmative nod at their victory, only to be smacked behind their head by the other as they made their way behind who was presumably their mother. The chief wyvern settled down and everyone else seemed to be snapped out of whatever shock they had and began frantically going about what they had before. Spike, Twilight, and Dazzle could only remain standing there blinking at the scene.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something as intense as that before.” Twilight finally said. “And I stared down Tirek.”

“I honestly didn’t know which head of his would win that debate.” Dazzle mutterd.

“So uh… I take it that other types might be showing up as well?” Spike shifted his upward gaze over to Dazzle, who in turn seemed to pale.

“You two… You two head for the center and get on the roof. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can, and if Starset gets there before me… please don’t start anything.” Dazzle said as she slowly redirected her attention to the two smaller purple beings.

“Why? What’s there?” Twilight asked.

“While I said all we would have to do is go outside, I think Mourning Star has more in mind than I thought. So you two are probably going to be major factors in today’s meeting, and that’s where anybody integral to the meeting goes if their small enough.” Dazzle explained. “Please, just trust me on this.”

“Sure.” Spike nodded. “Do what you need to and meet us when you can.”

“Thank you.” Dazzle smiled before quickly taking off toward the wyverns.

“Well, what do you think Twilight?” Spike looked over to the nervous alicorn who was currently gnawing on her bottom lip.

“I think we should do as Dazzle asked.” Was her reply, dipping her shoulder and wing for Spike to hop on without looking away from Dazzle’s form. Spike looked back and saw Dazzle hovering in front of the wyvern leader and seemed to be having a calming talk, so he hopped aboard Twilight, who promptly made her way to the center of the clan’s crater. Before having to look forward, he noticed the two smaller wyverns take note of himself and Twilight, both seeming to be fascinated.

It was only a short flight to the center, but even in that time, it seemed the wyverns weren’t the only ones who deemed it necessary to show up early to what was probably an unprecedented meeting. Spike could spot the flying, twisting form of Lung dragons on their way towards them with Amphithere dragons flying a bit more conventionally beside them. And even on the ground he could see Wyrms and Linnorms quickly making their way across the vast expanses of land. And Spike wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw some Hydra’s coming as well. Spike silently gulped as they landed.

“I don’t think we’ll need to wait to get back to Canterlot Twilight.” Spike said shakily as he hopped down.

“Yeah, I couldn’t really make them out, but there were definitely a few groups of different looking dragons on their way.” Twilight said as she began to nervously look about for anything to distract her, but all she could see on top the building that housed the stairs to go below were dragons running about with meat and material to and fro, which did not help in the slightest. Neither did it help Spike.

“Twilight,” Spike finally spoke. “Do you think you could teleport far enough behind any of the visiting dragons to get away?” That got Twilight’s attention on Spike as he watched the ongoing chaos.

“Spike, I don’t think we’ll need to-“

“No Twilight, we need to think about this.” Spike cut off as he looked up. “Just think about what I did alone in Ponyville, think of what Dazzle and Mourning Star have been like when given bad news, if tensions flare here, claws are probably coming out. And I don’t want you here if that happens.”

“Spike,” Twilight sat toward the drake. “I know this is going to be rough, but I don’t think Mourning Star would call something like this, or even these different clans would come, if this wasn’t something they were all willing to talk out. And hey, I’m a lot different from the Twilight that first moved to Ponyville. I can handle a scuffle. So don’t worry, okay?” She extended one hoof and both wings forward. Spike moved in and they embraced, taking security in one another.

“I am going to worry and you can’t stop me.” Spike said into Twilight’s chest before looking up. “But you’re going to too, aren’t you?”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah. That was about as much for me as it was for you.” The two shared a laugh as more and more differing clans showed up, pretty evenly spaced around the crater. As each clan arrived with one to five smaller representatives along side them, things seemed to settle down considerably. Dazzle seemed to have to fly to each clan head from moment to moment as others of her clan approached with what seemed to be offerings of food, and even some exchange of goods, though both could only really tell that what was passed was shiny, and nothing more.

In total, there were six outside clans present. The two were silent as they heard whispers of the gathered clans.The Lung Skywalker clan with two representatives, the Amphithere Lightspray clan with four, the Wyrm Corrupttail clan with six, the Linnorm Slither Stream clan with five, the Wyvern Loomclaw clan with three, and an actual clan of Hydra, the Bickerfin clan, with two representatives. When Dazzle finally landed next to Twilight and Spike, she seemed rather tired. She was quick to fall to her butt and lean back on her arms.

“I… have not been this stressed… since Starset started offing… us.” Dazzle panted as Twilight quickly made herself useful in trying to relieve any tension around Dazzle’s wings with her magic. Dazzle groaned in appreciation.

“Was all this really as rushed as the wyvern said?” Spike asked.

“Oh yeah.” Dazzle nodded as she tried to relax as much as possible. “Some of them were even woken up to be given the invite on a strong urging to come today. The Loomclaw and Corrupttail were especially keen on learning what Mourning Star has as a ‘big reveal’, though I obviously couldn’t tell them much.” Dazzle flexed her wings in a sign for Twilight to stop, as she did, allowing Dazzle to fold her wings back up and lean forward. “Though if I had to guess, it would either be our revelation of our Father or of the scale. Either way, I don’t see this being a short gathering.”

“Do you think it’ll turn… violent?” Spike asked, glancing to Twilight who still looked doubtful.

“I doubt it.” Dazzle said, making Twilight smugly, but hearteningly smile. “If anyone were to cause a ruckus, it would be us of the Dawn Star clan, or anyone like us. We tend to have the shortest tempers in a meeting like this, but if we’re hosting, it’s obviously not a good idea to blow our own lid.” With a short pause, Dazzle looked around the roof. “I thought it was too quiet. Where’s Starset?”

“Not here. Last I saw he went down to talk to Mourning Star.” Spike said.

“He might be coming up with him then.” Dazzle muttered as she covered her mouth in thought. “It would be odd for him not to be here.”

With a rumble of warning, everyone turned toward the south, behind the Slither Stream clan. There, the ground began to crack and fall into a pit, and half a minute later the fallen away ground left a large enough hole for Mourning Star to fly out of, worryingly to Dazzle, without Starset. Mourning Star hovered for a moment as lava fell from him and the hole resealed itself, before he made his way over head and into the center of the crater. There, Mourning Star was able to land in the space between the market and the building, tightly winding himself around it before standing tall with Twilight, Spike, and Dazzle below him. There was some shifting among the visiting clans to all be within his sight so that he wouldn’t need to turn around.

“Chiefs, and their children, I thank you for being here on such short notice.” Mourning Star began, immediately gaining a raised brow from the Lung and Wyrm dragons. “I know it is not often that those of… ‘pure’ clans call on you, but much has been told to me in the last 24 hours.” Mourning Star’s use of air quotes on pure was lost on nobody. For the other clans, it was a term to sneer and eyeroll at, as to be a pure dragon, and it’s demeaning by a ‘pure’ clan leader was something as to unheard of. For those of the Dawn Star clan, this was a panic of identity, but for as long as their chief spoke, they may learn why he spoke as he did.

“We of the Dawn Star are… not innocent of many transgressions commonly held by the clans gathered here, of that I am sure. But may I introduce a guest whom arrived yesterday with many revelations.” Mourning Star Lowered his hand level to the three gathered, his middle claw briefly tapping Spike’s chest. And even for a tap it was still a rather hefty push on Spike, but he kept his footing, but felt all eyes on him. “This is Spike, of No Clan. He, as well as my daughter Dazzle, were Called upon by our Father for-“

“Ugh, this spew again.” The head of the Lung dragons sighed. “If this is just to lord over this so called ‘calling’ you have, we’re done here.” The Skywalker clan turned to leave.

“Wait!” Spike yelled out, turning the younger Skywalker’s head. “This isn’t entirely about Pyrathy, I swear!”

That made the elder Skywalker stiffen. “Who?” The lung dragon turned and strut back to the crater’s edge, claws digging into the rock. “Who is this not about?”

“P-Pyrathy, Sir!” Spike spoke out as loud as he could, only now realizing Twilight was helping project his voice.

“Why would a purest meet with the father of all Lung dragons?” The dragon scoffed.

“Lung dragons?” The Wyrm chief snarked. “Pyrathy was the first of all Wyrms after shedding his limbs to escape the Purge!”

Bickering soon spread amongst all of the clans present, clan chiefs arguing Pyrathy’s true form, their children arguing between each other and the Dawn Star clan of who was Pyrathy the true father of. Only Mourning Star stayed silent, waiting out what he had thought might have happened. It was cut surprisingly short by his source of surprises. There was only a small quirk of his brow as a purple mass came up beside his head.

“ENOUGH!” Spike shouted in his best approximation of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “WE ARE FAR OFF TOPIC! IF THIS IS TO GO ANYWHERE, HEAR MOURNING STAR OUT IN HIS ENTIRETY!” Spike was breathing heavily and his vocal cords hurt, but he saw the Dawn Star dragons slinking back to the crater and representatives coalesced back together. Small nods were exchanged between Mourning Star and Spike as Twilight lowered them back to the roof, Dazzle seeming to have disappeared, only to be scurrying back with a pitcher and glass. Once Morning Star noted the care of the young drake did he once again address the gathering.

“It seems He has been revered so much as to blind us to His unifying power between us all. Of that, Spike has… a unique stance, as his egg survived the Purge.” There was a sharp intake of breath from all around. And before anything else could protest, he added “And was subsequently cared for by ponies.”

Mourning Star looked between the chiefs and their kin for any dissent, but there only seemed to be quizitive looks and nods of understanding. It seemed as if Spike’s words rang within each of them, and were waiting for Mourning Star to be completely finished.

“As he is, Spike met with our Father and was tasked with changing our society. A tall order from anyone, to be sure, but my daughter, Dazzle, lead him to us, to where we truly deem if one of our clan had been called.” Mourning Star was silent for a moment before continuing on to reveal his clan’s closest secret.

“There is a reason our clan’s location has been so profitable for trade and craft, and that is because of a continuous flow of lava. However, this is not natural, as it is perpetuated by an ancient scale, forever keeping a fresh flow of lava. And from chiefs before me and the stories of the creation of this crater, we believed it as a blessing of Pyrathy.”

“And you would keep such a relic from-!” The Loomclaw wyvern chief began before being multi-shushed by the Bickerfin Hydra chief.

“I admit, we kept it as a secret, but not just from you, but from other ‘pure’ clans as well. It was meant to keep us forever prosperous. And as one of our Called were to come back, we would bring them before the scale, and in its glow, we would know the Scale of Pyrathy would recognize its owner. But I and the chiefs before me were wrong, and I know this now because of Spike. It did not glow in recognition of its owner, but of its enemy.” Mourning Star seemed to struggle to get the next words out. “I-It’s not our Father’s scale, but the scale of our Scourge and His mother, Tiamat.”

That sparked an outcry from not the gathered outsiders, but instead Mourning Star’s own clan. Cries of anger from being lied to, shouts of confusion on what this meant for the clan, accusations of blasphemy, all of these were directed toward Mournins Star, and while wearing a stone mask of emotion, the three below him could feel his trembling around them. Spike could even spot the pain in Mourning Star’s eyes, but even before he could say anything, it was Dazzle who flew up to address her clan.

“Enough!” She sliced her arms apart, getting very little reaction, but a small amount did stop, and those who did nudged their neighbor, and while gradual, the clan was eventually calmed to listen. “Your pain and confusion is valid, but we cannot act on what we do not know. We have only learned of this yesterday, and today we act. Don’t bemoan, act! And that’s exactly what we’re doing! So listen.” With that, dazzle lowered herself back down, allowing her chief to continue. Mourning Star, in turn sighed, and then chuckled, causing everyone else to become confused.

“And just as before, the Scale’s influence can easily become apparent.” Mourning Star explained. “It is invisible to us, as we have probably been under its influence for far too long, and blind to our own stagnation.” A smile was offered down to Twilight in trying to look into their own latent magic. “Yesterday, as I was to present Spike to the Scale, he reacted far more violently to even being in the same room as the Scale, hastily leaving and losing his meal outside.” There were a few small, cold chuckles from the smaller dragons of the gathered clans, and those within the Dawn Star clan, making Spike retract in shame, but made Mourning Star’s gaze harden.

“He did so upon seeing a massacre I know none of my clan of ever seeing. Those of the Dawn Star know the Scale’s house, now imagine it filled with the carnage and carcasses of endless hunts, ever flowing, ever savage, to see any and everything eviscerated.” There were clearly some in the crowd, and even of the foreign clans looking away in discomfort, but Mourning Star relented. “But even from there, when I learned of a part of Spike’s past, I even turned savage on my own daughter.” That made a lot of those gathered stiffen up.

For a chief to threaten their own line, while unwise, is also near taboo unless the spawn had greatly shamed the clan. This seemed to be universal amongst the gathered clans, though some of the Dawn Star slouched in disappointment that Dazzle wasn’t currently dead. Mourning Star continued.

“The Scale has corrupted us to such a point where we can snap at the most minor of displeasantries, such as learning we had served a lie. But, this is why I wanted to move upon this information so quickly.” Mourning Star looked to each of the gathered clan chiefs. “Skywalker, Lightspray, Courrupttail, Slither Stream, Loomclaw, Bickerfin, I asked you here today to start a… mending of our clans. I know that this will not be solved in a day, but we have been a species divided for long enough. So much can have been changed, lost, or warped between so many different sources for no real reason. If you would, I would ask in your assistance in this goal.”

Silence reigned after Mourning Star’s proposal. The Dawn Star could add nothing, and the entourage of the gathered clans could not speak for their clans. It wasn’t until there was an unsettling and unnatural chuckle from the Corrupttail chief that evolved into full blown laughter at Mourning Star.

“You expect it to be that easy? You, of a clan that didn’t deem it necessary to be anything but dragons because you were ‘pure’? Do you think any of us have forgotten.?” The chief gestured to the collective chiefs with his tail. “Do you think you have been forgiven?” He roared as his tail slammed into the ground. “Your kind was the kind that deemed to purge us!”

“And rightly so.” An unpleasant voice rang from below Spike. “You came at our beck and call, and yet interrupt and berate your betters.” The building shuddered as something got caught in its only entrance, only for it to soon burst away as a vaguely familiar back emerged. Spike was sure that Starset had not been that large the night before. “And while I may not do anything to a ‘guest’, I can to a member.”

Starset turned and looked up toward his father. It was quickly noticed by Twilight and Spike that Starset’s eyes were slitted and narrow. Spike could even see the blinding red mists pouring from his eyes and even mouth. Dazzle, with her height advantage, could see something else over the destroyed ledge, causing her to gasp.

“The scale.”

“Father, I challenge your pathetic hide for the position of chief of the Dawn Star!” Starset roared defiantly.

Comments

[Nightingalehound]

Ah crap.. so, we have our first representatice of Tiamat.. should we call him a claw of tiamat, or a fang??

[RadicalDishonesty]

Things look like they are getting tense...

And possibly very bad things will happen if Starset wins.

Interesting to see that every dragon tribe believes they are all descended from the same dragon. There was an implied larger world with non Pyrathy dragons, right?

[Zarmflamekin]

8425622
In this story, Pyrathy is the father of ALL dragons. Anything relatively claiming to be a dragon came from him. The point of contention and confusion is that each clan believes themselves to be the true descendants of Pyrathy, when in fact they all are. Dragon history is a bit fuzzy as they tend to only record important figures and events such as the Purge, but due to the Purge being a fracturing of the culture, each clan has the events shaded in their own glasses, with a solid point of agreement that it was 'pure' dragons that started the whole mess.

Remember, even in their own recounting, Mourning Star says that Tiamat was the daughter of Pyrathy and hardly worth recalling past her involvement with Pyrathy. (This is slightly due to the fact that she was sealed away and thus was never seen nor heard from by any of the clans.) Their histories have spiraled out to the point, where if they all started in Greece, we would have Germans, French, and Spaniards by now.