The Rise of Species: Dragons

by Zarmflamekin

The Changed Whole

As Spike began to gain consciousness, he felt so comfortable. In a warmth he was a bit unfamiliar with, as he began to paw about for the comforter or pony next to him to pull closer, all he felt around him was stone, making start awake.

He couldn’t see much, but there was light coming in from under the canopy he was under, so the worst of his fear was gone, but now his curiosity was piqued. He made his way over to the canopy, but as soon as he began to move it, it lifted in its entirety, revealing itself to have been one massive wing.

“Twilight Sparkle, Spike is awake.” A new voice called out from behind him. Spike turned, but had to look up to see a remorseful smile from one Early Light, looking much more reasonable than before. Her size was far diminished, now only matching what was the size of the Golden Oaks library. Her eyes were so much kinder now, just emitting an aura of humbleness, both in sincerity and regret it felt. “Hello there little one.” A soothing motherly tone rolled out.

“H-hi.” Spike nervously waved, a bit unsure what to do or where to go.

“Spike, oh thank goodness.” Twilight called out as she flew from around Early Light’s head, quickly making her way down. “How are you feeling? You crashed pretty hard there.”

Spike stretched his body about, getting how he felt. “Pretty good, but still a bit tired.” He affirmed before hugging Twilight, who gladly hugged him back. They were silent as they enjoyed each other’s comfort, but Twilight eventually backed away with her ‘business’ look.

“I’m sorry to have to ask this of you Spike, but I need you in a meeting right now.”

Spike cocked his head to the side. “A meeting with who?”

“You’ll see in two seconds.” Twilight smiled cunningly as she offered her back once more. Spike was a bit hesitant at the crypticness of her comment, but decided to trust her as he climbed on her back, garnering a light chuckle from Early Light. Twilight glanced up to the dragoness briefly before she took off and made her way back the way she came, and Spike quickly saw what kind of meeting he needed to attend.

The leaders of the gathered clans had come back and had converged around Mourning Star, who sadly didn’t look all that much better, still stretched out along the ground, but at least seemed conscious of his situation. Early Light had taken up a position a bit away from the others, as she did not seem to be welcomed to this meeting, so it was a short flight over to Mourning Star’s head, where Dazzle was amongst the gathering.

“All right, we’re back, you can continue Dusk Screen.” Twilight intoned to the leader of the wyvern dragons.

“Right.” The dragoness nodded her head. “As to reach the rest of the wyvern-“

“Whoa, hold up and back up.” Spike interrupted, gaining the irritation of the Loomclaw chieftain. “Would somebody mind filling me on what’s going on?”

“That’s fair.” Shogo nodded, looking to Dusk Screen, who merely rolled her eyes. “This gathering is continuing from where we left off when Mourning Star gathered us. Of the seven gathered clans here, we have come to a unanimous decision to reconnect our disparate cultures and rewrite our histories into one concessive whole.” The Lung chief explained. “As for right now, it is dealing with logistics of reaching and reconciling the clans.”

“As some of us… lost some abilities over time after separation, we may not even be all there is.” Fetido added. “I can only speak for the Corrupttail, not all Wyrm, and even then, I cannot tell how Wyrms across the seas have changed and will react to such news.”

“It will take time.” The Bickerfin chief spoke. “There are many of us, and even I have known Hydra that forget we are too dragons.”

“Well what about the Dragon King?” Spike asked. “He at least sounded like he had a decent reach to other clans.”

“Amongst the Draco, yes.” Mourning Star sighed, making Spike look to him in confusion.

“It’s how we’re going to be categorizing ‘pure’ dragons now.” Dazzle injected. “Since we’re all of dragon kind, we decided it best to set ourselves as a subset as well, rather than dominating the word.”

“So… no other Draco clan knows what’s happened here, right?” Spike asked, gaining a few shaking heads.

“Other than we gathered here, no other clan should know.” The Slither Stream chief confirmed, making Spike lightly chuckle.

“So I guess Celestia was panicking over nothing, huh Twi?”

“Yes, we heard of the worry of your queen.” The Lightspray chief acknowledged. “But just because we have not told of this meeting does not mean others do not know, which is why it also paramount that we leave as soon as we can to spread our news before rumors grow.”

“All right, so we spilt up and reach out to friendly clans to spread the news of reformation, excellent!” Spike grinned, but no one else did.

“Not quite.” Twilight sighed. “The Dawn Star clan is decimated and even friendly relations between clans are terse at best, not the best situation of spreading gospel. Not to mention the fact that the Dawn Star were a bit more fanatical than other Draco clans due to their oft calls from Pyrathy.”

“So even if I can get the dispersed Draco from around here to follow me as the Dawn Star chief, we have a pretty terrible reputation to work with.” Dazzle sighed. “And then there’s you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, a clanless expounder.” Fetido answered. “You have had one, mark, one, interaction with a clan, expounding change, followed by the destruction of said clan. By the one thing all of us normally fear!” Fetido used his tail to gesture over to Early Light. Spike held up his claw to point out a correction to the accusation, but any he could think of died on his lips.

“So we need to approach this slowly and with caution.” Dusk Screen wrapped up. “So the best way to spread this to the wyvern is to begin with intermediaries of the mid-lower caste to make its way to the other chiefs. Best start I would have is with two or three clans I know…”

Spike’s attention began to wane as he contemplated what to do now as everyone else planned around him. Everyone had a point on how this had all gone down. Things were on their way, just like Pyrathy wanted, but Spike wasn’t too sure if one Hydra reaching out to another would solve anything, or just lead to infighting between the sub-species.

Then there was the fact of what history was really going to be written? Everyone seemed to have their own version of the Purge, and then rose tinted glasses were going to hue the events afterward in the respective species favor, probably demonizing the clan species they’ve had bad blood with for generations. There were just so many ways this could go so far off the rails, Spike couldn’t think of any way to make this meeting work.

“What do you think Spike?” Dazzle asked, making Spike look up to suddenly see the other dragons looking at him expectantly.

“I…I don’t know.” Spike looked to the ground as he scratched behind his earfin. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“See? We don’t need his say.” The Lightspray Chieftan dismissed. “We’ll begin the spread immediately.”

“Well… Wait!” Spike spoke up as the dragon was about to take off, getting an irritated glare. “You’re just going to talk to other Amphithere clans right?” There was an irritated huff, but the chief settled back down.

“Yes, that was what we were going to do, as we were talking about, if you bothered to listen.”

“Do you even know what you’re going to tell them?”

Again, another agrivated sigh, this one even followed by the Loomclaw and Corrupttail chiefs. “Yes, Pyrathy is the son of Tiamat and that we are all His children. That is the base of the message.” The Lightspray chief cocked his head to the side to ask ‘are we done here?’

“So what does Pyrathy look like then?” Spike asked, and as soon as he saw five open chieftans open their mouths, Spike followed with. “What does Tiamat look like?” That made four mouths close in concern, but the Bickerfin chief confidently answered.

“She was a five headed dragon of a ravious appetite.” There was a slight smirk on each head as the one that spoke looked down at Spike who solemnly nodded.

“That’s how I have it.” Spike affirmed.

“No, she was a Draco, Kefali!” The Lightspray chief interjected.

“Why would we claim her then Speer?” Kefali, the Bickerfin chief, directed their attention to their interrupter. “We remember Tiamat as a betrayer to her father, and we wear that betrayal in shame even now.” The other chiefs were quiet for a minute, contemplating their own histories.

“I suppose… we described her as who we… detested most.” Dusk Screen pondered, getting Spike to nod.

“That’s what I was worried about. And other clans might not even agree with your version of Tiamat, could they?”

“Perhaps not.” Fetido admitted. “But how would you suggest we spread these revelations then?”

“Well, for however bad an idea it might be, we could do greater gatherings like this.” There were incredulous stares from everyone gathered. “Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not great, but what would be worse? Miscommunications and friction until something erupted out of nowhere, or everybody shouting at each other at once?”

“Neither of those are great solutions.” Dazzle said. “But I will say that a controlled release is better than an unexpected eruption.”

“How about, then, we have multiple gatherings?” The Skywalker chief spoke up, gaining the gathering’s attention. “Instead of all of the clans coming to one gathering, the more amicable clans gather with two of us already there to smooth out two species versions into one version, then four clans meet, and so on until we can come to a consensus?”

“Hmm, it could work.” The Slither Stream chief stroked his chin. “But there are seven species here, we would leave one version until the end untouched.”

“The Draco will… get our own story straight.” Dazzle spoke out. “I think we’ll be the hardest to bring around, so we’ll need to convince the others of our species to even come around to the same idea first.” The Slither Stream chief considered Dazzle for a moment before nodding.

“True, I can say for my own clan that Draco have been the most… demeaning of the rest of us.” There were several nods to this statement. “So, we’ll have to split into three groups of two and gather the respective clans then.”

“Wyrms and Lung, Hydra and Amphithere, Linnorm and Wyvern.” Spike pointed out the pairings, making the chiefs raise their brows to the pairing. “Hey, I was listening, and this way we have a flying clan with a non-flyer, thus if there any travel problems, everyone can have a pair of eyes in the sky.”

There was a beat before Fetido began chuckling. “All right little one, but where will that leave you?”

Spike honestly thought he was going to be done with this and leave the Draco gathering to Mourning Star and Dazzle, so he could only stutter and look about for an answer.

“We’ll be a relay station.” Twilight Spoke up. “At least one thing I can and will contribute to this effort is a place for progress and planning to be held.” Twilight then turned to Dazzle. “And learning, if you will Dazzling Star.”

Dazzle was a bit taken aback at the formality and had nothing to say for a minute before her eyes widened and she smacked her forehead. “Ah, right, magic.”

“Care to explain?” The Slither Stream chief encouraged.

“One of the things we’ve overlooked in our… isolation, is our own draconic magic.” There was quite the excited murmuring between the chieftains children, and even some shocked stares between the chiefs themselves before the Skywalker chief turned back to Dazzle.

“Care to elaborate on that point?”

“Right, so...” Dazzle walked forward a bit before she bent over and began dragging her claw through the ground, walking in a fairly large circle. Once the rough outline was made, Dazzle walked to the center of the circle and dug out a point in the center. When she came back to the circle’s edge, she placed her hand on the circle, took a deep breath, and on a sharp exhale, pressed her palm into the circle. There was a brief flash of yellow and the circle evened out, the groove from her claw was now sheer, and the circle exactly perfect. This alone had enticed the gathered clans, but Spike could tell it wasn’t over.

Dazzle stood up and took a step back before concentrating once again, and with a stamp of her foot, a two story spike of earth jutted out of the ground, shocking everyone gathered except Mourning Star.

“What in His name did you just do?” Dusk Screen asked as she edged her way over to the spike, felling over its smooth surface, her children following suit.

“We called it ‘Stone Shaping’. With practice and persistence, we were able to fashion the stone around us into any shape we required. Plates, cups, beds, name it, we have a way to make it. Twilight, if you could blast it?” Dazzle asked, making the Loomclaw’s retreat a bit as Twilight charged her horn. There was a short blast and a side of the spike was soon missing. But Dazzle stamped her foot once more and soon the spike regained its shape, making every dragon’s eyes bulge.

“How long-“ Kefali began.

“Since before my grandfather’s time.” Mourning Star answered.

“And you never thought to share this?” Speer asked indignantly.

“It never even crossed our minds.” Mourning Star admitted with a sad chuckle. “It had become such a common thing amongst us as to not even be thought of as magic.”

“And there’s probably things all of you do without thinking they’re strange at all.” Spike added. “Like the Skywalkers, how do you fly?”

The Skywalker chief was a bit taken aback. “We walk on air, of course.” To which the Amphithere Wyvern clans looked at them like they were completely oblivious as both chiefs held up their wings. The Skywalker chief looked between the two and looked down a bit embarrassed. “I can see the point there.”

“I suppose… other clans can regrow their heads then?” The Hydra chief chuckled, gaining some wide eyes from amongst the other, younger dragons.

“I haven’t tried, but I would say no.” The Slither Stream chief chuckled along.

“Well then,” Fetido said with a smile toward Twilight. “Perhaps more than history needs to be… collected. If you could find it in you power pony, perhaps an… archive could be put together to help straighten us all out.”

“It would be my honor.” Twilight bowed.

“With that, I believe we should all be off then.” Speer concluded as he made his way over to the Bickerfin Chief. “I believe we will send a messenger with what we can gather for ourselves soon.”

“Yes, and perhaps some more studious members of our clans.” Kefali pointed out as they turned to walk away with the Lightspray clan.

There were courteous nods and exchanges as the clans left in the pairs Spike had suggested until there were only Dazzle, Mourning Star, Spike, and Twilight left. There was a deep sigh between father and daughter as the last pair left sight, letting Early Light come over to join the group.

“That seemed to go well.” Early Light noted as she nuzzled Mourning Star’s neck.

“Much.” Mourning Star replied as he leaned into the nuzzle. “But we’re still in a tough predicament.”

“Yeah.” Dazzle sighed as retracted the spike and began erasing her circle. “How are we going to get in contact with any Draco clan?”

“Oh?” Early Light looked over Mourning Star to look to her daughter. “Is that we are now? How much has changed since I’ve left?”

“Well, that just happened in the last few hours, and… a bit.” Dazzle started off lightly, but became dour by the end. “The Dawn Star clan is over for one. Also sort of a recent development.”

For a little bit afterward, Dazzle and Mourning Star filled Early Light in on some of the major things to take place in their clan for the last fifty years. Spike and Twilight gave them their space as the three talked, needing their own talk of their own.

“Are you sure we can do something like this Twilight?” Spike asked. “I mean, I get that we still need to be a part of this, but where could we even put a place for a dragon archive without freaking out all of Equestria?”

“Honestly, we’re not.” Twilight admitted. “The most we can do is mediate.” After a short moment, Twilight facehoofed. “We didn’t even tell them where we could meet them.”

“Oh.” Spike looked away. “But still, where could an archive be?”

Twilight sighed. “I was thinking in the side of the Lone Mountain. Honestly, it’s a bit out of the way of other pony towns but not to far for us to hop over to. Then with Pinkie and Dazzle working together, they could probably carve out a decent space, with my help for organizing all of the clan information.”

“Sounds doable I suppose.” Spike admitted as he saw Dazzle signal them over. The two made their way back, with a significantly more morose Early Light laying atop Mourning Star.

“So, we were wondering if you two had any ideas on collecting the other Draco clans together.” Dazzle started.

“I still think our best chance is the Dragon King, for however much good it can do us.” Spike said once more, to which Dazzle nodded.

“Yeah, he might be able to at least get the word out, if nothing else, right dad?” Dazzle looked to Mourning Star, who was much more somber than before.

“Perhaps, but I wonder just how much the clans realize how much we have just decided for everyone else.” He tried to prop himself up, but a hard wince made him seem to reconsider his action. “This isn’t going to go smoothly.”

“You call today smooth?” Spike asked, getting the chuckle he was looking for.

“No, but I also think that the others are moving a bit fast.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Dazzle asked.

“Because it’s also the right move to make. Your analogy earlier was apt, to move this along can release tensions a lot more manageably than taking our time. It just still doesn’t sit well with me.” Mourning Star sighed. “Not to mention that we’re going to have to find somewhere new to live, as the one resource here is now gone. This is going to turn into a regular flyover plane soon. A better place is going to be needed.”

“How about… setting up at the new archive?” Spike suggested, garnering a confused look from Mourning Star. “If it’s just the three of you, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

Dazzle shook her head. “No. Thank you Spike, but we’ll need to be in a proper clan. The first and best option is going to the Burn Land clan that Torch is from.”

“Perhaps for us, Dazzle.” Early Light spoke up as she clutched Mourning Star’s shoulder. “But perhaps moving to the archive will be for the best. You’ve been a part of this clan meeting, so being a part of the collection may be for the best.

“But mom, you’ve just gotten back here. I don’t want to-“

“You’re not losing me again dear.” Early Light reached out and stroked her thumb over Dazzle’s head. “You’ll know where I am, and I would never turn down a visit from my daughter.” Dazzle smiled forlornly as she grabbed her mother’s thumb and just hugged it for a moment before letting go. “But with all that said, I believe now would be a good time to collect your things.” Early Light looked above them all. As the rest turned, Spike saw quite a number of dragons heading toward them, with a quite winded Chromie in the lead on top of a slightly familiar dragon.

“Chromie must have went to collect the other Dawn Star with Petrichor.” Dazzle noted before taking off towards the clan’s former nest.

“Does this really mean the Dawn Star is done for then?” Spike asked the two remaining elders.

“More than likely.” Mourning Star confirmed. “A clan only exists as long as the collective dragons acknowledge the chief. As I am, I doubt any would still follow me. I don’t know where Starset went, but if he were to continue in his own clan, he would not be a Dawn Star anymore, as I still have rights to the name, and only if I die without passing the title would someone else be able to claim the name, as if they would want to. And then that leaves a fealty to Dazzling Star, which didn’t seem to be the greatest consensus. Those coming here are more than likely just scavenging what they can claim as theirs.”

And true to his prediction, a majority of the dragons passed them by without a second glance. Chromie at least waved as she and Petrichor made their way by, and there were a few that greeted the downed chief, or stared at the returned Early Light if they really still remembered her. After a moment of watching passing dragons, Twilight asked something she had been worried about for a while.

“Are you really all right Mourning Star?” She asked. “You were barely holding on when you crawled out of the nest.”

“Truly… I don’t believe I am.” Mourning Star looked down his body to his hind legs, and after a moment said “I just tried to move them.” That immediately made Early Light fret and Twilight begin to run any kind of bodily can she could.

“Star, are you sure? Did… did I…?” Early Light couldn’t even end her own question, but Mourning Star reached up to caress her face.

“No Love, Starset was ruthless, and I am older than my prime. Doing what I did lead to this. There was bound to be consequences.”

“As… best as I can tell, two of your vertebra are out of alignment in opposite directions.” Twilight bit her lower lips. “I’ve never tried to before, but-“

“No Twilight.” Mourning Star stopped her. “If it can be fixed, we will deal with it. As it is, my wings will mend, and I will need to be careful.”

Early Light snorted. “Yeah, I’ll be making sure of that.” Early Light lifted herself up and moved to Mourning Star’s lower back. “What about your tail?” There were a few good swishes before Early Light nodded and began shaping stone around Mourning Star’s legs. “Twilight Sparkle, where is the misalignment?”

Twilight was quick to fly up and point out just where she found the problem, leaving Mourning Star with the silent indignity of his new body cast. It was a slow process, but Early Light was able to shape the earth around Mourning Star’s legs to the point where dragging them along behind him became a non-issue, with his tail freely able to move and maintain balance. He probably wouldn’t have been able to fly with such a cast, but seeing what condition his wings were already is, he wasn’t going airborne any time soon.

By the time the cast was finished, three dragons came approaching the group. Two road upon the third’s shoulders, as the third was pulling quite a large stone thing behind him. Spike could see the two smaller dragons were Dazzle and Chromie, and taking in the similarities, Spike deduced the large dragon was Chromie’s father.

“Mourning Star! You’re alive!” The drake called out.

“As I can be Gilt.” Mourning Star affirmed. Now forced into a four-legged position, Mourning Star still felt to stand taller over the average Ponyville house. Early Light took up the same posture alongside him, gently caressing her face into the crook of Mourning Star’s neck.

“It’s… good to see you again Early Light. Truly, you.” Gilt said as he came to stand before the two.

“It’s nice to be myself again.” Early Light smiled up to the drake. “How’s Dust Age?”

“She moved along a bit after Chromie could Choose. I haven’t heard of her for… oh thirty years now.”

“Mhm.” Early Light nodded. “And I take it you cleared yourselves out?”

“Us and Dazzle here.” Gilt indicated to the idle Dazzle. “She seemed to have and idea on where we could head out to with her.”

“Oh really?” Early Light smiled to her daughter. “How… pragmatic.” There was a teasing nature to the smile and comment that made Dazzle look away from everyone, to which Spike did not miss a small pout.

“It’s going to take more than one dragon to write everything up mom. Gilt and Chromie were underutilized here anyways.”

“That we were.” Gilt sighed. “Honestly, once everything had a sign, nobody ever wrote anything to go anywhere. There’s only so long scrawling and re-scrawling can keep you invested.”

“What kind of writing?” Twilight asked, making Gilt take account of both her and Spike for the first time.

“Ah! The purple pony princess, yes, there is many things I wrote about. Stories of my parents, dreams of my own, instructions for things I was rusted on. I have them stored here.” Gilt patted the container behind him. “And if what Dazzle says is true, a great many more I will come to soon write, correct?”

Twilight’s eyes shined brightly as she almost bounced in place. “Yes! Ehm, yes, we’ll definitely need some po-dragons with experience to help record everything that will be coming our way. And if you could go over some of the basics…”

Gilt let out a mirthful laugh. “Of course! I’d happily teach my craft to any who ask.” Gilt sighed. “It’s been so long to be needed.”

“Well, taking in how far we’re going to have to walk, we could probably make her a well versed apprentice before we even enter pony territory!” Chromie giggled in her own enthusiasm. There was a short pause before Twilight’s enthusiasm shifted to horror.

“Dragons are going to be walking through Equestria.” Twilight stated in shock.

“I mean, sure, not all of us can fly.” Gilt twisted his body to show his wingless shoulder.

“No it’s not that, it’s… Dragon migrations are rare in Equestria, and even then they’re fly overs. But… a migration on foot is going to… I don’t know! But nopony I’ve ever met is all that good taking up new and scary situations. And a flood of dragons…”

“Twilight.” Mourning Star cut in flatly, catching the near hyperventilating pony’s attention. “At most, it will be us five coming with you. Look to the nest.”

She and Spike did, and as they expected, a mass migration of dragons were making their way away from the crater. Except it was in groups anywhere from one to ten dragons a piece, all seeming to wander off in different directions.

“They’ll find other Draco clans. Some may wander after us, unsure of where to stand, but the Dawn Star clan is done. I’ll take responsibility for any that join us, but as it is, we’ll not be staying in Equestria. At most, we’ll make our way to the location of the archives to know where it is and move on to Torch. Be calm, and those you lead will be as well.”

With a few nervous looks between the gathering of dragons, Twilight took a deep breath, and let it go. “All right. Dazzle, can you take us back to Pyrathy’s nest? I should be able to direct us back to Equestria proper from there.”

“Sure, and you might as well make yourselves comfortable up here,” Dazzle thumbed back to the container Gilt was lugging “we’ve got a bit of a walk.”

“Honestly, I welcome the break.” Twilight sighed as she once more offered her back to Spike. He accepted, and a short hop took them up about a story and landed on a stone lid of the container.

“Oh! Speaking of break.” Dazzle remembered as she glided off Gilt’s shoulder to a back corner of the container. She dug the lid aside as she reached inside, and upon finding what she was looking for, furled her wings around the hole, making Spike look to Twilight in confusion, only to get as much confusion.

“When dragons make significant contribution to a clan, they get favorable rewards regarding the accomplishment. A new nest gets preferential living space, a good hunt get preferential picks, crafts made in commemoration and so on.” Dazzle explained as she stood up, her wings encompassing her upper body to hide what she hid underneath. “And when duels come to death, an honored opponent will take a memento of the fight. You’ve done a lot for us Spike, and I know this may mean nothing to you, but please accept this.”

Dazzle retracted her wings and stuck out her arms, as held in her hand was Tiamat’s scale.

But not the whole thing. Spike could see the smooth, round edge where the scale attached to the body, but there was a roughness opposite of it, where the scale had obviously been broken. And yet, this wasn’t the thing that gob smacked Spike the most.

It was beautiful. Its sheen looked as smooth as treated glass, its color was the purest red, shaming even the Apple Family’s apples, yet it looked as faceted as the most complex ruby. And it no longer dripped of murder. Had Spike not seen what it was before, he might not of hesitated in accepting the gift, but he did.

“I… I don’t know Dazzle.” Spike said as he slid down from Twilight, a frown appearing on Dazzle’s face. “I don’t feel I… did what you said to deserve this. Twilight’s enchantment, or your mother’s strength, they broke it more than me.”

“But you did something more significant. So much deeper.” Early Light mentioned as she made her way to the container. “You broke our cycle. You broke the isolation of the species. You’ve changed us for the better.”

Early Light may not have known, but those words, that word, ‘changed’, filled Spike’s chest with light. His breath caught in his throat as he looked to Twilight, who with a moment of realization, smiled.

They had done it. They had done what Pyrathy had asked. They had changed the dragon’s way of life.

“I assume the other half is going to the archive?” Mourning Star asked, having made his way over.

“Yes.” Dazzle nodded. “Where we might be gathering many an old tale, something like this also needs recording, and proof.”

“A nice way to be connected, isn’t it Spike?” Twilight whispered to her compatriot who was getting a little light headed from giddiness. After clearing his throat and masking his obvious joy, Spike finally answered.

“Well, I guess. It would be an honor to be a part of history.” Spike replied evenly as he grasped the scale in both claws. As Dazzle let it go, Spike wobbled forward a bit, as the scale, even cracked in half, was still pretty weighty.

“And it’ll look shiny mounted on a wall.” Chromie chimed in from her father’s shoulder, garnering a chuckle from everyone gathered.

“It sure will.” Twilight agreed. “Anywhere particular you want to put it.”

“Yeah…” Spike almost said his chair in the map room, but paused. This was his. His accomplishment. A treasure of his own. “…There’s a good wall in my room.”

…………

It had taken two weeks to guide the band of dragons from the ghost nest of the Dawn Star clan to the border of Equestria, giving Twilight and Spike ample time to learn Stone Shaping and draconic writing. No one else had joined the group, so the surprise was less substantial than Twilight had feared, especially with the frontier towns ponies being a bit less of a panicky sort than Ponyville or Canterlot. That did not mean, however, that they were all that warmly greeted. And a two week traveled Princess of Equestria didn’t have that much of a similar effect of a well rested Princess of Equetria. But a quick correspondence to Celestia had secured the group a royal pass through Equestria more than easily, and while slightly reluctant to approach the dragon group, they were helped along their way back to Ponyville.

A week after entering Equestria, Twilight sighed as she heard the normal screams of panic she expected as they approached Ponyville, thoroughly confusing the visiting dragons, as panic to action was expected, but panicking to panic was wholly confusing. Twilight just waved them toward the entrance of the town, where she expectedly met the other Elements who at least were sensible in seeing to what was making the town panic.

One attack hug and explanation later of why she had been gone for almost a month without a word, Twilight guided the group around the town as the other five went to calm the town down and to tell them of their new neighbors.

When they made it to the lone mountain, the group split up. Twilight, Early Light, and Mourning Star started making their way towards Canterlot way as to obtain help in reaching Torch’s clan, while Gilt, Chromie, and Dazzle began making home in the base of the mountain, with Spike guiding in how such an archive should be archived.

Finally, after four weeks of exhaustive excitement and travel, Spike finally affixed Tiamat’s Scale on the wall across from his bed. A reminder of how he had helped his species.

Of how he shaped history.

Of how he mattered.

Author's Note:

And there we have The Rise of Species: Dragons. Only took 3 years, but it's actually my first, fully completed story, not just a one shot.

...Sort of...

...There were Five Dragon Siblings...

...There's a plan...

...for Kelpie...

In Rise of Species: Kelpies

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[Zarmflamekin]

9492054
Man, there were a few more OCs than I was sort of planning. But in essence:
Chromie is Chromie of WoW, that's the easiest.
Dazzle has this deeper, late 20's woman tone
Mourning Star is Ian McKellen at his deepest voice and angriest tone
Starset is that noble in fantasy that believes he's in the right because he's a noble (Prince Hans from the end of Frozen type deal)
and Early Light has an air-y tone of voice of a mid 50's woman.

If we have a fantasy-to-human voice comparison:
Spike-14 y/o
Twilight- 18 y/o
Chromie - 22 y/o
Dazzle - 29 y/o
Starset - 31 y/o
Early Light - 56 y/o
Mourning Star - 62 y/o

[RadicalDishonesty]

It finished!

I'm glad it brought things around to Spike, at the end. Like, there was a lot of new characters and things going on with them for the past few chapters, and it was good, but I admit a selfish (selfish? I dunno) desire to see how this impacts Spike, and it was!

[StainlessKey]

Congratulations on finishing a story! And thank you for writing it, I really enjoyed reading it

[silent-judge]

this story is a under rated gem.

[Sparkly sparks]

“You call toady smooth?” Spike asked, getting the chuckle he was looking for.

today*