Heritage

by vildtiger

Lord of the Earth Clan

"Lord of the Sky dragons." The white dragon from the entrance walked towards the small group, although his eyes only were on Ember. "Our lord wishes to speak with you and..." A deep scowl appeared on his forehead as he turned to Twilight. "The alicorn. "

Twilight winched slightly by the look down the white dragon gave her. "Follow me." He began walking towards another cave opening, only once glancing towards Rhys and Spike. "You two run along now."

Rhys nodded and took a very reluctant Spike with him. Twilight and Ember followed the white dragon into this other cave; they passed several dragons all standing around that made Twilight think of the royal guard. Did dragons really need this? Why would they need an army? It's not like anything other than other dragons could threaten them. Right?

"The lord of the Sky has arrived." The white dragon's announcement snapped Twilight out from her thoughts, turning to the lord or the Earth dragons, she gasped at the sight. The dragon lord of the Earth dragons was a female dragon, but unlike any other adult of the Earth clan, this honey-colored, green spiked dragon was almost twice the size of the other Earth dragons. Like all the Earth dragons Twilight had seen so far, this female was slender in build with longer arms and bigger hands compared to their flying cousins. If observant then the small difference could be spotted on each of this kind of the Earth dragon clan, example this female had smaller spikes in between her longer ones and three small spikes at the back of her jaws.

The lord of the earth dragons smiled sweetly and with a just a sweet-toned voice told the white dragon that brought them inside. "Thank you, Bolder, you may leave."

The white dragon named Boulder nodded and left the cave.

The lord of the Earth dragons then turned her attention onto Ember, asking while shifting position on her throne made out of gems. "What brings you here new lord of the Sky dragons?"

Ember glanced back to Twilight before she took a step forward with her answer. "I came here since I did not know of either of the two other clans. My father; the former lord of the dr- I mean the Sky dragons, he never told me about your clan."

The honey colored female giggled, resting her head with one of her claws and said still smiling down to Ember. "That doesn't surprise me, the Sky clan has never fancied history lessons other than what doesn't destroy you will make you stronger."

"Thanks, I think.." Ember mused, not sure if she should feel annoyed that her clan was viewed as the dumb brutes in the Earth clan eyes.

The lord of the Earth dragons smiled. "don't you worry little young, I meant nothing offensive about it. My clan could use your clan's strength in our upcoming conflict"

"what kind of conflict?" Ember asked, but the Lord of the Earth dragons merely said that she would explain that later.

Still smiling, although looking a little forced she turned her dark blue eyes to Twilight. "And what brings and alicorn to our domain?"

Twilight did catch on that this queen of the Earth dragons wasn't really overjoyed seeing her, but she couldn't let anyone down. "I'm here to- or actually Spike, he's a baby Earth dragon and a friend of mine." Twilight explained, reminding herself that this wasn't really her mission. She was here to help Spike building an alliance or better yet a friendship with the Earth dragon clan and she will do her best helping him reaching that goal. "He is here as a represent for—"

Twilight small speech got interrupted by the lord's amused chuckling, unsure what the joke was she looked questioned up to the big honey colored dragon.

"My my a pony befriending a dragon." The Earth dragon lord said thought her laughing, to stop very sudden, and yet the smile never left the dragoness face. "Don't lie to me, you brought the child here as an insurance."

"Insurance to what?" Twilight asked, unsure what she meant. And why does the room suddenly feel less welcoming?

The lord of the Earth dragons lowered her head down to their level. "So you could get an audition with me of course." She spoke like she was talking with a filly. "Just like your ancestors did, except they didn't use a baby as a shield."

That's not the truth! She would never use Spike as a shield! "No! I would never do such a thing!"

"Don't shout pony."

"Sorry." Twilight quickly apologized and spoke again with a more composure up to the dragon lord that clearly got the bond between her and Spike the wrong way. "Spike is like a brother to me, he came here to learn about his own kind. And if it was possible; make an alliance between dragons and ponies."

The lord watched her for a few seconds, then leaned back on her throne with a sweet yet cold smile. "I doubt that, last time we made an alliance with ponies it almost cost us our existence." She waved her hand towards Twilight, brushing her away. "You may leave."

"But—"

"Leave pony." The dragon lord said lecturing, again like she spoke with a filly. Reluctant Twilight realized that this dragon lord would not hear any more words from her, she left the cave slowly to only freeze in horror as the Earth dragon lord added still in her sweet tone. "I will make sure your "brother" dragon stay happy with us."

No! She can't do that! Twilight tried to argue but before she could, the lord of the earth made one of the guards grab her.

"Hold up!" Ember flew up to the guard holding Twilight. "Is that the way you treat your guests?!" She asked angrily to the leader of this clan, sure her clan could be really mean but had a feeling that the earth clan was a bit more docile than her clan. Maybe she was wrong, but this still wasn't right! "Throwing her out without letting her explains a word to Spike?!"

The honey colored lord smiled sweetly but Ember saw nothing sweet about it anymore. "Of course, can't have one of my subjects gets more tainted by the pony's words. You understand that, don't you?" She asked, still sweet but there was a threat between those words that if Ember countered her again then this lord won't be as friendly towards her anymore.

"Ember, I'll be alright!" Twilight voice said between the guard dragon's claws. Before Ember or Twilight could speak more words, the guard left, leaving Ember alone with the lord of the Earth dragons.

The lord sighed a bit tiredly. "Finally it left, can you imaged?" She smiled to Ember. "Making an alliance with ponies, they are stupider than I thought."

Ember landed slowly, not replying to the other dragon but the lord didn't seem to mind it, though. Only spoke up when she tried to leave. "You're welcome to stay, but I would prefer you keep any business about the pony away from my subject. If you do speak that foul word then I'll be forced to..." Her eyes narrowed as she stared almost darkly at Ember. "End our alliance; we can't have that can we?"

Ember wasn't sure what's the deal was with this dragon but she needed to stay on this lord's good side, at least until she found Spike. "No, we can't." And added with a fake laugh. "Besides, who would want to hear about stupid ponies anyway?"

The lord seemed to like that answer. "exactly."

Ember left the cave in a proper manner, aware that if she hurried it would look suspicious to this dragon lord. Her father might not be able to spot suspicious behavior (or an Earth dragon among the Sky clan) when he was the dragon lord of the Sky dragons. If he could then she might not have gotten away with becoming the new lord.

Only when a safe distance from the Lord of the Earth clan's cave Ember took flight in order to cover more ground in search for the purple baby dragon. She found Spike talking with Rhys and another dragon, this one a baby like Spike except being female and in orange color and dark purple spikes.

"Spike!" Ember called, landing before the three and about to tell the news of Twilight being thrown out but completely forgot it when the orange female let out a whimper and hid behind Rhys.

"Relax sis, she's with Spike" Rhys explained Topaz, and the young female dragon peeked nervously out from behind her brother. Rhys smiled to the bit confused Ember. "Dad sometimes pranks her by telling stories about winged dragons."

"Oh how very nice of him." Ember snorted annoyed, Rhys merely shrugged in a carefree manner.

Spike scanned the area behind Ember but found no sign of Twilight. "Eh... where's Twilight?"

Ember let out a sight and told Spike about the harsh treatment Twilight got from the dragon lord of the Earth dragons.

Spike was appalled by it and turned to Rhys in dismay. "Did you know this would happen?" Did he know the lord of the Earth clan would throw Twilight out without letting him know and maybe even getting fooled that Twilight left him. That would be his worst nightmare coming true!

Rhys shook his head. "I didn't, I mean everyone knows Calcite loathe ponies but I thought she wouldn't throw Twilight out when she told you and her consider each other family." One thing Earth dragons treasure more than gems was family, but mostly because there were still so few of them after the black gem crisis.

"And yet she did." Ember remarked dryly, crossing her arms. "What's the deal with her anyway?"

"Don't your people dislike the ponies as well?" Topaz asked nervously Ember and the teen female replied:

"We don't really mind them, view them as weak but that's about it, so again;" Turning her red eyes to Rhys "What's the deal with you lord hating ponies?"

Rhys scanned the area to quickly realize he cannot speak about it in the open. "Not here." He signed the two to follow, and he led them to another cave deeper into this dragon city.

"Mom?!" Rhys called into this cave. "Dad? We brought some guests!"

The cave echoed by heavy footsteps closing in the group of young dragons, Spike almost panicked thanks to his past memories of adult dragons when an ice-blue colored dragon appeared in the opening with an annoyed look in those bright green eyes. "Don't tell me it is Diamond's kid again..." It sighted and from the soothe tone the shape ice-blue dragon has: the slimmer body build than the white dragon named Boulder, Spike has to guess this was a female and probably Rhys and Topaz mother.

"No mother, I don't speak with Lelus anymore, he's a jerk." Rhys replied his mother before placing his claws on both Spike and Ember. "This is Ember, she's a Sky dragon."

Rhys and Topaz's mother eyed her a little suspicious but did smile when Ember was tasteful enough to be polite. "Nice meeting you ma'am, your son sure knows how to use his claws."

"Oh, I taught him that." The female dragon chuckled proudly. "I am one of the best tunnel diggers in the colony."

Rhys nudged Ember and whispered so only she and Spike could hear. "Be careful what you say around mother, she really loves to talk." Then cleared his throat and pushed the nervous Spike towards his mother. "And this is Spike, he's is living with a pony."

"Really? Where are you, parents?" Rhys and Topaz mother asked worried.

Now that Spike looked better at her, he admits that his two new dragon friends mother is rather beautiful, with that slender body shape. Like her daughter; Topaz's mother had a second scale color, darker blue stripes down the spine. Her spikes were light orange and parts of them sat closely together like on the head and start at the tail. Around her wrists and tail were gold bracelets with purple gems embedded.

He snapped out from his staring when Topaz gave him a small nudge, remembered he actually was asked a question. "I.. um..." He fiddled with his claws nervously. "I don't have any parents... Twilight got me as an egg."

"And where did she get your egg?" The mother dragoness asked, not harsh or anything, just in a curious tone.

"... we don't really know..."

The mother of Topaz and Rhys narrowed slightly her eyes, musing to herself. "I wonder..." But before any of the young dragons could ask what she was thinking, she shrugged it off and invited them inside the cave "Sorry the mess, my husband is such a mess head, he just loves to study." She chuckled, clearly not really minding her husband's habit of messing up the cave. She smiled down at the group. "If you need anything, I will be in the storage cave."

Rhys and Topaz lead them into a smaller cave: this room was lit up by a small fire that lit up the gems around it.

"You have a nice mother." Spike remarked a little sad of the knowledge he might never know his own mother.

"She's fine I guess." Rhys shrugged, he sat down beside a nest made of leaves. "Maybe a little demanding at times but I guess that's just how mothers are."

"Your mother is nothing compared to mine." Ember huffed and crossed her arms. "She threw me out from a cliff."

"Why?" Spike and Topaz asked at the same time. Both turned to one another and couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"To teach me how to fly." Ember replied with a shrug.

Topaz and Spike winced at how casually Ember said it. Topaz lifted her hand like she was in school. "Is that normal for your kind?"

Ember blinked at the question. "What? Didn't your parents do something familiar?" to only then realize how stupid that question was since, well these dragons did not have wings!

Both Rhys and Topaz shook their heads and Rhys explained with a bit sad look in his eyes. "Father and mother keep saying that we cannot risk endangering the next generation. We still suffer from the poison of the dark gems, most Earth dragons egg never hatch."

"What did the dark gems do to you exactly?" Spike asked, he was still unsure what the dark crystals of Sombra would exactly do to a dragon who ate the gems. Would they stop the magic like they did when Shining Armor, Twilight's older brother got them on his horn? Or would the dark crystals remove memories and hope like they seemly did against the crystals ponies? Or would they do something entirely differently?

One thing for sure, though, he's happy that Sombra was gone thanks to him and Cadence.

But Rhys did not answer his question. "It doesn't really matter anymore. The dark crystals crisis are gone and the Earth dragons are recovering. Now," The green teen dragon sat down on one of the rocks that was slightly shaped like a chair. "You asked why our dragon lord and many of the Earth dragons really dislike- almost hate the pony race?"

Spike nodded, wondering what might be the cause of all of it.

Rhys learned forward, eyes deadly serious. "Spike do you remember the tale I told you the first time we met? That's why most hate the ponies. Long story short." He turned to Ember "The two alicorns, the leaders of this land called for our ancestor's aid with a certain shadow pony that was tainting the land with black crystals. The lord agreed to help but the black crystals took a heavy toll on us, I don't really want to summon up what our ancestors went through when crystal poisons were at its worst, only that we still struggle with some of it even today. Some dragons, mostly ones in Spike's and Topaz's age can lose their mind in an unnatural greed."

"But doesn't dragon grow by their greed?" Spike asked unsure, he did faintly recall Zecora saying that when he... well went really overboard in getting gifts.

Rhys nodded slowly. "We do, but usually we can keep our need to hoard food under control. But thanks to the black crystal crisis. We can't hoard food like we used to.." Rhys sighed heavily. "According to dad, he lost a good friend to this greed. His friend loved snacking on gems, he was a good digger as well but when he encountered a whole carven filled with gems, he couldn't control it. Dad told us that in the matter of hours his friend had grown into an adult but had completely lost his mind, only though of gathering everything around him mattered."

Spike winced from how Rhys told this story, the teen told it like it was a terrible horror story and he knew it was. "That... it once happen to me too.." Spike mused.

Rhys and Topaz stared in disbelief at him, like they couldn't believe his words. "Not possible; there is no way to return back from it." Rhys said with a shaken voice.

Topaz in the other hand was a bit more curious. "How did you return back to normal?"

"I..." Spike began sweating nervously, he wasn't sure it was smart admitting that he turned back to normal because he was reminded of who he truly was thanks to his crush to Rarity. "I.. don't really remember..." He lied and quickly said instead. "But I am certain it was because of my friends!"

Rhys didn't really understand what Spike meant, for him the word friendship was still very foreign. He let out a small sigh in defeat and chuckled said to the purple dragon. "of all the dragons that tried finding a cure to the Greed sickness a pony finds it.. Guess we can't keep the pony out from this can't we?"

"No." Spike said determent and added a little hard. "Dragons and ponies can live together in harmony again."

Rhys again wasn't sure if what Spike spoke about would come true or was just a hatching naive hope, but he would admit that this purple dragon's determination to reach that goal was really inspiring. "I will speak with father when he gets home. He can bring your... friend back into the colony."

Author's Note:

this wasn't my first try on this story, before I wrote the dragon colony underneath the crystal empire and that a white dragon kidnapped him from Twilight in thought he was in danger.
Spike would later meet a teen dragon who would show him around the cave he was brought to.
and later Twilight reunited with Spike and they both explained their relationship to the queen of the clan.

that story got scrapped since I couldn't really put it proper together. it was only when I asked some from the mlp community for help that I tried again and I admit I like this take on the same story better.
three dragons do still exist in this story, though. the white dragon that took Spike is Boulder and is the one least changed from the two stories.
the teen dragon that Spike would meet in the cave is Rhys, I changed his colors and created a sister to him when I rewrote the story.
lastly, we have the dragon queen, she's the one been through the biggest change, personality mostly. in the first she was more like Celestia but I did not want that she so I warped her personality to a bit of the worse, but I think it kinda suits her, especially with the role I gave her in this story.

if you wish to see the dragons in this story or just some of my mlp (and other) fanart then you can find them on DeviantART under my username Vildtiger.

Comments

[beirirangu]

seriously? Why doesn't Spike explain to them that Sombra (which they're CLEARLY talking about) was an evil dictator that fought AGAINST the ruling princesses and modern ponies... guilt by association; you'd think that beings that pride themselves in wisdom and knowledge would know how that's a bad thing, or even look into the matter AT ALL

[CosmosGalen]

I wouldn't be able to read just based on the bad grammar and spelling.