A Flaming Heritage

by Night--Mist

A Message From The Past

When the next morning came, Luna made sure that the other nobles understood why she was accompanying Twilight Sparkle and her friends as a way to interact more with her subjects. Everypony and Spike soon had everything they needed and set off. Rainbow Dash was all excited thinking about what they might find out about dragons. She was no history buff, but any intelligent species who could fly, like Griffons, Hippogriffs and Dragons, they definitely caught her attention. Twilight had packed up what they knew about dragons, including what Ember had provided to them through her letters, along with the relics found at the cave before. Applejack made sure food rations were well packed, even though the journey was only to the top of Canterlot Mountain for now. Fluttershy had her animal friends scout ahead for the safest way to get there even though she wouldn't be partaking in the journey, and Rarity, of course, just "had" to pick out an outfit for the occasion, dressing herself in a dress with some of the finest gems. If Spike wasn't a mature and respectable dragon, he may have taken a few nibbles at her dress when she wasn't looking. But thanks to a generous gift from his adopted sister-in-law Cadence, he was well packed with gems for the journey. Pinkie Pie of course had all kinds of random gismos on her. What she would use them for was anypony's guess.

Shining Armor had insisted he help his sister, but Velvet Sparkle wouldn't have it, being that he was a father, and Captain of the Royal Guard. She did say that if they were to find anything, she would offer her services as soon as the party got back from the summit. Twilight wasn't sure what her mother could do that she couldn't, but she agreed.

As the party approached the halfway point, Spike asked, "Um, Twilight. I'm just curious, when we get to the cave at the summit, do you think that anything will still be there?"

"To be truthfully honest, I don't know Spike. So we really won't know until we get there. Even with what Ember provided, there is nothing I have learned so far about how well kept a Dragon's cave is," Twilight replied.

That wasn't the answer Spike wanted, but it was fair enough. Twilight had already gone out of her way to help him find out about his heritage. So he had to be grateful for that. And with the help of their friends, and Princess Luna, they were bound to find something. Soon they made it to the summit, and saw what they considered, to be the biggest cave they had ever ventured across. Even Luna was impressed by the size of it. Twilight, being cautious, sent a ball of light from her horn into the open cave to make sure that nothing was lurking in the darkness. For a cave, it actually looked very well made. It almost looked like a normal home that ponies use. Just, made in stone, and the opening not having an actual door. "Wow, no wonder Daring Do and other archeologists were interested in this place. Last dragon cave we went to was a lot less well designed then this," Rainbow Dash said.

"I have to say I'm impressed. It looks almost.... castle like in nature," Luna said while deep in thought.

Twilight felt that there was something else Luna may have known a while back with the way she looked at the moment, but was trying to think back to knowing what it was she once knew. As the party of ponies traveled deeper in, they soon saw a stone door. This door made them feel almost as small as Angel Bunny, in comparison, just like the opening had. Whoever lived, or once lived here, was unmistakably gigantic. As the pushed the door open, which was easier then they expected, the came to see a stone bed, and next to it, like Celestia had described, a very large stone nest, almost like a crib even, but it seemed all the egg shells were long gone. But there was something else there.

A letter. And judging by how large it was, obviously meant for the Dragon or Dragons that once lived here, be they the mother or father who wrote it. "Wow, that's the biggest parchment I have ever seen," Pinkie exclaimed.

"Indeed, but the writing.... it's.... I haven't seen this since.... since before the disappearance of Starswirl the Bearded. It's ancient text, and few ponies if any have been able to decipher such text," Luna stated.

"Can you decipher it Princess Luna," Twilight asked. She herself was not familiar with this form of text.

"No...... but I know a mare who can," Luna said.

Just as Twilight was about to ask Luna who it was, their attention was shifted as Rainbow Dash bellowed, "Wow, guys, come check this out, she said at the door, before flying out and turning left. After Twilight gathered the letter, shrinking it to fit in one of the packs they brought, they followed Rainbow Dash. They then came upon another room that looked like a family den, like at Twilight's parents' house. As they made their way in, everything seemed to be made out of stone. The chairs, the table, even the couch at the far end. Clearly, this was meant for more then one dragon to be living in the cave. This made Twilight think, that whoever was Spike's parents, based off what they saw, and what Celestia's story had stated, Spike might have some older siblings..... hopefully not Garble or any of his lackeys.

"Wow, I never thought Dragons were this sophisticated in their society. Granted it's still all stone, but it seems very.... homely.... no pun intended," Starlight said.

"And I thought they just slept on piles of gold and gems. But I wonder why they're not livin here no more. I mean, with how long we've been here, by now, at least one dragon sould have landed and made their way into this area of the cave if they were still around," Applejack said.

"We might not know why no dragon lives here for a while, but, I think we can see that had Spike's family been here to hatch him, Spike may have lived fairly decent life," Twilight said.

"Seeing this makes me wonder all the more who my parents were. I hope we can find out something from that piece of paper we found," Spike said.

"I do too, but I also, am a tad curious.... Princess Luna? Do you think that we might make this a place for educational purposes, like let schools take their students here to learn about how some dragons live?" Twilight pleaded.

"Maybe somewhere in the future Twilight, but I suggest we make our way back to Canterlot if everypony is willing, since I have now familiarized myself with our location, I can easily teleport us back to Velvet Sparkle's and Nightlight Sparkle's house," Luna offered.

"My parents. Why Princess Luna," Twilight inquired.

"Well, Velvet is one pony I know who can decipher that text on the parchment you carry," Luna answered.

"....... Oh yeah. I nearly forgot my mother was an expert on ancient languages and texts. I'm surprised this is one of them," Twilight admitted.

"Well, is everyone in agreement for teleportation?" Luna inquired.

Everypony nodded, and soon Luna teleported to the front door of the Sparkle residents' house. She soon knocked on the door and Velvet answered seeming surprised when she saw everypony. "Oh, my, the adventure was that quick. My how time flies. Please, everypony, your highness, come in," Velvet said.

"Velvet, I told you, call me Luna. No need for formalities, unless it's a large social gathering like the Galas," Luna insisted.

"As you wish Luna," Velvet said."

Soon, everypony made themselve's comfortable, and Twilight soon used her magic to pull out the parchment as Luna said, "There was a letter to someone at the cave we found, we don't know who placed it there, and another halt we came upon was the text. It's ancient, and even I am unable to decipher it, but, we feel that you can Velvet," Luna stated.

As Twilight levitated the paper to her mother, Velvet soon took hold of the parchment, and read carefully. "Oh my.... Spike..... This was a letter to you," Velvet said.

"Me?!" Spike jumped in surprise.

"Indeed, and I have a spell I remember that can translate the text into our own text so you can all read it," Velvet said.

She soon lit her horn, and the parchment enlarged a bit, and soon took form into the pony text everypony knew. It read:

To my son or daughter yet to be hatched,

When you read this letter at whatever point in your life, know that I did not abandon you. You're hatchday was not for many weeks to come, and I was out gathering some of the best gems I could find so I could let you have them when you would finally break out of your shell. But I was foolish. I should have made sure there was a way to hide you as an egg, for when I returned, someone had taken you from me. I searched everywhere, and demanded my dragon kin help me find you. But as the days pressed on, we came to agree that whoever took you was long gone. We debated about asking the ponies of the city of ponies residents below, but, we knew they would run in terror at our presence, rather then help us. And I do understand that there is a royal Princess who resides there, but with the way the ponies govern themselves, she wouldn't have had time for us, considering she would be level headed enough not to run in fear like her subjects.

I will continue to curse myself for this, for it is my fault I did not watch over you more. I should have had the rest of my kin close by to make the errands I required for me.

Know that even though we may never see each other's face, I love you. You will always be my little one, and I will hold on to that, just as I hope you do, and I hope one day, when you are old enough, you may find me. But with the pain of loss that this cave reminds me of, I must leave, and I do not intend to return. Should you need guidance, follow the path that leads north of the pony city below my cave known as Canterlot til you reach the Misty Mountains. When you arrive there, look for the path that has the mark of the Moon upon it. It will lead you into The Dragon Lands of the North.

The Dragons of that Land know who I am, and if you simply show them this letter, they shall lead you to me. I hope one day we see each other again. I will pray for it til the day comes my little one. I hope you are able to live a good life in my absence. Please take care.

I shall leave a spell with my magical flame upon this parchment so that it shall not perish in years to come, and hope you one day find it.

With all the love in my heart,
Your loving mother.

Spike just sat there after reading all of it. The archaeologist..... they had made a mistake. Granted, they did it with good intentions for him, but now his dragon mother was in sorrow over her lost egg. "Spike..... I, I don't know what to say," Luna said.

Spike was silent for a moment, then he muster up the courage to speak, and said, "I have to find her. I, I just can't stay here and not know who she is. She's got to still be in the Dragon Lands of the North."

"But, if they are anything like the Dragon Lands led by Ember, they'll be dangerous to ponies. And Spike, I don't want you going all on your own darling," Rarity stated.

"Well, um, I have a suggestion Twilight," Rainbow Dash stepped in.

Everypony turned to Rainbow Dash as she asked, "Do you remember when we helped the Breezies back to their home, the spell you used Twilight?"

"Yes but what does that have to do with.... Ooooh, I see what you are saying. And the spell will last til we are back in Equestria," Twilight said.

"Huh?" Spike inquired.

Princess Luna stepped in and said, "I know which spell you are referring to Twilight, but I advise that we use an alternate method. Your spell when using it with Spike as the centerpoint of your transformation will cause some issues. If Dragon Lord Ember were here, I'd be more then willing to let you do so."

"So.... how do we transform then?" Twilight insisted.

Soon Luna's horn lit up, and to potion vials appeared. One had a blue liquid in it. The other red. "The vial of blue liquid can change a pony into a dragon best suited for them. The vial of red liquid allows you to change back into a pony. And it also works in reverse. Should a dragon originally drink the red liquid, they'd become one of the three pony races, and the blue liquid would of course make them dragon again. You don't have to worry about a spell malfunction with these potions. We have had them tested thoroughly, and they are completely safe," Luna informed everypony.

"Wow. Well, if we're gonna help Spike find his mom, I'm in," Rainbow dash said.

She took the vial and took a sip and a gulp. "Mmm. Taste like Rainbow Berry," she stated.

Just then a huge light engulfed her and when it dissipated, everypony saw Rainbow Dash's physic, mouths agape.

Author's Note:

And I have to end that on a cliff hanger. Cause right now, I have to focus on my story "Guess This Is Home Now". Sorry this took longer then I promised. I will try to better. And I will try to get back to my regression stories soon. enjoy the read. Now, I must be off to bed. It's late where I am and *Stardust to face.* Wights out. *I plop on to my favorite pillow.*

Comments

[beirirangu]

hm... so let me get this straight: the archaeologists never came back to the site, regardless of how easy it was to get to, the mother never went to the pony city, even though she knew full well about it (she even knew its name!) , the parchment never degraded in the time it was laying there, despite how long it was sitting in the open, Luna just happened to have transformation potions for ponies and dragons on hand, so that the main six will practically get everything their hearts desire and never feel ostracized in any way at any time, and it just so happens that Twilight's mother is not only one of the ONLY ponies able to decipher it, but she can FLUENTLY READ IT AND HAS A SPELL ON HAND TO TRANSLATE IT INTO THEIR COMMON LANGUAGE... did I get that right?

[Night--Mist]

8207563 That's pretty much what it boils down to. I mean, after having to hide themselves both times when in the presence of dragons, you'd think Twilight would have thought to use the transformation spell. And yes, they'll be dragons, but of course, their pony personalities will be in tact. And yes, there is a whole bunch of plot conveniences, but if there weren't, I wouldn't have a story to use. Yes, the mother didn't check the pony city down below, yes the parchment never degraded, yes Luna conveniently had potions on hoof for the adventure, and yes Velvet Sparkle is fluent in ancient dragon text and knows spells to let the words on the parchment translate into text that everyone can read in their common pony text. I want this story to take off, and honestly, it was hard to try and come up with it any other way. I mean, have you seen how many plot conveniences the show MLP itself has:
1. There just happens to be a city close to where the castle of the two sisters resides.
2. All the element bearers just happened to be in that very town.
3. Twilight just happened to know a spell to break her friends from Discords grasp.
4. Queen Chrysalis just happened to be able to know where the elements were when the Mane Six went to fetch them.
5. Celestia just happened to have the book close by that would make twilight a princess.
6. Discord just happened to know about the Tree of Harmony.
7. Tirek conveniently didn't know about Princess Twilight, yet happened to know who Princess Cadence was. (Doesn't that tell you that Cadence is over 1000 years old, yet somehow she's in her teen stage in a flashback with Twilight talking about how she's her foal sitter.)
8. Starlight just happened to know where the throne room was in the season 5 finale, yet can't find her way to it in the season 6 premiere.
9. Trixie Conveniently had items on hoof to use to get to the throne room of the changeling hive.
10. Chrysalis was able to easily get away in the season 6 finale.

Those ten are just the tip of the iceberg. I could really knit pick the show if I wanted to, but I'm sure you don't want to hear me ramble on.

Anyways, sometimes you just need plot conveniences to get the story rolling. I apologize if the story isn't to your liking.

[beirirangu]

8207601 I can understand your reasoning, but the way most stories take off, as far as I can tell, is by having dedicated writers that can plan/plot ahead, make jokes, be realistic, describe what's going on, and set a pace that's comfortable for the reader (that's also changing with the mood) , not just getting a story done or long enough (though the latter does sometimes work)

but I honestly can't agree with most of your points about the show and their plot conveniences (though, yes, the first one is pure convenience)

2. the second one isn't necessarily coincidence; it could be the work of the elements, themselves, which would MAKE them stay in the town, or even see a bit into the future, just enough to see what ponies would be in that town at the right time, thus could've been other ponies entirely if they happened to leave

3. the spell was a memory spell, making them remember what discord's control made them forget/ignore, which was more of a fluke that making them remember actually worked (I'm not sure why you didn't go that way, really)

4. they were in a special building with special guards and special interests: ALL armies attack strategic points, and they mostly do it on what LOOKS important

5. I forget, did she just happened to have it around, or was it something she kept safe and only presented it to her when she thought she was ready?

6. how could he not? That's like saying America didn't know about Russia during the cold war

7. he could've gotten some info from the ponies he had to contact when he was weak (since not many would have known at the time that Twilight was a princess/alicorn) , and/or Discord, but yes, that was a plot point that wasn't really fleshed out

8. I didn't watch either (I know I have to) but in BOTH, was she going straight from the entrance to the thrown room? Because if it was the same start and finish BOTH times, I agree with you.

9. I haven't seen the episode, but I can only assume it's a general teleport item that can move to a desired location, or an important one... but again, I can only guess

10. again, I haven't seen it, so I don't know, though that does remind me of that Avatar the Last Airbender episode: The Chase

but either way, it wasn't that the plot conveniences were there or not, it was mostly that they were so egregious and rapidly fired... I mean, I would've loved if each of those points were whole chapters in and of themselves, where the cave was in some remote place that the explorers that made it there nearly died just getting to, that the dragoness searched everywhere she could, even getting frustrated when she couldn't talk to, or explain well enough what she was looking for to other creatures, how her message was etched in stone, carved with such precision that obviously took years of dedication for the etching to be a testament to her dedication as a mother, a monument that would last eternities, that it was going to be a journey that Spike had to go on on his own, or with his friends there only as support, rather than him practically just being the cargo, where it took days, if not weeks to get even parts of the note translated, with Spike possibly growing tired of waiting and nearly rushing out on his own, thinking that any step forward, even in the wrong direction, is better than waiting... something like that

[Night--Mist]

8207649 I suppose I can see your point. But it would take me a long while to think something new up, and I'd rather not put this story into a hiatus.

[Night--Mist]

8207649
So I added a couple things to the letter to help take out a few quirks, I just can't find a way to remove the others. Sorry.

[beirirangu]

8277966
It's fine, and it's not that I particularly minded, it's just that I'm kinda anal about consistency and things making sense in their own world, as well as wanting a fully fleshed-out story, like I think this CAN become

[Night--Mist]

8278311
I will try my best. This will have it's focus mainly on Spike. I just didn't want to have that dragon is with ponies and not his own kind tid bit being in the conflict, at least not for the time being. I have a way the story is gonna be set up. It's not gonna be a long story, but it won't be short either.