Sludge might not have been Spike’s real father, but it turns out that there was more truth to his story than fiction. After an angry purple alicorn princess forces a confession out of him, Sludge reveals to Twilight that Spike’s parents really have been locked up by the Scale Collectors. After learning that his real parents are prisoners, Spike and his friends hatch a plan to find them and secure their release.
However, the Scale Collectors answer to nobody but themselves in their campaign against dragons and dragon society. Not even the Princesses are able to exercise authority over them. With no other choice but to take matters into his own claws, Spike has to find his parents and bust them out of there. Or else he may risk losing them forever.
Well, you're off to a good start. I look forward to seeing where this goes!
EDIT: I can't believe it took me this long to realize that this is related to your other fic The Substitute Teacher.
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I will do my best to make it worth your time. And I’m thrilled you caught that little reference.
Really loving this first chapter of Spike's parent rescue story, looking forward to see what happens next!
EDIT : Just realized this is a companion piece to The Substitute Teacher story, which makes this one even more awesome!
You did it! You took that interesting, yet un-seen, subplot from The Substitute Teacher and turned it into a full-fledged story! YES!
And a very good story so far! Everyone is in-character, and the story is engaging.
Though, even with the suspicion of the scale collectors being real, I do wonder how the ponies came to the conclusion that they have Spike's parents, since they weren't specifically mentioned?
Looking forward to more chapters!
(Alternative scene) Twilight: "Hey Spike, I know that you've been a little down since that Sludge dragon tried to take advantage of you, and that you've also been missing Pee-wee some lately, so I thought it was about time that you got a new pet to take care of." Twilight levitates a small terrarium over.
Spike: "Oh wow, a chameleon!" Spike looks excitedly at the yellow and purple lizard as it bangs feebly against the glass enclosure, pleading to be released, its small voice unable to convey its pleas for mercy or shouts of apologies for trying to deceive Spike. "Aw! He's so happy to see me! Thanks Twi!"
Twilight: "Just make sure he doesn't escape. It's a big world out there and we'd hate to have somepony accidentally squash him under their hooves." She turns and glares threateningly at the small lizard "Wouldn't we?" The lizard cowers back and shakes its head "no" vigorously. "Good. Now it can live out its life as a pampered pet, just like I'm sure it always wanted to." Twilight grins slyly while the chameleon shudders and Spike reaches in to poke at it.
Plot twist! When they get there, spike’s parents are already dead,
Oh man, even I felt the sting of that poison contraption!
At least the plan seems to be working though, here's hoping the gang can turn the tables hard on these creeps in the next few chapters!
Crafty AJ. Telling the truth but phrasing it in such a way that it's not obvious that it is the real truth.
If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?
That’s just sick... imprisoning dragons and using their abilities against them...
I knew things wouldn't go so well & I already hate this Bloom jerk, gotta wonder what she meant when they were talking about Spike there though.
Can't wait for the next chapter, looking forward to see Spike turn the tables on these creeps!
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I'm surprised that other dragons can use message fire. I thought it was just Spike...and possibly Ember, whom he may have taught it too.
Still, this is good story so far. Everyone is in character, the original characters are interesting (a bit cliched, but so are most of the villains in the actual show), there's good attention to detail (especially in the settings and landscape descriptions), and good dialogue.
Hope to see more soon!
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That's not something I had considered when I was jotting down notes about them. When I read something, I tend to assign characters whatever voice first comes to mind. I'd like to think that other people do the same, and I wouldn't want to dictate to them what their own imagination could create. That does help me improve, though. I can start adding some basic thoughts about tones, accents, and pitch.
Thanks to everyone for the comments. They're a big boost to the motivation factor when I'm looking at stacks of handwritten edits in need of entering into the Docs page.
And who's to say Equestria even needs to be involved? Knowing Dragon Lord Ember, the second she hears about this, she'll likely come to them to try and break them all out herself. And I actually almost want to see her try. I don't think she'd ultimately succeed, but Ember's still a force to be reckoned with so I'd like to think she'd still give them a run for their money.
Pretty emotional encounter between Spike & his parents, like *Sparkle Seven* it's not a good idea to underestimate the little dragon.
I get the feeling Applejack is going off of personal experience...
Nice chapter—especially the reunion. Given the little tidbits mentioned in The Substitute Teacher, something tells me the next couple of chapters are going to be very fun...
You know, it's things like that which make me think these Collectors have long lost sight of what they were originally doing. That goal isn't totally lost, surely (not that improves anything), but I suspect the Collectors, or at least the higher-ups in charge, are a little more in it for the money these days.
This is good. You gain a like
All you crud buckets better leave the hecking dragons alone, or somepony is gonna disappear in the night with naught but a red trail!
Nuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! Why is there not more chapter!?
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SoonTM
Another good chapter. Again, good dialogue, nice interactions, and good scene set-ups.
I do wonder why Spike hasn't sent Celestia a scroll with an update or request for assistance, though.
Spikezilla time!
Oh yeah, go get them Spikey!!!!!!
For some reason this got me to thinking of this song:
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Good song and a great band.
Actually, might as well. Help build up your strength while also depriving these nutters of that same amount of their riches and effectively thumb your nose at them all in one go.
Of course, growing super large and smashing the whole place up works too. Just be sure to get in the first hits, or they'll nail you with a whole lot of those darts pretty quick, and I'm pretty sure they won't be any less effective while you're big than while small, especially if they use more than one.
Now that was awesome, way to go Spikey!!!!
Figures this witch would still be defiant, good riddance!
Ohhhhhhkay, Spike, how long did it take you to come up with that line?
Heh, kinda wanna see them tangle with Torch (and fail epically) then.
I don't know if buy this, it's too opportunistic. There's something else about all this that she's not saying here, isn't there? Or at least, some other motivation to her personally that this serves as a good excuse for her to continue...whatever it is she plans.
...she still has that letter, after all. I mean, circumstances obviously have changed, but...
If nothing else, though, I know Bloom doesn't truly believe what she's saying right here. She's too invested in eliminating the dragons for that.
Heh.
An excellent chapter, with a moral worthy of the show and an excellent take/twist on the backstory of Spike's egg! I like the backstory because of the conundrum it sets; if Spike doesn't hurt the ponies then it proves the ponies were right in that he was more "civilized" being raised by ponies, but, if he did hurt them, then that would prove that dragons are brutes Neither is an ideal choice for Spike but with the help of his family (both of his families) and friends, he comes up with the ideal solution of just being himself and embracing both aspects of his heritage.
Well done!
I’m sorry, the like button appears to be broken. I can only like once!
Missed a great opportunity to throw the book at them.
Glad Spike's back to fun size, wouldn't have minded if he kept a couple extra inches though.
Really loved this tale, thanks for sharing!
Too bad Spike didn't meet Smolder after this epic adventure was over, but other than that great work with my fave purple dragon!
Boy, does Dragon Lord Ember sure have some surprises in store for Spike's parents
Thanks for telling your story - I enjoyed it quite a lot! Hopefully, we'll cross paths again someday.
True words to live by, and in my experience, applicable to basically all instances, both in and out of real life.
Personally, there's a few points I would've addressed in some manner before wrapping up like this. But! All in all, still a satisfactory read.
An excellent conclusion to a good, well-rounded story.
Looks like Daddy is coming for a visit.
Technically not a lie.
Well, that could have been worst.
Go, Spikey-wikey, go!
Oh my.
The question now is "Where is home?".
Aww, so the history teacher wasn't Starlight's daddy?
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story connections. 
Oh, I'm not clever enough to build in a plot twist of that sort. I needed an event to clear them out of the school for Substitute, and couldn't let the chance pass by to tell this story and link the two together. I
I'm a little biased but I love the writing as always!
I am a very, very bad wife that it took me this long to read. But it's a great read and i very thoroughly enjoyed it!
This was a fantastic read! There's not words enough to describe how much I hate Sludge and what he did to Spike, I really wished we had gotten to actually see more development with his family. You filled that niche perfectly with this story
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Thank you very much! I completely agree with wanting to have seen more development out of that episode. It was a nice message about family being those you choose and those who are a part of your life, but there was great potential that was wasted.