When their mother brings home an abandoned purple hatchling, and introduces him as Spike, the newest member of their family, both Garble and Smolder are more than thrilled. Garble even vows to be the best big brother he can be for Spike, no matter what he does or fails to do.
Does he really need to act like a pony?
An alternate universe where Spike is raised by Garble's family.
Featured on 2/26/2020! Thank you everyone!
Edited by VoxAdam
Cover art drawn by Doodle-Mark
Old cover art Cover Art drawn by boskocomicartist for SpikeSmolder fan, used with the commissioner's permission.
Chapters (30)
Ok I'm sooooo liking this premise here! Haven't seen a take of Spike been raised alongside Garble & Smolder (that I know off) so you have my full attention!
I believe it's more like *when* instead of *if* at this point!
I do believe all 3 can grow up for the better with this dynamic, can't wait to see how it goes from here on out!
I think that you are the first to do a spike grow up with garble and smolder. But don’t quote me
This looks like a very interesting story so far. Spike being raised with Garble and Smolder's family sounds like a fun idea.
I wonder what him living with the dragons could change about him? Also, could it potentially change who becomes Dragon Lord too? Ember was only able to become Dragon Lord since Spike was helping her and he willingly gave her the title. Speaking of Ember, I wonder what role she will play in the story since I see she is in the tags? Maybe she and Spike will get together?
I would of thought Torch would be better with handling a baby since I thought Ember was older than Spike and so Torch would have raised her by now. But it is still hilarious.
An interesting take. I'm used to having dragons be selfish jerks and we don't really know (from the show, at least) if they're decent parents or do the family thing. But hey, doing something different IS the point of fanfiction. I'd be curious to see this continued!
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For the first part. It could. I'm currently planning out the Gauntlet Mini Arc. Keep in mind that I'm going to have to touch the Dragon Migration before hand. Imagine how that will go. She has a roll in the stroy, but for now just cameos until the Gauntlet.
Yeah, this path could certainly change Spike, that being said, it could also change Garble and maybe Smolder. So just sit tight and enjoy.
As for the second Part, he has had Ember at this point in time, she is about a year younger than Garble, but I see Torch more as a provider than a maternal caretaker. He will make sure Ember is fed, and housed, he will make sure she is healthy, happy, and if she is in danger, he will lay his life down for her if needed. His wife is a lot better at calming her down than he is. He has a bad habit of yelling at his problems until they're solved. Perks of being dragon lord.
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I'm glad you like!
True it is more a question of when for Smolder and Garble, but for Amber, it was more, "I'm already super attached and you'll have to pry this QT from my cold dead claws before I give him up."
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Yeah, I got tired of waiting for someone else to do it. The only thing that came close was a story called Thicker Than Water, and that was more a plot-twist, Spike is Garble's biological brother.
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In my head, especially after seeing Sweet and Smoky, I would say, they do do family, but if you're not blood, or adopted in this case, then you're just some random guy on the side of the road and they do not have time for that.
A "what if" story about Spike being raised by Garble and Smolder's dragon family instead of ponies?
I'm definitely following this!
I have to say, this story DOES have potential. The thought of Spike being raised by Garble and Smolder's family IS certainly one that I am curious to see. Not to mention the "less jerkish Garble" stuff. That alone is worth at least a few decent laughs. And, yeah, LOVED seeing Garble and Smolder's mother going Mama Bear ON THE DRAGON LORD, as well as Flare, Garble and Smolder's reactions to meeting Spike.
Yeah, I could definitely see Spike trying to play matchmaker between Garble and Ember - or falling for her himself (either one is equally likely) and, of course, if he DOES try playing matchmaker between Garble and Ember, there could be something similar to what the Crusaders went through trying to play matchmaker between Mac and Cheerilee (minus the "love poison" stuff thankfully).
Of course, considering the Cutie Mark Crusaders character tag here, I'm going to guess that Spike is probably going to at the very least make friends with them (which is the maximum I'm going to guess because that seems like only minimum spoilers at best).
I'm also going to guess that there is going to be only one or two cameo appearances by Twilight (mostly showing who got the job as her assistant in Spike's absence).
But, anyway, VERY certainly going to be looking forward to more of this. But I will be mature enough to respect that real world matters need to come first and inspiration might be hard to come by.
This looks really good.
I wonder what Spike would be like under Smolder and Garble's, ahem, "tutelage".
Father of the year material, right there.
I can seriously picture Torch as being a hilariously inept caretaker.
BTW something I wanted to ask, will the 3 of them have a close call with a vicious predator *cough*Roc*cough during the molting phase? From what Smolder told Spike during Molt Down that seems to be a common occurrence among their kind.
At least this Spike has a cool name and is actually able to be raised as a dragon. No offense to ponies, they made Spike nicer at the cost of him becoming a pushover.
Excellent job on this latest chapter. Love the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I particularly loved Garble trying so hard to be a responsible big brother as well as keeping Smolder from playing too rough with Spike. And, yeah, the clash with the lava lizards was some great stuff as was Amber's chat with Ember after said lava lizard run-in. I do not blame Blaze one bit for that outburst concerning where Amber actually found Spike.
All in all, well done and I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this.
Correction:
She protecc
He attac
Dey both eat their brother's snacc
This was cute. Smolder meets her new baby brother and she and Garble are already protective of him.
I also like Ember and her mother showing up here. I guess it was Ember’s mom that taught her to be smarter and that there are better things than being big and strong.
Awesome big brother Garble to the rescue! The fight between him & that lava lizard was pretty good, he really takes his role at sibling protector seriously!
Also glad to get a glimpse of Ember & her mom, guess she got the smarts from her!
Blaze reaction after Amber told her where she found Spike was understandable, still wondering who did that though?
Already loving the dynamic between all 3 dragon sibs, wonder how things will go later for them during the big Dragon Migration though?
Looking forward to the next chapter!
Nice rhyme. I wouldn't mind seeing that setup later, like while defending each other.
Um... OK, look I hate to be "that guy" but... Why not make Garble a complete douche? Isn't that character derailment? ...On the other hand, that's what the show did with canon Garble.
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In canon, dragons are described as "rude and rebellious, but not the kind of creatures who exploit their children."
You get the 'fear of lizards' for Ember from Queencoldart, right?
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Yeah, I saw the picture a while back, wanted to add Ember in this and thought it’d be entertaining.
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It's good art, I got my stories and a ideas from there too, though I asked if I can feature there art. It's too good not mention.
I curious about the CMC getting involve during the Timeskip phase
That was cute, how Garble got Spike to sleep for the night. The conversation at the end where Amber and Flare discuss if Spike’s real parents come for him kinda made me wonder what if Sludge appears and tries to pull a similar stunt he did in canon? Obviously it can’t be exactly the same here, but it just made me think.
Nighttime for the dragon family was both sweet & enjoyable, love how you gave us Garble's interest in poetry very early on with that book. Laughed at Smolder's wicked thinking at how to compete for Spike's affections after this!
Wonder if somedragon will come claiming Spike now after all this time though, hopefully Amber will shot this irresponsible dragon down. Also glad to hear you'll be doing a time skip soon, can't wait to see the dynamic between all 3 dragon sibs grown up!
Again, this is a really wonderful chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are quite well done in all the right places. I particularly enjoyed the dialogues between Amber and Flare (with the latter trying to think logically even if he admits he's fond of Spike too and the former basically charming him into relenting), Garble and Smolder basically helping Spike get to peaceful sleep (with the former demonstrating his fondness for poetry early on AND the origin of that fondness even being revealed) and the plans to introduce Spike to the rest of the family.
Here's hoping Spike will continue to be a positive influence on Garble. And it could be funny to see Spike developing a fondness for ponies off his adopted grandmother's influence (which is where he could become friends, if not even more, with at least one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders).
At any rate, I will definitely be looking forward to more of this.
Adorable from the get go though imma laugh if in a later chapter the 3 of them end up in a scrap or are in a dragon equivalent of detention as there parents ask so your saying they did what to who how and I don't know weather to be proud or mad at them
Oki I know your gonna do a time skip but please please please please at least do a chapter with gargar and smolder competing to be spikes favourite sibling that was just to adorable and cute
That was a sweet chapter, I liked it. And it's nice to know that Spike is officially a part of their family.
(singing) Timeskip!
Yikes, this sure was a very tense chapter! For a sec I thought Torch was coming with news of Spike *parents* (and I use that term loosely
) , glad that he was officially adopted into Flare & Amber's family. Was a bit worried that Garble might change his attitude toward Spike now that he knows he's adopted but thankfully that wasn't the case here! 
Now that Spike's officially part of the family, will there be a time-skip next chapter?
Other than that great work, looking forward to the next one!
Adorable and I love all three of there full names
That was sweet. Spike is officially part of the family now.
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Considering all you have to do is take the quoted paragraph and expand the concept in your mind, I'd be surprised if you couldn't imagine such a scene.
Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Especially loved the full names of all three of the dragon siblings as well as Lord Torch OFFICIALLY giving Amber and Flare the okay to keep Spike, Amber good-naturedly teasing Flare about his earlier comments and Garble choosing to continue thinking of Spike as his little brother and continue caring about him as such. And, yeah, Amber explained the situation to Garble the absolute best that she could under the circumstances.
VERY definitely looking forward to more of this.
F
ck!! I can only upvote once only!
So far, all the dragon names sound cool and regal, especially Garble’s full name. Spike’s full name makes him seem like a potential ruler... oh, wait.
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Unfortunately, one more chapter, then the time skip.
Sweet but I do wonder how will this effect twilight and the other's since the rain boom never happened and all oh well maybe will see it in the future of this story so far I've been enjoying this fic and I can tell u how i fell so emoji's will
😮😐🤔😁👏🏼👌👌👌👍😎😄😶😏🤨🙏🤝🏅🎖🥇
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I'm glad you like it so far!
Without giving too much away, the rainboom will still have happened. I do plan on having Spike especially see Ponyville someday, You'll see what happened with Twilight then.
More please
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More is coming, it just took a while to get a version of chapter 5 that I liked. I hope to have the next chapter finished by next weekend.
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Ok
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Cool, looking forward to it!😀💖
Ooh, an interesting chapter, looking forward to what we timeskip to.
ooh looks interesting
and all i wanna do is see spike be booped by smolder or ember and then boop a random pony lol
Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in this chapter. Yeah, absolutely adored the reactions to the other dragons in the family to meeting little Spike. And, yeah, I can understand Topaz's "not angry, just disappointed" reaction. And the good-natured teasing considering Smog's snoring habit and Smolder's impatience was well done. The stuff about Bahamut and Tiamat as well as the extended details of the dragons' religion was great world-building, as well as the family descriptions in the author's notes.
Twelve years later:
Smog: (blubbering to his family) I can't believe it. She wasn't even a tenth my size and she was scolding me like an angry mother, looking at me with those big eyes. Worse yet, once I started crying, she wasn't even yelling anymore, just calmly lecturing me. Of course, she WAS right. I DID overreact to that kick.
Anyway, definitely looking forward to more of this.
Interesting chapter, introducing more members of the family and some more dragon customs.
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Glad you liked it.
Personally, I would think Smog will embellish certain details about Fluttershy and the ponies, we can't have his family thinking he was chased home crying after all. Don't think of it as lying, just exaggerating.
Love the world building for dragons with their customs & religion, Amber's extended family was a blast to see as well! Love how Topaz changed Smolder's mind quickly in terms of finding out grown-up stuff!
It was clever of you getting that dragon from S1 into Amber's family as well, can't wait to see what kinda hi-jinks Spike & Smog get into later down the road!
So we finally going into a timeskip next chapter? Can't wait to see what our dragon sibs get into a few years older next time around!
In case you're wondering, his official name is Razer. Yes, Razer with an E, not an O, as in 'the culprit of a razing'.