Episode 4: Dragon-Born
Spike stared at the crate before him, filled to the brim with huge scrolls full of knowledge. He, on the other hoof, was full of dread.
Twilight, meanwhile, was gushing. "Can you believe it, Spike?! The Official 1006 ANM Edition of the Equestrian Genealogy Records, the last one compiled by Celestia herself! And she's just given it to us!"
Spike frowned. "What happened to 'not overworking yourself'?"
The Princess pshawed. "This isn't work, Spike; this is for fun! It just so happens that this fun will also get some of my future work done."
The little dragon rolled his eyes, but Twilight didn't notice. "Just think," she continued. "How many questions could we answer with these? Are Applejack and Pinkie really related? It's all in here!"
The alicorn used her magic to root through the scrolls until she found the one labelled 'Apple Family'. "Here we go! Now all I have to do is follow it back, and— WHAT!?"
Spike leapt at that. "What, what's wrong?!"
In response, Twilight shoved the scroll in front of him. In the spot where the answer was supposed to be held...
Somehow, someway, it was smeared in exactly the wrong place, obscuring the name.
Spike began to notice Twilight's eye twitch at this. He quickly rolled the scroll back up, placed it into the crate, and rummaged through until he found another. "Uhh... Hey, here's yours; you always love looking at your own genealogy!"
At this, she started calming down. She had to admit it, she did like reading her own lineage. It was just so comforting to see it written on paper that she was distantly related to Canternicus.
Her eyes drifted towards the bottom of the parchment, then she froze. Spike, seeing this, could only dread what she'd found that upset her this time. "What is it now?"
She simply pointed to the paper, too stunned to move any more. He chanced a peek, but what he saw floored him.
Spike was on the family tree, connected to Twilight as an adoptive sibling. That much wasn't new.
But just next to them, directly connected to him, were three siblings and a mother.
♪My Little Pony, My Little Pony
This is non-canon!
(My Little Pony)
Until you all shared its magic with me!
Friendship is my forté, I know just what to do
Hard work and sacrifice, be honest through and through
Have fun with all my friends, and laugh and dance and sing!
I'll be kind to every creature, and just most anything
Gotta go faster, faster, faster faster—
Rainbow Dash!
...sorry
Generosity's always in season, and I'm always the master
Loyal to my family, I know she can't be beat
I don't need a spell to guide the way, it's such an easy feat!
With us, the journey never ends
You are my very best friends!♪
Spike simply couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked a couple of times, then slapped himself.
The scroll didn't change.
Scales Montegriffe (F)
1/17/796 ANM — Present
Ethnicity: Dragon
Residence: Applewood
"I-I..." A mixture of several emotions were running through his little head. Shock, confusion, hope...
But there was anger, too. Celestia knew who his mother is! How long had she known? Had she been keeping this from them on purpose?? Why didn't she tell them his mother was still alive?!
Not only that, but he has 3 siblings as well!? As Spike read each of their entries, his emotions only grew less stable.
Slipknot (N)
6/29/986 ANM — Present
Ethnicity: Dragon
Residence: Detrot
Scarlett Cutter (F)
6/18/987 ANM — Present
Ethnicity: Dragon
Residence: Fillydelphia
Singed Marker (F)
6/18/987 ANM — Present
Ethnicity: Dragon
Residence: Fillydelphia
Eventually, Spike couldn't take it anymore. He dropped the scroll before he wrecked it in his tightening grip, and stormed off.
It was then that Twilight finally snapped out of her frozen state, exclaiming, "Spike's got family!?"
However, she noticed quickly that he was no longer there. "Spike? Where'd you go?"
She eventually found him on the balcony that she used when she raised the sun and moon. "Are you okay, Spike? You kinda stormed off before I could gather my thoughts."
He sighed in response, holding his head in the crook between his arms. "I'm confused, Twilight."
To this, Twilight decided to sit down next to him. "Of course you're confused, Spike; we just found out that you have living family out there, and—"
He shook his head, "It's not that. You said those scrolls were published last year?"
Twilight blinked, then nodded, "Yeah...?"
Little tears glistened in the corners of his eyes as he clenched his fists. "How long did Celestia know? Did she know about them the whole time, like how she knew about Nightmare Moon beforehand? Why didn't she tell us?
"I thought she trusted us with stuff like this by now...." he finished, his voice barely a whimper now.
Twilight blinked. He had a point, didn't he? There'd been some time between the publication of those records and now; surely, Celestia should've come to them at some point with the news?
Eventually, she shook her head. "I don't know why either, Spike. Maybe we could send her a letter—"
"No," he said with some conviction. "Not right now. I don't... I think I need some time to cool down before I can talk to her again."
She nodded, "I understand. In the meantime, what do you want to do with this information? You have a family out there, and I'll understand if—"
"Don't even say it, Twilight," he interrupted her with a hug. "You'll always be my family."
She sighed in relief. She knew this already, but it still didn't hurt for him to remind her.
Then Spike let go and twiddled his fingers. "But, if it's all the same, I'd still like to meet them. Y'know, to get some closure or something?"
Twilight nodded. "I'll find a way to contact them all."
Being the current reigning Princess of Equestria, the process was simple. All she needed to do was ask her secretary, and she was given access to the records. Once she found their addresses, she sent a letter to each of them requesting them to come to the Castle as soon as they could, and be ready for an extended stay. After some correspondence amongst them all, that Friday was chosen as the best time for all of them to come.
The one thing she left out of the letters was the exact reason for the visit; she'd rather break the news in person.
The two days until Friday passed by relatively quickly (considering that they were busy running the country and whatnot), and Spike found himself getting nervous. How would he go about introducing himself? Would his relatives like him? What if they wanted him to become a permanent part of their family?
Eventually, the day arrived, and Spike was quickly losing his nerve as he waited for them to arrive. It quickly became enough for Twilight to notice.
"Relax, Spike," she did her best to reassure him. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine."
The little dragon tugged at the collar of the suit he'd chosen to wear. "I know you're probably right, but there's always that possibility that it won't be okay."
Before Twilight could respond, however, horns sounded. "Announcing the arrival of Miss Scarlett Cutter and Miss Singed Marker," announced the Royal Herald as a pegasus-drawn carriage came in for a landing. As soon as it came to a stop, the door was opened by a servant, and two well-dressed dragons stepped out.
The first was a rather slender dragoness, about a foot taller than Spike. Her scales were a deep red in color (Spike assumed this was Scarlett), with lighter pink scales running down her stomach. Her magenta eyes were framed by short eyelashes, and her muzzle was slender compared to Spike's. Two large horns curved downwards from her ears, and a row of black, spiky, swept-back spines ran from her forehead down her back, all the way to the tip of her tail. On her back were two large wings, which were currently folded up. She was also clothed in a fancy-ish yellow dress that looked casual without becoming improper.
The second dragon was about Spike's height, even though the records said Scarlett and Singe were the same age as each other. Her pale mauve scales contrasted nicely with her peach-colored underbelly, and her teal eyes held a kind of fiery passion that Spike had only ever seen whenever his friends got invested in something they loved. Her ears were concealed by yellow fin-like protrusions, similar to Spike's ears, and she had smoother dark yellow spines and shorter wings than her sister. She was wearing a casual white dress with a dark red jacket over top.
The two spotted the Princess (Spike was currently hiding behind her legs), and they headed over. After setting down their bags, both of them bowed, to Twilight's eternal chagrin, before the tall one spoke. "Greetings, Princess. I am Scarlett, and this is my sister, Singe."
"Glad you could make it so soon," the Princess replied, taking note that they already knew they were sisters. After a moment, she turned to Spike and asked, "Well? Aren't you going to say hello?"
The little guy peeked around Twilight's legs, revealing himself to the two. Singe blinked, "Were we not the first ones to arrive...?"
"No, you were," Twilight corrected. "This is Spike, my Royal Advisor and adopted little brother."
The two looked at each other, before turning back to Spike. "Why hello, Spike," Scarlett began. When he didn't respond, she asked, "Feeling a little shy?"
The drake nodded.
Singe smiled. "If it helps, we were adopted, too; that's something we can relate to each other with, right?"
Spike managed to get a little chuckle out of that. "I suppose so..."
Scarlett knelt down, extending out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Spike inched out from behind Twilight, until he was able to shake her hand. "S-same here," he greeted nervously. Singe then stepped forward, and they also shook hands.
The sound of horns interrupts them, and they all turn to see another carriage landing. "Announcing the arrival of Mx. Slipknot," the Royal Herald announced.
Spike blinked. "Mx? What's that mean?"
Twilight helpfully supplied, "It means they don't identify as a boy or a girl."
Spike's mouth made an 'oh' shape, before he shut it again and waited for the carriage door to open. Some shuffling was heard from inside, and the door seemed to jiggle a bit, but didn't open.
"Um, a little help please?" called an embarrassed voice from inside.
Twilight quickly stepped forward and lit her horn. The door wobbled, before finally popping open.
Out stepped a young adult dragon that was just about as tall as Princess Cadance. Their scales were burnt orange, with a pale yellow underbelly and darker scales on their face (reminiscent of freckles). Their cool green eyes were rimmed with red horn glasses, and their ears were frills like Spike's and Singe's. Their spine scales, which were more bubbly than the others', led to a heart-shape on the tip of their tail, and their folded wings were nearly as tall as Spike. They were wearing a black dress shirt, with a striped red-and-white tie, and carrying a faded magenta canvas bag along with their luggage.
Slipknot approached the group, before bowing. "Sorry about that, Princess; the door got jammed."
Twilight shook her head, "It wasn't your fault. They're old carriages, so they tend to get stuck like that."
Spike, feeling a little braver after his interaction with Scarlett and Singe, stepped out a bit more. "H-hey there. I'm, uh, Spike."
Slipknot blinked, not having seen the little guy behind Twilight, before smiling. "Heya, little guy. I'm Slipknot."
This time, he was the first to extend his hand. However, the other dragon had different plans, and held out a fist. Spike, catching on instantly, eagerly clenched his own hand, and they fist-bumped.
As Slipknot stood up, they addressed the other dragons. "And you must be Scarlett and Singe, right?"
The two of them nodded. "It's nice to finally meet you," Singe smiled. "We've been eager ever since Princess Twilight mentioned you in her letters."
"Same here." Slipknot then looked over all three of the dragons, noticing their similarities to each other. "You three family?"
Spike and Twilight blinked, sweating at how perceptive Slipknot was. Scarlett and Singe were about to reply no, but Twilight spoke first: "It sure looks that way, doesn't it?"
The two sisters paused at that, then began to stare at Spike confusedly. He nervously waved back.
But before they could ask, the horns sounded one last time. "And finally," finished the Herald, "announcing the arrival of Mistress Scales Montegriffe!"
The five of them watched as the last carriage, which was somewhat larger than the first two, came in for a landing. Once it stopped, Spike held his breath in anticipation. The moment was finally here; he was about to meet his biological mother.
Nothing happened.
Twilight and Spike looked at each other. Another moment passed, and the whole group began to get antsy.
Finally, Twilight approached, leaving Spike to hide behind Slipknot. With a little magic, she opened the door, then gawked at what she was seeing.
The adult dragoness was pink, with a pale yellow underbelly. Her horns, which were yellow with yellow-orange stripes, were higher up on her head than most other dragons', which made room for the layers of pink spikes that covered the backside of her head. She only had scattered yellow spines on her back, with a yellow-orange triangle shape on the end of her tail. She was much larger than the others, — about as tall as Discord, roughly — and her wingspan was scaled to fit that. She wore a stained tee-shirt with the slogan 'Go Dodgers!' printed on it.
And she was curled up on the floor of the carriage, fast asleep.
Twilight sighed, using her magic to gently shake the dragoness. Scales shifted slightly, but only muttered "Wake me when we get there..." before continuing to doze.
Twilight managed a chuckle, being reminded of how Spike was also a heavy sleeper. And whenever she needed him to wake up quickly...
She leaned in and whispered, "There's a spider on you."
Instantly, the dragoness sat bolt upright, frantically searching herself. When she found no such arachnid, she turned to the voice, then paused at who it was.
"Nice of you to join us," Twilight held back a chuckle. "Both here in Canterlot, as well as the waking world."
Scales blushed. "Sorry. Long ride."
With a little assist from the Princess, Scales stepped out of the carriage with her bags. She stretched a little after her nap, then covered her mouth to hold back a burp.
Spike gawked. She was cooler than he could've even imagined.
Scales approached the group of dragons, slouched off to one side the whole way. "Hey, how's it going? I'm Scales."
The four introduced themselves in turn.
Twilight walked up to them. "Alright, everyone been introduced?" When they nodded, she gestured for them to follow her, and they all walked into the Castle.
As they walked down the hall, Spike looked up at Scales. "I, uh... I like your shirt."
She chuckled. "This old thing? I just sorta threw it on; didn't have anything fancy to wear."
"That's what I like about it; it says you've got confidence to be yourself. Reminds me of a friend I have in Ponyville."
Scarlett raised an eyebrow, "You're from Ponyville?"
"Not exactly," he admitted. "I lived here in Canterlot until I was ten, when Twilight and I moved to Ponyville. Eventually, we had to move back so Twilight could take the throne."
Singe asked, "Did you like it in Ponyville?"
Spike instantly answered, "Heck yeah! I met some of the best friends I've ever had there, and even fell in love for a while. Even with the occasional monster attacks and/or doomsday scenarios, it was actually a rather simple life, but I loved it regardless."
"Being forced to leave everything behind must've been tough..." Scales asked, a somewhat somber look on her face.
This didn't go unnoticed by Spike. "Well, yeah, it was... But even if I'm no longer there, I still have the memories of when I was, and I'll cherish them forever.
"Besides, Twilight needs me here." He added in a hushed tone, "Between you and me, she tends to stress over the littlest things."
Slipknot blinked. "Really?"
Spike nodded. "This one time, when she was planning out her month, she forgot to leave time to plan for the next month. She spent most of the night pacing around, and having a fit about how her whole year was going to be thrown off."
The five of them chuckled at that.
Eventually, they reached their destination: what used to be Celestia's Study, now converted into Twilight's Sitting Room. The bookshelves had been reorganized (that was a given with Twilight), a few couches had been brought in and placed facing the fire, and there was even a chest of drawers with a few board games in the corner next to the large casement window. The large crate containing the genealogical records sat next to one of the couches.
Twilight ushered them towards the seating, sitting in the one closest to the crate. Spike sat next to her, the three younger dragons sat on the opposite couch, and Scales was provided with some pillows so she could sit comfortably on the floor.
"Alright, is every creature comfortable?" They all nodded, so she continued. "Once again, I want to thank you all for coming."
Scarlett pshawed, "It was no problem at all, your majesty."
"When the Princess comes writing," Slipknot agreed, "you'd best answer."
Twilight let out a breath. "Please, just call me Twilight. Inside this room, we're all equals."
The four dragons looked at each other, before silently agreeing.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way, we'd like to discuss something with you all. Spike, if you'd like to begin?"
He gulped nervously, before nodding. "I've been at Twilight's side ever since she hatched my egg during her entrance exam, and we've been like family."
Scarlett and Singe both blinked. "Hey, we were hatched during an entrance exam, too!"
Spike balked, "Really??"
"So was I..." Slipknot added, pondering over something.
"So you three understand what it's like, right?" Spike asked hopefully. "Not knowing your place in life, and not knowing that much about what you are or where you came from?"
The three of them nodded somewhat. "I've always had my sister," Scarlett admitted, "and we both have our guardians, Carbon Cutter and Book Marker, so we weren't exactly wanting for reassurance."
"But still, that doesn't mean we haven't been curious at times..." Singe added.
Spike inwardly sighed in relief. It felt good to find someone else who felt how he did.
Twilight, however, was focused on something else. "Wait, you two live with Carbon Cutter and Book Marker?"
The two sisters blinked. "Yeah...?" they hesitantly answered.
The Princess barely held back a squeal of excitement. "Oh my gosh! I heard so much about them while I was in school, but I never got a chance to meet them! What're they like? Is it true that they were top of their classes in geology and —?"
Spike put a hand on Twilight's chest. "Focus, Twi."
The alicorn paused, before blushing sheepishly and clearing her throat. "Right, sorry." They all covered a laugh at her display.
Slipknot decided to speak up, "I need to ask: what brought about this topic? And why'd you call us all here in the first place?"
"I think I have an idea," Scales said somewhat nervously, "but I'll let Twilight speak."
"Thank you, Scales," the mare in question nodded. "So, as we were saying: Spike used to have all these doubts and questions in his mind, and I was never able to answer him, so we kind of pushed them off to the side. But recently, they were brought to the forefront again when Celestia gave us this."
Her horn lit up, and a scroll was brought out from the crate and levitated over to the four. They began to peruse it, but stopped cold when they found what Twilight wanted to show them.
Slowly, they turned back towards the Princess and her Royal Advisor. "W-what...?" Scarlett managed to squeak out.
"We're...?" Singe agreed with her sister, looking at Spike in a new light.
He nodded, his eyes a little watery.
Suddenly, Singe burst off the couch, tackling Spike in a hug. "We've got a brother, Scarlett!" she cheered, crying liquid happiness. "A real, actual brother!"
Scarlett smirked at her sister in amusement, but soon enough, she was off the couch and hugging him as well (thankfully, more gently).
Slipknot, who was already starting to piece some things together anyways, was a bit more mentally coherent. "I don't understand; how can this be?"
"That's what we were hoping Scales could explain," she turned to the pink dragoness, who had her eyes closed in thought.
Everyone turned to look at her as she seemed to calm herself with some kind of mental technique that she knew. Finally, she opened her eyes. "Yeah, I kinda figured this might be it. Well, buckle up, because this is a bit of a doozy."
So Scales told her story. How she was raised in squalor in the Dragon Lands, having to defend against the elements, hunger, and other dragons. She recounted how, in a fit of zealous ambition, she managed to steal the Bloodstone Scepter and become Dragon Lord.
She sighed when she recalled how she soon found herself in over her head, not at all ready for the challenge of ruling all of dragon-kind. In fact, she was so unhappy in that position that, when Torch eventually came to overthrow her, she'd simply sighed in relief, dropped the Scepter into his outstretched claw, and left the Dragon Lands for good.
Then she recounted her time in southeastern Equestria. At first, she was scorned for being a dragon, and was forced to live in the mountains. It wasn't the best, she admitted, but it was better than having to deal with other dragons. Over time, however, the ponies of the nearby town began to fear her less, due to the fact that she never once tried to attack anypony paired with the coming and going of new generations.
Then one day, she found herself laying four eggs. At first, she didn't know what to do; remembering her time as Dragon Lord made her adverse to taking up any form of responsibility again, including parenthood. But it was also more than that. With her still living in the mountains, any whelps that hatched (however unlikely that was, due to her not having access to the nesting grounds) would be subjected to the same difficult childhood she'd gone through, and she wouldn't wish that even upon her worst enemy.
Then she'd had an idea. One day, in the dead of night, she flew towards the capitol city and dropped the eggs off in a garden.
"...and from there, I think you can fill in the details," Scales began to wrap up. "Celestia must've found the eggs, taken them in, and used them for her entrance exams, hatching you four. I still wasn't particularly close to the ponies, so I hardly received any news of anything, let alone of you four. Eventually, when Twilight started the School of Friendship and international relations began to improve, I was able to move a bit more freely around Equestria. Any news I received of dragons in Equestria from then on, I assumed it was simply dragons that came in from the Dragon Lands."
The five others were enraptured, Twilight having produced a notepad and pencil with her magic.
As such, once the story ended, the four dragons started asking questions.
"Were you really the Dragon Lord?!"
"Why didn't you ever come looking for us?"
"Were you at the Gauntlet of Fire?"
"When did you move to Applewood?"
"Do we have a father?"
"How come you didn't lay any eggs besides us?"
"How'd you make it to Equestria on your lonesome?"
"Slow down!" Scales finally interrupted, almost completely overwhelmed by their questions. The whelps shut their mouths for a moment, allowing her to process what they'd all asked. "To answer your questions: yes, for about a year and a half; I didn't know you'd hatched until today, and I still don't want to take up responsibility like that; no, because I've already been the Dragon Lord; last year, once ponies were more willing to befriend a dragon; no, Dragon Lords fertilize their own eggs; because a Dragon Lord can only have one clutch of eggs in a generation; and I did it using the skills I'd acquired growing up the way I did."
With that, the room fell into silence. Since everything that needed saying had been said, they didn't know where to go from there.
Eventually, Spike decided to move forward and hug his mother. She almost protested it, but stopped herself; after all, he deserved to hug his own mother. After a moment, the other three dragons joined the hug, and they stayed like that for a while.
Unfortunately, the hug had to end at some point, and they all went back to staring at the document that'd revealed the truth to them.
That's when Slipknot noticed something about Spike's entry. "Wait, 'Kenbroth Heathspike Sparkle'?" they asked bemusedly.
Spike blushed, "I was named after a legendary dragon who aided a mare called Wysteria."
Twilight explained, "I was in a bit of a 'legends of old Equestria' phase at the time."
"Well, I like it," Singe piped up, before adding teasingly, "Ken."
Spike blushed even harder, and everyone giggled at the interaction.
So the six of them talked for a while, sharing their life stories, what they liked and disliked, and more. Singe and Scarlett were apparently hatched by brothers Carbon Cutter and Book Marker, who moved to Fillydelphia soon after graduation; Slipknot was hatched by another pony named Express (who was now deceased), and they now worked in the postal service in Detrot; all five of them had a sweet spot for Topaz; and Spike and Singe bonded over a common interest in comics and manga.
Eventually, the time arrived for Twilight to lower the sun, so she and Spike began to escort everyone to their guest rooms.
Then Spike suddenly stopped. "So, I was thinking... would you all like to go out tomorrow, to see the sights and whatnot?"
Both Scarlett and Singe turned and smirked at him. "Do you even need to ask, new bro?"
"We can't wait, Ken!" Singe sure was making the most out of that nickname, to Spike's moderate embarrassment. But he knew she was just teasing, and it reassured him that they were, in fact, bonding.
Scales knelt down to get closer to Spike's level. "Only if we can get donuts. I've been curious ever since I first saw a pony eating one."
Spike lit up. "Oh, that's perfect; I know just the place!"
Slipknot was seemingly the only one with any reservations: "Are you sure Canterlot can handle seeing five dragons walking the streets freely?"
Twilight put their fears to rest: "There were more dragons at my coronation, and Canterlot seemed to survive fine."
Slipknot thought about it, then they shrugged. "Well, alrighty then!"
With a cheer, the group wished each other goodnight, and split off to their rooms.
Spike was the last to go. "Good night, Twi. And thank you."
She chuckled, "Thank me for what, bringing them here?"
"Not just that. Thank you for everything you've done for me." He looked up, and Twilight saw he was crying a few tears of joy.
She hugged him closer. "Of course, Spike. No matter how much more family we let into our lives, you'll always be my little bro. And as your big sis, it's my job to make you happy."
Eventually, they parted, and headed for their own rooms.
That night, Spike decided to send a letter to Celestia, telling her about the meeting and asking her why she didn't tell him about his family earlier.
When morning came, just before Spike left for his family outing, he received her reply:
Dear Spike,
I'm glad to hear that the meeting went well. It's always hard to reconcile with a family who hasn't been there for most of your life, but given enough effort, almost anything can be overcome.
As for your question, I did not know until Scales' medical records came in, which was after she moved to Applewood. I was already planning on giving Twilight the throne at that point, so I decided to hold off until you two had the proper resources to track them down. Think of it as a parting gift, from me to you.Besides, would learning earlier have changed anything about the end result?
Best regards,
Celestia
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Oh hey, this wasn't here when I last checked!
Why's this episode dated August 19th 2020?
10946918
Because I was originally going to publish this along with Episode 5, before I decided to rewrite it... Twice...
Ooh! Nice chapter! Wonder why I didn't get a notification
10974152
Because it was one of the two episodes I initially published for this story (before I actually uploaded it), along with "Children of the Night". But I decided to heavily rewrite it, therefore I unpublished it before uploading the story. It kept the original publish date, therefore it didn't think it was new.