Spike's Mark

by mikemuir0178

Chapter 9: Hidden Truth

Chapter 9: Hidden Truth

Spike had been tired from the day’s activities. Filing the records, sending the records back, going to the spa with Rarity, assisting Rarity with her projects, and finally helping Twilight organize some of her notes in the evening had left him exhausted. As he felt his head hit the pillow, he smiled in content. In his mind, he hoped his dreams would be filled with Rarity tonight. He wished he could feel her embrace right now.

Spike’s thoughts were interrupted the next moment as he heard a banging on the front door of the castle. His eyes shot open and then narrowed in irritation. It was late and he needed his sleep. If he ignored it, maybe the pony would go away. He closed his eyes again.

There was another bang at the door.

Spike’s eyes opened again in irritation. Maybe if he waited long enough, whoever was at the door would leave.

The banging continued.

“Fine! I’m coming!” Spike growled. Slowly he got out of the warm covers of his bed and made his way to a table in the corner of his room where he picked up a candelabra. Using his own fiery breath, he lit the candles.

The banging continued.

“I’m coming!” Spike growled even louder as he made his way out his room. It took him a minute or two to walk down the hall to the entranceway of the castle. A part of him wished the castle wasn’t so big. All that time he walked, he could hear the pony outside continue to bang on the door.

“This better be good,” Spike said as he groggily reached the door and undid the lock.

“SPIKE!” Rarity jumped thru the door as soon as it had become unlocked. She grabbed Spike by the shoulders and held him off the ground.

“Huh? Rarity?” Spike snapped wide awake as he found himself looking eyes to eye with her.

“I know who your parents are!” Rarity shouted

X X X X X

Spike sat quietly at the dining room table looking at the photo of Grey Shire. Off to one side, he heard Rarity discussing her revelation with Twilight. When Rarity had first come to the castle, for a brief moment, Spike wondered if he was talking with Pinkie Pie instead. However, after calming down, Rarity had asked them to show the pictures of Grey Shire from the missing pony report and her file. When Spike saw that Grey Shire appeared to bear a Mark on her neck, he began to wonder how far-fetched the idea really was.

Even more surprising was the idea that Grey Shire was actually his mother. He was a dragon, right? He knew he could breathe fire, he had his first molt, and he loved gems like all the other dragons. So was he really part pony? Could Rarity be right?

“It just doesn’t seem possible. A pony and a dragon laying an egg,” Twilight argued.

“I know this sounds crazy,” Rarity answered, “But it would explain why Ember never could find Spike’s family. Spike’s egg was not stolen. Grey Shire had made it.”

Grey Shire.

When he first learned about the pony, Spike wondered if she had been responsible for stealing his egg. Then he learned about Runt and thought he was the one who stole his egg and Grey Shire had given it to Princess Celestia in hopes of returning it. In both cases, he held a small resentment for the two at the time for not returning his egg to his parents. Now…He wasn’t sure what to feel. He had wanted to find out about his family…but this…

“What about the last journal entry,” Twilight interjected.

“Most of the text is missing. We only assumed Runt had turned on Grey Shire. What if something else happened? Perhaps Runt had to leave somewhere and Grey Shire wanted to follow,” Rarity theorized.

Runt.

It was not exactly a name a dragon would take willingly. Spike remembered Applejack saying Runt sounded like he was the runt of the litter. That could have been true, but Spike had always picture his parents being big and strong. However, if Rarity was proven right, his father was an Exile, and his mother was something of an outcast. Far from the heroes he had always pictured them as.

And then there was the fact that they had abandoned him. Were they afraid of him or what he represented? Why did they leave his egg at the academy then? He had so many questions and wanted to ask Grey Shire for the truth.

But where was she?

Was she hiding somewhere?

What prompted her to leave and forget all about him? Mothers were supposed to take care of their children, right?

Spike could feel his resentment for Grey Shire grow. A part of him thought he was wrong to feel such hatred. He did not have all the facts about what happened. He should not jump to conclusions.

“But that could easily be my pony part talking,” he thought angrily.

Spike slumped onto the table. He barely heard the two ponies talking off to the side.

“Let’s say for a moment you are right?” Twilight responded, “How would we prove it? We need evidence.”

Rarity gave this some thought for a moment. “We could have a doctor look over the photo. Maybe they can tell us if Grey Shire really was pregnant.”

“I suppose,” Twilight said, though there was some doubts in her voice.

“Now that I think about it, didn’t Pinkie Pie say a doctor had recognized Grey Shire, Spike?” Rarity asked. There was a small pause. “Spike?” Rarity turned to see Spike slumped on the table.

Spike awoke from his thoughts briefly to acknowledge Rarity and Twilight. “Oh…Huh…Yeah,” Spike said as he took a brief glance in their direction. “Whatever.”

Spike and Rarity stared at Spike for a moment before sharing a look with each other. Both could tell that Spike was brooding and was probably overwhelmed by what Rarity had told him. It was Rarity who finally broke the moment of silence.

“Perhaps I should leave. I didn’t mean to overburden you with so much,” Rarity said.

Twilight shook her head. “Actually, it’s pretty late now,” Twilight said, “You can stay in my bedroom tonight and we can check things out tomorrow morning.”

“Are you sure. I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” Rarity replied.

“I’m sure,” Twilight responded. She then moved closer to whisper into Rarity’s ear, “Besides, I might need your help with Spike.”

Rarity took a moment to look in Spike’s direction and felt a tinge of guilt for having burdened Spike with so much so quickly. “Of course,” Rarity whispered back. She then turned around and quietly left the room.

Once Rarity had left, Twilight turned to Spike. Slowly she approached him from behind. “Hey Spike,” she said as she approached him. She then took a seat next to him. “How are you feeling?”
Spike gave a deep sigh. “What am I Twilight?”

Twilight was caught off guard by the question and remained silent.

“Am I a dragon or a pony?” Spike asked, “Or a freak in between…”

Twilight was slightly outraged Spike thought himself that way. “You’re not a freak Spike,” Twilight responded angrily. “You are a dragon!”

“But if Rarity is right, then a pony was responsible for laying my egg,” Spike replied.

“So?” Twilight shrugged, “Earth Ponies, Pegasus, and Unicorns marry each other, and their offspring always turn out to be one or the other. You just turned out to be a dragon rather than a pony.”

“I guess,” Spike said as he thought about what Twilight said. He had seen many cases where different types of ponies had married, but, with the exception of Flurry Heart, never a child that was a cross breed. It seemed the same rules applied for a dragon and pony. “But why did they leave me then. Were they afraid of me?”

Twilight let out a deep sigh. She knew Spike was probably brimming with questions and was probably hoping she had all the answers too. “I don’t know, Spike. But I don’t think they abandoned you.”

Spike turned to look at Twilight. “Why do you say that?”

“Well…Look at the report on your egg,” Twilight responded, “Grey Shire had made regular visits for about a month. Sounds like she was trying to watch over you.”

“But why leave my egg at the Academy? I mean-“

“Spike. I don’t know all the answers,” Twilight replied, “We’ll just need to find them as we go along. In fact, we still need to confirm that Grey Shire really is your mother.”

Spike let out a sigh of disappointment. “Sorry, Twilight. I guess I got a little anxious again.”

Twilight gave a reassuring smile to the little dragon. “It’s okay Spike. But we did make some progress. We know more about Grey Shire and we may have learned that Runt was your father.”

“I suppose,” Spike replied. He could not deny what Twilight was saying. However, everything seemed different than what he originally thought. More than ever, he wanted to know his origins.

Was Grey Shire and Runt really his parents?

“It’s time for bed, Spike,” Twilight responded as she levitated him off his stool.

Spike was caught a little by surprise, but offered no resistance. As Twilight began to lead him to his room, he fell into step.

Twilight took small glances at Spike as they walked down the hallway. She could easily see Spike was sulking and depressed. She wanted to assure him that everything would be okay and to cheer up, but found she didn’t have the heart for it. Until they knew the full truth, there was nothing she could think of to help her little dragon.

As they entered, Spike’s room, Twilight used her magic to levitate the blanket off the bed. She then waited until Spike climbed in before allowing the blanket to fall over him. She then used her own hooves to tuck the blanket in so Spike was snuggled inside. “Now get some sleep. We might have a big day tomorrow.”

“Thanks for everything, Twilight,” Spike said as he curled up in the bed.

“You’re welcome,” Twilight replied.

“No. I mean…thanks for…well…everything,” Spike corrected her.

It took Twilight a moment for her to realize that Spike was thanking her for being his family. A small tear formed in her eye when she realized this. She then hugged Spike gently and slowly exited the room. “Goodnight Spike.”

X X X X X

“I’m sorry, but Pinkie Pie is still sleeping. She said she had been running all over town before she collapsed on her bed,” Mrs. Cake replied from behind the counter of the Sugarcube Corner.

“I see,” Twilight replied.

“She must have been exhausted after asking every pony about Grey Shire,” Rarity said from behind Twilight.

“Yeah…Twice,” Spike added.

Twilight had hoped to ask Pinkie Pie which doctor had remembered about Grey Shire. She had done a little research in the morning and found there had been three doctors in Ponyville when Grey Shire was still around. However, Twilight did not have the heart to wake up Pinkie Pie for such a small request. “Thank you Mrs. Cake,” Twilight said before she, Spike and Rarity exited the building.

“So what now?” Spike asked as he followed Twilight down the street.

“We’ll just head to Ponyville Hospital and ask around,” Twilight replied.

“We should probably start with Dr. Horse,” Rarity said, “He probably has the most experience with these sort of things.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said before leading the way to Ponyville Hospital. In some ways, heading to Ponyville Hospital was like making their way back to Friendship Castle since both locations were along the northern boundary of Ponyville. However, Twilight had wanted to avoid asking every doctor if they knew Grey Shire. But with Pinkie Pie still asleep, they did not have much choice.

Fortunately, when they reached the hospital, they found that there were no patients and all the doctors were free. Having visited him before, it did not take the three companions long to find Dr. Horse’s office and schedule some time with him. Shortly after they entered the examination room, the doctor walked in.

“So, what seems to be the trouble?” Dr. Horse said as he entered the room.

Twilight was the first to answer. “We were hoping you could help us in finding a missing pony,” Twilight explained.

“Missing pony?” Dr. Horse replied, “I’m afraid you are in the wrong location.”

“No. You see she’s been missing for fifteen years. Her name is-“

“Grey Shire,” the doctor asked.

Twilight, Rarity, and Spike looked at the doctor in surprise. “How did you know that?” Spike asked.

“Simple. Pinkie Pie was asking everyone in the hospital yesterday,” Dr. Horse explained, “For some reason, she did this twice.”

Rarity and Spike looked at each other for a brief moment before Rarity spoke up. “I’m afraid we might have been indirectly responsible for that,” Rarity apologized.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I told her. I did examine Grey Shire, but I can’t tell you much due to patient confidentiality,” Dr. Horse explained.

“I see,” Twilight said respectively. She then turned to face her assistant, “Spike.”

Spike nodded and pulled out the photo of Grey Shire that had been in the missing pony report.

Twilight then turned back to Dr. Horse. “We also wanted to ask you about this photo,” Twilight began as she used her magic to take the photo from Spike and levitate it over for the doctor to see.

“We suspect she was pregnant and were hoping you could tell us if that was the case,” Rarity added.

Dr. Horse looked at the photo in surprise. “Huh. How did you get this photo?”

Twilight, Spike and Rarity looked at each other in surprise when they saw Dr. Horse recognized it. “You know about this photo?” Twilight asked.

Dr. Horse gave a small laugh. “I was the one who took it. I’m guessing Princess Celestia gave this to you.”

Again, surprise.

“You certainly know a lot,” Rarity replied.

“Well…Since Princess Celestia did give you this, I should probably tell you,” Dr. Horse replied as he considered their request. “You see, Grey Shire came to me just over fifteen years ago. I was just starting my practice then and was not well known,” he explained.

“Was it because she was pregnant?” Spike asked.

“Indeed. She was a strange case though. She wanted me to help her, but refused to have me do an X-ray when I noticed some abnormalities,” the doctor explained.

“What kind of abnormalities?” Twilight asked.

“Well…” the doctor replied as he gave the events some thought, “For starters, her belly was harder than it should have been. I could not feel the baby inside. Also, when I listened for the heart, it sounded strong but muffled. I thought it was due to my lack of experience at the time and had asked if I could have another doctor examine her. She refused.”

“So why did you take the picture?” Twilight asked.

“Procedure. On strange cases, we try to gather as much information as possible. She did resist, but reluctantly agreed when I told her it was standard procedure,” the doctor explained.

Rarity turned and looked at Spike and Twilight. “I’m guessing Princess Celestia took the photo when Grey Shire went missing.”

“Actually, it was her royal guard,” the doctor added, “Apparently it was the only photo they had of her.” His head then lowered in disappointment. “I’m guessing they never found her since you’re asking about it.”

“The investigation is ongoing,” Twilight assured him, “Is there anything else you can think of?”

Dr. Horse shook his head. “That’s all there was. But…I do hope that Grey Shire and the baby are doing okay.”

Twilight looked down at Spike for a brief moment before returning her gaze to the doctor. “I’m sure the child is doing just fine.”

X X X X X

Twilight, Rarity, and Spike exited the hospital after thanking Dr. Horse for all the information.

“It seems you were right, Rarity. Grey Shire is most likely Spike’s mother,” Twilight responded with confidence.

“What makes you say that?” Spike asked as he fell into step with Twilight.

“The doctor said when he examined Grey Shire, he could not feel her child and the heart was muffled,” Twilight explained, “He didn’t feel a baby pony inside her. He felt an egg.”

“And that egg was Spike,” Rarity concluded.

“Right,” Twilight responded.

Spike was still overwhelmed by the idea. A dragon and a pony together and he was their offspring. A part of him wondered what Grey Shire was thinking when she suspected she was carrying an egg instead of a pony. Was she scared of what he represented or was there another reason?

Why did Grey Shire abandon him?

The reports said that she visited for about a month and then disappeared. Did she give up on him and move away? Spike then wondered if maybe his father, Runt, had something to do with her disappearance. Spike didn’t think Runt turned on Grey Shire, but the last entry in Grey Shire’s journal almost made it sound like he did.

Burning down the cabin?

Personal safety?

What happened back then that caused Grey Shire to go missing.

And what about Runt? Was he missing too?

“HEY GUYS!”

Spike’s thoughts were interrupted as he saw Pinkie Pie bouncing up the road towards them. Everyone stopped in their tracks as Pinkie Pie landed in front of them.

“I’ve been looking for you!” Pinkie shouted happily, “Were you able to find what you were looking for?”

Twilight smiled at her friend. “We did, thanks to you. You really came thru, Pinkie.”

Rarity chipped in the next moment. “It turns out that Grey Shire is in fact Spike’s mother.”

Pinkie Pie’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide with surprise as she heard this. “Grey Shire is Spike’s mother?!”

“It certainly seems that way,” Spike replied. The next moment, Spike found himself gasping for breath as he felt Pinkie Pie holding him in a giant bear hug.

“WE’RE COUSINS!” Pinkie shouted happily as she squeezed Spike with all her might, “I’M RELATED TO SPIKE! I’M RELATED TO SPIKE!” Her eyes then shot open as a realization then dawned on her. She then held Spike away from her and looked at him. "Wait! Does that mean I’m part dragon too?”

Twilight sighed in frustration while Rarity covered her mouth to hide a small laugh at Spike’s position in all of this.

“Pinkie! You only have a distant relation to Grey Shire! You’re not directly related!” Twilight responded, “And Runt was not part of your family!”

“Aww!” Pinkie Pie groaned as she released Spike, “I was really hoping I was. Maybe then I could breathe fire and grow dragon wings.”

Twilight and Rarity found themselves unable to respond to Pinkie’s quirk. The two only looked at each other for a brief moment before turning back to face Pinkie Pie with hesitant smiles. Spike on the other hand was still gasping for breath after surviving Pinkie’s embrace.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Pinkie added, “I remembered the last person who knew Grey Shire! It was the former librarian!”

“The librarian?” Twilight asked in surprise. She knew of the pony who took care of the Golden Oak Library before Spike and she had moved in.

“Yep!” Pinkie nodded happily, “She says Grey Shire was a regular student there before she moved away! She also said that Grey Shire had been trying to learn about dragons before she disappeared!”

Twilight placed a hoof to her chin in thought. “She must have been trying to learn more about Runt,” Twilight theorized. She still recalled how hard it was to find information about dragons back then. Grey Shire must have poured over every book like Twilight had.

“Or maybe she was trying to learn about Spike when she was pregnant,” Rarity added.

Twilight nodded in agreement. “It would make sense since she was giving birth to a dragon,” Twilight said. She then turned back to Pinkie Pie. “Was there anything else she told you?”

“Actually, yes!” Pinkie said happily, “Grey Shire had also taken a book about rashes and skin conditions before she disappeared! The book is fifteen years overdue so she probably has to pay a steep fine!”

“Rashes and skin conditions…” Twilight sat in thought for a moment, “Wait!” Twilight then turned to Spike. “Spike, the last entry in the journal said something about fire and burning down the cabin, right?”

Spike nodded.

“And Grey Shire rented a book on rashes and skin conditions.” Twilight added with a smile, “Doesn’t that sound familiar.”

Spike’s eyes lit up as he recalled similar symptoms. “You think Runt was Molting?”

“It would make sense. If he was molting, he would have been belching flame. I doubt the cabin would last long under those conditions,” Twilight replied. She still remembered how badly Spike’s room was singed during his first molt.

“So instead he moved out…for Grey Shire’s personal safety,” Spike said as he realized what the journal entry might have said.

“Exactly. And Grey Shire probably followed him,” Twilight added.

Rarity still remembered the time Spike had his first Molt. The poor dragon had been covered in stone scales and could not stop scratching himself. She never saw him belch fire in front of her, but had heard other ponies talk about it. And then there was the smell…something she wanted to forget. “But doesn’t that mean that Spike and Runt were roughly the same age?” Rarity asked.

“Actually, dragons undergo several Molts. It’s kind of like a growth spurt,” Spike clarified.

Rarity then looked to Twilight for confirmation.

“Spike and I did some research on it after Spike got his wings. The number of Molts vary from dragon to dragon. A small dragon like Ember will probably have two or three. One as large as Torch will probably have around ten to twenty,” Twilight explained.

Rarity was not thrilled by the idea of having Spike enter another Molt stage. The first had been hard enough. Especially since she had nearly been eaten by a Roc because of it.

“So Grey Shire left because Runt was molting?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“She did study herbs and medicines,” Twilight responded, “Maybe she thought she could make a cream to help Runt.”

“Something like the cream Zecora makes,” Rarity added.

“Right!” Twilight replied.

For Spike, the evidence was now starting to make sense. There was just one thing that remained unsolved. “But if Grey Shire did leave to follow Runt, where did they go?” Spike asked, “Why did they abandon me?”

Twilight looked down at Spike for moment but was unable to come up with an answer. She then looked to Rarity for help. Rarity could only shrug in response. “I don’t know, Spike. But we will find them.”

To Be Continued…

Author's Note:

I hope you all are enjoying the story. This chapter turned out better than what I previously envisioned. I can't help but wonder what people think about Pinkie Pie having a distant relation to Spike. I'd like to hear your comments.

Preview: Dragon's Lair
With clues running scarce, it seems impossible to for Spike to find his parents. However, a chance meeting might all be what he needs to learn the location of Grey Shire and Runt.

Comments

[Isuvyw]

Love this story, the mystery and dynamics were well done . Waiting for more.

[Hillbe]

Hopefully Runt didn't use the Shampoo...
That would be Gray Shires problem...