Spike is on Ember's back, flying across the Dragon Lands to learn more about his culture; he embraces his new family last night after discovering an unfortunate dark truth about the Dragon Egg raiding years ago. Spike hopes Princess Celestia didn't initiate such a wicked, devilish, unforgiving scheme to withdraw the eggs and paralyze many Dragons guarding the newborns with their lives.
Many Dragons down below and soaring in the skies wave at Dragon Lord Spike, hoping for recognition while enjoying a new day with many possibilities of becoming anew under the new ruler. Princess Ember imagines unity within her species and spreads love and Friendship across many neighboring countries while representing the true nature of Dragons and not the rumors and name-shaming by other creatures that acclaimed them to be.
Spike is eager to see Garble and Smolder, but more importantly, his mother for the first time. Curiosity gets the better of Spike with many different color combinations of his mother's appearance, and would she be proud of him for living among Ponies or surprised that he survived such cruelty?
Last night, former Dragon Lord Torch informed Spike about the magic inside the Bloodstone Scepter, it can sense any Dragon the ruler desires to search for, and the Bloodstone Gem glows brighter whenever the Dragon is near.
Right now, Spike is using the Bloodstone Scepter to locate Garble and Smolder's cave; before learning more about his heritage, he yearns to greet his mother and possibly father since Smolder and Garble forgot to mention their dad. The Bloodstone Scepter glows, indicating that the duo is at Garble and Smolder's cave.
"I'm so excited!" Spike hops off Ember's back as she hovers down.
"I'm happy for you, Spike; it's not often for a youngling stolen to reunite with family after so many years," Ember responds; she looks up at Garble flying by with Clump and Fume.
"Yo guys, wanna come by?" Garble politely asks his friends, and they find him weird by his sudden change of attitude.
"No way, man. Whatever hugging spree the Dragon Lord put you through, we don't want any of that," Fume flies away.
"Later, hugger," Clump laughs and mocks Garble for his unfortunate task from yesterday's decree from the Dragon Lord and follows Fume.
Garble grumbles and turns to Dragon Lord Spike and Princess Ember, widely smiling while whistling into the caves, alerting Smolder about their brother's presence.
"Coming!" Smolder hears her brother's call from her room; she flies out and greets her brother and Princess Ember at the entrance; She and Garble tackle-hug Spike with a loving embrace.
"Welcome home, bro!" Garble and Smolder shout loud enough to wake their mother from a peaceful slumber. The echoes of their claim made it to the ears of their mother.
"Thanks," Spike hugs his siblings, relishing the love from the two Dragons.
Garble and Smolder stop hugging and escort Spike inside their home. Princess Ember follows the trio inside while imagining the happiest reaction from a mother Dragon who yearned to reunite with a lost brood.
Within the cave is a structure to enact a stone age family design with many stoned furniture and a bonfire in the middle. There are many hieroglyphics depicting the family tree dating back many centuries on the walls within the cave. A loud thump echoes in the cave, revealing a titanic Dragoness with red-orange scales, a yellow belly scale, and red spikes running from the head to the tail. Her eyes are ruby, and she smiles at the Princess and Dragon Lord Spike.
"Spike, this is your mom, Crimson!" Garble and Smolder announce their mother's name to Spike.
"Mom..?" Spike approaches Crimson, extending his left claw to touch her face.
Crimson leans down, smiling elegantly at her long-lost child, holding back tears; however, her smile fades. She starts sniffing Spike.
"Mom? What are you doing?" Garble asks; he's suspicious about his mother's motive towards his younger brother.
"Why are you doing that?" Smolder is confused about the Crimson sniffing Spike. She and Garble know Spike is the long-lost sibling taken by the Ponies years ago.
"Oh..," Crimson sheds tears of sadness, not gladness. "I'm sorry, Dragon Lord Spike..," Crimson shakes her head, displeased at the sudden revelation. "I did not conceive you; you are not my long-lost child."
"WHAT?!" Garble, Smolder, and Spike shout in horror.
Ember feared this outcome more than any Dragon, with over a hundred eggs taken during the raid years ago, and Spike will now have to travel all over to find his actual mother.
"How can you be sure, Mom?" Smolder fights back the tears of sadness, knowing Spike is not related.
"You and Garble have my and your father's scent; it's our way of detecting our children from separation whenever Dragon Lord Torch isn't with us with his Bloodstone Scepter. For eons, parently Dragons will use their scent of smell to track their younglings wherever they stumble on; It's how I can find you and your brother when you don't return after curfew."
"No...NOOOOO!" Garble slams his fists on the floor, cracking it with his strength. "You told me what our egg looked like! Purple with dark purple polka dots!"
Crimson shakes her head. "Garble.., I said pink egg with purple polka dots..."
"You mean..," Smolder gets an eerie feeling that her sibling is somewhere in Equestria or dead.
"The status of our long-lost relative is unknown for now... I'm sorry..," Crimson grabs Smolder and Garble, holding the two as they mourn together.
"Long ago, in a journal I helped write, I read that friends are considered part of the family. I may not be related to you, but I want Smolder and Garble to become my brother and sister. I would hate for sadness to continue in my country. That is why I'm creating an extended family."
Crimson is stunned by the wisdom shared by the young Dragon Lord and wants to uncover the many marvels Spike endured to obtain the advice. Spike shed tears after discovering his family won't be easy to find; he should have known better than to become over-optimistic.
"I must be patient and ask many Dragonesses about their missing eggs to find my mom." Spike thought to himself. He wants to use the Bloodstone Scepter to locate his mom; however, Spike still wants to learn more about his kin.
Smolder and Garble convince Spike to partake in another fun day with the teenage Dragons since they'll submit to Spike's authority over a possible reformation decree about belittling and ridiculing any other Dragon regardless of age. Spike ponders over the thought and decides to go forth; hopefully, hearing the testimonies of other Dragons present at the raid can inform Spike more of their memories concerning the Dragon and their remaining families in attendance near the foundation of the Dragon's Nest.
Spike climbs Ember's back and takes off in the wild blue yonder with Garble and Smolder following pursuit; Garble's friends decide to follow him to the volcanic territories for a nice soothing, relaxing lava bath.
Damn, That was not I was expecting. I was excited, to see Spike reunite with his mother only to find out they are not related. Yeah I feel sorry for Garble and Smolder.
#4? what happened to #3?
Looks like the truth has been revealed
Oh, so Spike isn't Garble and Smolder's brother after all. Still nice of him to consider them his "extended family".
It was sad to find out Spike isn't related to Garble/Smolder family. On the other claw I'm happy he considers them an extended family instead, he can sure some good vibes with them during his reing as Dragon Lord!
Guess the egg mystery's gonna continue a bit longer, looking forward to more & the wake-up call Twilight/Rarity will get when arriving at Ponyville!
I would hardly call Spike's time with the ponies "cruel," considering they did try to care and look after him with real intent, to say nothing of the fact they clearly care about his well-being--it's kinda how we got to this point in the first place. Really, their only mistakes were enforcing their own philosophies onto him (which was to be expected--the same would've happened if the situation had been reversed), not understanding fully all of Spike's dietary needs (which can be attributed to both sides just not knowing enough about the other because up until now neither had really interacted much, and anyway, he was still staying fed and reasonably healthy regardless so it wasn't like he was being starved in their care), and more recently been slow to accept his personal decision to take up the responsibility of being Dragon Lord...and that's only on a select handful of ponies, particularly a specific two.
Really the only other thing Spike suffered I can truly call a "cruelty" is the abduction of his egg in the first place. But until we know exactly how, why, and by whom that happened, I'm reluctant to include it in the list. And anyway, that aside, I'd say Spike still lived a pretty okay life. Not perfect--there were still things that could've made it better--but it wasn't like he was living in a cardboard box in the gutter and shunned by all or anything like that. Honestly, there are lots out there that would've loved to have the sort of life Spike had in Equestria.
Oh, well, sure, after all that hyping up, of course you're going to NOPE that right back out of our reach again like that.
But honestly, I'm okay with that. This just shows it's not going to be that simple, and I'd think I'd rather have that anyway.
As nice as that thought is, it is rather hypocritical of Spike, considering the exact same argument can be made towards his relations with Twilight or, for that matter, the rest of the Mane 6. I know they're all fighting at the moment, but not only is that part of being a family too (), its precisely because of this fact that they're fighting at all--to at least Twilight, Spike taking up the bloodstone scepter was him rejecting her as family, which struck a low blow for her. This of course wasn't actually the case and Twilight needs to understand that, but while Spike wasn't totally unjustified in responding to her as he had, not acknowledging her as part of that same adoptive family is only making it worse and is, I would argue, rather unfair of him to do, both for Twilight and for himself. He wouldn't be anywhere close to where he is now had it not been for Twilight and company helping him to get there.
He can still have Smolder and Garble as part of the adoptive family if he wants, of course. He just shouldn't forget the adoptive family he has still in Equestria too. Do that, and three-fourths of this whole mess goes away...pretty much immediately.
11602872
You'll see in the next chapter.
11602871
We'll discover who the mother is down the road.
11602882
One truth, soon more will uncover.
11602927
Sometime, memories can be vague for someone younger.
11603188
I see. Also, I put you on my shoutout list. Click my name to thank me.
11603000
Well sometimes they weren't exactly nice. Considering how he ended up with a cold once I wouldn't want someone to do that to me. And after the greed incident twilight could have seen if zecora knew anything else about dragons in order to avoid more trouble. Plus how many times did he help rarity out hoping that she would look at him and see him the same way he saw her . And twilight was always going on about how he was a baby dragon but who does the majority of the chores around their home. Shouldn't the adult have more chores than the child. And how many friends does spike have that his own age.
11603000
He not rejecting her he finding his destiny. She is rejecting him as family because she wants her servant back. She hasn't once thought about spike without thinking about his job as her assistant. Somewhere along the way she forgot about Friendship with him and since until now he always been there she just assumed that her way was right.
11605525
"Cruel" still isn't the word I'd use for it--that would imply him being actively abused, mistreated, or even hated, and I can't really say that's the case for Spike with any of those. If anything, it's the reverse--this all happened because they cared for Spike so much, they don't want to let go, Twilight especially (Rarity, I readily admit, has much less of a leg to stand on).
Honestly, all things considered, Spike has led a fairly normal life up to his current age, with really nothing but many of the normal ups and downs that comes with anyone growing up at least up until now (barring any world-saving adventures, of course). Heck, in canon after this point, Spike arguably ends up better than normal, considering starts becoming a dragon of increasingly more and more influence--he's recognized as a national hero in the Crystal Empire, became the de facto ambassador for nearly all relations with the dragons after the Gauntlet of Fire with nearly all dragon-related affairs going through him sooner or later, played a pivotal role in bringing about peace with the changelings (can NOT emphasize that one enough--were it not for Spike being in the right place at the right time to befriend Thorax, there probably would've been no peace with the changelings and Chrysalis quite likely succeeding with her next plans to conquer Equestria), and in many ways kept Twilight from flying off the handle years ago and preventing her from accomplishing all of the good she carries out for...really the whole known world, if we're perfectly honest. There's probably even more that I'm overlooking.
Really, that's a pretty good life for anybody to have, I'd say.
I assume you refer to the Winter Wrap-Up incident--I'd always interpreted that as a "tough love" sort of thing. You know, a sort of "he won't learn unless he learns the hard way" kind of deal. He clearly wasn't in any real danger, judging from how everyone (including Spike) responded to it.
Not really how I personally would've handled it myself, but again, not exactly something I'd interpret as "cruel" or worth holding this level of malice against the Mane 6 on.
Assuming Zecora really had all of the answers--the impression I always got was that even Zecora's knowledge on dragons was limited and riddled with its own unreliable hearsay, and what little she did convey, didn't exactly paint the most flattering of pictures about dragons in general, so I doubt it would've really prevented the problems being faced now (e.g. preemptively judging all dragons as less than savory characters).
Oh, I'm certainly not excusing Rarity's behavior as she was definitely leading him on for far longer than she should've, particularly since it was pretty clear canon-wise it was never going to happen, and honestly probably shouldn't given the age differences. Indeed, by around season six or so, I was starting to get the impression that even Spike, despite still being enamored with her, was starting to concede it wasn't ever going to happen. And honestly, I think part of the reason why Rarity let it go on for as long as she did was because she knew from the start it probably wasn't ever going to happen either, and figured she'd just humor Spike until he grew out of it on his own.
Hence why I found this fic's approach to the matter somewhat...odd, and probably in need of a bit better justification than it's gotten, but that's another topic.
That all said though, Rarity clearly hadn't met actual malice doing that, and the fact she's acting so vigorously in response to Spike showing affection for Ember proves she has genuine care for him, it's just very misled. And above all else, that's just one factor in Spike's life to consider--when paired with everything else in the bigger picture, Rarity wasn't really that big or dramatic a problem (at least until now) and again, not exactly cruel. Mishandled? Yes. But considering it wasn't really premeditated, I can't call it cruel.
In the first season, yes, but they had pretty much stopped calling him as such by the end of the second season, by which time FiM had largely worked out how it wanted to use Spike and were more consistent about it from that point onward, treating him a bit closer to his genuine maturity (roughly pre-teen). So this I chalk up more to the show changing its vision for the character over time and thus I'm hesitant to read too much into it from the in-universe perspective.
Besides, "baby" is subjective. Considering how long dragons can live, in their eyes, Spike would be a baby, or at least might as well be one. And as the differences between Spike and an adult dragon are clear as day, it's not out of the question for the ponies to deduce much the same for similar reasons initially.
Further, Spike is one of the few characters in FiM that notably ages and matures over the course of the show--his maturity level by the time of "Gauntlet of Fire" is notably different from how it was at the start of the show. So favoring the season one examples (as you've consistently done thus far) for this really only goes so far, as it's not really looking at the whole picture here.
Depends on the chores--all kids have their own household chores to do around the house--and it overlooks the point that Spike quite often was more than willing to do the chores anyway, often because he genuinely wanted to. Indeed, he's often portraying as cooking meals simply because he wanted to, not because he was being made to.
You've pointed this out before, but it's really not really that big of a deal--there are no age restrictions to friendship. FiM openly promotes that point. Whether or not they're the same exact age as Spike is irrelevant, it's whether or not he has the friends at all that matters. And he has plenty of those.
Besides, again, as a dragon, his age in pony years isn't necessarily reflective of his age in dragon years, so there was probably never going to be an exact parallel anyway.
Honestly, what Spike probably needed more was less friends his age and more dragon friends, which this fic is already in the process of addressing, so...moot point.
...which doesn't necessarily need to exclude her, the rest of the Mane 6, or the rest of the life he built in Equestria, which is part of my point (and which Twilight seems to be forgetting entirely). I honestly don't see any reason at all why he'd need to severe all ties with all that, even with the problems this fic has presented, mostly because these are all problems that can be resolved and overcome, and which the fic has already signaled it intends to do anyway.
Rarity, yes. Twilight, though, absolutely not. Contextually, she's done pretty much all of this out of concern for Spike's well being, in the (ultimately mistaken, yes, but again we can still resolve that) belief he's making a mistake that will endanger himself. She's also afraid of losing him both as a friend and as family and she can't bear that thought. She's also, as most caretakers often do, still seeing him as the little defenseless babe she originally hatched instead of the budding preteen-to-teen he's actually is, struggling to admit that her "baby dragon" has been growing up.
Really, all Twilight's doing is struggling with the same problem all parental figures do--accepting their charge is growing up and forging their own paths, and as a consequence of that not always being at their side anymore, further entailing they have to just trust it will all work out in letting them do so...and Twilight's simply not quite ready to do that. But that's my whole point--she doesn't have to lose him at all. He can still be the Dragon Lord and still be part of her life (and vice versa) too. She's just, for some reason, not letting herself consider that.
Of course, she also has the problem of a few prejudices against dragons that is further marring the problem, but that's a separate issue she's really trying to use as a convenient justification for avoiding coming to terms with the rest above. Really, once she's robbed of that justification, she's going to be forced to face reality and, considering how Twilight has reacted with such problems in the past, eventually come around. She'd be going very OOC if she didn't.
11605614
Twilight has pretty much stated that she wants her assistant back and although friendship can cross ages most people hang out with people around their age group. I admit that cruel might be an exaggeration but they aren't helping the matter with this attitude towards spike getting his own destiny. As for rarity might having feelings for him. She chose her path of never really responding to his feelings in more than friendship. Did she think that there wasn't a chance he move on and find a girl who actually responded to his feelings and showed more than friendship in her feelings for him. Besides if she and spike stay together she will queen of the dragons and the girls will get their wish of having her rule.
Will Spike ever find his mother?
11605623
Yeah, Rarity's really not thinking any of this through (and it's sort of weird to me that she hasn't, but again, different topic). But that's sort of why I'm not terribly concerned about her side of the matter--it's obvious to anyone she doesn't have a leg to stand on here.
All right, go through every chapter of the fic and point out to me every instance where this is definitely stated then.
Really only because school classes being based mostly on age makes it far more likely. Take that away and I've found people will befriend whomever they darn well please. After I graduated, most of my own age group left town, so most of my friends now aren't part of my age group and I'm doing just fine, so...consider me proof.
11605635
All right she might have said directly but if she gets what she wants then that's what she will do. She older than spike and has magic and certainly can handle things without his help and if she got him back she be making him her assistant in no time. She knows that she was wrong to try to force him to come back but refuses to even consider spike point of view. She never even thought about spike and what he wants. I remember when she got the owl she was so busy playing favorites that even when everyone could see that he was upset she didn't care until he ran away. I wouldn't have come back so easily. She made a choice to favor the owl and for a night assistant he was running around during the day. And getting upset because the fire breathing dragon sneeze fire is a dumb and mean thing to do.
11602872
I've decided to make this lesson number three. I had an idea but something better came to me. The next new chapter will be up soon.