I Can Break You If I Try
Sludge left Ponyville in a hurry. He tried not to make it look like he was in a hurry, but he also understood that it was better to move on quickly rather than stick around after a con. That whelp would tell his pony what had happened soon enough, and while no dragon was afraid of a pony? There was no reason for Sludge to stick around and deal with Twilight Sparkle. Particularly not for Spike.
So it was back to the Dragonlands. Still holding the fluffy pillow he'd taken from the castle, Sludge flapped his way across forest and hill to the desolate rocky wastes. He stopped along the way, of course - the distance gave him no choice. But he laid as low as he could until he was safely out of Equestria, keeping to the wilds and sheltering where no one would find him.
When he finally reached the small cave he usually called home, Sludge was exhausted. Too much flying, too many nights where he slept with one eye open. It all caught up and he collapsed into his finally safe stone bed with the single pillow that was his loot.
Well, the first of his loot. While the whelp had seen through the con, for a few days Sludge had lived the high life. It worked once and would work again if he could find another opening. (Granted it would be difficult, but there couldn't just be one orphan dragon whelp in the world.) Then? Back on easy street.
So Sludge slept soundly and with a smile.
But not through the night.
No, it was well past midnight when a sound woke Sludge up: wood creaking. Rhythmic, back and forth creaking less than a wingspan away from his rocky bed.
He twisted towards the noise without rising. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust in the darkness - and a few more to understand what he was looking at. Beside the bed was a rocking chair with a pony in it. An older unicorn mare with gray fur, a purple-white mane, and a wooden baseball bat across her lap.
"Huh?" Sludge's confused and half-asleep brain couldn't come up with anything more cohesive.
The chair stopped rocking. The mare looked at the dragon. Her horn lit, casting the entire room in a deep purple light as she lifted the bat to float beside her. Her eyes locked with his. She said four simple, icy words.
"You hurt my boy."
Sludge shifted to a sitting position - she rose from the chair in response. "Look lady, I don't know who you think you are–"
The bat's tip zipped up to eye-level with him. "My name is Twilight Velvet, and you hurt my boy." Sludge opened his mouth to object, and she cut him off. "I took it for granted, you know."
"Uh…"
"I assumed." Velvet slowly walked around the bed, keeping the bat pointed at Sludge. He rotated with her, trying to keep face to face. "That's my fault. I just assumed Spike knew how we felt."
The bottom dropped out of Sludge's stomach as he realized who 'my boy' was and he took a step backwards.
She didn't stop walking or talking. "I didn't think I needed to tell him that we loved him or that he was as much our child as Shining or Twilight were. We treated him like family and thought he just knew. Then Twilight wrote to me about what happened and we realized our mistake."
"You– you keep saying we." Sludge tried to back up again, but she maintained the same distance. "Who's here with you?" His eyes tried to look around - but fear kept them on her and the weapon.
"My husband, Night Light." For a moment the bat flicked away, motioning towards the cave entrance. "He's outside to make sure you don't run away. Honestly, it's for the best - I love him but Nighty doesn't have the temperament to do this part. But he's still here to help because…" The bat swung back around and jabbed Sludge in the potbelly to punctuate each syllable. "You. Hurt. Our. Boy."
Sludge swiped at the bat and missed. "So what? I'm a dragon!" Flames and smoke curled out of the corners of his mouth, the flickering light pushing back against her magic's glow. "You're just one dumb pony."
"I am." Velvet admitting it threw Sludge off his stride, buying her more words. "My oldest son is a disciplined soldier and a national hero. My daughter is an alicorn princess who's defeated several of the world's most powerful monsters. I'm just an old pony with no training and no great powers." The bat twirled around, coming up to a ready guard position. "But I'm also a mother, and you hurt my boy."
"Stop saying that!" Sludge stormed forward and took a swipe at her with his claw. Velvet easily stepped out of the way before swinging in return. The bat - and Sludge's knee - made a loud crack on contact, and the dragon toppled. The impact wasn't enough to seriously harm him but it still left him sprawled on the floor. Her second strike landed square in Sludge's back, hitting the spine between his wings. With a yelp, he instinctively flipped over to protect them. "Ow! That hurts you crazy mare!"
Twilight Velvet snorted. "No it doesn't." She cracked him across the face with the bat - ash wood cracked as the bat broke. "I raised a dragon. I know how tough you are." She gave the broken bat another twirl, getting a feel for the new balance and weight.
Sludge flinched away from the spin before trying to defiantly glare from the floor. "What do you want from me?"
"From you? Nothing." Velvet stepped closer so she could loom over the prone dragon. "I could demand you stay away from my family but I know you already will. Even if you tried, Spike's a smart boy and he won't fall for your tricks again." The broken bat pulled back to float beside her at the ready. "But after this, I need to look my son in the eye. I have to tell him that I love him like a mother does and say everything a parent should to their child, because I made the mistake of assuming he knew. So will my husband - his father." She paused to snarl at Sludge, who cringed back at the venom. "We need to tell him that we'll be there to protect him when he needs it. And I can't believe that if I don't face you."
It was confirmation enough she wasn't planning to hurt him - not seriously. Sludge scrambled to his feet, cowering away long enough to be sure she wasn't going to swing. Then he rose fully, towering over the smaller pony. He snorted and a tiny flame flicked from his nose. "Big words. I could roast you right now. Your husband outside, too."
"You could," she agreed.
"So why aren't you afraid?" Sludge stepped closer, growling. Fire crept out of the edges of his mouth, orange light overwhelming her own purple glow.
"I'm terrified," Velvet calmly confirmed.
Sludge stopped, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You don't sound it."
She closed the two steps of remaining distance between them, stopping just short of contact. Head high, she stretched herself up to meet muzzle-to-snout. The roiling flames in his mouth made the hairs of her coat curl and singe. Her eyes squinted in the heat of his breath. "I've raised three heroes. If I want to set a good example for my kids, the bar's pretty high."
Tense seconds passed as Sludge searched her face for a sign of weakness and found none.
Sludge's fire extinguished and he slowly backed away.
Cool night air sapped away the fading heat of the flames. Twilight Velvet gave the dragon a small nod. "We're done here." She tossed the broken bat away and grabbed the stolen pillow in her magic. He watched her warily as she left - then she paused at the cave's entrance. "By the way. I have tea once a quarter with Dragon Lord Ember. If you ever show your face again, I'll tell her what you did to Spike. Then you'll wish I kept going with the bat." And with that last threat, she was gone.
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Twilight Velvet needs more recognition and respect, that's for sure
There is little more terrifying than a mother who has seen her child hurt.
The Sparkles are like New Yorkers, they don't always get along, but if you mess with one you mess with all of them. Also all three offspring are heroes where do you think it came from?
For another look at Twilight Velvet and Night light have a look at this story.
"Meeting the Parents" by Weavers of Dreams
It's a good thing he had the patience (terror?) to not do so. It wouldn't have ended well for him if he had killed the parents of the magically strongest alicorn in the world.
mind over matter huh!
Oof, that was AWESOME!
This is what courage looks like
Not gonna lie, I kept expecting Velvet to reveal to Sludge that bursting into flames was a trait that Twilight inherited from her side of the family.
Found a few question marks instead of periods.
11764026
The second one is an error, thank you, but the first one is actually on purpose.
Always love a story where Velvet gets to be a badass mother. I mean, her kids must have gotten it from somewhere.
11764030
but the first one isn't a question, at least it doesn't read like that.
Unless you meant
That whelp would tell his pony what had happened soon enough, but what dragon was afraid of a pony?
11764055
A question mark at the end of a declarative sentence tends to indicate that it should be read as not being a simple declaration of a fact. My read here would be that he's not entirely certain that he isn't afraid of a pony, (especially given the terrain damage said pony has done in a fight).
11764055
11764095
The paragraph continues, though. It says:
If I rephrase it, it would be:
"Even if no dragon was afraid of a pony, there was no reason for Sludge to stick around.''
On its own, the question mark doesn't make sense; with context, it does.
I would say this is a pretty awesome story not only having Twilight velvet heard the news about what sludge did she went over there to talk with him for what he did to spike and Twilight for hurting them and lying to spike about being his dad which he got what he deserved never mess with her family like that this was a pretty good story keep up the good work
If only something like this happened in the show.
Sludge getting away with what he did to Spike in the show was messed up and bs
This was great. I was half expecting it to be Spike’s dragon parents, but pretty based for Twilight Velvet to support Spike as his adopted family. I love how you call them Spike’s “real family” without any caveat or qualifier.
11764095
I guess I just have never read something like that so it confused the hell out of me
This is the Sparkle family content I'm here for. What wholesome and loving parents
11764285
Because there's no need for a caveat.
I liked this; it was very good. I do wonder why She had tea with Ember though?
11764411
What better source for getting tips on raising a dragon? (Also I kinda head canon that Velvet just takes tea with Celestia - for obvious reasons - and occasionally Ember's there on a diplomatic outing.)
11764428
That makes sense and I would love to see a fic of that.
Lovely work. A much-delayed palate cleanser for this episode, but no less welcome for it. And honestly, I could believe Velvet's not being completely honest about her past experiences.
Just the story and chapter title alone after reading the description had me dying, now I can't wait to read about Sludge dying (jk) hehe
after reading: that was even better than I hoped
also ignore the deleted comment, I accidentally somehow posted a blank comment the first time I was editing this
11764428
Well depending on how everything is set up in Equestria, Velvet and Celestia could make the argument they're technically family, since Celestia is technically Twilight's aunt through marriage. So of course they're going to have a reason to have tea together.
I love the idea of that being how Velvet met Ember, though. Makes a lot of sense without coming out of left field, or needing a lot of lead up to get to that point.
Very nice. Short and concise.
Man, this was awesome! I'm a sucker for stories about Spike's relationship with Twilight Velvet and Night Light. We never got to see them interact, but with how close Spike is to Twilight and Shining Armor, there has to be a connection, right? There's so precious few of these stories, and this is an excellent addition! Reminds me of a story idea I once had about a Twilight's boyfriend coming over to their house to "meet the parents." He's super nervous and scared, then Cadance calms him down, assuring him that they already approved of him:
Again, fantastic story, my friend!
11764301
Given my headcanon that Spike's egg wasn't even an actual egg, calling them family is accurate but calling the two ponies you did his parents is much less so. Of course, telling Rainbow Dash that she's a father and then clarifying that you did not misspeak in any way would distract from the completely different story you're trying to tell here.
"I just want to talk to him."
10/10, pure grin-while-reading fuel.
I don't want to spread any rumours, no vicious gossip or idle tittletattle, but I heard it on the grapevine that Sludge hurt Twilight Velvet's boy. Please inform me if this isn't true, and I'll delete.
11765109
I am informed that this, in fact, is at least 70% likely to be correct.
11764752
Velvet and Night are his parents, though. Spike has already accepted that he doesnʼt care who he was born to, only who was raised by. And they was raised by Velvet and Night, which makes them his parents period. Adopted parents are still parents. Parenthood is so much more than just blood.
11764301
> this whole fic has me like
i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/006/077/so_good.jpg
Oh I didn't know how much I needed to read this story until I read it. This...this is beautiful, and I love it.
This was... incredibly cathartic to read.
11765215
Exactly. And there is nothing more terrifying than a mother protecting her children. No matter how old they might be.
Seeing Mama Sparkle go to town on this fat jerk was great.
The only thing that could've made this better was Ember coming to lay a smackdown on this idiot for messing with her sorta-boyfriend.
If only spike was treated with this much love in the show good fic just made me sad I liked(as a story element anyway) that velvet aknowegled that they just thought spike knew (even though I maintain that in the show not only would this be a sadder reality than just being ignored, seriously what parent worth anything doesn’t tell their child adopted or no that they love them, but the sparkles never really saw him as family at best Twilight’s assistant and no sparkles seven doesn’t count it was way to late, eg. They never invite him on trips, they didn’t come for his birthday party)
A good little story. There aren't enough stories that focus on the relationship between Spike and Twilight's parents
Oooof...