> The Rise of Species: Dragons
>  by Zarmflamekin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Research
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Spike was pacing. He had never particularly liked pacing. It was something that was completely unnecessary and accomplished nothing but build up what was fueling the pacing in the first place. And he didn’t have a number one assistant to tell him he was overreacting.

It was early morning, far too early as Twilight would point out. Nopony in their right mind, perhaps aside from the Apples, would be up this early. But Spike had a problem from last night, and he really didn’t know how to address it, and he was sure the only pony he could talk to about this was heading to bed herself.

Spike had had a dream. Not a nightmare, but also not what he would be considered a good dream, or even his own dream. He had found himself in a rather large cavern, an enormous one, perhaps even being able to house Canterlot and its mountain with room to breathe, though what was in the cavern might have something to say about that.

A dragon that took up the entire floor lay there. At first Spike had thought it to be a well sculpted rock, but soon saw a rolling fire beneath its large scales, red scales that shifted ever so slowly to show the behemoth still drew breath. Spike had found it to be immensely satisfying to be able to see the whole thing as he did, because he was pretty sure standing anywhere near it would make the dragon eclipse his view. And so he walked around the dragon, taking in every feature, to its leathern wings that rested peacefully along it’s back to the spear-point tail that wrapped about the its stomach. The swept back spines that ran down its back made it seem so fast, even as it lay near stone still. But as he drank this all in, he began seeing other things.

Visions. Visions of battles nopony would remember because no pony had been there, only dragons, and fearsome ones at that. Visions of families that had been dearly loved, ones of battle and death. And visions of pain as those two lives clashed.

Over and over these visions ran, but none ever seemed to repeat themselves. There, a black crawling dragon drooled over an egg, melting the shell and fetus inside, but close by was the same drake being hatched himself. Over and over scenes of love and hate seemed to mingle and shuffle, and Spike didn’t know where to look next, because each of these scenes seemed to play upon the massive dragon’s scales.

Soon Spike didn’t know where else to look except for where there were no scales, the dragon’s closed eye.

It didn’t stay as such, for it slowly creaked open, a sky blue iris that dove into a deep purple going toward the black chasm of its slit pupil. Spike looked to the color in awe as the eye fully opened and the thin haw membrane slid back, granting the dragon full vision.

And what had happened next currently had Spike pacing.

The dragon smiled. “Welcome home, Little Spike.”

The voice hadn’t rumbled or shaken the room, but it had shaken Spike awake. Something in Spike’s core had whisked him away from the dragon and into the waking world, and now he didn’t know what to do. He was sure he had never seen such a dragon before in his, granted few, travels. Spike had barely been as big as one of the smallest scales about the dragon’s eye. He should have felt as small and terrified as he had with the green dragon he had run into in the woods, probably even worse in fact.

But the more he paced, the more he tried to think, and the more he thought, a single conclusion came to him. And it was one that continued to confuse him to no end.

He had to see the dragon.

He couldn’t say why and he couldn’t say where either, he had only seen the cavern after all. And why did he feel a need to see the dragon when four words made him run in terror? Or was that terror? Maybe it was a start for his journey. Or was it something else?

And so Spike paced about the hallway outside his room, confused about the whole situation. Spike eventually stopped and pounded his right claw into his left. He needed to know, and if there had been one thing Twilight had taught him is that if you needed to know something, read its book. Spike set off to the main floor to the library section of the castle. Twilight had decided near immediately that the library needed to be replaced, and as the castle had more room than she knew what to do with, she had turned the entire right wing of the first floor into the new Ponyville public library, it even had enough rooms to be filled by genre materials alone.

As Spike made his way down, he knew exactly where to go. Unfortunately, where he was going was going to be a mess. Not because of disorganization, Celestia knew Twilight wouldn’t allow that. It was because what Spike needed was going to be in the Hardly Researched section of their selection. Apparently Twilight had been wrong once in her life and didn’t know that there was actual research on dragons, but it was either on their history in relation to Equestria or examining their mythology as a psychological examination of the draconic species. And as that was thrown together with near any other throw away topic, there was going to be a bit of digging before he found what he needed.

As Spike opened the door to the Hardly Researched section, he hacked a bit from dust fluttering out to meet him. Spike grumbled as he put a hand over his mouth as he made his way to the opposite wall to open the window for a draft to enter. He might cough a bit more, but at least the dust would move after it was disrupted. So Spike began to search the shelves for whatever draconic knowledge they had acquired, moving past ‘The Minotaur’s Bloody Past?’ and ‘Do Sheep Dream of Electric Fences’ into the less concrete material. He spotted one that looked promising ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat, Mother of Dragons’, along with ‘Nestling’s Nightly Stories’, which seemed a bit more dubious, but sounded like a better read than the first one.

Not wanting to kick up more than he had, Spike walked to the door and contemplated closing the window, but upon remembering the schedule Dash had drawn up, he was good until at least 3 today to get back to it, so he decided to let the little used room to air out. Making his way down to the Adventure section of the wing, Spike decided to make himself comfortable. Not that it was hard, as it was Rainbow Dash’s favorite, she had personally taken it upon herself to set up the comfiest, body enveloping chairs she could find. Twilight had to shoot down the idea of perpetual clouds due to really only pegasi using them, and their ambient moisture would definitely ruin more than a few books.

Looking over both books, Spike decided to crack into ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat’ to get the boring one out of the way first. After skipping the tiresome opening and thank you of the author, Spike was greeted with the image of a massive dragon with five heads, one each of black, blue, green, red, and white, all of varied shapes and expressions, but all seeming to hold the same growl of disapproval. Massive wings and a scythe-like tail that had lopped off the top of a mountain made Spike’s eyes grow wide.
Tiamat, Mother of Dragons
Quickly skimming over the introduction, Spike turned the page and began reading the far more interesting history than he was expecting.

‘Tiamat had been born of five aspects clashing together, upon a solar eclipse as a dormant volcano erupted over its lush tropical island into the ocean, the resulting smog coalesced into the dragon upon the previous page. This birth had not been pleasant, as her roar ripped through the world, making even the newly awakened princesses shake in their shoes. It had been a roar of life, death, pain, and pleasure. The heads, naturally, fought for control, each pulling one way or biting for another to listen to it. Quickly tiring itself out, it had fallen over the island for a brief nap.’ Brief being five years.

“Spike?” A groggy Twilight inquired as she poked her head into the ‘Adventure’ section. “Are you in here?”

“Yeah Twi.” Spike acknowledged, looking up to see what was needed.

“Oh good.” Twilight smiled a bit lazily as she made her way to the reading area. “What do you have there?”

“Just a few, uh, dragon books.” He showed her the cover of his book. Twilight’s smile grew a bit more at ‘Nestlings Nightly Stories’, but dropped at ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat’. She had skimmed both out of curiosity when they came in, and the first was surely something simple Spike could entertain himself with, but the second was something on a different level.

“’The Life and Fall of Tiamat’ huh? What brought about getting that out?” Twilight asked, and as an afterthought “Did you close the window in Hardly Researched?”

“I’ll get to that by three, and just some curiosity sparked, that’s all.” Spike said as he closed the book. “Was there something you needed Twi?”

“Uh, well, not really, just this isn’t where I normally find you is all.” Twilight answered. It was the truth, if she wasn’t getting him up, he was making breakfast for them. Having not found him in his room or kitchen had been quite the oddity. “What brought up the curiosity?”

“Just… a dream really.” Spike said in a halted tone. “Got some ideas running through my head and decided to read up on them.”

“A dream of dragons?” 

“Yeah, just about. Haven’t had the best conversations with the dragons I’ve met, so I turned to your solution.” Spike gave a cocky smile as Twilight scowled. “But in all seriousness, this is pretty intense.” Spike pat ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat’. “I think even Dash would want to read it.”

That made Twilight’s ear twitch. “How far have you gotten?”

“Not past the first five pages, but what five pages can do, you know?”

“You do realize it’s a myth book right? Not an actual retelling.” Twilight mused, remembering to the introduction.

“Doesn’t mean it can’t be entertaining. Besides, who knows how much could be true? I mean, if Nightmare Moon is any indication.” Spike shrugged.

“But Celestia was around to keep an eye on that story to make sure no radical changes happened Spike.”

“And who’s to say there’s no dragon old enough to know this one?” Spike skeptically eyed Twilight. This was quickly turning into a debate he knew he wasn’t prepared for, but he always did like to see how far he could push his logic against Twilights.

“Because this says ‘Mother of Dragons’ Spike, and from what I gleamed from it, I doubt Tiamat recounted this to Bold Venture. There are quite a few inconsistencies that clearly show there were alterations in generations passed.”

“But does that disregard the entire story? Does Bold Venture disclaim any inaccuracy?”

Twilight smirked. “If you had bothered to read the introduction, as I doubt you did, you would see he states he got this ‘right from the dragon’s mouth’, with more than a bit of gusto. He’s obviously engorged on his own ego in writing this.”

“Oh, and don’t say you weren’t proud about authoring that paper on draconic growth habits.” Spike smirked back. “I happen to remember you watching me very intently for those six months.”

“I was seven! And you were-“ Twilight quickly stopped. “Eight… months… old.” Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Do you really remember when you were eight months old?”

Spike blinked back at Twilight. He looked up to the ceiling for an answer, and found one. No, he didn’t remember when he was eight months old, he knew of when he was eight months old. Thinking back, one of the last scales he glanced over had been a small purple unicorn with a notepad and quill in a shaky magical grasp as she tried to write and observe a small purple dragon teething on his tail. The thought made Spike shiver, as not only was the dream not fading, what he saw was still etched firmly into his brain.

“Spike?” Twilight asked with a bit of worry.

“No Twilight, I don’t remember when I was eight months old.” Spike answered uncharacteristically somber, looking down as he clutched his claws together. “I know. I saw you taking notes of me teething on my tail.”

Twilight’s eyes grew and her pupils shrunk. She could give credit if Spike had indeed remembered something from that long ago, but remembering something from when he was asleep was on the verge of impossible. She wouldn’t throw it out outright, but she wasn’t going to look to memory as a first answer.

“And how do you know?”

Spike gave a hesitant sigh. “Because I saw it last night. I saw a lot last night, actually.” Spike rolled his tongue in his mouth an unsettling thought. “I’m beginning to think I got a message.”

“From Luna?”

Spike shook his head with a dark smile and chuckle. “Oh no, he was much bigger.”

“He?” Twilight asked with a bit of concern.

Spike stopped to think again. “Yeah, he. Most likely, it gave off a ‘he’ vibe.”

“Spike, what happened last night?” Twilight asked, moving to sit in front of Spike to make sure she had his full attention.

“I’m not quite sure, but it definitely wasn’t a normal dream. I was in this huge cavern, like, bigger than Canterlot mountain and a half huge, and lying there was this equally huge red dragon, and it looked like he had lifetimes of dragons on every one of his scales, and when I looked him in the eye, he looked back at me and said, get this, ‘Welcome home, Little Spike.’”

Spike waited for Twilight’s thoughts on his little story, but none seemed to be forthcoming. Twilight stared darkly at the ground as her brain seemed to go a thousand miles an hour. Spike was about to speak again when Twilight finally looked up at him.

“Spike, go make us some breakfast.” Twilight stated. “I have a letter to write.”

Spike was a bit confused at this sudden shift. “Twilight, you’ve said before-“

“That you write faster and cleaner than I do, and that’s true. But this letter is going to need to be… thought out.” Twilight gave a tight smile. “Please Spike, I think we’re both going to need this.”

Still a bit off put, Spike nodded. Twilight was about as bad as Rainbow Dash in impatience when something big came up. For something to make that do a 180 and make her carefully deliberate must be something really important. Twilight gave a short sigh of relief as she turned and left the Adventure section. Spike picked up his two books and hopped off the chair after her, being sure to properly close the door.

Spike made his way to the kitchen that was both unsettlingly big and warmly comforting at the same time. Applejack’s additions to the kitchen was more of an overhaul of the room, as before the counters and seats were a deep purple and rigidly angular, now the room had an overall worn wood feel with counter edges smoothly running around the edge or into the wall. Spike honestly couldn’t tell if Rarity hadn’t had a hoof in it as well from the flares of green leaves and red apples that were embellished amongst any non-interacted surface.

Spike decided that scrambled eggs sounded nice this morning, along with maybe some fire rubies for some extra spice, for himself of course. Spike had accidentally added crushed emeralds to a whole batch of cheese broccoli before, and the girls’ teeth had not taken kindly to it. Aside from Pinkie, who said they tasted minty-er than usual.

Placing his books on the dining counter, Spike flipped the burner on to its low setting with his tail as he scrounged next to the oven for a skillet. Walking over to a sink, he dashed some water into the pan and went back to set it down on the burner. The unfortunate truth of a kitchen in a royal palace was that it was made with the intention of at least ten ponies working in it, so while there was plenty of space to maneuver, there was also plenty of space between many of the appliances. By the time Spike got back with an empty pail and a pail of eggs, the water he had meant to help keep the skillet from getting food stuck was nearly evaporated.

Quickly cracking one egg open, emptying its contents, and tossing the shell into the empty pail, Spike picked up ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat’, deftly holding it open with one hand while breaking up and stirring the egg with a spatula that had been hanging nearby. There had been many a time Twilight had asked him to stir a pot, and many a time he had found himself bored. Being able to read with one hand had become a handy skill.

‘After Tiamat’s nap, she had found many predators had come out of hiding and many birds were pecking at her back. Each head did its own job of clearing out the annoyances, by burning, flooding, or eating each pest. As food hit her stomach for the first time, the five came to a unanimous agreement. They had a shared stomach, and a shared hunger, so they would work together to eat. Each seemed to have their own preference, Blue wanted fish, Green wanted plants, Red wanted fresh meat, Black wanted the dead of any sort, and White wanted the essence of life. They scrounged the island for what it had to offer, but the island was soon desolate, and with a combined effort, the Mother of Dragons took flight for the first time.

Tiamat flew south and east for no other reason than Blue and White constantly scooping up ocean life. Upon finding land, Green, Red, and Black took up their own palate’s pleasure, quickly scouring the land and proceeding to make what is now known as the Badlands, thanks to Green, Black, and White leaving nothing to the cycle of life. Everything that could, ran. Anything that couldn’t, died. Tiamat was nigh unstoppable, until she stopped herself. In the middle of her feast, she stopped, and instead of Green eating its share, began to rip the trees out of the ground as Tiamat’s claws cleared the root system, with Red searing the ground into a sturdy hole, and Blue cooling it afterwards. It was then White who seemed to lead as-‘

Spike skipped the next two pages as he did not need that much information.

‘When the five eggs were properly arranged, Tiamat curled protectively about them. Four of the heads then began to sleep, as Black took an ever vigilant guard, keeping a very steady hold of Tiamat’s bladed tail.’

Spike put the book down as he felt the eggs begin to stiffen from overcooking and scrapped them onto awaiting plates. He sprinkled his own with rubies and took the two plates over to the adjoining dining room, which had Rarity’s name all over it. There were pink drapes that faded in nicely with the purple and blue crystal walls to make the place feel warmer, along with a white dining cloth that hid the dark purple dining table from the main focus of the room. Spike had actually hesitated the first time Twilight and he had used it as it had been made by Rarity, but Twilight had insisted that a dining room was meant for dining, so to was the cloth. Besides, it was a cloth. Spike put the plates down and pondered what else they would need, and shrugged as orange juice was the only thing to come to mind. So he fetched a pitcher, two glasses, and his books. Upon a second thought, he also picked up two heat retaining covers just in case Twilight took too long with her letter.

Covering the two meals, Spike sat in his chair and propped his book up again.

‘It was a year before the four awoke to the sound of hatching eggs. Each egg cracked and splintered to reveal five, near on clones of Tiamat, one of each head. As each mewed for food, the five collectively-‘ Spike was happy he hadn’t eaten yet ‘-regurgitated a pool of various things Tiamat had eaten. The five eagerly devoured the pool and began crawling about their nest. It had been at this point that Starswirl the Bearded approached Tiamat.’

Spike could only look at the last line dumbfounded and in complete and utter disbelief. Starswirl? Really? Had there been absolutely nopony else to look into this? It even said before that the Princesses were around already, why hadn’t they looked into Tiamat? And weren’t the Badlands a fair distance away from the Everfree where Celestia and Luna’s first castle had been?

The sound of the dining room door opening made Spike look up to see Twilight taking slow steps in. She made her way over to her chair and sat with a graceless ‘thump’. She lifted away the cover to find the fresh scrambled eggs beneath, but looking to either side, she gave a small smile.

“Forgetting something Spike?” Twilight asked, finally looking up to him. While he did see a playful spark, that was only on the surface, and something much heavier was behind her eyes. But finally looking at the table, Spike smacked his forehead. He had forgotten the forks. “It’s all right, I’ve got them.” Twilight said as a pair of forks made their way from the kitchen to the table.

“Heh, guess I see how it is when you’re reading now.” Spike chuckled as he grabbed his fork out of the air as Twilight let go.

“You’ve been reading that book still?” Twilight’s eyebrow raised as she stuck her fork in her eggs, seeming to forget what she had been brooding over.

“Yeah, and I think I might have found where something might be amiss.” Spike said as he flipped to his last page and turned the book towards Twilight. “Was Starswirl the only pony to do anything noteworthy?”

Twilight scanned the page and chuckled. “Yeah, you picked a good bit. Starswirl was studying and teaching Celestia and Luna 1,456 years ago, and from what I’ve found in some of his more… ‘personal’ journals, those were not days to leave the Princesses unattended. There’s no way Starswirl was there to meet Tiamat and her hatchlings.”

“But… somepony did, didn’t they?”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “I don’t know Spike, maybe. But remember that ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat’ should be-“

“Taken with a brick of salt, yeah yeah.” Spike wove Twilight off.

“A pinch of salt.” Twilight corrected. With a heavy sigh, she began eating her eggs as she poured both Spike and herself a glass of juice. Spike began eating and reading. “And put that book down, mister. It’s rude to read at the table.”

Spike looked up at Twilight with eyes that said ‘says the mare who does the same thing’. She huffed and busied herself in her basic eggs, and Spike began again.

‘It had been at this point that Starswirl the Bearded approached Tiamat. No words were exchanged between the two. Tiamat saw no threat in the unicorn, and was either planning to eat him, or let her little ones have their first hunt. The hatchlings White and Red seemed to give the most interest to Starswirl, but neither seemed inclined to attack him. Black, Blue, and Green mulled about in their mother’s nest, testing their legs and experimentally flapping their wings. Red gave up his interest and lay down to rest, but White opened his jaw, a cold mist of death rolling out as it began its first attempt at sapping life. But the mist went around the unicorn, both to Strswirl’s and Tiamat’s fascination and White’s irritation. When White was too exhausted to continue the mist, it had completely surrounded the unicorn, but came nowhere near to consuming him. Tiamat moved to kill Starswirl herself, but as she shifted, Starswirl disappeared with a flash of magic. White screamed in frustration, but Tiamat roared at the blatant defiance. She had shown weakness, and she could not, would not tolerate this.

Tiamat and her clutch soon moved as the six of them needed to eat. The young White and Black moved in tandem, White’s mist sapping the force of life out of his surroundings, while Black munched on their remains. Blue moved up river with Green moving beside her. The two set themselves about a giant lake, allowing the two ample time to taste test and learn. Red stayed beside his mother as she continued her path of annihilation. The Badlands grew substantially, but in time, Tiamat found she needed a proper rest, and returned to the nest she made for her first clutch.

Such a time was not upon her children however. Without his mother’s guiding force, Red began to roam to find what could interest him. Blue had long since left the lake and had made her way to the open ocean, feasting on whatever struck her fancy. Green had decided to stay in the forest however, and had even started becoming friends with the animal life therein. She garnered a high standing amongst them for eating troublesome plants. Black and White still moved side by side, but Black soon found he wanted to do more than eat and began to wonder what those he ate were like before White came along.

They would soon learn to play while their mother was away.’

Chapter Two: Proliferating the Races
> Origin of Species
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Spike, can you please stop that? It’s rather annoying.”

“Huh?” Spike looked up from his book.

“Your fork, Spike.”

Spike looked down to his fork, which he currently had between himself and his plate, completely devoid of eggs. He then vaguely remembered he had run out of eggs a minute prior and had been putting an empty fork into his mouth as he read. Giving an embarrassed smile, he put the fork aside and took a deliberate drink of orange juice.

“How long do you think you would have been doing that if you had eaten alone?”

“I dunno.” Spike sighed a little as he put his juice down.

“Just how invested are you in that book Spike?”

“I’m… pretty far in actually. Listen to this. ‘As progenitors of their species, the five gathered and did what their mother would not, and talked to each other. Grunts, snarls, and gurgles became vowels and statements, allowing for four to name one with a name unique unto themselves.’ I kind of wish I could have done that.”

“I-Is there something wrong with ‘Spike’?” Twilight asked with a sudden amount of hurt in her voice, making Spike jump in defense.

“No! No, there’s nothing wrong with my name Twilight! It’s my name and I wouldn’t try to change it.” Both were quiet for a moment before Spike spoke again. “I’m sorry. It’s just… would you want to pick your own name?”

Twilight blinked for a second before looking down at her own, near finished eggs. “I… I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”

Spike chuckled. “Well, this might also help to explain myself.” Spike cleared his throat before continuing to read aloud from ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat.’ “’Because of his overall indifference and breath of fire, Red was named Pyrathy. For her care of animals and diet of plants, Green was named Tiervu. Blue was named Serenava for her straightforward approach and mastery of the oceans. Between them, Black’s name was agreed upon as Animion because of his fascination with life, but relentless consumption of its end. And lastly White was given the name Miserhaze because of his overly self-centered ways and life sucking mists.’ Though if you really think about it, they got to just be themselves without having to really do anything.” Spike looked up to Twilight. “Not quite a luxury we have now is it?”

“No, it’s not.” Twilight smiled, then tilting her head in thought. “But if they named each other, who named Tiamat? Didn’t you say she wouldn’t talk?”

Spike only shrugged. “It does, but the book just always refers to her as Tiamat.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s some poor research on Bold Venture’s part. If you’re going to explain how each of her children became properly named, why not also explain the title character?”

“Well, who named Princess Celestia?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but stalled on an answer. Had Luna and Celestia named each other like the five in the book did? Or did Starswirl? Or had they always just… been? Instead of answering, Twilight only came up with another question. “What did you mean ‘progenitors of their species’? Did the five of them really start… all other dragons?”

Spike got a smug grin on his face. It wasn’t all that often he knew more than Twilight, even if it was from one book. “Yes and no actually. It looks like Pyrathy is the root of all dragons like me. The other four started… others.” Spike was hesitant now because he knew Twilight was going to rebuke everything he said before he finished the claims from the book, and it wasn’t like he had other sources. Twilight seemed to pick up on this hesitance and looked off to the dining room door as if expecting something. A sad smile spread across her face. Her horn lit as she began setting the used dishes back to the kitchen to be washed later.

“I think I could use a distraction Spike. Why don’t you tell me what you found.”

“Really?” Spike perked up. This was a very odd offer from Twilight, of letting him tell her when she could easily read it for herself. “Can we go back to the Adventure section? This might take a bit.”

Twilight smiled as she teleported Spike and herself back to the Adventure section from the dining room. Spike went back over to his previous seat as Twilight rearranged the seats to allow her to sit face to face with Spike in her own seat.

“So, which do you wanna know first?” Spike asked excitedly.

“How about you tell me about Pyrathy. How is he the only root of modern dragons?”

“Well,” Spike flipped 'The Life and Fall of Tiamat’ to its fourth chapter, Life of Pyrathy. “Like I read before, Pyrathy was a very indifferent dragon. He never did what he didn’t wanna do, and didn’t stop when he was doing his own thing, so he never really did much of anything outstanding like the others. And, well, one of the things he wanted was… hatchlings.” Spike’s cheeks flushed a bit at what he just realized what he was getting himself into, but Twilight was confused.

“So wouldn’t he mate with… Tiervu or Serenava? Those sounded like the females of the five. Why aren’t they progenitors of modern dragons?”

Spike chuckled nervously. “Well, they were his sisters.” Spike thought that would answer Twilight’s question, but it apparently didn’t.

“And why would that stop him? It’s a myth Spike, and from what I read on griffon mythology, the only way to grow the family from so few is… to… you know…”

Spike assumed his face was now a cherry red from how hot it felt. “W-Well that isn’t how it happened here.” Spike hurried along. “But who Pyrathy did find was, majorly, other reptilian species. Lizardkin, Pterosaur, Naga, and others. He saw them either as equals or similar enough to himself to not eat, and some even seemed to revere him as a god, offering everything of theirs to him. Including their females.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “If I remember correctly, Tiamat, and by extension her clutch, were huge, easily able to climb over mountains by foot, presumably. They probably weren’t that big, but to exaggerate as such must imply some sort of size differential. So, how…”

“Hey, beats me, I’ve only got the one record. But yeah, from there, ancient dragons roamed and mated, making generations that lead down to me. Given from some of the descriptions, I probably got some Lizardkin in me somewhere, though the gem eating gotta come in from somewhere else. A lot of meat eating in the early days there.”

“Do you think… that if Pyrathy is the progenitor of dragons, that you could eat meat too Spike?”

Spike mulled it over for a second. “Naa, Pyrathy is way back in the lineage, that probably got kicked out somewhere for the gems. Although…” Spike kept thinking. “I’ve never really wanted any. I could probably, possibly eat meat. Doesn’t mean I would want to. Just like you could eat quesadillas.” Spike smirked, gaining a shudder from Twilight.

“Ok, I get your point. So what about Tiervu? She sounded like somepo- dragon we could get along with.” Twilight was a bit confused when Spike chuckled.

“Oh yeah, we all would have 'gotten along'.” Spike said as he flipped to chapter five, Tiervu is in the Air. “Turns out she was even more into other species than Pyrathy was, and since she didn’t eat any of them, they felt a safe attraction to her. And she to them, all of them.” Spike gulped a bit as he felt the heat returning, causing Twilight to look at him, confused yet again, causing Spike to sigh. “She mated with every male she could.”

Twilight blinked rapidly in shock. “All of them? How would that even work? I mean, how would Pyrathy even… but they’re myths… but some facts… but… but…”

“Twilight, set a lower gear on that brain of yours for one second.” Spike reached out and pat Twilight on the shoulder, causing her rapidly increasing ragged breaths to slow down. “Now don’t break on me again when I tell you this, ok?” Twilight gave him a small nod. “So Tiervu became the progenitor of chimera.”

Twilight’s brow scrunched for a second before a look of understanding passed over her. “Huh, that… seems to make a bit of sense. If taking all of those samples at once and combining them into one fertile egg… that seems rather overly simple, yet brilliant. But… aren’t chimera only a combination of ram, tigers, and snakes?”

Spike shook his head. “That a common one today, but a chimera as described here is what any animal of a combination of many dissimilar parts is able to live. So, in a sense of the term here, a manticore is a chimera, and thus a long descendant of Tiervu.”

“Huh. Well… ok then.” Twilight said a bit dejectedly. “What about Serenava? What is she the mother of?”

Spike’s face took a dower turn. “She’s the mother of kelpi.” He said flatly.

The sudden bluntness of Spike’s comment hit like a hammer hitting the bag of bricks that just fell on her head.

“The mother of what!” Twilight near on shrieked, causing Spike to wince. Twilight quickly noticed her folly and cooled down. “I’m sorry Spike. But, what do you mean Serenava is the mother of all kelpi.”

Spike sighed as he turned to chapter six, About the Serenava. “It starts with Serenava in her own territory of the open ocean. And you know, for being a giant, four legged, winged dragon, she seemed to be able to get from one edge of the world to the other in no time flat. And so she had just eaten part of a reef and decided to partake in some fish from another ocean, but as she moved, she spotted something in her ocean she hadn’t seen before, and decided she wanted a piece of it.” Spike was silent for a moment. “They were ship wrecked ponies. Only a hooffull and some were barely treading water with the driftwood of the wreck. So when Serenava came along and saw their legs kicking in her waters… she ate them. Turns out Serenava didn’t have the same taste for ponies that the brothers had and soon spat the ponies back legs out, but when she did, she saw the blood from twenty-four stumps in her water still kicking about.” Spike began to smile hesitantly. “However, it seemed like Serenava liked having things in their proper place and rose above the waves to show herself, and in turn found a rather windy day which had sailed an earth ponies boat into a rock outcropping they had been trying to avoid.

“Serenava said, I quote, ‘Creatures of the Land, what do you think you are doing in my waters?’. Quite naturally, this freaked the ponies who hadn’t passed out from shock even further, and one young mare answered with ‘We only sought better land than what we left. If this was your doing, then finish it.’ Now from what I’ve read, Serenava wasn’t all that kind of a soul, but she knew when something deserved respect, and that filly got hers that day. But since she knew she couldn’t heal their legs, she came up with her next best solution. So, to quote again, ‘I bare you no ill, but I cannot undo what was done, I instead offer my scales to see you to your new shore.’ So she plucked twelve scales from her own body and placed them over the pony’s stump legs, grafting to their bodies and forming what would become the kelpi.”

Spike looked up to Twilight to see how she would handle this story of his, and he could see she was in deep thought. He gave her a minute before she replied.

“So, kelpi are just some malformed ponies to dragons?”

After a moment of shock at her cold analysis, Spike chuckled. “Well, Serenava wouldn’t be much of a progenitor if that was all. Apparently along with the scale, her aptitude to the water and more than a bit of her personality transferred as well.”

Twilight merely nodded. “And does it say anything about the sirens?”

“Uh, yeah, just not here, hold on.” Spike flipped towards near the back, finding one of the final chapters, Children of Dragons. “Yeah, here.” Spike poked the small section of script. “The sirens, deriving their name from their goddess Seren, shortened from Serenava, are kelpi far more adept in feeding their magic on the emotions of others and sought to spread their goddess’s will through- ooh…”

“What? Through what?” Twilight sat up at attention.

“Survival of the Fittest.” Spike rolled out. “Apparently they would rouse conflict to weed out the weak of communities for the strong to flourish. Not quite the best plan if I say so myself.”

“And seeing as Starswirl sent them away, not that effective.”

“Uhhh…”

“Spike? What’s wrong?” Twilight arched her brow.

“Those three are of particular note here, as early converters of land masses.” Spike looked up apologetically. “Sirens themselves are still a small group in the deeper parts of the ocean, or so it says here.”

Twilight could only blanch. If the three from the other world were only a part of a bigger group, Equestria could have a bigger problem than she could possibly imagine. Were her friends and instruments here even be anywhere near as effective? And it had taken seven of them, specifically the Element Bearers, to match the three’s power of a small crowd, what would a group with sea life to feed off of be like?

“Twilight, I can see those gears turning again, but relax. Remember what I said about Serenava? She likes things in their place, and the sirens, seeing three of their own whisked away, knew their way wasn’t for us. It’ll probably be a long while before they think of trying again.”

“But that only brings up how long ago Adagio and the others were sent over.” Twilight muttered. She shook her head quickly to whisk away such thoughts. “But that’s something for another time. What of Animion, he sounds like quite the conundrum. What’s he the father of?”

Spike flipped the book back to its seventh chapter, Not So Black and White. “It’s kind of funny actually, Miserhaze and Animion made their races at the same time, basically by their opposite means.” Spike began to surmise as he quickly scanned the pages. “So, remember how the two of them were a hunting pair, and how Miserhaze didn’t kill the first pony he met?”

“Uh, no?” Twilight looked a bit upset and confused.

“Oh, well they were, and he didn’t.” Spike blushed a little from the blatant assumption. “The second part was from when I asked about Starswirl.”

“Oh, ok.” Twilight nodded appreciatively.

“So, yeah, well, the book paints how the two just went about eating willy nilly, with Miserhaze letting his mists suck up life-forces and Animion munching on the aftermath. But on one of those days as the two made their way through a forest, Animion smelled something alive in Miserhaze’s mist, so he went to check it out. He found a village with a bunch of dead unicorns lying about their streets, but he went to one of the outskirt houses and ripped the roof out to find a pregnant mare on her side gasping for air. Animion had seen it plenty of times before from animals caught out when Miserhaze started his mist, but he had never seen anything inside the mist doing so.

“So, curious, Animion picked the mare up in one claw and simply looked at her. She was scared and dying, apparently quickly looking between Animion and her stomach. Animion seemed to take it as a sign and… ugh… cut her open.” Both Spike and Twilight shivered at the thought. Medically sound removal was one thing, being sliced open in the wild by a dragon claw was something else entirely. “The mare passed on after that, not much of a shocker, but her foal came out near fine, as she had been late into her pregnancy. Animion hadn’t really learned to be gentile, a tried to pick the foal by its legs and horn, but punctured through them instead.”

“Wait, are you trying to say Animion ‘fathered’… changelings?” 

Spike simply nodded and continued. “She was a charcoal foal, and having never really seen anything live outside his mothers and siblings, Animion found it strange for her to be without scales or wings and decided that she hadn’t fully developed yet. So, sort of like Serenava, he took his own scales and cocooned the filly in them while taking a pair of wings off a dead great ladybug. When the three grafted together, here we had the first changeling queen.”

“But if that were the case, why are changeling like they are now?”

“Well…” Spike flipped near the back again. “It looks like the ladybug and Tiamat had a thing or two to do with that, but mainly, Miserhaze deals with a majority of it.”

“Oh, right, what’s he the father of?”

Spike flipped back to chapter seven. “Well, being the greedy type, Miserhaze knew when he was missing a drop of food and went to see what Animion had done and came across the completion of the changeling, and it would seem the one thing that Miserhaze couldn’t consume was… pure love.” Spike looked up to see if Twilight would register the comment. She only looked back at him, hungry for more. “S-So that’s how the mare was at the brink, having unconditional love to her unborn foal, and that’s also what created… the windigo.”

Twilight's eyes widened in awe. “How? What happened Spike?” She was now quite enthralled with this creation myth.

Spike smiled, despite the morbid story. “Well, Miserhaze redoubled his effort to kill the new creature his brother had just ‘bothered creating’ as the book puts it. But the more he tried, the more the new changeling was bolstered by her mother’s dying love, because apparently… her spirit hadn’t left yet. And the more the changeling drained her mother’s spirit of love, the lager the void was to be filled with hate and rage. According to Bold Venture, as accounted by the dragon, as accounted by Animion, ‘The mother had not yet left, as to help guide her foal to the Beyond, awaiting the gruesome fate Animion would dole out to the unborn foal. She was horrified at the puncture wounds and confused at the cocoon, but furious at the out coming creature. What was before her was no longer her daughter, but a monster, and a monster that sapped the last of her love of the daughter that never was.’ And so, with that much negativity and Miserhaze’s mist, the mare’s soul coagulated into the first windigo.” Spike finished and sighed. “And there you have it Twilight, how Tiamat helped start it all.”

Twilight seemed to be snapped out of a daze from all the information and struck to lecture mode. “Or at least how some dragons believe it was started. I’m sure at least the changeling records would say otherwise.”

“Heh, yeah.” Spike smiled a little as he turned back to the fourth chapter’s opening to a picture of Pyrathy. The artist had done a fair rendition of the dragon’s likeness, especially if his dream had been accurate. “Still wonder about those scales though.”

“What do you mean Spike?” Twilight asked, making Spike jump in notice that he had wondered that aloud.

“It’s just… remember how I said that I saw lives of dragons on Pyrathy’s scales? I didn’t see anything about that in here.”

“Spike, what you had was a dream. There’s no way you actually saw Pyrathy. What you saw were probably representations of what somepony wanted you to see in the form of Pyrathy, there’s no way he or the others are-“

"If you’re going to say ‘there’s no way they’re alive’, I’m going to disagree.” Spike quickly interrupted, crossing his arms. “These stories are way to fantastical to be completely wrong, and if Tiamat essentially cloned herself for her five hatchlings, then I’m going to take a leap of logic to say that they don’t have a typically normal lifespan.”

“But Spike, if the five, heck, six of them were still alive, where are they? It’s not like dragons of their size can just hide in a cave in the mountains.”

At that, a purple/gold smoke cloud billowed out from under the Adventure sections closed door and made its way over to Twilight. As it swirled in front of her, collecting itself into one mass, the smoke became a rather big scroll with Celestia’s seal on it. Spike looked on with wide eyes.

“Well, I guess I’m just glad I didn’t have to get that out.”

Twilight gave a small smile as she broke the seal and began to roll out the parchment, her eyes quickly gliding over the passages as the scroll was rolled in its opposite direction. A quarter of the way through she stopped and stared in shock. Spike began to ask what the scroll was, but Twilight quickly kept going, never stopping until the scroll was fully through. Safely setting the scroll aside, Spike saw Twilight take some calming breaths that Cadence had shown her, and made him begin to worry slightly.

“Twilight? What did Celestia just send you?”

After one deep breath, Twilight’s eyes opened, relaxed and with a much calmer smile than she had been putting on for the last half hour or so.

“I guess Spike, we could say it’s your origin story.”
> Answers and Consequences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Uh, care to explain that a bit further Twi?” Spike prompted.

Twilight sighed. “Well, as you could probably guess, I wrote to Princess Celestia before breakfast today with both a simple, yet complicated question. That being, where you came from.”

“But, I came from Canterlot. Twilight, that’s the easiest thing there is about me.”

“Yes, as an egg, you were hatched at my entrance exam. But that’s not exactly where you’re from, unless there had been a dragoness who had given you up there.” Twilight looked down at the scroll with a small chuckle. “But the scroll probably wouldn’t be this big if that was it.”

Spike thought back to when Twilight left to write her letter and pondered, but couldn’t find his answer, so he asked. “What made you write to Princess Celestia about me?”

“Well, you said you felt that you had gotten a message in your dreams from somepony that wasn’t Luna, so that was one point of concern. But when you told me he had said ‘welcome home’, I began to wonder what that would mean to a dragon. It’s not like we’ve seen dragons settling down anywhere specific, or at least, not for long. So, to claim anywhere as home, I found that a bit odd. In the end, I wound up asking Princess Celestia where she found your egg.”

Spike eyed the rather fat scroll. “That seems a bit large for just a simple place.”

Twilight nodded, a smirk appearing a second later. “Apparently, you had quite the journey as an egg. To start, in technicality, you’re pretty much older than anypony you’re ever going to meet.”

Spike sat back in shock at that statement, but quickly leaned forward in his seat, setting The Life and Fall aside in thirst for this radical claim. “What makes you say that?”

Twilight took the scroll up in her magic and began from the beginning. “As written here, Celestia and Luna found your particular egg 1,016 years ago along the edge of the Badland Mountains without a scratch on you.” Twilight chuckled. “And apparently you looked tasty.”

It took Spike a second to get what Twilight had said before moving to the back of his chair in abject horror. The Princesses had tried to eat him! Before he had even been born, he might not have had a chance to live. After that moment of horror however, Spike calmed down a bit. He was here, apparently over a thousand years later, but he wasn’t going to come down from that heightened state for quite a bit. “S-S-So what did they d-do?”

Twilight gave an apologetic look as she began to paraphrase again. “When they found they couldn’t break you open, Starswirl, and yes," Twilight glanced back to Spike before he could ask. "Really Starswirl, berated the two for their rash action of trying to eat a strange egg for lunch. When he found out where they found you, he deduced that you were a dragon egg that had somehow been lost from your nest. Celestia and Luna went back to try and find where you had rolled away from, but they couldn’t find where you could have come from because they couldn’t even find the remnants of a nest. So, they decided to try and hatch you themselves.”

“And we can see how well that went.” Spike gestured down to his present state, making Twilight smile.

“Yes, well, they tried everything they could think of. And, in all honesty, either you’re the luckiest egg to ever exist or dragon eggs are sturdier than I could possibly believe. They tried the obvious of lying on top of you, as awkward as that was for them. They tried prompting you out with growth and aging spells. And apparently in frustration had tossed you in their fireplace to see if they were simply insufficient to help.” Both Spike and Twilight had a chuckle at imagining the frustration of the Princesses. “Eventually, Celestia gave up after Luna was banished as she turned to double duty. You were apparently forgotten for a good two hundred years before somepony found you in the back of the pantry, apparently having had the same idea the princesses did. He tried a thing or three from his expert cooking skills, but had about the same amount of luck cracking you open. After that point, Celestia had just plain given up on ever thinking you would hatch, so she had another idea. So you began a life of being a futility test on and off for the next eight hundred years where we met.”

“What do you mean by ‘futility test’?”

Twilight looked up from the scroll. “Oh, right. The last test to get into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is a futility test. The unicorn is given what is consented to be an impossible task like leaving a room without moving, getting to the end of an endless hallway, or sorting a crate of rice by length. These, of course, can be done, like the first being solved with careful teleportation, but that one was quite a bit before teleportation was taught as a common mid to high level spell. Your egg was apparently a fall back if the school had just had their last futility test beaten. The point of the test being to show the proctors just how outside of the box somepony could think or try before admitting defeat.” 

“Which you obviously couldn’t let happen.” Spike smirked, but only got a sad look from Twilight in return.

“It’s something I should have learned then, instead of in the Crystal Empire.” Spike was going to say something in comfort, but Twilight shook her head. “But that’s getting off topic. What your egg had done was shown that no amount of spell weaving or brute force was going to hatch you. Apparently the answer was instead brute magical force.” Twilight chuckled, but Spike was still a bit upset from her earlier comment. “But shortly after my little outburst, I got curious on what I had done and checked up on you, much to my parents and Celestia’s dismay, as they had no idea what a baby dragon could do, and I wasn’t particularly thinking. And apparently from there, you imprinted on me.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Spike rolled his eyes, just about catching up in the conversation. “I don’t see you as my mom Twilight.”

“Be that as it may, you couldn’t go two seconds with me out of sight when we were younger. You may not see me as a ‘mother’ figure, but younger you surely saw me as the ‘protector’ figure, as misguided as that may be.”

“Well, can’t fault the minds of the young now can we?” Spike smirked, making Twilight chuckle.

“Quite.” The short bit of merriment was left in the air, but Spike was still wondering what the other half of the scroll was for if Twilight already explained where he came from. Twilight was still looking at it, so he knew there had to be more, but she seemed to both want to blurt out what was on the page and burn the paper of its information forever.

“So… what’s the rest of it say?” Spike finally asked, tapping his fingers together. Twilight looked up with a finalized sigh.

“The rest goes into what dragons call ‘home’, and I’m not liking what Celestia’s saying.”

“Well, what’s ‘home’ Twilight? It can’t be that bad.”

With that, Twilight’s face grimaced. “Celestia seems to have it connected with the afterlife, Spike.” That gave both of them pause before Spike took a noticeable gulp.

“S-s-s-so I was met b-by a ghost? Am I being haunted!?” Spike began looking around, every shadow now beginning to look suspect.

“Spike, Spike, calm down, that’s what I’m not liking about this.” Twilight reached out and put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. “From what Celestia has found with her talks with any dragon who was versed in the subject of history, dragons would only ever call one place ‘home’, and anywhere else that they lived would be ‘their nest’ or ‘their cave’. The only ‘home’ that any one dragon would recall was Tiamat’s nest.”

Spike now glanced down to the book he had been glued to all morning, now feeling a cold stone in his stomach despite just having fresh eggs. Had he picked this book out at random, or had something drawn him to it? And on thinking of that, Spike’s eyes seemed to glue to the middle part of the title. Gingerly picking the book up in both hands, Spike spoke in a hushed voice.

“Maybe they’re not talking about the afterlife Twilight.” Spike looked up as he turned the book towards her. “This book says ‘and Fall of Tiamat’, don’t these things usually say ‘Life and Death’ of a character? Or ‘Life and Times’? Maybe there’s a reason for the title.”

Twilight gave a concerned smile. “Spike that might be reaching just a bit. I may not like it, but half a phrase isn’t going to change what Celestia’s heard for over a millennium.”

Spike gave a wry smile. “Then let’s see what it says from the dragon’s mouth.” He said as he began to flip through the pages, landing on chapter thirty-four, The Betrayer and the Betrayed. Skipping a few paragraphs, Spike began reading aloud before Twilight could countermand him.

“Her power and wrath would not be matched by any. The carnage left behind Tiamat as she killed and consumed the realm was completely unlike her first landing, shredding forests and demolishing hills to find chimera and changeling alike, spreading the Badlands ever further. Upon reaching the sea once more, Tiamat was met by her five children, all with dead set determination in their eyes. They knew there was no reasoning with their mother, she only really knew or cared how to do one thing, and that was dealing death to all around her.

“As one, the five leapt into action to bring their mother’s rampage to an end. The fight lasted for days, neither side ever seeming to have one true advantage over another. While Pyrathy and his siblings had numbers, Tiamat had coordination. There was never a strike that hit more than once at a time. And as their battle raged through the skies, the creatures down below could only watch as the fight drifted further away, down the coast and slowly out into the ocean. It is told that Pyrathy and his kin had formed a plan within that fight and had begun to draw Tiamat back to the island of her birth. As they arrived, Tiervu and Animion drove Tiamat into the empty volcano, allowing Miserhaze to weaken the rock and Pyrathy to melt it, and letting Serenava reset the rock by cooling it with sea water. Tiamat would not be held down by molten rock alone, so she began to struggle and the rocks cracked. 

"Upon his own realization that the impromptu prison wouldn’t hold long, Miserhaze began drowning the volcano’s crater with his mists, allowing them to sit and sap away the strength of Tiamat. Animion tapped into every sense he had ever consumed and began forming a viscus fluid to reinforce and seal the dead volcano up tight. Tiervu assisted Miserhaze by adding her own cloud of toxins to his mists to further weaken her mother and set her into a never ending sleep.

“But as the five rose above the island to make a final check that their mother would never rise again, there was one last, soul tearing roar that ripped through the five before all was quiet. They stayed until the sun rose the next morning, having kept vigil to make sure their mother did not wake before making their way back to the mainland.”

Spike looked up to Twilight to gage her reaction to the small tale. She still seemed to be a bit shocked from the impromptu story time, but after the shock seemed to end, she began to analyze the difference between her and Celestia’s assumption and what she just heard. Spike did the same as he continued to read the next part to himself.

‘As the five returned to the mainland, exhausted from their fight and wanting nothing more but to rest, all their thoughts seemed to turn towards their children instead. Any joyful laugh or cry of despair seemed to ring through their ears a thousand fold, until they all but crashed on the beach of the mainland. And it was only then, when they finally looked at each other to once again speak did they see what their mother did.

‘Their Mother’s roar had not just been a cry of defeat, but also a curse. Upon their scales, the siblings could see the lives of each other’s children as though they were watching each kelpi and changling with their own eyes. Their mother may not have ever spoken an intelligible word, but thinking upon that roar, something primal rang through them, and they understood the message.

‘Look upon these abominations and suffer.’

Spike read that last line at least five times, and each time he was caught on one word, abomination. How could she say that? To her own children? They were only the second generation of a being who was born from practically nothing. What could they have possibly done to be considered abominations to life?

And then a sickening revelation hit Spike that perhaps even Bold Venture, or even reciters had failed to pick up. Tiamat was born practically from nothing, and maybe, perhaps, that was the point. She was from nothing, and she had intended to make everything return there. The five heads of Tiamat did seem to cover everything, the living, the dead, the earth, the sea, and the soul. And she had made copies of herself to continue to do the same.

But they weren’t copies of Red, White, Blue, Black, and Green. They were Pyrathy, Miserhaze, Serenava, Animion, and Tiervu. They became their own dragons, and they lived outside their mother’s shadow of death. And they had been cursed for it. It wasn’t until a spot of water hit the page that Spike realized he was crying, which took both Spike and Twilight from their respective reveries.

“Spike, what’s wrong? What did you read?” Twilight asked, leaning in to be ready to comfort him.

“I-I found out why I saw the things I did Twi. It’s a curse.” Spike sniffed as he rubbed his eyes dry. “A-Apparently when they sealed Tiamat up, she cursed them to… to live and show the lives of the children they produced.”

“Well, that’s… an odd sort of curse. So they, what? Their scales play the lives of their foals for everypony to see? That’s not much-“

“It’s worse than that Twilight!” Spike snapped, making her reel back. Spike just looked back down at the page. “It…It looks like they hear all of it too. They might even feel it if Tiamt’s as bad as I can imagine. And from what I saw on Pyrathy, it can only get worse the longer they live as more and more generations come and go. I saw one where… where a dragon drooled over an egg and dissolved it, fetus and all. And the battling I saw, even just glances. To have to hear all of that? It should be maddening. And what about the other four? It’s not like Windigos and Changelings are a pony’s best friend. I’m sure Chimeras don’t have the most peaceful of lives, and Kelpi aren’t making the best of impressions.” Spike gripped his biceps with opposing claws. “But I think what may scare me right now, is how calm Pyrathy seemed with all of it. If it was a weird dream thing then it could have been symbolic, but to deal with a curse like that like nothing was wrong, I-I-I-I don’t know.” Spike’s voice dropped to a barely audible whisper to contest with Fluttershy. “I don’t know if I should see him.”

Twilight could only look on as Spike had his crisis, not sure what to do. She had never seen him get so emotionally involved as he was right now. Deciding on action, she quickly fluttered over to his side, scooting him over to snuggly fit the two of them on his seat and wrapped her left wing around him and squeezed him as close to her as possible. He was shivering, and he stayed as such for almost a minute before he seemed to accept the comfort around him and began to breathe slowly and steadily. Five minutes like this gave Twilight the courage to speak her mind.

“It’s been a long time Spike, they could have found a way to deal with the curse, or maybe they slept through a lot of it if they could." Twilight said soothingly. "One thing we definitely have learned is how hard it is to wake a sleeping dragon.” She gave a, hopefully, warming smile, which Spike thankfully reciprocated. “And I may have been able to think of a place where dragons call home.” Spike froze once again, but Twilight continued as she tried to placate him with a petting wing. “If Tiamat’s nest is ‘home’, well, she only ever made one of those, didn’t she? So somewhere in the Badlands near the western coast there should be a place that would be carved out for a massive primordial dragon to have her hatchlings. Of course, it been well over two millennia since it happened, but I think the impression should be there, if not the actual crater she carved out.” Spike didn’t seem to be taking the news for the better, so Twilight just held him close. “If you really think that you don’t want to see them, we don’t have to. We can always wait until later.”

That seemed to get a reactive move from Spike as he pushed himself away and looked up at Twilight. As she looked down, she saw a determined and searching gaze in his eyes. He looked at her for what seemed like hours, but only a few seconds later he looked away. With a huff and a frown, Spike hopped off the chair and made his way to the door. “It always seems to be ‘for later’ around here. But this is Present Spike’s problem and we’re going to solve it now. Get what you think we’ll need and meet me out front in ten. I’m going to re-shelve some books.”

A bit taken aback by the sudden action, Twilight shook herself back to reality and teleported back to her room and began picking through a list for camping and a bestiary for the Badlands.

Spike went back to Hardly Researched and found the room to be a lot more breathable than earlier. He left Life and Fall on one of the spare corner tables to pick up for later and began looking for the place for Nestlings Nightly Stories. Finding the slightly disturbed dust, Spike lifted the book that fell sideways to fill the gap to put the book back, but noticed the cover for the first time.

Five dragons lay from head to tail in a ring, colored in the not so surprising red, blue, black, green, white. They all looked the same though, which Spike attributed to laziness. Deciding he had pulled the book out for a reason, he opened the book to a random story. It was basically what he had expected from picking it up, a short bedtime story on one page and a depictive illustration on the opposite page. This one being a lot more foal friendly than Life and Fall of Tiamat.

The one he opened up to was a better depiction of Pyrathy surrounded by other dragons who seemed to be very happy and cheering. Pyrathy himself looked very content to be used as a climbing surface. Spike glanced to the story and read the small excerpt.

‘Pyrathy and his siblings were happy once more as their evil mother was driven away and their children were safe. They partied day and night for three whole days in celebration and all of them thanked Pyrathy for his help. He smiled and said ‘If any of my children need me, they only need to ask.’ So know that if anything ever goes wrong, you need only to ask Pyrathy for help.’

Spike quickly shut the book and was a bit happier with starting with the other one. He slid the book back into its proper place and went to the window to properly close it, but he hesitated as he got his claw on the window shutter. Hardly Researched did have a fair view over Ponyville, just like the rest of the castle, but it also had a view of the lone mountain. A mountain that had housed a dragon for a brief moment a few years ago, and now somehow poked Spike on the topic of dragons.

This was it. This was going to be big, he could feel it. No lone dragon in the woods, no bullying teenagers with apathetic adults, but looking for the first nest of dragon kind. Spike let out a nervous chuckle, thinking how this must be what it felt like when an ordinary pony was to meet Celestia. And that thought made Spike dig his claws into the shutter slightly.

He was that ordinary pony now. He wasn’t a dragon amongst ponies, he wasn’t a close friend of the ruler, he wasn’t going to be anything special here. He was a baby dragon who felt he had a message from a primordial dragon. Spike began feeling more and more confused in his resolve. Did he really need to go? Did he actually get a message? Did he have to go? Maybe he’d get another dream. Maybe he didn’t need to go anywhere. What actually made him think Pyrathy wanted to see him anyways? He had only said four words to him. Maybe this could be Future Spike’s problem.

Spike slammed the shutters in frustration. Frustration mostly at himself. He had made a plan, and he was going to follow through on it. He was going to do his best to find Pyrathy or his ‘home’, and he was going to get his answer as to why he felt like he needed to see him. And then the phrase from Nightly Stories struck Spike.

“If any of my children need me, they need only to ask.”

Well Spike certainly had a question.

Why did Pyrathy need him?
> Finding 'Home'
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike headed up to his room to gather anything he would need for this trip, and upon opening his door, came to the exact realization that he might have a problem in that department. As much as he liked his new room, it was also quite bare of anything that was his. He had been given an upgraded basket-bed by Twilight upon their upgraded living arrangement, and he even had a dresser all his own. That currently had his snare drum and sticks on top and his one tux within. The room had come with a built in shelf, so his previous birthday presents from Twilight had their own space along with a set of spare drawing paper for when he wanted to doodle on the one table he had.

But none of these things were particularly relevant to what he needed. In fact, what did he need from here? Aside from making his bed, Spike realized. Having such an abrupt morning, he had completely forgotten. As he reset the covers, Spike glanced about to his bucket of blocks, a ball, and even a strange contraption mobile Twilight had given him. Spike chewed the inside of his cheek as he seemed to truly consider his room, and really began to see how little of him there was in here. Maybe he would pick up a souvenir while he was out on this trip, spruce it up a bit.

Finishing setting the bed, Spike sighed as he really thought there was nothing to get from here. In fact, the last time he had left, it had been with a tea set and a few snacks, he had done just fine walking to the dragon gathering. He shrugged, guessing he would just have to wait outside for Twilight. As he headed back down to the foyer, he could have sworn to hear a tap of a hoof on crystal. Jogging a bit to get to the front door, he opened the door to find Apple Bloom beginning to walk down the stairs.

“Apple Bloom?” Spike called out, making the filly pause and turn.

“So ya are up. Ah’ve been knocking for like ten minutes.” Apple Bloom huffed as she turned back to talk to Spike properly.

“Well, it’s a big place Bloom. It’s why we have a door bell.” Spike pointed to a protruding rhombus of crystal that a shade darker of purple than the rest around it.

“Like Ah could see that thing, it looks just like the rest of the frame.” Apple Bloom huffed.

“Hehe, yeah, been meaning to take some paint to that.” Spike chuckled as he stepped out of the door frame, letting the door close behind him. “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I was meanin to get Twilight, we need a bit of help with the beaver dam.”

“Are they being a problem again? Shouldn’t you talk to Fluttershy about that?”

“Well sure, but it’s not the beavers bein around that’s the problem, it’s actually them leavin.”

“Leaving? Isn’t that a good thing? Twilight said they flooded up the orchard before.”

“Mah sister seems to have gotten somthin through over the years, she worked out with the beavers to set up a bit further upstream and help divvy up water streams for the orchard. But it seems that they wanna move somewhere new, ‘more exotic’ as Fluttershy said.”

“And that’s bad.” Spike guessed.

“Yeah, Fluttershy said that if the beavers aren’t livin there no more, then the dam’s just gonna break down. But the thing is, if the dam’s not there, then the side streams are just going to go back to the main one, and we’re gonna have to go back to haulin all the water to the orchard trees. Which Big Mac says ain’t gonna be as good ‘cause the side streams bring their own benefits than just carrying the water.” 

“Okay, okay.” Spike shook his head from the information dump. “So what do you need Twilight for?”

“Well, Ah was wonderin if Twilight would have some sort of stabalizin spell so that when the beavers leave, the dam doesn’t fall apart.” Apple Bloom asked hopefully. Spike sighed at the news he had to deliver to the filly.

“I’m sorry Apple Bloom, but I can tell you right now that’s not going to work.”

“Well, yer not Twilight, now are ya?” Apple Bloom cut in.

“But I am her number one assistant, and even I know what Twilight would have to do. She’d have to set a stasis spell on the dam so that the water doesn’t corrode the dam even more, and then she’d have to come by on a regular basis to re-boost the spell, and we could easily be away during any of those times.”

“Is it hard? Could we get Rarity or somepony else to do it?” Apple Bloom asked, grasping at straws.

“I don’t know, but even then, do you want to pay somepony to constantly apply what’s basically a bandage on a broken support beam?”

Apple Bloom shifted a bit uncomfortably. “Ah don’t know.” Spike and Apple Bloom stood there awkwardly, shifting side to side as both tried to find something to say.

“Did you think of rebuilding something to the same effect after the beavers leave?” Spike asked, an idea suddenly popping up.

“Well, sorta. But Ah don’t l know how the dam’s built, or if we could afford to build something in its place.”

“But wouldn’t it be worth it in the end?” Spike prompted.

“A-Ah guess.” Apple Bloom scuffed her hoof. “Ah just thought Twilight could fix it.” 

“Feels like she can, doesn’t it?” Spike chuckled half-heartedly. “Look, uh, Twilight and I are heading out for a bit, and it might take a while. Why don’t you head back and brainstorm a bit more with Big Mac and Applejack? And I’m sure if I bring this up with Twilight on our flight, she’ll have her own pamphlet of ideas when we get back.”

“Well, ok, but only if you promise to tell Twilight.” Apple Bloom eyeballed Spike.

“I promise.” Spike held his left claw up and right claw over his breast. “On my honor of the Dragon Code, that I will indeed tell Twilight of your predicament.”

“Thanks Spike!” Apple Bloom seemed to cheer up immediately. “Ah gotta go meet up with the others now, Sweetie said she thought what our secret talents were!” Apple Bloom started trotting off before Spike could exactly question that logic. So he sighed and took a seat on the top stair as he waited for Twilight to come out. And as he pondered exactly what books she thought were going to be necessary for the trip, Spike also came to another realization of this trip.

How were they going to get there? Spike had to admit, he was quite proud of his endurance to make that trek to the dragon migration ground, but a cursory thought did indeed place the Badlands a good three or four days further than the migration ground, and even then Spike had seen the dragons congregating to know where to go. If he was going to look for a giant crater, wouldn’t an aerial view be better? But would Twilight be willing to fly herself, himself, and everything she had packed, all by herself? Could she even fly like that all by herself?

By a sudden clopping of hooves and wheels bumping over gravel did Spike look up to see two Dawn Guard pegasi pulling a fairly large open air carriage, stoically standing parallel to the castle’s stairs. Before he could get up to greet whoever could pull the kind of weight to get such a deal from Celestia, he heard the front door open.

“Oh good, they’re here.” Spike turned to see Twilight walking out with just her saddle bags, which sort of off put Spike, seeing as she usually had at least two suitcases when visiting Canterlot.

“You were expecting somepony Twi?” Spike asked, garnering a confused glance from Twilight.

“Uh, no? This is how we’re getting to the Badlands. I wasn’t very confident in flying both of us there, so I contacted Celestia to see if she could spare us a pair of guards to make a round trip, specifically ones with sharp eyes. She even told me that at the rate these two can go, we might not even need to make this an overnight thing.”

“Oh.” Spike softly chuckled to himself. This made so much more sense, and of course this would take more than a day, no problem Twilight ever faced lasted long under her scrutiny. Except maybe Pinkie Pie. Although, something about this taking so little effort for Twilight dejected Spike a bit.

“Buuut.” Twilight drew out her word, gaining a quizitive look from Spike. “That doesn’t mean we can’t make it an overnight thing.” Twilight grinned mischievously as she activated her magic, popping three suitcases into the carriage. “I feel it’s been to long since it’s been just you and me Spike. So let’s make the most of this trip while we can.” Twilight smiled as she trotted down to the awaiting guards. Spike wasn’t sure why, but a small grin grew as he followed Twilight down the stairs.

“Corporal Steady Wing and Pointed Eye awaiting orders ma’am.” One of the guards saluted as Twilight approached.

“What were you told corporal?” Twilight asked, making Spike quietly debate how ‘secret’ this trip should really be.

“Just to be ready to transport the Princess of Friendship to whatever destination she would require ma’am.” Steady Wing replied.

“Well, we’re heading out to the Badlands corporal, and you are to spot and land near any crater or valley that could possibly hold five to ten full grown dragons comfortably. Is that clear enough?” Twilight hesitantly asked at the end of a rather imposing order on her part. The corporals looked to each other for a moment and nodded simultaneously.

“It shouldn’t be a problem ma’am. One concession though, if I may.”

“Proceed.” Twilight nodded.

“There’s a reason they’re known as the Badlands. I did overhear a plan of camping on this trip, I ask that we set up camp outside of the defined border of the Badlands. Not to question your abilities ma’am, but it would set us in a better state of mind for a defensible position.”

Twilight seemed to ponder the request of the corporal before nodding. “Never can be too careful, I’m alright with this precaution. Now, if you two are ready, we can…” Twilight paused looked down to Spike. “Did you have anything to bring Spike?”

Spike chuckled. “Not really. Did fine on my last trek with just a snack. Flying like this will be no problem.”

Twilight nodded. “Ok, then if you two are ready, we’re ready to leave.” Twilight and Spike boarded the carriage and the two corporals took off without another word. The wind brushed and then started to rush past the two before an enchantment upon the carriage reduced the incoming wind down to a gentle breeze. As the enchantment kicked in, Twilight shivered from tip to tail.

“Wow, that feels so much different now.”

“What does? Felt the same to me.” Spike said.

“Maybe for you, but having flown solo for a while now, I’m kind of used to the wind always blowing that fast. But now-“

“There’s a disconnect.” Spike finished, smiling.

“Right, exactly.” Twilight smiled back. It really had been a while since the two had just had their own company.

“So, how long are we looking at this taking?” Spike asked.

“Oh, somewhere around four hours I suppose.”

“Bring anything for the trip?” Spike asked knowingly. Twilight smirked.

“Like I wouldn’t.” Twilight said as she directed her magic to one of the suitcases, unzipping it and pulling out ‘The Life and Fall of Tiamat’. “I took another glance through this and the other one you pulled out and found some interesting commonalities and inconsistencies, and I thought maybe we could look them over together.”

“Really?” Spike looked at Twilight with a bit of disbelief. “And here I thought Pinkie would have slipped in a pack of cards or something.”

“Spike, Pinkie wasn’t even at the castle. Of course she didn’t-“ Twilight paused amidst closing the suitcase, taking another look in the sleeve on the lid. “I could have sworn that was empty.” Slowly floating out of the pocket came a deck of cards along with a sticky note simply with a ‘:P’ on it. “I must have forgotten them from last time.”

“Sure you did.” Spike smiled as he plucked the cards from Twilight. “Speaking of which, do you know what’s going on at Sweet Apple Acres?”

“No, what?” Twilight asked as she set the book aside.

“Apparently Applejack had a deal with some beavers to divvy up their stream, and now with the beavers moving out, the streams going to go back to normal, which apparently is a bad thing?” Spike laid out as he took out the cards and began shuffling.

“Hm, I can see why. Beavers are a keystone species after all, they sort of set the rules up for wherever they live. How did you come to know this?”

“Apple Bloom stopped by this morning seeing if you could set up a sort of freezing spell to keep the dam from eroding.”

“Well, I mean, I could, but for that type of situation, I would have to re-energize the spell at least every four days, faster if there’s outside factors.”

“Like water pressure and flow change.”

“Right, and I could be busy during any of those times. I don’t think a freezing spell is the best option here.”

“That’s what I said.” Spike sighed as he began laying out solitaire. “I told Apple Bloom that I would tell you and get your ideas while she headed home to brainstorm with Big Mac and Applejack.”

“I would do just that, but it’s not like I know everything about beavers and their dams. I’m not going to have anything solid to tell them until we get back and I can study up a little bit.” Twilight shrugged. “Sorry Spike.”

“Eh, it’s all right, I already gave my two bits in as it is.”

“Oh? And what’s your idea?” Twilight took a curious interest as Spike separated the ace of spades and hearts.

“I just think the Apple Bloom was too focused on the dam and not what the dam was doing. Applejack was able to get something working, so why not just let thing crumble and rebuild something sturdier later to do the exact same thing?”

Twilight seemed to mull Spike’s solution over. “Maybe, but it would be a whole mess in-between now and then. The dam would break, the wood would go every which way and everything they have would be gone.”

“I’m not saying it would be easy, or the same for that matter. But what the Apples have now is just unsustainable. It’s not like they could get somepony to do the beavers job. I even think Apple Bloom would be too big at this point.”

“Hmm.” Twilight hummed as she looked over Spikes board. “I think you lost Spike.”

“What?” Spike looked up to Twilight to see she was looking down. “No I haven’t.”

“Spike, the four of hearts and the ace of clubs are buried and you’re not going to get the two of spades with the way this is going.”

“We’ll see about that.” Spike said defiantly as he flipped his next card.

..

Twilight was right of course, though Spike would only admit that they really should have been playing together from the beginning. Twilight tried bringing up ‘The Rise and Fall of Tiamat’, but Spike shot the discussion down, both from the logical standpoint that they shouldn’t make too many presumptions about Pyrathy before meeting him, but also from the standpoint of not wanting to feel squeamish from following through on meeting such a legendary figure. After three lost rounds of Go Fish, a brunch snack, and learning and wining one round of Crazy Eights, Corporal Steady Wing called over his shoulder.

“We’re approaching the Badlands now ma’am!”

Spike and Twilight immediately forgot their second game of Crazy Eights and began looking ahead towards the red scene before them. Plains were quickly giving way to barren rock leading to rocky hills that dipped into a landscape that wasn’t a desert, but neither could it sustain any sort of greenery.

“All right Spike, keep a keen eye out for any impression that might remotely hold the nest. The Badlands are big, but not so big that we shouldn’t be able to make a fly by or two.” Twilight warned as she fetched two pairs of binoculars out of her suitcase, lifting one pair over to Spike. He resolutely nodded as he took the offered item and began to intently scan the hills surrounding the Badlands. The Dawn Guards flew a bit into the Badlands before banking to the right and circle the perimeter counter-clockwise.

And so the four began scouring for the long disused nest. Twilight seemed to gain a secondary mission of documenting something, Spike didn’t particularly care to look, but he could hear the scratching of pen on paper. But it wasn’t like his search was going any better, and watching the hills roll by methodically didn’t help the monotony. There was more than one time he began to feel his head droop.

The best Spike could make out for a possibility was a few crevices that might have lead deeper in, but to house the mother of dragons and five whelps? Nah.

“That was one round Spike, think you spotted anything?” Twilight said, pulling Spike away from his binoculars. He rubbed his eyes from the impression they made around them.

“Nah, nothing really over here, you?”

“No, but I think I have a few questions for Maud the next time she’s around.” Twilight rolled her scroll up. “Corporals! Find a place to land for-“ A gurgle came from Twilight’s stomach before she could finish, followed closely by Spike’s own.

“A very belated lunch.” Spike called with mirth. The Dawn Guard short affirmative nods, and Spike thought he spotted a small smirk on Pointed Eye. The party landed near the path leading into the Badlands from the plains. As the carriage came to a stop, Twilight picked up the suitcase the snack had come from and pulled a blanket out from another. The blanket became neatly spread out beside the carriage as Steady Wing and Pointed Eye unhitched themselves and took up posts beside the blanket.

“Oh, don’t worry about protocol here you two.” Twilight waved for the two to sit down. “This was rather sudden, but I did consider to pack for four.”

The two looked to each other, unsure. Spike chuckled. “We won’t tell if you don’t.” Both Steady and Pointed to a relaxed sigh as both sat across from Spike and Twilight.

“Permission to speak freely ma’am?” Pointed Eye asked, speaking up for the first time.

“Oh, Twilight, please. And please, go ahead.” Twilight said as she began pulling out granola and sapphires.

“This has got to be the longest I’ve had to pull a carriage. Are you sure this is somewhere to find a dragon nest?”

“I’ve got to agree with Point on this.” Steady Wing chimed in. “I didn’t see anything in there that could sustain as many dragons as you indicated.”

“We’re not exactly looking for a nest that could be sustained now.” Twilight emphasized as she began to pull ‘Life and Fall’ to her. “We’re looking for a place that could have sustained that many. Did either of make a mark?” Both corporals shook their heads as Twilight handed them their granola before pulling out a small kettle. “I’ll be back.” Twilight declared before popping away.

Both corporals forgot their meal as they jumped up, ready to take after the princess. Spike simply waved them to sit again. “She’s a big filly guys, she can get some water just fine.”

“It’s our job sir.” Steady Wing tensed back to formality. Before Spike could retort, Twilight popped back as if nothing had changed.

“Do you two want straight water or tea?” Twilight absently asked as she began to rummage for tea bags.

“Um, Twi?” Spike nudged Twilight, who looked up owlishly. “I think you should apologize.”

“Hm?” Twilight seemed a bit confused as she saw the two tense guards. “Oh! I’m so sorry. It was just for some water, and it was a good five-minute trot away, I thought this would be faster.”

“Ma’am, for however… eccentric Princess Celestia can be in her orders, she does employ us to be a bodily shield should unknowns occur. I ask that you please don’t do that again.” Steady Wing coolly chided.

Twilight gave a nervous chuckle. “Uh, yes, maybe you’re right. I did ask you two to be here, perhaps I shouldn’t make light of your duties.” Twilight cleared her throat and sat a bit straighter. “That being said, water or tea?”

“Water for me.” Steady Wing relaxed as he sat again.

“What do you have?” Pointed Eye asked, similarly relaxing.

Eating and chatting soon picked up between the three ponies as Spike receded a bit and picked up ‘Life and Fall’, seeing as the three had somehow quickly gotten into wing maintenance. Spike began sucking on his sapphire as to make it last as long as possible out on the trip.

Spike began re-reading ‘Life of Pyrathy’ to see if there could any context clues as to where or how Pyrathy would set up a nest for himself. But apparently aside from being particularly lazy, Pyrathy had also seemed to be quite picky in his napping space. Being the Fire drake he was, Pyrathy tended to like living in perpetually hot places.

Spike glanced up to the Badlands, considering how the place seemed to be constantly under the sun, he guessed this would be the type of place Pyrathy would settle down. There was only a few scattering of rock formations to offer any sort of shade, but there also didn’t seem to be any good basking spots. At least, not in what Spike observed. Although, now that he looked at them, Twilight might have something on the rock piles. They did seem to singular and spaced as they were.

“Hey Twilight?” Spike spoke up, breaking the flow of the three’s conversation on barrack life.

“Yes Spike?”

“What kind of questions did you have for Maud?”

“Oh, uh, well,” Twilight stuttered, a bit confused at the sudden change in topic, reached for her notes. “I was going to ask her if the formation of lone stone pillars were a common occurrence or if these could be anomalies. Also what rocks are common in this area and at what temperatures they melt at.”

“Melt?” Both Spike and the guards turned to such an odd question.

“I think I saw a few sloping formations among the pillars that seemed a bit to smooth to be from erosion, so I think something is happening around there. But then again, we were just doing a fly by, it might be completely fine if we were to get a closer look on the next round.”

“Could you see the abnormality without the binoculars?” Spike asked, garnering a thoughtful look from Twilight.

“…I think so. Why?”

“Because I saw some crevices that I thought could have been hidey holes, but not big enough for what we were looking for, but I definitely could see them without the binoculars.”

“Yeah, I came to the same conclusion.” Pointed Eye pitched in. “You did say a nest big enough for up to ten dragons, they looked big enough for two or three, but definitely not ten.”

“Well, I said ten, but that was really taking into account of the exaggerated size in this record.” Twilight said as she lifted ‘The Life and Fall’ out of Spike’s claws. “See, it says Tiamat here could easily scale over mountains, so comparing a vague notion to modern mountains such as the one Canterlot is situated upon as well as accounting for being a nest for five whelps, ten grown dragons came to a close guesstimate.” 

“Yeah, with how she’s drawn in there, the Badlands would… be… nothing.” Spike began heartily, but then began to re-examine the Badlands. “Twilight, can I see the book again?”

Twilight handed the book back and Spike flipped back to the birth of the Five. He scanned the pages until he found what needed.

“So, uh, what if we got the scale a bit wrong?” Spike inquired as he turned the book around tapping the passage ‘with Red searing the ground into a sturdy hole’.

“Well, yeah, she cleared out a space for the nest, that’s a given. But like I said, the space for ten full grown dragons was a… guesstimate.” Twilight slowly came to the same conclusion as Spike, looking up to the Badlands with a new appreciation.

“I think the Badlands are her nest Twi.”
> Finding A Clue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Both of the guards looked back towards the Badlands, Pointed Eye tilting his head slightly. “I’d say that would definitely fit more than ten fully grown dragons.”

“B-bu-but that’s completely improbable.” Twilight stuttered. “There’s no way Tiamat could be that big! Her own size and mass would make her unable to move!”

“Twi, have you ever noticed how light I am?” Spike questioned, Twilight just blinking owlishly at him. “When you went off to the Crystal Empire to get the Equestria Games held there, I took all of your pets on a walk, and Owlowiscious and Tank were able to pick me off the ground, while Owlowiscious was carrying Gummy. And there was that time that I grew after my birthday and my claw barely left a print that anypony would trip over. Face it, this is completely possible. Plus, factor in that Tiamat was basically born from primal magic, which has on nill mass, and the fact that gravity works near at all is impressive.”

Twilight kept looking at Spike, though now not in shock, but more in awe, even Pointed Eye and Steady Wing were looking a bit stunned. Spike looked back at them with a growing sense of unease. “What?”

“That’s… surprisingly well thought out.” Twilight commented before looking away to the Badlands. If she had to be honest, she hadn’t ever really thought about how light Spike was. She had berated him more than a few times to cut back on eating so he wouldn’t become fat and heavy, but even when he had kicked her sides that one time in the Diamond Dog mines, she had reacted more in annoyance than pain. Soon, a small nagging thought began to pester her.

How much did she actually know about Spike?

“If I may ask then, what is our next task if we have indeed found the nest we’re looking for?” Steady Wing asked. This seemed to snap Twilight a bit out of her reprieve.

“Oh, well, right. This is going to be a bit harder to do now. My original plan had us examining the nest for any recent activities and following the clues to our objective.”

“Our objective ma’am?” Pointed Eye asked. Spike looked to Twilight, who was already contemplating Spike.

“We’re here for you Spike, you decide what to tell them.” Twilight relinquished.

Spike nervously scratched his chin. “Heh, well, we’re looking for one of Tiamat’s brood.” Spike began as he clutched ‘The Rise and Fall of Tiamat’ closer. “I… had a dream of meeting the red dragon Pyrathy. And from what Twilight and I could piece together about the ‘home of the dragons’ being Tiamat’s nest for hatching her brood, we’re here to find Pyrathy.”

Steady Wing and Pointed Eye were both silent and stoic. Spike honestly wondered if they were considering on tuning tail right there and heading back to Canterlot. That was until Pointed Eye spoke up with a question.

“So how big are we talking here?” A question that threw both Twilight and Spike a bit off kilter. “I mean, if the Badlands are the nest we’re looking for, and taking into account of roam-able space, how big are the… whelps?”

“Well, it was a dream, but bigger than Canterlot Mountain? Oh! Also underground, Pyrathy was sleeping underground.”

“That certainly seems to make sense.” Steady Wing huffed. “If he were as big as Canterlot Mountain and not underground somewhere around here, I’d say you were pulling our legs.”

“Yeah, but then there also a logistical problem.” Pointed Eye pointed out. “How is a cave as big as a mountain not collapsing in on itself?”

“Are you a geologist Point?” Steady asked.

Pointed grimaced a bit and answered dourly “No.”

“Then better to not question it. Remember Point, the less you unravel-“

“The sturdier it stays.” Pointed sighed. “Sometimes I hate guard logic.”

“That said, why are we looking for Pyrathy sir?” Steady Wing asked.

“It’s a feeling really.” Spike shrugged. “Just something about seeing him. It’s not even like he gave me a message, he just said ‘Welcome home Spike.’”

“Hm.” Steady Wing contemplated. “Seeing as we’ve completed step one, I can say we have two things to go on.” Both Spike and Twilight perked up upon this announcement. “Of our initial sweep, we came upon two noticeable occurrences, the large crevices as noted by Spike and Point, as well as the rock formations as noted by Princess Twilight. Both could be viable starting points.”

Everyone contemplated Steady Wing’s assessment a bit as they each slowly made their way through their lunches. When everything was packed and placed back in the carriage, Twilight sighed.

“I guess we’ll do another fly-by of the crevices and see if there’s any potential for them to lead to the cave Spike mentioned.” Twilight glanced up to approximate the sun’s position. “Another four or five good hours of sun left. Spike, how many did you count?”

“Uh…” Spike paused as he prepped to get in the carriage. He hadn’t counted as at first he hadn’t really thought anything of them.

“At least twenty ma’am.” Pointed Eye answered for the drake.

“And to have been spotted by eye from our position… ugh. We might get to five if they’re not that deep.”

“Wait, twenty?” Spike asked, having taken his seat in the carriage.

“At least.” Pointed Eye nodded.

“And going on the hypothesis that this is Tiamat’s nest for five…” Spike lead on. Steady Wing and Twilight both groaned as each proceeded to face-hoof.

“How did I not see that?” Twilight grumbled.

“See what?” Pointed asked.

“They’re probably from the whelps crawling out of the nest a few times Point.” Steady Wing answered. “So that leaves us with the melted rocks.”

“Which may or not be a thing.” Twilight lamented. “Even then, they were scattered about the middle of the Badlands, there’s not going to be a cave entrance around there.”

“Says who?” Spike spoke up. “A cave is just some hollow space in the ground, that doesn’t mean it can’t be made in the middle of nowhere.”

“As that may be, I would’ve noted any cave entrance if I had seen it from the first fly-by.” Twilight answered as she propped herself on the side of the carriage to look Spike in the eye.

“But you weren’t looking for a cave then, you were looking for a nest.”

“A nest could be in a cave, I accounted for that.”

“Princess, if I may?” Steady Wing approached, Pointed Eye having opted to stay out of any argument and began to hitch himself up. Twilight took a deep breath as she dropped back down to all fours to address the corporal.

“Yes corporal?”

“There’s not much known on dragons as a whole, but we are aware they are on the higher end of the magical scale. If we are dealing with a dragon that is only a generation away from pure magic, couldn’t there be a way to track him?” Spike popped over the side of the carriage, curious of the answer Twilight would give to such an inquiry. Twilight herself began to contemplate that herself, but soon shook her head.

“I don’t think so. To even track magic, you somewhat need to know what you’re tracking, be that a type of spell or pony. I don’t know enough about Pyrathy to even begin to think of a tracking spell for him.”

“Well, we sort of do.” Twilight and Steady Wing looked to Spike. “He’s part of the fire aspect of Tiamat. Steady Wing is on to something Twi. It’s not like that many things live out here to begin with, so maybe a base level fire tracking spell would help point us toward him.” Again, Twilight considered the answer presented to her.

“But Spike, if I do that, I’m going to be half blind from sitting next to you. And I’m not sure I could fly and hold the necessary intensity for the spell.”

“That aside, your presumption on the inhabitance of the Badlands is off.” Steady Wing said. “They may not be out right now, but there are plenty of creatures living in the Badlands.”

“Which then leads into the impracticality of having the cave entrance in the middle of the Badlands where anything could stumble in and find Pyrathy.” Twilight concluded. The three fell silent, having no solution to their predicament.

“We’ll head for the rocks first.” Steady Wing finally said. “I think I remember what you described Princess, there were only a few of them, and their surface level, so they won’t take much investigating.”

“All right corporal.” Twilight nodded in agreement as she boarded the carriage. Spike noticed that Twilight had seemed to have lost her flair for this adventure, and was equally unsure now. They had little to nothing to track, and basically his gut feeling was their only reason for being here in the first place.

“Sorry for dragging you out on this Twilight.” Spike said remorsefully as the carriage began to move. Twilight jerked at the sudden apology, quite confused.

“What’s there to apologize for Spike? This is just a bit more mind-boggling, that’s all.”

“Yeah, but you could be back at the castle doing something important right now than helping me look at a barren wasteland.”

“Spike.” Twilight felt a bit hurt at his beratement of his importance to her. “This is important. It’s important to you, and thus just as important to me. Just because we’re stalled a little doesn’t mean this has become ever less so.” She put a hoof under his chin to lift his gaze to meet hers. “Is that clear?”

Spike looked back at Twilight, looking to see any resentment for being here. He nodded resolutely when he found none. “Yeah, just gotta keep going.”

Twilight smiled and looked back ahead to see how far the pillars were. Steady Wing had indeed remembered correctly what Twilight described, because they were soon approaching the first pillar that she noted the sloping formation. It was rather high up, at least at the castle’s second story, so the Dawn Guard kept in flight as the four slowly began to move about the pillar.

Spike noticed that Twilight had made an accurate assumption. Many of the freestanding formations were very rough and jagged, the only places with a smoother appearance were at the very bottom as rocks slopped away from the pillars, but what they were looking at were very smooth, convex formations. Something had blown over it rather than down it. But that was about where the oddities stopped. Twilight tried finding any magical resonance, but that came to nothing. Nothing stood out about it other than its odd formation.

“There’s nothing here corporal, move on to the next one!” Twilight called out, making the two pegasi pull away and make their way towards the next pillar Steady Wing could recall. In total, there were eleven pillars that Twilight and Steady Wing could recall and spot. Twilight and Spike came to a conclusion that the abnormality had to mean something, as there were to many to be a coincidence, but they couldn’t find a rhyme or reason to the formations. All they could determine that some seemed to be only slightly lower or higher than the first one they found.

Twilight finally called the search to be done for the day and for the Guard to find the place they wanted to set camp. Steady Wing nodded to Pointed Eye and both turned and began to fly up to the plateau tops of the Badlands border. Once they landed, both unceremoniously unhooked themselves and flopped forward.

“Oh no, I’ll get you two some water, I’ll be right back.” Twilight said as she pulled out their now empty canteens before popping off once again. Neither corporal seemed fit to complain.

“You could have told us you were tired.” Spike huffed as he hopped out of the carriage.

“It’s… not our… place.” Steady Wing panted. This just made Spike groan.

“Not our place this, it’s our job that. C’mon guys, consistency. Twilight’s probably frazzled now seeing you two like this for her.”

“We’re here to work.” Pointed Eye pointed out, having significantly caught his breath. “And that is what we’re doing.”

“Yeah, and you won’t be doing any of us any good if you drop out of the sky in exhaustion you nimrod.” Spike growled as he got back to the carriage, rummaging for some of their travel snacks, finding some left over sunflower seeds. Gathering up the last of them in two tins, he brought them back to the Guards. “It’s not much, but we -well, Twilight- planned for a day or two. I’ll let her pick out your dinner.”

Steady Wing lifted an eyebrow at the offered snack, but Pointed Eye took his share and started popping them in his mouth. Twilight came back with three water loaded canteens and one frazzled mane.

“I’m so sorry you two. You never said anything, but I should have taken this into account. I've never actually had to have scouted anything this long, I’m so sorry. Just try to rehydrate right now and I’ll fill them up as much as necessary.” She rambled as she nearly shoved two of the canteens to the Guards.

“See, what did I tell you?” Spike smirked before patting Twilight on her wither. “Calm down a bit Twi, they were just being a bit dumb like you were.” This gained a pointed glare from Steady Wing, a look of shock from Pointed Eye, and a sheepish smile from Twilight herself.

“Eh heh, maybe we should take some more regular breaks tomorrow?” Twilight offered, to which Steady Wing nodded, not quite losing his evil eye on Spike.

“As we should. This does seem to be taking a bit longer than anticipated.”

“Oh no, do you two need to be back in Canterlot?” Twilight’s mane slightly fringed in concern, making Spike kneed his brow.

“Not necessarily, we’ve had a few long missions before.” Pointed Eye responded offhandedly. “We just need to check back at base before doing anything else when we get back is all.”

“Oh, ok then.” Twilight straightened up a little bit, her previous stress seeming to fall away. “Tonight we have either dandelion and carrot salads or brussel sprout, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. One for the other tomorrow.”

“Salad please.” Pointed said.

“I’ll take the sandwich.” Steady replied.

Twilight nodded and headed to their bags, Spike would have followed for his evening opal, but Steady Wing held a wing out to block his way. Spike looked up to see a heated gaze from Steady Wing burning into him.

“You will not speak to the Princess like that again, am I understood?”

Spike raised a brow. “And what makes you think you can dictate how I talk to Twilight?”

“Because it is not the proper way to speak to a Princess.” Steady pressed his wing into Spike’s stomach. “And if you do-”

“You’ll what?” Spike cut off. “Twilight’s my friend. A close friend. I could speak this informally to Shining Armor and nopony would bat an eye.” Steady Wing actually began to growl, so Spike took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, this isn’t anything formal. We’re here to look for something we have no idea where it could be. We all need to be a team, and all of us being ramrod straight is going to make this a lot harder.”

“He’s got a point Steady.” Pointed Eye nudged his comrades wing. “Lighten up a little. Being on guard is all right, but snapping at every little thing isn’t helping”

“Hmph.” Steady Wing snorted as he folded his wing back. Spike gave Steady Wing a once over before proceeding to his snack bag, where he found Twilight with two salads and a sandwich in her magic.

“Everything all right Spike?” Twilight glanced over to the two waiting guards, Steady Wing finally nibbling on his sunflower seeds. “That didn’t seem to pleasant.”

Spike just shrugged. “Steady Wing didn’t like how I talked to you, that’s all.” He said as he began to pick through his prepared bag for the opal he spied earlier.

“Oh, should I talk to him about it? I mean, it’s not all that unusual for us, but for them…” Twilight tapered off.

“Maybe, if you think it’ll help. But I think Point is on the same page as I am.” Spike said as he finally pulled out his meal for the night.

“Oh really now?” Twilight leaned in to be right next to Spike. “And what page would that be?”

“That Steady Wing need’s to get that stick out of his-“ Spike was cut off by the opal being stuffed in his mouth.

“Be glad we don’t have any soap out here.” Twilight smirked. Spike grumbled as she walked off, licking the opal and savoring its vanilla like flavor. Spike made sure there was not bad mood between Twilight and the Guard before gazing out towards the Badlands, sucking on the gem. He began contemplating if they should really be out here. Twilight might have said this was important, but she also said that because she thought it was important to him. But was it really?

Yeah, he had felt a sort of attraction to find Pyrathy, but it was more of a compulsion than anything else. If he had really felt like it, he could have put this whole expedition off and ignored it. But then again, it might have just nagged at him until he did look into it. Spike just sighed in a bit of irritation, wishing he had the same level of laxation that Pyrathy did.

Spike’s head lolled to the side as he continued his meal, feeling Twilight taking the tent supplies out from behind him. His eyes began to droop as the thought of sleep crept up on him, maybe he might even find something out tonight that could help tomorrow. Though just another float around Pyrathy probably wouldn’t help all that much, and it probably wasn’t possible to get an answer out of a dream. Spike kind of wished the first dream had really had a point.

Spike kneaded his eyes and yawned, quickly grabbing his now half-sized opal as it fell out. He looked around to see if the other three had seen it, but was satisfied to see that they seemed to be focused on setting up the two tents. He sighed in content, and was about to head to them when he glanced the pillars they had looked at earlier, and two of the melted portions seemed to line up a bit to perfectly.

Spike quickly swallowed the remainder of his meal and finally hopped down from the carriage. The two sections seemed to stack on top of each other, making a sort of ‘z’ shape. Tilting his head to see if there was anything else about it, he saw the lower half seemed to be parallel to another melted portion on the same height. Walking a bit to his left, the second lower portion made a reverse ‘z’, which didn’t help much. 

But now, further to his left, another melted section looked to be higher than both sections. Moving a bit further, the three concurrent melted rocks made a reverse ‘z’ staircase. The way the melted rocks seemed to mesh together seemed to convenient to Spike, so he ran back to the group, finding them in the middle of a disagreement.

“-and I haven’t flown at all today, I’m far more fit for the trip.” Twilight declared with a hoof to her chest.

“And it’s getting on sunset Princess. Far too many things around here are going to be coming out of the woodwork. We can be down and back with what we need for the night without risking your safety.” Steady Wing countered.

“Hey guys! I think I found-“ Spike began.

“Plus, we’re trained in spotting viable wood. No detriment to your abilities Princess, but a split focus is a dead focus.” Pointed Eye backed up.

“Guys! You should see-“

“And while I understand that, I reiterate that I am currently more abled body than both of you. I already conceded the night watch, but let me do this for you!” Twilight stamped her hoof.

“HEY!” Spike finally roared, startling the arguing the trio as well as a flock of birds far below. “Finally.” Spike snorted. “I think I found something you get a look at.”

The three looked between each other before Twilight got up and slowly followed Spike back to what he found. Steady Wing nodded to Pointed Eye towards the forest below before following. Pointed Eye sighed in relief as he went off for firewood for the night.

Spike walked back to his last observation, noticing Pointed Eye hadn’t followed. He rolled his eyes as he pointed towards his discovery. “Can you tell me if you see anything weird out there?”

Twilight and Steady Wing walked up and peered past his claw, but neither saw what he did. Twilight drew back and shook her head. “I don’t Spike, what do you see?”

“I see sort of this little zig-zag between the melted portions of the pillars.” Spike explained.

“I think I see what you’re describing.” Steady Wing said as he cocked his head to the side. “What do you think I means?”

“I’m not really sure, that’s why I got you two.”

“Two?” Twilight looked behind her and groaned in annoyance. “Well, spilled milk.” She said as she glared at Steady Wing. “As for this development, maybe we’ve been thinking a bit too small, literally.” Twilight looked back out to the Badlands, trying to remember the exact locations of each of the pillars. “Tiamat and her brood were massive, so even their smallest efforts were probably still huge on our scale. This actually might be a clue.” Twilight leveled her gaze back on Steady Wing. “Corporal, if you would like to accompany me.” She said in an icy tone as she took off, Steady Wing staying right where he was.

“Geez, you’ve gotta be AJ levels of stubborn, huh?” Spike smirked at Steady Wing before looking up at Twilight, who was currently hanging in the air, her horn aglow.

“You can’t budge on the right course of action.” Steady Wing said flatly.

“Well that wholly depends on who thinks they’re right.” Spike jabbed, gaining no further quips from Steady Wing. The two just looked up to Twilight expectantly as nothing seemed to happen as she beat her wings to stay airborne. Forever seemed to pass before Twilight suddenly did a loop-de-loop in place, a small cry of excitement closely followed as she descended.

“What happened?” Spike asked as she touched down.

“Progress!” Twilight beamed. “You’re right Spike, the rocks do line up, in an arrow!”

“As in…” Spike began hopefully.

“As in directly to one of the crevices!” Twilight hopped up and down. “I knew it wouldn’t be out in the open.”

“All right smarty pants, you were right.” Spike rolled his eyes. “At least we don’t have to check every nook and cranny now.” Spike allowed himself to smile.

“OOoohhh, this is just getting so exciting!” Twilight pranced from hoof to hoof. “I wonder what he’ll be like. The put’s him down as lazy, but I bet he’s just less proactive than the others. Oh! I wonder what he knows about the Princesses from the early days! I bet there’s a lot of things historians liked to gloss over! Do you think that-“

“Twilight, Twilight, pull it back.” Spike tried to calm the overexcited alicorn. “Save some of that energy for tomorrow. You won’t be able to sleep at this rate.”

“Right, right, you’re right.” Twilight smiled as she took a slow, calm breath. “Let’s head back and tell Pointed Eye.”

“Or, you know, wait for him to get back.” Spike noted nonchalantly.

Suddenly, a loud *CRACK* from a breaking tree rang out came from the forest behind them.

“Ech, does he really have to do that?” Twilight asked.

“No, he doesn’t.” Steady Wing said gravely as he began to run towards the sound.

> Confrontations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Neither Spike or Twilight were particularly comfortable with the tone Steady Wing left off on and were soon running after him. Both, however, soon began to rapidly think of what they were actually doing. There was a cliff drop off before they could get to the forest, and only one of the two of them could fly.

Spike thought of the danger coming up. If the Guard was on edge, there probably wasn’t all that much he could do to sway the situation. He wasn’t all that great in a fight, and he didn’t want to test how well his scales hold up to any beast this far out and near the Badlands. But this was also his responsibility, he was the reason they were out here and he was going to make sure they all made it back in one piece, even if was only as an extra set of eyes. Spike kept running to the cliff face.

Twilight thought of the danger to Spike and the Guard. She had faced down Tirek, Discord, and Nightmare Moon, there weren’t many creatures that keep her shaken for more than a second. She could more than likely overpower anything in the forest below, as she had argued before, but the guards were focused on keeping her safe. She could count on them to stand for themselves, but Spike was another matter. He was a baby and not much for roughhousing. He needed to stay back and let them take care of Pointed Eye’s predicament. Besides, he would never make it down and back up the cliff.

But as the ledge came closer and Steady Wing took off, quickly diving down, Twilight glanced to her side and saw that Spike wasn’t slowing down. There wasn’t even a glint of hesitation as he steadfastly ran for the cliff. Twilight grimaced, the thought of Spike plummeting off the side flashing through her brain. She quickly shook the image away.

“Spike!” Twilight called out, getting a glance from Spike. Twilight dipped her left wing down as they continued to run, the signal clear to Spike. He altered his course and jumped, grabbing onto the offered appendage, and a combined effort between the two hauled Spike onto Twilight’s back in time for Twilight to take a running leap off the side of the cliff and fully spread her wings.

“There!” Spike pointed to the white streak that had just dipped beneath the thin canopy of trees. Twilight dipped to the left to follow, keeping sight on Steady Wing as another *CRACK* rang out again, now much closer, Spike and Twilight saw a tree not too far begin to fall and groan. They quickly followed, both winceing as branches began to streak by them as they broke into the canopy, but Steady Wing was still going.

Going in the direction of the felled tree, the three soon spotted Pointed Eye running on the ground, not looking too worse for wear. Scratches were apparent on his helmet and armor, but his wings didn’t look damaged and his gallop was steady. His eyes darted about until he spotted his partner, his eyes grew wide and his complexion a bit paler.

“Drop!” Pointed yelled, confusing Spike and Twilight, but Steady Wing immediately clamped his wings to his side and began hopping down branches. And not too soon, as barely a rustle of leaves came in warning as a dark mass darted through the air space Steady Wing was just occupying. Twilight back flapped to try and see where the thing went.

“Twilight! Drop down!” Spike yelled in her ear, making her wings snap to her side more in shock than command, and Spike held on for dear life as they began to fall. Twilight quickly regained her senses, and glanced over to Pointed Eye, and a short cast later, she and Spike popped out of existence for a split second, appearing next to the winded corporal.

“Princess?!” Pointed Eye exclaimed.

“Shock later, tactics now!” Twilight turned, readying herself with a concussive spell, eyes darting to spot their threat. “What are we dealing with.”

“Not sure.” Pointed Eye breathed as Steady Wing took position on Twilight’s right, keeping the princess between the two guards. “It’s fast, flight capable, and a striker, no open combat so far.”

“Intelligence?” Steady asked.

“High, probably sentient.” Pointed replied.

“And it still attacked you?” Twilight asked, aghast.

“Tried to crush my head first. It might just be experienced in-“

“Above! My 3!” Steady called as he shouldered Twilight aside as Pointed jumped aside as well. Spike’s legs clenched tighter to Twilight’s barrel, as he turned to see what Steady Wing was pushing them away from.

Time seemed to slow for Spike as he saw Twilight wincing from the body slam and Steady Wing focusing his energy on pushing the princess out of harm’s way. The mass that descended upon the group came down from the branches at an angle, it was elongated and black with white spines running down its back, its red, slit eyes focused on landing right on where they were. Spike could barely make the glint of a few unsheathed claws ready for a grab.

As the second ticked by, the creature landed, its claw sunk into the ground where Steady Wing had just stood, and Spike saw the predator’s eyes dart up and meet his. Spike felt his heart freeze as the lust in the creature’s eyes pierced into him. Its eyes spoke of hunger and, oddly, joy. He saw the experience of many hunts and many kills within the pools of amber that were her eyes.

And as the next second ticked, the creature’s wings snapped open, a stunning white encompassed Spike’s field of view as one beat sent dust and herself flying at a reflective angle to her decent, clearing over the group’s heads and disappeared once again into the trees with nary a rustle to show she passed through.

“Guards! Prepare to hover!” Twilight called as she regained her footing, her horn begining to glow brighter, drawing Spike’s attention back to her. He held tight as he was once again teleported, the sensation of twisting and stretching through ill-defined space gripping him before he had to squint at the sunlight suddenly in his eyes. Spike heard the flapping of wings and felt the sudden bounce of Twilight flying. Spike looked away from the sunset to see they were directly over the carriage they had come in.

Twilight, Pointed, and Steady made their way back to the ground, and all took a sigh of relief.

“This is exactly why I said I should-“ Twilight began.

“Twilight, berate later.” Spike cut in, gaining a sharp glance from Twilight over her shoulder. “Do you know any wards to keep up overnight?” Spike asked as he looked back toward the forest they had left.

“Spike, now’s not-“

“Twilight.” Spike looked Twilight dead in the eye, and Twilight saw it.

Fear.

“Yeah. Yeah, I dusted some off for this, sure.” Twilight dipped her shoulder, letting Spike slide off. “The tents are set up already, wait for me near one, all right?” Twilight asked, her tone having become significantly softer.

“Yeah.” Spike nodded as he headed to the tents. They were two pony A-frames, so there was nothing luxurious to them, but Spike was fine with that right now, he needed to process those three seconds of his life right now. He even glanced up to Steady Wing as he walked past him to see if he would have any words for him. And he even seemed like he did, but they apparently died on his lips as he looked at Spike, instead walking over to Pointed Eye to check on the stallion.

Spike moved the flap covering the front of one of the tents to find two relatively thin and long mattresses parallel to each other with two pillows and a blanket pile at the other end of the tent. Spike situated himself on the end of a mattress and began to re-evaluate the encounter.

And the first thing he thought of was a dragon. The claws, the wings, the spines, and those eyes, they all looked very familiar to the ones he saw in the mirror. But looking at his own claws, he couldn’t see the connection. Hers had been so sharp, as to slice and not hold.

Her. She. Female.

How did he know? It was a formless creature, and yet it seemed so defined to him. She was black, or maybe… more of a deep purple? Her spines down her back had definitely been white, and so had her wing’s membrane. A blinding, pristine white. Perhaps even better than Rarity’s.

But her eyes. Her eyes had told a story in that glance. She was proud, she was happy, and she was exhilarated. She was also young, not only told by her size, but by the glint in those eyes, the eyes of some…dragon who could and would go anywhere. Compared to Pyrathy’s deep, slow abyss, hers were quick, and hungry.

That brought a shiver down Spike’s spines. That hunger scared him. It was a boundless hunger, for her food, for the world, and somehow, Spike thought, for him. It was unnerving, and even now, just closing his own eyes brought her deep amber one’s to mind. Spike gulped.

“Spike?” Twilight questioned outside the tents.

“In here Twi.” Spike replied. Twilight lifted the tent flap and came in, proceeding to situate herself next to Spike, a wing reflexively extending its way around the young drake.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” She whispered. “That’s not something somepony like you needs to be a part of.”

“It is if I’m the reason it happens.” Spike replied dourly.

“Spike, you’re not-“

“Yes I am Twilight.” Spike cut in, not even deeming it necessary to look to see Twilight’s disapprovement of his constant interruptions. “I’m the reason we’re out here, and" Spike's exasperation started to show. "And I don’t even know why! Why do I need to do this? You didn’t need to know about this, I could have put it off, I could have ignored it, this isn’t something important to me, it’s just an annoyance! And now I’m putting you and those two in danger because of something I don’t even care about!” Spike ended up ranting at the ground, a trickle of tears beginning to make themselves known. “But you keep pushing! You’re so excited about it all! This is all so easy that you don’t even need any of us here. You can feed and protect yourself, Pointed Eye and Steady Wing are only here to help cart me along on this trip. You don’t need them, and you certainly don’t need-“

Spike was quickly silenced by a crushing hug. “Stop that. Stop that right now.” Twilight whispered. Spike’s surprise was soon replaced with guilt and sorrow as he embraced the hug, burying his face in Twilight’s chest. Twilight lay her head on top of Spike’s, gently petting down his back in a soothing manner, her own tears making themselves present.

They were quiet, the only sound being an off hiccup from Spike. When Twilight finally felt Spike’s breathing return to normal, she gingerly peeled herself away from her closest friend and family. Spike’s eyes were dangerously red, which he began to desperately wipe. Twilight chuckled as she wiped some tears off his cheeks with her wing.

“Spike.” Twilight said softly, gaining a very lost look from the drake. “I reiterate that I’m sorry that what happened went down the way it did, and I’m sorry if it felt like I ignored you or your feelings. I tried to take you into account when we went off for Pointed Eye, but you seemed determined to keep up, and I let you come with us.”

“But I did want to help.” Spike offered. “Even if it was only an extra set of eyes.”

“Well, you did get Pointed Eye’s warning through to me.” Twilight smiled, but it was soon dropped. “And I will admit, this is very exhilarating for me, but at the end of the day, Spike, we’re doing this for you.”

“And that’s the problem!” Spike snapped, Twilight's only reaction to the outburst being a deepening frown. “We don’t have to be here! This entire expedition is pointless! We’re here to find Pyrathy and I don’t even know why!”

“Then think.” Twilight near whispered as she drew Spike back into a hug. “What happened last night in the dream? Really think.”

So Spike did. He thought back to Pyrthay’s cave and size. He thought of the cacophony of scenes on Pyrathy’s scales. He remembered all of the fighting, all of the death that played on them, and the curse placed upon Pyrathy for such things to happen. Spike remembered having to look away, he remembered looking past his life in those scales, and something occurred to him.

There was a  disproportionate amount of his life in those scales. His hatching, Twilight’s research, his first steps, his first belch of fire singing Twilight’s mane, his first words, his time studying with Twilight, his interactions with Rarity. And in all of them, he couldn’t recall one, major life event.

His greed growth.

In all of those replays, in all of those close scales, his biggest personal failure hadn’t been there.

And then there was that phrase, those four words. “Welcome home, Little Spike.” Pyrathy had smiled, not only with his teeth, but in his eyes. His deep abyss of an eye had glowed. A spark was lit in there, something that seemed to have died a long time ago. Something Spike recognized sparking before.

“Hope.” Spike whispered, pulling away from Twilight. “Pyrathy needs hope, I think.”

“Oh?” Twilight asked, more in polite prompt than in question.

“A lot of what I saw on Pyrathy’s scales were fighting. Fighting and killing.” Twilight’s face grew rigidly concerned. “And when I tried to look away from all of it, I looked to his eye, where there wouldn’t be any scales to show that violence, but when I did, I passed over my own life. And a lot of it. I-I don’t know if he can control what plays, but I didn’t really see any dragon more than twice, but my hatching and others were all there, but not my greed growth. And I think… I think that means Pyrathy was trying to focus on my positives. What I did with you and the other Elements.”

“And that gave him hope?” Twilight asked. Spike nodded.

“I think so, there was something in the way he addressed me that makes me think so.” Spike swallowed. “But I don’t know why he would reach out to me, the map at the castle-“

“Spike.” Twilight lifted his chin to look at her. “The map leads us to the problems of friendship. This seems by far removed from that.”

“Still wouldn’t need me here though.” Spike grumbled.

“Do you think he doesn’t need you Spike? You’re the one who believes he needs hope.” Twilight pointed out, neither seeming to dampen or lighten Spike’s mood. With a moment of no response, Twilight dredged up a question she really didn’t want to ask.

“Do you really think I don’t need you?” Twilight barely got out, a deep sense of hurt in her tone. Spike bit his lip and looked aside, but Twilight didn’t let him move his head. “Because I don’t know what I’d do without you. And that’s the honest truth.” Spike’s eyes quickly shot back to Twilight. “I’m sorry that you felt that I didn’t need you, but I need to know… how long have you felt like this?” She let go of Spike’s chin, and his head dropped, again looking away.

“Honestly?” Spike’s eyes looked back to Twilight, who nodded. “I guess… a little bit after you ascended.” Twilight’s grew wide. That had been nearly three years ago now. “You just got so busy, and you were able to get anything you wanted with a thought, that all I was good for was cooking at home. And then I wasn’t any real help, heck, more of a hindrance with Sunset Shimmer.” Spike began to tick off on his claws. “Then I tried helping others, but I overcompensated and ended up ruining that. And then when Tirek came, I was just as out of the loop as everypony else. Then the castle came, and the map had all of you go off to confront Starlight Glimmer, and I was completely left behind.” Spike looked Twilight full on, old wounds coming to the surface. “Hoofball isn’t all that enjoyable when you have to worry about what your sister is doing in the middle of nowhere because a random magic map tells her to go there. It was all Big Mac and I could do to not worry about you and AJ. But you never saw anything wrong with going off and solving unknown problems, none of you did.”

Spike sighed. “And then there was the time travel debacle. And I did nothing there either. Honestly Twilight, I’m not so afraid of what just happened, but more of if I left, by choice or not, would it matter?”

“Of course it would-“ Twilight began.

“No, Twilight, think. Don’t feel this answer, because I sure left that behind a while ago. Would it matter if I left?”

Twilight looked down at Spike, really looked. Past the determination, past the pain, past the bravado, to her scared little brother, who was unsure if he was important anymore.

“Yes Spike. You matter. You matter more than you may think. Past me, past our friends, you affect everypony you meet, even the ones you haven’t met yet.” It was Twilight’s turn to look away. “I may not need you as an assistant as I once did, but that doesn’t mean I need you any less.” She looked back with a sad, awkward smile. “Does that make any sense?”

Spike folded his claws as he let them sit in front of him. Did he understand? How could he affect ponies he hadn’t met before? Did it really matter if he said hi to Lyra Heartstrings or Golden Harvest in the mornings? Were they their friends? Spike had a shuddering realization that he had always seen them as Twilight’s friends that he got along with, which jarred him a bit. Had he picked up Twilight’s isolationist tendencies in a different way? And it still putted around the issue of if he actually important to Twilight. But would he actually believe anything she said aside from a negative to fuel his spiral? Spike uncoupled his claws and looked at them once more, contemplating this conundrum. 

Twilight saw Spike blankly looking down at his claws and hesitantly reached her wing out to once again hug him, but twitched in hesitation while half unfurled. Maybe Spike didn’t need any more reinforcement from her. Maybe this was a time for both of them to think. He had told her he had been thinking about this for so long that a gut feeling had been ruled out. Twilight put her wing back against her side and pondered on how she had interacted with Spike in recent years, or all his years in fact.

She had been the one to hatch him and the one he had imprinted on. He never seemed to go five minutes without being attached to her one way or another. And when he wasn’t sleeping or grabbing for her attention, he was being a pain to feed. That was so long ago, but it was all that immediately popped up to Twilight. And even though she saw him as family, she somehow had always seen herself above him in authority, even in things she barely knew about. And as cold of a pit that it left in her stomach, Twilight did have to admit to herself that she had used Spike as a second brain and a spare body, rather than as his own person. So now, how could she support his efforts to be his own drake, when neither of them really knew what it meant to be Spike?

So the two sat in their tent on that mattress, thinking about what they exactly meant to one another. Both were so deep in thought that neither were disturbed by Pointed Eye as he lift the tent flap up. Only when clearing his throat did he at least gain Twilight’s attention.

“Princess, if it wouldn’t be a hassle, Steady Wing has conceded that you could gather the firewood we need in a concise and effective manner.” Pointed Eye said in his most level tone.

“There… shouldn’t be a need corporal.”  Twilight glanced to Spike, who had started to pay attention. “The fire was for a more… lighthearted mood. The warding around camp and enchantments on the tents should be more than enough for our location. As an aside, any sort of night vision we would need would be hampered by a lit campfire.”

“I’ll inform him.” Pointed Eye nodded. He stole a short glance to Spike to see how he was doing, and he seemed to be a lot calmer and composed, but also noted the redness in his eyes as well. “Would there be a time to which we should be heading out in the morning?”

“9:30, 10 at the latest.” Spike said. “Packing by 9 should be ideal.” His tone was soft, but his voice was concrete. Pointed Eye wasn’t sure if their one misstep had changed Spike much, but he did seem to be a bit more resolute.

“Should be no problem, sir.” Pointed Eye nodded to Spike. “Ma’am.” Pointed nodded to Twilight before backing out and letting the flap fall back into place. Spike took a deep sigh before leaning back.

“It’s not an easy answer Twi.” Spike said as he lolled his head toward Twilight, a small smile on his lips. “But, it helps to have it out, you know?” Twilight mirrored his smile.

“Yeah, it does.” Twilight got to her hooves and turned her head toward the blankets and pillows, her magic lighting up and enveloping the objects. “Now, do you want to stand up for a second, or do you just want to be wrapped up like a burrito?”

“I dunno, you’ve never been one to wrap all that tightly.” Spike’s smile grew warmer as he stood up to allow Twilight to lay out their sleepwear. Twilight lay out the blankets neatly and one pillow a piece before letting them go.

“Now, I brought s’more ingredients, but seeing as we’re not having a fire, would you like any of them before bed?” Twilight asked, and Spike smirked.

“You do realize I could make the s’mores, right?” Spike chuckled, a moment of dumbfoudness crossed Twilight’s face before facehoofing. 

“But you were right, s’mores are for a lighter tone than tonight, and unless you want any, I’m going to pass.” Spike said in all seriousness.

“And here I thought you would never pass up a sweet treat.” Twilight smiled as her hoof hit the floor.

“I think you’re thinking of Pinkie Pie.” Spike pointed out, causing both to laugh softly. Twilight took the opportunity to give Spike one last, soft hug.

“Goodnight Spike.”

“Yeah, night Twi.” Spike replied, reciprocating the soft hug.

Both broke away from the hug and made their way under their covers with no real ceremony. There was a shifting of accommodation before silence fell over the tent. Spike’s ear perked a bit at the absence of either of the guard’s voices.

“Oh, yeah, there’s a silence charm on the tents as well.” Twilight spoke up, seeming to read Spike’s thoughts. “Somepony would need to be shouting to override it.”

“Hm.” Spike grunted noncommittedly as his curiosity was sated, closing his eyes and wondering if the night would bring another dream of Pyrathy.





Spike was slow to come to senses as he became aware of himself. He felt odd, weightless and hazy, but a hardy shake of his head, the haze left, but the loss of weight was still there. He looked about to see he was in a cave of some sort with no entrance or exit to be seen, just a tunnel. And he soon found an answer for his sense of weightlessness.

He was floating and transparent.

There was a brief flash of panic at the thought of being dead, but a moment of reflection brought him to the realization that he had been like this seeing Pyrathy. Spike was a lot more aware of himself now, and the only question he had now was this:

Why wasn’t Pyrathy around this time?

His question was soon answered as a tapping of claws on stone echoed down the tunnel. Spike turned to see what was coming, and the cold stone in his stomach formed again. It was the dragoness, and his gut reaction and the clear view of her began to meld.

She was definitely more feminine than other dragons he had met before, her form was much more slender than the bulky builds of the dragons of the past. Walking on all fours, her steps seemed to flow into one another, leading to a smooth, almost unwavering gait. So transfixed on her approach was Spike, that he almost completely missed the fact she was coming right toward him! Spike desperately began to swim up in some inane attempt to get out of her way, as though she hadn’t seen him.

But as she proceeded to walk uninterrupted under him, Spike realized that she hadn’t seen him. Which confused Spike in two ways, 1) If he was dreaming this dragoness up, why hadn’t she seen him, and 2) If he had dreamed her of ignoring him, what could it mean?

As Spike watched her walk by underneath, he began to casually float along above, taking note of other features, such as the coloration of her scales. They were dark purple, Byzantium if Spike could place it, but he was also right in assuming black, as her color only darkened from her head to her tail, which stood in stark contrast to her white spines and, as Spike knew, equally white wing membrane. Her wings, as they were now, were folded to her sides, and the more Spike watched her body language, the more tense determination he saw in it.

Her wings were tight to her side as to not be a hindrance in any sudden moves. Her stride was flowing, but also purposeful. And from Spike could see of her deep, amber red eyes, they weren’t very concerned about immediate action, but resolute on finding what was ahead. When her eyes significantly widened and her gait turned into a run, Spike finally looked up to see what she did.

And it was a cavern, a very large cavern, probably big enough to fit Canterlot Mountain inside. Spike could already see a large, scaley, red mound lying just beyond the tunnel exit. The floor actually jutted out from the exit, Spike noticed as the dragoness he had been following kept running until she was nearly to the massive eye. Spike had actually stopped at the tunnel exit to see how this dream would act out, and as the dragoness came to a halt and sat on her haunches, Spike saw the eyelid trmble and begin to move, and once again Spike saw the abyss that was Pyrathy’s eye, and once again he was transfixed, even with a semi-greater distance. But almost instantly, Spike didn’t see the spark he had seen before. That spark that he thought was hope. But he wasn’t long to contemplate that before one female voice rang out.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE MOON IS THAT!?”

> Meeting Royalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Spike quickly kicked about to see Princess Luna standing behind him, eyes wide and wings flared.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing in my dream?” Spike asked, making Luna’s amazed look snap over to the small drake. Luna snapped her attention from between the meeting of Pyrathy and the dragoness and Spike multiple times before slowly approaching Spike, her eyes now glued on Pyrathy. Spike was now more than a bit suspicious and scared of Luna’s actions.

Spike looked back to see what Luna was being so weary of, and noticed that Pyrathy’s pupil had shifted up, no longer looking to the dragoness, but him. And he once more saw the smile before being covered in dark blue feathers.

“Gah!” Spike yelped in surprise as he was dragged backwards, suddenly finding himself hit the ground. When Luna’s wings retracted, Spike was left looking into a void with white mists and pinpoints of lights. Looking down, Spike could see he was actually sitting on some of that white mist. When he heard Luna let out a long sigh, Spike’s ire was more than a bit touched. He looked behind him to see Luna sitting, looking more than a bit shaken.

“What was that about?” Spike asked hotly as he hopped to his feet. “There was nothing wrong with my dream Princess!”

Luna looked up, shock very apparent, and blinking a few times without understanding, tilted her head to the side. “Spike, that was no dream.”

“What?” It was Spike’s turn to blink in disbelief. Luna took the moment to stand and gain some of her composure back.

“When Twilight sent her letter, she indicated that you had been visited in your dreams by this Pyrathy. It was not my intention to disrupt such a meeting, only to be a safety net of a sort. But when I searched for you tonight… well…” Luna raised her left wing, Spike looking to see her indicating to three doors, one purple and pink, one white and light blue, and one lime green and dark blue. “These are the dreams I found out here.”

“And mine’s not there because I’m here, right?” Spike asked hopefully. Luna shook her head in disillusionment.

“Yours is as such.” Luna’s magic glowed, a purple and green door rising alongside the other three. Oddly, Spike noticed, the ones for Twilight and the Guards were square and wooden, while his was an arc and metal. “Dragons are naturally very magic resistant.” Luna stated. “Normally, I am unable to interfere with any dream a dragon makes unless under extreme duress or permission, even you Spike. But tonight, I did not find you here.” Spike’s door dropped into nonexistence once more. “Instead, I followed you to where you were.”

“So… that wasn’t a dream?” Spike asked, more than a bit confused. Luna sighed as she massaged the bridged of her nose, not liking what she needed to tell Spike.

“You were not dreaming Spike; you were astral projecting yourself.” Luna finally said.

“Wait, like, my soul left my body?” Spike began patting himself down. Maybe he really was dead! Only when Luna placed a reassuring hoof over his frantic claws did his panic stop rising. He looked up to Luna’s serene look.

“You need not worry young one, you are safe. What happened to you is essentially a much higher grade of the dream walking I do to ward away nightmares across Equestria. Except, where I manifest myself within the subconscious of our citizens, you had manifested in full within the world. And, to tell the truth, if I had not been following your trail, I do not know if I could have as easily done the same.”

“So, what I was just watching was actually happening?”

Luna nodded. “That is correct.”

“And you were surprised to see Pyrathy?” 

Luna bit her lip. “Y-Yes. Spike, you must know, my sister and I have never seen him or his siblings before. And to be honest, to know that a dragon of his size, much less four more, exist within the world… it terrifies me.”

“Terrifies you?” Spike asked, aghast. “But you’re the princess of the moon. You and Princess Celestia control something that took councils of other unicorns to attempt to do!”

Luna chuckled. “And by all accounts, they are massive feats. But for all of our power, Spike, we are still ponies.” Luna looked up and gazed out into the sparkling void. “This Pyrathy seems to essentially hold the same rank amongst dragons that We do. And We do not know more than hearsay about them.”

Spike looked up to Luna questioningly. “Uh, I don’t know if Twilight told you or not, but we have an entire book accounting for Pyrathy and the others. It’s called The Life And Fall of Tiamat, Mother of Dragons.”

Luna’s expression only softened slightly. “And We know of it, but do not take too much of it for fact. I have read some of the accounts of Nightmare Moon that were written well after I was banished, least to say they had some…” Luna winced. “Interesting theories on how I fell so.”

“Oh?”

“A lot of which have been collected into fiction now.” Luna chuckled in embarrassment, before clearing her throat. “But what I mean to say, Spike, is to not believe everything you have read about him.”

“Not like there’s a lot to go on.” Spike mumbled.

“Be that as it may,” Luna gave a small smile. “I also do not mean for you to be hostile. Treat him as you would any new pony.”

Spike considered her words for a moment before resolutely nodding. “I will Princess.” Spike looked back out into the void, something still not sitting right with him. “So, you followed me?”

“That is correct.” Luna affirmed.

“How?” Spike looked back to Luna. “How could you tell I was… out of my body?”

Luna’s face twisted in thought. “This isn’t something I usually have to explain, so forgive any… foggy explanations.” Luna stepped beside Spike, again raising his dream door. “The magic that allows me to enter dreams allows me access the minds of others, asleep or awake. When accessed, my perception becomes that of the one I am reading, how they see the world, how others appear to them. I can then direct their vision towards a desired outcome, even involving other points of view,” Luna shifted Twilight’s and Spike’s doors to be side by side, their frames merging together. “Never changing how they think, only what to think about.”

“However, when I came to find what could be intruding on your dream, instead of this door to your subconscious, I instead found this.” Spike’s door melted away, the green and purple slag beginning to glow a dull red as it began to slither out from their white walkway. “I could identify your presence within the path, but not the aura around it, though it did seem benign. Following this path lead me to you.”

“So Pyrathy did call me out.” Spike concluded.

“It would appear so.” Luna concurred as the conjured path vanished.

“But then, what about the other dragoness that was there? Did he call her too?”

“That I cannot say, but for one as young as her to be out here may not be coincidence.”

“How so?”

“There is a dragon colony to the west of you, surprisingly about the population size of Ponyville. She may have been called or she may have come here herself, but coming alone speaks to the former.”

“Well it’s not like she can’t take care of herself.” Spike huffed as he crossed his arms.

“Oh? You could tell that by looking?” A teasing smile played on Luna’s lips.

“More like first-hoof experience.” Spike replied flatly, Luna’s smile dropping immediately.

“What kind of experience.” 

“Pointed Eye went for firewood and got into a scuffle with her.” Spike explained plainly. “The rest of us showed up to see what was up, and then Twilight teleported all of us out. Camp’s been warded and I believe in Twilight to have made every precaution.”

“And you’re sure the one to attack Corporal Pointed Eye and the dragoness we witnessed were the same?”

“Unless there’s another purple-black dragoness with white spines, pretty sure.”

“I see.” Luna concluded, a letter already being drafted in her head. “Words will need to be had.”

“Really? With who?” 

Luna sighed. “As little as We interact with them, there is a designated leader of the dragons. We may need to reiterate what preying conditions apply in Equestria. Especially when it comes to our Guard. Honestly, you would think they would notice the armor plating.”

“Mmm.” Spike groaned in dissatisfaction.

“My apologies, I did not mean to offend you Spike.” Luna took an apologetic bow.

“Oh, no no Princess!” Spike waved both of his claws frantically. “It’s just that Pointed Eye said she went for his head first, but her claws looked a lot sharper than the nicks that were on it.”

Luna raised her head and inquisitive brow. “Are you defending her actions?”

“Eh, yes and no?” Spike shrugged, unsure of exactly what he was saying. “Just, maybe think of how often a Guard would actually be out near here? She did seem rather… playful, at the time?” Spike said, but he remembered the look the dragoness had given him, and her ‘playing’ could be a lot deadlier than normal.

Luna chuckled, surprising Spike quite a bit. “I’ll take you on your word Spike. But should you meet her, and actually speak, maybe tell her to tone down her ‘playing’.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Spike saluted dutifully.

“Now, as for the rest of our night, I’m afraid since you’ve been conscious this whole time, a dream is not awaiting you this night. I could, however, send you into a dreamless sleep that will have you rested by the morning.”

“Yeah, sounds good enough.” Spike sighed. “Could you check on the other three, since you’re here?”

“I would not dream otherwise.” Luna smiled as she rose Spike’s door once more, this time the door swung inward without assistance. Spike happily walked into the hazy gray room beyond.

“Thank you Princess Luna.” Spike turned and waved.

“My pleasure.” Luna dipped her head in acknowledgment before shutting the door, and Spike’s consciousness went fuzzy once more.

…

“Spiiiike.” Twilight whispered overhead. “It’s time to get up sleepyhead.”

Spike smiled groggily. “Five more minutes.”

Twilight smiled mischievously, making Spike’s smile falter. “Sorry, but we need to pack.” She said with no remorse as her magic glowed, and Spike soon found himself rolling onto the hard ground.

“Mmm, I was kidding.” Spike grumbled as he proceeded to get up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“And I’m keeping to the schedule.” Twilight replied as Spike’s sheets were folded up and began to shrink. “We have granola if you want any for breakfast.”

“Eh, pass.”

“All right, suit yourself.” Twilight chirped as she made her way out of the tent. Spike noticed the tent was now entirely empty, so Twilight must have given him at least a little extra time while she had packed her things. He made his way outside to find Pointed Eye and Steady Wing sitting in front of the chariot waiting, eating their breakfast, their tent already gone and packed.

Feeling a bit guilty at his lack of help, Spike pulled the tent spikes out of the ground and proceeded to roll up the tent around its poles and spikes as tightly as he could before picking it up and carrying it over to Twilight, who seemed to contemplating how their supplies had been packed in the first place, as multiple shrunken sheets and pillows floated about her head.

“You might be missing a piece.” Spike smiled as he held up the tent to Twilight.

“Hm?” Twilight looked up a bit dazed. “Oh, yes, thank you Spike.” She said near absently as she lifted and shrank the tent, quickly finding the pattern everything had been packed in and shutting the case.

“Something on your mind?” Spike asked, pretty much already knowing it was probably something to do with Princess Luna.

Twilight sighed. “Did… you happen to speak with Princess Luna last night?”

“Yeah, thanks for that heads up by the way.” Spike chuckled, but Twilight winced.

“Sorry about that, I should have told you I asked her to look out for you.”

“Eh, no harm no foul.” Spike shrugged.

“But did she seem a bit, I don’t know, cryptic to you?”

“Uh, no.” Spike grimaced in confusion. “She seemed pretty straight to me.”

“Ugh, maybe I’m just not remembering clearly enough.” Twilight grunted in agitation. “I know she said something about the forest creature not being a threat, but-“

“Dragoness.” Spike corrected.

“What?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“What?” The Guards asked in accusation, their head’s snapping to the conversation.

“What? Wasn’t that one obvious?”

“Spike, none of us got a clear look at that thing.” Twilight informed him. “We barely had a second of sight on it before we got out of there.”

“And you’re sure something that fast and small could be a dragon?” Steady Wing asked as he rounded the chariot to enter the conversation proper.

Spike just looked up at the corporal with a deadpan stare as he gestured down at himself.

“Well, yes, if… she’s only a bit older, she could fit the body size.” Twilight contemplated. “But I’ve never accounted for a dragon being that fast…” Twilight facehoofed. “And that’s why she said it was taken care of, because if she’s a dragon then the Princesses contact the Dragon King.”

“They have a king?” Pointed Eye asked, still at the front of the chariot. “I thought they just lived as they pleased.”

“Which they can pretty much do because of the Dragon King.” Twilight explained. “The Princesses hammered out the details a long time ago and they pretty much haven’t been touched since.” Twilight gave Spike a nervous smile “I may have read up on modern dragon interactions while I packed.”

“But if we are dealing with a dragoness, and we have interaction settlements, then why were we attacked last night?” Steady Wing asked.

“Well… your armor is rather shiny.” Spike gave a nervous half chuckle as he scratched the back of his head, looking down and away from Steady Wing’s heated glare.

“Seriously?”

“Hey, I went for less.”

Steady Wing took a deep breath, and let out an irritated sigh. “The damage was rather minor, and it did seem like the scratches were more toward ripping off than puncturing.”

“Not to mention she seemed to be a lot faster than me, I was feeling pretty toyed with.” Pointed Eye added.

“She did seem to be having fun.” Spike admitted.

“How do you know so much about her?” Steady Wing asked.

“Careful observation?” Spike replied less than helpfully. “Also, we’re probably going to have to be on the lookout for her today.”

“Why? She’s in the forest.” Pointed Eye nodded in the forest’s general direction.

“Not from what I saw last night.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Steady Wing asked.

“Assuming all things to be true, I left my physical body last night and witnessed our dragoness having a meeting with Pyrathy.” Spike delivered flatly, waiting for reactions.

“I don’t believe you.” Pointed Eye said.

“I can’t believe you.” Steady Wing stated.

“That’s rather a bold thing to claim.” Said Twilight. “Astral projection is a rather theoretical magical practice and complicated shamanistic practice. To project your body on a whim is unheard of if not impossible.”

“And I would love for you to explain that to a near primordial magical being.” Spike smiled condescendingly, but soon recanted. “But I digress, Princess Luna showed me that Pyrathy basically picked me up and carried me to him.”

“So, two days ago…”

“The same thing happened, or so I think.” Spike nodded.

Twilight was silent for a moment, her face slowly scrunching in contemplation. With a final unsatisfied hum, Twilight sighed. “So, we’ve seen that this dragoness is formidable, but a bit benign. Not to take her lightly though, we need to be faster than her. Spike, we know where to start looking for Pyrathy, and since we can now, tentatively, say that what you’ve seen is where we’ll be going, is there anything else you can say about where we’re going?”

“The only way I know about to him is a singular tunnel, or at least, leading up to him is a single tunnel. It could more than likely have enough room for all four of us to move freely in, but if we needed to dodge around our opponent, I don’t know about that.”

Twilight sighed again as she addressed Steady Wing. “Which is why I’m going to be suggesting something I know you’re not going to like Corporal.” Steady Wing stood a bit more at attention at the mention of his rank. “I’m going to need you two to stay at the cave entrance with the chariot, and possibly leave without us in case of an emergency.”

“Princess! We can’t just-“

“You can and you will.” Twilight cut off flatly. “While I commend your sense of duty, you were asked to be here for escort, for which you and Corporal Pointed Eye have done excellently, but this has never been a combat mission or exercise. And as I demonstrated yesterday, I am more than capable of teleporting more than myself.” Twilight paused to cool her demeanor. “If necessary, the chariot can be left in an emergency, and I trust you and your partner’s judgment on abandoning royal property, as little as it may be. This is an order Corporal, is that clear?”

Both Steady Wing and Pointed Eye stood at attention and saluted. “Yes Ma’am.”

Twilight sighed and let go of her rigid posture she hadn’t even realized she had taken up. “Good, then Steady Wing, Pointed Eye, if you could fly us up, you’ll see a purple marker on one of the pillars, that is your destination.” Twilight directed as she stepped into the chariot and unceremoniously plopped down on the seat. Spike climbed in shortly afterward as Steady Wing made his way to the front.

“You okay Twilight?” Spike asked as he skootched in close.

“I will be.” Twilight said quietly. “I just feel bad about having to push Steady Wing around like this. He’s just doing his job, and I’m making it such a hassle for him.”

“But you did make a point Twi.” Spike pointed out. “We’re not here to fight, and honestly, Steady Wing has seemed on edge about fighting something out here from minute one.” With a slight gurgle from his stomach, Spike reached for the food bag and fished out a small sapphire. “If he only has to worry about himself and Pointed Eye, I think he’ll make a good snap decision. Like he did back in the forest.”

“I suppose.” Twilight conceded as the chariot began to move and lifted off the ground. They quickly ascended high above all of the pillars in the Badlands before banking and heading toward a faint purple beacon. Nothing was said as they approached and Spike snacked, and soon the four were hovering outside of three relatively close crevices.

“Well, which one is it Twilight?” Spike asked as he looked between the three.

“It should be the middle one. Hold on.” Twilight’s horn lit up and three bolts of magic shot out, one entering each opening. “Yep, definitely the center one. The sides only go back for a bit, but the middle one just keeps going.” Twilight turned to address the guards. “You can set us down!”

The two began their decent, slowly landing without a slightest fault. As Twilight and Spike got off the chariot, they heard one of their throats clearing, and turned to find Pointed Eye was catching their attention.

“Please, be careful Princess.” He asked with genuine concern.

“We will, I promise.” Twilight nodded. She dipped her shoulder once more, and Spike happily obliged to hop on. “We’ll come back out here one way or another. If you’re gone, I’m going to assume something went wrong and you had to leave. Until we get back, stay vigilant you two.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Both saluted.

Twilight spread her wings, and soon both she and Spike were making their way down the crevice. It wasn’t even as difficult as Twilight was anticipating, the crevice was wide enough to give even a larger dragon a good amount of wiggle room, and due to the open ended nature of it, there was a steady air current to assist her.

While Twilight was concentrated on flying, Spike was wondering how this confrontation was going to go. Was it going to be urgent? Was it going to be laid back? What was he going to ask? Would he be allowed to ask anything? He was purposefully being pulled to him, so there had to be some sort of conversation, right?

And would they run into the dragoness? If what he saw was what was happening in real time, then she had to be somewhere nearby, if not still here. And what would they do if they did meet her? Run away immediately, or would they try to talk? Would she let them talk? Spike’s claws gripped and twisted the bottom of Twilight’s mane in uncomfortable anticipation.

“Spike?” Twilight said.

“Oh, sorry.” Spike apologized as he let go of her mane.

“Oh, well, thank you, but I asked, which way?”

“Huh?” Spike looked up to see Twilight’s horn lighting up three distinct passages. Above to their left was a tunnel that looked just a bit bigger than they were, ahead of them the cave continued onward and downward, and to their right was a large mound of boulders that had only a small space above it.

“Uh, can’t you do what you did before?”

“I did, but each of them seem to go on equally as long until the spell fizzles. I was wondering if you could make anything different out, being this close.”

Spike looked between the three options before him and tried to feel anything different between them. Which really wasn’t something he thought he could do, but it was worth shot. As his eyes darted between options, Spike felt an odd sense of emptiness from the right, a radiating heat from ahead, an eerie feeling from the left. And something felt familiar about it.

“Left, the best I can say.” Spike responded.

“Are you sure?” Twilight looked over her shoulder.

“As sure as I can be.” Spike nodded. With an affirmative nod, Twilight lifted them up to the small entrance and landed. The cave seemed to be just about as tall as her castle’s hallways, and similarly as wide. Spike hopped off on his own and began walking forward.

“Spike!” Twilight trotted up alongside the drake. “Don’t go wandering off!”

“Sorry.” Spike ducked his head a bit guiltily. “Just wanted to give you a break.”

“Well, stick close, we don’t know if or when we need to leave.” Twilight said as she began to look around, trying to take in any and every little detail.

“Hey, Twi?”

“Hm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Do I seem that nervous?” Twilight smiled a bit in embarrassment.

“Well, yeah, but also, we’re basically meeting the dragon equivalent of Celestia here. Are you okay with that, because I’ve seen you before meeting the Princess.”

Twilight chuckled. “I should really be asking you the same question, really. But to answer your question, yes, I am nervous, quite a bit actually. To be honest, your descriptions haven’t given me a really good sense of what we’re dealing with, and to have the sheer power to pluck your consciousness out of your body honestly scares me. There’s a lot of unknown variables going into this, and it’s making me rather uncomfortable.”

“I hear ya.” Spike nodded. “But you know, I glimpsed at the other book I pulled out, and it had this one line about how if dragons ever needed anything, they could just ask him. But this whole thing makes it seem like he’s trying to ask something of me. And, I think, it’s making me a bit giddy, you know? Like when Princess Celestia called on you for something.”

Twilight looked up in thought, a relaxed smile coming to her. “I guess I know that feeling then.” She looked down to Spike who was mirroring her smile. “I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”

“Yeah.” Spike nodded and the two began walking side by side down the cave. Twilight still looked about, but Spike noted that it looked a lot less jittery than before. But even though he had acted rather casually about this meeting to Twilight, on the inside it felt like his stomach had liquefied itself. Apparently he was just better at hiding it than Twilight.

Spike wasn’t sure exactly how far or how long they walked, but at some point Spike noticed that his vision was becoming less purple tinted, and instead having a red glow. Suddenly, Spike was having an immense sense of déjà vu.

“We’re close.” Spike barely got above a whisper.

“Really?” Twilight asked, her horn glowing a bit brighter, her eyes going wide a second afterward. “Oh dear Celestia.”

“Do you want to stay back? He’s only expecting me.” Spike offered, but Twilight shook her head furiously.

“I-I’ll leave the conversation to you, but I’m definitely going to be there for you.” She said resolutely. Spike nodded in return and continued on. Going on, the red began to overtake Twilight’s light entirely, and soon, Spike could swear it was perpetual twilight in the cave.

“Is that really necessary anymore Twi?” Spike finally asked.

“Yes, it’s still pitch dark in here.” Twilight replied before fully assimilating the question. When she did, she was struck with the oddity of the question. “Why?”

“’Cause it’s as bright as a sunset now.” Spike began to look around for an adequate reason why he could see just fine.

“Odd, something to look into later.” Twilight mumbled.

Before Spike could ask what she meant by that, Spike spotted a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Quickly assuring himself that he was, in fact, not dead, he picked up his pace.

“We’re here Twilight.” Spike directed over his shoulder, not quite taking her protest’s to wait into account.

When he got to the end of the tunnel, he had to squint a bit at the sudden intensity shift. When he could finally look out, it looked exactly as he remembered it, if not a bit more red.

The cave was still larger than he could fathom, and he could see the massive, statuesque dragon laying in front of him. He watched and barely saw the rise of breath within the dragon, wings nestled comfortably and tail unseen. Even from the distance the platform he was on was the rest of the body, Spike could still make out some movement here and there where he knew scenes of dragon brutality were occurring.

Looking behind, Spike saw Twilight sitting at the cave entrance, a shimmering rock pile of magic attempting to hide her from sight, at which Spike could only chuckle at, but none the less smiled warmly to his family. Twilight smiled back and waved. Spike nodded and looked forward once more to the enormous closed eye, and with one last, deep breath, began.

“Hello?”

Unlike before, there was notable shaking as the eyelid slid up to reveal the royal purple iris and void chasm pupil. Its secondary lid shifted aside and looked ever so slowly downward, and once more, Spike saw a glimmer in that void. Without being violently ejected this time, a deep voice rumbled through the chamber in both an imposing, yet welcoming bass voice.

“Welcome home, Little Spike.”

> First Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Uh, hi.” Spike was barely able to mutter out. Pyrathy’s eye turned curious.

“What is wrong Little One? You have met such as I before.”

“I have?” Spike shot the question out before thinking, a spark of joy jumping through Pyrathy.

“You seemed not at all phased by one hours ago.”

Spike thought for a second before it dawned on him. “You mean Princess Luna?”

“Princess Luna…” Pyrathy looked forward. “Yes, she is the one I speak of, Princess Luna. Talented in the mind she is.” He looked back to Spike. “I have seen you act far braver than now. Why the hesitation?”

Spike gripped his claws behind his back and dug a toe into the rock, looking down. “It’s not quite the same thing, Princess Luna and yourself.”

There was a deep rumbling in the cavern, to which Spike identified as Pyrathy sighing. “Perhaps not. You have been raised far different than many of my children, many would have you heralded for being here, and many more would gut you for your weakness.”

“What?” Spike looked to Pyrathy, eyes and body shrinking.

“I am, for what you may consider, a hermit, Little One. And to many, a legend or myth. I do not meet with many of my children any more, and as such faded from their cultures.” Pyrathy’s eye focused down on Spike. “But you already know a portion of why.”

Spike’s eyes flickered to the scales aside Pyrathy’s eye to see a drake smacking aside a smaller dragoness. “Your curse.”

Pyrathy closed his eye in solemn acceptance. “Correct. We each bare the lives of our children, through all of their generations. We merely hear and see them, as we bare witness.” Spike let out a sigh of relief at hearing that. “But it also means we see ourselves.” Pyrathy reopened his eye to Spike’s confusion. “It is a loop, witnessing a child witness us witnessing them. It echo’s and can become infuriating.” Pyrathy's tone  suddenly took a sorrowful note. “But the life our mother has inflicted on my children is maddening.

“You know of our births, and her rampage, but not of why.” Pyrathy began. “Mother was rampage incarnate, and with my brood, she spread such thoughts. I was passive in my care, as I was in all things, never straying far from my comfort. Even here I have not deemed it necessary to move too much. But, with this curse of ours, I have taken vested interests in my children. And they are dying Little One.”

“Uhh…” Spike glanced around, not really knowing what to do with such heavy knowledge being dumped on him.

“Our mother taught of conquest and destruction, and upon finding of my sibling’s children, deemed them unfit. This is what led to her rampage and her sealing. But her poison has run deep into my children, leading to their own self destruction.”

“They seemed pretty self-sufficient when I saw them.” Spike blurted out once more, making Pyrathy chuckle.

“That clan inherited and distilled a strong essence of myself, taking efforts only when necessary. Those more adventurous tend to find their way to other clans.” Pyrathy let out a contented sigh. “And this is why I need you, Spike.” Spike stood stiff at the mention of his actual name rather than ‘Little One’. “You are, by no doubt, the most unique child I have ever seen raised. Days after laying and hours after escape, you were found, and,” Pyrathy chuckled. “Rather oddly preserved.”

Spike wrinkled his brow. “Escaped?” Pyrathy’s eye saddened.

“Ask of the Purged of others, they will explain. I… wish not to echo the story.” Pyrathy then looked above and past Spike to where Spike knew he was looking at Twilight. “But your preservation to these days gives me hope to change what I had long thought set in stone.” He looked back down to Spike, looking into what Spike felt was his soul. “Change them. Show them there is more to life than carnage and waste.”

Spike just looked back at Pyrathy in disbelief. “How?” Spike extended his arms out in need of an answer. “I’m just a baby dragon. How can I make any of them change? Let alone listen to me.”

“You court more than you know.” Pyrathy said, his tone even. “Listen not to others, but to yourself.” Pyrathy closed his eye, a flicker of pain on his brow evident. “This is as much as I can take. I am sorry Little One. Please, leave.”

A bit dejected at the one sidedness of the conversation, Spike understood and left the elder dragon. He saw Twilight barely sitting behind her conjured cover, and even that was flickering. Her eyes were wide and her ears were laid back, every muscle in her body seeming to yell ‘RUN AWAY!’ Spike walked calmly pass her, gently pulling on one of her forelegs as he passed to get her to turn and walk with him as she continued to stare back at Pyrathy. Neither of them said a word for minutes as they walked back down the way they came before Twilight finally broke.

“HOW?!” She screamed, Spike’s ears already prepped for the inevitable decibel hike. “How does he expect you to change the entirety of dragon society? It’s completely irresponsible and insane!”

“Could say the same thing about some of the thing Celestia has planned over the years.” Spike pointed out offhandedly. Twilight seemed to hesitate at an answer.

“While, yes, some of the things Princess Celestia has planned have been a bit… loose in their structure, at least there was an end goal!” She stamped in finality. “Beat Nightmare Moon, beat Discord, beat Tierk, and while, I admit, a bit convoluted in their executions, had definition. But restructuring a society? Where do you start? How does it end? Is there an end?”

“Well, we could start with assessment.” Spike offered.

“Oh yes, assessment of a species that has little to no interaction with us and no written history. I’m sure that’s not going to take forever.”

“What says I don’t have forever?” Spike asked, making Twilight stop in her tracks. “I mean; dragons are known to have rather expansive lifespans.”

“What about Ponyville? What about all of our friends?”

“What about them? We’ll be there.”

Twilight sighed and her shoulders drooped. “Spike, I think we’re on two separate tracks. Having to restructure dragon society would mean very in depth investigation and integration. Not to mention that, I think from what Pyrathy said, there are multiple different types of societies to study. If we were to dive into this, I don’t think there would be time to do anything else, let alone anything pony related.”

Spike’s ears perked in curiosity, and then drooped in realization. “Oh, right.” Spike kept on walking, Twilight following behind, her horn glowing a bit brighter as they went. “I guess, the most logical place to start would be at the top and work our way down. They have a king, right?”

Twilight nodded. “They do, but like I said, Celestia and Luna haven’t dealt with him in ages. There may be as many problems starting there as anywhere else.” Twilight sighed. “I still think it’s ridiculous that he thinks he can ask this of you because you were raised differently.”

Spike chuckled. “And you do know he can hear everything you say about him to me, right?”

Twilight’s face flushed a little bit and her feathers ruffled in discomfort, but cleared her throat, defiantly looking forward. “I stand by my acusations.”

Spike continued in his mirth for a second before a thought struck him. “So, if Pyrathy doesn’t like having dragon visitors, what do you think he was doing last night with that dragoness?”

Twilight forgot her embarrassment as she began to ponder Spike’s question. “That might be why he was so short. If he already had one echo, two might be pushing it. Which reminds me Spike, how’s your eyesight?”

“Hm?” Spike looked up to Twilight a bit confused before remembering how red everything had looked before. Spike looked around, and while the cave certainly glowed purple in Twilight’s light, the rocks seemed to pulse a non-intrusive red while not extending beyond the rock. “I can see the rock just fine, like it’s glowing red, and I guess you can’t?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, everything is pitch black, I can’t see beyond my horn. And it wasn’t like this before seeing Pyrathy?”

“It’s a lot less intense than going to Pyrathy.” Spike looked over his shoulder, but the rocks looked just the same with their red pulse. “Any ideas?”

“None. And that concerns me even more. Something’s obviously happened to specifically you, but I don’t want to go prodding it without knowing anything. My only theory is that something with Pyrathy led to this happening. But the problem with that is that I didn’t sense him do anything.” Twilight concluded as they reached the end of the cave, standing at the edge of the giant cavern before them.  

“Well, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything other than making rocks re- look out!” Spike yelled as he shoved Twilight aside as a red streak dived right at the both of them. Spike wasn’t as fortunate to escape as he was swiftly crashed into, his head and body quickly squeezed tight and back scraping against the ground for quite a distance. Squinting his eyes open, Spike was able to look up between the claws around his head to see two eager, amber eyes, and once more the pit formed in his stomach.

But something strange happened to those burning pools of energy.

They softened.

No longer was Spike looking at a hunter, he was looking at a dragoness. A surprised dragoness at that, her claws slowly loosening their grip as she seemed to try to process what was under her.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted, the dragoness’ head and eyes snapped up and around to look back at her intended target. Her claws fully let go of Spike as she began to turn to go back, her wings already flaring to sprint. 

“No!” Spike cried as sat up, gripping at the dragoness’ hind leg that was still in reach. An annoyed snort escaped her as she looked down at Spike.

“Not now whelp!” She said under her breath in annoyance, shaking her leg to loosen Spike’s grip. In the process of doing so, she did not notice a concussive blast of magic making its way straight at her chest. It struck true and sent the dragoness flying back down the cave way towards Pyrathy, Spike gripping desperately to her leg. Less in stopping her now, and more in a desperate panic at the sudden sense of leaving the ground. 

As she landed back first on the ground, Spike scrambled up her leg until he was on her chest looking her right in the face.
It was then that Spike noticed how dwarfed he was by her. Both of his claws barely reached to her shoulders and his knees were pressing into her breast. Her wings were spread beneath her, her wing tips barely passing her claw tips, the peaks of her wings at the same point of her elbows. How she was able to keep them so closely pressed against her body, Spike would wonder about later.

“Stop! Just stop! We don’t mean you any harm!”

“Then what just happened?” She snarled back at him, her upper lip retracting to show razor teeth much different to a pony’s.

“Self-defense!” Spike shot back, only letting a bit of his nerves fray at the sight of her teeth. “You struck first! Just like last time!”

“Like last time?” The dragoness’ snarl dropped and confusion took its place.

“Spike?” Twilight called from behind, hoof steps coming closer.

“Never mind.” She shook her head as she easily pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Nobody should be here but dragons!”

“She’s with me!” Spike called desperately as he began to hang from the dragoness’ shoulders.

“What?” She looked down at the desperate drake hanging onto her.

“She came with me to see Pyrathy!”

Her eyes widened significantly. “You met with Him?!”

“Yeah, and I know you did too, so just stop this already!” He wasn’t aware it was possible, but her eyes grew even more as her pupils shrank, and more than enough blood drained out of her face to make her dark purple scales match his. If she wasn’t already sitting, Spike was sure she would have fallen over.

“Spike!” Twilight called out as she came galloping up to the two dragons. “Spike, are you okay? What’s… going on?” Twilight asked as she slowed down and saw Spike hanging from the stunned dragoness.

“I, uh, got her stop?” Spike answered as he glanced between Twilight and the stunned dragoness. Spike let go and dropped lightly onto the dragoness’ lap, the force seeming to jostle the dragoness back to focus on the little drake climbing off of her to walk over to the purple pony. She had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

“You?” She asked as she crossed her legs, placing her claws on her knees and leaning forward, frowning. “I remember you. You took my grab.”

“Your what?” Twilight asked, simultaneously confused and a bit offended.

“Oh, you can remember her but not me not being two inches above her.” Spike huffed as he rolled his eyes. The dragoness looked quickly between the two, looked up for a moment, and shrugged.

“It’s very hard to distinguish the two of you like that.”

“Well now that we’re in a bit of a less intense situation. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant Spike.” Twilight indicated between the two.

“Assistant?” The dragoness’ eye glinted in a hint of aggression. Twilight raised her wings slightly in response.

“Yeah, I help her with her work, is that a problem?” Spike asserted as he held a hand in front of Twilight. The dragoness huffed.

“I suppose not.” She sat back a little bit. “My name is Dazzle.” She glanced at Twilight. “What are you doing here?” Twilight looked down to Spike. 

“We got called here.” Spike answered. “Like you were, I suppose.”

“I received the Dream Call, yes.” Dazzle nodded. “I knew to make my way here to see what He needed of me.”

Spike smirked. “And what did he ask you to do?”

“He told me to wait in the corralling nests until the second light passed.” Dazzle stated, making Spike and Twilight wait for something that wasn’t coming.

“That was it?” Twilight asked.

“That was all that needed to be asked.” Dazzle shot back.

“Pyrathy sure is curt.” Spike sighed.

“How can you speak His name so callously?” Dazzle asked.

“Well, what else would I call him?” Spike shrugged.

“Father, His Benevolence, He, any of these would show more respect.” Dazzle leaned forward again. “What clan raised you?” Spike and Twilight chuckled a bit nervously.

“I did.” Twilight raised her hoof.

“You did?” Dazzle jerked back as if physically shocked. “What dragoness in her right mind would allow a pony her egg?”

“Uh, well, we sort of found Spike from around here, somewhere.” Twilight tried to explain, but this only made Dazzle lean dangerously forward, claws flexing on her knees.

“Watch your lies pony. Who truly gave Spike to you?”

“Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” Twilight said automatically, making Dazzle growl.

“So he was stolen.” She muttered as she made her way to stand.

“Whoa, hey now.” Spike waved his hands. “I really was found out here, Pyrathy confirmed it.” This made Dazzle pause in her motion.

“Why would He tell you something trivial?” She asked, making Spike snort.

“Doesn’t seem so trivial to you.”

“Because I am not to forbearer of our kind.” Dazzle glowered. “I do not need to concern myself with the continuation of our race, I can wonder and take retribution.”

Spike just looked back up at the angry dragoness for a moment before chuckling and putting his claw over his face. Both Twilight and Dazzle were quite confused at his action.

“Looks like he doesn’t have that job either.” Dazzle’s right claw began to slowly align with Spike’s heart. “Because that’s my job now.”

“Lies.” Dazzle immediately shot back. "His Benevolence would never abandon us.”

“Well, not so much abandon, as have somepony to work through.” Twilight clarified, making Dazzle snap her attention to the intruder once more.

“He has never ‘worked’ through anyone before. Why would He do so now?”

“To answer that, let’s go back a bit.” Spike addressed as he calmed down. “So I’ll answer your question of why Pyrathy would tell me where I came from with a question of my own. Who are the Purged?”

“You don’t know?” Dazzle asked, a sense of curiosity and sadness dripping from her voice. When Spike shook his head, Dazzle sat back down, her claws falling into her lap.

“The Purged are those of us, long ago, that were branded with being too weak to live. Hundreds were purged, whether it be because they were too small or had pitiful flames. Others were killed for what were then deemed malformations. Serpintines and Wyverns were driven out or slaughtered. Many types have been lost simply because we did not record them, but Father does. He was furious to see his children slaughtering each other and ceased our actions, personally killing those who did not want to stop. It is part of what drove him to seal Tiamat away, and what made him sequester himself away from the rest of us.” Dazzle raised her eyes to Twilight, who was appropriately horrified at the story. “Not that any pony would care to learn our past.”

Twilight winced at the accusation. “Ponies haven’t been known to openly explore other societies. Even our knowledge on griffins was lacking, even though they’re our closest non-Equestrian partners.” She admitted. “And even our own history is blurry.”

“Hmph.” Dazzle snorted, and turned her attention to Spike. “If you were truly raised by her, how and why would you ask of the Purge?”

Spike replied with a sad smile. “Because He told me I escaped it.”

Dazzle’s curiosity turned to shocked awe in an instant. “How? The purge was more than a thousand years ago! No egg could have survived a week without care, much less a millennium!” Dazzle’s claw covered her mouth, looking away in concern, muttering. “But if Father said as much, then it must be.”

“I can answer that as well.” Twilight offered. Dazzle looked to her now in need of those answers. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found him out here and tried to find the nest that he had fallen from, but couldn’t. So they tried hatching Spike themselves, but nothing they ever tried ever worked.”

“Of course it wouldn’t, an egg needs to be tended to and hatched by at least an exceptional flame.” Dazzle cut in, making Twilight smile sheepishly.

“Which I did.”

Dazzle just stared at Twilight dumbfounded. She could only look over to Spike who was nodding his head.

“Oh yeah, that and turning the other five ponies in the room into plants. Saw it on Pyrathy myself.”

“Y-You produced enough flames to hatch an egg on your own while not burning everyone else?”

“Well, I output enough raw magic to change the procters and my parents into plants, hatch Spike, and artificially age him to the size of the lecture hall.” Twilight answered, a blush prominently coming forward.

“You what?!” Dazzle looked back to Spike.

“Well, that last part was only temporary.” Spike admitted. “I reverted back down shortly afterward.”

Dazzle cupped her face in her claws. “This just cannot be happening right now.”

“Tell that to the hole that was in the ceiling.” Spike smirked.

“Do you know how much fire it takes to even hatch an egg?” Dazzle’s hands slid down her face.

“Not really, we weren’t monitoring that at the time.” Twilight admitted.

“A single dragon has to build up an entire month worth of flames for one bout while simultaneously heating the egg at least once every other day to keep it healthy. Not to mention that a dragon’s growth is dictated partially by source absorption and retention. To say he was both hatched and grown by you alone would mean you would rival our five greatest warriors, together, alone.”

“Probably more since that was when she was seven.” Spike mentioned. “And before this.” Spike spread Twilight’s left wing, which promptly jerked away and smacked Spike behind the head. An appropriate glower came from both females.

“That was very rude Spike.” Twilight huffed.

“Quite.” Dazzle agreed. “And what is so special of a pony with a horn and wings?”

“It makes me an alicorn.” Twilight stated. “One of four.

“And set on the same stage of Pyrathy.” Spike added.

Once again, Dazzle could only look at the two in sheer bafflement. To her right was a dragon whelp that claimed to be from the darkest period in dragon history and also claimed to be crowned the overseer of their race. While to her left was a pony who claimed to have hatched a dragon egg single handedly and was posed as an equal to their Father, a place no dragon had ever even considered to be close to.

“Do you think we just broke her Twi?” Spike whispered not to subtly.

“You think?” Twilight answered sarcastically.

Dazzle could just hold her face in her claws once more. “What… exactly did Father tell you?” She lowered her claws enough to gaze over them. “As simply as you can please.”

“Uh, okay.” Spike said as he scratched the back of his neck. “So, he first started by telling me I would be heralded or gutted by meeting him, then he told me why he doesn’t meet with every dragon, then why Tiamat had gone on her rampage, and then he told me to change the basis of dragon society.” Spike summarized.

“Hmm.” Dazzle murmured, her claw dropping back into her lap. “While true that those of us who receive the Dream Call are seen as special to my clan, I do not understand why you would be gutted for it.”

Spike looked up at Dazzle blankly. “Review the last five minutes and come back to me on that.”

“Heh.” Dazzle smirked. “Maybe you personally, that makes sense. As for His and Tiamat’s reasons, I know them as well. But still, why would he task you with changing us?”

“Um, if I may?” Twilight raised a hesitant hoof. Dazzle cast her a quizitive eye. “Could you clarify your information to compare to ours?”

Dazzle gave a deep sigh. “It is known through my clan that due to the Purge, only a select few of us are deemed pure enough to stand before His Benevolence, but the Purge taints even us, so it is ever brief. As for Tiamat’s rampage, she saw upon the world of weakness that could not be tolerated, but Father saw that her rampage would lead to a world of desolation to which none but he and her could live.”

“Ehhh.” Both Spike and Twilight cringed.

“What?”

“Both are only sort of true.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, what about the other four helping to stop Tiamat?” Spike asked.

“What other four?”

> Talks of Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“You know, the other four of Tiamat’s brood?” Spike elaborated.

“Tiamat was never known to have bred, she considered it beneath her.” Dazzle explained.

“Spike, this is why I asked.” Twilight held out a wing to stop Spike from retorting. She then drew herself up to address Dazzle. “Dazzle, I think what you have recorded and passed down through generations may have become distorted in time.”

Dazzle leveled a glare on Twilight, bent on calling her a liar once more, but the sentiment in which she delivered the news made her pause. It wasn’t condescending, she wasn’t calling her out as wrong, merely misinformed. “Would you like to explain otherwise?”

“It’s… sort of not my place.” Twilight chuckled as she withdrew her wing. “Short to say that somepony did actually take an interest in dragon history and tracked down somebody who had a different version of events.”

“Too which Pyrathy attested to fact.” Spike added.

“Right.” Twilight nodded. “Pyrathy told us that what we knew was true, and he went on to tell us why Tiamat went on her rampage, to which you are right, she saw weakness… but in her own children.”

“But Tiamat never clutched.” Dazzle restated.

“Which makes me think you may have something backwards.” Twilight said. “So, a question, who came first, Tiamat or Pyrathy?”

“Father.” Dazzle said instantaneously.

“To which is our first problem.” Twilight nodded her head solemnly.

“Also, what does she look like?” Spike asked.

Dazzle looked up for a second. “To us, Tiamat was Father’s first daughter. She was practically His next incarnation, if what some other tribes would be believed. She was a Crawler, one who naturally walks on all fours, like Father, and also Winged, again like Father. She was a duller red than Father and near half his size, still considered one of the largest dragons to have existed.”

Twilight gave a sad smile, knowing she would have to ask questions that would be breaking down this dragoness’ understanding of her own history. “And what of Tiamat’s mother?”

Dazzle shook her head. “She was never mentioned, as many records we have of her time were just documenting things like the Purge or other major changes. Specific dragons of tangential importance are rarely mentioned.”

“Well, as we know it, it’s the other way around.” Spike said as he twirled his claws in a counterclockwise motion. “Tiamat came from a concoction of raw magic and is actually twice the size of Pyrathy, and his mother.”

Spike and Twilight were silent after that to allow Dazzle to absorb the blow of information that said her Father was not in fact the first dragon. She seemed to take it rather well.

“If you say so.” She grunted.

“Really?” Twilight and Spike asked simultaneously.

“I’ll start questioning your legitimacy after all of your statements. It is not uncommon for some clans to have varied accounts of the past. Wyverns, as such, have more detailed and condemning recordings of the Purge than those clans that still revere its cleanse. Though, the extreme lengths of your changes are already hard enough to comprehend.”

“Well, then there’s also the fact that Pyrathy is an asexual reproduction of a five headed Tiamat who also had four other similar offspring.” Spike dropped, making Dazzle comically fall backwards.

“Maybe pertinent information to contradict her own would have been a better start.” Twilight whispered as she leaned over to Spike, who was barely holding his chuckling back as Dazzle reoriented herself.

“But it does.” Spike replied before addressing Dazzle. She sat cross legged once more, her claws on her knees and her wings spread just a bit more to counteract any similar reaction. “Sorry about that, but it comes back to why Tiamat went on her rampage.”

“Ok, just, h-hold on.” Dazzle held her hands up to stop the two from talking. “Did it at all have to do with Tiamat purging weakness from the world?”

“Yes.” Spike nodded firmly. “But a bit more specifically, the weakness of her other children’s children.” Spike didn’t want to elaborate more until Dazzle asked for it, because even he could see that this was having a mental toll on Dazzle.

Dazzle steepled her claws, closed her eyes, and took two deep breaths. “What did Tiamat find wrong in the other dragons?” She finally asked.

“Well, to be accurate, we are the only dragons. Pyrathy is the forefather of all dragons, no doubt about that.” Spike stated, Dazzle’s features seeming to relax at this. “It’s the four other races that popped up that Tiamat didn’t like.”

Dazzle’s eyes snapped open at this. “What other races?” Her eyes dared Spike to tell her.

“Kelpi, chimera, changelings, and windigos.” Spike rattled off by memory. After realizing what he he just did, Spike winced in anticipation of Dazzle’s outrage. Yet, instead of anger, there was only confusion from Dazzle.

“If He is an asexual reproduction of Tiamat, then the other four must be as well. How then, do these races exist as our cousins?” She asked as her head cocked to the side.

For the next while, Twilight and Spike explained the exact depiction of Timat and regaled Dazzle with the stories of Serenava, Tiervu, Miserhaze, and Animion, and how they came to create their four child species. Dazzle never interrupted, only listening intently to all that they had to say. She was intrigued to learn how Tiamat came about and of her subsequent confinement, as to be honest, her own telling had usually wrapped up with Pyrathy killing Tiamat, inceinerating her so that not even ash remained. And if her spite and apathy were as strong as legend stated, purging her own children did not seem beyond Dazzle.

“So, in the end, Tiamat is still sealed away in her island?” Dazzle finally asked her first question.

“As far as we know, yes.” Twilight affirmed.

Dazzle lay her head on her perched fingers. “I will be truthful, much of what you told me sounds made up. On the other hand, however, this is far too elaborate and complex for a simple prank. And if Tiamat’s curse is true, then I can see why Father rarely bids us to see him.” Her eyes cast downward. “And I can also see why he has called me.”

“Really?” Spike perked up, interested in why another dragon had been called. Dazzle didn't seem as happy about the fact.

“I am… abnormal by my clan’s standards.” Dazzle admitted, her folded claws falling flat in her lap as she twiddled her thumbs, her wings sagging behind her. “I am fully adept and able by our standards, but I am not seen as… strong.”

“I’m not sure I follow.” Twilight said.

“Like I stated before, you took my grab.” Dazzle pointed out, looking Twilight dead in the eye. “My goal was that pony’s armor, and you took it away from me.”

“Because you were chasing him!” Twilight defended, her feathers ruffling. Dazzle just gave a small smile.

“And that is where I am not considered strong. I chased to take what I wanted, and did not kill that pony where he stood. I saw no point in spilling blood, others of my clan would not be so considerate.” Both Twilight and Spike paled at the implication. Dazzle seemed to shift uncomfortably as she contemplated saying more. She glanced at Spike and swallowed before continuing. “I’m also considered weak for preferring gems over meat, as gems don’t provide enough nutrition for the strongest dragons.”

Dazzle looked down at her claws as they stopped moving, shame beginning to burn in her cheeks. Spike noted the confession with a bit of concern, and walked up to the forlorn dragoness, placeing his own claw over hers. There was a bit of a jolt back at his touch, but she stayed still after.

“Dazzle, being strong isn’t all there is to being a dragon.” Spike confided. “Not to say I haven’t always wanted to be a big, tough dragon, but there are always things we can do.” Spike chuckled. “There was a time I was reading a magic comic book that sucked me, Twilight, and a few others into it, and only by being myself did I help save the day. Not by being the strongest or meanest, but by using my small size and… clumsiness.” Spike chuckled a bit more, a tint of red coming to his own face. “And hey, I like gems too. Rubies are my favorites.”

“I’ve always had a taste for emeralds.” Dazzle’s eye looked up to Spike’s, a thin, happy grin spreading across her face. Spike smiled back, and even Twilight was smiling at the exchange. It wouldn’t hurt for Spike to actually have a friend he could talk to on more than a base level. After a moment, however, Dazzle’s smile dropped into a more serious, neutral face.

“But now the problem I have is this, if you are to see to our race’s continuation, how do you plan to do so?” At that, both Spike and Twilight grimaced.

“We were contemplating the same thing, actually.” Spike said as he drew his claw back from Dazzle. “He just told me to change you. He wasn’t very elaborative on his plans, though it’s not like we haven’t had to do the same beforehand.”

Dazzle closed her eyes and nodded somberly. “That does seem to be Father’s way.” Dazzle opened her eyes and looked to Twilight. “And how have you changed ponies before?”

“What?” Twilight scrunched her brows in confusion, before her eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh, no, we haven’t done something like this before. Spike meant we’ve had to work on very little to go on before.”

“Ok, how did that work.” Dazzle insisted, to which Twilight could only chuckle and cringe.

“It was mainly stopping world ending scenarios before. So, more stopping a catastrophic change than starting one.” Dazzle’s eyes narrowed at the comparison.

“We were mostly thinking about starting at the Dragon King and working our way down the chain.” Spike hopped in before he felt it was too late. Dazzle’s eyes flicked over to the  hopeful drake before closing and letting out a deep sigh.

“That’ll never work.” Dazzle shook her head. “’King’ Torch is only as such for being the biggest and ‘strongest’ dragon there is.” Dazzle said as she added the quotes to the appropriate words, making Twilight grimace at the implications.

“And you don’t agree I assume?” Twilight asked.

“But doesn’t he deal with the laws between dragons and ponies?” Spike asked.

“Yes, on both accounts.” Dazzle nodded, her arms coming to cross her chest. “But that’s about it in terms of being our king. We owe him nothing, and he gives us nothing in return. The only ones who listen to him obediently are those of his own clan. The only real power he has is within the bloodstone scepter, and that was only made to call dragons to a meeting for decisions he can’t make himself. As for being the ‘strongest’, it’s mostly that other clans didn’t want to deal with other races. Torch is merely a figurehead of dragons to other races, nothing more.”

“Ugh.” Twilight groaned as her head drooped, her mane falling to hide her face. “Then what can we do?”

Dazzle shrugged. “You’d just have to meet with each clan.”

“And how many of those are there?” Spike asked.

Dazzle bit her bottom lip, the tips of her teeth showing, as she looked to her side. “There’s no solid answer, clans can break and form at any time.” She said slowly. “last I remember, there were about three…” Twilight’s head perked up. “Hundred.” Twilight’s ears fell back against her head, groaning and hanging her head once more.

“He’s just asking for the impossible now.” Twilight bemoaned.

“Hey, c’mon Twi, you thought making friends was impossible, and look how that turned out.” Spike tried to cheer Twilight up, but she only threw her head back and sighed.

“But that was only my need to do so Spike, Pyrathy is talking about the entirety of the dragon race. This is like asking me to convince Canterlot that changelings aren’t all that bad, but ten times worse!”

That made Spike blink. “Huh.” Spike said as he began to rub his chin in contemplation. Twilight noticed this change and became confused.

“What? What did I say?”

“What if this was like convincing ponies that changelings weren’t that bad?” Spike offered, making Twilight furrow her brow.

“Yeah, and that would never happen.” Twilight pointed out.

“Maybe not alone, but you wouldn’t tackle that alone, would you Twilight?”

Twilight huffed. “If we’re taking this hypothetical seriously, then no, I wouldn’t. I would bring along… my friends…” Twilight blinked as something began to dawn on her.

“From what I know of changelings, they are not that pleasing to be around.” Dazzle commented. “But what are you two getting at?”

“We wouldn’t start with convincing the whole city of Canterlot to accept changelings, just a few. And we wouldn’t be talking to them alone, we’d get our friends behind us to back us up.” Spike grinned up at Dazzle. “So we’re not going to try and change every dragon at once, we’re going to start small and let the word spread from there. And I know where to start.”

To that, both Dazzle and Twilight quirked their attention at him, asking simultaneously “Where?”

“Luna said there was a dragon settlement not to far from here about the size of Ponyville. And I figure a base that large is going to be perfect to go off of.”

Twilight smiled at the idea, refiguring the total population of Ponyville to be somewhere near three hundred ponies alone, never mind visitors and other races. Dazzle, on the other hand, was not too pleased with the proposition, to which Spike noticed. Her cold, vacant stare told him she wasn’t looking at him anymore, but probably a very huge problem she saw in his plan.

“Dazzle, is something wrong?” Spike asked, making Twilight look over and see the same vacant stare, her own frown forming at the sight. Dazzle’s eye clenched close as she shook her head.

“That won’t work either.”

“Well why not?” Spike huffed as he put his fists on his hips.

“Because that’s my clan.”

Twilight quirked an eyebrow at that assertion. “And how do you know Spike’s not talking about another clan?”

“Because this is Star Clan land. Any dragon trying to stake a claim of land anywhere around here comes to my clan beforehand. And the only place near here that has any sort of size to it is the main clan burrow. And I’ll say it now, nobody there will listen to you. It took me seeing you two leave Father to even think of listening to you.”

“But you did listen to us!” Spike exclaimed. “All it could take is your help and we get something moving!”

Dazzle leveled her gaze on Spike. “There is nobody there who will listen to me either.”

Dazzle and Spike stayed like that, holding each other’s gaze, Spike’s fist trembling slightly before he stamped a foot before turning back toward the cavern. “Well it’s the best thing we’ve got right now, and I’m not going to say we didn’t even try.”

“Spike, wait!” Twilight called out before scampering to her hooves to follow after the quick drake. He didn’t slow down at all as she trot up alongside him. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m not sure.” Spike huffed as he kept his pace. “But I’m going to do something.”

“Well I know what you’re not doing.” Twilight proclaimed as the two once more came to their exit. Spike merely looked up at her expectantly. “You’re not going to that clan.”

“What? Are you going to stop me?”

“Yes!” Twilight’s wings flared open. “Just hearing about it sounds horrible, much less letting you anywhere near it. You’re much better off coming back to the library and looking for somewhere more receptible to change first.”

“She is right.” Dazzle said as she began walking up to them on all fours, wings once more close to her sides. “And like you said before, many would gut you on the spot for many of the things you do. I would suggest a clan that takes near to no action against outsiders. They may not receive you warmly, but they tend to be sluggish in their actions.”

“Ugh, and that’s your problem!” Spike sighed as he rolled his eyes and turned to bodily face the the two. “You’re both trying to be so safe about this, but this isn’t going to be safe work. And seriously?” Spike looked over to Dazzle. “A clan that doesn’t take action? That defeats the whole point of what we’re trying to do!”

That made Twilight think back for a second. “And… what exactly are you thinking of doing?”

“Correcting history of course.” Spike looked back to Twilight. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

After thinking for a moment, Twilight sighed as her wings fell back against her sides as she planted her hoof on her face. Dazzle also gave Spike an inquisitive look as he seemed perplexed by Twilight’s reaction.

“Spike, just because we have an alternative history to dragons than what is widely accepted, that doesn’t mean telling them about it will change anything. So what if Tiamat was Pyrathy’s mother or he was her father, it doesn’t change the fact that there was a Purge and that Tiamat isn’t around, or that there are rifts between dragon communities.”

“All right, then what about telling dragons that Pyrathy still exists? That’s sure to shake some foundations.” Spike tried again.

“And we already know.” Dazzle said flatly. “And it’s not like Father wants us here. The fewer dragons who know he’s here, the better off He is. Besides, He sends the Dream Call to any He really needs to speak to, purge taint or not.”

“All right, then what about… what about… Arg!” Spike kicked a stone into the cavern in frustration. “Why is this so hard? Why did Pyrathy have to be so vague about what he wanted? What am I supposed to change even? It’s not like there’s anything exactly wrong with being a dragon! Sure, the few I’ve met have been a bit antisocial and off putting, but it’s not like they're…” Spike stopped mid rant as he remembered what he saw not too long ago. “Cruel. That’s our problem Twi.” Spike looked to Twilight.

“The problem that they're cruel?” Twilight asked.

“That’s just how dragons are.” Dazzle said.

“But we’re not!” Spike said in exhaustion. “Just look between you and me." Spike flicked a claw between himself and Dazzle. "We’ve talked, we’ve exchanged ideas and experiences! And the only time I was really cruel, I just spiraled out of control until I was snapped out of it. I think this is just like then, only a lot more deeply rooted.”

Dazzle looked down at Spike in disbelief. “You? Cruel?” She chuckled.

Spike’s cheeks began to heat up as he looked away. “Heh, yeah. One of my birthday parties went a bit overboard and I began to hoard everything I could find.” Dazzle seemed to contemplate this for a moment before her eyes widened and began to back up toward Pyrathy’s den.

“A greed growth?” She breathed.

“Uh, sure?” Spike glanced at Twilight, her own confusion and concern for Dazzle’s actions apparent.

“H-how?”

“Uh, pretty sure I just told you, I hoarded stuff.”

Dazzle shook her head, but her eyes never left Spike. “N-no, how are you still like this?”

“Like what?”

“Like a whelp!” Dazzle snapped. “You should be tearing through anything and everything for your hoard!” There was a quiver in her accusation, somewhere between uncertainty and fear. Greed was never something a dragon overcame, greed was a never ending and ever escalating source to a dragon. Greed dragons were either to be driven out, or slain. Spike, however, knew nothing of what Dazzle knew.

“Well, I mean, I did, but-“ Spike began before being cut off.

“But nothing!” Dazzle snapped again, her eyes mere pinpricks now. “Out of everything you have claimed, that is the one lie I will not believe.” Her wings were beginning to flare, her claws scratched at the stone beneath her, flexing to either attack or flee. Spike was feeling unhappy at this progression, because this ‘greed growth’ was one thing he for sure knew to be a fact, it happened to him after all. He frowned and scrunched his brow as he took in Dazzle's posture and actions. As he glanced at Dazzle’s claws, assessing their intent, he saw underneath them, and saw the red stone turning a darker shade.

This wouldn’t have peaked any interest if it had not been for the darker shade beginning to slowly creep outward. Spike experimentally dug at the ground beneath himself with his own foot, but nothing seemed to change when he did it.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled as she tackled Spike to the side, all of his orientation leaving him as he felt a gust pass by. The two tumbled for a second before both landed on their sides against the cave wall.

“Ugh...What happened?” Spike asked as he began to rub the side of his head.

“What were you thinking!?” Twilight berated, making Spike flinch. “You saw how pent up she was getting! Why did you antagonize her?”

“What?” Spike asked incredulously as he stood up. “I didn’t antagonize her!”

“Then why did you scrape the ground?” Twilight asked as she too got to her hooves.

“I was checking if…ugh” Spike facepalmed. “She probably can’t see it either.”

“See what? The red stone?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah.” Spike replied as he walked back over to where Dazzle had taken off. The claw marks were still a darker shade of red then the surrounding stone, but their spreading cracks had stopped advancing, not getting more than an inch from the scratches. “When she started scratching the ground, it started getting darker, and spreading, but when I did it, nothing happened.”

“Really?” Twilight walked up beside spike as her horn began to glow brighter as a spell was cast over her lighting spell, and the scratches in the floor began to softly pulse purple, and after a second it stopped. She sighed in disappointment. “I can’t tell any difference between the rock. Whatever you’re seeing Spike, I can’t sense it. Maybe it was just something Dazzle could do.”

At the thought of Dazzle, and her sudden departure, Spike jumped to attention. “We need to get to the entrance Twi.” He said as he began to climb onto Twilight’s back. She shifted near automatically to help him up, even as she considered his urgent tone.

“What’s the rush? I’m sure the Guard can handle-“ Twilight’s eyes grew in enlightenment. “Dazzle.” Twilight immediately began to gallop toward the tunnel exit, Spike gripping her mane and sides, she jumped out into the gigantic cavern, banking right as her wings snapped open, hoping nothing happened to the unsuspecting guards who were about to meet a scared dragoness.


> On Their Way
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Flying far faster than before, Twilight and Spike made it back to the entrance of the cavern in mere minutes, neither speaking or thinking of what they might find at the end of the cave. As natural light began shining down on the pair, Twilight gave one more great burst of energy into her wings, angling herself upwards as to have a greater aerial view. Upon exiting the darkness, the two briefly blinked to accommodate the change before frantically looking around for any indication of a struggle.

Or slaughter.

“Princess?” Twilight and Spike’s heads snapped around to see Pointed Eye coming up to them. Twilight quickly descended to meet the guard halfway.

“Thank Celestia, are you two all right?” Twilight asked the befuddled guard.

“We are Princess, why wouldn’t we be?”

“Did you see Dazzle- I mean, a dragoness- come out earlier?” Spike asked.

Pointed Eye nodded. “We did, but she shot right on by that way.” Pointed Eye gestured off toward the west. “Steady and I were discussing whether we should check on you just as you came out.”

Twilight bit her lip as she looked off into the distance to where Pointed Eye had directed. “Oh, this is bad. Very, very bad.”

“Princess?” Pointed Eye cocked his head to the side.

“There’s a colony of dragons nearby to which that dragoness is a part of, and she just got some very troubling news from Spike.” She explained, garnering an inquisitive look from Pointed to Spike, but Spike only shook his head sadly. “We need to get to her before she gets back to her clan.”

“No offense Princess, but I think that dragoness would give the Wonderbolts a run for their bits.” Pointed looked out toward the broad expanse to the west. “She might already be back there.”

“Buck.” Twilight muttered, making Spike’s eyes shoot open. Twilight never talked like that, ever. And he had been threatened with a bar of soap on many an occasion if she ever found out he had. A bit louder, Twilight addressed the guard. “Get Steady Wing and head back for Canterlot.”

That made Pointed Eye whip his attention back around. “Princess, are you saying-“

“Spike and I will make sure everything is all right with Dazzle and then head back for Ponyville.” Twilight cut off. Pointed Eye opened his mouth, but was once again cut off by Twilight. “By order of Princess Twilight Sparkle, Corporal Pointed Eye and Corporal Steady Wing are to return to Canterlot and inform Princess Celestia of our expedition to the best of their abilities. If, and only if, there is no contact between myself and Canterlot within the next 24 hours, consider myself incapacitated to do so and organize an intensive investigation of the dragon colony to which we are leaving. Am I clear Corporal?”

Pointed Eye snapped to attention and gave a salute. “Yes Ma’am!” He called out, before blinking in a bit of confusion. “And the chariot contents?”

“To be held by Princess Celestia as she sees fit until my return. Now off Corporal!”

Pointed Eye gave one more firm salute before diving back down to the ground. Twilight aimed herself in the direction Pointed Eye gave and began flying in earnest. As they were passing over the Badland’s boarder cliff ring, Spike spoke up.

“Twilight, do you really think chasing after Dazzle is really a good idea? Especially if she’s going back to dragon’s who’ll back her up?” Spike asked, leaning forward next to Twilight’s ear to make sure she heard him.

“She was scared Spike.” Twilight spoke up without looking back. “She was fidgety, haunched, and clawing the ground. Her pounce was about as much as getting at you as getting past you. This ‘greed growth’ thing is obviously something she knows about that we don’t.”

“And going after her yourself is your best plan?” There was a flash of doubt over Twilight’s face, but her wings kept up their pace.

“There’s not a lot of options Spike. She’s the closest- no, only- source of dragon knowledge we have. If we let her get back to her clan, we may never see her again, whether because the clan doesn’t let us or because she doesn’t let us. We have a good- well, mostly good- first impression. We can’t just let it fall through because of one small detail!”

’Small’ she says. Spike groaned internally. I think Pinkie might be rubbing off on her too much. “So what are you going to do if we catch up? Fight her down?”

“Of course not. We talk her down.” Spike rolled his eyes at that. Dazzle hardly listened to them with a grand authority behind them. And that was a level headed Dazzle. A panicky Dazzle would probably scorch them out the sky before they knew what happened. Spike looked back ahead to see if he could spot any sort of disturbance that could indicate a dragoness, but even while flying over dry planes with only spare outcroppings of trees, there was no sign of anybody ahead of them.

After a few minutes Twilight had stopped flying and was only gliding ahead, soon coming down and landing with little less than a skid. Spike quickly hopped down and turned to ask what Twilight had seen to call for them to land, but a cloud of dust cut his question short. Twilight had collapsed, wings and legs splayed in six directions with her face planted in the dirt. He honestly would have laughed if he didn’t know she had flown to exhaustion because of his stupidity.

“Uh… just… rest up Twi. I’ll... do something.” Spike murmured, Twilight letting out a light groan of acknowledgement. So Spike began looking around where she had landed. It was a mostly open field with tall grass coming up to his own knees, with a thin spread of trees surrounding them. He knew Twilight needed at least a quick break before she could take off again, and a water break wouldn’t hurt that.

That was before Spike remembered that the Guards had been ordered to take all of their stuff back to Canterlot, to which Spike slapped himself on his forehead before dragging it down slowly in annoyance.

And this is what happens when decisions are made on the fly. Spike groaned internally, before lightly chuckling. Hehe, fly. Spike walked up to one of the lone trees that were standing about and looked up. All of the branches were too far up for him to grab and climb to the top, and there didn’t seem to be any sort of fruit he could, theoretically, kick down. He sighed and sat down against the tree, with nothing better to do than wait for Twilight to get her strength back to keep going, or at least enough to sit up and think of an actual plan on tracking down Dazzle.

He propped his head on his fist as he watched over Twilight, not trusting his own meager strength to attempt to move her anywhere. Having nothing better to do, Spike began to really think about the last moments with Dazzle. And a bit more specifically, the rocks.

He had had a moment to look about as Twilight ordered Pointed Eye around, and everything looked like it had before going in to meet Pyrathy. Everything had been its regular red-brown color without any weird pulsing light. Even about that red light, when did it really start? Pondering a bit, Spike concluded it was in the cave leading to Pyrathy that the light started, the entire cavern in and out had been dark, and even before meeting Pyrathy, the connecting cave had been dark to a point. So, was it really something to do with Spike, or with Pyrathy? Because when leaving, the glow had gone right up to the connection cave’s exit to the outside.

And what was with the color difference? Why had the stone started turning a darker red when Dazzle clawed into it, but nothing happened when he did? It obviously meant that the darker stone wasn't underneath the lighter one, and the color radiated from the marks, but didn’t cause any mark of their own. Had Dazzle been preparing to do something before she pounced, or was her pounce her end goal?

Was it even magic? Was it all an innate dragon magic Spike had no clue about due to being raised by ponies? It might be entirely possible, Dazzle didn’t seem to have any problems navigating the caves, and they also hadn’t raised a question about it in their talk. But did they even know what he knew was magic? As Spike thought, Dazzle never said anything about magic, she said things like ‘flame’ and ‘source retention’. Were there factors he didn’t know about that made him dangerous? What if what he was seeing wasn’t magic?

An audible groan caught Spike’s attention as he saw Twilight begin to shift, her wings slowly lifting off the ground and fold back against her and her face rolling to the side to get out of the dirt. At the same moment of her groan, Spike heard a faint rustle. He sat up straight, quickly scanning the grass for anything moving, whether it was Dazzle or not wasn’t a concern to him in that moment.

Then he saw it, a single leaf falling from a tree past Twilight to his right. Spike began to scan the branches for anything that could possibly be a threat. But as nothing happened, Spike could begin to feel his breath being caught in his throat, but he didn’t dare let his tension leave him. On his third pass over the tree, he noticed an oddity, there was a patch of darkness that didn’t seem to shift in the breeze, and he could tell there was size behind whatever was in the tree. And as Spike kept his eyes on the mass, he saw the glimmer of an eye.

An amber eye.

“Dazzle.” Spike breathed, but his relaxation for finding the unknown was quickly wound back up as Spike now had to worry what Dazzle would do with Twilight in such a compromised position. He couldn’t tell what she could be planning, he needed to protect Twilight from Dazzle, but at the same time, he was the reason Dazzle was as high strung as she was. There was only one thing Spike could think of to make Dazzle pass over Twilight.

Make her focus on him.

“Dazzle, I see you.” Spike spoke up, spying a questioning look from Twilight as she shifted to look over at him. There was no reaction for a second, but soon enough a mass fell from the tree Spike had been eyeing. The mass soon stood and assumed the form of Dazzle, wings slightly flared, all claws on the ground, but she wasn’t bunched up this time. Instead, there was a weary look in her eyes as she glanced between the downed alicorn and lax dragon whelp.

“Why did you chase me?” Dazzle asked, just bordering on accusation. Spike felt rash action would get him rash responses, so he didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked to Twilight, who was looking increasingly worried about her own position of exhaustion. Spike slowly sighed.

“I don’t rightly know.” He answered. “Twilight and I started following when the guards told us which way you went.”

“Guards? I didn’t see any… wait.” Dazzle huffed as she began to circle around her tree, eyes seeming to dart in random directions, before lying down in front of the tree, slowly shaking her head from side to side. “Where were your guards?”

Spike gave a concerned look to Twilight, who lightly shrugged. “They were on the ground. You probably flew right past them in your hurry to get out.”

Dazzle growled as she lay her head down over her claws. “I still should have seen them.”

Spike didn’t see a point to continue to question what was on her mind, and Twilight wasn’t in a position to ask. Instead, Spike let them sit there in silence, waiting to feel if there was a way to properly break the ice. Minutes passed by before Dazzle finally raised her head to address Spike.

“How did you break it?” At Spike’s quirked brow, she elaborated “You’re greed growth.” If it’s true. Spike felt the unsaid accusation, but let the doubt slide. Thinking back to his time as a monstrous behemoth of a dragon, Spike hesitated in answering. He didn’t know how she would react, but the truth was the truth.

“I didn’t break it alone.” That alone made Dazzle sit up a bit straighter. “And I probably almost didn’t.” That made Dazzle start to glower, making Spike hasten into his story. “I had been saving a particular ruby for a birthday meal, and I was making the final touches to it when… when one of our friends saw me with it. I kind of couldn’t say no when she asked me for it.” Spike’s cheeks still heated a bit at the before and after of the incident. “So when I went full on mindless hoarder, one of the things I picked up was our friend. And she had just so happened to have fashioned the ruby into a necklace. She kind of didn’t recognize me at that point, and when I eyed the ruby,” Spike chuckled. “She berated me for it!”

That shocked Dazzle a little bit and looked down to Twilight, who at this point had been able to tuck her legs back under herself. Thinking back to what she had heard of greed growth dragons, and seeing just how small Twilight Sparkle was, Dazzle couldn’t help but chuckle in kind at the absurdity of a pony berating a full blown greed dragon. There was light laughter in the field before Spike found himself to continue.

“And she said that that ruby had been given to her by, and I quote, ‘the kindest, sweetest, most generous dragon ever’. And when she said that, I remembered back to doing just that, and I looked back at what I had done and thought ‘Would that dragon be doing this?’ And then I kind of snapped back to this.” Spike gestured to himself.

Dazzle was profoundly stunned at the account, if not a true account, then at the fact that a dragon, any dragon, freely gave up something of their own, even to a friend. Her focus drifted away from the other two, back out to the fields, contemplating what it could mean for a greed dragon to revert back to a previous state.

Twilight, on the other hand, was gazing deeply at Spike. They never really talked about what happened after the rampage incident. He had seemed so morose over the damage to Ponyville that she had wanted to give him some space to think, and then Rarity had seemed to cheer him right up from any sort of funk. Though she did have to insist on him bathing three days after the incident. In short, she was both proud that Spike had been able to see that what he had been doing was wrong, and worried that, if it had not been for Rarity, he would have been lost like that most likely forever.

“Can… Can I ask you something?” Spike spoke up, returning Dazzle’s attention to him. She gave him a slow nod in return. “How did you find Pyrathy?”

Dazzle was silent for a second, seeming to consider something before she answered. “It’s been told through my clan to follow the flowing stone pillars for the entrance, and our nose for the chamber.” She said simply. And that gave Spike the answer he felt he needed, but he had to make sure.

“And when you went toward the chamber, did anything change?”

That had Dazzle begin to doubt this line of questioning. “Of course not. Father is reclusive, not elusive. He makes no attempts in hiding from those He calls.”

And Spike was sure now, Dazzle had not a clue about the red stone or the deeper red cracks. “Thanks Dazzle.” Spike sighed as he looked at the ground, a bit dejected in getting nowhere. So the three sat in silence once more, with an occasional shifting from one for a more comfortable position. None of them really knew where to go from here.

The silence was finally broken by Twilight as she stood, stretching out and sighing. “Well, we need to be going Spike.”

“Where?”

“Home, Spike. We’ve spent enough time here and there’s nothing to gain from wasting Dazzle’s time here as well. We also need to get somewhere with paper so we can contact Princess Celestia and let her know what’s going on with… whatever this is.” Twilight gestured her hoof in the air.

“What about Pyrathy’s request?” Spike asked, not getting up from his position against the tree. “It’s not really something I can just ignore.”

“And we’re not.” Twilight elaborated. “But like you said, dragons live for a long time, we can start this another day. There’s nothing stopping us from starting at a later date.”

Spike looked up at Twilight, as she had walked over to him, and was now offering a helping hoof up with a condoling smile. But something seemed off for Spike as he looked at Twilight’s hoof, but he just couldn’t place it for the longest time. And as he accepted the help up, something seemed to click for Spike.

“Why later though?” Spike asked as he fully stood. Twilight’s smile seemed to twitch a little bit.

“Oh, you know. Information gathering, dragon clan layouts and hierarchy. There’s a lot we need to look into before we can even think of starting any sort of reformation.”

“But Twilight, you know there’s not that much in the way of pony research into dragons. That’s what has us stumbling around in the first place.”

“Well it’s not like we took all that much time to look into it before coming out here.” Twilight rebutted. “There can be so much in the Canterlot archives that we could dig up that could lead to a more precise-“

“She’s stalling. That's what's wrong.” Dazzle spoke up, seeming to have read Spike's mind, and making Twilight whip her head around. Dazzle hadn’t moved an inch, and in all seemed more relaxed than before, seeming to pick at something between her claws.

“Stalling for what?” Spike asked over Twilight’s shoulder.

“I am not-!” Twilight began to defend.

“So you forget.” Dazzle asserted as she stood up on all fours, slowly making her way over to the pair. “So you forget about what Father asked you to do and so that you stay with her under the guise of looking for what you want.” Dazzle now stood alongside Twilight, and even abreast from each other Dazzle was a head taller than Twilight, and much more muscular, Spike noticed. Dazzle, for her part, was looking down at Twilight impassively as she glared back at the dragoness. “And while I still stand by my assertion that visiting my clan is not the best or brightest option, I think it would be better than never doing it at all.”

That made Twilight go from anger to shock in a time that would impress Rainbow Dash. “What!?”

“You clearly have no intention of letting Spike near dragon culture. You’re motions are stiff and your words are benign. Anybody with a decent set of eyes can see that you intend to drown all meaningful action behind menial work until a desire for the wanted outcome is snuffed out.”

Twilight’s shock reverted back to anger. “I would never stop Spike from perusing his goals! But he needs to be safe and informed if he’s even going to attempt trying to change an entire society! Going in blind is just going to cause problems that could easily be avoided if we look for them beforehoof!”

“And how much is enough knowledge?” Dazzle asserted. “How much does he need to know before you feel Spike is safe enough? Well here’s lesson one of dragon culture.” Dazzle lowered her face to be inches in front of Twilight’s. “There is no such thing as safe. Only caution. And to much caution causes you to stand still. And standing still gets you run over and eaten.” Dazzle raised her head back up and huffed.

Twilight, for her part, was deeply shaken at how close Dazzle had been and the intensity of the conviction in her eyes. But what broke her was Spike’s next question.

“Is it true Twilight? Do you really not want me to go?”

Twilight’s vision slowly drifted over to Spike, and the heartbreak there broke her own heart. She could see a look of betrayal and the beginning of tears, making tears to begin to well up in her own. An internal struggle went on in Twilight’s brain between her conscious and unconscious. Eventually, her conscious mind ripped out the answer, and it made Twilight’s head droop.

“Yes.” She answered morosely. Her head rose slightly to look at Spike, cutting him off before the question could leave his lips. “I don’t want you to go. I… I don’t want you to change!” Now both Spike and Dazzle’s reactions were that of surprise. “You’re the one thing that’s been constant in my life Spike! Moving to Ponyville, becoming a princess, losing the library, so many other things have happened that I can’t even recount, and you’ve always been there! I can come back from whatever crazy adventure our friends, Princess Celestia, or even Discord send me on, and I can count on you being home with some form of snark that can blow all of that away. And… And if you do this… you’re not going to be the same. I just know it.” Her head dropped once more, tears beginning to fall.

Spike could only blink at the admission. He recalled the conversation in the tent, and recalled when she said she didn’t know what she would do without him. But, did she really mean she wouldn’t know what do without how he was now? And then Spike remembered back to his room, and how devoid of anything that was his. And Spike saw the problem.

“Twilight,” Spike spoke softly, a claw lifting her face to his own. Her eyes were beginning to turn red, and the tear tracks were obviously visible, but Spike knew what need to be said. “You’re your own mare. You don’t need me.” Twilight’s breath caught in her throat as she tried to retort, but Spike shook his head. “You don’t need me as a crutch. You don’t need me to be the same Spike anymore. You’ve done so much to move forward. And now it’s my turn. I need to step up and be my own drake. We’re both to blame for this, I felt like I was being left behind, and you seem to feel like I was the only thing keeping you up, but that’s looking so far back, nopony’s there anymore. I need to move forward, and I would very much like it if you would help me do that.”

Twilight sniffled, but a grin began to touch her lips as she moved forward and nuzzled Spike. “When did you get this smart?” She chuckled, her voice still catching a bit in her throat.

“When I started thinking.” Spike joked, making Twilight jerk back mockingly.

“The horror!” Twilight’s smile broadened and was matched by Spike’s own, and both began to laugh the heavy mood away.

Dazzle, for her part, had moved away to let the two reconnect in their recognition. The smiles were infectious, as even she didn’t seem to be immune to a rise in the corners of her mouth. But remembering what she had planned on doing next, her merriment vanished. She came back to the pair as their laughter was dying, clearing her throat to make sure she had their attention.

“While I would not like to interrupt. I still stand by my offer.” A look was shared between Twilight and Spike before Twilight’s eyes shot up.

“You mean; you would take us back to your clan?” She asked.

Dazzle closed her eyes, bracing herself, before resolutely nodding. “It may not be the best place to start whatever you may plan to change, but a crash course is the best for a dragon. And if Father lead us to meet, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Him.”

“Is it far?” Spike asked as he looked at Twilight’s wings. “You did seem to run yourself ragged.”

“I can make some good time if I pace myself Spike.” Twilight reassured, her wings twitching slightly.

“We did cross a decent portion of the flight in that dash.” Dazzle affirmed. “If we fly moderately, it should not be more than an hour to the clan.” Dazzle looked between the two, both looking at each other with steely determination. She closed her eyes and gave a weary sigh. “And I would be willing to lead you two there.”

Twilight and Spike looked each other for a second longer before both gave a firm nod. Twilight dipped her wing and Spike hopped up onto her back.

“We’re ready when you are Dazzle.” Twilight spoke up.

Dazzle didn’t even bother to look the two in the eye as she turned back west and took to the sky, hoping beyond hope that this was the right thing to do, and wouldn’t get these two killed.

> Source of Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The next hour was spent in silence and reflection. Spike began to think of what being himself really meant, now that he was trying to not define his entire self on Twilight. Twilight was mentally reaffirming that she wasn’t a little filly anymore with zero social skills, and that she didn’t need to hold Spike down anymore.

Dazzle was still battling inside herself, trying to decide if bringing these two to her clan was truly the best option. It was true that a crash course was the best teaching method for a dragon, but you don’t throw a whelp at a wall and expect the wall to break. And from what she had seen from Spike, he was right there with the elder whelps on the cusp of true growth spurts.

As the landscape underneath slowly turned from planes to wastes once more, Dazzle’s eyes began to sweep the low hills still present. When she spotted two points of slightly off brown, she paused in midair and began to hover. Twilight realized this and came up beside Dazzle.

“Are we there yet?” Spike asked.

“Almost, we just need to stop by a patrol group first.”

“Patrol group?” Twilight asked, looking about the sky. “Where?”

Dazzle snorted. “Follow me, and don’t speak unless spoken to.” And with that, Dazzle angled her way down to the discolorations, followed by a very confused Twilight Sparkle.

Upon fully landing on the ground, Twilight was about to ask where the patrol was, when the two discolorations rose from their shallow holes. Both stood low to the ground on all four legs, one a dust red, the other an earthy brown. Neither had wings, much to Twilight’s and Spike’s surprise.

“Back already Dazzle?” The dust red dragon asked, a mocking smirk on his lips.

“Yes Wither, you know trips to our Father are usually short.” Dazzle replied in a neutral tone, and Twilight could already see the sparks of animosity between the two.

“And He made you play tour guide to a pony? Feh.” Wither dismissed, while the other seemed to take an interest in Twilight. Or rather, the mass of purple just above her.


“And just who are our… guests, Dazzle?” At the question, Wither glanced at the earth brown dragon and looked back at Twilight, just now seeming to see Spike.

“This is Spike of No Clan and his Hatcher, Twilight Sparkle, Petrichor.” Dazzle introduced a bit more in a friendly manner, making Petrichor raise a skeptical brow.

“His Hatcher?”

“Now I know you’re pulling my tail.” Wither cut in. “No pony could be a Hatcher.”

“Uh, what’s a Hatcher?” Twilight asked, making Dazzle glare down at her and Spike cover his eyes in embarrassment. Petrichor sighed as Wither chuckled darkly.

“See what I mean Petrichor? She doesn’t even know! How can she be a Hatcher?” Spike’s hand fell back down to Twilight’s back as he glared down at Wither.

“You can not know what a smoky quartz is and still dig it up.” Spike shot back with a bit more venom than anyone, including himself, expected. Spike blinked a bit in surprise as Wither glared back at him.

“As it is,” Petrichor spoke up before anything happened. “A Hatcher is someone who is not the parent of an egg hatching said egg.” Petrichor leveled his gaze once more on Twilight. “Which leaves the question as to why any dragon would allow a pony to try and hatch their egg.”

“That is a bit of an elaborate story for later.” Dazzle cut in as Twilight was about to answer. “We just landed to announce ourselves before heading for the clan.”

“And why would we allow two outsiders to head to the clan, especially when one isn’t even a dragon?” Wither asked, raising his glare back on Dazzle.

“Because Spike was also called on by our Father.” That shocked both Wither and Petrichor, their eyes widening in disbelief. “And his calling was to see our clan.” Dazzle lied by omission. That seemed to shake the disbelief from Wither. He shook his head and looked at Spike one more time before impassively looking at Dazzle.

“There’s no way you’re telling the truth. Father never sees two dragons at once.”

“That’s… something for the chief to decide.” Petrichor slowly followed up, addressing Wither as his own shock resided. “If he can tell when someone is truly Called, then he can tell if this whelp has seen our Father as well.” He turned back to Dazzle. “Head to the chief first then, he’ll want to see these two.”

“As I suspected.” Dazzle nodded, her wings spreading once more. Looking to address Twilight once more, Dazzle cut short any protest. “We best not keep him waiting.” With that, Dazzle took off. One put off huff later, Twilight followed, leaving Spike to look back at the two land based dragons. They just stared back until they were well into the air before burrowing back down. So focused on the two was he, Spike didn’t notice Twilight catch up to Dazzle.

“Why didn’t you let me say anything? I can speak for myself you know.” Twilight fumed.

“Because you have no standing here.” Dazzle replied, still looking forward. “We have our pride, and being questioned by those perceived beneath them is a very easy way to trigger one’s wrath.”

“Well, they asked why I hatched Spike, and you still cut me off.”

“No, they asked what kind of dragon would allow you to hatch their egg. It would be a social curiosity to see the reasoning behind such a thing, but if you told them you just found Spike’s egg lying around and took it… well, how angry would a pony community be if a… foal was taken?”

“That’s completely different.”

“Is it now?” Dazzle finally looked over to Twilight with a look of suspicion. “Tell me, what is the difference between a hapless foal and a defenseless egg being plucked away?”

“A foal can cry for help.” Twilight replied immediately.

“Not if you cover their mouth.” Dazzle replied just as instantaneously.

“They can fight back.” Twilight shot right back.

“Against an adult? Hardly.” Dazzle dismissed.

“They can… they can get away.” Twilight grumbled.

“Perhaps.” Twilight’s ears perked. “If they’re not already in a cage or bound.” Twilight’s ears flattened. Nothing else was said as the wastes continued to pass by, but eventually the dusty brown began to shift to bare stone as the trio came upon a crater.

One crater that was large and deep enough to have five levels of rings, each ring being steep enough to comfortably have a dragon hovel carved into it so that dragons had plenty of head room, and each ring being able to house multitudes of housing caves. Even the smallest, lower ring still seemed to have a few dozen housing hovels with no indication to how deep they went. The center of the crater was still wide and seemed to be home to something akin to the Ponyville market, with one, lone, stone constructed building in the center of it all.

But the dragons that were milling about were so varied to Twilight and Spike, that Twilight held herself at the lip of the crater just looking at all of the dragons that passed below. They had see a dragon gathering before, but that was but a glimpse of a resting flock after a long flight. The activity that was going on below amazed both of them. There were dragons crawling quickly through the crowds, while other larger biped dragons had the crowd move around them, and varying shapes and sizes of dragons in between. All of them seemed to share the same angularly shovel-like head with varying degrees of horns sprouting out the back or down the ridges of their noses. There didn’t seem to be any consistency between dragons who had wings and those that did not, nor ones who walked on all four legs or just two, only that larger dragons were always upright.

“Are you done gawking yet?” Dazzle asked, impatiently hovering beside the two.

“What?” Twilight snapped her attention over to Dazzle. “Well, it’s just so different. Spike said it was about the size of Ponyville, but that definitely didn’t prepare me for this.”

Dazzle just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well come on then, we have to see the chief.” Dazzle then began gliding down towards the center of the crater towards the one standing building. As Twilight began to single mindedly follow behind her, Spike was given the opportunity to look over the crater’s inhabitants. And he saw that they were all looking up at them.

Some seemed to only glance up and then go about their business. Others stopped what they were doing as another pointed them out, and that group seemed a bit more intent on seeing where they were going. And fewer still looked up and seemed genuinely glad to see them.	As they got closer to the ground, everybody was looking up at them and parted as to give the three of them room to land.

When they landed, Spike gained a sudden feeling of smallness, as he had to look up at all the dragons standing to the side. Even having been in the presence of older dragons before, this felt a lot more oppressive than before. But apparently, Dazzle didn’t notice or care as she kept on walking as she landed. Twilight did the same, but she at least seemed to acknowledge the oppression as her eyes darted from one side to the other. The dragons were mostly passive as they watched the trio walk by, until they were almost to the central building where a brawny pigmented red dragon stepped out in front of them.

He stood upright with his arms folded over his chest with his wings behind him purposely half spread to show a dark red membrane. The two horns he had growing from the back portion of his head were just beginning to turn downward, and a horn the size of Spike was growing from the tip of his snout. And he did not look the slightest bit friendly toward the trio.

“Well if the prodigal daughter hasn’t returned.” The dragon snarked, immediately making Dazzle freeze and tense up. “And her little whelp friends too.” His snark dropped to a dead serious tone. “What are they doing here Dazzle?”

“That’s none of your concern right now Starset.” Dazzle curtly replied. “We’re to see the chief first.”

“Not a chance Dazzle.” Starset snarled, his upper lip lifting to show his left fang. “No one is to see the chief unless he or our Father calls for it.”

“Then Spike is to see the chief by our Father’s will.” Dazzle shot. Starset looked down at Spike, and Spike felt a wave of fear wash over him, making him want to curl into a small ball and disappear. Spike even felt his head shrink back into his shoulders.

“Ha!” Starset laughed mirthlessly as he looked back to Dazzle. “That whelp would never be called by our chief, much less our Father. Just turn around and take them back wherever you found them.”

“I found them at our Father’s cave.” Dazzle growled. “And unless you’ve been Called before, I don’t think you have a say in who has and has not been called by Father. And if you don’t believe me, then our chief can verify it. So let. Us. Through.”

Starset looked between Dazzle and Spike one more time before snorting. “See to our chief as you should, oh ‘Called One’. But don’t think this ill convention is to go unnoticed.” And with that Starset stalked away, and many others turned back to their business, Spike noticing a few glares being thrown this way and that towards both Starset and Dazzle. 

Twilight opened her mouth to voice a question, but once more, Dazzle cut her off with a look.

“Wait until we’re inside.” She said as she began walking once more with Twilight quick to follow her up.

When approaching the stone building, Spike saw that there were no windows and only one dark open doorway. When the three made their way inside, Spike looked around for the chief, but only found a barren hollow with a staircase leading downwards in the middle of the room. Dazzle made her way to the staircase, but Twilight stopped dead in her tracks.

“What was all of that about?” Twilight quipped.

Dazzle stopped and sighed. “That was Starset. He likes to think he’s in charge when the chief’s not around, and he is a particularly strong holder of our ‘the strongest is the best’ rhetoric. Now let’s keep moving.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Dazzle looked over her shoulder at the defiant alicorn. Twilight was standing with her front hooves in a steadfast manner, but otherwise had nonaggressive body language.

“You’re avoiding telling us something, and right now is a perfect time for caution.” Twilight said as she glanced down at the staircase. “If you want me and Spike to follow you down there while you’re hiding something important, we’re turning around right now.”

“It’s not important or relevant to what Spike needs to do.” Dazzle pointed out.

“I… disagree.” Spike said as he finally decided to get off Twilight’s back. “I saw the way everyone was looking at you and Starset, and it looked like they were taking sides on something. And if I’m supposed to change anything, having everyone work together would make it a lot easier.”

“We do work together. Just because two dragons don’t like each other doesn’t mean it’ll split us all apart.”

“It does when one of those dragons already thinks he’s in charge.” Twilight added. “If he really acts like a leader, there are going to be those who follow him instead of the chief.”

“But Starset follows the chief, so they follow the chief as well.” Dazzle defended.

“That’s shaky logic.” Spike pointed out. “If the chief doesn’t lead any more, then who would? And what if Starset doesn’t follow the new chief?”

“Unless,” Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “Starset is the son of the chief.” Twilight and Spike didn’t need an answer to that as Dazzle’s jaw clenched and she looked away.

“But if that’s the case, why does he have a problem with you?” Spike asked. “I mean, he seemed kind of like a bully, but there are plenty that seemed to be just as steamed at him than you were.”

There was a second of silence before Dazzle mumbled something neither of the purple duo picked up.

“Come again?” Twilight asked.

“It’s because I’m his…” Dazzle said a bit louder, but still petered out.

“You’re his fiancé?” Spike guessed, making Dazzle’s head snap up in horror.

“No! It’s because I’m his sister!”

There was palpable tension in the room as Dazzle looked away in shame and Spike and Twilight looked at her in disbelief.

There were a few things reeling through both their minds, one of which was basically dealing with a member of high class with such disregard. Spike’s thoughts then went back to comparing the two side by side and seeing such a dichotomy of power between the two. Where Dazzle seemed to be fast and agile in technique, Starset seemed to be brutish and slow, where Dazzle was skittish and curious, Starset was direct and oblivious. Twilight’s thoughts made it to words, to which Dazzle and Spike really wished hadn’t.

“Older or younger?”

Spike wished Twilight hadn’t spoken out of embarrassment, and Dazzle’s wish was out of anger for having to be reminded.

“It doesn’t matter. An egg is laid and the egg is hatched. As to when an egg hatches is irrelevant as long as it is nurtured. An egg could be laid and hatched within an hour or a year. Technically, Spike here is ‘older’ than any of us here, but he will be regarded as a whelp because he only hatched shortly ago. What does matter is blood, and as for that, we are half-siblings. And we are also the only ones here to succeed the chief. All others have left for another clan or died. Some not as subtly as others.”

At that last part, Twilight’s eyes bulged and she looked down at Spike, who’s scales had seemed to become a slightly paler purple.

“S-S-Starset’s-s-s killed h-his own…?” Spike stuttered out.

“Technically, no.” Dazzle sighed and rolled her eyes in disbelief. “But the last few siblings were a bit more… violent in their disappearances. Chipped scales and claws can as easily be attributed to fighting a tatzel as another dragon.”

“Then why are you still here?” Twilight asked. “If it’s so dangerous that you could die any day, why are you still here?”

“Because I can avoid it.” Dazzle said as she took herself off the stairs and walked over to the pair. “To be frank, the others were idiots. They played Starset’s game and lost. They thought they were bigger and tougher, and even a few were. But where Starset may lack in raw force, he makes up in charisma. And where I lack in that strength, I make up tenfold in cunning. It’s an open secret what Starset has done, but those who have done the deeds are fiercely loyal, and those that oppose him can’t find a thing. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m the only one who could lead this clan with a straight head after the current chief.”

“Is Starset that warbound?” Twilight asked, a bit confused at Starset’s methods.

“Starset sees what he has as never enough. The fact he hasn’t gone mad in greed has shocked quite a few dragons. Perhaps he does see a need for more for the clan, but that is neither here nor there at the moment.” Dazzle got on all four legs and lay close to the ground so that Twilight could look her in the eye. “What is important is that the clan holds together for now and that there is nothing to fear from seeing the chief, are we in agreement?”

Of course, from that position, Spike could also see directly into Dazzle’s eyes, and Spike felt something warm inside of him. In his chest, there was a sense of security, of safety, of reassurance. Dazzle may not tell them everything at once, but he deeply felt that she could be trusted. Twilight seemed to feel the same as she gave a small nod.

“I believe in you Dazzle. From our time outside of Pyrathy’s cave to now you’ve done nothing to put us in danger, and have even gone so far to keep it that way. I’ll follow you.”

“And I will too.” Spike chipped in, looking away in embarrassment as two sidelong looks of amusement came. Dazzle chuckled lightly as she stood back upright and back to the stairs. Twilight and Spike followed after her and soon the three began descending down the stairs.

And down.

And down.

And down.

Where Spike wondered if this was the opposite of Sombra and this was an infinite downward spiral. Yet, the further they went down, the cozier Spike felt. The staircase itself was enclosed and dark, so when Twilight’s magic came to life, he could understand her need for light. But when a breeze started to come from in front of him, he noticed why he felt cozy.

“Is it just me or is it getting hot down here?” Twilight asked after a few minutes of decent.

“Oh, sorry.” Dazzle sheepishly looked over her shoulder. “The chieftain resides next to the lava flows of the shrine. It’s always so comforting to come down here, but maybe not so much for a non-dragon.”

“I’ll say. I haven’t felt this comfortable since the Golden Oaks.” Spike said offhandedly, before feeling slightly depressed at remembering what happened to the library.

“…I think I can manage.” Twilight said after giving Spike a reassuring look.

“Well, at least it doesn’t get any worse. We’re here.” Dazzle said as the staircase finally ended and opened into a cavern. And Dazzle wasn’t kidding about the lava flows.

Straight ahead was a long stone building, stretching all the way from the wall to a fourth of the way across the cavern, and from each side of the building freely flowed lava in one large stream, circling around the edge of the cavern before going into holes on either side of the staircase entrance.

Slightly off to the right in front of the long building was a tent. Spike noticed it was much like the ones he had seen with the buffalo, but much bigger and a bit more patchwork.

“From a scale of Our Father flows our forging blood, which allows us much in the way of commodities and trade materials for other clans.” Dazzle explained without prompt, seeing both of them trace the lava flow with their eyes. “And our chief lives just outside of the scale’s shrine as to always being able to commune with it. Come.” Dazzle waved forward and began leading the other two towards the tent. But as they got closer, Spike began to notice what the tent was exactly made out of.

“Are those… scales?” Twilight asked as they got closer. Dazzle solemnly nodded.

“Parts of the pelts of chiefs past. It helps to remind us that we’re not eternal like our Father.” Twilight glanced over to Spike, who lightly gulped and shrugged. It wasn’t what he would want to happen to his skin when he died, but who was he to judge? When the three were a short distance away, Dazzle stopped and knelt before the tent, letting Twilight and Spike do the same before speaking again.

“Chief Mourning Star, I have returned from my Calling. I bring two others with me”

From within the tent, an obviously older dragon stepped out. He was a dull crimson with the two horns from his head that wound into tight cones and three small horns in a triangular position on his snout. He stood with a slight slump in his shoulders, but his sky blue eyes still spoke of a sharp mind. As he stepped out, his eyes were quick to see Dazzle, and faster still to look over Twilight and Spike in examination.

“So you have Dazzle. What were you Called for?” Mourning Star asked in wispy voice one would expect of a grandparent. And at the question, Dazzle bowed her head a bit.

“I was to wait in the corralling nests for the passing of two lights.” Mourning Star’s brow raised at this explanation.

“So why have you brought a whelp and a pony to this sanctum then, if not dictated by our Father?”

“This is Spike of No Clan.” Dazzle indicated to Spike. Spike shrank back a little bit at Mourning Star’s curiosity, but when he closed his eyes and briefly nodded, he seemed to be satisfied.

“And this is Twilight Sparkle, his Hatcher.” Dazzle gestured to the bowing alicorn.

“His hatcher, hmm? And who allowed you to hatch Spike of No Clan?” Mourning Star asked with barbed curiosity.

“No dragon, sir.” Spike spoke up, gaining shocked looks from Dazzle and Twilight, and smug grin from Mourning Star.

“Oh? Is that right?” Mourning Star said as he stepped over to Spike. As the elder drake stood in front of Spike, he knew that looking up would cause him to look straight up to even see him at this angle, for Mourning Star was a good story tall, as the tent and building were even taller up close. So instead Spike continued to look at Mourning Star’s feet.

“A-According to both Princess Celestia and Pyrathy, I was found outside of my nest shortly after the Purge occurred.” Spike noticed that Mourning Star’s claws needed to retract from the ground as he backed up, and as he did so, Mourning Star kneeled down as to see Spike.

“Chief!” Dazzle exclaimed.

“Hush child.” Mourning Star said softly, yet firmly. “Look at me young one.”

Spike looked up to see exactly what the voice entailed. Unlike Pyrathy, who’s eyes were a void lost in pain and despair, Mourning Star’s eyes promised a welcoming hand and a lending ear. He saw that grandfather Spike never knew he wanted or needed. One who knew what he had been through and one who knew what he was going to face. And apparently, Mourning Star looked back just as deeply.

“Were you called as well?” Mourning Star finally asked.

“Yes.” Spike nodded.

“And what was asked of you?” 

Spike was speechless for a moment before he swallowed and found his voice.

“I was asked to change dragons. To…. To show them there’s more to life than carnage and waste.”

Mourning Star looked to Dazzle, who was still in shock from seeing her chief kneel to a whelp, to hearing what exactly her Father had said. “And it seems you were his guide here Dazzle.”

“But,” Mourning Star injected as he fully stood. “There are things to be done. If you are truly Called, our Father has left his mark of purity upon you. And if that is so, I shall listen to you further. Come, I shall show you our greatest treasure for such a task. You may even join us, Hatcher of Spike.” Mourning Star nonchalantly added over to Twilight, who stood to attention once things began commencing.

“Shall I return then chief?” Dazzle asked, standing as well. Mourning Star shook his head.

“Wait here, they will still need a guide once this is over. Wait by the stairs.” With a short bow, Dazzle headed back to the stairs to wait. Mourning Star, Spike, and Twilight began to head to the long building. Gone unnoticed before was an actual door to the building, which was easy to overlook, as it was inlaid with the rest of the stone, but a clear arch of runic symbols glowed as the three drew near. When Mourning Star pushed a rune akin to two cursive L’s, the stone swung inward away from the rune, as if on hinges.

At the far end of the building sat an alter with a red, tear shaped scale set above it. As was indicated outside, two flows of lava came from the bottom of the scale and flowed outward toward the walls of the building. What was not indicated from outside were two thinner streams of lava flowing up into the scale from behind it. In front of the alter was a raised platform so that one could stand above and announce to the empty gathering commons that took up the rest of the building.

Spike only found one problem with the whole arrangement.

It was all red. A deep, blood pulsing red. The same kind that came from Dazzle’s claws outside Pyrathy’s cavern. But unlike then, Spike could see it moving. The reason it looked that deep shade of red.

It was blood. A lot of it. From carnage. And hate. And slaughter. And murder.

All emanating from that one scale.

> Message Recieved
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How is it doing that?” Twilight asked as she and Mourning Star began walking towards the scale.

“Due to our Father’s affinity for fire, his body could shape many forms of flame, and this scale that was left here simply channels nearby lava in a perpetual flow to keep it fresh.”

“And Pyrathy just left a scale of his here? What do you make of this… Spike?” Twilight looked back to see Spike’s eyes wide and jumping around everywhere, terror and repulsion clear as day on his face. “Spike! What is it?!” Twilight exclaimed as she rushed back to the drake’s side.

“So much… so much…” Spike was muttering as he shuffled backwards.

“Spike?” Mourning Star looked over his shoulder at the terrified drake. “What’s wrong?”

Spike didn’t even answer as he turned and bolted out the door, closely followed by Twilight. Spike got out a few paces from the shrine building before stumbling over and throwing up his meager gem snacks. Twilight hesitated as another wave hit Spike and another clattering of gem shards hit the floor. When Spike was hunched over, breathing heavily and unsteadily, Twilight approached with caution.

“Spike? What just happened?” She asked as she kneeled beside him, holding a wing over his back, hoping to soothe him.

“There’s so much blood Twilight.” Spike whispered, tears of pain and fear welling in his eyes. “It’s so much worse than Pyrathy’s scales.” 

“Isn’t that one of Pyrathy’s scales?” Twilight asked as she looked over her shoulder to see a confused Mourning Star standing in the building’s archway. “Maybe it’s because he’s not here to control what it shows.”

“No.” Spike shook his head, standing up and away from his bile. “That wasn’t any dragon’s life. That was just carnage. I don’t even know where to begin, a lot of things were killing a lot of other things. Gryphons and changelings, hydras and deer, their b-blood moved like water Twilight.” Spike said quietly as he and Twilight turned to look back at the building, Spike's claws clenching to try and stop shaking. “That’s not Pyrathy’s scale.”

Mourning Star looked back into the shrine once more before he bowed his head and stepped out, the door swinging shut on its own behind him. He strode over to the pair with patient step before stopping at an appropriate distance so that he and Spike could see each other in the eye. Spike’s gaze was defiant, while Mourning Star’s was full of pity.

“I have never seen such a violent reaction from a Called before, but the scale of our Father has sensed his Call upon you. Thus, I am willing to listen to what you may believe needs to be changed.”

“Get rid of that scale.” Spike replied immediately, garnering him a sharpened glare from Mourning Star.

“The scale of our Father is the central point of our clan. I cannot just simply ‘get rid of it’. It is our totem and guide in life.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Spike asked in shock and disgust.

“We learn from our Father as he had lead, and shall continue to do so in his absence.” Mourning Star’s voice began to rise.

“In murder and slaughter?!” Spike proclaimed, making Twilight jump in shock, and even gained Dazzle’s attention from the stairs. When she noticed a gleaming spot on the floor next to Spike, she quickly started making her way over.

“Of course not.” Mourning Star berated. “We live by the hunt of food and shaping of our homes. We share the simple joys of living to each generation so that they may learn how to live the same way. What makes you think I would lead this clan on such a self-destructive path?” Mourning Star’s inflamed pride simmered to curiosity, and at that point Spike knew that Mourning Star couldn’t see what he had seen. Spike swallowed nervously, and disgusted by the bile aftertaste, asked:

“When you walk in there,” Spike pointed to the shrine building. “What do you see?”

Mourning Star raised a brow dubiously. “It’s our shrine. I keep it as clear as I can for the scale alone. There is nothing in there aside from it.”

“When I walk in there, I see death.” Spike said resolutely, shocking the clan chieftain and stopping Dazzle in her tracks to see what was wrong. Twilight could only look at him in pity for what he had to continue seeing. “I see creatures killing creatures and letting their blood flow like water. I see carnage and mutilation.” Spike’s gaze flickered over to Dazzle. “And I’ve seen what it does.”

Mourning Star’s gaze followed Spike’s, and turned to confusion as he connected his meaning. “What does Dazzle have to do with that.” He asked not as a question, but as a prompt.

Spike swallowed once again, but his adrenaline rush was gone and he flopped onto his ass. Twilight was quickly beside him with a wing around his shoulder, trying to steady his still shaking body. “You may not believe me, but I’ve had a greed growth.” That one statement made Mourning Star take two steps back, and for a dragon his size, that was quite a distance to take. “So I know what it’s like to be overcome by something natural, yet uncontrollable. It happened to Dazzle when I first told her.” Spike continued on so Mourning Star could hear him.

Yet Mourning Star’s attention snapped to Dazzle. “He told you this?” Dazzle was still unsure what was going on, between the bile, Spike’s accusations, and her chieftain’s question, she didn’t even think of her answer as it came out.

“Yes, a bit after we met outside Father’s cave.”

Mourning Star’s next action made Twilight and Spike gasp as he took one step over to Dazzle and lifted her up by her throat. There was a short gasp from Dazzle as she tried to hold herself up at the chieftain’s claw.

“And you lead him right to the scale?” He snarled. Gone was his kindly demanding demeanor, but in its stead a rapidly boiling fury. Twilight jumped to attention with her horn aglow, ready to do what she needed to to save Dazzle. But Spike’s lethargic demeanor noticed something else aside from the assault.

There was a blood red mist coming from Mourning Star’s eyes as he glared at Dazzle.

He felt he needed to help Dazzle, but his strength still wasn’t with him, but he had at least calmed his breathing enough. “There it is, right there!” Spike called out, pointing accusingly, making Mourning Star look back down at him, and giving Twilight an opportunity to shoot a moderate electric spell at his hand to make him let go of Dazzle. He did so, and the dragoness fell to the ground, but Mourning Star didn’t even seem to notice as he bore down on Spike.

“Where is what?” Mourning Star snarled.

“The red.” Spike replied, pointing directly at Mourning Star's face. "In your eyes." Spike took deep breaths, hoping that he could talk his way out of this.

“Where?” Twilight asked from Dazzle’s side, simultaneously looking over the dragon chief and the neck of Dazzle, hoping her larynx hadn't collapsed. Mourning Star forcibly clenched his shocked hand as he rubbed at his left eye, but it did nothing for him, and nothing to the mist.

“There’s nothing in my eye Whelp.” Mourning Star snarled once more, making the mist flare. Spike noticed that making him even more angry would be detrimental to the situation, but seeing as talking was about the only thing Spike could do, he asked the question on his mind.

“So then why are you angry?”

Mourning Star’s attention snapped back once again to Dazzle. “Because she-!”

“Why?” Spike cut off the tirade, a bit of an edge hitting his own voice. “Why are you angry at her that she didn’t tell you? You just told me you don’t live your life through murder, so why resort to it now?”

“I wasn’t going to kill her!” Mourning Star roared at Spike. “I was…!” And Mourning Star slowed in his speech, his breathing began to slow, and Spike saw the red leave his eyes and understanding dawning in its place. “I was going to break her neck.” He whispered to himself, his eyes widening in horror as he took a few steps back. Mourning Star proceeded to lay down on his stomach with his wings tucked in tight, his tail coming around to be held in his front claws. “That hasn’t happened in a long time.”

Dazzle could only look on in awe as she saw the chief of her clan huddled in front of a whelp he just met who was barely the size of one of his fangs. With one last reassurance from Twilight that there was no lasting damage, the two of them walked to Spike’s side, Twilight even taking a second to swipe the bile far away from them into the flowing lava with her magic. She took her seat once more to Spike’s right as Dazzle lay off a bit to their collective left. Once Spike felt everything had called down once more, he asked again.

“Why were you angry with Dazzle, Mourning Star? I thought you would be angry with me more than anything.”

When there was no response from the chief, Dazzle took it upon herself to answer.

“It was my mother. She succumbed to her greed during a clan meeting and tried to take the scale. Mourning Star had to take care of her once the elders were able to drive her above ground.”

“Oh no.” Twilight gasped as she put a hoof over her mouth, Spike having a similar reaction of shock.

“I was… irrational.” Mourning Star admitted, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “I… I associated greed growths with Dazzle, and blamed her for bringing another on the scale. I honestly don’t know what came over me to do that.”

“But that’s what I’m talking about.” Spike spoke up. “I think that scale is doing something. Both when you and Dazzle had irrational bouts of fear and anger, there was something red coming from both of you, and that scale emanates so much of it that I can see what it really is.”

“But why would one of Father’s scales make us like that? Is there something in the curse we still don’t know?” Dazzle asked.

“Curse?” Mourning Star turned to Dazzle for answers.

“It’s why Pyrathy doesn’t see his children all that often.” Spike explained. “Tiamat cursed him with watching all of his children’s lives on his scales.”

“Before or after fighting here?” Mourning Star asked, making Twilight and Spike stare at him blankly.

“Oh, right.” Dazzle sighed. “Our home is based out of the largest impact crater created in Father and Tiamat’s struggle.”

“And you just assumed the scale was left here on purpose?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Of course not.” Mourning Star dismissively snorted. “We found it buried here long after the fight when we were trying to discover where the fresh lava kept coming from.”

“And you didn’t once think that it wasn’t Pyrathy’s?” Spike questioned.

“He was the one who shaped our fire, why wouldn’t his good will flow through every piece of Himself?”

“Or, you know, it could be from his murder happy mother.” Spike replied in a deadpan, making Mourning Star scrunch his face in confusion. Spike just sighed. “There’s a lot that may have gotten lost in translation. One is that Tiamat is Pyrthay’s mother, not the other way around.”

That made Mourning Star raise just a bit. “You need to know to whom you speak-“

“Chief.” Dazzle cut in, not even looking at the larger dragon, instead dejectedly looking at the ground. “One of the things Spike said before is that all dragons that he has met have been overly cruel, and we seem to have shown to be no better.” She finally looked up to see Mourning Star’s full attention. “It may not be our normal way, but let us talk. Rash actions have tended to lead us to… unwanted outcomes.” Dazzle finished by absentmindedly rubbing her clavicle, making Mourning Star flinch back.

One deep breath later, Mourning Star leveled his gaze back on Spike. “Perhaps a tale is in order, Spike of No Clan. Tell me of your Call and your thoughts.”

From there the four talked late into the evening. Spike and Twilight told of their time in Canterlot and Ponyville, their escapades and lessons, and of their limited research into the lineage of Tiamat and her brood.

Mourning Star told them of the clans founding in the crater of Tiamat and Pyrathy’s impact and how rich the uncovered ground had been in minerals and gems. Their clan and its lands had been a major trading ground between many clans near and far, for those that chose to associate with others at all.

By the time their impromptu discussion session ended, Spike was leaning against Twilight with quickly fading stamina. Twilight noticed and thought of putting the young dragon to an early bed for the night when a sudden thought struck her.

“Oh no! I need to send a letter!” Twilight perked up, making Spike jolt into wakefulness.

“What for?” Mourning Star asked.

“I told our guard escort that they’d hear from me within a day of following Dazzle to make sure everything was all right. Do you happen to have any paper?”

“We… don’t really have a practical use for paper.” Dazzle answered. “Fire breathing and mining tends to make it illegible. We have tablets to etch in.”

“Oh, uhh…” Twilight glanced at Spike. “Do you think you could send a tablet?”

“I dunno.” Spike shrugged. “Never had to do it before.” Spike began to scratch his head at the logistics. “Then again, does the paper burn and reform, or does it just break down and reform? Even then the weight might be an iss- no, wait, I’ve done volume before, but still, smaller the better.”

Both Dazzle and Mourning Star looked at each other in confusion of the exchange.

“And how would Spike send a tablet to your guards? He had to ride here on you.” Dazzle broached.

“Oh, no, Spike sends letters between Celestia and myself with his fire.” Twilight dismissively explained, making the two dragons even more confused.

“That’s not how fire works.” Morning Star said. “It heats and burns, it does not… magically transport things.”

“Well, yeah, usually.” Spike said, a new bit of information dawning on him. “But some time after I hatched, I started to be able to send things to Celestia by breathing fire on it, and she basically uses a reverse spell to send things back through me. Can’t you do anything special with your fire?”

Mourning Star shook his head, and with a low rumble in warning, he turned his head aside and let out a long breath of yellow fire. Dazzle responded in kind with letting her own small flow of red fire a little ways out in front of her in demonstration.

“It is fire and our life blood, but that’s about all.” Mourning Star explained.

“Well, maybe not.” Twilight said with a look of deep thought, making Mourning Star quirk a brow at her presumptuous knowledge on dragons. “You said you trade with other clans, I presume with living accommodations such as these, quite a few of your goods require metals, correct?”

“Indeed.” Mourning Star affirmed.

“And do you use hammers or clamps or water when forging?”

“That’s apprentice level forging.” Dazzle answered. “Higher levels just use their fire and claws.”

That made Twilight smile. “One thing I liked to study back in Canterlot was passive magic use that just seemed natural to those that used it. I think here is an example of how your clan has just simply internalized your methods to the point of second nature.”

“Also, didn’t you say that fire was necessary to hatch dragon eggs Dazzle?” Spike added. “I hardly think regular fire does that.”

“Hm, true.” Mourning Star mused. “There are many things to consider now. As for now, Dazzle, take them with you.” Mourning Star nodded toward the stairs. “I’ll be coming up tomorrow to address the clan about our future.”

“Yes chief.” Dazzle bowed her head before standing and heading back.

“She’ll get you what you need, whether a tablet will work or a messenger.” Mourning Star addressed Twilight. “I may not like dealing with other races, but I also do not seek open conflict.”

“Thank you Mourning Star.” Twilight stood and bowed, Spike standing up right along side her.

“And please, feel no rush about your stay. There’s a lot of work to be done.” And with his final statement, Mourning Star stood to his towering height and turned back to his tent. Twilight and Spike wasted no time to get back to the stairs to the surface with Dazzle leading them once more. There was no conversation on the way back up, but as Dazzle reached the top and began making her way outside, she hesitated.

“This is going to be… difficult.”

“Difficult?” Spike asked.

“There are going to be questions about what we just talked about.”

“And due to its sensitive subject material, you don’t want us telling anypony about it.” Twilight surmised as the two caught up to Dazzle’s side. “That’s not going to be hard.”

“Mmm, dragons are a lot more confrontational than ponies, and as I can tell you, we can tell when you’re side stepping the topic.” Dazzle replied, stoically looking ahead. “So I urge you to say nothing even more now than before, since they’re going to want to know. And we have to stop at the refining sector for a tablet since I don’t keep any with me.”

“So yeah, no pressure.” Spike joked sarcastically as he let out a nervous chuckle. As Dazzle glanced down to the pair, a forlorn look passed over her, still wondering if she should regret this decision of bringing the two here.

“We’re going to be moving levels, so it’ll be easier if you hitch onto Twilight once more, Spike.”

Spike gave her a friendly smile as Twilight dipped down to accommodate him once more. Once he was situated, Dazzle put on a stony expression as she set out of the entrance den. Once she had enough space, she immediately snapped open her wings and took off, leaving Twilight and Spike to wince at the dust before promptly following. It did not escape Spike’s notice that this was also a very effective way to cut down on unwanted interaction.

One short glide and level up, the three landed close to the wall that separated the second and third levels and began to walk in silence. Spike let his head swivel as he saw more dragons either eyeing them with intent or dismissing them, as well as carvings above the entrances in the wall. The carvings were crude, but effective in their message, as one showed a square with crisscrossing lines that he saw some dragons with buckets of dirt with some gleaming pieces showing through that made Spike think of a stop that sifted through dirt for necessary items. Another carving depicted a half circle over what he could only assume was fire, and from the smell of it, could only be a restaurant of sorts. Maybe if he could convince or sneak away from Twilight, he was a bit curious to see if he could stomach it.

Interestingly, the entrance they entered had only a square with two squiggly lines inside of it, and as they made their way in, Spike could see why so little was needed in the depiction. The store, for lack of a better term, widened out quite a bit just inside, but there was practically nothing aside from a raised stone table a way in and rows of rock slabs on shelves that seemed to simply form out of the wall.

“Hello?” Dazzle called out. At her voice, a red glowing arch came from the back of the store, and Spike could even make out some similar designs to the altar’s door. As it swung out, a much heavier heat rolled in from the door as a bipedal bronze dragon poked their head out. Seeing the three, the dragon smiled as they came out fully.

Her form screamed feminine to Spike as she walked out, and while small in comparison to Dazzle, still ended up taller than Twilight. She had no wings, but had a row of three small, round horns from down her snout. As she walked over to the table, she put one hand on the waist high table and deftly swung herself up as to have her legs start dangling off the other side.

“What’s the occasion Dazzle?” The dragoness asked in a pretty cheery tone. “Not like you to stop by for a chat.”

“And I’m not Chromie.” Dazzle replied as she looked over to Twilight, and just saw a striking awe in both her and her charge. “We’re here for a small tablet for a short message. But maybe she might be here for a chat.”

“Can I study you?” Twilight near blurted out, making Chromie break out into a fit of giggles.

“What?” She managed to gasp out.

“How do you manage such finesse? I’ve never seen a dragon be able to handle themselves so fluidly.” Twilight explained.

“Hmph.” Dazzle snorted as she looked away. Spike gave her an apologetic look for Twilight’s blunt forgetfulness.

“It’s nothing any trained dragon can’t do, honestly.” Chromie chuckled as her eyes drifted up to the dragon on the pony’s back. “Though if he’s your only source, I can see why.” Spike’s own gaze wandered to the floor as a heat of embarrassment shot into his cheeks.

“What do I keep telling you?” Twilight smirked over her shoulder.

“Shut up.” Spike mumbled back, trying and ultimately failing to gracefully jump off Twilight's back to prove a point. This just lead to Chromie and Twilight giggling for a second. 

“On topic Chromie.” Dazzle course corrected the conversation. “Can you get us a small tablet?”

“Hmm.” Chromie’s head began to swivel as she considered the shelves. “How long’s the message?”

“Not long, just a note to let Princess Celestia and our guard to know everything’s going fine. Might need in a stipulation to ask her to send word to Ponyville to tell ponies where we’ve gone.” Twilight considered.

“Hmm, that’s pretty long. You might need a medium tablet just in case.”

“How big is that?” Spike asked, straightening himself out. “I don’t wanna burn myself out.”

“A bit smaller than that.” Chromie waved to her left near a bottom shelf. The tablets she indicated were a bit bigger than Ponyville’s city hall doors. Spike gulped and shrank back a bit at that, but Twilight looked at it curiously.

“I don’t think we need that much space for it.” After a second, a lightbulb sprang to life in Twilight’s head and snapped her attention to Dazzle. “How do dragons write? Or read?”

“Uh, Chromie?” Dazzle awkwardly fielded the question over to the bit puzzled dragon. Chromie leaned all the way on her back as she seemed to look for something under the table. When she sat back up, she was holding a shard of rock that had one flat surface that was about as long as a baseball bat. She proceeded to flick one claw out as she began to smoothly carve into the shard. After a second she turned it around to show an open three-pronged claw next to an arch-like indent that took up the entire shard. 

At Twilight’s quirked head, Chromie explained. “This says ‘Welcome to my home’. It’s something some dragon’s around here have taken to hanging outside their homes in greetings.”

“So you write in glyphics? Fascinating.” Twilight murmered as she levitated the shard from Chromie’s claw, studying the two glyphs closely. “But this seems largely inefficient. This much space could be used for more than two glyphs.”

“It has to be big for people to see.” Chromie stated nonchalantly as she leaned back.

“From a distance for a sign? Sure. But if this is supposed to be the size for the standard written word? No.” Twilight shook her head. As an idea dawned on her, she asked. “Can I use this for testing?” she lifted the shard a bit in indication.

Chromie shrugged. “Sure, it’s what scarps are for anyways.”

“Good.” Twilight nodded as her magic flared, shearing the stone face as to erase the last message and smoothing the shard into a uniform beam of stone. As she blew the last bit of stone dust off, she noticed both Dazzle and Chromie staring. “What?”

“That was just an hour of work you did there in two seconds.” Chromie gestured in disbelief.

“And you just cut that stone without a second thought or ounce of effort.” Dazzle added, both statements making Twilight blush a little.

“W-Well, it was simple really. It was just an application of imagined force with nothing too delicate to worry about. Any sufficiently powerful unicorn or earth pony could do it.”

“Yeah, and how many of those do you think these two have met?” Spike smirked at her, making Twilight’s cheek’s burn a bit brighter in wrathful indignation.

“Just get to writing.” Twilight growled as she shoved the expectedly heavy rock into his arms.

“With what?” Spike wheezed. “It’s not like we have any pens.”

“Like a pen would work.” Twilight sighed. “Use your claw like Chromie did. It didn’t seem that hard.”

“Hmph.” Chromie snorted.

“Uh, yeah, Twi?” Spike looked back at Twilight in doubt. “You try doing that with your horn.”

“Spike, that’s not what horns are for.”

“Yeah, and I haven’t used my claws to write in stone before.” Spike sighed in lamentation as he sat down, laying the block in front of himself. He looked at his right hand and saw their nubby points, knowing that wouldn’t cut stone. He had honestly never tried extending his claws before. He knew he had them, and he even knew how to care for them, but he had never actively used them. When his index claw came out, it felt very strange, like he just started using a new knuckle. Then he began to doodle in one side, just to see how difficult it would be to carve in, and funnily enough, it only felt like compacted dirt. Flipping the block to its second side, he looked up expectantly at Twilight, who cleared her throat.

“Dear Princess Celestia, Spike and I have embarked on a journey to begin delegating with a local dragon population. Please tell Corporal Steady Wing and Pointed Eye, as well as our friends in Ponyville, that we are fine and shall be away for a while, but we are within good company. Your friend, Twilight Sparkle.”

With her letter dictated and written on the side of the block, Spike remembered a concern. He looked over to Chromie to ask for another scrap to test if this would work, but he found her standing next to his shoulder, making him jump in shock.

“Hmm, compact, but repetitive. Why does this circle and its variations repeat so much?” She asked, but Spike jumped in before a wide and sparkling eyed Twilight could answer.

“Do you have a smaller scrap I could test on first?”

“Hm? Yeah, one moment.” Chromie walked back around the counter as Dazzle took her own look at the message.

“It’s even smaller than what we have, how do you even know what any of this means?” she asked Spike.

“Practice.” He shrugged. “There’s still a lot of words I can’t spell, but their mostly the one’s Twilight uses when she wants to look smart.”

“Accurate. I use the longer terms when I want to be accurate.” Twilight berated, gaining a chuckle from Spike and Dazzle at her wounded ego.

“Here, this should do for you.” Chromie came back with a piece of stone slightly larger than Spike’s hand.

“Thanks Chromie.” Spike said as he took the stone, finding once again a rough stone with one flat side. Spike clawed in the word ‘test’ into the side, took a deep breath, and blew on the rock. To his and Twilight’s relief, the stone disintegrated and flew out of the store.

“What was that!?” Chromie exclaimed as she grabbed and lifted Spike by his shoulders. “What did you just do?” Spike was a bit scared at the sudden rough handling, but also the manic gleam he saw in the dragoness’ eye, not unlike Twilight discovering a new spell.

“I think he sent a letter.” Dazzle chuckled as she picked both of the two smaller dragons up, separated them, set Chromie on the desk, and Spike next to Twilight. “I will have to admit though, I have never seen green fire before.”

“I’ll have to see why.” Twilight mused. “Perhaps it’s inlaid into a dragon’s magic?”

“Dragons don’t have magic.” Chromie replied, and before a rebuttal could be formed, Spike felt a rumble in his stomach and belched. Yet, instead of an expected letter, they all found a perfectly round, smooth stone one would find from one of the palace rock gardens. Carved onto it was an elegant ‘Test received’.

“Oh.” Twilight’s eyes flicked between the intended message and the received stone. “You should probably tell her to get some space for this one.”

“Good call, Chromie?” Spike asked, but a giddy bronze dragon was already coming with another shard. With a tenuous glance at Chromie, Spike carved ‘Get some Space’ onto the shard and breathed his fire onto it, and again the stone disintegrated into green and grey smoke to fly out of the store.

“You have got to show me how to do that.” Chromie grabbed Spike’s hand. “Orders could be made so much easier.”

“I really don’t know how even I do it, I just can.” Spike shrugged in apology at a forlorn Chromie.

“But if you help with some tests, I could maybe figure it out.” Twilight interjected, perking Chromie up once more. Another warning growl later, Spike belched out another stone that said ‘Ready’. Standing up, Spike took a short breath in and out and rubbed his claws.

“Okay, let’s see if this works. Stand back everybody.” The three did as such as Spike took one massive breath, held it for a second, and unleashed a torrent of green fire on the stone beam. As before, the stone disintegrated away, and a much larger cloud of smoke left the store. As Spike took a breather, he was soon enwrapped by a very proud Twilight.

“That’s so impressive Spike! I’ve never seen you do anything like it.” She praised as she snuggled her cheek on top of his head.

“Hehe, yeah, today’s full of surprises.” Spike chuckled as heat started to come to his cheeks from the praise, which soon began to burn from the sly smiles he saw from the other two, but he decided to revel in the comfort of Twilight’s hug.

It was cut short by a warning grumble that came much faster than the other two. When Twilight backed away, Spike belched out the regular expected scroll and seal. A bit perplexed at this, Twilight picked up the paper and cracked the seal.

She could only read the first two bold words before there was a blinding light.

“YOU’RE WHAT?!”
> Huge Risks, Small Steps
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once everyone had sufficiently blinked and rubbed their eyes, there were two dropped jaws from the smaller members as the Solar Princess stood before the four in a bit of bedraggled state. Her mane and tail flowed in a non-existent wind, pristine as ever, but her tiara seemed a bit off kilter, and her eyes were certainly wider than usual.

“Princess! What are you doing here?” Twilight was able to finally ask after a moment of shock at both her mentor’s sudden and unusual appearance.

“That is exactly what I want to know from you, dear Twilight.” Celestia replied in a calm, yet strained manner.

“W-well, you certainly got my letter.” Twilight stammered with a hesitant chuckle.

“That I did. So may I elaborate. Why, in the name of Equestria, are you here? What could have possibly driven you to delegate with dragons?” Her eyes flicked up to two unfamiliar dragonesses.

“Uh, that one would be on me Princess.” Spike nervously raised his hand, gaining a curious brow from Celestia. “I kind of had a Calling.”

“A calling.” Celestia stated flatly. She looked up at the two stunned dragonesses and gave a polite smile. “Excuse us for one moment.” She addressed as her magic glowed, pulling Twilight and Spike toward her before a golden bubble formed around the three. “Would you care to explain?”

“Well, uh, there’s not much to explain really. I had a dream that got me called out to the Badlands, met with Pyrathy, and just sort of made my way here.” Spike explained haphazardly as he folded his claws and tapped his indexes together, looking anywhere that wasn’t at Celestia. What he decided to focus on was Dazzle and Chromie having approached the bubble, curiously tapping on it, and seeming to not be able to see them.

“This, obviously, being supported by Twilght.” Celestia shifted her gaze to her nervous, former student.

“Y-yeah.” Twilight replied, her gaze also off to the side, her weight being shifted from one side to the other. Celestia closed her eyes and softly sighed.

“When you asked me where I had found Spike’s egg, I honestly didn’t consider that this is where it would lead.” Celestia’s eyes opened, a little less frantic now. “Twilight, you must understand that you are a Princess now, and delegating with a singular clan is a very bad move. Showing favor to one clan over others could undermine the dragon hierarchy and there could be severe consequences for doing so.”

“N-not really.” Spike replied, rubbing his neck, directing his attention to the side of Celestia. “The Dragon King title is more of a figurehead than an actual seat of power.”

“And you know this because…?” Celestia prompted, genuinely interested in how Spike could possibly know about the power structure of a foreign body.

“We’ve been talking to Dazzle.” Spike thumbed over to the curious dragoness, which Spike realized was now only Chromie, as Dazzle was now on top of the bubble. Spike promptly corrected his indication, Celestia following to the odd scene of a dragon standing on a smooth, round surface.

“And I’m sure she knows about the political situations of dragons.” Celestia commented with just a hint of sarcasm and a strong will not to roll her eyes.

“She is the current chief’s daughter.” Twilight offhandedly commented.

“…Right.” Celestia looked back to her charges, thinking that this had been one big talking dragoness.

“Yeah, I mean, she certainly looks like Mourning Star’s daughter.” Spike added on, making Celestia’s white coat blanch just a tinge. She knew Mourning Star was a part of Dragon King Torch’s Council of Chiefs, and as she had never once brought this up with Twilight, the only way they could have known his name and appearance was having have actually talked to him.

“You’re sure of that?” Celestia queried, looking between both Twilight and Spike for an answer.

“Yeah, we just got done talking to him.” Spike confirmed, making Celestia pale even more.

“Sweet Faust.” She murmured. “Okay, we’re leaving, now.”

“What?!” Spike and Twilight exclaimed.

“But I have a job to do!” Spike argued.

“And I need to look after Spike!” Twilight added, a wing absently extending over Spike.

“And I need to look after Equeatria!” Celestia snapped, both of her wings flaring, making both purple ones flinch in shock and fear, but Celestia was quick to regain her composure, her wings lowered, but didn’t form back to her sides. “Spike, I can understand wanting to meet more dragons, but what you two have just done is way above your heads. When- not if, when- any of the other clans find out a Princess of Equestria has talked to this clan without them being told beforehoof, there is going to be an outcry of unfair favorable treatment and demands will come to know what you told Mourning Star.”

Spike’s eyes widened and a small grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Good.” He said with a breath of relief.

“Yes, ‘oh’- I-I mean, what?” Celestia looked at Spike in utter bafflement, her own monologue suddenly derailed.

“That’d be great Princess! We were already having a hard enough time trying to figure out how to get to all of the dragons. If they already want to see us, the better.” Spike explained.

A rare sight for Twilight happened in that moment as she saw all thinking and logic leave her former teachers brain. Probably from the happy admittance to greeting impending doom. Celestia slowly turned her attention to Twilight. “Mind explaining?”

“Pyrathy tasked Spike in changing dragon society as a whole.”

Celestia could only blink owlishly as her brain tried to reconnect to reality. “And Pyrathy is who again?”

“The father of dragons.” Twilight stated simply.

Celestia was still for a moment before straightening up and closing her eyes once more, breathing deeply in, bringing her foreleg to her chest, before exhaling and extending her leg outward. When her hoof hit the ground, her eyes opened and once more the pair saw the calm, motherly figure of Equestria. 

“I’m going back to Canterlot.” She stated. “I am going back to Canterlot and I am going to wait for a torrent of complaint letters to flow through the throne room. When I sort through just who is the most distraught over these proceedings, I am going to call for a summit with the Dragon Clan Council. You can then explain to them why you came here and that you are glad to take all questions. Is that acceptable?” She had posed it as a question, but both of them knew that it wasn’t. Spike, however, relished in the scorn.

“Yes, you can even tell them that Spike of No Clan will be waiting for them.” Spike smiled smugly.

In that moment, all of Celestia’s worries truly were washed away by the confidence that Spike displayed. As long as she had known him, he had always been tailing behind Twilight and had never seemed to be too sure of himself. She reveled in his bravado, even as fool hardy as it was. And even a glance to Twilight showed that she too was proud of the young drake.

“I’ll be sure to add that in.” Celestia replied with a small smile of her own. A quick thought later, with a small adjustment to her tiara, Celestia closed her eyes once again, and with a swell of magic, she disappeared back to Canterlot. And with the caster of the bubble gone, an overly curious dragoness suddenly found herself to far off the ground for gravity’s liking.

A short yelp was all Spike and Twilight had in warning to backpedal as Dazzle fell on the floor in front of the two. A snicker could be heard from both Spike and Chromie, but both were quiet as a glare was shot in their directions. As she properly stood and dusted herself off, she addressed Twilight.

“Who was that? She seemed rather upset with you two.” Dazzle prompted as though she had only walked over.

“That was Princess Celestia. How could you not tell?” Twilight answered a bit baffled, but then again, Dazzle did seem to have spotty knowledge of ponies.

Dazzle’s eyes widened once more, seeming to at least know this much. “I’ve never seen her before.” She said as a claw came over her mouth, a dull horror dawning over her.

“Yeah, and it’s not like we go and meet with ponies like you.” Chromie added. “She sure was a lot taller than you though. Are you a runt?” She asked Twilight, making Twilight’s face flush a bit and wings flare.

“No! I am a completely normal sized pony. Princess Celestia is just older and more powerful than I am.” Twilight paused for a moment, thoughts beginning to run through her head. “But, I guess I’m not that much of a normal pony anymore.” A secondary, mortifying thought came a split second later.

She had called Celestia old. None of the others seemed to catch that though. Dazzle was murmuring to herself, Spike was worried about Dazzle’s pacing, and Chromie seemed puzzled about something else entirely.

“Oh?” Chromie cocked her head to the side. “What makes you different from other ponies?”

“Well, these mostly.” Twilight stretched her wings a bit further out, moving on from her own mortification. “I didn’t have them a few months ago.”

“Ooo, yeah, somebody just suddenly sprouting wings wouldn’t be very normal, would it?” Chromie sympathized.

“Yeah, not to mention the coronation afterwards.” Twilight sighed as she folded her wings back.

“What!” Dazzle exclaimed, shocking the other three. “You’re crowned?” Her horror was growing by the second.

“Hehehe, I sometimes forget that too.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head, a heat of embarrassment coming to her cheeks. “About a day or two after getting my wings, I was dubbed Her Royal Majesty Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.” 

“Still too much of a mouthful if you ask me.” Spike commented, cautiously eyeing Dazzle.

“Oh no.” Dazzle murmured as both claws came over her mouth. “Oh no oh no oh no.”

“I agree, Twilight is much easier.” Chromie assented to Spike’s assessment.

“Chromie!” Dazzle snapped. “Do you have any idea what this means for us?”

Chromie looked between the hectic Dazzle and slightly confused Twilight before shrugging. “Not really. I mean, she did follow you here.”

“Ooh.” Dazzle groaned in mourning as her face fully fell into her claws. “That makes it even worse! And everybody saw me do it!”

“Yeah, she came without telling anypony, but we’ll just deal with that later.” Spike tried to consul, but that just seemed to make Dazzle angry at him.

“You knew?”

“We were just told.” Twilight asserted, a defensive step taken between Dazzle and Spike. “Princess Celestia came here for that exact purpose. But we stayed to deal with it.”

Dazzle’s anger seemed to burn for a second longer before a sad smile crept in. “I… I honestly could not thank you enough Princess.”

“Please, just call me Twilight.” Twilight smiled softly.

“Yeah, princess just sounds so gaudy.” Chromie scoffed.

“Chromie.” Dazzle turned a weary gaze to the bronze dragoness. “If the Fang and Blackrock chiefs met and we only knew because Petrichor told Mourning Star, what would happen?”

Chromie snorted and a dark grin crept onto her face. “Those two would be razed for conspiracy.”

“And what do you think I just did by allowing our chief and a leader of pony kind to meet without informing anybody?”

Chromie’s grin vanished and her scales paled. “Oh no.”

“Now you’re getting it.” Dazzle nodded solemnly. “At least we can possibly count on nobody else knowing you’re a ruler, seeing as even we didn’t know.”

“Yeah, but Princess Celestia thinks somepony is going to put it together eventually.” Spike mentioned.

“And hopefully by that point we can have you two out of here and I can… do something about this for the clan.” Dazzle said, losing hope in herself by the end of her sentence. Chromie seemed to have gained some composure back as she walked over and placed a claw on Dazzle’s arm.

“Hey, you’ve talked your way out before. You can definitely do it again.” Chromie smiled warmly up to the distressed dragoness. Dazzle gave a half smile back before she moved away toward the door.

“Well if this is done, we should head for my place. The more we keep you two out of sight, the better off we’ll-“ Dazzle was cut off as a huge gurgle of an empty stomach resonated from Spike. All people present looked at the offending stomach before Spike’s cheeks gained a darker shade.

“Hehe, guess I haven’t eaten all that much recently.” He offered nervously.

“You also didn’t help yourself after seeing the scale.” Twilight ribbed. Her smarm didn’t last long, however, as her own stomach made its own protest. “O-or much myself actually.”

“Ugh, great.” Dazzle sighed. “If it was just Spike, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I definitely don’t have anything for a pony.”

“Hold on, let me check something.” Chromie said as she turned and headed toward the back of the store, opening the hidden door, once more allowing hot air to blast out. Dazzle let herself slump beside the entrance as her shoulders seemed to droop. All of her fight and drive had seemingly evaporated since she had met her two charges. Twilight and Spike walked over to her, not knowing what to do until Chromie came back beside wait. After a moment of taking a seat, Twilight made an observation.

“She seems like a good friend.” Dazzle gave Twilight a dubious look while Spike chuckled.

“I suppose I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Princess of Friendship.” Dazzle smirked before turning her gaze back to the near invisible door. “But that’s not to say you’re wrong.”

“Something seems weird though.” Spike said as he too looked at the door.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Dazzle asked, though Spike seemed to clamp up quickly.

“I-It’s just that… I don’t know… it might be wrong…”

“Oh spit it out already.” Dazzle sighed.

“Where’s Chromie’s mother?” Spike layed out, making Twilight’s eyes grow in shock at how insensitive the question was, which in turn made Dazzle chuckle.

“She moved on.”

“Oh.” Spike and Twilight looked away, making Dazzle snort in agitation.

“Not like that. She literally moved. I don’t know what it’s like for you ponies, but dragons need at most one parent until mid-adolescence. Chromie bonded more with her father Blank Bit than her mother Tide Trance, and when it happened, that was that.”

“That just seems so… hollow.” Twilight murmured.

“We live as we do.” Dazzle shrugged. “Not to say she doesn’t come by and act and care as a mother, but when it came to raising her, Blank Bit took up the responsibility and let Tide Trance do as she pleased. Like when it came to me, Mourning Star obviously has the duty of leading the clan without bias, leaving my mother to raise me, which she knew would happen.” Dazzle’s explanation slowed as her tone dropped. “Even when she succumbed to greed, I was already old and large enough to start on my own.”

“Dazzle, you don’t need to bring her up.” Spike assured. “We don’t need to know any more.”

“It was thirty odd years ago Spike, speaking of her is cathartic now more than anything.” Dazzle shrugged.

“What?” Spike and Twilight leaned away from Dazzle in shock.

“What?” Dazzle asked, more than a bit confused.

“Um, Dazzle, I don’t know how to ask this, but… how old are you exactly?” Twilight asked.

“Ho, well, coming on fifty-three this mid-summer I suppose.” Dazzle crossed her arms in thought. Twilight and Spike could only look at each other in equal disbelief. After her own consideration, Dazzle looked to Spike. “Which honestly makes me wonder how old you are Spike. You are smarter, wiser, and far more articulate than any three year old should be.”

That made Spike jump to his feet. “I’m not three! I’m twelve!”

Now it was Dazzle’s turn to be in shock. “Nonsense, you should at least come up to my waist by ten!”

“Interesting.” Twilight pondered as she looked between Spike and Dazzle. “There are many factors that can go into a dragon’s growth, as we know greed causes an exponential rise in height, but a similar decrease I coherence.” She began rattling off. “Environment is also a possible contributing factor, as you, Dazzle, have had to survive here, while Spike has been able to lead a, for lack of a better term, lackadaisical lifestyle.”

“Hmph.” Dazzle huffed as she looked down at Spike. “I suppose so. If you have been as lazy as to not need to grow, so be it I guess.”

“Hey now, I’ve had to work my butt off!”

“Oh really?” Dazzle smirked. “Have you had to fend your own meals away from others? Have you had to stop factions from clashing? Have you had to race back to society as to not have an ‘accident’?” Dazzle gradually accused.

“No.” Spike admitted meekly, but redoubled with “But I have had to keep her-“ Spike pointed offhandedly towards Twilight. “-healthy and rested after her binge studying. I’ve had to jump out of a castle, without wings, hoping that I would live after I hit the ground. And I’ve had to protect others who couldn’t do it themselves.”

Dazzle quirked a brow at that last claim. “Oh really now? And what, pray tell, did you have to go against?”

“Well, remember how I said I’ve met other dragons before?”

“Yes.” Dazzle nodded.

“Them, against a phoenix egg.” 

Dazzle's eyes widened, fairly impressed. “Can’t say there are many who would protect an egg that isn’t their own, much less the wrong species. But that does lead me to ask, which clan did you encounter?”

“We couldn’t really tell you.” Twilight interjected. “We were watching them as they migrated near Ponyville and took up residence in a volcano a few days northeast.”

“Mmm, migratory clans aren’t uncommon, but that is little to go off of.”

“The main mass of the clan seemed to be of the lethargic type though.” Spike added.

“That helps a little bit, but there are still about seven clans that fit that narrower description.”

“I’d like to know so I’d never have to see Garble again.” Spike muttered.

“Who?” Twilight asked.

“The red and yellow one that was bossing the others around.” Spike elaborated.

“Garble?” Dazzle growled. “Slab Scale.”

“What was that?” Spike asked.

“The Slab Scale clan. The members are a slow going bunch, but that has also made all of their whelps restless and arrogant. Starset and Garble like to play ‘games’ with each other that could constitute conflict if not for both of their insistence that they’re only playing.” Dazzle explained, poison and disdain dripping from her words as she continued. “Egg smashing in particular is a favorite of Garble’s. The harder the egg is, the more points the player receives, even up to discarded dragon eggs. Some have argued on the discarded status on those few eggs, however.” Spike and Twilight’s horror only grew as she spoke. A pause lightened Dazzle tone however. “For you to have held your ground is commendable.”

“Mmm.” Spike groaned. “Not so much stand as take the only egg left and run. And even then Twilight got us out of there with her magic.”

“Still, commendable on both your parts then.” Dazzle acknowledged Twilight. “Garble is a stubborn one, and to have gotten away from him is of note.” Dazzle gave a bit more of a genuine smile towards Spike. “Perhaps you haven’t lead my type of life, but I’m sure you’ve had your moments, I suppose.”

A rush of hot wind redirected all of their attention back to the back-room door as Chromie exited with a nervous half smile. She seemed to rub her claws together as she prepared to tell the trio something more than a bit unpleasant.

“So, I thought dad might have something for his cows, but turns out he sold them off since they were losing their taste, along with everything he had for them. So the only place either of us could think of that would have something for Twilight is… The Broiled Pit.” Chromie chuckled halfheartedly and Dazzle groaned in frustration. Twilight was in a slight shock at the casual nature Chromie brought up owning cows, but quickly reminded herself that she wasn’t in Ponyville right now.

“Yeah, doesn’t sound like my kind of place.” Twilight commented with a grimace, but her stomach protested. “But I guess anything is better than nothing. Maybe.”

“That’s not even half the problem.” Dazzle sighed as she stood up. “It’s a meater’s heavy place and a popular spot for Starset and his more vocal backers.”

“Meater?” Spike asked.

“Dragons who mainly eat meat.” Chromie explained. “And they’re usually super elitist about it too. Usually, if you’re not in the in-crowd or proving a point, it’s not a place anybody should visit.”

Spike was conflicted for all of a second before pronouncing “Well, I can’t just let Twilight starve. If that’s the only place we’ve got, it’s the place we gotta go.”

“The thought’s appreciated Spike.” Twilight smiled as she placed a hoof on his shoulder. “But if going one night without a meal is all I need, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Despite my reservations, I would say otherwise Twilight.” Dazzle said. “Tomorrow isn’t going to be pretty, and I’d rather be uncomfortable while you got your fill than have you running on empty if anything happens.”

“Which brings up the other problem we ran into.” Chromie meekly mentioned. “Keeping up livestock isn’t very cheap, and I don’t think you have any way of paying for what you would take, do you Twilight?”

“I-I mean, I guess not.” Twilight rubbed the back of her neck as she looked away. “I wasn’t really prepared for this.”

“What if we work it off?” Spike suggested, garnering the attention of the other three. “I mean, Twilight was able to impress the two of you with some basic magic. What if we just do some work for the Broiled Pit and work off the tab?”

“I don’t like it.” Dazzle shook her head. “I don’t think we would get a fair shake for anything there.”

Twilight looked nervously between Dazzle and Chromie as an uncomfortable idea came to mind. “I could pull rank.” She offered, gaining a sharp glance from Dazzle.

“Didn’t we just decide to keep that under wraps? If you pull that kind of rank in a public space, there’s no telling how far that could spiral out of control by tomorrow!”

Spike looked between the three around him for a moment before taking a deep sigh. “It’s the best plan we’ve got. We’ll go, make the best impression we can, and then see what goes from there, because honestly, this is starting to hurt.” With Spike’s final words, his stomach erupted in protest once more.

“Fine, let’s get going then. It shouldn’t take too long to walk there.” Dazzle got to her feet and began walking outside once more, Spike and Twilight following her this time. “Thanks for your help Chromie.”

“Oh no.” The bronze dragoness called out as she jogged past the purple duo and up alongside Dazzle. “You’re not going in there without me. This was my idea and I’m going to see it through.”

“Chromie, I-“

“Let her come.” Twilight cut Dazzle off. “The more of us together, the better.”

Dazzle grumbled a little before a dejected “Fine.”

As the four left the shop, Chromie held them up for one moment as she touched the side of the store entrance, making runes dimly glow around the edges. She explained that it was both a sign that there was no one to help and that the cave was under spell protection. This lead Twilight and Chromie into a discussion on basic draconic rune magic as Dazzle and Spike kept an eye on where they were walking, and who was watching. The pace they kept was brisk, and due to their grouping, nobody was in their way, so in short order, the four were standing outside the entrance to the Broiled Pit.

The entrance wasn’t dissimilar to the one to Chromie’s shop, but along the wall next to the entrance were high, narrow rectangular openings that emanated heat and smell, a smell that enticed Spike and made Twilight want to be sick. The smell of roasting meat wafted out of the openings and doorway to the extent where Twilight was considering her appetite well and truly dead, but it seemed to egg Spike on even more. There was a concerned look from Dazzle and Chromie, but Twilight gave them an unsure smile and just nodded determinately. The two dragonesses gave each other one last look before heading into the rather rowdy establishment.

All of which seemed to die in three seconds of Twilight setting hoof in the establishment. Twilight’s attention was distracted, trying to find the closest thing she could find to an employee to get this over with, while the three dragons of the group looked to the patrons. All eyes were on their group, some in curiosity at Twilight, some seemed to be snerking at Spike, and a majority in disdain at Dazzle. Just as Twilight noticed the stillness of the establishment, conversations started back up and people were once again on their own business, but the group could tell that they still had at least 30% of all attention.

Chromie directed the group to the back of the main cavern area where a long stone bar-table had one pale green dragon behind it. The bar was taller than Spike, and Twilight had to get on her hind legs to see over it, while it was chest high on Chromie and mid waist to Dazzle. The dragon behind the bar seemed to have an even air about him, but the way he seemed to focus on Chromie and Twilight made Spike feel there going to be some bias.

“Going home or sitting in Chromie?” The drake asked.

“Not quite sure today Snide. We’ve got a bit of a situation today.” Chromie replied in a decidedly neutral tone.

“Evidently.” Snide looked to Twilight, and even leaned forward to make sure Spike was still there. “What do you think I can do for you?”

“Well, seeing as you boast to being the freshest meaterie around, I was wondering if you couldn’t spare something for our guest.” Chromie casually gestured to Twilight.

Snide raised a brow. “I don’t see anything resembling a bag for materials. We may have tabs here Chromie, but I’m not opening one for a stranger.”

“I’ll do my part of service.” Twilight answered. Snide gained a small grin.

“And what could a… pony… do for us? I doubt you could even clean our dishes, let alone even lift one.”

Twilight looked to her left and her right, and gave her own smile back. Aside from the two stools being used by other dragons, Twilight proceeded to take the remaining ten stone/steel stools and stack them in a pyramid behind her without even looking. The Broiled Pit went silent again as everyone stared at the effortless display of power.

“I could probably even sort your material collection if you wanted.” Twilight continued to smugly smile as she replaced the stools, chatter once again starting up, a lot more heated this time. Snide gave a respectful chuckle.

“Done. It has just been piling up.” Snide rubbed his chin. “Might be nice not having to panic for a few months. What do you need?”

“Grasses, vegetables, flowers, just a small assortment of things should do.” Twilight answered before blinking and looking down at Spike before again addressing Snide. “And, uhh, a few gems wouldn’t hurt.”

Snide’s mirth drained at the request. “Pony, we’re a meaterie, I can accommodate you ‘cause you use what we have. If you wanna feed your rock bitter whelp, you’re going to need to find somewhere else.” A small growl emanated from both Twilight and surprisingly Dazzle, but Spike spoke up before either of them could snap.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could I just try something?” Twilight’s head immediately snapped to Spike, but even in her shocked stare, Spike didn’t back down. “I’ve never had the chance to try any. Just, uh, don’t let it touch what she’s having.” Spike nodded towards Twilight.

Snide snorted and smiled. “And what, cross contaminate food? I think not. Have a seat over there, I’ll get things prepped.” Snide indicated to a booth that was currently unoccupied at the end of the bar as he walked away. The four made their way over Spike and Twilight taking one side, Dazzle and Chromie on the other. The seating arrangement left Spike against the wall, with nowhere to run from a ranting.

“Spike! Are you crazy?” Twilight hissed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Trying something different, geeze.” Spike shrank away. “It’s not like I’ll be able to do anything like this in Ponyville.”

“But…” Twilight’s attention darted away. “But what if you like it.”

Spike paused, having nothing to say. He hadn’t really thought about that, he was just curious about how meat tasted. But… if he liked it, it’s not like there was any real way for him to get any in Ponyville. He’d have to move somewhere where he could get it. But…

“Hey, if I like it, I like it. If I don’t, I don’t.” Spike put a reassuring claw on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s just something to know Twilight.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we need it to exclusively survive.” Dazzle said in a somewhat calming tone as she leaned on the table. She didn’t know why this was important, but she didn’t want to enflame anything.

“If anything, I’m just more concerned for your food.” Chromie added, glancing back toward the bar. “They might have some things for you, but it’s probably not going to be near anything you’re used to.”

“Ooo, yeah.” Dazzle sucked in her breath. “This probably isn’t going to be anywhere near what your personal staff makes.“

“Pfht.” Twilight waved dismissively. “I don’t have a personal staff.”

“Ehem.” Spike coughed.

“Oh you know you just make it for yourself.” Twilight smiled, holding a hoof mockingly to her chest. “I just happen to eat what you can’t.” Spike and Twilight couldn’t help but snort and chuckle at the exchange. Dazzle could only lean on her fist as she stared at the two.

“If you two are always this lax, no wonder we’ve ended up in this mess.”

Chromie didn’t say anything, but she did notice the smile that began to creep into her friend’s stoic face, and she to began to smile as her solitary friend seemed to finally breaking out of her shell for once. Chromie had always feared that her friend would have too much of a defensive wall if she ever became clan leader, but maybe this ‘mess’ they were in wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
> Stirrings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                “But I’m putting my claw down, after we’re done here, we hole up in my den until tomorrow.” Dazzle laid out.

                “Agreed.” Nodded Twilight.

                “Which reminds me, what’s tomorrow?” Chromie asked.

                “Mourning Star’s coming up to address the clan on what we talked about today.” Spike answered, making Chromie start back.

                “Really? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him come up from the alter since… uh…” Chromie glanced towards Dazzle, who simply nodded.

“They know Chromie.”

“Oh.” Chromie breathed a sigh of relief. “Since Early Light succumbed to her greed.”

“Which concerns me a bit.” Twilight spoke up while quietly squirreling Dazzle’s mother’s name away in her head. “How is he coming up? The way we went down was a bit spacious for us, but I don’t think Mourning Star could fit up those stairs.”

“Through the lava vents.” Dazzle explained. “The way we went is the general entrance, but for larger and older members, the lava vents are an easy way in for dragons.”

“And not so much for other races, clever.” Twilight smiled at the unconventional method while beginning to shift uncomfortably. Clearing her throat, she began to cast her magic and Spike suddenly felt a lot cooler on his right, making him grimace a little at his oversight.

“Oo, sorry Twilight. Do you need anything else?”

“What? What’s going on?” Chromie asked a bit concerned as she glanced around as to what Twilight was casting her magic on. Dazzle felt the wave of cool air over her claw and began to have the same dawning of understanding Spike was.

“Ooo, right, dragon temperatures.” Dazzle acknowledged as she pulled her claw away. “Chromie, this might be comfortable for us, but it’s a bit much for a pony like Twilight.” Dazzle explained. “Would you mind seeing if we could get a round of waters?”

“Not a problem, I’m on it.” Chromie chirped as she jumped out of her seat, making her way back to the bar where a different drake was tending.

“Thanks, you two.” Twilight smiled. “Honestly I didn’t even notice.”

“Well, just don’t overdo yourself.” Spike warned. “You don’t want to pass out in here.”

“Please Spike, a coolant spell of this caliber isn’t going to drain me that much. I’ll be fine.” Twilight reassured just as her stomach grumbled in protest once more.

“Properly fed maybe.” Spike’s concern didn’t waver. “But we both know magic’s one of the first nonessentials to go in starvation cases.”

“Spike, I’m not starving, I’m just hungry.” Twilight chuckled. “Starvation doesn’t set in until more than a month of malnutrition. It’s barely been a day, I’ll be fine. Honestly, you’re starting to sound like me.”

“Well, I can see why.” Dazzle observed as she leaned back against the bench. “You’re basically in his world right now Twilight. And as new to this as both of you may be, he does have less disadvantages than you. And as he stated earlier, he has had to be your guardian before.”

“Oh he was just being melodramatic.” Twilight waved her hoof dismissively.

“Not all that much, but then again I haven’t had to do much beyond a bit of prodding. Though I did learn to do a bit more after the Lesson Zero incident-“ Spike began.

“To which we agreed we would never extrapolate on.” Twilight said through grit teeth, peaking Dazzle’s interest. Unfortunately for her, one of her fears about coming to the Broiled Pit came true.

“Well look who we have here.” A familiar arrogant tone rang through the establishment. The trio’s attention was drawn to a table not too far behind them where Starset was leaning on a table with two other dragons giving them a sidelong look. “And here I thought you would never place a claw in here Dazzle.” He said as he began to stride over to their booth, making Dazzle hunch over the table and splay her claws onto the table. “What was it that you said about meateries? ‘All fat and no food’ was it?” He leaned against the booth seat with a slimy grin. “So what are you doing here, sis?”

Dazzle’s claws noticeably clenched and unclenched against the table as she resolutely stared at the booth back above Spike and Twilight. “It was the only place with plants for our guest. That’s all.” Dazzle glowered.

“Right, our guest.” Starset directed his gaze to Twilight, who felt an immediate repulsion. Before, he had felt like a brick wall that was barring an outsider, now he felt like one of the lower slime ball nobles that acted in every conceivable way to look polite while trying to wring you dry of your bits. “Tell me, how was meeting our chief today?”

Knowing what she did about what they had done about going over everybody’s heads and how a power monger like Starset might take it, Twilight set as neutral a face and tone as she could. “It was informative. We never seem to know much about dragons.”

“I would assume not.” Starset remarked as he began to pompously examine a claw. “A proper dragon wouldn’t need to take the time to talk to such an insignificant pony.” Starset grinned as he not to subtly glanced at Dazzle. Spike, however, caught the quip in a different light.

“I wouldn’t say that to loud. A proper dragon like Mourning Star might hear it.” Spike said, innocently twiddling his thumbs and looking at the wall. Starset’s gaze hardened as it fell on Spike.

“And what would a welp know about being a proper dragon?” He snarled lightly.

“I didn’t say anything about knowing how to be a proper dragon.” Spike replied with a small, knowing smile. “Just that Mourning Star took the time to talk to both Twilight and I. So what are you saying about your clan leader who would talk to a pony and a welp?”

Dazzle’s right eye began twitching so hard she was sure something was going to burst when Spike began talking, her claws wedging into the table. But as the words rolled out, her claws unclenched as she thought about Spike’s words. In truth, she had never been a well-rounded speaker, but out thinking needed no spoken word. Spike seemed a bit more versed in verbal bouts as he made no claims, just a simple fact. It was Starset’s claim that a proper dragon wouldn’t speak to an insignificant pony, and she knew Starset had meant for everybody to hear that. And so had Spike.

Twilight was too busy looking between the two drake’s, preparing to leap in any given direction to truly appreciate Spike’s word play. What she did notice were Dazzle’s unclenched claws and Starset’s growing displeasure. Calming her panic a notch as to have complicated coherent thought once more, she cleared her throat for Starset’s attention.

“As it stands, I would like to have a meal in peace before retiring tonight. It has been a long day and fewer distractions would be appreciated. We may very well speak at length tomorrow.” Twilight rolled out with a calm demeanor that quietly shocked everyone at the table, visibly or not.

Starset snorted. “Fine. Enjoy your ‘meal’, pony. I’ll make sure to have a proper talk with you when your ‘properly rested’.” He made in mock air quotes before rolling his eyes and heading back to the dragons who had pointed them out. But no sooner did he have his back turned that Twilight was turning on one dead baby dragon.

“Spike!” Twilight hissed thorough her teeth, loud enough to alarm the drake without disrupting the other customers. “What in Equestria do you think you were doing?!”

“I wasn’t really.” Spike shrunk away a little. “He was just being a bit of a creep and it just came out.”

“Really?” Dazzle chuckled. “That little ‘innocent child’ look you took seemed a bit more than accidental.”

“Well, it started just coming out on its own.” Spike defended. “The twiddling was on the spot, honest.”

“Just… just don’t. Okay?” Twilight asked, exasperated. In all honesty she was glad that ended as soon as it began, and this was just piling up to be more than she wanted today to be.

“Everyone okay over here?” Chromie asked as she came back to the table, a stone tray with four smooth stone cups on it, presumably with water. “I saw Starset walking away, anything wrong?” Chromie laid the tray on the table and hopping into her seat next to Dazzle, taking a scouring look around the table and Dazzle’s face.

“It’s fine Chromie.” Dazzle placated as she gabbed a glass for herself, taking a grateful sip as she could. Twilight and Spike on the other hand, simply looked at the cups. One cup was easily as large as Twilight’s head, and while it wasn’t so hard for Twilight to levitate one to tip over for access, Spike had another story.

“This might be a slight problem.” Spike noted, getting Chromie’s attention and a small snort.

“In my defense, I did ask for small cups. But don’t worry, I get some of the same problems. Just use your claws, see?” Chromie demonstrated as she extended her claws and sunk them into the cup, not fully encircling the cup, but still having enough grip to lift it.

“But… what about…?” Twilight couldn’t quite articulate her question about the cup’s finish, just being able to blabber as she lifted a cup past her to in front of Spike with a confused look.

“Bottom of the cup.” Dazzle said as she lifted her own cup higher to show an almost complete circle but with a part of the line removed and above the circle.

“See?” Chromie put her cup down and let go, leaving the gouges behind. But after a second, the gaps closed, leaving the cup sheerless once more.

“That’s incredible!” Twilight brightened as she took the last cup for herself and lifted it up to see the symbol up close. “But how can it possibly do that? Where does the new rock come from to fill in for the old? And what even is this rune? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It helps keep the costs of cups down.” Dazzle said as she drank from her cup. “Short of shattering the things, coming into contact with other stone siphons material to fix it. Try it.”

Spike looked at his cup dubiously, but he reached out for it, having to put both hands around it, and sunk his claws in. He hadn’t really felt like he lived up to the baby part of baby dragon in a long time, but handling this cup sure made him feel immature. With a little bit of effort, he was able to tip the cup towards himself, and managed to splash some water in his eyes.

“Mm.” Spike grunted as he set the cup back down, letting go and allowing the cup to reform.

“Are you okay Spike?” Twilight asked, a wing hesitating to wipe away any excess water.

“I’m fine Twilight, just focus on yourself.” Spike said as he wiped his eyes.

“Not used to things being too much bigger than you, are ya?” Chromie smiled from across the table as she gripped her own cup and took a sip from it. “Ahh, you’ll find your own way around it I’m sure.”

“Around or at.” Dazzle muttered as she looked up, innocently sipping her drink.

“Oh-ho now?” Chromie slyly grinned at her friend. “What’s this? You, Dazzle, complementing another dragon, and a drake no less.” Twilight and Spike could only quirk a brow at Chromie’s antics.

“Just a statement of fact.” Dazzle said as she set her cup to meet Chromie’s knowing gaze. “He does have a tendency to throw himself into bodily harm.”

“What? No I don’t.” Spike lightly protested, though Twilight began to rack her brains as she took her own water.

“Well, not to mention the time that you jumped out of the crystal palace, there was the time you charged that Timberwolf amalgam, then there was you pinning down Dazzle for me, and-“

“He what!?” Chromie stood on the bench as her attention snapped between Twilight and Dazzle, her face darkening a bit. Twilight backpeddled on her thoughts and heated up a bit at her wording, Dazzle seeming to catch the same meaning as she too gained a slightly darker hue. Spike seemed to be the only one where the implications flew over his head.

“Not like that!” Dazzle snapped at Chromie. “There was a bit of a scuffle near Father’s cave and things were a bit hectic, nothing else.”

Chromie looked between Dazzle’s glare and Spike’s confusion before coughing into her claw. “Right. My mistake.” She said as she sat herself back down, grabbing her cup and taking her time drinking.

“Am I missing something here?” Spike asked.

“No.” Twilight and Dazzle responded in different degrees of embarrassment. Thankfully for the both of them, a drake came to their booth with two plates in hand. One he placed in front of Twilight, as it had some dry hay, a bundle of green grass, and a cucumber. The other he placed in the middle of the table, a ring of various meats circling the plate. There were strips, links, and slabs of meat, cooked or uncooked to various degrees.

“Just ask for Snide when you’re all done.” The drake told Chromie before heading off.

Both Chromie and Dazzle reached for the plate, Chromie with a smile similar to Pinkie Pie sneaking a cupcake out of a batch for herself, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth in hungry expectation. Dazzle had a much more dismissive and disgusted look as she was looking up as she tried to push the plate toward Spike.  Chromie was able to snatch two strips of meat before the plate got too far away, and Spike didn’t have enough of an attachment to the meal to really complain.

Spike did have to hold his drool back, however, as the smoke of the meat wafted at him, apparently helped by Twilight’s spell to keep the smell away from herself. There was only slight hesitation as he reached out for the approaching plate. When he could, he grabbed a brown link of meat, and forgetting his own manners, chomped the thing down in one bite.

It was different to say the least. It certainly didn’t have the crunch he was used to with gems, but definitely better than some fruits he’d had, the meat’s juice being so much more satisfying. After swallowing, he noticed an interested stare from Twilight and Dazzle, while Chromie was savoring her own stolen treat.

“Well?” Twilight asked as she nervously nibbled on her cucumber.

Spike looked between her and the meat platter, and shrugged. “Eh, it’s decent. Definitely better than any hayburger you try to tempt me with.” He said as he took a strip of meat and began tearing pieces off one at a time as he had just seen Chromie do. Twilight decided to look away as she focused on her own meal.

At Spike’s comment, however, Chromie chuckled. “Heheheh, hayburger. Think someone stole that from us?” She smiled as she nudged Dazzle with her elbow, who merely rolled her eyes as she placed her chin in her palm.

“If it’s not going to concern any of my time, I can’t really say I care.”

“Someone stole what?” Twilight asked.

“Hayburger, hamburger, I think someone might have been around dragons for a bit.” Chromie explained. From there, Chromie and Twilight talked over stolen intellectual properties and differing cuisine around both of their abodes. Spike was too busy trying to savor each taste that he could, and asking Dazzle what each piece probably was. For while he did think gems were better after all, he definitely wouldn’t say no to anything from a pig again.

When Chromie noticed Spike had finished off the plate and was carefully taking sips of his water from his frankly comically sized cup and that Twilight had long since finished what she had, she hopped out of her seat and told the group she’d go grab Snide to see what was next. And there the three sat, each quietly contemplating their own thoughts.

When Spike gave out a rather large yawn, Dazzle looked over her shoulder to see that it had gotten near dark since they entered The Pit.

“Do you think you can do what you need to quickly Twilight?” Dazzle asked. “Cause I don’t think Spike’s going to be able to go much longer. And I don’t want to carry him.”

“What? No, I’m fiiiiiiiine.” Spike yawned mid-sentence. “Or… or maybe not so much.”

“It shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Some metal and ores should be sorted easily enough.”

“Oh, I think it might take a bit of time.” A familiar bartender replied as he and Chromie came to the table. “Come along pony, I’ll show you to your job.” Snide waved toward the bar with a slight dip, a bit ambiguous if it was mocking or sincere. Never the less, Twilight made her way down and began to trot along. Spike attempted to start following, but a hand easily blocked his way. “You and the others can leave.”

“Like hay I’m letting Twilight go off alone around here.” Spike tried to muster a righteous tone, but his swaying footing only made Snide raise a questioning brow.

“Nothing will come of your friend whelp. Go on to bed with you.” Snide said as he quickly turned his hand to push Spike towards Chromie.

“Hey, don’t worry fella, Snide’s on the up and up. No one would be here if he didn’t treat his customers right.” Chromie tried to consul.

“Yeah, this may not be my kind of place, but’s a good place.” Dazzle said as she got out of the booth. “Come on, we’ll just wait outside.”

“But-“

“Go on Spike, I’ll be fine.” Twilight smiled.

“Fine.” Spike sighed as he, Dazzle, and Chromie made their way to the door. There were fewer patrons than when they had walked in, but they could still feel quite a number of eyes on them as they made their way out of the meaterie. They made their way out of the establishment and took a right with Dazzle sitting down next to the door, Spike quickly following suit.

“Are you two going to be all right by yourselves, or do you want me to wait with you?” Chromie asked as she glanced around, but nobody outside seemed to pay them any attention.

“You can go on home Chromie, we’ll be fine.” Dazzle said as she did something that shocked Chromie quite a bit. She extended her wing and brought it around Spike, who quickly moved closer to Dazzle.

Chromie gave a warm smile. “All right then. I’ll see you around tomorrow then. It was nice meeting you Spike.”

“You too Chromie.” Spike smiled back.

Chromie couldn’t help but give a small mischievous air to her smile as she made eye contact with Dazzle, making Dazzle scowl slightly as she shooed Chromie away. She giggled as she did so.

“She reminds me of Pinkie Pie.” Spike commented as he leaned against Dazzle’s side.

“I feared the day that there was more than one of her.” Dazzle chuckled. “Though I thought she would need whelps of her own for that to happen.”

They were silent for a bit as they sat outside of the Broiled Pit watching as dragons walked by, only ever so often getting a side glance. After a few minutes, Dazzle finally spoke.

“You seem very determined to stick to Twilight’s side.”

Spike looked up to see Dazzle was still gazing out into the crater. He lay his head back against her side as he sighed. “It’s my fault she’s out here, it’s my responsibility to keep her safe.”

Dazzle chuckled. “What kind of life have you lived to be so young and yet so overbearing?”

“Hey, I’m not overbearing! If anypony is, then-“

“You tried to follower her so she would be safe, despite her more than likely being a grown pony.” Dazzle interrupted, making Spike fall silent. “But even then, if she wasn’t here, if she hadn’t followed me, you still would have, wouldn’t you?”

Spike bit his lower lip. “Maybe. Twilight was the quick thinker after you… left.”

“Heh, left you say. More like ‘lept’.” That got the both chuckling. Half a minute later, Dazzle continued. “Besides that, both you and Twilight keep making reference to many things that I dare to say not many, if any, your age would accomplish. Tell me, what was that amalgam thing Twilight referred too?”

“Oh, that? Hehe.” Spike looked away to only see Dazzle’s wing. “A Timberwolf King is what we found out it was called. It’s when three or more of the things pool their energy together for one body to hunt things down easier. But to be honest, I was just lucky to hit communication junction between the three and get out of there before it could reform again.”

Dazzle looked down at Spike with a quizitive look before looking up to ponder what something called a Timberwolf could be and how three could ‘pool energy together’.

“Surely a timber wolf would be easy to burn, wouldn’t it?”

“Nah, thing makes itself out of fresh, wet, and rotting wood to keep stability while also keeping some give for impact and preventive measures against fire. Plus it’s a spirit, so even breaking its body just means it needs to get a new one. Plus my fire is kind of small. Plus… I kind of panicked at the time.”

“You… do seem to take action in a panic, that is true.” Dazzle nodded. “But you also seem rather resolute once you start. And following through is admirable, just as long as you know when to stop.”

Spike looked up to Dazzle at her last statement, seeing some pain in her eyes at some memory, but it was gone with a blink and quick shake of her head. She looked down and met Spike’s eyes of concern, and gave a smile.

“You’ll be a fine dragon, Spike.”

And then there was something lit in Spike’s chest. Something he never really felt he could keep.

Pride.

He felt pride with those six words. He knew he was different from the dragons of the Slab Scale clan, he knew he was different from ponies, he knew that he could be himself. But here was someone who acknowledged, that even as himself, he could still be the dragon he wanted to be. Spike now felt he could be himself. He returned Dazzle’s smile.

“Thanks. You don’t know what that means to me.”

“Oh. I think I do.” Dazzle replied as her attention was drawn back to the meateries entrance. Spike looked around her to see Twilight standing just outside the door, a smile of satisfaction on her face.

“Twilight!” Spike exclaimed as he jumped up and ran over to the mare, leaving Dazzle with an oddly empty wing. It took her a second to properly close it and stand up to approach the princess.

“Spike.” Twilight sighed as he hugged her foreleg, and she in turn returning the hug. “See? I didn’t take that long.”

“What did they have you do?” Spike asked as he decoupled himself.

“Oh, just what he said he wanted. Honestly, they just had room just stacked with random stuff. Gold, silver, iron, you name it. Large and small chunks of everything. I really don’t know how any of you keep a stable economy if any little thing can be used as money.”

“Equal weight.” Dazzle shrugged. “We give what we take.”

“I… I’ll have to look into that.” Twilight’s comment was cut as she couldn’t really argue with the methodology. “Anyways, I just separated it all and put them from heaviest to lightest. I think I even got some credit from them for shaping separators from the rocks between each material and weight class.”

“Yeah, that might get you something.” Dazzle said as she once again marveled at how nonchalantly Twilight wielded magic. “Now come on, let’s get to my place and settle down before Spike decides the walkway is a decent enough bed.” Dazzle nodded downward.

Twilight looked and saw Spike fading as he leaned against her leg, desperately trying to look awake. Twilight chuckled as she picked Spike up and placed him on her back. Spike’s only response was to curl up next to her mane.

“Lead the way Dazzle.”

Dazzle took in the sight of the resting Spike and smiled. “As you wish.” She walked to the edge of the walkway and splayed her wings, simply gliding off the edge, heading for the bottom of the crater. Twilight was quick to follow, making sure Spike didn’t fall as she took off, hesitantly looking forward to the political turmoil to come.

…

Rarely, if ever, had Mourning Star had so much to ponder. What the whelp had put before him did and did not have a solution. The simple question was to get rid of the scale or not. The harder question was what was to come after. They had made this lair around what had been assumed to be a treasured artifact that to this day made their wasteland community thrive. Normally for a lava flow as generous as theirs, they would need to carefully craft into a volcano to not only utilize it, but to keep it in a prime condition. The endless cycle the scale provided had forever been a great boon.

Yet now they seemed to be poisoned by what they worshiped, for far too long it seemed. It took a whelp from the Purge to tell there was something wrong with the scale, and he was sure that if Spike had not been it, there would have been no other to do the same. As Mourning Star paced next to the stairway entrance, the furthest he could be from the scale without leaving the cavern, he wondered on how he and his clan could have perpetuated such hate. Did the scale radiate its power through the lava, snaking into the everyday lives of his clan? Or did it only pertain to itself? There were many uncertainties, but to be certain, tomorrow would begin a cascade of events. For good or ill, he did not know.

As one last measure before heading to sleep, Mourning Star strode over and into the alter, looking about the empty space as he always did to make sure no young dragon had come in through the lava vents for their own look at the scale. When he saw nothing but the scale once more, he did something he had never heard of any other chief doing before. He walked up to the scale and brushed the side of it with his claw.

He felt nothing.

Nothing like he would have felt with any other scale. It was but a discarded body part, like a loose claw or fang, lifeless. Yet he knew better, as evidence by the four flows of lava coming from the thing.

It was both nothing and everything to him and the clan. But knowing what he knew now, and knowing what he had almost done to his daughter, there was but one choice to make.

And he knew it would be hard on them all.



Farther south of the clan grounds, further than any of the clan had ever traveled, something stirred beneath the soil. It hadn’t had need to move in decades, but something had irritated it.

Someone had touched her scale.
> Dragons: The Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike was slow to stir from his sleep. As he slowly came to consciousness, he groggily noted how rested he felt. Apparently not having an active consciousness when you should be sleeping helps. What did make him wake up a bit faster was the weird bed he was on, because for one it was a rock, and for a second, it was warm.

Spike propped himself up and looked around in a small panic before remembering he was supposedly in Dazzle’s house at the moment, but he oddly felt at home. Aside from the bed being a large, round, heated rock, the room was circular with only one archway out, the walls were bare of any sort of remembrance, with only what looked like a dresser with a finely polished emerald on top, all lit by a low glowing crystal in the ceiling.

There was a silent voice saying Dazzle slept here rather than lived here. But seeing as Twilight and Dazzle were both absent, Spike was pretty sure they were both up already and were kind enough to let him sleep. As he was now confidently awake, Spike hopped off the bed and made his way to the door.

The room beyond further reinforced the idea of this being a sleeping space rather than living space because Spike found himself in a large oval room, an extensive set of cabinets and shelves set to his left, and a low table and couch-like setting to his left, again lit by a crystal in the ceiling above them, though quite a bit brighter. Immediately ahead of him was the door to the outside, there was nothing else to Dazzle’s living arrangement, and honestly, Spike couldn’t tell if he liked this or the expansive castle better.

“Spike! Nice to see you’re finally up.” Twilight chirped. She was sitting on the couch, apparently expecting for Dazzle to show her something, as she was currently digging through a cabinet. “Did Pyrathy visit you again?” That made Dazzle quickly stop her search and pop her head out expectantly.

“No, not tonight, I’m right and rested now.” Spike exemplified as he began twirling his right arm backwards. Dazzle rolled her eyes and went back to her search. Twilight smiled and patted the stone next to her. Spike happily obliged as he hustled over and hopped up beside her, taking a surprised second to find the seat was also warmed, but to a lesser extent than the bed.

“I see you’re quick to notice.” Twilight chuckled. “Do you like it? Dazzle showed me how to make some of the etchings myself.”

“Really?” Spike glowed, as it was a very comfortable seat. Normally any seat they had at the castle was rather cold or fluffy, but the firmness and the heat just felt right to him.

“Yeah, and the temperature controls to.” Dazzle chuckled as she pulled away from the surprisingly dark cabinet with a rather large slab. “You should have seen her when she first plopped down, she practically flew to the ceiling!”

Spike snrked at the image of Twilight’s butt on fire as she was launched from the couch, to which Twilight firmly coughed.

“As it was, I believe there was something you wanted to show me?” Twilight redirected the conversation.

“Yes yes, it’s right here.” Dazzle hefted the tablet up a little before tucking it under one arm. She walked to the side of the table and reached to the floor, to which she seemed to pull a Discord and pull a stone sitting chair out of the ground. Spike could only stare wide eyed and slack jawed at the spectacle. For Discord, he wouldn’t blink an eye, but Dazzle?

“I know right?!” Twilight gestured at the chair. “She did the same thing for this couch! It’s apparently somewhat like your cup from last night, except she can put the stone back!”

Dazzle sighed. “It’s like you two have never seen geoforming before.” She said as she sat down, holding the slab against her.

“Because we haven’t!” Spike let out. “That is so cool! I wanna do it!”

“Maybe later Spike.” Dazzle smiled almost nostalgically. “But here’s what you wanted Twilight.” Dazzle set the tablet down on the table.

It was a picture oddly enough, somewhat like any polaroid like they would have, except the borders were stone. It depicted a much smaller Dazzle, with horns barely sticking out and wings lax at her side, smiling as she was held in the crook of an arm by a much larger, pale yellow dragoness with matching amber eyes who took up most of the rest of the frame. Spike could easily tell who this was, and looked up between the two as to why Dazzle would take out a photo of her mother.

“It’s the last one.” Dazzle admitted. “Any other memorabilia were destroyed to erase her shame on the clan. I had a few more, but they were forced down by others.” Spike couldn’t help but well up with a few tears as Dazzle forlornly looked over their head, presumably where a previous picture hung.

“Well, nopony else is going to take this from you.” Twilight said as she charged her horn. A soft purple beam cast down and around the picture, engulfing it in its glow until a beam shot out toward the top of the door leading outside. As the spell concluded, the magic faded and Twilight smiled. “There, nopony should be able to take it outside or break it without you or a mountain of forced behind them.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Dazzle smiled as she took the photo into her room, Twilight looking after her with what looked like pity.

“So how did bringing out mom pictures come about?” Spike asked.

“Hm? Oh, well the doorbell rang, waking Dazzle and I up. Dazzle went to answer, but turned out that I was right about last night and the Broiled Pit delivered a breakfast for me. So that turned into a bit of an awkwardly silent breakfast before she started to ask what it’s been like living with and raising you, and we got to chatting, and I brought up Early Light, and she said she only had two things left from her. One is the emerald on that dresser, and the other was that photo, and she asked me if I knew some protection spells to put on it. I didn’t know it was the last one though.” Twilight explained.

“I had even forgotten I had it when the sweep came through.” Dazzle added as she came back. “It was about a month or so before I found it at the bottom of some amethysts. It’s from when I first properly sprouted these.” She continued as she sat back down, patting her horns. “But a few years later, she... changed.”

There was an awkward pause as the heavy subject hit the room, but Spike was quick to pick up something else.

“Speaking of breakfast, is there a ruby or a sapphire I could have?” He asked, gaining a bemused humph from Dazzle.

“Sure, grab a few from the cabinet one in from the right and toss some my way, I’m still a bit peckish myself.”

Spike was all too happy to oblige as he hopped out of his seat and jogged over to the specified cabinet. As he opened it, however, he had to marvel at the site of a row of rubies as wide as he could stretch his arms spanning further back than the light showed. After the shock wore off somewhat, he grabbed four decently sized rubies and turned back to the others, closing the door with his tail as he did.

“How do you even have so many?” Spike asked as he walked over, handing two rubies off to Dazzle.

“Their mostly payment for the things I do. Messenger, patrol, breakdown, whelp sitting, you name it.” Dazzle said as she bit into a ruby, relishing the flavor. “Mhmph, good pick, nice and smooth.”

“It’s a talent.” Spike smirked as he hopped up back next to Twilight, munching into his own gem.

“That does sound like a lot to do Dazzle.” Twilight commented. “Especially for a chief’s daughter. Shouldn’t you be learning how to lead your clan when Mourning Star passes it on?”

“Anything specific is for when Mourning Star chooses the next chief, and until then I’m just getting to know the people who will get to know me and defend the clan like any other member would. The only real privilege for me right now is going to any big clan leader meeting, like the one today.” Dazzle waved dismissively between bites of her gems.

“What one today?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, when that delivery came by, it was super busy outside. You can’t tell right now because there’s a noise cancelation rune - another rune I really loved to learn, by the way- around the door. Apparently Mourning Star made an announcement to a lot of different clans he was going to be saying something important and wanted others to hear, so everypony else was scrambling to set up for them.” Twilight explained.

“Oh no, how long was I asleep? Do we need to be there right now?” Spike began to fret.

“Relax Spike, all we have to do is walk outside.” Dazzle tried to placate. “You did cut it a bit close, but we should still have a bit before any other clans show up and we should probably show our faces.”

“Cutting it close? What time is it?”

“It’s about 11:30 or so.” Twilight answered. “from what we gathered, the announcement shouldn’t be happening until-“

She was cut off as a massive shaking came through the den. The three craned their necks to see out the door, and while it might have been silent, there was quite a commotion as dragons seemed to be scurrying about. Dazzle stood up, laced her fingers, and stretched her arms over her head, letting her wings flare out in the process.

“Well, better go greet the guests. Come out when you’re done.” Dazzle indicated to Spike’s remaining half-eaten ruby as she walked away.”

“Guess we have some early arrivals.” Twilight chuckled as Spike nervously nibbled on his snack. “The announcement shouldn’t be for a half hour or so.” Twilight noticed Spike’s distant stare as he nibbled, obviously terrified of something, but not so much guttural fear as more like stage fright. She nudged him in the shoulder, gaining his attention. She put her hoof to her chest, took a deep breath, and exhaled as she moved her hoof away. Spike smiled back as he took his gem out of his mouth, closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, deeming to forego any gesture.

“Thank’s Twi.” Spike sighed.

“Not a problem Spike.”

“Um, guys?” Dazzle said as she peeked back into her den. “You may want to come see this.”

Spike and Twilight gave each other a bit of a worried look. Twilight left to follow Dazzle while Spike took a second to finish his gem and quickly hurried after them.

What Spike immediately notice was that they were on the bottom ring of the crater with the market a fair bit away with a multitude of dragons standing still and looking up above him. Dazzle and Twilight were still a bit away to see whatever it was that was above them, so Spike made his way to them, turning as he did. Turning, Spike only saw the second ring, but as he jogged cautiously backward, looking up, he could see the head of a massive dragon poking over the edge far above them. This slightly confused Spike as to why dragons would be shocked to see dragons, but as he got closer to Dazzle and Twilight, he began to see why.

These were not dragons as he had seen around here. Their heads seemed flatter and they did not have any horns, nor wings. At least not from their backs. These dragons stood on all fours with their wings seeming to be splayed from their wrist and elbows.

These were Wyverns.

And if Spike knew anything from his readings and dealings, Dazzle’s clan and pretty much any dragon that did not look like them, were on extremely bad terms.

There seemed to be three of them, one massive deep green one and two smaller ones at the lip of the crater, though who knew if there were more behind them. They seemed content to dismissively gaze over the crater until an irritatingly familiar voice rang out from within the market area.

“What are you doing here?!” Starset bellowed. Spike looked behind him to see the drake taking to the air, putting himself halfway between the Wyverns and the rest of the market.

The main, massive wyvern seemed to have expected this, as there was a small raise to the corner of their lips. “We were invited whelp.” Came an oddly cold, motherly voice. “Your preparations are as obvious as the invitation was sudden, but at least you knew to expect guests today. So don’t be so surprised when a guest arrives.” There was a knowing, cold smile to follow her words.

“We wouldn’t invite worms like you here.” Starset glared back.

“Learn your biology, meathead!” One of the smaller wyverns snapped back. “We’re wyverns, not wyrms!” Spike had a small chuckle at both the misunderstanding and the apt comeback, as indeed, wyrms were much more serpentine in nature.

“There’s no difference to make between the lesser races.” Starset snapped back.

“Watch your tongue whelp.” The main wyvern glared, obviously angered. “It is obviously not your place to know which clans were invited and who were not. Tuck your tail and speak to your chief, or continue and face me for your insults.” Smoke had begun to come from the wyvern’s nostrils as she berated Starset, who seemed to hold her glare without budging. Until…

“I will see what Mourning Star has to say about this.” He replied flatly as he turned and made his way to the center of the crater. The smaller wyvern who snapped out gave an affirmative nod at their victory, only to be smacked behind their head by the other as they made their way behind who was presumably their mother. The chief wyvern settled down and everyone else seemed to be snapped out of whatever shock they had and began frantically going about what they had before. Spike, Twilight, and Dazzle could only remain standing there blinking at the scene.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something as intense as that before.” Twilight finally said. “And I stared down Tirek.”

“I honestly didn’t know which head of his would win that debate.” Dazzle mutterd.

“So uh… I take it that other types might be showing up as well?” Spike shifted his upward gaze over to Dazzle, who in turn seemed to pale.

“You two… You two head for the center and get on the roof. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can, and if Starset gets there before me… please don’t start anything.” Dazzle said as she slowly redirected her attention to the two smaller purple beings.

“Why? What’s there?” Twilight asked.

“While I said all we would have to do is go outside, I think Mourning Star has more in mind than I thought. So you two are probably going to be major factors in today’s meeting, and that’s where anybody integral to the meeting goes if their small enough.” Dazzle explained. “Please, just trust me on this.”

“Sure.” Spike nodded. “Do what you need to and meet us when you can.”

“Thank you.” Dazzle smiled before quickly taking off toward the wyverns.

“Well, what do you think Twilight?” Spike looked over to the nervous alicorn who was currently gnawing on her bottom lip.

“I think we should do as Dazzle asked.” Was her reply, dipping her shoulder and wing for Spike to hop on without looking away from Dazzle’s form. Spike looked back and saw Dazzle hovering in front of the wyvern leader and seemed to be having a calming talk, so he hopped aboard Twilight, who promptly made her way to the center of the clan’s crater. Before having to look forward, he noticed the two smaller wyverns take note of himself and Twilight, both seeming to be fascinated.

It was only a short flight to the center, but even in that time, it seemed the wyverns weren’t the only ones who deemed it necessary to show up early to what was probably an unprecedented meeting. Spike could spot the flying, twisting form of Lung dragons on their way towards them with Amphithere dragons flying a bit more conventionally beside them. And even on the ground he could see Wyrms and Linnorms quickly making their way across the vast expanses of land. And Spike wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw some Hydra’s coming as well. Spike silently gulped as they landed.

“I don’t think we’ll need to wait to get back to Canterlot Twilight.” Spike said shakily as he hopped down.

“Yeah, I couldn’t really make them out, but there were definitely a few groups of different looking dragons on their way.” Twilight said as she began to nervously look about for anything to distract her, but all she could see on top the building that housed the stairs to go below were dragons running about with meat and material to and fro, which did not help in the slightest. Neither did it help Spike.

“Twilight,” Spike finally spoke. “Do you think you could teleport far enough behind any of the visiting dragons to get away?” That got Twilight’s attention on Spike as he watched the ongoing chaos.

“Spike, I don’t think we’ll need to-“

“No Twilight, we need to think about this.” Spike cut off as he looked up. “Just think about what I did alone in Ponyville, think of what Dazzle and Mourning Star have been like when given bad news, if tensions flare here, claws are probably coming out.  And I don’t want you here if that happens.”

“Spike,” Twilight sat toward the drake. “I know this is going to be rough, but I don’t think Mourning Star would call something like this, or even these different clans would come, if this wasn’t something they were all willing to talk out. And hey, I’m a lot different from the Twilight that first moved to Ponyville. I can handle a scuffle. So don’t worry, okay?” She extended one hoof and both wings forward. Spike moved in and they embraced, taking security in one another.

“I am going to worry and you can’t stop me.” Spike said into Twilight’s chest before looking up. “But you’re going to too, aren’t you?”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah. That was about as much for me as it was for you.” The two shared a laugh as more and more differing clans showed up, pretty evenly spaced around the crater. As each clan arrived with one to five smaller representatives along side them, things seemed to settle down considerably. Dazzle seemed to have to fly to each clan head from moment to moment as others of her clan approached with what seemed to be offerings of food, and even some exchange of goods, though both could only really tell that what was passed was shiny, and nothing more.

In total, there were six outside clans present. The two were silent as they heard whispers of the gathered clans.The Lung Skywalker clan with two representatives, the Amphithere Lightspray clan with four, the Wyrm Corrupttail clan with six, the Linnorm Slither Stream clan with five, the Wyvern Loomclaw clan with three, and an actual clan of Hydra, the Bickerfin clan, with two representatives. When Dazzle finally landed next to Twilight and Spike, she seemed rather tired. She was quick to fall to her butt and lean back on her arms.

“I… have not been this stressed… since Starset started offing… us.” Dazzle panted as Twilight quickly made herself useful in trying to relieve any tension around Dazzle’s wings with her magic. Dazzle groaned in appreciation.

“Was all this really as rushed as the wyvern said?” Spike asked.

“Oh yeah.” Dazzle nodded as she tried to relax as much as possible. “Some of them were even woken up to be given the invite on a strong urging to come today. The Loomclaw and Corrupttail were especially keen on learning what Mourning Star has as a ‘big reveal’, though I obviously couldn’t tell them much.” Dazzle flexed her wings in a sign for Twilight to stop, as she did, allowing Dazzle to fold her wings back up and lean forward. “Though if I had to guess, it would either be our revelation of our Father or of the scale. Either way, I don’t see this being a short gathering.”

“Do you think it’ll turn… violent?” Spike asked, glancing to Twilight who still looked doubtful.

“I doubt it.” Dazzle said, making Twilight smugly, but hearteningly smile. “If anyone were to cause a ruckus, it would be us of the Dawn Star clan, or anyone like us. We tend to have the shortest tempers in a meeting like this, but if we’re hosting, it’s obviously not a good idea to blow our own lid.” With a short pause, Dazzle looked around the roof. “I thought it was too quiet. Where’s Starset?”

“Not here. Last I saw he went down to talk to Mourning Star.” Spike said.

“He might be coming up with him then.” Dazzle muttered as she covered her mouth in thought. “It would be odd for him not to be here.”

With a rumble of warning, everyone turned toward the south, behind the Slither Stream clan. There, the ground began to crack and fall into a pit, and half a minute later the fallen away ground left a large enough hole for Mourning Star to fly out of, worryingly to Dazzle, without Starset. Mourning Star hovered for a moment as lava fell from him and the hole resealed itself, before he made his way over head and into the center of the crater. There, Mourning Star was able to land in the space between the market and the building, tightly winding himself around it before standing tall with Twilight, Spike, and Dazzle below him. There was some shifting among the visiting clans to all be within his sight so that he wouldn’t need to turn around.

“Chiefs, and their children, I thank you for being here on such short notice.” Mourning Star began, immediately gaining a raised brow from the Lung and Wyrm dragons. “I know it is not often that those of… ‘pure’ clans call on you, but much has been told to me in the last 24 hours.” Mourning Star’s use of air quotes on pure was lost on nobody. For the other clans, it was a term to sneer and eyeroll at, as to be a pure dragon, and it’s demeaning by a ‘pure’ clan leader was something as to unheard of. For those of the Dawn Star clan, this was a panic of identity, but for as long as their chief spoke, they may learn why he spoke as he did.

“We of the Dawn Star are… not innocent of many transgressions commonly held by the clans gathered here, of that I am sure. But may I introduce a guest whom arrived yesterday with many revelations.” Mourning Star Lowered his hand level to the three gathered, his middle claw briefly tapping Spike’s chest. And even for a tap it was still a rather hefty push on Spike, but he kept his footing, but felt all eyes on him. “This is Spike, of No Clan. He, as well as my daughter Dazzle, were Called upon by our Father for-“

“Ugh, this spew again.” The head of the Lung dragons sighed. “If this is just to lord over this so called ‘calling’ you have, we’re done here.” The Skywalker clan turned to leave.

“Wait!” Spike yelled out, turning the younger Skywalker’s head. “This isn’t entirely about Pyrathy, I swear!”

That made the elder Skywalker stiffen. “Who?” The lung dragon turned and strut back to the crater’s edge, claws digging into the rock. “Who is this not about?”

“P-Pyrathy, Sir!” Spike spoke out as loud as he could, only now realizing Twilight was helping project his voice.

“Why would a purest meet with the father of all Lung dragons?” The dragon scoffed.

“Lung dragons?” The Wyrm chief snarked. “Pyrathy was the first of all Wyrms after shedding his limbs to escape the Purge!”

Bickering soon spread amongst all of the clans present, clan chiefs arguing Pyrathy’s true form, their children arguing between each other and the Dawn Star clan of who was Pyrathy the true father of. Only Mourning Star stayed silent, waiting out what he had thought might have happened. It was cut surprisingly short by his source of surprises. There was only a small quirk of his brow as a purple mass came up beside his head.

“ENOUGH!” Spike shouted in his best approximation of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “WE ARE FAR OFF TOPIC! IF THIS IS TO GO ANYWHERE, HEAR MOURNING STAR OUT IN HIS ENTIRETY!” Spike was breathing heavily and his vocal cords hurt, but he saw the Dawn Star dragons slinking back to the crater and representatives coalesced back together. Small nods were exchanged between Mourning Star and Spike as Twilight lowered them back to the roof, Dazzle seeming to have disappeared, only to be scurrying back with a pitcher and glass. Once Morning Star noted the care of the young drake did he once again address the gathering.

“It seems He has been revered so much as to blind us to His unifying power between us all. Of that, Spike has… a unique stance, as his egg survived the Purge.” There was a sharp intake of breath from all around. And before anything else could protest, he added “And was subsequently cared for by ponies.”

Mourning Star looked between the chiefs and their kin for any dissent, but there only seemed to be quizitive looks and nods of understanding. It seemed as if Spike’s words rang within each of them, and were waiting for Mourning Star to be completely finished.

“As he is, Spike met with our Father and was tasked with changing our society. A tall order from anyone, to be sure, but my daughter, Dazzle, lead him to us, to where we truly deem if one of our clan had been called.” Mourning Star was silent for a moment before continuing on to reveal his clan’s closest secret.

“There is a reason our clan’s location has been so profitable for trade and craft, and that is because of a continuous flow of lava. However, this is not natural, as it is perpetuated by an ancient scale, forever keeping a fresh flow of lava. And from chiefs before me and the stories of the creation of this crater, we believed it as a blessing of Pyrathy.”

“And you would keep such a relic from-!” The Loomclaw wyvern chief began before being multi-shushed by the Bickerfin Hydra chief.

“I admit, we kept it as a secret, but not just from you, but from other ‘pure’ clans as well. It was meant to keep us forever prosperous. And as one of our Called were to come back, we would bring them before the scale, and in its glow, we would know the Scale of Pyrathy would recognize its owner. But I and the chiefs before me were wrong, and I know this now because of Spike. It did not glow in recognition of its owner, but of its enemy.” Mourning Star seemed to struggle to get the next words out. “I-It’s not our Father’s scale, but the scale of our Scourge and His mother, Tiamat.”

That sparked an outcry from not the gathered outsiders, but instead Mourning Star’s own clan. Cries of anger from being lied to, shouts of confusion on what this meant for the clan, accusations of blasphemy, all of these were directed toward Mournins Star, and while wearing a stone mask of emotion, the three below him could feel his trembling around them. Spike could even spot the pain in Mourning Star’s eyes, but even before he could say anything, it was Dazzle who flew up to address her clan.

“Enough!” She sliced her arms apart, getting very little reaction, but a small amount did stop, and those who did nudged their neighbor, and while gradual, the clan was eventually calmed to listen. “Your pain and confusion is valid, but we cannot act on what we do not know. We have only learned of this yesterday, and today we act. Don’t bemoan, act! And that’s exactly what we’re doing! So listen.” With that, dazzle lowered herself back down, allowing her chief to continue. Mourning Star, in turn sighed, and then chuckled, causing everyone else to become confused.

“And just as before, the Scale’s influence can easily become apparent.” Mourning Star explained. “It is invisible to us, as we have probably been under its influence for far too long, and blind to our own stagnation.” A smile was offered down to Twilight in trying to look into their own latent magic. “Yesterday, as I was to present Spike to the Scale, he reacted far more violently to even being in the same room as the Scale, hastily leaving and losing his meal outside.” There were a few small, cold chuckles from the smaller dragons of the gathered clans, and those within the Dawn Star clan, making Spike retract in shame, but made Mourning Star’s gaze harden.

“He did so upon seeing a massacre I know none of my clan of ever seeing. Those of the Dawn Star know the Scale’s house, now imagine it filled with the carnage and carcasses of endless hunts, ever flowing, ever savage, to see any and everything eviscerated.” There were clearly some in the crowd, and even of the foreign clans looking away in discomfort, but Mourning Star relented. “But even from there, when I learned of a part of Spike’s past, I even turned savage on my own daughter.” That made a lot of those gathered stiffen up.

For a chief to threaten their own line, while unwise, is also near taboo unless the spawn had greatly shamed the clan. This seemed to be universal amongst the gathered clans, though some of the Dawn Star slouched in disappointment that Dazzle wasn’t currently dead. Mourning Star continued.

“The Scale has corrupted us to such a point where we can snap at the most minor of displeasantries, such as learning we had served a lie. But, this is why I wanted to move upon this information so quickly.” Mourning Star looked to each of the gathered clan chiefs. “Skywalker, Lightspray, Courrupttail, Slither Stream, Loomclaw, Bickerfin, I asked you here today to start a… mending of our clans. I know that this will not be solved in a day, but we have been a species divided for long enough. So much can have been changed, lost, or warped between so many different sources for no real reason. If you would, I would ask in your assistance in this goal.”

Silence reigned after Mourning Star’s proposal. The Dawn Star could add nothing, and the entourage of the gathered clans could not speak for their clans. It wasn’t until there was an unsettling and unnatural chuckle from the Corrupttail chief that evolved into full blown laughter at Mourning Star.

“You expect it to be that easy? You, of a clan that didn’t deem it necessary to be anything but dragons because you were ‘pure’? Do you think any of us have forgotten.?” The chief gestured to the collective chiefs with his tail. “Do you think you have been forgiven?” He roared as his tail slammed into the ground. “Your kind was the kind that deemed to purge us!”

“And rightly so.” An unpleasant voice rang from below Spike. “You came at our beck and call, and yet interrupt and berate your betters.” The building shuddered as something got caught in its only entrance, only for it to soon burst away as a vaguely familiar back emerged. Spike was sure that Starset had not been that large the night before. “And while I may not do anything to a ‘guest’, I can to a member.”

Starset turned and looked up toward his father. It was quickly noticed by Twilight and Spike that Starset’s eyes were slitted and narrow. Spike could even see the blinding red mists pouring from his eyes and even mouth. Dazzle, with her height advantage, could see something else over the destroyed ledge, causing her to gasp.

“The scale.”

“Father, I challenge your pathetic hide for the position of chief of the Dawn Star!” Starset roared defiantly.
> Divulging Displays
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Starset.” Morning Star growled. “What do you think you’re doing?” He demanded more than asked, glaring down at his son.

“I’m doing what’s right.” Starset responded with an equal amount of disdain. “I’m doing what needs to be done. The moment I’m chief, this meeting is over.” Starset swiveled his head to glance at each clan. “And then you’re next.”

“Starset, have you finally lost it!?” Dazzle exclaimed. “What you’ve done already is-“

“Shut it invalid!” Starset snapped at the gathered trio, fire bursting from his mouth and a blaze of rage in his eyes. “You haven’t had a place before and you don’t have one now! So sit there with the other invalids and let the real dragons speak.”

Spike could only stand and stare, his eyes darting between the scale, Starset, and Dazzle.

First, the scale was something on its own. The blood and gore of before wasn’t outpouring now, and if it weren’t for before, Spike would think it was any other scale. Starset, as he was now, was holding it as Twilight would one of her books without her magic, even as it was about three times as large as himself. But as he glanced to it, he knew where it’s energy was going, for as Starset stood there berating Dazzle and threatening death on all of the clan leaders, the scale was growing smaller.

Or rather, Starset was growing larger, with the scale slowly beginning to fit into an easily holdable size. And with each passing moment, Starset was growing bit by bit just as Spike had before. His tail was inching longer, his wing tips were reaching past his head, and his horns were slowly curling into optimal points. All the while, his eyes were just as feral as any wild beast. Spike was sure no one else could see it, but the same deep red energy from Mourning Star’s eyes and Dazzle’s claw marks was freely wafting from Starset’s mouth, as if he was constantly breathing the mist.

Lastly was Dazzle, who for all of her composure and shelled emotions, couldn’t help as angry tears sprang to her eyes as her claws balled tightly at her side. Because she knew. Just by looking at him, his growth, his attitude, his past, there was nothing she could do but die facing him right now. Still, a lashing to a dragon’s pride is never an easy thing to swallow.

“Enough Starset.” Mourning Star chided as his wing swept between the two groups. “You have your challenge, and you have your right, as inopportune as it is. As this has been set as a comingling, give us just as much time as to break down and clear out.” Mourning Star’s eyes narrowed. “For the good of the clan.”

Starset snorted. “For the good of the clan.”

Spike, Twilight, and Dazzle were soon swept up by Mourning Star’s wing, showing as much coordination as any pegasus wing, as the three were held in his embrace over his shoulder, his wing being so massive that the three merely stumbled a bit as rock was replaced with membrane beneath their feet. As they were hoisted up, Spike glanced as dragons of the Dawn Star quickly disassembling their stands around the crater, and none of the guests seeming to be that perturbed.

“I can see you’re ever in the right Spike.” Mourning Star said in a much more hushed and softer tone than before as the three neared his head, his ferocious glare being replaced with concern. “This is much unlike Starset.”

“Oh scale scraps this is.” Dazzle snapped. “He’s been this arrogant and power hungry for years, you just haven’t done anything about it.”

Mourning Star contemplated Dazzle before looking away in dejection. “Perhaps. I was more than likely blind. I’ve been so… consumed with protecting the scale that I-“

“Didn’t see your children being slaughtered!? Didn’t care that your clan was divided in indifference? That you didn’t care?” Dazzle pointed accusingly at Mourning Star, tears finally beginning to fall. Out of anger, pain, or sadness, Spike couldn’t quite tell, but all three were probably a factor. Dazzle waved her hand down toward Starset. “I kept my distance because you did, but this is what I’ve dealt with. That has been the subtext of my last twenty-five years. And now it’s out here, facing you, and… and… I don’t think you can take him dad.” Dazzle’s stance drooped from exhaustion, and even Mourning Star was a bit surprised. “He’s growing too fast. And I think we all know why.”

“The scale.” Twilight stated, looking out to Starset.

“Yeah… everything is going into him.” Spike said. “Its power is practically spewing out of his head.”

Mourning Star looked back down once more before he shifted and began to walk. “The last time this happened, I was too late to stop it. But this has just begun. I may not take Starset out if this goes on too long, but I still have some size and much more experience on my side.” Mourning Star began to lower his wing down, having gotten to the edge of the crater inn a few strides. “And… to answer you Dazzle, I was blind to his arrogance, perhaps purposefully so, but his power thirst is not… unwarranted.” There was a very deliberate, contemplative pause. “I have been… using Starset.” The words seemed to pain the elderly dragon. “…I am no father.”

The three left his wing, but the statements left the three in stunned silence. Spike and Twilight were confused and concerned on where this was going. Dazzle merely wanted an answer from her once again towering father and chief.

“I suppose this has been coming for some time. Dazzle, I have not been a father for fifty years.” The implication made Dazzle’s eyes grow wide in shock and accusation. “Ever since your mother… turned, I have been jealously cautious, and Starset was the… most loyal child I had. What has happened to your siblings has been no accident.”

“Yeah, obviously. Starset killed them all.” Dazzle huffed.

“No, I did. Starset has merely been my tool.” Mourning Star leveled, sending Twilight and Spike reeling backwards and Dazzle stock still in revelation. “You may not recall, but many of your siblings were quite ruthless.”

“I… I admit I didn’t care for a lot of them, but at least Gleam and Spark were-” Dazzle haltedly admitted.

“Craftier than most of the others.” Mourning Star cut in. “I may have been blind, but I certainly was not deaf, and I am definitely not senile. I remember everything. I remember my orders.” Mourning Star paused, sorrow filling his eyes. “Dazzle, you were a consolidation pawn, a show that siblings could work together. But they never cared for you. I could hear their whispers, their schemes. They were both the simplest and hardest to kill. Both had solid confidence in each other, but once they thought the other a betrayer by Starset’s interventions, they were soon disposed of as a threat.”

“You monster!” Twilight finally snapped, stamping her hooves. “How… How could you do something like-like killing your children! And be so calm about it!” Her stance and eyes flaring with aggravation at the blasé nature of the conversation.

Mourning Star simply stared at the alicorn, giving a long, slow sigh. “You have been both lucky and naïve, pony. And as I have told myself and Starset, it has been for the good of the clan.” Mourning Star looked behind himself, seeing all the gathered structures were now gone, leaving only Starset on top of the lone center building, now taking up its entire roof. His arms were crossed and his foot tapping, waiting for Mourning Star to come back. Mourning Star turned back to the three.

“And for the good of the clan, if I lose, run.” And with those final words, Mourning Star headed back to his son.

“I can’t believe this! I can’t believe him!” Twilight exclaimed, stomping away from the edge. “I just… I just can’t! I don’t even know what to do!”

“We wait, and we see.” Dazzle said cryptically, her expression dead, but her claws still clutched hard at her sides.

Spike was more than a bit in shock. Twilight was right of course, the way in which Mourning Star bluntly told them in how he killed his children through Starset was unsettling, but at the same time he didn’t seem to feel the same amount of disgust Twilight did. But at the same time, his reaction to when he nearly killed Dazzle himself was… juxtaposing.

“Were they really all that bad?” Spike finally asked Dazzle. She was quiet as she watched her brother hop from the roof and the two combatants began to circle around the center building. Both were on all fours, wings prepped for movement, both eyeing each other’s movements, Starset having grown large enough to easily hold the scale with his tail.

“I don’t know anymore.” Dazzle replied flatly. “Spark and Gleam were always so nice to me, making sure I was okay when mom fell, they were the only ones who made sure I was eating and moving.” Dazzle gripped her head, new tears of pain coming forth. “I even remember when each tried to turn me on one another. I never knew why, I just knew Starset was to blame. They were the closest family I had after… None of the others ever seemed to care. I just…” Dazzle finally collapsed to her knees, sobs of anguish pouring out of her, eyes cleched shut, trying to deny the world. Spike was immediately by her side, so he could… he wasn’t sure.

He wanted to hug her, tell her everything was going to be fine, but things were far from and far past fine. He wanted to have a hand on her shoulder in solidarity, but he wasn’t sure he could be that much support for her. He couldn’t even imagine if… yes, yes he could, coldly, he could.

He could imagine if he found from Princess Celestia that she had Twilight murdered because of a political ploy. And suddenly there was a cold pit in his stomach. And so Spike was equally frozen in a stance of trying to offer condolence. He didn’t know for how long, but presumably not more than a few seconds, he stood there before a familiar voice shook him.

“Spike! What happened!?” Chromie’s voice rang out. Spike turned to see the dragoness quickly hurrying over to the two. She was puffing as she arrived, but seemed far more concerned for Dazzle than she looked exhausted. Spike could barely register anything else around him aside from Dazzle’s wails, but he could tell the first collision of Mourning Star and Starset had happened, both from the shockwave and some muted cheers.

“Dazzle’s… Mourning Star…” Spike tried to explain.

“Yeah, I don’t think he can take on Starset like that.” Chromie picked up. “He’s taken out pretty much everyone else, so the head’s all that’s left. I knew Dazzle still cared.” Chromie looked to her friend in pity and with a sad smile.

“No, Mourning Star put Starset up to that.” Spike distantly replied, making Chromie snap her attention to him. “He admitted it as he got us over here.”

Chromie looked stunned for a moment before looking to her grieving friend, and a bit unexpectedly, snarled at the fight. “I hope they rip each other’s throats out.” Spike jerked back at the accusation, seeming to click something in Chromie, prompting her to explain. “I knew a lot of the… of Dazzle’s siblings, and while there were some like Starset, there were some good ones too.”

“Gleam and Spark?” Spike offered.

Chromie’s eye twitched. “They were the best of them. I… knew they got paranoid at some point, Dazzle would complain about it. It was shortly after they died that their groups blamed each other that I figured out what they were paranoid about, but Dazzle pegged Starset, and I was there with her on that. He seemed to… distant after their bodies were found.” Chromie went silent, walking up to her friend as she impassively watched the brawl between father and son, placing her own hand on Dazzle’s shoulder in condolence.

Spike also watched for a moment, but it didn’t seem like much to him. Starset was now only a head shorter than Mourning Star, as evidence by his full body tackle of the elder drake. Mourning Star wasn’t one to lose his balance, instead pivoting on the spot, grabbing Starset’s shoulder’s, and shoving his son off of himself, sending Starset into the wall. He was momentarily fazed, but soon got back on all four feet, with Spike spotting the scale wedged between Starset’s own on his rump. When the two began to circle each other once more, Spike began to wonder where Twilight had gone in her huff.

In scanning for her, he actually had a bit a trouble as he noticed the rest of the Dawn Star clan had come up to the top and commingled with the visiting clans, and their massive bodies as well as some of the shinier members made spotting the comparatively smaller alicorn hard to spot. Eventually he was able to spot her flying about the heads of the Bickerfin chief, and he was quite a bit away from Spike. With no real way to flag Twilight down, Spike jogged a bit away from the rest of the clan, who had seemed to have given Dazzle a wide berth, before letting a bout of flame into the air. That seemed to get her attention, as she soon began to make her way toward Spike.

When she landed, Twilight did not seem to be any happier than when she had stomped off. “What is it Spike?” Twilight said before she recognized her tone. “Sorry.” She immediately apologized. “I’m… still getting over what Mourning Star said. And… talking with the Bickerfin chief really didn’t help.”

“What were you talking with him about?” Spike asked, not really wanting to focus on Mourning Star at the moment.

“Just… ugh, things. They really live up to that name, you know? I started with how a hydra could be a dragon, an hoo boy was that an earful before I could explain my question, then we got into how their clan came together and why he decided to come, and we got into why I came, and that got into where we’re from to which he asked how the Swampfins have been, but you got my attention before I could apparently get into offending him by not being dragon food. I… my brain really hurts Spike. That’s even the condensed version. He has nine heads, nine! And they all can talk at once! I don’t know if they or a meeting of parliament is more coherent.” Twilight sighed. “But how’s…” Twilight began to ask, but simply looking over to Chromie and Dazzle showed something wasn’t right. “Not good I guess.”

“No.” Spike stated, also looking to the collapsed Dazzle. “She’s taking it hard. I think her world view just shattered on her. It seems Starset’s been her villain for so long that Mourning Star just broke her. Even Chromie doesn’t want to see either of them come out of this.”

“That’s… troubling.” Twilight considered the back of Chromie, a dark sense emanating from around her. “But even from what I know, I don’t know the best outcome of this.”

“What do you mean?

“Well, I heard two of the heads talking about this being the death of the clan. They saw us and how only Dazzle was next to Mourning Star, so they semi-rightly guessed she’s his only heir, but with Starset coming out, openly dismissing her, and trying to take out Mourning Star, they don’t see him as a viable leader anymore. And even if the others will, they don’t see him making any more eligible heirs before he need to move on, making only Starset or Dazzle the new chief, to which neither of them predict any of the clans will follow the lead of. So either Starset wins, declares war on the six gathered clans, and leads to ruin, or Mourning Star wins with a shaky hoof with no future prospects of a clan, that will only fall apart under Dazzle.” Twilight said, looking toward the devastated Dazzle. “And I don’t know what to do about this.”

Spike also looked to the two dragonesses, but then to the other gathered dragon clans, each with their own attentive or dismissive crowds. One such dismissive dragon was the elder of the Skywalker clan, or so he seemed. While his attention looked like it was away from the fight, Spike could see his eyes twitching every so often.

“Hey Twilight? Think we could go talk to him?” Spike asked as he pointed toward the Lung dragon chief. Twilight looked to where he pointed as was a bit confused.

“Why do you want to talk to him Spike?”

“He looks… indecisive? Like when Rainbow Dash tries to look like she’s ignoring something-“

“-Except she’s not. I think I see it too. Let’s go say hello then.” Twilight offered her back once more with Spike quick on the uptake. Twilight took to the sky, but was slow to circle around the edge of the crater. When the Skywalker chief noticed the two in the air, he was quick to nudge some of the gathered dragons out of the way to allow the two to land in front of him.

He was big, but not nearly as much as Mourning Star, as the two were able to land before him and not need too much space to still see him. He was a light blue, slightly darker than the noon sky, with legs that seemed slender in comparison to dragons such as Mourning Star, but still conveyed a strong sense of power. And he looked more than a bit amused at his new arrivals.

“And what can I do for you, small ones?” The chief asked as Spike got off of Twilight.

“Just had some thoughts.” Spike said with a nonchalantness he certainly didn’t have. “How do you think this will turn out?” Spike nodded to the two wrestling dragons, to which the Lung dragon only gave a slight glance.

“A bit irrelevant, fairly annoying, seeing as they called us here.” The chief dismissed. “What I am curious about, is how a pony and a whelp from the Purge came to be together.” The chief leaned in, more than willing to ignore his surroundings, and feeling a lot less direct than other dragons the two had met to this point. Luckily for Spike and Twilight, they grew up in Canterlot, capitol of talking around people.

“Some things happened, my princesses found Spikes egg around the Badlands apparently around the time of the Purge, kept him safe since, and I helped to raise him after hatching a few years ago.” Twilight answered with enough information to be accurate, but vague enough to weave a chariot through. The chief’s mouth rose in a slight smirk.

“I can tell you haven’t had time to be influenced yet. Dragons like the Dawn Scale tend to be far to direct for my tastes. But pray tell, where are these Badlands? I’m afraid the term doesn’t have a correlation to my clan.”

“It’s a giant wasteland surrounded by cliffs a bit east of here. You probably call it something else then?” Spike informed, causing the Skywalker chiefs eyes to harden.

“As you don’t seem to know, it appears you tell quite a tale of truth. I do know of where you speak, and it’s the Purging Nest.” Spike and Twilight looked to each other in apprehension as the chief sighed. “And if that is where you’re said to be found, I can’t understand how.”

“He was just outside of the cliffs.” Twilight offered from her own memory. “The princesses tried to return him, but couldn’t find a nest.”

“Hmm, I assume not. The nest itself is said to be the entire interior of the cliffs,” The chief looked to Spike. “I imagine your egg must have been dropped by a fleeing dragon, or purposely tossed in attempted murder. Either way, you are lucky.”

“Yeah, my shell seemed to be thicker than anyone anticipated.” Spike chuckled, remembering Celestia and Luna had tried to eat him upon first finding him.

“So ponies found and kept you, but an egg unattended by a dragon is still an egg unattended, how did you survive the neglect?” The chief asked, shifting into what seemed to be a more comfortable position.

“I wasn’t neglected per se. They tried hatching me, but that didn’t really pan out.” Spiked explained when an itch started at his neck. He scratched it, but at the same time he also noticed the other lung dragon and quite a few Dawn Scales were watching them. “They didn’t actually know how to hatch me, they just tried every way they thought a dragon egg would hatch.”

“Yet here you are, so they must have done something right.” The chief eyed Twilight, who promptly chuckled and looked away. “There were no other dragons at your hatching, was there No Clan.” It wasn’t a question, merely a statement awaiting confirmation, making Spike nervously looking around to the listening dragons. He remembered what happened before and the warnings, but here was a dragon chief who had hit the nail on the head.

“No, it was an accident really.” Spike tried to worm around the subject, but the skepticism of the chief bared down on him.

“Dragon hatching is never an accident whelp. Either there is an attempt, or there is a discarded egg. So what happened?”

“I hatched him.” Twilight spoke up with a straightened posture, causing a murmur to spread. “But it really was a bit of an accident, we didn’t think anypony could hatch a dragon egg.”

The chief snorted in amusement. “And neither would I until now. But again, I also wouldn’t believe someone would commune with our Father either. Because here I thought that Dawn Star’s were just being flagrant in talking to an ancient dragon when they bragged about talking to their ‘Father’.” That seemed to rile up more than a few of the gathered dragons. “Yet you’re… different upbringing does bring quite a wrecking perspective. Where would our Father be then?”

“Ooh.” Spike looked away, garnerering a sterner look from the chief. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but rather visiting Pyrathy is rather a terrible idea.” Spike offered.

“You claim to know what’s best for-“ The Lung dragon began to rile.

“Yes.” Spike interrupted, making the Lung Chief flare his nostrils in anger. “How many dragons have you heard visiting him?” Spike countered.

The chief stared back at Spike but begrudgingly admitted “Only a few.”

“And the reason for that is that he’s cursed.” Spike flatly said. That certainly got people talking, and even got some to turn their attention away from the fight for their next chief. “When Pyrathy had to turn on his mother, she cursed him with having to experience the lives of all of his children, and by us meeting with him, it causes a feedback loop of information.” Spike sighed and chuckled darkly as something clicked for him. “Maybe that’s why he stays in the Purging Nest, so that none of you find him.”

“He’s in the Purging Nest!” The young Lung dragon exclaimed, their voice in a childlike range of androgyny. “But isn’t that place cursed dad?” The child looked to their father in confusion.

“Perhaps some things have been… skewed.” The chief considered as he chuckled at his child’s innocence. “Perhaps it is not the Nest that is cursed, but instead our Father, as for why we never go there.”

“Or perhaps its because the Nest never gets any clouds.” A new, yet familiar raspy voice chimed in. Honestly, how they hadn’t noticed the Corrupttail chief making his way over was something to be admired. He slithered across the ground silently as other dragons got out of his way. “I feel you may be giving the whelp to much credit Shogo.”

The Lung Chief turned to glared at the new arrival. “At least I’m not as openly dissmisive and crass as you Fetido. Why are you even over here?”

“I just heard some interesting things were happening over here.” The Wyrm chief coyly smiled, not a pleasant look on a serpent, Spike decided. “Even enough to make clanmates ignore who their next chief will be, so I just had to know.”

“I’m sure.” Shogo deadpanned. “Knowing you, at least two of your spawn have been sitting here since the beginning, so what do you want?”

“To see how committed this one is to his farce.” Fetido’s gaze drifted over to Spike with equal parts glee and disdain. “We all know our Father died long ago. To commune with him is of the highest insight a dragon can have to reach his spirit. To say he’s in that pit of a nest might be full blasphemy.”

“Now hold on.” Twilight interjected, rounding to face the new chief. “It’s obvious to me that there are way to many conflicts between all of the clans here on how the Purge really went down and what happened afterward. Just to be clear, where does my input sit with you? Either of you?” Twilight asked, looking between the two chiefs.

“Irrelevant.” Fetido immediately replied.

“…Negligible.” Shogo answered.

“Well… That’s nice to know I suppose.” Twilight sighed. “But for as what we know, Pyrathy had to turn against Tiamat and was then given his curse. But before that, he was stopping the Purge.” That garnered a few murmers of agreement from the gathered Dawn Scale, which in turn piqued the interest of the chiefs. “But as you put it, Pyrathy ran to help protect those of the Corrupttail race, correct?” Twilight asked Fetido.

“Yesss.” Fetido hissed. “When… other clans started to purge he shed his extremities to follow and protect my ancestors, as he could easily wrap around us and no other dragon could pierce his hide.”

“And for you Chief Shogo?” Spike asked, making the Lung chief contemplate for a moment.

“Our Father’s shedding was a lot less… optional. Those who sought to purge weakness sought to purge Him as well, as they saw Him as a font of weakness. They were only able to tear his wings away, but that allowed his might to be refocused and leap into the sky, allowing my ancestors to trail after Him.”

“Well, until someone is able to get a first-hand tale from him, the best I can say is that Pyrathy facilitated the purged’s escape as he stayed to kill those who would not stop killing others.” Spike concluded.

“But he’s dead.” Fetido stated.

“That is where I firmly disagree.” Spike pointed out.

“No one can have lived as long as you claim he has.” Fetido disputed.

“That’s getting into some iffy territory, but I will firmly assert that I have met and spoken with Pyrathy. Heck, you said only those of the highest insight can meet his spirit, right?”

“Yesss.” Fetido hissed again, quickly angering at Spike’s backtalk.

“Well he sure as heck pulled my spirit out of my body to talk with me.”

“And you know this how?” Shogo asked with skepticism.

“One of my Princesses has a natural talent for mind magics.” Twilight explained. The chiefs merely levelly stared at her. “It’s true.”

“I fail to see how that proves anything about-“ Fetido began when a large burst of flames suddenly erupted, causing the gathering’s attention to shift to the fight still going on.

Mourning Star and Starset had decided that fire was the appropriate tactic now, with the most recent blast from Starset striking close to where they were. Mourning Star seemed to keep going for his son’s legs while Starset went for the wings and face, clearly showing only one dragon cared for their surroundings, and that dragon was beginning to not look so good.

“Well, however this turns out, it looks to be finishing soon.” Fedito stated as he turned to leave. “This was at least more interesting than I was expecting, if not a bit infuriating. Perhaps I may even look into our Father a bit more. Shogo, I insist you do the same.” With that final word, the Wyrm chief made his way off as silently as he had made it in.

“He sure shares his directness with the ‘pure’, even if it is so debased.” Shogo sighed as he looked to Spike and Twilight. “If nothing else, he is right for us to scrutinize our history a bit more. I’ll even see who I can rope in to help. As it is, I believe you should rejoin your friend.” He nodded towards the way the two had come.

As Spike once more mounted Twilight, he asked the Lung Chief “Is this fight really that irrelevant to you?”

Shogo made one more observation of the fight before replying “Between them, yes. After, not so much.” Spike looked to the fight to see if he could see what the chief meant, but all he saw were two heavily breathing, and heavily beaten dragons. He then saw that Shogo wasn’t looking to them, but instead over toward Dazzle.

“Well I hope to see you after then.” Spike waved as the two took off, leaving a smirking chief behind.

“That was… a little productive… I think.” Twilight said as they made their way back to Dazzle and Chromie.

“A little, but not really relevant right now.” Spike replied as he looked toward their destination. Chromie was still beside Dazzle, but Dazzle was intently watching the fight now. As the two landed, neither dragoness gave them any attention. Twilight simply walked up to the other side of Dazzle and waited until the fight was finally over. Spike appraised Dazzle once more from up close, and as easy as it was to see she had been crying, the cold determination in her eye betrayed nothing of what she was planning to do now.

With his attention finally coming back to the fight, Spike saw that Mourning Star had been right in his assessment. Starset now dwarfed Mourning Star by a few heads at least, a shock that Mourning Star seemed to have actually lost some size in the fight, as he now used the single building as a hand hold, compared to before where his hand could have engulphed the thing. And where Mourning Star tried to use the buildingto prop himself up, Starset slammed into his father’s back with all four feet, crushing both his father and the lone building to the ground.

“Stay.” Starset said dispassionately. “This is done.”

Mourning Star huffed a few times before attempting to push himself up, but Starset grabbed his fathers head and ground it into the dirt.

“This is the end!” Starset proclaimed to the gathered dragons. “The leadership of the Dawn Sclae clan now goes to…” Starset paused as his declaration as his foot on his father’s head shook. “Is something funny old-“ Starset began as he pulled up his father’s head, but instead of a laughing old dragon, there was only a sad broken one.

“I’m sorry.” Mourning Star moaned.

“Eh?” Starset pulled Mourning Star up more, obviously stretching the drake’s neck. “What’s that?”

“I’m sorry Starset.” Mourning Star said through his tears. “I’m sorry I made you like this.”

“Like this?” Starset asked, confounded, before something clicked, and he laughed. He laughed a laugh Spike knew, devoid of humor and full of mockery. “You think you made me like this you old wyrm?” Starset kneeled into Mourning Star’s back, making the old drake groan more. “Did you think you made me kill all of my siblings? That you made me like this? Did you think you made me like this? This may come as a shock then, but I love this.”

There was now more than audible racket to Starset’s proclamations. Some of congratulations, some of concern, some of arguments. The distaste was clear in every Chief’s face. Even Dazzle’s was beginning to flare the worryingly deep red. But something Spike almost didn’t notice, was a low rumble through the air.

“I’ve been buttering you up since the day I saw cracks forming, and it was all to easy.” Starset declared with glee. “You were so paranoid that all I had to do was say two words to send you into a paranoid spiral. ‘Oh, Flash seems rather popular lately.’ ‘Glint sure has been hunting a lot recently.’ ‘Luster sure has been eating a lot.’ It was so easy! No sooner did I say something that you wanted them gone!” Starset’s joy quickly died as he glanced over to Spike’s gathering. “The only one you never seemed to doubt was that invalid runt!”

Dazzle’s claws cracked into the ground, growling audibly, tail swinging angrily. Chromie did nothing to stop the response, and neither could Spike or Twilight do anything to stop her. But the rumble was in Spike’s gut now, and even Twilight’s wings were twitching. The Lung, Wyvern and Amphithere began to look to the south-east, something obviously troubling them.

“And it just had to come down to this!” Starset continued, oblivious to the ominous rumbling. “A month! One month and this would have been seamless! She would be gone and nobody would have needed to see this! But nooooo, you have to go and ruin our clan, debase it amongst these lesser imitations and dare ask to make peace with them!” Starset continued to pull of Mourning Star’s head, his claws even piercing through the drake’s scales. “You said there was untold carnage we had never seen, and I plan to rectify that fact once you’re-“

Starset didn’t get to finish his statement, as everything seemed to happen at once.

The rumbling rose not from the ground, but from the sky, as one massive dragon flew in at speeds no one could have predicted for one as large as they were. And as fast as they were, they landed impeccably in the Dawn Star Clan crater, filling it in its near entirety, dwarfing the two combatants by triple their combined height and mass. And just as fast as they had flown and landed, they ate Starset in one bite, cutting off his monologue and dropping Mourning Star to the ground.

As the dragon straightened up, everyone else was finally able to start panicking. Mostly by screaming and running away.

Chromie, Spike, and Twilight were in awe as the pale yellow dragon seemed to swill their mouth before finally spitting Starset out into the fleeing crowds.

“My scale.” The dragoness growled.

Dazzle seemed to be 	stunned for a completely different reason.

“Mom?”
> Cracking The Scale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What?” Spike’s attention snapped up to Dazzle, who seemed to star struck by the new dragoness’s sudden arrival. There wasn’t any time for a response as Spike soon found himself swept up by Twilight’s wing, being roughly delivered onto her back as she took to the sky. Many other winged dragons were doing the same, as everybody was trying to make their way away from dragoness currently filling up their entire nest’s area.

“Twilight! What are we doing!?” Spike yelled over all of the other screams of panic.

“I don’t know, but getting away is step one!” Twilight shouted back as she made sure to dodge around many of the larger dragons who couldn’t seem to bother about collisions as long as it was further away from their point of origin. Spike glanced back to make sure Dazzle and Chromie were following behind them, but neither seemed to have moved from the crater’s lip.

“Twilight! We have to go back!”

“Are you crazy?” Twilight snapped. “Do you see the size of that dragon? We can’t deal with that! And if they’ve got Tiamat’s scale, who knows what that’s going to do to them!”

“But Dazzle and Chromie are still back there!”

“And they can make it on their own!”

“No, I mean they haven’t moved!”

“What!” Twilight finally slowed down to turn herself around, still dodging a few dragons, but a majority had seemed to have fled by now, leaving a wide open view of Chromie and Dazzle standing at the crater’s edge as the giant dragoness seemed to be itching the crater’s side, seeming to absently look for something. Twilight’s breathing slowly began to regulate itself as her immediate response to flee waned, her logical side trying to come to a conclusion.

“They’re not being eaten?” Twilight questioned aloud.

“No, just looks like-yep.” Spike’s hunch was confirmed as one of the dragoness’s claws came out from the crater glittering in gems, just to be deposited into her mouth. “She’s eating gems.”

“She.” Twilight breathed before she remembered what Dazzle had said, and what she had gotten earlier that day. “That’s Early Light!” Spike didn’t have an opportunity to question Twilight, as he was to busy holding on to her mane as she made a dash back to the two stunned dragons. With the speed in which Twilight had both left and come back, she was puffing as Spike dismounted Twilight and made his way back to the two’s sides. Dazzle was still in shock, but tears clearly making their way to her eyes, and Chromie merely stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly dropped.

That’s when Spike remembered that someone was still in the crater aside for Early Light, and quickly made his way to the edge. As he peered down, sure enough, a battered Mourning Star lay on the ground between Early Light’s foot and tail, seemingly unconscious.

“Is it really… her?” Spike heard Twilight ask weakly, turning to see the alicorn looking out to the dragoness.

“I… I can barely hope.” Dazzle muttered. The statement seemed to snap Chromie’s daze as she too looked to Dazzle.

“But Mourning Star said he killed her when her greed growth was taking hold.”

“I don’t know if I can believe anything he’s said now.” Dazzle replied just as dispassionately, glancing toward the edge of the crater with the downed chief.

“I think I can say he didn’t.” Spike said as he walked back to the group, taking glances at the giantess of a dragon, digging through the top level houses, destroying hovels and taking their materials, eating everything.

“But that… doesn’t quite… matter now, does it?” Twilight huffed, finally gaining her breath again. “What matters is… well… what now?” Twilight looked up to Dazzle.

“We…I… I need to go talk to her.” Dazzle started to walk forward, unfurling her wings, ready to take off, but Spike ran ahead of her.

“Whoa whoa! Hang on a second, she’s definitely in a greed growth state, right? She’s not going to react to anything except what’s in front of her right now!” Spike declared, making Dazzle and Chromie look down at him in disbelief. “Personal experience remember?”

“What!” Chromie exclaimed. “But how’re you-“

“Not the time Chromie.” Twilight flared a wing in front of the bronze dragoness to stop any tirade of questions. “But we can’t stand here and do nothing about this Spike. I don’t know where she’s been for the last fifty years, but something kept her at bay, otherwise we’d have a lot more incident reports in Equestria.”

“I- *cough cough* -made a deal.” The group turned to see Mourning Star had pulled himself up the lip of the crater, badly beaten and looked barely conscious. The one eye they could see was twitching every so often and his head was wavering back and forth.

“What now chi- Mourning Star.” Dazzle demanded as she began to walk to the dragon, the other three quickly following. “What did you do now? Bargain a sacrifice every few years? Ship off material to nowhere for her? Never tell me what happened to her?” Dazzle’s accusations were sharp, but desperate. Mourning Star sighed deeply as his gaze drifted to Early Light.

“I told her… I’d keep the scale safe.” 

“And for that you killed my family?!” Dazzle snapped. “You bargained with a mad drake to keep a dumb scale locked up over the clan?”

“I bargained for my family!” Mourning Star roared, his left arm propelling himself up further over the crater lip. Spike glanced to Early Light at the outburst, but she seemed to be scraping out a particularly rich hovel. Mourning Star’s height didn’t last, as his pull propelled him out of the crater, his upper body now laying outside of the crater, his right arm laying against him, useless, either from the fight or the collision. Both of his wings weren’t moving and seemed to have minor tears in them, and his legs looked… his waist was twisted out of line with his torso, neither leg seemed to react to anything. With his one good arm, he began dragging himself fully out of the crater. “I bargained for her and your lives.” Mourning Star growled.

“Why?” Dazzle asked in a bit of shock at the statement and Mourning Star’s state. “What’s so important about me! What made everyone else so expendable!”

“Because that’s all we could get!” Mourning Star yelled, huffing hard, tears beginning to form. “It’s all we could get before she couldn’t think anymore.” Mourning Star’s head hit the ground in self defeat.

“Before she couldn’t... what?” Dazzle asked, exasperated, her wings finally falling, claws unclenched.

“Before she lost herself.” Spike clarified, making Dazzle look back at him. “She realized what was happening, wasn’t she?”

“How?” Chromie asked. “Isn’t greed growth spontaneous?”

“No, there’s a catalyst.” Twilight interjected. “Spike’s was an overabundance of gifts on his birthday. He began to grow, but nothing really came back all that different other than his size, but then…”

“I began on focusing on only gathering more things.” Spike finished. “So what happened?” Spike asked the pained face of Mourning Star.

“She… I let her touch the scale.” Mourning Star admitted as he finally looked back to the group, Dazzle and Chromie’s shock leaving them more and more numb. “I was… passive in my duty and saw no harm in feeling the scale. Early Light wanted to see if she could feel the renewal of lava. As she wasn’t moving the scale, I allowed it. I would allow her to come and examine the scale, and she always told me she could really feel something strong coming from it every time she did. It wasn’t until I found her caressing the scale one night did I think there was a problem. It took a long time to convince her of the same, but by the time I did…” Mourning Star scrunched his face in shame.

“The growth became exponential.” Twilight concluded.

“That-that still doesn’t explain your deal.” Chromie pipped up. “Shouldn’t the deal have been to… I-I don’t know…”

“The savage side started coming out more frequently, adamant in the scale’s safe protection. It demanded the scale be under family protection. I…convinced it that the clan would hunt her down, and that the scale was safe where it was. She’d…it would just place the scale in danger. So it agreed to leave the scale with her family for as long as it wasn’t moved.”

“I… but then why?” Dazzle tried to form a coherent question, but everything made no sense anymore, her world had gone insane.

“But if the deal was Early Light’s family… shouldn’t your children have…” Twilight tried as well, but felt sick at the thought of familicide. There was deep pain in Mourning Star’s eyes as he contemplated his next words.

“I was never the most… observant chief. Not in my lax protection of the clan’s relic. Not in making the deal. And even blinded more by the scale after Early Light left. I made a deal too vague, and I now believe the scale worked through me. As… Dazzling Star is my only daughter-”

Dazzle sneered. “Now at least.”

“-With Early Light.” Mourning Star barked back, but just as quickly lost his anger. “…But that was all it allowed, so narrow a stipulation, and I see that now. I thought… I thought it would include the clan, but the deal seems to only be for blood family, Dazzle.”

“So…so when Starset took the scale from the alter…” Chromie began.

“It came back.” Mourning Star shifted his head to look back to Early Light starting to dig through the second layer of the clan crater. “And now I feel this isn’t just any other greed growth. There’s to many… variables. The scale may have been a catalyst…” Mourning Star turned his gaze back to the group, but to Spike specifically. “But as Spike has noted, it has its own essence. Perhaps even… a soul. Acting through dragons around it.”

“You’re projecting now!” Dazzle snapped, a snarl coming to her lip and a fire to her eyes. “You want to blame anything now! Starset, the scale, Mom! Anything to make it so this isn’t your fault!”

“But this is my fault!” Mourning Star roared, making the group brace against the shockwaves of his voice and slammed his fist. “This is all my fault! I was negligent! I looked for easy solutions! I sat on my laurels! I have failed this clan! And… and…” Mourning Star began to cry before he slammed his head into the ground, grinding down hard in self harm. “And I’ll never get any of you back.” He began to sob. “Gleaming Day, Sparking River, Silver Starlight, Starbolt, Gold Chaser, Astral Strike, Crimson Armor, Crystal Aurora, Obsidia, Moon Glow, Azure Sun.” He listed off, each one in a heart wrenching admission. “I killed them. I can say the scale made me, but I did it, I was too weak to protect them. I…I…” Mourning Star couldn’t say any more, gone to his own pity, but the site of her broken father made Dazzle finally stop being angry with him. There weren’t any words or deeds she could do now to make her father suffer for his own actions.

The group could only stand there in silence, all at a loss at what needed to be done, broken only by Mourning Star’s grief. 

The near silence was broken shortly there after as Mourning Star let out a gasp as he was flung further away from the crater as Early Light’s tail flicked him away so she could begin digging into the hovels underneath him. The sudden shift snapped the fours attention to the giant dragoness as her slitted eyes flicked between the hovels, her claws meticulously scraping material up. The group quickly had to shield their faces when Early Light slowly opened her mouth to eat, as the interior of her mouth emanated a heat not unlike the lava that flowed about the clan’s dwelling.

Dazzle took use the sudden draft by opening her wings and allowing herself to be pushed away. Spike and Twilight shared a quick look before Twilight wrapped Spike tightly in a hug as she mimicked Dazzle and followed after her. Chromie huffed as she began jogging after the other three.

They didn’t go far, as Dazzle just glided around the crater to be out of Early Light’s way. When the Twilight and Spike landed behind her, Spike could see just how much life had left Dazzle. She hadn’t even bothered to land, a long skid mark in the ground indicated she had simply let herself collide with the ground, ending up as a laid out heap of a dragon. There wasn’t anything Spike could think to say, but Twilight could.

“So what are you going to do now Dazzle?”

“Do?” Dazzle glanced dejectedly up over her shoulder with a sneer. “What’s there to do? Dad made a deal with a monster. He became a monster. The Dawn Star clan is scattered and decimated, it doesn’t exist or matter anymore. Of my remaining family, one hates me, one’s better off dead, and one’s insane. The best I can do is just lay here and wait for whatever the insane one wants to do with me.”

“But she’s just going to want to destroy things!” Spike exclaimed. “With Tiamat’s scale driving her base instincts, all it’s going to want is to destroy her-“

“That’s fine by me!” Dazzle snapped, laying her head back down. “There’s no reason for me to care! Everything I could have cared for is gone! There’s nothing left!” Her tail smacked the ground in finality.

“Then make… something.” Chromie huffed as she approached, having heard the last declaration, making Dazzle commit to looking over her shoulder. “Things are… bad. But that doesn’t mean… they can’t get better.” Chromie sighed, fully catching her breath. “And the first thing is getting you mother back.”

“Chromie, you’ve said some nonsense before, but that’s not happening. Look at her.” Dazzle lazily gestured toward her mother and the completely decimated top two levels. “There’s nothing left to get back.” 

Twilight did look, and in doing so tilted her head as she puzzled something together.

“She’s still here.”

“Yeah, she’s eating everything she can-“ Dazzle started.

“No no, she’s still here.” Twilight emphasized as she looked to the others. “Spike thinks that Tiamat’s scale makes the possessed unnaturally aggressive, to destroy everything. But she’s eating. Why?”

“She’s been gone fifty years, probably forced hibernation until the deal broke.” Dazzle dismissed, but Chromie picked up the logic there.

“And why hibernate?” Chromie rushed to her friend’s back, tightly gripping Dazzle’s shoulder. “Why not rampage through the lands sacking anything and everything else?” 

Dazzle glanced up to Chromie before forlornly looking out to the beast that had been her mother. “Why stay in the Dawn Star hovel?” Dazzle muttered. It took a second, but it clicked for Dazzle, eyes going wide as she stumbled over herself as she tried to get up. “Why would she stay? Why would she stop? Why wouldn’t she destroy? Why wouldn’t she be Tiamat’s dragon?!” Dazzle whipped around to the others, life sparking in her eyes.

“She’s in there, fighting.” Dazzle said breathlessly, desperate to hope. “She’s fighting the rage with… with…pedantics!” Dazzle chuckled. Finally Spike pieced it together.

“She made a deal with Mourning Star to leave the scale with her family, made no point to destabilize its safety by rampaging, and now filling up after fifty years of hibernation! But…for uh…” Spike stumbled on as to why.

“For help.” Twilight finished for him. “She’s looking for help.”

“How though?” Dazzle asked. “We can’t fight her down, she’s too big! Anything she swat’s us with would take us out in a second!”

“We don’t have to fight her, we just need to get the scale away from her.” Twilight stated.

“We can’t!” Chromie blurted out. “Even if we found it in, at best, her teeth, none of us who could stand that temperature could touch it! We’d just get as corrupted as she is!”

“And even if we could get it away from her, then what? She’ll just come for it, probably eating whoever took it.” Dazzle sighed in frustration, desperately wanting this to be true. Twilight bit her lip, glancing around the entire area, looking for anyway they could stop Early Light before she left on a rampage.

”Break it.” A voice shot through Spike’s head, making him grunt and grip his head like a migraine shot through it like Rainbow Dash.

“Spike? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, gaining concern from the other two as well.

“I don’t know, it felt like-“

”Break the scale.”

“-Agh!” Spike gripped his head in both hands now, the pain pounding through his skull.

“Spike!” Twilight was immediately around the drake, casting anything she could think of to find a source of injury, but only found a small trickle of blood from Spike’s nose.

“Break the scale.” Spike breathed. “Pyrathy says to break the scale.”

”What!” Exclaimed Dazzle and Chromie.

“Are you sure it was-“ Twilight began.

“Yeah, and I think he’s as desperate as we are.” Spike rubbed his temple as he wiped under his nose, finding blood on his thumb. “I don’t think he’d have done that otherwise.”

Dazzle gripped her face with one claw. “Ugh, fine, that fixes the ‘what’, but that leaves us with two how’s. How do we get the scale, and how do we break it? Oh! Also without corrupting ourselves.”

“Well, it is just a scale.” Chromie mused. “Anything that could crack one of our scales should do the trick.”

“But none of us are that strong. And we can’t heat it up, it’s already the source of fire!” Dazzle contemplated.

“But what if… we punched it… with a mountain?” Spike laid out slowly, confusing the three before Twilight caught on.

“Dazzle, your photo!” Twilight turned back to the other two dragoness’ as Spike shook the last of his pain away. “We might not be able to break the scale in one hit with it, but your photo is reinforced enough to act as a denser impactor.” Dazzle and Chromie were still a bit confused by this, but there was also concern in Dazzle’s eyes.

“What if that doesn’t work?”

“Then we find some other way to snap it! But we need to start moving soon, she’s almost to the bottom!” Chromie called out as she glanced to their target.

“Right! So, Dazzle, get the photo. We’ll-“ Twilight began.

“I’ll pop the lava flow on her.” Chromie took over. “She might be a monster dragon, but the clan’s lava has been super-heated by that scale to the point where even we can’t handle it in the stream. The pain should make her open her mouth long enough to get in without her noticing.”

Spike gulped. “That leaves me getting the scale out of her.”

“Spike, I can come in with you to-“ Twilight began again.

“No offence Twilight, you barely managed basic living conditions for dragons.” Dazzle cut off. “A super-heated maw would overwhelm you faster than you might think.” Twilight huffed at the dragoness, but she wasn’t exactly wrong. Twilight began to calculate just how much magic would be needed to shield herself inside Early Light’s mouth when a claw lay gently on her shoulder.

“I’ll be fine Twilight,” Spiked assured her. “Just be ready. Keep her from eating what’s left in the hovel and keep a look out for me. When I get out, take the scale from me. Our best bet at minimal corruption is you managing it with magic.”

Twilight glanced at the gathered dragons, each psyching themselves up for their jobs. She sighed in slight defeat as she lowered herself down for Spike once again. Once he was situated, she flared her wings, ready for a once over of the plan.

“Okay. Dazzle, get the photo. Chromie, keep her distracted below, I’ve got above. Spike…”

“I get the scale out as fast as I can and we gather at Mourning Star.” Spike concluded, garnering a skeptical look from the rest. “What? Got any other land marks?” There was a brief thought before the group shrugged.

“All right then, break!” Twilight called as she and Dazzle took off, Chromie making her way over the broken hovels.

While she had said she would distract Early Light from above, Dazzle had been right about trying to fight the monstrous dragoness. Her wings could easily spread over the entire clan crater and it seemed what little space Mourning Star had taken up before was now gone as Early Light filled it up, likely from the scale making her grow even further. So for now, Twilight hovered behind Early Light’s head as she gorged on the remaining homes.

“Spike?”

“Yeah Twilight?”

“Do you really think you… we can do this?”

“…That depends. Which part of this? Because I for one think I’ll make a great toothpick.”

“Spike!” Twilight half heartedly chuckled, as did Spike. But they both knew they were dancing around the subject.

“…Immediately, maybe.” Spike finally answered. “I don’t know what that scale will do, but I have expectations. After this… we can only hope.” Twilight was silent to this, but she could only have faith in her number one assistant, and that had been fairly bolstered by his claims of uncertainty and preparedness.

“I believe in you Spike.” Twilight said as she saw Dazzle break into her hovel’s roof. “You should be able to see where the corruption is coming from and take it from there. If-“ Twilight gulped. “If you go further than her mouth, or can’t make it out, jump up and down or something. I’ll make sure to keep a trace on you just in case.”

In a swell of pride, fear, and love, Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight’s neck in a tight hug, startling the alicorn slightly as she lost a little altitude. Both of them could feel a few tears on Twilight’s mane, but neither said a word, only letting the hug speak all of their words. With a shuddering breath and a wipe of his eyes, Spike sat back up.

“I’m counting on you then Twilight.”

A short rumble was all the warning the two had before a jet of lava burst from near the middle of the crater wall, coating Early Light’s heavily in the molten rock, making her cringe away from the pain and roar out in anguish. Twilight saw her opening and beat her wings as fast as she could, steeling herself to dash between the dragon’s teeth. As she passed over the open mouth, she tilted herself as to let Spike slide off of her into the waiting maw. Spike was half grateful as he hadn’t prepped himself to jump, but also half hated that this plan entailed him getting eaten.

Spike landed semi-roughly as he slid a way across Early Light’s tongue, the saliva and rough texture making stopping an interesting dilemma. He was able to finally grip a taste bud to stop himself, but after a second Early Light began lashing her tongue about, probably to dislodge him, so Spike obliged by allowing himself to be thrown to a row of razor sharp teeth.

Luckily he only hit the interior of the teeth, managing to avoid impalement. Not so Luckily, Early Light seemed to notice his abnormality, as her tongue was quick to start looking for him. Spike tried to lower himself before the tongue could find him, but hitting the dragoness’ gum seemed to make him an easier find. He was quickly scooped up, the tongue rose, and Early Light’s mouth closed.

Spike was about to be swallowed and he knew it, yet the scenario seemed to slow down as it had before in the forest, as with no other light, Spike could see the scale gleaming its blood red shine. Spike didn’t know if the lack of outpouring gore and violence was a good thing or not, but the fact that it was lodged in the lower jaw was definitely a blessing, if only it weren’t for his impending doom as the tongue scrapped across the roof of the mouth to scape him down.

Thankfully Twilight came through with something, as the mouth shook and Spike once more slid down Early Light’s tongue, only this time with a destination in mind. Spike winced in pain as a roar erupted from Early Light, making him lose sight of his objective as his ears rang, and soon enough he found yet another flaw to this plan.

Early Light’s mouth was not a stable place to move in. Spike more stumbled than ran to his objective, and even once he made it off Early Light’s tongue and onto her inner gum, he knew he had to be doing a little bit of damage as his claws gripped into her flesh. But whatever Twilight and Chromie were doing was distracting Early Light enough that she wasn’t focusing on scraping him out her mouth with tongue or claw.

The mission was a bit more straightforward now. Spike was latched into Early Light’s gum, his ears had triggered some sort of blocking machination to not be deafened by Early Light’s near constant roars, and her opening and closing mouth allowed Spike to see where the scale of Tiamat lay wedged between two of Early Light’s teeth. Breathing was a bit hard and labored as air rushed past him in and out, but Spike unfurled his claws to the furthest extent and began to climb, digging his hands and feet into the soft, wet flesh, blood seeping out from each insertion. There was some initial hesitation, and possibly even a near blackout from what was happening, but Spike steeled himself and climbed, this horror would be dealt with later.

Not a minute later Spike came to his final problem, actually reaching the scale. Yes, it was right there above him, but there was at least ten feet of tooth between him and the scale. His claws just couldn’t breach Early Light’s teeth, so here he was, stuck at the end of the gum with barely enough to hold on to.

And there Spike held on, in shock, disbelief, and anger. It was right there, all he needed to do was grab it and let Twilight teleport him out. He was so close to ending this whole thing. And he couldn’t reach it.

He was too short.

Soon, the anger started becoming more prominent. Tears weld in his eyes. A claw came off the gum and punched the tooth, but to no avail. It was right there, right there. And he was too Celestia damned small to reach it! Spike clenched his eyes shut as he punched the tooth again, and again, and again. Tears were streaming as he cried, punching this dragons’ tooth, not caring that his fist was hurting, feeling the weight that had just been piled onto him.

He wasn’t meant for this. He hadn’t been raised for this. He was supposed to be Twilight’s friend and helper. He was supposed to bake meals and keep schedules straight. And suddenly a primordial dragon wants him to fix everything? Fix what an even greater primordial dragon broke? What was he supposed to fix? Base instincts? You don’t fix a genetic subconscious! And here this one, lone, discarded scale was proving he couldn’t do anything about this.

Because he was a child. Pyrathy wanted a child to fix a grand problem. And that just wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t possible. Not by himself.

Spike’s head rested against the tooth, his fist having stopped pounding from exhaustion, and Spike stood there, three claws embedded into fleshy mouth gum. After a few deep breaths, Spike sighed. He would have to jump off, do something crazy for Twilight to notice, and get him out of this mouth to come up with a new plan. Probably send in Dazzle like they probably should have done in the first place to get the scale out.

But in his moment of calm, Spike realized the roaring had stopped, as well as the violent thrashing, and it was bright. Spike looked up toward the mouth to see what was happening, to then notice a giant claw coming in.

He had stayed still to long, banged to hard on the tooth, or something to let Early Light know where he was. Now was a good a time as any to jump, so he prepared to. However due to time or hesitation, Spike’s remaining claws had become quite well imbedded and caked over with dried blood. There was a frenzied hurry to dislodge himself before the claw got to him. As he got his remaining claw and right foot out, he felt the claws shadow come over him, and Spike flinched for the incoming pain.

But there wasn’t any. Spike cracked an eye open to see the claw was instead above him.

Ten feet above him.

Dislodging the scale.

Spike’s eyes widened at what he hoped was happening. He leaned into the tooth as to not fall to soon and waited as Early Light dug the scale out of her teeth. When it came free, Spike saw a trail of the viscera and carnage flowing from the scale into the teeth, and he also saw the scale falling right towards him. Spike leaned back to grab it, but this was no Crystal Heart, and Spike’s hands barely latched to the sides of the thing. The force of the falling scale also dislodged him from his spot, and Spike quickly started falling to Early Light’s lower gums.

But just as fast as he found himself falling, he found himself teleported outside, floating alongside Twilight.

“Spike! You did it!” Twilight cheered. But that was soon drowned out by the sound of screams, the feeling of tearing flesh, and the smell of running blood. The scale, now detached from Early Light, started seeping its influence into Spike.

”Take what’s yours.” A cacophony of voices demanded.

”Take what’s theirs.”

”Burn the undeserving.”

”Kill all in your way.”

Kill.

Kill!

Kill!

“Twilight! Take it!” Spike quickly chucked the scale forward. “Get me away from it!” Twilight’s magic easily held both Spike and the scale and quickly pulled the two apart from each other. Spike heard the voices fade, but he was still close enough to hear the desire of destruction emanating off of the scale, but Spike felt no want or need to get closer to such power. But he also felt he wouldn’t need to, for as soon as they were separated, he could see the power of the scale begin to radiate ever outward like water over the ground.

“We need to break this thing as fast as we can before it can latch onto anything else.” Spike declared as Twilight deposited him once again onto her back.

“I’m sure Dazzle is already in positi-whoa!” Twilight cried out as claws passed by on either side of her. They both looked back to see a pained looking Early Light clutching her face with one claw as the other was buried beneath them.

“I don’t know how much longer she can fight it, go, GO!” Spike kicked his heels into either side of Twilight, startling her into flying forward and toward the downed body of Mourning Star.

As they fast approached the fallen chief, Spike kept an eagle eye out for the dragoness. “There!” Spike pointed toward the middle of the chief’s back where Dazzle stood with her picture clutched to her chest. “Try to keep the scale as far from her as possible before we’re ready.” Twilight gave a curt nod as she came into range. Twilight held the scale well out of range of the three by reasonable standards. but Spike noticed even at this range the power was barely five feet from them and spreading quick. They needed to get this done now.

“Are you really sure this is going to work Twilight?” Dazzle asked. “It takes a lot of pounding to crack a dragon scale, much less break them entirely.”

“We don’t have anything else right now Dazzle. The only other thing I can think of it to play cat and mouse with the scale and Early Light until we could get something else, and even then, I’m the only one who could carry it, and I don’t know how I would match up to her!” Twilight pointed back at Early Light, who had crawled out of the crater and making her way toward the trio.

Dazzle glanced between the picture, her mother, and the scale, before closing her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it all out with a curt nod. In a demonstration of speed to wow even Rainbow Dash, in one motion, Dazzle unfurled her wings and took to the sky in one down beat, blasting Twilight and Spike with air. As Spike looked up, he could see Dazzle in the air, eye level with Early Light, aiming the picture where Twilight laid it down.

And just as fast as she rose, Dazzling Star, true to her name, came hurtling down, crashing into the scale and throwing up a cloud of dirt, Twilight and Spike barely having time to shield their eyes. As Spike lowered his arm, so too did his stomach.

It hadn’t worked. The picture was barely wedged into the scale, Dazzle still holding it, kneeling beside the pair of entwined items.

And she was panting.

And the energy was retreating.

Into Dazzle.

”NO!” A gurrtial roar came as Early Light hastened over. Spike was frozen in indecision. They had to get away. Dazzle had to get away. Early Light couldn’t have the scale!

But as Dazzle looked up to her mother, Spike no longer saw the Dazzle he had come to know. He saw a savage beast, ready to kill anything and everything, with claws already extended and wings beating.

Only for a purple aura to envelop Dazzle, as Twilight recognized the frenzy in Dazzle’s eyes.

“Spike! Move! Now!” Twilight called as she began running with a flailing Dazzle in her aura toward Mourning Star’s head.

“But what about the scale?!”

“MINE!” Dazzle screeched as she broke from Twilight’s grasp and flew at Spike.

Now, even his heart froze as Dazzle tackled him to the ground, sliding the pair a fair distance. “Take! Kill!” Dazzle rasped out as her claws dug into Spike’s back, making him cry out in pain.

"You" Early Light boomed as she stomped forward, snapping Dazzle’s attention to her.

"Will NOT" Early Light grew closer to the scale, making Dazzle leap to it. 

"Take" Dazzle almost made it to the scale, but Twilight yanked her back once more in her magic.

"My" Early Light was looming over all of them now, easily able to kill them all and take the scale,

"Daughter!" Early Light’s claw came down hard, on the picture, on the scale. And even if Early Light couldn’t feel it, and the others couldn’t see it, Spike could.

A tirade of blood red energy came spewing out from underneath Early Light’s claw, jettisoning out in every feasible direction, eventually lifting into the sky and dispersing in the air. It went on and on for Spike, well over five minutes, in which Early Light still stood, breathing deeply, perhaps feeling the energy flow away. Twilight came to the motionless Spike with an unconscious Dazzle in tow. Twilight contorted the dragoness into a feasibly comfortable sleeping position before looking to Spike.

She was quickly worried by the bleeding wounds in his back and moved to fix them, only to find they were well on the mend already. Worried and a bit confused, she sighed in exhaustion as she lay beside the entranced Spike.

“We did it, didn’t we?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, yeah I think we did.” Spike responded, his gaze never shifting. “It’s still going.”

“The energy?”

“Yeah, still rushing out of the scale.”

“And Early Light it seems.” That got Spike to look up, and sure enough, the once towering dragoness was significantly smaller than before now barely twice the size of Mourning Star.

“Huh.” Was all Spike could muster before his adrenaline crash lead him to fall unconscious against Twilight, who only smiled.

“Well done Spike, well done.”
> The Changed Whole
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Spike began to gain consciousness, he felt so comfortable. In a warmth he was a bit unfamiliar with, as he began to paw about for the comforter or pony next to him to pull closer, all he felt around him was stone, making start awake.

He couldn’t see much, but there was light coming in from under the canopy he was under, so the worst of his fear was gone, but now his curiosity was piqued. He made his way over to the canopy, but as soon as he began to move it, it lifted in its entirety, revealing itself to have been one massive wing.

“Twilight Sparkle, Spike is awake.” A new voice called out from behind him. Spike turned, but had to look up to see a remorseful smile from one Early Light, looking much more reasonable than before. Her size was far diminished, now only matching what was the size of the Golden Oaks library. Her eyes were so much kinder now, just emitting an aura of humbleness, both in sincerity and regret it felt. “Hello there little one.” A soothing motherly tone rolled out.

“H-hi.” Spike nervously waved, a bit unsure what to do or where to go.

“Spike, oh thank goodness.” Twilight called out as she flew from around Early Light’s head, quickly making her way down. “How are you feeling? You crashed pretty hard there.”

Spike stretched his body about, getting how he felt. “Pretty good, but still a bit tired.” He affirmed before hugging Twilight, who gladly hugged him back. They were silent as they enjoyed each other’s comfort, but Twilight eventually backed away with her ‘business’ look.

“I’m sorry to have to ask this of you Spike, but I need you in a meeting right now.”

Spike cocked his head to the side. “A meeting with who?”

“You’ll see in two seconds.” Twilight smiled cunningly as she offered her back once more. Spike was a bit hesitant at the crypticness of her comment, but decided to trust her as he climbed on her back, garnering a light chuckle from Early Light. Twilight glanced up to the dragoness briefly before she took off and made her way back the way she came, and Spike quickly saw what kind of meeting he needed to attend.

The leaders of the gathered clans had come back and had converged around Mourning Star, who sadly didn’t look all that much better, still stretched out along the ground, but at least seemed conscious of his situation. Early Light had taken up a position a bit away from the others, as she did not seem to be welcomed to this meeting, so it was a short flight over to Mourning Star’s head, where Dazzle was amongst the gathering.

“All right, we’re back, you can continue Dusk Screen.” Twilight intoned to the leader of the wyvern dragons.

“Right.” The dragoness nodded her head. “As to reach the rest of the wyvern-“

“Whoa, hold up and back up.” Spike interrupted, gaining the irritation of the Loomclaw chieftain. “Would somebody mind filling me on what’s going on?”

“That’s fair.” Shogo nodded, looking to Dusk Screen, who merely rolled her eyes. “This gathering is continuing from where we left off when Mourning Star gathered us. Of the seven gathered clans here, we have come to a unanimous decision to reconnect our disparate cultures and rewrite our histories into one concessive whole.” The Lung chief explained. “As for right now, it is dealing with logistics of reaching and reconciling the clans.”

“As some of us… lost some abilities over time after separation, we may not even be all there is.” Fetido added. “I can only speak for the Corrupttail, not all Wyrm, and even then, I cannot tell how Wyrms across the seas have changed and will react to such news.”

“It will take time.” The Bickerfin chief spoke. “There are many of us, and even I have known Hydra that forget we are too dragons.”

“Well what about the Dragon King?” Spike asked. “He at least sounded like he had a decent reach to other clans.”

“Amongst the Draco, yes.” Mourning Star sighed, making Spike look to him in confusion.

“It’s how we’re going to be categorizing ‘pure’ dragons now.” Dazzle injected. “Since we’re all of dragon kind, we decided it best to set ourselves as a subset as well, rather than dominating the word.”

“So… no other Draco clan knows what’s happened here, right?” Spike asked, gaining a few shaking heads.

“Other than we gathered here, no other clan should know.” The Slither Stream chief confirmed, making Spike lightly chuckle.

“So I guess Celestia was panicking over nothing, huh Twi?”

“Yes, we heard of the worry of your queen.” The Lightspray chief acknowledged. “But just because we have not told of this meeting does not mean others do not know, which is why it also paramount that we leave as soon as we can to spread our news before rumors grow.”

“All right, so we spilt up and reach out to friendly clans to spread the news of reformation, excellent!” Spike grinned, but no one else did.

“Not quite.” Twilight sighed. “The Dawn Star clan is decimated and even friendly relations between clans are terse at best, not the best situation of spreading gospel. Not to mention the fact that the Dawn Star were a bit more fanatical than other Draco clans due to their oft calls from Pyrathy.”

“So even if I can get the dispersed Draco from around here to follow me as the Dawn Star chief, we have a pretty terrible reputation to work with.” Dazzle sighed. “And then there’s you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, a clanless expounder.” Fetido answered. “You have had one, mark, one, interaction with a clan, expounding change, followed by the destruction of said clan. By the one thing all of us normally fear!” Fetido used his tail to gesture over to Early Light. Spike held up his claw to point out a correction to the accusation, but any he could think of died on his lips.

“So we need to approach this slowly and with caution.” Dusk Screen wrapped up. “So the best way to spread this to the wyvern is to begin with intermediaries of the mid-lower caste to make its way to the other chiefs. Best start I would have is with two or three clans I know…”

Spike’s attention began to wane as he contemplated what to do now as everyone else planned around him. Everyone had a point on how this had all gone down. Things were on their way, just like Pyrathy wanted, but Spike wasn’t too sure if one Hydra reaching out to another would solve anything, or just lead to infighting between the sub-species.

Then there was the fact of what history was really going to be written? Everyone seemed to have their own version of the Purge, and then rose tinted glasses were going to hue the events afterward in the respective species favor, probably demonizing the clan species they’ve had bad blood with for generations. There were just so many ways this could go so far off the rails, Spike couldn’t think of any way to make this meeting work.

“What do you think Spike?” Dazzle asked, making Spike look up to suddenly see the other dragons looking at him expectantly.

“I…I don’t know.” Spike looked to the ground as he scratched behind his earfin. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“See? We don’t need his say.” The Lightspray Chieftan dismissed. “We’ll begin the spread immediately.”

“Well… Wait!” Spike spoke up as the dragon was about to take off, getting an irritated glare. “You’re just going to talk to other Amphithere clans right?” There was an irritated huff, but the chief settled back down.

“Yes, that was what we were going to do, as we were talking about, if you bothered to listen.”

“Do you even know what you’re going to tell them?”

Again, another agrivated sigh, this one even followed by the Loomclaw and Corrupttail chiefs. “Yes, Pyrathy is the son of Tiamat and that we are all His children. That is the base of the message.” The Lightspray chief cocked his head to the side to ask ‘are we done here?’

“So what does Pyrathy look like then?” Spike asked, and as soon as he saw five open chieftans open their mouths, Spike followed with. “What does Tiamat look like?” That made four mouths close in concern, but the Bickerfin chief confidently answered.

“She was a five headed dragon of a ravious appetite.” There was a slight smirk on each head as the one that spoke looked down at Spike who solemnly nodded.

“That’s how I have it.” Spike affirmed.

“No, she was a Draco, Kefali!” The Lightspray chief interjected.

“Why would we claim her then Speer?” Kefali, the Bickerfin chief, directed their attention to their interrupter. “We remember Tiamat as a betrayer to her father, and we wear that betrayal in shame even now.” The other chiefs were quiet for a minute, contemplating their own histories.

“I suppose… we described her as who we… detested most.” Dusk Screen pondered, getting Spike to nod.

“That’s what I was worried about. And other clans might not even agree with your version of Tiamat, could they?”

“Perhaps not.” Fetido admitted. “But how would you suggest we spread these revelations then?”

“Well, for however bad an idea it might be, we could do greater gatherings like this.” There were incredulous stares from everyone gathered. “Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not great, but what would be worse? Miscommunications and friction until something erupted out of nowhere, or everybody shouting at each other at once?”

“Neither of those are great solutions.” Dazzle said. “But I will say that a controlled release is better than an unexpected eruption.”

“How about, then, we have multiple gatherings?” The Skywalker chief spoke up, gaining the gathering’s attention. “Instead of all of the clans coming to one gathering, the more amicable clans gather with two of us already there to smooth out two species versions into one version, then four clans meet, and so on until we can come to a consensus?”

“Hmm, it could work.” The Slither Stream chief stroked his chin. “But there are seven species here, we would leave one version until the end untouched.”

“The Draco will… get our own story straight.” Dazzle spoke out. “I think we’ll be the hardest to bring around, so we’ll need to convince the others of our species to even come around to the same idea first.” The Slither Stream chief considered Dazzle for a moment before nodding.

“True, I can say for my own clan that Draco have been the most… demeaning of the rest of us.” There were several nods to this statement. “So, we’ll have to split into three groups of two and gather the respective clans then.”

“Wyrms and Lung, Hydra and Amphithere, Linnorm and Wyvern.” Spike pointed out the pairings, making the chiefs raise their brows to the pairing. “Hey, I was listening, and this way we have a flying clan with a non-flyer, thus if there any travel problems, everyone can have a pair of eyes in the sky.”

There was a beat before Fetido began chuckling. “All right little one, but where will that leave you?”

Spike honestly thought he was going to be done with this and leave the Draco gathering to Mourning Star and Dazzle, so he could only stutter and look about for an answer.

“We’ll be a relay station.” Twilight Spoke up. “At least one thing I can and will contribute to this effort is a place for progress and planning to be held.” Twilight then turned to Dazzle. “And learning, if you will Dazzling Star.”

Dazzle was a bit taken aback at the formality and had nothing to say for a minute before her eyes widened and she smacked her forehead. “Ah, right, magic.”

“Care to explain?” The Slither Stream chief encouraged.

“One of the things we’ve overlooked in our… isolation, is our own draconic magic.” There was quite the excited murmuring between the chieftains children, and even some shocked stares between the chiefs themselves before the Skywalker chief turned back to Dazzle.

“Care to elaborate on that point?”

“Right, so...” Dazzle walked forward a bit before she bent over and began dragging her claw through the ground, walking in a fairly large circle. Once the rough outline was made, Dazzle walked to the center of the circle and dug out a point in the center. When she came back to the circle’s edge, she placed her hand on the circle, took a deep breath, and on a sharp exhale, pressed her palm into the circle. There was a brief flash of yellow and the circle evened out, the groove from her claw was now sheer, and the circle exactly perfect. This alone had enticed the gathered clans, but Spike could tell it wasn’t over.

Dazzle stood up and took a step back before concentrating once again, and with a stamp of her foot, a two story spike of earth jutted out of the ground, shocking everyone gathered except Mourning Star.

“What in His name did you just do?” Dusk Screen asked as she edged her way over to the spike, felling over its smooth surface, her children following suit.

“We called it ‘Stone Shaping’. With practice and persistence, we were able to fashion the stone around us into any shape we required. Plates, cups, beds, name it, we have a way to make it. Twilight, if you could blast it?” Dazzle asked, making the Loomclaw’s retreat a bit as Twilight charged her horn. There was a short blast and a side of the spike was soon missing. But Dazzle stamped her foot once more and soon the spike regained its shape, making every dragon’s eyes bulge.

“How long-“  Kefali began.

“Since before my grandfather’s time.” Mourning Star answered.

“And you never thought to share this?” Speer asked indignantly.

“It never even crossed our minds.” Mourning Star admitted with a sad chuckle. “It had become such a common thing amongst us as to not even be thought of as magic.”

“And there’s probably things all of you do without thinking they’re strange at all.” Spike added. “Like the Skywalkers, how do you fly?”

The Skywalker chief was a bit taken aback. “We walk on air, of course.” To which the Amphithere Wyvern clans looked at them like they were completely oblivious as both chiefs held up their wings. The Skywalker chief looked between the two and looked down a bit embarrassed. “I can see the point there.”

“I suppose… other clans can regrow their heads then?” The Hydra chief chuckled, gaining some wide eyes from amongst the other, younger dragons.

“I haven’t tried, but I would say no.” The Slither Stream chief chuckled along.

“Well then,” Fetido said with a smile toward Twilight. “Perhaps more than history needs to be… collected. If you could find it in you power pony, perhaps an… archive could be put together to help straighten us all out.”

“It would be my honor.” Twilight bowed.

“With that, I believe we should all be off then.” Speer concluded as he made his way over to the Bickerfin Chief. “I believe we will send a messenger with what we can gather for ourselves soon.”

“Yes, and perhaps some more studious members of our clans.” Kefali pointed out as they turned to walk away with the Lightspray clan.

There were courteous nods and exchanges as the clans left in the pairs Spike had suggested until there were only Dazzle, Mourning Star, Spike, and Twilight left. There was a deep sigh between father and daughter as the last pair left sight, letting Early Light come over to join the group.

“That seemed to go well.” Early Light noted as she nuzzled Mourning Star’s neck.

“Much.” Mourning Star replied as he leaned into the nuzzle. “But we’re still in a tough predicament.”

“Yeah.” Dazzle sighed as retracted the spike and began erasing her circle. “How are we going to get in contact with any Draco clan?”

“Oh?” Early Light looked over Mourning Star to look to her daughter. “Is that we are now? How much has changed since I’ve left?”

“Well, that just happened in the last few hours, and… a bit.” Dazzle started off lightly, but became dour by the end. “The Dawn Star clan is over for one. Also sort of a recent development.”

For a little bit afterward, Dazzle and Mourning Star filled Early Light in on some of the major things to take place in their clan for the last fifty years. Spike and Twilight gave them their space as the three talked, needing their own talk of their own.

“Are you sure we can do something like this Twilight?” Spike asked. “I mean, I get that we still need to be a part of this, but where could we even put a place for a dragon archive without freaking out all of Equestria?”

“Honestly, we’re not.” Twilight admitted. “The most we can do is mediate.” After a short moment, Twilight facehoofed. “We didn’t even tell them where we could meet them.”

“Oh.” Spike looked away. “But still, where could an archive be?”

Twilight sighed. “I was thinking in the side of the Lone Mountain. Honestly, it’s a bit out of the way of other pony towns but not to far for us to hop over to. Then with Pinkie and Dazzle working together, they could probably carve out a decent space, with my help for organizing all of the clan information.”

“Sounds doable I suppose.” Spike admitted as he saw Dazzle signal them over. The two made their way back, with a significantly more morose Early Light laying atop Mourning Star.

“So, we were wondering if you two had any ideas on collecting the other Draco clans together.” Dazzle started.

“I still think our best chance is the Dragon King, for however much good it can do us.” Spike said once more, to which Dazzle nodded.

“Yeah, he might be able to at least get the word out, if nothing else, right dad?” Dazzle looked to Mourning Star, who was much more somber than before.

“Perhaps, but I wonder just how much the clans realize how much we have just decided for everyone else.” He tried to prop himself up, but a hard wince made him seem to reconsider his action. “This isn’t going to go smoothly.”

“You call today smooth?” Spike asked, getting the chuckle he was looking for.

“No, but I also think that the others are moving a bit fast.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Dazzle asked.

“Because it’s also the right move to make. Your analogy earlier was apt, to move this along can release tensions a lot more manageably than taking our time. It just still doesn’t sit well with me.” Mourning Star sighed. “Not to mention that we’re going to have to find somewhere new to live, as the one resource here is now gone. This is going to turn into a regular flyover plane soon. A better place is going to be needed.”

“How about… setting up at the new archive?” Spike suggested, garnering a confused look from Mourning Star. “If it’s just the three of you, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

Dazzle shook her head. “No. Thank you Spike, but we’ll need to be in a proper clan. The first and best option is going to the Burn Land clan that Torch is from.”

“Perhaps for us, Dazzle.” Early Light spoke up as she clutched Mourning Star’s shoulder. “But perhaps moving to the archive will be for the best. You’ve been a part of this clan meeting, so being a part of the collection may be for the best.

“But mom, you’ve just gotten back here. I don’t want to-“

“You’re not losing me again dear.” Early Light reached out and stroked her thumb over Dazzle’s head. “You’ll know where I am, and I would never turn down a visit from my daughter.” Dazzle smiled forlornly as she grabbed her mother’s thumb and just hugged it for a moment before letting go. “But with all that said, I believe now would be a good time to collect your things.” Early Light looked above them all. As the rest turned, Spike saw quite a number of dragons heading toward them, with a quite winded Chromie in the lead on top of a slightly familiar dragon.

“Chromie must have went to collect the other Dawn Star with Petrichor.” Dazzle noted before taking off towards the clan’s former nest.

“Does this really mean the Dawn Star is done for then?” Spike asked the two remaining elders.

“More than likely.” Mourning Star confirmed. “A clan only exists as long as the collective dragons acknowledge the chief. As I am, I doubt any would still follow me. I don’t know where Starset went, but if he were to continue in his own clan, he would not be a Dawn Star anymore, as I still have rights to the name, and only if I die without passing the title would someone else be able to claim the name, as if they would want to. And then that leaves a fealty to Dazzling Star, which didn’t seem to be the greatest consensus. Those coming here are more than likely just scavenging what they can claim as theirs.”

And true to his prediction, a majority of the dragons passed them by without a second glance. Chromie at least waved as she and Petrichor made their way by, and there were a few that greeted the downed chief, or stared at the returned Early Light if they really still remembered her. After a moment of watching passing dragons, Twilight asked something she had been worried about for a while.

“Are you really all right Mourning Star?” She asked. “You were barely holding on when you crawled out of the nest.”

“Truly… I don’t believe I am.” Mourning Star looked down his body to his hind legs, and after a moment said “I just tried to move them.” That immediately made Early Light fret and Twilight begin to run any kind of bodily can she could.

“Star, are you sure? Did… did I…?” Early Light couldn’t even end her own question, but Mourning Star reached up to caress her face.

“No Love, Starset was ruthless, and I am older than my prime. Doing what I did lead to this. There was bound to be consequences.”

“As… best as I can tell, two of your vertebra are out of alignment in opposite directions.” Twilight bit her lower lips. “I’ve never tried to before, but-“

“No Twilight.” Mourning Star stopped her. “If it can be fixed, we will deal with it. As it is, my wings will mend, and I will need to be careful.”

Early Light snorted. “Yeah, I’ll be making sure of that.” Early Light lifted herself up and moved to Mourning Star’s lower back. “What about your tail?” There were a few good swishes before Early Light nodded and began shaping stone around Mourning Star’s legs. “Twilight Sparkle, where is the misalignment?”

Twilight was quick to fly up and point out just where she found the problem, leaving Mourning Star with the silent indignity of his new body cast. It was a slow process, but Early Light was able to shape the earth around Mourning Star’s legs to the point where dragging them along behind him became a non-issue, with his tail freely able to move and maintain balance. He probably wouldn’t have been able to fly with such a cast, but seeing what condition his wings were already is, he wasn’t going airborne any time soon.

By the time the cast was finished, three dragons came approaching the group. Two road upon the third’s shoulders, as the third was pulling quite a large stone thing behind him. Spike could see the two smaller dragons were Dazzle and Chromie, and taking in the similarities, Spike deduced the large dragon was Chromie’s father.

“Mourning Star! You’re alive!” The drake called out.

“As I can be Gilt.” Mourning Star affirmed. Now forced into a four-legged position, Mourning Star still felt to stand taller over the average Ponyville house. Early Light took up the same posture alongside him, gently caressing her face into the crook of Mourning Star’s neck.

“It’s… good to see you again Early Light. Truly, you.” Gilt said as he came to stand before the two.

“It’s nice to be myself again.” Early Light smiled up to the drake. “How’s Dust Age?”

“She moved along a bit after Chromie could Choose. I haven’t heard of her for… oh thirty years now.”

“Mhm.” Early Light nodded. “And I take it you cleared yourselves out?”

“Us and Dazzle here.” Gilt indicated to the idle Dazzle. “She seemed to have and idea on where we could head out to with her.”

“Oh really?” Early Light smiled to her daughter. “How… pragmatic.” There was a teasing nature to the smile and comment that made Dazzle look away from everyone, to which Spike did not miss a small pout.

“It’s going to take more than one dragon to write everything up mom. Gilt and Chromie were underutilized here anyways.”

“That we were.” Gilt sighed. “Honestly, once everything had a sign, nobody ever wrote anything to go anywhere. There’s only so long scrawling and re-scrawling can keep you invested.”

“What kind of writing?” Twilight asked, making Gilt take account of both her and Spike for the first time.

“Ah! The purple pony princess, yes, there is many things I wrote about. Stories of my parents, dreams of my own, instructions for things I was rusted on. I have them stored here.” Gilt patted the container behind him. “And if what Dazzle says is true, a great many more I will come to soon write, correct?”

Twilight’s eyes shined brightly as she almost bounced in place. “Yes! Ehm, yes, we’ll definitely need some po-dragons with experience to help record everything that will be coming our way. And if you could go over some of the basics…”

Gilt let out a mirthful laugh. “Of course! I’d happily teach my craft to any who ask.” Gilt sighed. “It’s been so long to be needed.”

“Well, taking in how far we’re going to have to walk, we could probably make her a well versed apprentice before we even enter pony territory!” Chromie giggled in her own enthusiasm. There was a short pause before Twilight’s enthusiasm shifted to horror.

“Dragons are going to be walking through Equestria.” Twilight stated in shock.

“I mean, sure, not all of us can fly.” Gilt twisted his body to show his wingless shoulder.

“No it’s not that, it’s… Dragon migrations are rare in Equestria, and even then they’re fly overs. But… a migration on foot is going to… I don’t know! But nopony I’ve ever met is all that good taking up new and scary situations. And a flood of dragons…”

“Twilight.” Mourning Star cut in flatly, catching the near hyperventilating pony’s attention. “At most, it will be us five coming with you. Look to the nest.”

She and Spike did, and as they expected, a mass migration of dragons were making their way away from the crater. Except it was in groups anywhere from one to ten dragons a piece, all seeming to wander off in different directions.

“They’ll find other Draco clans. Some may wander after us, unsure of where to stand, but the Dawn Star clan is done. I’ll take responsibility for any that join us, but as it is, we’ll not be staying in Equestria. At most, we’ll make our way to the location of the archives to know where it is and move on to Torch. Be calm, and those you lead will be as well.”

With a few nervous looks between the gathering of dragons, Twilight took a deep breath, and let it go. “All right. Dazzle, can you take us back to Pyrathy’s nest? I should be able to direct us back to Equestria proper from there.”

“Sure, and you might as well make yourselves comfortable up here,” Dazzle thumbed back to the container Gilt was lugging “we’ve got a bit of a walk.”

“Honestly, I welcome the break.” Twilight sighed as she once more offered her back to Spike. He accepted, and a short hop took them up about a story and landed on a stone lid of the container.

“Oh! Speaking of break.” Dazzle remembered as she glided off Gilt’s shoulder to a back corner of the container. She dug the lid aside as she reached inside, and upon finding what she was looking for, furled her wings around the hole, making Spike look to Twilight in confusion, only to get as much confusion.

“When dragons make significant contribution to a clan, they get favorable rewards regarding the accomplishment. A new nest gets preferential living space, a good hunt get preferential picks, crafts made in commemoration and so on.” Dazzle explained as she stood up, her wings encompassing her upper body to hide what she hid underneath. “And when duels come to death, an honored opponent will take a memento of the fight. You’ve done a lot for us Spike, and I know this may mean nothing to you, but please accept this.”

Dazzle retracted her wings and stuck out her arms, as held in her hand was Tiamat’s scale.

But not the whole thing. Spike could see the smooth, round edge where the scale attached to the body, but there was a roughness opposite of it, where the scale had obviously been broken. And yet, this wasn’t the thing that gob smacked Spike the most.

It was beautiful. Its sheen looked as smooth as treated glass, its color was the purest red, shaming even the Apple Family’s apples, yet it looked as faceted as the most complex ruby. And it no longer dripped of murder. Had Spike not seen what it was before, he might not of hesitated in accepting the gift, but he did.

“I… I don’t know Dazzle.” Spike said as he slid down from Twilight, a frown appearing on Dazzle’s face. “I don’t feel I… did what you said to deserve this. Twilight’s enchantment, or your mother’s strength, they broke it more than me.”

“But you did something more significant. So much deeper.” Early Light mentioned as she made her way to the container. “You broke our cycle. You broke the isolation of the species. You’ve changed us for the better.”

Early Light may not have known, but those words, that word, ‘changed’, filled Spike’s chest with light. His breath caught in his throat as he looked to Twilight, who with a moment of realization, smiled.

They had done it. They had done what Pyrathy had asked. They had changed the dragon’s way of life.

“I assume the other half is going to the archive?” Mourning Star asked, having made his way over.

“Yes.” Dazzle nodded. “Where we might be gathering many an old tale, something like this also needs recording, and proof.”

“A nice way to be connected, isn’t it Spike?” Twilight whispered to her compatriot who was getting a little light headed from giddiness. After clearing his throat and masking his obvious joy, Spike finally answered.

“Well, I guess. It would be an honor to be a part of history.” Spike replied evenly as he grasped the scale in both claws. As Dazzle let it go, Spike wobbled forward a bit, as the scale, even cracked in half, was still pretty weighty.

“And it’ll look shiny mounted on a wall.” Chromie chimed in from her father’s shoulder, garnering a chuckle from everyone gathered.

“It sure will.” Twilight agreed. “Anywhere particular you want to put it.”

“Yeah…” Spike almost said his chair in the map room, but paused. This was his. His accomplishment. A treasure of his own. “…There’s a good wall in my room.”



…………



It had taken two weeks to guide the band of dragons from the ghost nest of the Dawn Star clan to the border of Equestria, giving Twilight and Spike ample time to learn Stone Shaping and draconic writing. No one else had joined the group, so the surprise was less substantial than Twilight had feared, especially with the frontier towns ponies being a bit less of a panicky sort than Ponyville or Canterlot. That did not mean, however, that they were all that warmly greeted. And a two week traveled Princess of Equestria didn’t have that much of a similar effect of a well rested Princess of Equetria. But a quick correspondence to Celestia had secured the group a royal pass through Equestria more than easily, and while slightly reluctant to approach the dragon group, they were helped along their way back to Ponyville.

A week after entering Equestria, Twilight sighed as she heard the normal screams of panic she expected as they approached Ponyville, thoroughly confusing the visiting dragons, as panic to action was expected, but panicking to panic was wholly confusing. Twilight just waved them toward the entrance of the town, where she expectedly met the other Elements who at least were sensible in seeing to what was making the town panic.

One attack hug and explanation later of why she had been gone for almost a month without a word, Twilight guided the group around the town as the other five went to calm the town down and to tell them of their new neighbors.

When they made it to the lone mountain, the group split up. Twilight, Early Light, and Mourning Star started making their way towards Canterlot way as to obtain help in reaching Torch’s clan, while Gilt, Chromie, and Dazzle began making home in the base of the mountain, with Spike guiding in how such an archive should be archived.

Finally, after four weeks of exhaustive excitement and travel, Spike finally affixed Tiamat’s Scale on the wall across from his bed. A reminder of how he had helped his species.

Of how he shaped history.

Of how he mattered.