Chapter 26: The Meaning of Family

Snowbelle only had two reasons, one decent and one poor, not to watch the Dragon migration, and both of them were outweighed just by her curiosity, nevermind her father’s preparations. One of her reasons was that after what she had said to Fluttershy, Snowbelle was starting to feel awkward around her. The other reason was that the Dragons who were migrating near Ponyville would most likely be fire-breathers.

Even Snowbelle realized that she would have to see Fluttershy again, since they were part of the same social circle. Although it had not been all that long since Snowbelle had lectured the Pegasus to tears, the young Dragon was already starting to miss being treated so affectionately and kindly. It was not as if Father did not have affection or kindness for her: Fluttershy’s version was just... different.

As to the fear of being burned out, not only was Father helping to dig and reinforce the trench the ponies would be using to observe the migration, but he and Rarity had designed a small satchel for Snowbelle, which would hold several ice crystals at once. If Snowbelle felt like the protection she got from Father was not enough, she could pop a crystal into her mouth and get a nice Ice Magic boost.

Father was naturally also concerned for the others’ safety, so when Snowbelle flew in with Rainbow Dash and Twilight, who had come to pick her up after their attempt to persuade Fluttershy to join them, Father had already erected anti-fire and anti-smoke barriers. Snowbelle caught him remembering the force he had put into the Spiral Lance he had used against the witch’s barrier and wondering how that might compare to a Dragon’s flame. Snowbelle sent him a reassuring wisp of a thought in response: he was far stronger than he had been back then, so defending the others from any Dragons that chose to attack rather than continue their migration should be fairly easy. Of course, Father had never actually fought a Dragon, and he intended on keeping that way.

“What happened to Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked.

“We... couldn’t persuade her to come,” Twilight said lamely.

“Well, you can’t force somepony to do something they don’t wanna do,” Spike said. Here was another example of a Dragon, just as unusual in his own way as Snowbelle was.

“Yeah, not my proudest moment,” Rainbow Dash said. “Still, I bet she’ll be embarrassed about missing this later.”

“Maybe, but only if Rarity doesn’t attract so much attention we end up being barbecued,” Twilight said. Snowbelle had to agree: if the bright and colourful outfit was not enough, the red carpet that let right to the trench’s entrance would lead the Dragons right to the Ponies. And unlike Spike and Snowbelle, these Dragons would not shy away from a meal with meat!

“Since when did camouflage have to be so... bland?” Rarity asked.

“Since the idea was to blend in with one’s surroundings,” Father said.

“Oh yes, and you’d know everything about blending, wouldn’t you, Mister Alicorn Engine.”

“Which, you will notice, I did not bring with me. Shields are set, by the way.”

“Well, good for you.”

“Are you, by any chance, upset with me because of what happened with Fluttershy?”

“She’s one of my precious friends, so you won’t find me denying it.”

“Hey Rarity,” Applejack said, “would ya mind simmering down before a Dragon hears and burns us all to a crisp?”

Rarity turned with a “hmph!” but she also became quiet.

“It’s not his fault Fluttershy’s scared of Dragons,” Rainbow hissed. “Note the plural.”

“And the bruise on Dashie’s stomach. That looks like it hurts,” Pinkie said.

“Shh!”

“She caught me off guard, is all.”

“Me too,” Father said quietly, but Snowbelle’s sensitive ears picked that up, along with an image from his fight with Fluttershy. Yes, he had been genuinely surprised then.

“Shh! Here they come,” Applejack said. Until then she had had her eyes glued to a set of binoculars.

The Dragons came in a thick flurry, all winged and all of different colours. As soon as they started to pull flips and loops, Snowbelle was convinced that not only had the Dragons noticed that they were being watched, but they were performing for their audience. One Dragon pretty well confirmed that for her when he came swooping in low and still managed to only get his jet of flame over the watching Ponies, instead of hitting them directly – or Father’s shield. The others ‘ooh’ed appropriately.

“How majestic,” Rarity said, still in awe.

“Yeah, we Dragons are pretty fierce,” Spike said.

“Fierce with cookies, tea, and an apron maybe,” Rainbow said.

“I’d much prefer to call you ‘cute,’ Spikey-Wikey.”

“’Cute?’” Now Spike looked worried. He gathered his apron in his claws and looked down at it. Snowbelle sent a spike of concern at Father.

“Actually,” Father said, “I am glad you are on our side, Spike. We do not have any other Dragons around here, other than you and my daughter, and most ponies are too affected by the Dragonfear to ever approach an adult Dragon for anything. Everything we know about Dragons is thanks to you.”

“But I don’t make you afraid,” Spike said. “Now that I think about it, when we first came to Ponyville Fluttershy only talked to us because she saw me talking to Twilight. She thought I was ‘cute’ too!”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Rarity said.

“None of you think I’m scary at all, do you?”

“Your cooking skills are frighteningly good,” Twilight said.

“You do bake an awesome cookie,” Pinkie said, eating one. “I think the Cakes would enjoy your help at the shop anytime!”

“I think the most important point is we can always depend on you, Spike,” Applejack said.

“I couldn’t ask for a more faithful Number One Assistant,” Twilight added.

“But... if I’m not fierce or frightening, then am I still a Dragon?”

“Your scales and fire say ‘yes,’” Father said.

“A fire that sends and receives letters between Twilight and Princess Celestia,” Spike said morosely.

“What are you saying, Spike? Where would you be if you hadn’t been given to me as an egg?”

“I don’t know... and maybe that’s what I should be trying to find out!” Since the migration had long since moved ahead, Spike simply stomped off, away from the trench.

“Ooh,” Rarity said, “he’s so cute when he waddles!”

“Waddle?!” Snowbelle understood: Spike was trying to storm off, and with a comment like that from Rarity, he was getting even more steamed about being called ‘cute’ all the time. As a fellow-Dragon, she could not exactly blame him.

Snowbelle lay curled up in her bed, but she was not asleep. Two floors below, Father was busy preparing some bags. It had been one of Snowbelle’s mental suggestions that had prompted him to do so, so that Snowbelle could be prepared if her hunch about Spike was correct.

When they got back from watching the migration, Father and Snowbelle looked through Father’s encyclopedias and bestiaries. Despite Father’s obvious hope that there would be something of similar detail to the one for Philomena, no such thing existed for Dragons. Obviously not only was surviving an encounter (itself a rare occurrence) with them rare, but nopony kept a Dragon as a pet or family member other than Twilight and Father. This was reflected in the fact that not every Unicorn who went through Princess Celestia’s program ended up with an assistant like Spike.

<How high do you believe the chances of your hunch bearing out really are?> Father asked.

<Eighty percent sure,> Snowbelle responded, <and I am being conservative. I wanted at least 75% certainty before I even asked you to do this for me.>

Although Snowbelle could not see it, she felt Father nodding at that. It was a mental nod, she realized, and a strong image, not just an impression like the two of them used to send to each other. Snowbelle knew about Princess Luna’s psychic lessons, and she even got some of her own. These lessons had to be why Father was becoming much more proficient with mental images.

<I appreciate your discretion and honesty. But does this mean that you would also have these questions, and need to answer them?>

<We both know where I came from, Father, and that getting there will be much more difficult than any journey Spike could complete. That said, I would also like some answers, so it is a shame I cannot get them at the same time. This time, things will be all about Spike.>

<I do not look forward to being separated from you, nevermind to do it twice, but I do agree this should be the better way.>

<I do not like it either,>

<You can always reach out to me through the link if you see more trouble coming than you can handle.>

<I know. In fact, I will keep the link more open during the journey, so you can feel the impressions as they occur to me.>

<And if I sense danger, I can fly right over, even if I then wait to see whether you and Spike can handle it.>

<I appreciate it,>

<Now please get some sleep. I shall have your bags ready for you. And there are not any chances Spike will leave first.>

<Thank you, Father.>

Even as Father and Snowbelle approached the library, they heard someone crash into something. Father sprinted the last few steps to the open doorway, while Snowbelle flew at his side, only to find Twilight contemplating something, with a small bindle stick held in her telekinetic grip. Rarity and Rainbow Dash both were watching with nervous expressions. Their distress only increased when Twilight decided to give the bindle to Spike, which meant she was letting him go.

“You can’t be serious!” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight glared at her friend. “Of course I am, because I care about Spike, but I also recognize how important finding these answers is.”

“Well then,” Rainbow sighed, “I hope this journey of yours helps you find some answers to your pesky ‘who am I‘ questions, Spike.”

“Yes, good luck, Spike,” Rarity said.

“Thanks, and it’s not a journey: it’s a quest!”

“’Oh, you need not be overly concerned,”’ Father said with a little extra flourish. “’I am going with him,”’ he finished, and as he bowed, Snowbelle herself flew to perch lightly on Spike’s head before performing an aerial flip, to land beside him instead.

“Hey, two Dragons instead of one,” Spike said. “You even have your own bags!” Father had created a simple rigging for her, so she could bear a significant weight easily. The rig consisted of a single pack that sat between her wings, and another pair that sat on each side like saddlebags, and a small pouch-like bag that fixed to her chest. They all contained Ice Crystals, to keep her cold or strengthen her in case of trouble.

Snowbelle trilled, and raised a foreleg to show she was ready.

“Are you serious?” Rainbow asked Father.

“Of course,” Father said. Snowbelle knew that he would remind the others about their mental link as soon as she and Spike were out of earshot. He might even convince the others not to tail the two Dragons.

Thus began the long trek across a widely-varying land. For the first little while, Snowbelle hardly flew at all, simply trying to learn Spike’s pace as she kept up with him. While Snowbelle did not know where they were going, and doubted Spike knew either, they visually tracked their progress against that of the flying Dragons, stopping to rest only when they were certain they could do so without losing sight of the whole horde.

“You sure you wouldn’t rather fly up there with them?” Spike asked.

Snowbelle hopped right up to him and nuzzled a cheek against his, purring, in answer. As she was now, her heat-resistance was high enough that Spike did not scald her, however the older Dragons and their more developed fire might be a different story. Spike accepted this answer, even as he looked up at his fire-belching cousins and decided that a tea set was not appropriate for a fierce Dragon.

The lush green woods and meadows soon gave way to shorter, hardier shrubbery and other plant life, as Spike and Snowbelle entered into the foothills and started to climb. Snowbelle could use her wings to stabilize herself and glide between difficult spots. She bounced with her forelegs, visually suggesting to Spike that he make use of his foreclaws as well as those on his hindquarters. Not only would he be better balanced with a lower center of gravity, he would automatically have better traction and be able to distribute his weight along more points of contact. But Spike had trouble letting go of his bipedal habits.

Snow and ice soon covered the mountains, and while Snowbelle was in her element, even using magic to absorb some of the surrounding cold to recharge some of her Ice Crystals, Spike’s cold reptilian blood sent him into shivers. Snowbelle started to focus her cold siphoning around Spike, and when she had to rest from doing that, she casted a spell of cold-resistance on him. Snowbelle knew that if she was with Father, just their presence together would do the job. But Father had entrusted Spike’s safety to her, and she would not disappoint.

Rather, Spike was being impressively persistent and resourceful: he found food where no one else would seem to think to look, made use of the most minimal shelter against the weather, and even managed to get a ride up the mountain on one of the goats already climbing upward.

After Spike and Snowbelle crested several peaks, it was her turn to be the one struggling, this time against a desert’s heat. When they had looked down on the desert from the snow-covered peaks, Snowbelle had eaten all the snow and ice she could in order store up the cold for later. Unfortunately, the bright silvery glow of her freezing boost quickly faded. Fortunately, her heat-resistance was high enough that as long as it did not get much hotter, she would even continue to walk beside Spike without overheating. Snowbelle mentally berated herself by remembering that her own mother had resisted the heat from a magma chamber for over a millennium, waiting for someone who could take her egg from that place.

As Spike led the way up an incline that ended sharply, and which a bunch of adult Dragons were using to rest, Snowbelle felt her heat rising beyond her comfort level. As they went over the rise, she flipped an Ice Crystal into the air so she could suck on the cold magic within. The Dragons nearest their entry point gazed down at the two young Dragons with interest. A fireball splashed across a nearby wall, and Snowbelle’s heat-resistant shield shimmered before becoming invisible again.

“Yikes!” Spike yelped, and slipped down into the crater. Snowbelle followed on her wings, silently agreeing that it might be a little too dangerous hanging out with the adults.

“Teenaged Dragons,” Spike said, “that’s more my speed!”

I do not know about that, Snowbelle thought, but she followed after him anyway.

“Hey, what’s this?” One Dragon said.

“Looks like someone fell out of the nest a little early. Anyone looking for a baby?”  Another said.

“Hey! I am a Dragon. Just let me prove it.”

“You want to prove it, eh?”

“Of course he wants to prove he’s worthy to hang with the cool group,” a Red Dragon said. “So lets go easy on the little guy... and give him a Test of Dragon-tude!” The other dragons roared their approval.

“What about this one?” A chubby Dragon pointed at Snowbelle, hovering nearby, but not so close they would automatically connect her with Spike

“A girl dragon?” The Red twisted his face in disgust and made a gesture of dismissal. “Beat it, girly. Guys only!”

“Yeah, beat it!” The chunky one took a clumsy swing at her, but Snowbelle easily evaded him by drifting over just a bit. Noticing that he had not contacted anything except air, Chunky turned and made another attempt, this time with more focus and accuracy. Snowbelle pumped her wings once extra-hard so she was flying right above his fist, and gripped it tightly with her hind claws for half a second. “Agh!” Chunky quickly withdrew his arm, gripping the partly-frozen claw with his other. “I ain’t touchin’ that,” he said.

“Yeah, whatever,” the Red said. “Let her do what she wants, then.” Snowbelle winged over lightly and blew an icy raspberry right in the Red’s face. She knew it was not the mature thing to do, but then these teenagers could not be considered mature in the least. The Red shook his head, and just laughed louder than the others. “You got a lot of spunk for a girl, so we’ll let ya hang with us if ya want. For now.”

“What about me?” Spike asked. He had looked like he wanted to stand up for Snowbelle earlier, but he had obviously decided that she was doing fine on her own.

“That one just froze a Firedrake’s fist. You still gotta prove yourself, so we’ll do some tests to see how much of a Dragon you really are. What’s your name?”

“It’s ‘Spike,’”

“’Spike,’ huh? You sure it’s not 'Peewee?'”

“Yup, it’s Spike,” he said, while Snowbelle swooped down in front of him.

“We haven’t seen ya around before, Peewee. Where ya from?”

Spike swallowed. “Ponyville,” he said, deciding to tell the truth.

“Ha! Ponyville? That explains it. Why, your fangs probably aren’t completely grown in yet. Or even your spines!”

“Yeah, they are!” Snowbelle let out a high-pitched keen, interrupting them. She landed just long enough to hop impatiently on the hot ground while glaring up at the Red.

“Who’s this one? She also from Ponyville?”

“That’s my friend, Snowbelle. And of course she’s from Ponyville!”

“The first bit’s about right, but the rest is too... dainty. How ‘bout we just call her ‘Blizzard?’ Alright, Blizzy, we’ll get to the tests, and the first one is... fire-belching!”

Snowbelle growled softly: she did not care what these punks called her as long as they did not accidentally discover her True Name, but the Red must have chosen the challenge knowing what dragonfire could do to an Arctic Dragon like her. She stayed alert, ready to avoid even a direct blast as each of the drakes demonstrated his flame by letting an obnoxious noise come out of their mouths at the same time.

One small part of Snowbelle was fascinated to note that some of the more different types had flames of different colours, or even textures: most were more standard orange-red, but some were darker red or lighter orange. There was one whose flame was blue, and still another that had magnesium-white flame. One drake even had bright green flames, but none of them produced a letter.

“What’s this?” The Red opened it up and started reading the letter aloud. “Hey, get this guys: Spike here’s pen pals with a namby-pamby princess!”

You mean the same princess who has raised and lowered the sun and the moon for the past thousand years? Snowbelle thought. You call that ‘namby-pamby?’

“Whatever,” the Red threw the scroll over his shoulder toward a firepit, but Snowbelle swooped in to rescue it. Since the letter was addressed to Spike, she decided to stash it in one of her saddlebags for safekeeping. Then she followed as the Dragons led Spike to another area for the next test.

“Tail wrestling?” Spike raised an eyebrow.

“Tail wrestling!” The Red waved a claw, and two other drakes stepped forward to demonstrate. Spike winced when he saw the way the loser’s tail was bent and crumpled. How could he possibly defeat any of the older, larger Dragons here?

“Well? You’re up. Unless you’re too much of a Pony?”

Spike visibly picked himself up. “Bring it on!” At a signal, Spike’s challenger stepped up. He appeared to be one of the smallest of the teenaged Dragons, with a small head and body. It made Snowbelle wonder what the catch was, until this drake stepped further forward, revealing massive hindquarters and a tail. How in the world do you end up like that?! Snowbelle thought.

<Unreal,> Father concurred. <But if you take this one on, even your size-changing magic might not help. And then who will Spike get as his opponent?>

<However, he is bound to have a smaller tail!> While Spike swallowed visibly, Snowbelle landed with a louder thump than she would have gotten normally: she had released the spell that kept her small enough to ride on Father’s head, bringing her to half the size of a mare’s barrel. By using another spell, she doubled her size, making her larger than a whole mare. Although she still was not as big as any of the teenaged drakes, she was still larger than Spike.

“You wanna take him on?” The Red asked. “Well, since we did almost get the joke all the way through, why not? Teach her a lesson!”

The crowd cheered as the two opponents approached each other, turned around, and linked tails. The other dragon was so much larger in the rear than Snowbelle was, even at her increased size, that her own hindquarters could not get a proper purchase on the ground. And the heat was starting to get to her.

At the Red’s countdown, both Dragons started to pull, but the drake was much stronger than Snowbelle: she got pulled from the ground, swung around three times, and released into the air, spinning like a throwing disk. She spread her wings to regain control, and looped back down, at the same time restoring herself to her usual size.

“Gotta give ya a little respect for sticking it through, but ya still lost,” the Red said. “What about you, Twerp? Ya got more or less Dragon in ya than your little girlfriend?”

Spike huffed. “I’m not gonna let you treat Snowbelle that way even though she’s not my girlfriend.” Spike linked tails with another Dragon, and while this one’s rear end was smaller than Snowbelle’s opponent, he was still large enough that Spike hung entirely off the ground. “Uh-oh,” he said just before he got launched. Snowbelle was there to catch him and bring him back around, although since she was small again she had to struggle a bit with his weight. Once she had Spike on the ground again, Snowbelle had to take another Ice Crystal to cool back down.

“Too bad, Peewee. But don’t worry: we’ve still got a couple more tests. If you pass them, maybe we’ll let you in.”

The Red, who finally introduced himself as ‘Garble,’ did not give a verbal explanation for the third challenge, which was called ‘King of the Horde.’ He did not really need to: Dragons climbed a large pile of gemstones, while knocking each other back down. Whoever reached the top had to fend off all comers, and only if he stayed up could he declare himself ‘King of the Horde.’ Garble brought Spike up the pile only to drop him back down, painfully, as the signal for the start of the challenge.

Snowbelle noticed that there were many winged Dragons participating, including Garble himself. None of them, out of whatever warped sense of honour they had, used their wings to get to the top of the pile. Snowbelle folded her wings and snaked her way up the pile, dodging incoming bodies as Garble continued to knock his mates back down. She saw Spike’s determination as he crawled his way up by tooth and claw, and then he pushed Garble off balance and down the pile, by accident. Even as Spike started to declare himself, the jewels shifted underneath him, and he lost his balance, only to go caroming down.

“Oh, too bad,” Garble said. “Looks like another fail. Lets see how you do in the final test!”

The final test was a lava dive. Snowbelle judged that if she used three Ice Crystals at once she might survive, but with four she would have a cryogenic effect on the lava pool that none of the Dragons here would appreciate. This time she could only support Spike from the air, and preferably not from above the pool and its heat.

The adolescent Dragons continued to make their catcalls at Spike as he hesitated, and then suddenly he belly flopped into the lava. Fortunately that did not hurt him, and the Dragons seemed satisfied.

Only they were not satisfied at all. They threw a party with the excuse that Spike had proven his 'Dragon-tude,' however Snowbelle believed that they would party at any old opportunity. They were like Pinkie Pie in that, but the resemblance did not go any further. Any feeling of camaraderie Spike felt was because of the gemstones on which he gorged himself, and not from a genuine friendship the drakes were sharing: they continued to tease the smaller Dragon, although they were less obvious about it. Snowbelle whimpered when he said he might stay with the Dragons forever, based solely on how full he felt at that moment.

She need not have worried, though, because soon Garble called a dragon raid. Spike roused from his state of satisfaction and directly into one of trepidation. As the other drakes flew off, Snowbelle had to latch onto the Land Dragon’s shoulders so she could fly him after them.

Soon the five Dragons, three teenagers and two mere children, were hiding together in a bush. “There!” Garble said in hushed tones. We’ll raid that nest.”

“A Phoenix nest? We’re gonna raid a Phoenix nest?”

“If you’re Dragon enough, yeah. Don’t worry: we do this all the time,” one of the others said.

“Now all we need’s a distraction, so go distract the parents, Spike.” Garble kicked Spike out of their hiding spot, and Snowbelle had to go flying out after him. For a few moments, Spike stood there not knowing what to do, then he picked up a rock to throw at the nest, and started to taunt the mother and father Phoenixes.

They did not like that, and gave chase. Screaming, Spike and Snowbelle both fled into the bushes, pursued by the angry, fiery Phoenixes. One thing Snowbelle knew in absolute certainty: she did not want them to catch her!

Fortunately it was not long before the parents abandoned the chase to return to their nest. Snowbelle and Spike ran after them to see what was going on, and saw that there were a number of hatchlings pushing back against the drakes as they tried to attack. And one unhatched egg, which had fallen from the nest to land by the tree. Spike quickly picked it up to keep it safe.

Snowbelle and Spike watched, fascinated, as the Phoenix parents and chicks counterattacked and played pranks to slip between the Dragons, before slipping away altogether. This left just the one egg, and a trio of angry teenage Dragons.

“Hey Spike, what’cha got there?”

“No way, you got an egg?!”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“I guess you’re not a total loser after all, Spike.”

“So what’re you waiting for? Smash it!”

“Smash a poor, defenseless egg?”

“Yeah!”

Spike gripped the egg more tightly, protectively. “No.”

“What?”

“I said ‘no!’” Spike said more loudly.

“No one tells me no,” Garble growled, advancing menacingly.

“Wrong move,” two voices from two places seemed to say in the same moment. The ground exploded in an expanding cloud of dust, and when that cleared, there was Father, a trio of amethysts rolling out from where he had set them. “Now,” he said, and there was only his voice.

Now there was the familiar flash of Twilight’s teleportation spell. She, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash appeared to join Snowbelle, Spike, and Father in facing down the teenaged Dragons.”

“Ponies? Ha! What’re you gonna do? Kick me in the scales?” Garble asked, advancing while the other two laughed. It was true that Dragons had tough scales. A normal attack probably would not work on them.

“I’m not normally one for violence: fashion is more my thing,” Rarity said, “but I’ll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on Spike's cute little head!”

“Ooh, scary, I’m shaking in my claws. Not!”

All at once, Snowbelle used her size-changing spells and flipped three Ice Crystals into her mouth. This time, instead of sucking on them she bit into them. With an audible CRUNCH! the magic spread throughout her body, limning it all in light blue ice. And now she was almost as big as the drakes. Snowbelle inhaled, and the air around her mouth turned freezing cold.

Father drew the Geargem Dagger and quickly used its magic to stir up a cold wind around the drakes. Twilight and Rarity used their telekinetic magic to keep them pinned down under a salvo of mud and earth from which the drakes had to protect their eyes. Rainbow was in the air, prepared to rush the Dragons the instant an opening appeared. Spike held the egg he had found protectively, even as the others took up position between him and their targets.

Snowbelle exhaled, and her breath quickly overran the drakes, coating them in snow and ice. Within seconds they were frozen, but since their bodies held living fire, they would not be held there for long.

“Run!” Spike said. The others, seeing that Snowbelle’s spells were not going to hold for long, did as he suggested, and ran off into the woods. Twilight waited until they had a safe lead, and Snowbelle had shed her ice shell and returned to normal, before teleporting them all back to Ponyville.

“I’m sorry, Spike,” Twilight said. “Did you find any of the answers you wanted?”

“I think I would rather be with my Pony family than with obnoxious Dragon jerks and bullies like that,” the young Dragon said. “I don’t know what a Dragon is supposed to be like, but I think I’d rather be my own kind, instead of one that bullies others just because I’m big.”

<I agree with that,> Snowbelle told Father. <Those Dragons seemed not to have any self-control or honour. We are supposed to have the wisdom, discipline, and diligence to use magic, and I did not see any of that at all.>

<Well, my daughter, even among the Firedrakes we know of one or two Dragons who are nothing like the ones you met on the Great Dragon Migration.>

<That is true. I only hope my own kind has a similar moral scale.>

<They might. We shall find for certain when we go to meet them.>

“When I get my claws on those Ponies, I’ll make them suffer for everything they’ve put us through, ten, no twenty times!”

The earth shook, and thunder roared. “You shall do nothing of the sort, young fools.” Red eyes peered down from amidst black scales.

“But--!”

“’Nothing,’ I said. I observed to see what wisdom you possess, but it seems obvious to me that you have none. You must learn again, in what foolishness you engage daily, and in what harm you nearly did today.”

“But...”

“You will never touch a Dragonfriend, nor his friends. It is our Law for a reason. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Master of Shadows,” Gargle said grudgingly.

The black Firedrake’s glare penetrated what dust remained in the air.

“I mean, ‘Yes, Master of Shadows!”

“See that you follow it through, or you will never be welcome in any Firehome. I will send you to the Learning before I exile you, but you have only the one chance remaining. Now, begone!” The teenaged Dragons fled, the elder watching their every move. “The folly of adolescents,” Shadow Wright shook his head. “Do not follow into their same trap, Little One, for you are better than all of us. Someday, although few see it, you will come to recognize it yourself. Yes, even you, Spike of Ponyville, the Ponyfriend.” Next Chapter: 27. Like A Tree In A Storm Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 54 Minutes