Sludge left Ponyville in a hurry. He tried not to make it look like he was in a hurry, but he also understood that it was better to move on quickly rather than stick around after a con. That whelp would tell his pony what had happened soon enough, and while no dragon was afraid of a pony? There was no reason for Sludge to stick around and deal with Twilight Sparkle. Particularly not for Spike.
So it was back to the Dragonlands. Still holding the fluffy pillow he'd taken from the castle, Sludge flapped his way across forest and hill to the desolate rocky wastes. He stopped along the way, of course - the distance gave him no choice. But he laid as low as he could until he was safely out of Equestria, keeping to the wilds and sheltering where no one would find him.
When he finally reached the small cave he usually called home, Sludge was exhausted. Too much flying, too many nights where he slept with one eye open. It all caught up and he collapsed into his finally safe stone bed with the single pillow that was his loot.
Well, the first of his loot. While the whelp had seen through the con, for a few days Sludge had lived the high life. It worked once and would work again if he could find another opening. (Granted it would be difficult, but there couldn't just be one orphan dragon whelp in the world.) Then? Back on easy street.
So Sludge slept soundly and with a smile.
But not through the night.
No, it was well past midnight when a sound woke Sludge up: wood creaking. Rhythmic, back and forth creaking less than a wingspan away from his rocky bed.
He twisted towards the noise without rising. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust in the darkness - and a few more to understand what he was looking at. Beside the bed was a rocking chair with a pony in it. An older unicorn mare with gray fur, a purple-white mane, and a wooden baseball bat across her lap.
"Huh?" Sludge's confused and half-asleep brain couldn't come up with anything more cohesive.
The chair stopped rocking. The mare looked at the dragon. Her horn lit, casting the entire room in a deep purple light as she lifted the bat to float beside her. Her eyes locked with his. She said four simple, icy words.
"You hurt my boy."
Sludge shifted to a sitting position - she rose from the chair in response. "Look lady, I don't know who you think you are–"
The bat's tip zipped up to eye-level with him. "My name is Twilight Velvet, and you hurt my boy." Sludge opened his mouth to object, and she cut him off. "I took it for granted, you know."
"Uh…"
"I assumed." Velvet slowly walked around the bed, keeping the bat pointed at Sludge. He rotated with her, trying to keep face to face. "That's my fault. I just assumed Spike knew how we felt."
The bottom dropped out of Sludge's stomach as he realized who 'my boy' was and he took a step backwards.
She didn't stop walking or talking. "I didn't think I needed to tell him that we loved him or that he was as much our child as Shining or Twilight were. We treated him like family and thought he just knew. Then Twilight wrote to me about what happened and we realized our mistake."
"You– you keep saying we." Sludge tried to back up again, but she maintained the same distance. "Who's here with you?" His eyes tried to look around - but fear kept them on her and the weapon.
"My husband, Night Light." For a moment the bat flicked away, motioning towards the cave entrance. "He's outside to make sure you don't run away. Honestly, it's for the best - I love him but Nighty doesn't have the temperament to do this part. But he's still here to help because…" The bat swung back around and jabbed Sludge in the potbelly to punctuate each syllable. "You. Hurt. Our. Boy."
Sludge swiped at the bat and missed. "So what? I'm a dragon!" Flames and smoke curled out of the corners of his mouth, the flickering light pushing back against her magic's glow. "You're just one dumb pony."
"I am." Velvet admitting it threw Sludge off his stride, buying her more words. "My oldest son is a disciplined soldier and a national hero. My daughter is an alicorn princess who's defeated several of the world's most powerful monsters. I'm just an old pony with no training and no great powers." The bat twirled around, coming up to a ready guard position. "But I'm also a mother, and you hurt my boy."
"Stop saying that!" Sludge stormed forward and took a swipe at her with his claw. Velvet easily stepped out of the way before swinging in return. The bat - and Sludge's knee - made a loud crack on contact, and the dragon toppled. The impact wasn't enough to seriously harm him but it still left him sprawled on the floor. Her second strike landed square in Sludge's back, hitting the spine between his wings. With a yelp, he instinctively flipped over to protect them. "Ow! That hurts you crazy mare!"
Twilight Velvet snorted. "No it doesn't." She cracked him across the face with the bat - ash wood cracked as the bat broke. "I raised a dragon. I know how tough you are." She gave the broken bat another twirl, getting a feel for the new balance and weight.
Sludge flinched away from the spin before trying to defiantly glare from the floor. "What do you want from me?"
"From you? Nothing." Velvet stepped closer so she could loom over the prone dragon. "I could demand you stay away from my family but I know you already will. Even if you tried, Spike's a smart boy and he won't fall for your tricks again." The broken bat pulled back to float beside her at the ready. "But after this, I need to look my son in the eye. I have to tell him that I love him like a mother does and say everything a parent should to their child, because I made the mistake of assuming he knew. So will my husband - his father." She paused to snarl at Sludge, who cringed back at the venom. "We need to tell him that we'll be there to protect him when he needs it. And I can't believe that if I don't face you."
It was confirmation enough she wasn't planning to hurt him - not seriously. Sludge scrambled to his feet, cowering away long enough to be sure she wasn't going to swing. Then he rose fully, towering over the smaller pony. He snorted and a tiny flame flicked from his nose. "Big words. I could roast you right now. Your husband outside, too."
"You could," she agreed.
"So why aren't you afraid?" Sludge stepped closer, growling. Fire crept out of the edges of his mouth, orange light overwhelming her own purple glow.
"I'm terrified," Velvet calmly confirmed.
Sludge stopped, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You don't sound it."
She closed the two steps of remaining distance between them, stopping just short of contact. Head high, she stretched herself up to meet muzzle-to-snout. The roiling flames in his mouth made the hairs of her coat curl and singe. Her eyes squinted in the heat of his breath. "I've raised three heroes. If I want to set a good example for my kids, the bar's pretty high."
Tense seconds passed as Sludge searched her face for a sign of weakness and found none.
Sludge's fire extinguished and he slowly backed away.
Cool night air sapped away the fading heat of the flames. Twilight Velvet gave the dragon a small nod. "We're done here." She tossed the broken bat away and grabbed the stolen pillow in her magic. He watched her warily as she left - then she paused at the cave's entrance. "By the way. I have tea once a quarter with Dragon Lord Ember. If you ever show your face again, I'll tell her what you did to Spike. Then you'll wish I kept going with the bat." And with that last threat, she was gone.
Author's Note
A much shorter version of this story originally appeared as part of the November Flash 150 competition.
