Silver and Foals

Chapters

Silver and Foals (Teaser Tale)
Chapter 1: Silver's Beginning
Chapter 2: Silver 200 Years Later
Chapter 3: a Twist in Silver's Tale
Chapter 4: Silver Meets Lightning's Family
Chapter 5: Silver Meets the Ponies of Cirrus and Gives Lessons in Cooking
Chapter 6: Silver Has a Friendly Game of Cards, Life in Cirrus and a Wedding
Chapter 7: Silver Faces Fear (Again)... and sends it away?
Chapter 8: Expecting Mother
Chapter 9: Newborns and the First Months
Chapter 10: Two Years Later
Chapter 11: Reassignment

Silver and Foals (Teaser Tale)

Silver Fall was an oddity among dragons, aside from being a member of clan of dying winged drakes she had scales that could literally be confused for silver from afar or closeup, and instead of breathing fire like most other dragons she breathed ice (or at least a cold burst of air that caused ice to form on whatever it struck). When she was a newly hatched chick she attended the great dragon migration, but once she was old enough to learn how to fly herself she was barred from ever attending another one, and to add to the dejection she was never told why. She assumed it had something to do with her ancestry and distinct personality. Her mother, Sky Blaze, was a bright orange winged drake with impressive crimson fire breath and fire green eyes, but her father was a serpentine dragon from a land far to the east, he was metallic white and metallic green with a mist like breath weapon that seemed to have curative properties and a set of sea blue eyes; in addition he had no wing yet was able to fly with some measure of ease. Silver Fall was serpent-like in her form while still maintaining some of the cat-like torso of her mother, she was born with lustrous treasure-like scales (her name's inspiration), she had a pair of platinum green eyes, and her set of backward sweeping horns were metallic sea blue; all in addition to her ice breath made her an exotic beauty that most dragons had never seen before, and was considered the kind of beauty that they wanted nothing to do with.

Silver Fall's mother's clan banished her when she had reached the minimum age for a dragons to look after themselves with little to no assistance. Her father, Guiding Guardian, was killed in a challenge she had begged him to not accept because the challenger was well-known for cheating and getting away with his illegal moves. The words he said that day became the guiding voice of every decision she would make from that point to honor his memory in addition to changing her name when the fight had ended and his words were, “while a challenge can ignored what the one who issues the challenge does not, we must always meet the challenge of those who reflect or represent what we are unwilling to continue in the world. I will meet him for he stands for dishonor, something I can not abide by and will show him how far one can go in an honorable duel. I will fight only according to the rules and will never exploit holes in the rules for any reason, remember my little winter breath that even if he defeats me I will be the true victor of the match because I was the one of stronger character. I have known the madness of greed, as has your mother and we have managed to come back from the brink. You however have been placed in a predicament that would make a dragon centuries old fall into greed and felt its opposite, you desired to share with a generosity that I have only heard of in tales to teach lessons to hatchlings, you must keep that rare spirit that does not succumb to the weakness of our kind. Even if you are denied a place when I am gone keep that incorruptible soul, while the winter may be harsh as it is beautiful it can also be as gentle as it unforgiving. When you told your place is longer within one clan you must seek a new clan and see how accepting they are of you. Let this not shatter you, but instead temper you as one would temper a metal tool and let every test and challenge to who you are do the same. Remember little winter breath; genuine love, honest honor and true friendship are the three pillars of true faith and true faith is an armor that only weakens when you let that which challenges it make you doubt what you have put your faith in. Even if I fall this day I shall be the genuine victor regardless of what is said by others, always remember what I told you this day when you asked me remain out a fear that comes from genuine love, so I ask this of you put your faith in me and even if I take the eternal fall I will always remain with you in your memory and your heart. When you have offspring tell them of this day and how their brave grandfather stood up against what he felt needed to be felled.”

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Almost three centuries later she still remembered those words and that fight, even when the rest of that day seemed to fade into the mists of the forgotten. It was her lair, which was practically bare compared to other dragons, that she met a worn out pegasus stallion named Storm Runner. Silver Fall let him remain with her until he was back on his hooves, she even let him take as much of her meager treasure he wanted. He was surprised that a dragon would not only have such a small hoard, but also just give away what little it had. She told him she was outcast among dragons because of her seeming immunity to greed. Over the next year and a half he would return, often with friends to meet the strange dragoness. It was during this time that she romantically connected with a pegasus stallion named Thunder Twist.

She shared with Thunder Twist before anypony else she had the ability to alter her form, she managed make herself just a little taller than black stallion with a lightning yellow mane, storm blue eyes and white thunderhead cutie mark. It was the following year he had convinced her to come with him the pegasus town of Cirrus; she was reluctant to agree, shortly after arriving the town was mesmerized by the kind dragon that walked with them among the clouds of their home, none even showed surprised when Thunder Twist and Silver Fall married. They were when only five months after the marriage she dropped a pair of eggs which four months later hatched into a pair twins that looked highly dragon like with pony properties. The entire town was in agreement to never speak of the children or Silver Fall with anypony that was not from the town for fear of what other ponies would think or do.

The twins were a steel blue colt-like dragon with his father's mane, pegasus-like draconic wings almost half his size and mother's eyes; and dragon-like filly with a forest green coat, icy storm blue mane and equine tail the same color as her mane, and brilliant snowy lavender eyes, and dragon like-wings almost half her size. The 'colt' was named Steel Wing and the filly was named Forest Snowfall. Regardless of what anypony else would say Silver Fall would always tell her children they were some the most beautiful in the world.

It was shortly after their children were born that Thunder Twist was called to Cloudsdale, when he arrived he was told by the the head of Weather Control he was being moved to Ponyville at the end of the year, since they seemed to be shorthoofed. When he returned home he informed his family, which now had the twins around four years old. The twins were already showing strong personality quirks, Steel Wing kept boasting about he would be as good a weather pony as his father while Forest Snowfall kept on saying how she would like to become a noted scholar of Equestria in gentle voice whenever asked. The two worried for their little half-dragons, for the reason of believing that they would be mistreated out outside of Cirrus. On one of the few days he had off Thunder Twist made a trip to Canterlot in order to procure some reading material for his children when they got older. One book in the store caught his attention, "The Complete Guide to Rare and Mythical Creatures: Revision 12" which he bought after noticing it had a section on pony/dragon hybrids. When he arrived back home Silver Fall was telling them the story of her father's final battle, a tale that both heard dozens of time and never seemed tired of.

A few weeks before the twins turned five the family moved to Ponyville, Silver Fall elected make herself appear like silver coated pegasus mare with forest green mane and soft snow blue eyes for the trip, the twins were carefully hidden for the trip (while quite capable in self transformations she still had trouble with some of the finer details of form shifting) and after they had been given directions to their new house, and keys to said house, and soon began settling in.

Little did they know what the following day would have in store for any of them, because a certain pink party pony felt their arrival and seemed to know about the two children before anypony else in town in addition to making preparations to throw the party to welcome them all to Ponyville. The event would be something that would life changing for the whole family, but mostly the twins. Silver Fall and Thunder Twist would soon see why their new home was special in more ways than one, and the twins would soon experience something they never knew could be possible.

Author's Note

I have plans for expanding for expanding on this story, in relation to which season this could take place in I have no idea. The story will be expanded on, but for now this little teaser tale is what you'll get. Please leave comments, I can't improve my stories if all I get is thumbs up and thumbs down. If you like say why, if you don't say why. But for the love of the great Faust tell me your opinions of the story, because contrary to the popular internet belief Fanfic writers are not capable of reading your intent if you just visit and give an up vote or down vote.

Chapter 1: Silver's Beginning

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Chapter 2: Silver 200 Years Later

Silver 200 Years Later

It had been a century since her exile from her mother's clan, in that time Silver Fall came to realize that the majority of her emotions were frozen away and she had no idea how to free them from their icy prison. The only emotions she seemed have capability to feel were concern, respect, sadness/sorrow, loneliness, generosity and compassion. It only took her a month to realize that compassion and love are separate forces, but she also found that they were similar enough that she could could see a representation of love nearest to the surface of the block. There were many treasures nearby for her to claim, but she only took small clawfulls and left the rest for others to find. There was a pony settlement nearby, the place was moderately sized town called Mustang. She managed to tap into the form shifting ability her father had, which she had managed to inherit, and would go to the town every couple of months to ease here loneliness. She chose to look like a pegasus, it would be an easy enough excuse to simply say she was flying in for of pace (everypony there always smiled at that like it was a joke, she still was incapable of feeling humor,), town used to be called Pace, but they decided to rename it after the community was within the boarders of Equestria instead of on the boarder of the nation.

Mustang had started as trading outpost during the early years of Equestria before the nation had expanded to its current boarders. The town itself was a joint operation between pegasi and earth ponies, unicorns came later. The town had a number of things, she always preferred the kind of diet her father had over that of her mother's choice of cuisine. Her father was primarily vegetarian, he grew magically augmented soy beans in a small garden near the den she shared with his family. When Silver Fall left she took some of the seeds for the beans with her, her mother wasn't able to near the garden after the loss of her mate because of the painful memories it stirred up.

She did however keep some of the seeds and gave a few to Silver Fall. The small soy garden Silver Fall was growing was nowhere near as vibrant as her father's, the beans weren't even close to half as big and they were lacking something in their flavor that she couldn't place. It was after a decade of growing the beans that she remembered her father saying that love is just an as important of component of the garden as soil, sun and water. She couldn't give her garden love, no matter how much she really wanted to. Since love was an emotion frozen away from her Silver Fall never really knew what it was like to experience any kind of love. She knew her parents loved her, but she had no genuine memories of what it felt like to be loved.

Silver Fall's form shifting ability had more limits on it than her father's, for one no matter how hard she tried she couldn't change her scales to a different coat color when she changed into a pony, she also couldn't change her eye color. So what she did turn into was a silver pegasus with the same eye color, fortuneatly with the same eye structure as a pony, and and a midnight blue mane and tail, she still had some sense of aesthetics and she thought the colors complimented each other well.

While in Mustang she spent some her treasure, something that most other dragons would practically consider sacrilege, on things like fruits and vegetables for when she was alone at her lair, and she would try planting the seeds to see if they could grow near the little bean garden she had. Once every five years or so she would mix things up a bit and take a small portion of her bean garden to market, it was during one of these market visits that she noticed a very real physical pressing from inside her chest. It turned out that while she wasn't as talented as her father at growing the beans to the size or quality he had, however the compassion she poured into raising them made them quite well liked by many of the ponies in town, she did manage to sell them at a price well above her initial asking price because the ponies that returned told her that they could not in good conscience buy such a wonderfully high quality food at such a low price. One the first things had ever bout was a set of sadlebags.

When she returned home, with a small saddlebag's worth of bits, she checked her chest and found that there was a section that could be removed as a sort of snug flap. What she found would have astounded her, if she were capable of truly feeling surprised, inside her chest right next her heart she pulled out a large rainbow colored pearl. She remembered her father talking about such things, in his homeland all dragons had a personal treasure, a pearl or some other kind of gemstone that resonated with them. From what she had been told a dragon must find it, but she had apparently been born with it and it had grown along with her. A rainbow pearl, much like herself, was a rarity that few could even hope to come across within their lifetime. She would later learn just how strong the connection between her and the pearl was.

This pearl was the only thing within her entire treasury, which was still meager by dragon standards, that she was legitimately concerned for. So she hid it away in a region of the lair that was difficult to access, she knew if she made it a center piece some great fool or greedy idiot would do all they could to take it from her possession without knowing the significance of the pearl itself. A Dragon's Gem was no ordinary treasure the dragon kept, this kind of treasure gave the power have whomever possessed it to exert their influence over the dragon for whom it resonated. She would do everything in her power to make sure that no entity she had any less than absolute trust in even got a glimmer of a hope of accessing her pearl, even if it meant sacrificing herself to stop whatever force was after it.

When asked what her name was, which was done every thirty to fifty years since ponies don't have the same kind of life expectancy dragons do, should would always give a name that had to do with treasure, doing so helped her to keep the memory of her mother alive. Names used she over the years were Garden Treasure, Jewel Guard, Crystal Wing, Bit Watcher, and the first she ever used was Diamond Shield. These would be the aliases she would go by for the nearly three centuries, but for now she was just Diamond Shield to the townsponies.

The hardest part for her transformations was replicating a cutie mark, while she couldn't do dramatic transformations like her father she could do simple ones and also make fine adjustments that would make any from her father's homeland proud, she had six designs she would cycle through.
The first design was modeled after her first alias, a black diamond in the form of shield with a green star burst emblazoned on it, it was major accomplishment; her next was a emerald green vine growing bits, another great accomplishment; a pair of spears overlaying a navy blue diamond, sometimes simplicity is best; a topaz eagle, she wanted to try her creative side a bit more; and an onyx raven holding a bit in its beak, sometimes you need something to make them a think a little harder.

Everypony still enjoyed the soy beans she cultivated with all the compassion she could spare, but she always made sure to have a few seeds stashed away just in case things took a turn for the worse. It was during year 150 of her life that another noticeable event occurred during Silver Fall's life, a nearly avoided tragedy. Diamond Dogs were setting up dens near her lair, and some of the more ambitious idiotic diamond dogs decided to try stealing from her lair (as every creature knows stealing from a dragon is insisting that your friends and family beat on you for the better part of a day, both are really stupid and result in you feeling nothing beyond pain for an extended period time if you're lucky). One of the diamond dog managed to dig into the holding place for Silver Fall's rainbow pearl.

The pearl itself was around the size of the average pony, in other words it is a really big gem, so as means of testing it the diamond dog decided to chip away a piece of the jewel to shoe the others. Said diamond dog got to chisel tap number three before finding out what it is like to be an ice sculpture, with each strike on the pearl Silver Fall felt like someone was trying to chisel into her heart.

Fortuneatly for Silver it turned out the gem actually mended itself much the same way a living creature heals itself, when it was all over there weren't even any faded cracks to indicate the flawless pearl had been chipped at. Silver Fall had no intention of a repeat so she started stashing the pearl in a secret compartment she made herself within her sleeping chambers, and would carry it around regularly in her saddlebags when she departed her lair.

It was twenty years after the diamond dog incident, which amusingly had diamond dogs bringing her some of their best gems for ten years after she gave a diamond dog an ice jacket (yet still managed to keep said diamond dog alive, she may have been angry at them for invading her home but she wasn't going to end the life of another creature. Doing something like that would be an insult to her father's memory), when she encountered another creature. This one was a threat to Mustang, and quite rare (if her memory served her as well as she believed).

This creature, or monster (she wasn't entirely sure), was called a Phobarian Hound. Phobarian Hounds are rare in and of themselves, but more they are a threat to any being or community they come across. Their howl is a force that causes all your fear to surge through you, their bite makes you see your worst fear everywhere you look, and it is said if you hear their howl after they have bitten you a physical (and very real) version of your fear will be present for all to witness and experience. What makes this worse is no pony, or dragon, has ever managed explain why they would have such abilities. It has been theorized by several sources that the hounds feed on the aura of fear they induce. The problem is that nobody had has been able to determine their standard life expectancy, the only ones that would have a clue would be a long lived dragon or pony (like Celestia or Luna).

Silver Fall couldn't feel fear, it was frozen away from her (much like love and greed it was just below the surface of the block that contained it, so she would show momentary glimmers of it on some occasions). She did her best to protect the pony settlement, keeping the creature from Mustang for three days and nights on end (blocking the creature's advancements to where the ponies called home). All that got past her was the creature's howls, it tried biting her and found that she seemed to have an immunity to it. The creature would retreat, only to meet her at lair a few months later. It seemed to have a morbid obsession with making her feel fear. The hound with its pitch black fur, towering twice the size of the average pony, with six cruel fangs sliding from its upper jawline was a sight that would induce nightmares in all but the most stalwart of ponies or dragons. Even dragons told stories about how the Phobarian Hounds were to be avoided.

The hound would pester her for centuries, and she would treat as a nuisance. The hound's fangs could pierce her scales and go as far as her deep muscle tissue, it's bites hurt. That's when she learned the hounds had a disenchanting property to their fangs, a dragon's scales have an ambient magical field that reinforces them against most natural forces and some mystical ones. This was not where she had hoped her life would be at 150.

Things didn't get better once she reached two hundred, the ponies knew her aliases. She cycled through different dark mane colors with her aliases, it helped with disguise and gave her the shape shifting practice she needed. Ponies were happy to see her on the days she came to market to sell some of her beans, she just barely avoided Princess Celestia's visit one year. She had a feeling the ivory alicorn would catch on to her and she really wanted to avoid a confrontation with the alabaster ruler of Equestria, she was concerned about what Celestia would say when she realized the silver scaled dragon was masquerading as a pony whenever she visited the town. However things would dramatically change fore the silver dragoness after she reached her third century.

Author's Note

Here's chapter 3, and as you can see it's a summary of her life up to around 200 years. If I tried being far more detailed chances are this would be an absurdly long chapter and I would have burned out my intentions for continuing the story (or my creativity in general), not to mention I would have probably taken the part of a year to write this single chapter (not how I want to spend most of my free time).

Chapter 3: a Twist in Silver's Tale

A Twist in Silver's Tale

Silver Fall had just celebrated her third century of life when something unusual happened, a wounded pegasus wandered into her lair. Said pegasus was announcing his presence before he even got to the point where her sleeping chamber could be seen, so she quickly took on one of her guises. This time it was Bit Watcher, whom happened to have the onyx raven clutching a bit along with a deep indigo mane. After Checking herself in the mirror, one of the treasures she had procured from places ponies should not go that she would occasionally visit starting from the age of 215 to keep the boredom away.

“Hello she,” she said in chiming voice she reserved for the Bit Watcher alias as she stepped into view of a navy blue pegasus stallion with a mane colored in bands of red and green.

“Oh,” said the pegasus in a light Southern Equestrian accent, “I was expecting to see a dragon, considering how much treasure is around here.”

“Well if you don't see, hear or smell a dragon then this lair was probably abandoned a long time ago,” said Silver in her Bit Watcher voice, “I'm Bit Watcher, whom might you be?”

It was probably the lack of emotion in her voice that tipped him because instead of stating his name his left wing flared up, his right wing and left hind leg looked damaged, as he said, “who are really? Some kind of changeling? Some monster that plays mind games with ponies?”

“No,” said Silver Fall flatly and dropping her disguised voice in favor of her natural one. In her cold concerned voice that was crowded with more sorrow than she wished said, “this is my home, and this is in fact my treasury. I noticed you left your saddlebag's outside, take a few hooffuls this and see the doctor in Mustang.”

“Your not being ironic or facetious,” said the stallion in surprise, “why?”

“I'm just that generous,” said Silver Fall in her Bit Watcher voice, “you seem a little on edge to me, and seem to be suspicious of anypony new.”

“I'm just on edge because somepony pulled a rather nasty prank on me a few days ago,” said the stallion, “I'm Storm Runner.”

“And, as I said before, I am Bit Watcher. Feel free to come back and visit anytime, I don't really get guests around here, too many ponies let their fears and superstitions get in the way of actually getting near this cave.”

“I'm surprised a pretty mare like you would isolate herself from the community like this,” said Storm Runner.

“I have my reasons,” I said, “besides I have my garden to tend to, the plants grow better with less negative energy in the air.”

“Where did you get an idea like that.”

“My father,” I said, “he had a...unique philosophy. Now you better get going before that potentially gets worse, after you leave the cave hang a right after going straight a quarter mile, that should put a short jaunt from the hospital.”

“Thanks,” he said scooping up a wing-full in his uninjured wing and headed out, before leaving he said, “I'll be sure to bring some friends over next time, I'm sure you could use the company.”

“That is indeed accurate,” Silver Fall called as he disappeared from her sight, after the sound of his hoof-falls were barely audible to her draconic ears she returned to her sleeping chamber and reverted to her natural state. After staring at her face in the now small claw mirror she said to herself, “looks like I won't be feeling lonely at home for a while, I wish I could feel more about this.”

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It was a few weeks later while Silver was selling some her soy beans at the market with her makeshift stall next acting as the diving point between the gardening supplies and foods, like always, when Storm Runner showed up with his friends tailing him. He wanted them all to meet this most unusual mare, somepony with genuine compassion yet a cool personality when it came to some other things. “17 bits for beans that big?” said a mare's voice, when Silver looked up she saw Storm Runner with another stallion and two mares (all pegasi). The mare that asked question was a vibrant indigo with a navy blue mane and a cutie mark in the form of of a green cloud shaped like a square pillar, she continued with saying, “that's a better bargain than anywhere else in Equestria.”

“Well,” said Silver in her Bit Watcher voice, “when the shop first started around a hundred years ago the asking price was 5 bits, but the ponies here quickly started saying they couldn't in good conscience buy such high quality food at such a low price.” The mare's eyes went wide and the other mare, who had a shadowy blue coat with lime green mane and a pair of neon blue and neon green colored racing flags for a cutie mark, said, “forgive my sister, Nimbus Build can get a little eccentric sometimes. I'm Night Racer by the way, and it really is more of bargain you have here.”

“Thank you,” said Silver with a generous smile, “I would just give these away and tell ponies how to grow them on their own, but then I wouldn't have anything for my personal expenses.”

“Aside from a dragon's hoard worth of treasure,” snarked Storm Runner with an eye roll.

“That stash is meager by dragon standards, and besides its for emergencies and helping other ponies get back on their hooves. To use something like that as a personal expense would mean I have complete lack of integrity, which thankfully I don't.”

“I like the way she thinks,” said the other stallion, he was a dark green with a sky blue mane and a cutie mark that looked like a white scroll with a reddish green lightning bolt acting as its seal, “she personally tests herself by spending an extended period of time with more money than most ponies would know what to do with and has decided to only touch in the case of an emergency. She's has more integrity than some ponies we know.”

For some reason just hearing his voice made Silver Fall feel her frozen emotions begin to thaw, then when she looked at him it felt like the ice around her emotions was melting at an alarmingly quick rate. She quickly said, “I'm starting to feel a little...strange, so you all will be my last customers of the day before I close up shop, I don't want to be rude.”

“Oh, in that case,” said Nimbus Build, “I'll buy four of your delightfully large beans. Lightning Twist you are always doing that!”

“They're called soy beans,” said Silver as he dropped 4 of the largest beans she had into a large brown paper bag, “they're from a land in the far east, I'm apparently the only one to grow them from what I hear,” she passed the bag to Night Racer, “but I've never been able to get them as good as the one who brought them here, I guess you could call him my family patriarch. He was a very good soul, he was lost to us far to early from what I was told.”

“What was his name?” inquired Lightning Twist.

Silver spent a few seconds contemplating whether or not use her father's real name, to the ponies it probably looked like she was trying to recall something from an old story, before finally deciding to use her father's real name and said, “his name was Guiding Guardian, he was devoted to his family and was from the distant land these beans are from.”

“He must have been somepony special if he was willing to travel so far?” said Night Racer.

“He was a protector without something to safeguard until he met my ancestral mother and they had a child. pity he never met Princess Celestia, I'm sure the two would have become good friends in no time.”

“How do you know the Princess never met him?” Inquired Lightning Twist.

“Well,” said Silver as she started disassembling her stand and left small four sided sign that sign saying she was sorry the shop was closing early, but something potentially urgent came up before putting the disassembled stand on her back after tossing on her saddlebags with a large sack for the beans in front of her, “somepony that important showing up would definitely show up in the family history if she did,” she grabbed the bean sack in her mouth before she metaphorically started spilling the beans.
She and the four other ponies made there way to the cavern she called home, mostly because the other three were curious to see this supposed abandoned dragon's lair Storm Runner had told them. After seeing it the four ponies spread out to better look it over. And before she knew it one of them was looking around her sleeping chamber and she heard Nimbus Build ask with excitement, “can I have this mirror? It's aesthetically what I've been looking for to help compliment my latest project.”

“I'd love to,” said Silver as she placed the stand and bag in an empty corner, “but that's my only mirror, every mare has to have discreet way of ensuring she's presentable,” she really did want to give the mirror away because of her almost unbridled generosity, but she had to be honest and explain she only had the one mirror (as far as she knew, she had been through her treasure Faust knows how many times and had never found another mirror).

“Best cloud architect in Cirrus is trying to make an extravagant mansion for the Wonderbolts to stay just in case they visit, you know he's probably not going to notice you as a mare eligible for dating, right?” stated Night Racer.

“You could make their team easily, I've see how you just make everypony else eat the clouds behind you,” said Storm Runner.

“I'm more of a score keeper,” said Night Racer, “I'll do a few laps just keep my wings in shape, that's it.”

“I'm sure they need those too,” said Lightning Twist, “you're probably the best racing score keeper in all of Equestria, you deserve to be with the best.”

Night Racer blushed and said, “you're still a sweet-talker I see, pity those dates didn't work out for us.”

“We both know it just didn't feel right,” said Lightning Twist, “if it makes you feel better the same holds true with your sister.”

“He's got me there,” said Nimbus Build, “he's a sweet stallion, but the feeling for something more just wasn't there.”

“You all should get going, you have work tomorrow, I still have a few days off,” said Lightning Twist as he noted the position of the sun.

When they had left Silver said, “you felt something at our first meeting as well?”

“Yes,” said Lightning Twist, “but I've never felt like this before it's like we're...”

“Resonating in our souls,” said Silver, “that's the way dad would have put it,” she realized her slip and for the first time in her life she felt a panicked fear (and it was so strong she almost started showing signs of her true form).

“I like that expression,” said Lightning Twist, “you know I asked around a few days ago about you and they said they never saw you with your mother or that she gave any indication of pregnancy.”

Silver gave a long sigh of defeat (the first genuine one in her life) before saying, “that's because she's me, every pony that's been selling soybeans for centuries here is me, I heard in advance when Princess Celestia was coming so I avoided the town for that entire week. I'm not a pegasus, I'm not even a pony. I only wander around like this to keep the loneliness at bay, I need social interaction or I slip into sorrow begot by the loneliness. You are making me feel emotions I've never felt before, both good and bad.”

“What are you then? You can't be a changeling, your behavior doesn't match the stories about them," said Lightning Twist.

Silver shifted to her true form, there was no flash of light with the transformation instead there was the image of every fiber of the pony before Lightning Twist growing and changing into something with scales and a long articulating tail (which promptly grabbed her saddlebags the moment it was formed enough to do so, and before he knew it Lightning Twist beheld a massive Silver Dragon (she had grown to a size to match her mother's by this point, around five times the size of the average pony).

Silver Fall then turned to him and in a voice filled with emotional confusion that overflowed with compassion, love and honesty said, “my real name is Silver Fall, it has been for almost three centuries now, I was cast out by my mother's clan shortly after my father's death. I told the truth when it came to his name, he was the most important individual in my young life. For some reason I feel like you have an importance that surpasses him, you feel like the mate to my soul and I can't bear to lose anypony so significant in my existence.” She waited for his response, expecting fear and confusion to be his dominant emotional reactions, instead he just trotted up to her hugged her right foreleg and cried tears of joy, “why are you reacting that way?” said Silver Fall with genuine surprise.

“Because you're just so beautiful and you trusted me with something so big even though we just met. You know what you have to do next, right?”

“Reveal the truth to Mustang and your friends, Mustang must suspect something since they saw how little variation my aliases had, your friends will be harder. Your home will prove more difficult.”

“True enough,” said Lightning Twist.

“Alright, that is it,” said Silver Fall, “I've played at emotions I didn't have access to until after just meeting you, so I can tell when another individual is acting. Let it all out now or I'm going to have serious doubts about any future our relationship we will have.”

Lightning Twist stared at her a full minute before he realized she was right, and right on queue he had twenty minute panic attack in front of her that showed every one of her concerns regarding him and his friends leading up to that point, when he collapsed on the stone floor exhausted she said, “are we feeling better now Lighty?” she said teasingly.

“Trust a dragon with mostly frozen emotions to see through me like that,” he deadpanned in a more somber and charged voice.

“You're welcome sweetheart,” said Silver Fall, “you can be yourself around me, I just wanted you to know that.”

“Well, you're being very affectionate this fast, that's kind of disturbing,” said Lightning Twist.

“Are you saying I'm trying get you to take things to another phase to quickly,” said Silver Fall with rage building in her voice, and her horns beginning to transition to a deep crimson.

“Um what's up with your horns?” said Lightning Twist with a hint of fear, and desperate for a topic change.

“What?” said Silver Fall, her horns returning to their usual snowy white, “I don't know, I just felt really angry all of a sudden, all these emotions are difficult for me to adjust to in such a short amount of time,” she then curled into a spiral around Lightning Twist and started given a low rumbling hum that he found surprisingly soothing.

“Um, what are you doing?” he inquired with genuine interest.

“Trying to quiet the storm within my mind and balance out my emotions,” said Silver Fall after another minute of humming, “it's a meditation technique dad used a lot, he said it helped keep unwanted emotions in check. Emotions like anger, greed and fear. All emotions are important, they help us in determining priorities, but sometimes they make us focus on the wrong priorities and when that happens a little meditation can help.”

“You are a very strange dragon,” said Lightning Twist, “you're generous to almost a fault, usually calm and collected and most importantly don't try to eat other creatures.”

“Dad said it's always important respect all life and do our best always find another way that will have the effect of everything coming out with its life. However there are times where a life must be sacrificed to benefit of the whole, it must be given in the name of the greater good,” she started crying tears of pride, “he gave his life to teach one last lesson to all within my mother's clan who would listen. I wanted to despise, hate and revile the dragon that dueled dad, but at the time was incapable. Now that I've had time to mature I can't even feel disapproval of Inferno Rage, it took him a few years to learn the lesson dad gave that day. On the day dad died he said he would meet my exile from the clan with celebration, but when the time came he had matured and showed genuine guilt over my having to leave. I was always an oddity, in my rite of passage designed to induce greed I was filled with an abundance of generosity and started bringing the treasures within the pit to every dragon there piece by piece,” she gave a chuckle at the memory, “I never experienced the transformation that comes with greed, my father said that I was a rare treasure to be praised, instead they reviled me. I was the only silver scaled dragon any had seen, a sort of exotic beauty when you include my unique body design, and instead of looking upon me wonder they claimed I was an unwanted existence,” she gave a small cry with three tears falling and forming into pearls, “instead of breathing fire I breathed ice, they were told it is a rare ability for dragons and called me a disgrace. Other dragons my age turned seeing who could make me cry the longest and hardest into a game so I could make those,” she gestured at the pearls, “they found the pearls born from my sorrow delicious, if you have any sense of justi...” the sound of one of the pearls shattering brought her attention to see him smashing the three pearls she had cried.

“You have a good heart,” he said with pride, “and anypony, creature or thing that says otherwise doesn't know just what kind of individual you are, you're more Equestrian than some ponies I've seen in my experiences. You deserve to be happy, but before you and I try spending time together as lovers you need to come clean with everypony, and when you finally meet the princess you'll share your story with them as well. I know she won't show displeasure at what you are, but maybe some of your life choices. You are, and always will be, an entity with a good heart and desire to do the right thing. Although I'm a little concerned about dating a mare? What do you call a female dragon?”

“You call a female dragon a dragoness and a male dragon is called a dragoon,” said Silver Fall, “I'm concerned about our ability to have offspring, I've had dreams of raising children for the past eighty years.”

“I'm only twenty-four,” said Lightning Twist, “doesn't this feel like robbing the cradle to you?”

“Nope,” there were over seven centuries between my parents when they had me, age is of little consequence to entities that can potentially live thousands of years,” said Silver Fall, “I'll miss you when you pass, and if we have offspring I could potentially outlive them. Outliving your child is a fear every parent can see as potential possibility, and for me it potentially is a very legitimate one.”

Storm Twist thanked her for her time (also promising to keep her secret until the time she revealed it) and was on his way, they would continue to try and make their relationship work for a few months before coming to some realizations. Storm Twist came and talked with her every couple of days and they were both fine with that, they both felt like their hearts were perfectly in sync whenever they were near each other. Silver Fall would regale Storm Twist with tales of her parents, and in return he would do the same. It all came off as something harmless, but what came next would lead to problems.

It had been two months since Silver and Lightning had met and she decided to finally reveal the truth Mustang and let the townsponies decide what they wanted to do with her after that, while feeling very nervous over the whole thing (an emotion she was not entirely used to yet), but also felt a sense of genuine calm at knowing they would all see the real her. Silver Walked trotted into town, with Lightning Twist and his friends in tow, true to his word he hadn't revealed her secret to any of them. Silver finished setting up shop made an announcement, her sense of unease being so intense it could almost be tasted, she said, “everypony before I open the shop I just want to say I haven't been very honest with the town in a long time,” she took a deep calming breath before continuing, “the truth is for the two centuries it's been a single individual setting up shop. I'm not a pony, but I'm also not a creature of stories you've been told is a danger. I am something else, and would like to show you what I really am, you've already seen who I really am and that will not change anytime soon,” with that she closed her eyes and assumed her true form, but made sure to only grow to a little more than three times the size of the average pony. She opened her eyes to surprised faces on everypony, including Lightning Twist's friends, she then continued with, “my real name is Silver Fall, and yes I really am a dragon.”

“Then why aren't trying to eat anypony?” inquired Nimbus Build.

Silver smiled gently at her and the rest of the crowd before saying, “my father taught me to respect all life, no matter what your personal feelings are, I'll never take the life of another creature when there are better options. Besides most of the nutrients I need can be acquired by consuming the soy beans. When I said my father's name I was being honest, his kind of dragon felt revulsion at the prospect of hunting and eating meat. To be honest with everypony here, the same holds true for me. I'm more like my father than anything, the bulk of my personality and abilities come from him.”

“That philosophical view sounds like something that would be inspired in Equestria,” said one of the town ponies, “several of us had our suspicions, but we didn't think it would be something like this. You've been a noticeable part of our community for a long time.”

“I was aware that some of you may have had suspicions,” said Silver with a gentle understanding tone while assuming the size of a pegasus so as to make everypony a little more comfortable, “a series of mares with the exact same coat color claiming to be descended from the one that was known a few years prior despite the fact there were no indicators that the prior mare was carrying a child or the sheer lack of foals following the mares around. I'd be suspicious of those mares too.”

“Honestly,” came a mare's voice, “we thought you might have been a changeling, but then we remembered the rest of the old stories and no changeling would make themself so obvious to spot. We didn't know what to make you after that.”

Silver just smiled and asked, “are you aware of the transformative properties dragons posses?”

“Um, yes,” said Storm Runner, “when dragons are overcome with greed they transform into hulking dangerous version of themselves, why do you ask?”

Silver gave another smile before saying, “the dragons in the far eastern lands, where my father was from, learned how to access that part of themselves and adjust it to enable them to take any form they wish. I partially inherited the property, no matter how hard I try I am unable to alter the coloration of my scales when I change so every single one of my pony forms would always have silver fur.”

“Well,” said Night Racer coming out of her stupor, “I think a silver coat is lovely, it lets us know it's you more effectively.”

“Thank you, everypony,” said Silver Fall, “I believe we have a market to deal with, and this time I think my produce is getting up to the quality that my father had it, please enjoy.” With that everypony just went back to business as usual, almost. Silver Fall had brought a big change with revealing herself, but at the same time it wasn't a change that seemed to immediately impact the present or near future. However it would bring quite the change to Cirrus, the pegasus community close to Mustang. Cirrus also happened to be the home of Lightning Twist, Storm Runner, Night Racer and Nimbus Build. And their telling that community about Silver would elicit a different reaction.

Author's Note

Well here's chapter 3, and I just noticed that I have chapter 2 listed a chapter 3 and will be fixing that error shortly. a quick check with word count confirmed this probably one of the longest chapters I've taken the time to write. Enjoy. As always please leave comments and if you want to use any of the OCs in my stories for your own projects give me a heads up.

Chapter 4: Silver Meets Lightning's Family

Silver Meets Lightning's Family

It had been four months since Silver Fall and Lightning Twist had been discreetly seeing each other. She had surprised him with her cooking skills, to which she explained the properties of tofu (a special food made entirely from soy, it was a recipe that her father had insisted she commit to memory). And Lightning Twist surprised her with his dancing ability, turns out that was partly how he got cutie mark, but what amused him was her inability to dance in dragon and pony form. Silver Fall taught him a bit about cooking (turns out he was such terrible cook his housemate, Storm Runner, told him that if he was ever caught in the kitchen he would be tied to his bed for a week.), and he taught her some simple dances (she was so awkward during her first 12 lessons that she tripped over her own feet, tail, and him, but on lesson 13 she showed that she was so choreographed Lightning Twist could have sworn she had danced as a child if he had not been there to see how terrible her dancing was in her prior lessons).

They were having another private lunch in Silver's lair when Lightning Twist said, “I think it's time we made our relationship official and public, everypony in Mustang is perfectly okay with the way you really look now.”

“Have you broken to your family that you've been seeing a dragon?” she inquired with the kind of cool compassion he knew as her standard mannerism.

“I'm still trying to find the best way to do so without freaking anypony out, my siblings might get a kick out it, but I'm pretty sure my parents will go into such an immense shock we'd have to rush them to hospital if they didn't take it as a joke,” said Lightning Twist in a somber tone.

“There's no way to break it in a way that somepony won't have a freak out,” said Silver Fall in a much warmer tone that showed a hint of amusement, “just tell the truth and let should happen do just what it's meant to do. Share everything you would like them to know about me, just don't tell them I'm a dragon, give them additional information to work with.”

He smiled at her and said, “my sister will really like you, Star Tome is a teacher at Cloudsdale Academy. As for my brothers I think they'll just get a few laughs at how the most family oriented pony of all of us is thinking having a family with a non-pony,” he facehoofed before saying, “I honestly don't know how mom would act because she keeps on saying how much she wants grandfoals, but dad in all honesty probably will not take it well.”

“Predicting family is tricky,” said Silver Fall, “technically mom's entire clan was my family and they mostly despised me because nothing about me met their approval, my parents were the only one that seemed to appreciate me and just as I was going into exile one of those dragons that had despised me started showing me that accepted me and was regretful of the fact I had to part from the only family I had known,” she gave slight sniffle, “it's almost funny, I didn't have the ability to show my full emotions back then and now thinking back to different points in my life I'm bombarded with emotions that I would have shown if they hadn't been frozen. I think my emotions would still be mostly frozen if we had never met, and that thought terrifies me.”

Lightning Twist gave smile, got up, trotted over to where Silver Fall was sitting at the little wooden table that seemed more than a little out of place in a dragon's lair and wrapped his wings around the silver dragoness that currently around his size before saying, “we have hardships in our lives, you know this better than most, but regardless I'm glad we got the chance to meet. I'm overjoyed we're trying to make a romantic relationship work, but keeping hidden from everypony isn't the way to dos this anymore. We need to show everypony we know how much we're trying to make this work.” Silver Fall just nodded solemnly into his wing, which was now covering her face.

Lightning Twist thanked her for the meal and left to go about his routines, he had mail duties on this particular afternoon. After he left Silver Fall headed for her garden. When she arrived at her garden she spotted some squirrels in the lemon tree she had planted a few years prior, it was next her apple tree. She smiled and gave the squirrels a warm greeting, who both scurried way into a hollow of the apple tree, before checking on her soy beans, the soy beans had undergone a tremendous growth spurt since her emotions had been freed from their icy prison. While she could usually get them to around the size of the average pony's hoof she was now growing them to almost the size of a pony's head. They were healthier than ever before, and immensely tastier. Maybe the next time Celestia was to show herself in Mustang she would provide the ivory alicorn with a few as a show of good faith. She was so lost in her work of tending the beans she didn't notice her unexpected visitor.

“You really grow them yourself? Wow,” came a young slightly squeaky feminine voice, Silver Fall turned her head to see a little blue cream colored unicorn filly whom had yet to obtain her cutie mark with big expressive dark green eyes. She said in a warm compassionate voice, “and who would you be, little one? Is your mother or father nearby?”

“I'm Bluebell Sonata,” said the filly with excitement, “mommy's out in front of your cave.”

Before Bluebell could say another word Silver Fall said, “how about you and I go see your mommy,” then made her way to the front of the cave.

Soon as she rounded the corner she spotted a lemon yellow unicorn mare with a lime green mane and the image of three different music notes on her flank. The unicorn mare turned to reveal her a pair of faded soda blue eyes that quickly informed the dragoness that this unicorn might have trouble seeing if she wasn't blind. The unicorn said in an almost musical voice, “I hear somepony new approaching, did my little Sonata cause any trouble?”

“Not at all,” said Silver Fall, quickly turning to see the filly riding the dragoness's articulating tail before saying, “she showed and interest in my gardening.”

“Oh, thank Princess Celestia she didn't encounter anything threatening. It's so hard keep her in check with my condition, I don't know what's gotten into her father with his deciding that it would be a better idea to spend time with his friends and not help his poor wife get around a new place for a few hours first. Where are we anyway?”

“The dragon cave just short trot from the town,” said Silver Fall with a sense of amusement, “I'm Silver Fall, who might you be?”

“I'm Citrus Song,” said the mare with noticeable shock and horror on her face, “is the d-dragon friendly, I m-mean i-i-i f-f-f-f-f-f-f there is one that lives here.”

“You really are new here,” said Silver Fall with continued amusement, “I'm the dragon in question, and before you panic I only eat plants. In fact I grow most of the food I eat, I even sell some of the beans I grow at market. You're daughter is riding my tail with amusement by the way.”

At this Bluebell Sonata gave an excited, “hi mommy, this dragon-mare is really friendly.”

“Actually Sonata,” said Silver Fall as she used her tail to gently place the filly on her mother's back, “a dragon version of a mare is called a dragoness, I admit it sounds a little regal sometimes.”

This caused both ponies to smile before Citrus Song said, “could we try one of your beans, I kept on hearing how delicious they are.”

“Big beans that are yummy,” cried Bluebell Sonata bouncing on her mother's back, which caused her mother to lower her flank and let the filly off onto the ground.

“Certainly,” said Silver Fall, “follow me, as best you can madam. Your daughter should have an idea of the way since she delightfully interrupted my tending said beans. The official name of these kind of beans is soy beans.” With that she started leading the two towards her garden.

“Do you get visitor's often here?” inquired Citrus Song as they neared the garden and the scents began to rush over her.

“Not really,” said Silver Fall as she gently started digging around where she had one of the planted beans sprouting, “there's Lightning Twist showing up every couple of days, we've been trying make a romantic relationship work.

Citrus Song smiled and said, “that sounds like the inspiration for new song, I was composer of music for some time. Not so much anymore, kind of hard to see what you've composed when all you can make out is smudges of light that flicker in and out of blackness.”

“I'm sorry to hear that” said Silver Fall unearthing the beans and sending an ice blast cold enough to remove the dirt without harming the beans before saying, “I'm going to give you this bunch free of charge because I adore having company, it's right in front of you.” With that the massive bunch of beans was surrounded in a sharp soda blue aura which Silver took as her queue to let go of the beans, she then used her claws to pick two of the beans and pass the to the mouths of the filly and the unicorn. Both took them in their mouths and showed surprise at the size of the beans in their mouths, and the vibrant flavors the beans seemed to have as well.

Taking the bean out her mouth, revealing a massive bite chunk, with her magic (the aura was bright cream blue) Bluebell Sonata said, “these are really big beans, how do you get them this big.”

“It's partially old dragon magic from the far east,” said Silver Fall, “the rest is all the compassion and love I can give the plants. Dad always said that plants give you their best if you show them love.”

The filly's eyes lit up and she said, “I wanna be gardening pony now, I want to know what it's like to have plants give their all when I share my love with them.”

Her mother gave chuckle before using her magic to remove bean from her mouth, while keeping the string of beans still aloft, and saying, “it'll be just as much work as the music your father and I have insisted you practice.”

“Possibly more,” said Silver Fall, “a garden is a tremendous responsibility. Just like with animals each individual kind of plant has specific need and that means it's up to you to make sure they're happy and healthy. You just can't place them in any kind of dirt, you need to find the right soil and tend to the plant for days, weeks, or possibly months before you start seeing any sign of what could be a thanks from them for you looking after them from the time they were a seed. You can plant beans as is, they're the seeds for growing new plants.”

Bluebell Sonata's eyes went wide and she stared back at the bean she had bitten into before saying, “then being gardener means knowing which plants need to be used to feed others while you are also planting new seeds. Some plants we eat are also the seeds to a new plant, which means you have to decide which to eat and which to plant. Auhg, this is too much for me to think about, why am I even considering all this?”

“Because you're a smart filly,” said her mother, “and you are showing a genuine interest in this, that could be a sign that tending plants is your special talent.”

Bluebell Sonata's face lit up with a smile before she said, “I wonder if there's somepony in Canterlot that can teach me of plants, I want so much to see if I like lessons on plants more than lessons on music.”

“Actually,” said Silver Fall, “there are rumors that certain plants like certain kinds of music, so practicing music near the plants you're raising could possibly make them grow faster.”

Citrus Song smiled at this before saying, “you hear that, plants might actually like music, now you have reason for keeping at your lessons that is a match to your interest. Because I don't think your plants will appreciate off-tune music.”

Bluebell Sonata's ears drooped a little before she said, “okay, I'll try.”

“You cheer up young filly,” said Silver Fall, “the negative energy you're producing is bad for the plants.”

Both unicorns looked at her before Citrus Song asked, “what do you mean? Energy in the air?”

“Something my dad would say about plants,” said Silver Fall, “just like you can pickup the emotions in song, plants can pick up on the emotions of other living things around them and it can influence their growth. If anger and sorrow saturate an area then the plants will have a stunted growth and they'll taste bad, but if the area is filled with love and happiness the plants grow faster and taste better.”

“Thanks for telling me that,” said Bluebell Sonata, “that means a lot to me, and you said it in a way that can help mom relate.” With that the two unicorns were trotted off, with the filly telling her mother where obstacles were. Silver Fall smiled with genuine happiness at the sight, it also made her start wishing she had some little one of her own (which made her feel a little sad). She quickly made her way back to the cave's front just in case she had some other unexpected visitors. Those were her only unexpected visitors for the day, and they were a welcome distraction. She headed back to her garden after waiting out front for a few hours. The sun was just starting to set when she finished.

Back in her lair she examined and polished her rainbow pearl for almost two hours. Just before curling up to go to sleep she gently, yet firmly, held the pearl in her talons and said, “care to tell me why you were inside me when I found you, I know you can't tell me anything but I just want feel like I'm getting answers from you,” she gave a little smile before saying, “I've never really done this before, but now that my emotions have been freed I am more than willing to entert... I'm talking a giant pearl that holds fragment of my essence! Why?”

With that she curled up to sleep. The sound of her slumber echoed through the cavern with nervous, excited and confused undertones. Little did she know one of her coming days would bring her to an experience that would force her deal with her emotions in ways she never expected would occur. Soon she would be displaying abilities that even she wasn't fully aware of. She would still keep some things to herself, but as is the nature of such things sometimes those things she kept for herself would force their way into her life in unexpected ways.

************************

It had been a few days since his lunch with Silver Fall and Lightning Twist was feeling nervous, the point of being a near wreck. He was going to tell his family about the individual in his life that had the strongest romantic pull over him, and he was pretty sure he knew what all their reactions would be. Silver Fall's words echoed in his head reminding him that he would have tell his immediate family these things anyway. He planned ahead to tell them what she was like and what she did, then as carefully as possible he would tell them what she was. He knew that he was practically calling in a downpour for a dry daisy with it, but he decided it had to be done.

Taking a deep breath he knocked on the cloud door of the three story building just on the edge of the wealthier side of Cloudsdale. Both his parents were highly successful, as was his sister, his brothers' were marginally successful in their businesses, and he had chosen a career job (that felt more like a deadend career on most days) that allowed him to be marginally comfortable in small pegasus town (something that frustrated his father to no end). After waiting a few minutes he heard a refined female pegsus voice say, “the door is unlocked, you may enter.”

Lightning Twist took another deep breath and opened the door to see his family all gathered around. His mother, Spotlight Flutter, one of Equestria's most popular pegasus models, was looking at him with her amber eyes smiling, navy blue mane done up up in a braid that wrapped around her neck, and peach colored coat looking like it had just come out of a spa's wash (and knowing his mother she probably had been to at least one of the Cloudsdale spas in the past hour). His father, Crimson Skies, was the head of Cloudsdale's security forces (and was known for his no nonsense attitude when it came to everything, even at home), his bright red coat was looking expertly groomed (likely thanks to his mother), his black mane and tail were done up in the traditional military cut, and his ocean green eyes were showing an angry look to them (despite that fact that Lightning Twist was nearly an hour and half earlier than he had informed his family he would be), and his scarlet red coat was well groomed. His sister, Star Tome, was sitting with a family records book between her hooves, her periwinkle eyes showing delight and the fact she could see her brother again, her midgnight blue mane was done up in a set of four simple braids (each pinned shut by little silver star mane clips), and her neon green coat was shining more brilliantly than usual while displaying her cutie mark of a large dark brown book adorned with six lavender shooting stars with dark pink tails. His elder brother, Thunder Kick, was sitting with his blue and white hoofball jersie folded in front of him (which meant that his mom and sister had managed to get off him, cleaned and back to him only seconds before the door had opened), his ocher eyes displayed his sheepish grin, as he tried to dawn the outfit discreetly for half a second before stopping himself, his black coat seemed to well compliment his brightly colored jersie, his cutie mark of a hoofball being struck by a lime green lightning bolt was also on display, and his sky blue mane was done up neatly (most likely the work of their mother). His younger brother, Blackout, was an editor for one of the many book presses in Canterlot, for some reason his brother chose to wear a set of dark plaid pants that seemed designed clashed with his bright periwinkle coat so as to hide his cutie mark (a pen and ink darkening half a page), he also wore a card dealer's visor over his head which was a translucent florescent orange that somehow managed to clashed with his navy blue eyes, and his ink brown mane was done up in short editor's cut that came very short of being eerily similar to their father's mane cut while his tail was grown so long that it made wonder how he didn't trip over it when he decided to move around by not flying.

Although it was hard to tell he and Star Tome were in fact twins, a fact that most ponies would laugh off if they were told and gloss over if they were in the loop. His father narrowed his eyes, somehow managing to make his face look much angrier than it already was before he said in his usual overbearing gruff tone, “I certainly hope this family meeting includes you getting a better job than mail courier and weather management for a nearly isolated community.”

“Uh, not yet,” said Lightning Twist, “I've actually been seeing some pony for a few months now, and to be honest I felt a special connection with her the moment we locked eyes.”

Almost as if on queue his brothers started laughing and saying in a mocking synchronize tone, “Lighty found a mare just a dull as him, hope she's successful as dad because that's the only way you'll stop being a disappointment.”

“We'll have none of that you two,” came his mother's voice (which proved indeed to be the voice that answered the door, as expected), the reaction of his brothers was also as expected, his mother shot his father and brothers a menacing look (which caused all three to try and shy away from her and do their best to not say another word), “your brother has always been the most family minded, even though it has caused him to completely pass far more successful job opportunities I'm still proud he thinks that way. Now Spill, what's my future daughter-in-law like?”

“Yah, bro,” said Star Tome in her distinct refined, yet casual, intellectual type voice, “we need details, since we all know you'll be marrying her by the end of the next year.”

Lightning Twist licked his lips in nervousness before saying, “well she grows some the largest beans anypony has seen in Equestria, as to why she decides to only sell that at the Mustang market a few times every few months is anypony's guess. She has personality that can come off as a little cold,” his father actually smiled at this before Lightning Twist continued, “she's really compassionate. Everytime I've seen her around foals she's been really respectful of them, even when everypony else isn't. She's mindful of the limitations of everypony she interacts with. And all her entire diet is nothing more than plants she herself is cultivating. She rea...”

“Hold up,” said his mother, “how can she have cold personality if she's also compassionate?”

“Her usual personality is a cold to cool compassion,” said Lightning Twist, “I don't know how she pulls it off, but she does.”

“She sounds wonderful,” said his father, “just the kind of mare to compliment your personality. So, what is she? I'm assuming since she's from a land community that she's probably not a pegasus.”

“That's correct,” said Ligtning Twist, “she isn't a pegasus. She's actual, well, adragonandIreallydolovehersopleasejustdon'tdissapproveoftherelationship.”

His father and brothers just stared him like he was crazy, which he probably was. His mother had a smile of amusement and Star Tome actually had a look of understanding on her face (not curiosity as he had anticipated).

“Really, my brother, mister family above all else is dating a dragon,” said Star Tome with an amused voice, “this will be a fascinating study, but tell me how is a dragon is capable of surviving for years on an equine-esque diet?”

“She says she's a mixed blood,” said Lightning Twist, his father sat their in awkward silence, and his mother just kept glowing with amusement (to the point it was actually creeping his father and brothers out). Lightning Twist continued with, “that's a term dragons use for, aren't you going to take notes on this, this is the sort of thing you can present to the academic world,” he arched a brow in concern.

“Oh, right,” said Star Tome pulling a well-kept notebook that had clear signs of age.

“Anyway,” said Lightning Twist as his sister prepared for writing down the next set of words carefully, “a mixed blood is term dragons use for a dragon that has two different kinds of dragons as its parents. Her mother's clan, the one she grew up in, is a clan of winged fire drakes, from what she's told me fire drakes usually don't have wings since most fire drake clans are in fact wingless with bodies that are instead built for powerful sprints,” the sound of a pencil following along like a filly taking notes at school followed his every word, “her father was a dragon from a far eastern land, he was capable of flight without wings.”

“How is that possible?” inquired his mother, Star Tome giving a nod of approval at the question.

“The dragon's that that were of the variety her father was follow different rules than the dragons Equestria is used to,” said Lightning Twist, “for one instead being built similar to feline they're built like a serpent with legs designed like predatory birds, she herself is of a design that hybridizes the designs of the two in a way that makes anatomical sense. Anyway to answer mother's question, they fly by manipulating their magic fields, they can can also change their appearance. You know how greed is recorded to cause dragons to undergo a dramatic physical change, well the dragons of her father's homeland have figured out how to adjust that same mechanism willingly to take any form they want. She partially inherited the ability. She can make her size alter at will and she can make herself look like a pony, but she has an inability to alter her coloration that is the equivalent of a pony's coat.”

“Very nice,” said his mother calmly, “what's her coat color? And more importantly, what is her name?”

“Her name is Silver Fall, she's all silver, except for her claws and horns which are snow white,” said Lightning Twist.”

His father finally managed to snap out of his shock and say, “while she sounds nice, I am not going to entertain this foolishn...”

“I've invited her to a family dinner next week,” said Lightning Twist, expertly cutting off his father, she'll be in a pegasus form so as to not draw to much attention, once we are securely alone she will reveal what she really looks like to the family. It will be our first official public date, so please be nice.”

“You what?” shouted his brothers in unison.

Followed up with his father saying, “you do realize how...”

“It will wonderful to meet her darling,” said his mother who with a tactical precision cut of his father's words before giving the stallion a look that said he was better off not saying anymore.

Crimson Skies gave both mare a look that said 'you can't be serious about entertaining this foolish delusion?'

Blackout finally said, “I certainly hope this is an elaborate joke that is a suggestion of your fillyfriend, because this would make a great prank. If grandma and grandpa catch word of this they'll laugh it off, not to mention our cousins will get a good laugh out of it. If you're serious about this then it is my duty to inform the presses so they can inform all of...”

“Sorry you will not be getting the chance,” said Star Tome, I know when my twin is joking and can assure you he is all serious about this. You don't mind introducing me early to her, do you?”

“Not at all,” said Lightning Twist.

“I'll be joining her on that visit,” said Spotlight Flutter, I want to see what she's like myself. We'll see you in a few days.”

“You're both bonkers,” said Crimson Skies, “Spotlight, she's probably just a mare delusional mare with a really pretty coat, I do not want potentially confirmed psychological instibilities in this lineage!”

“Then wait until next week and grill her the way your father did me,” said Spotlight Flutter, “but I'm going to confirm her personality personally. You may be a military stallion, but you still adhere to me Crimson, so I suggest you get used to it or find a way to get out of that foalish mentality you and your other sons have fallen into.”

“At least my twin as enough courtesy to give the mare he's dating the benefit of the doubt and support her claims when they go unsubstantiated,” said Star Tome.

“Actually,” said Lightning Twist she proved right in front of me, then she came out with it in front of all of Mustang and my friends in Cirrus.”

They looked at him and blinked a few times before Star Tome said, “okay, that's really amusing. She's probably around our age which would make her about 18.”

“If you added about 3 centuries to that then yes,” said Lightning Twist.

“I'm moving up the timetable,” said Star Tome and Spotlight Flutter in unison, “I am meeting her in two days.”

“I'll let her know, she'll probably put on pot of tea. She grows her own tea leaves.” With that he walked out the door without being excused, to the sound of his father muttering about potential brain damage in all his children.

************************************

It was the appointed day, Lightning Twist had informed Silver Fall of the impromptu visit of his mother and sister. Despite the potentially never wracking-ness of the event Silver Fall was the level of calm she had displayed before the bulk of her emotions had melted free. The Silver dragon was examining her pearl closely, an act that seemed to help her in orienting her emotions to socially acceptable levels. She had yet to tell Lightning Twist about the importance of the pearl, she had merely imparted general information about dragon stones to him and told him she indeed had one herself without actually telling him what it was. A well crafted stone table that could comfortably seat a dozen ponies was just outside her lair. Silver Fall herself was in her Bit Watcher guise, at the suggestion of Lightning Twist.

The sound of three sets of pegsus wings approaching informed her that her guests were arriving, she had a number of simple dishes laid out on the table (one of which was a small pile of her soy beans steam cooked). The first to come into view was Lightning Twist, followed by a neon green mare with a midnight blue mane then a peach colored mare with a navy blue mane. He introduced the neon green mare as his sister Star Tome and the peach mare as his mother named Spotlight Flutter. Silver Fall gave them a gracious bow and motioned for them to take a seat at the table, after she had done so Lightning Twist whispered something inaudible to the two in her ear and she nodded before taking a few step back and assuming her true form and full size, then brought herself down to pegasus size. The reactions that both gave at this were very different from each other. Spotlight Flutter was grinning like an idiot from ear to ear while Star Tome only gave a critical look for few seconds before rummaging through her, neatly organized, saddlebag for a notebook and writing utensil.

“Well,” said Spotlight Flutter maintaing her very genuine grin, “looks like my boy was telling truth.”

“Which means everything he said you told him about you is also true,” said Star Tome excitedly as she finally pulled up the notebook and writing utensils she wanted with her wings.

“Indeed,” said Silver Fall in her usual cool compassionate voice as she took a seat at the table, “the large beans are the soy beans I've been growing, feel free to try them. They're the primary suppliment of my diet, they contain the bulk of the nutrients I and many other creatures require. I've been told by some of my customers that the beans have managed to make their coats and manes much more glossy and vibrant.”

“Well, I don't want to be rude,” said Spotlight Flutter, “but was your father really a dragon that avoided meat?”

“The soy beans I grow are from seeds leftover from his garden,” said Silver Fall, “mom couldn't bring herself to tend his garden after he died, it brought too much much pain to her. But, yes he avoided meat, in fact he found the act sickening. I ate some growing up, although it was mostly wild rabbit or bird of some kind, but from the time I was ten I've done my best to avoid the stuff. I get an itch to eat some now and then, but after preparing some tofu in a certain way the feeling goes away.”

“Tofu?” inquired Star Tome.

“A product made from soy,” said Silver Fall before gesturing to large bowl filled with jiggling white cubes, “these cubes are tofu, a true master chef can take raw tofu and make it look and taste like anything they want, at least that's what dad said to me a few times. I showed me a few recipes, including how to make tofu.”

“This is brilliant,” said Star Tome, “I'll have take some this to the academy with me and issue challenge to the culinary students, I'll even tell them what you told me.”

“Hold that race for moment,” said Silver Fall with an electric edge to her voice that startled everypony present, “you just can't have students going around trying different techniques without a base, I'd have to show them a few of the recipes before the challenge could even be viable, you're letting your curiosity runaway with you, that's dangerous. I'm going to have teach you meditation techniques to help keep your zeal in check.”

“Meditation?” inquired the mares, which incited a chuckle from Lightning Twist.

“Meditation is method of self-regulation and personal calming, it's far more comprehensive and effective than just breathing exercises. In fact with the right meditation technique and practice you can regulate your breath at any rate you want.”

“Count me in,” said Spotlight Flutter, “some self relaxing techniques are always welcome in my line of work, pity nopony's asked for me in any of their shows recently.”

“I'm sure you'll get back on the walk,” said Silver Fall with a warm compassionate voice, “you look more lively than mares half your age.”

“That's it, Lightning Twist you have my blessing to spend the rest of your life with this dragon, and if your father has problem with it he can take it up with me.”

“Last time dad took it up with mom,” said Star Tome with a chuckle, “he was looking face to face with the captain of Princess Celestia's guard with said captain berating him for improper conduct, yeah, when dad takes up a disagreement with mom she makes it so that his career gets a major incident report that the coming superiors think is a joke until they are involved in one.”

“Just because mom isn't military doesn't mean she can't get exert influence on them,” said Lightning Twist, “frankly I'm surprised she has as much reach as she does, especially when you consider nopony on from her family has had any connection to the Royal Guard for over twenty generations.”

“It's just knowing ponies sweetheart,” said Spotlight Flutter with an innocent smile.

“Your mother would be terrifying if I wasn't keeping my fear in check,” responded Silver Fall.

“How are you doing that?” asked all three ponies in unison.

“A little meditation trick I picked up from dad,” said Silver Fall with a smile, “so, we're still on for the family meal next week?”

“You know it,” said Spotlight Flutter, “I'll arrange for dining area with the kind of privacy needed for the little display you gave us and...”

“Anypony here?” came the sound of Bluebell Sonata's voice.

“Hold that thought,” said Silver Fall getting up from her seat going to meet the filly, “hi Sonata, where's your mom?”

“With daddy, they're plalying cards, he says she's his lucky charm in the games.”

“While that does sound a little romantic it doesn't explain why you're here without a foalsitter,” said Silver Fall, “I don't recall agreeing with your mother foalsit for her during your visit here.”

“They tried to find me a sitter, but nopony had the the time to look after me so they just left me in the cabin with a bunch of coloring books. I hopped out the window and made my way to you, you look busy.”

“Just having lunch with some ponies that wanted to meet me,” said Silver Fall, “care to join us?”

Bluebell Sonata nodded vigerously before saying, “sure,” then following Silver Fall to the table.

“Everypony meet Bluebell Sonata,” said silver Fall while picking up a spare plate from the center of table with her tail before loading it with a sampling everything on the table and putting it before the filly, “her parents are a little preoccupied at the moment so I guess I'll be looking after her for a few hours.”

“Have you foalsat before,” inquired Spotlight Flutter.

“At least half of Mustang can attest to my skills as a sitter,” said Silver Fall, “I am three-hundred years old you know, I've looked after everypony's grandparents in this town.”

All four ponies looked at her with surprise before Star Tom grabbed a notebook and case of pencils to leave saying something about interviewing ponies in the town.”

“Alright, but then you won't get to hear about the Phobarian Hound until next week,” said Silver Fall teasingly.

Star Tome pivoted on her hooves to face the dragon before saying, “What Hound?”

“Phobarian Hound, they're so rare that I wouldn't be surprised that any comprehensive books on rare and mythical creatures is lacking an entry on them,” said Silver Fall, “I dealt with one a little over a century ago, it wasn't fun.”

“Really, what do they look like?” inquired Star Tome, “if we can get a live specimen it could impro...”

“That would be very stupid, Phobarian Hounds are one of the few things that fully matured dragons will actively avoid. The only way they won't affect you is a lack of sight and hearing. The look like a big black dog around the size of the average adult pony, they're all black with deep crimson colored eyes, their fangs are sharp enough to pierce a dragon's hide easily, their bite makes you see your worst fear everywhere, their howl makes you feel all the fear you have ever experienced, and when the two are used in concert your worst fear is given physical form. The only way to remove that is to either face your fear with everything you have or knock out the Hound. Thing is they're highly resistant to magic and exceedingly durable in addition to being abnormally strong for canine their size. If you did manage to capture one it would have to be kept in sound proof room in an breakable cage while held down in chains with a binding spell just to give you hope of keeping it suppressed for a few minutes. In addition to be physically powerful they're also really smart, they can solve complex problems with certain level of ease. As for the ability to talk, nopony knows, seriously in my encounter with it the sound that came out of it's muzzle was its howls.”

Star Tome was writing down every bit of information with certain sense of glee and when Silver fall fininshed she said, “even if its existence can't be proven the addition of such a creature to lore would be a nice touch, they're basically fear given form, tales of great heroes defeating fear itself could be inspiring.”

“Or parents will probably use them as a scare tactic to ensure that their fillies and colts are well behaved,” commented Silver Fall, “I almost did use that as an intimidation tactic a few times when the foals I watched were being misbehaved.”

At this point Bluebell Sonata looked up at the dragon and asked, “why has nopony ever encounted one before?”

“A good question,” said Silver Fall, “you see Phobarian Hounds are, as I stated earlier, very rare. My guess is that they don't make themselves known to ponies because it would be too easy for them cause a panic, I think they want see how far they can take their fear power with the more dangerous denizens of Equestria and lands beyond.”

“That is a reasonable hypothesis,” said Star Tome.

“Go on, Sonata,” said Silver Fall, “the food won't hurt you, sorry you had to hear about something so scary before you could eat,” the gentle compassion filled with warmth brought a smile to Spotlight Flutter. She also noticed something that almost felt of about the dragon and felt she had to ask a potentially painful question.

“So,” said Spotlight Flutter, “do you want to have foals in the future?”

Silver Fall gave a sad look to all the ponies present and said, “more than anything now, I want the joys and trials of motherhood more than anything. However, I'm aware that might not happen since I'm a dragon and Lightning is a pony, the likelihood of us being physically compatible enough to have offspring is quite low.”

“While I would normally be inclined to agree,” said Star Tome, “you have the ability to alter your form to the point you can pass for any kind of pony you want so I would like to say that the likelihood you two could have children is much higher than if were the kind of dragon your mother was.”

“Maybe,” said Silver Fall a sort of sad smile that had an undertone of joy, “I really do want to be real mother, the thought of little ones scampering about playing makes me feel happy and sad at the same time, that wouldn't be so bad if my emotions weren't such jumbled mess I need an hour of meditation every day to just keep them at manageable levels.”

“Sorry about that,” said Spotlight Flutter, “I knew I would be treading in dangerous territory with that question, but I just wanted to know.”

“Take whatever you want with you when you head back home,” said Silver Fall getting up from the table and seeing Bluebell Sonata had cleared her plate, “I'm going to take Sonata back to her parents then have words with her father.”

“But daddy hasn't met you yet,” said Bluebell Sonata, “he might have a bad reaction.”

“Then it's a good thing that everypony that grew up here knows about what I really am,” said Silver Fall as she lifted the filly up with her tail and set Bluebell Sonata on her back with a gentle, yet mischievous, smile.

“I like her more than ever,” now said Spotlight Flutter as Star Tome started loading food stuffs into the empty side of her saddlebags. And Silver Fall with Bluebell Sonata on her back headed to town

*********************************************

It was now day of the family event and while Spotlight Flutter and Star Tome were rather excited Crimson skies and Lightning Twists brothers were approaching nervous wreck territory, mostly because they were told within seconds of the mares calling a family meeting after lunch with Silver Fall that everything Lightning Twist had told them about her was true. I idea that a dragon could have an ability that partially lined up with stories of changelings was bad enough, but the fact that both mares actually liked her was far more terrifying. Star Tome wasn't interested enough an most individuals she encountered to actually like them and Spotlight Flutter had practically built a reputation on disliking others over the course of her career, on and off the the walk.

They were at one of the most expensive restaurants in Cloudsdale, Skyline Show (a restaurant owned by the Wonderbolts and used almost exclusively by the Wonderbolts and Cloudsdale elite), and waiting at their private room (which had cost Crimson Skies almost half his total pay for a month) for Lightning Twist and Silver Fall. When the two finally trotted up all three of the other stallions dropped their jaws with wide eyes, Silver Fall's pony form was defineatly a beauty to start brawls over (at least to them). Instead of her usual cutie marks Silver Fall instead had an image of a multicolored serpentine dragon (in the same color scheme as her father) wrapping around the top of rainbow colored pearl, she was also her rainbow pearl on her neck on a platinum chain like a necklace.

Soon as the two were in the room and it was closed the first words of out, with a hot menace that sent a shiver down the spines of everypony was, “one crack at how this pearl is the backup payment plan and their will be terrifying consequences.”

“Um, why?” in inquired Star Tome.

“Let's just say it's a dragon thing and leave it at that for now,” said Silver Fall, “I really don't want to talk about with anypony now, or ever if I have the option. That might change, but for now just leave it at that.”

“Works for me,” said Spotlight Flutter, “mostly because you look gorgeous with that deep violet mane and tail, your cutie mark is beautiful, and that pearl just compliments your coat fabulously. Why I bet you could be one of Equestria's most desirable models.”

“Sorry, I'm perfectly happy with mu current means of income,” said Silver Fall picking up the menu with her wings.

“All the better,” said Crimson Skies picking up his menu in his hooves.

His wife gave him an incredulous look at his sons gave him gave him a surprised look while his daughter was occupying her time with menu and showed no reaction other than, “Silver Fall I think it would be best for you to temporarily show your little secret after appetizers and drinks have been served.”

“Seems reasonable,” said Silver Fall, “when is the waiting staff sending in somepony? I've decided on my beverage.”

“They should have had somepony waiting at our table the moment before the door closed,” said Crimson Skies, something is off.”

“Considering their service is top notch, I'm inclined to agree with my husband,” said Spotlight Flutter furrowing her brow.

Lightning Twist and his brothers trotted up to the door and tried to push it open, only to find it wouldn't move. Blackout turned to the rest of the tabled individuals and said, “it's locked, I was there with mom and we insisted that the room not be locked at any time during our visit here, she was insistent on it.”

“That's because of your mother's claustrophobia,” said Crimson Skies, “she doesn't do well in confined spaces for a prolonged period of time.”

“Well, looks like you're getting those meditation lessons earlier than I wanted, and under circumstances not quite what I would like,” said Silver Fall. They all stared at her, then Spotlight Flutter and Star Tome gave her big grins while the stallions looked at her with utter confusion.

“Um, what's she going to be doing again?” inquired Blackout.

“Teaching us a technique for keeping ourselves calm no matter what situation,” said Spotlight Flutter, her grin growing even more, then Silver Fall started the session.

“This is one of the easier meditation techniques,” said Silver Fall, “first sit in a position feels most comfortable,” everypony followed the instruction (the stallions mostly out of curiosity), “now close your eyes and take deep, steady, slow breaths,” the sound of slow deep, yet even breaths, filled the room, “good, now let all your tensions and anxieties out with outward breath and let the calming energies in with inward breath.”

Twenty minutes they all opened their eyes twenty minutes later to see Silver Fall in a relaxed sitting position appearing to barely breath, with a look of serene calm on her face. “That felt nice,” said Star Tome, “and that helped clear my mind.”

“Well, now I can't get into trouble with my superiors like I used to,” said Crimson Skies.

“Taking you long enough,” Spotlight Flutter teased.

“As touching as our family moment is,” said Thunder Kick, “we're still locked in a private room.

“I was hoping that you would all be relaxed from having food in your stomaches before I did this again,” said Silver Fall, “but it looks like that won't be the case, so here I go,” with that she underwent her change again growing to full size (the room was large enough for her to do that without crushing anypony or thing, although she did have to wrap around the table a few times). Crimson and Skies, Blackout, and Thunder Kick just stared at the serpent-like figure that also seemed to have a torso that resembled a panther. Her snowy indigo eyes resting on Crimson Skies, almost daring him to say or do something stupid. After a few minutes she returned to pony form and gave everypony an amused smile.

Blackout was the first to talk with a rushing voice saying, “we need inform the papers, tell them about this, all of Equestria needs to know, the Princess needs to know.”

“Sorry Black,” said Star Tome that's not going to happen, can imagine what her life would be like if that were to happen? I can, she wouldn't get enough free-time to herself. Then she couldn't properly tend her garden, and all the ponies that have visited her wouldn't get another good day for months.”

“Mustang would be treated as tourist trap instead of the quaint little town it is,” said Spotlight Flutter, “not mention all the residents being heckled by reporters.”

“Then there's the question of how long I've been there, the families I've encountered wouldn't see peace for a long time,” said Silver Fall, “think of the foals of those families, you can't do that to them. You interrupt their lives in the worst way possible. Citrus Song and Bluebell Sonata a two that I've encountered recently, they're from Canterlot and...”

“You met the Citrus Song,” came a surprised voice from Spotlight Flutter, “she's one of the greatest composers of music in Canterlot's history, she was an instructor at the Canterlot Music Academy until about 12 years ago, what happened to her?”

“She had a foal,” said Silver Fall, “Bluebell Sonata is her daughter, also something caused her lose her sight, I haven't asked about that.”

Spotlight Flutter's ears drooped, “I know what having foal can do to a career,” said solemnly, “but I never imagined she would lose her sight. When I was at charity event she was also attending she had such vibrant and sharp eyes and noticed the smallest details other seemed to miss, whatever caused her lose her sight must of caused her to feel a tremendous loss of confidence in her craft. I'm sure the birth of daughter eased some of that, do you know her father?”

“I only met him once,” said Silver Fall, “he didn't take the sight of me well, but his friends in Mustang got a good laugh at his reaction to me. His name Teal Fortissimo.”

“Really, I've heard some of his work, he's one of Canterlot's biggest music critics. I hear his critiques can make or break anypony's music career,” said Blackout, “so he started a family, wonder why nopony printed a story on that? It would have been big news.”

Just as they were about continue further the door swung open to reveal six pegasi in all black uniforms that even covered their wings with dark brown goggles hiding eyes. They seemed to focus on Silver Fall's pearl and the one on the far right said in deep masculine voice with a refined tone, “Alright everypony turn over all your bits and jewelry.”

“Not happening,” said Crimson Skies with an air of authority.

“Really,” said the pony on the far left with an airy voice that had country twain, “watcha gonna do?”

“If you must know I'm Crimson...” they started closing door before he could finish his name, only for it be thrown open by Silver Fall with strong kick. Crimson Skies didn't waste any time and flew out of the private room at speed so great that it was miracle nothing on the table was knocked around by his backdraft. Before they knew it all four pegasi were up against the wall and held tight.

Before Crimson Skies could say anything else a refined voice with Canterlot accent said, “and that's it fillies and gentlecolts,” a pegasus royal guard with stopwatch around his neck trotted in, “you four call yourselves the best practice ponies, this is a joke. I chose this facility when I learned Crimson Skies would be here.”

The six took off their goggles to reveal four royal guard pegasi and the one in center said in a refined Cloudsdale accent, “sorry Crim, they wanted run some exercises and thought we'd get better reaction if you weren't in the loop, also sorry about doing this to your family, we'll cover the bill for your meal if it's any consolation.”

Crimson Skies narrowed his eyes and said, “I expect a full report on this on my desk tomorrow, including why this exercise was kept away from me until it happened in full detail.”

“A reasonable request,” said the royal guard with stopwatch.”

“They just had to ruin my official introduction to my fillyfriend,” said Lightning Twist with amusement while shaking his head, at this all seven royal guard pegasi facehoofed and six turned their attention to the one that had apologised to Crimson Skies.

“All I got out of it was it was family meal,” said the central pegasus, “when I tried to press further I was just told it was none of my business and to leave it alone.”

“Alright,” said the guard with a stopwatch, “next time we run this sort of exercise I want a more detailed report from more guard members, I'm surprised your the only one pressed for information about the event that was happening here. I am very disappointed in the rest of you for not trying varify any of this or the reason for the family gathering. Well, I guess what you're all doing next month,” a collective groan came from the other six royal guards, “as for you Crimson Skies, not only will we cover your meal costs, but we will also give you substantial bonus for showing these rookies what it means to do your job, even when your off the duty.”

“Thank you sir,” said Crimson Skies giving the stopwatch guard a salute. The rest of the evening passed without incident, and was in fact delightful. The only other surprise was Silver Fall's manners, which showed the kind of refinement one would expect from nobility. All in all it wasn't the worst meet the family dinner.

Author's Note

Well, I decided get a lot out there this time. I think this might one of the longest chapters I've managed to write so far. As always constructive criticisms are welcome and if you want to use any of the original characters for anything let me know. I hope that someone does indeed ask about using at least one of my OCs sometime soon, but in likliehood that won't happen. Also it's Halloween season, I might do a Nightmare Night chapter, who knows.

Chapter 5: Silver Meets the Ponies of Cirrus and Gives Lessons in Cooking

Author's Note

Here's the latest Chapter. Warning this chapter contains referrences to kitchen shenanigans and the aftermath of 2 such incidents. Also There is a scene where Silver goes step by step in how to make a sandwich, if you do not wish to read any of that skip this chapter. The chapter is mostly character affirmation, but if you want to follow through with all that then read on. As always if you wish to use any of my OCs in any of your works give me a heads up.

I've done my best to keep typos and errors to a minimum, but without someone to go over my work prior to posting you might end up noticing mistakes. If you notice any mistakes in this chapter or any others then let me know so I can fix them.

Chapter 5: Silver Meets the Ponies of Cirrus and Gives Lessons in Cooking

Silver Meets the Ponies of Cirrus and Gives Lessons in Cooking

It had been almost almost three months since the eventful dinner with Lightning Twist's family. Once again Silver Fall was tending her garden, Citrus Song and Bluebell Sonata were back home with Bluebell sending Silver Fall letters asking things about gardening and what Silver Fall different from the dragons she learned about in school. Silver Fall was more than happy to be correspond to the little filly. Bluebell sent a few letters asking for Silver to visit her in Canterlot, Silver Fall in turn told her why that was a bad idea and said how she was sorry that she would not be able to do as the filly asked.

Crimson Skies had warmed up to the dragoness and passed his blessing to her and Lightning, much to the surprise and confusion of his brothers and amusement of his sister. Lightning's visits were becoming more frequent, then one day invited her see the little town he called home. She would have to reveal herself to them, but only after they had grown to know her. One step at a time, these little steps would keep going for sometime, but it one day she might actually reveal herself to Princess Celestia (although she highly doubted it ever get that far, at most she would reveal herself to the communities she was coming to call home over the course of her life).

Silver Fall felt like they were rushing things a bit, but at the same time she knew they couldn't take this too slow. She laughed herself a bit because only a little over a year ago she wouldn't have thought of apprehension and nervousness as nothing more than something akin to a thought experiment. The same held true for love, happiness and comedy. Now she was readying herself to meet community that Light Twist and his friends called home, and she knew she would have reveal herself at some point later. The notion of hiding what she was because a new community might respond to her poorly was something she understood all to well, but at the same time she was getting tired of hiding what she really was and knew that by tying herself to mate (and pony at that) that she would be forced to move to wherever he was told to go for his duties.

Silver Fall hoped that the two of them could at least settle down once they were official mates, the thought of such a thing sent flutters of fear and excitement throughout her body. Another thought that sent mixed emotions through her was that of children it filled her with fear, excitement, joy and sorrow. She feared she might not be able to be the mother her children needed, she was excited at the prospect of being a mother, she felt the joy of fulfillment when thought of raising offspring of her own, and she felt sorrow at the thought that all of that might not come to pass or if her children were only born with a span of a few minutes or hours to live (or worse, what if her children came out stillborn?). She had expressed these concerns with Spotlight Flutter, and the mare just smiled and said that those worries meant she was going to be good mom, and she was proud of her choosing to think of such things before she was married or pregnant.

Silver Fall didn't want to admit it, but almost as soon as her emotions were freed from their prison she had been thinking what it would be like to have children of her own, and when she met Bluebell Sonata she had started feeling sad that she might never get to revel in experience of motherhood. She had considered her and Lightning Twist adopting, but the thought just didn't feel right to Silver Fall (mostly because she thought the foals deserved pony parents and not a dragon for a mother). Silver Fall's jumble of emotions when she thought about children that even several hours of deep meditation didn't help her for more than a few minutes at best.

She had caught herself talking to her beans in the garden like she was addressing the grave of her father on more than one occasion, which caused her to worry about the quality of the plants. So far nopony, especially Lightning Twist, had caught her any of her worried conversations. She caught herself asking her pearl for guidance on number of occasions as well. Her worries were giving her difficult nights the closer it came for her first visit to Cirrus.

Silver Fall kept asking herself why was feeling so nervous about visiting a community she might end up calling home, and all the answers came back mixed and confusing. She hadn't felt this nervous about the family meal with Lightning's immediate family (or meeting any of his immediate family for the first time). She was sure that as bad as her nervousness was at it would somehow come out worse when her wedding was more real possibility. Most dragons she was aware of would have laughed at the idea of a dragon and pony deciding to be official life-mates, the rest would just call it poor humor and move on with their day.

*************************************

On the appointed day Lightning Twist came to guide her to Cirrus, what he arrived to was his now fiancé a borderline manic wreck. Silver Fall was pacing back and forth in front of here saddlebags shifting between dragon and pony forms muttering something in one of the dragon tongues she knew completely unaware her escort had arrived, what made it worse was her pony form was looking haphazard whenever she shifted to it (by that it is meant her mane was a mess along with being inconsistent color between shifts and the cutie mark selection she cycled through was a jumbled mess of clear confusion). Lightning Twist waited for him to notice her for a few minutes, she was usually good about noticing her guests, before announcing his presence.

After almost twenty minutes of watching the dragoness go through her nervous breakdown routine he said, “nervous about see the little patch of sky I call home, honey?”

She stopped her pacing and muttering and looked at him in her dragon form before saying in a matter-of-fact nervous voice, “that's only part of it, I've been losing sleep over the thought of what could happen if we decided to start having children, in particular if I tried my claw at being a biological mother. Moving into a new town doesn't bother me so much, hiding what I am again after all of this however does irritate me to some degree and that's mostly because I'm fairly certain I'll have to play that game again when you're told you've been reassigned.”

“We won't have to do so forever,” said Lightning Twist with a reassuring smile.

“You probably won't, but me and our potential hybrid offspring will,” said Silver Fall with a bit more displeasure than she intended, “dragons have long lifespans, and if a hybrid between our two species is possible again that's a trait they'll inherit from me. I'm a little over three centuries old, by dragon standards I've barely started my young adult phase. The only entity I can confirm is old enough to know the weight of centuries in their age is Princess Celestia, and for the time being I really want to avoid an encounter with her.”

“All fully understandable,” said Lightning Twist, “but if you have another one of your nervous breakdowns you'll expose yourself on your own without prompting or assistance.”

The dragoness just stared it the stallion for a good minute before saying, “understood, managing my emotions has been getting harder and harder for me in recent months.”

“Mom told me you've been visiting with her, care to tell me what your visits with her were about.”

“Questions about motherhood, nothing more,” said Silver Fall with a hint of embarrassment, “you going to show me this town you you call home, or what?”

“Oh, yes,” said Lightning Twist with a hint of embarrassment, “follow me,” with that the two took wing, with Silver Fall in her pony form again (this time keeping the cutie mark she had at the family dinner and giving herself a dark indigo mane).

Lightning Twist gave her a quizzical look that also asked if she would keep to a singular look, to which she said, “don't worry I'm sticking with this one, it feels right to me.” He just nodded and continued the guiding flight. After a twenty minute flight they arrived at a small community in the clouds, Cirrus had roughly half that of Ponyville when she arrived to the town. She noticed a few dozen pegasi going about their day when suddenly she slammed in the side by something, the unexpected moment shift caused to tip over to her right straight into Lightning Twist.

Both got up and shook themselves off, aftwards she looked her left to see a seafoam blue pegasus filly with no cutie mark and dark brown eyes. “Sorry,” said the filly in a high pitched almost squeaky voice.

“Perfectly alright,” said Silver Fall in warm compassion that sounded like somepony that had experience caring for foals, “I'm dating Lightning Twist here,” she gestured with her wing to the no longer prone Lightning Twist, “and this my first time seeing his home.”

The filly smiled and said, “I'm Cloud Dasher, I don't have cutie mark yet,” he voice got excited before she said, “but I can feel I'm really close to getting it.”

“Run along home,” said Silver Fall in her warm compassionate voice, “your mom probably has something she wants to tell you.” Cloud Dasher gave big grin and darted off.

“You seem to have a way with foals,” came a stormy sounding feminine voice, they both turned to see an approaching dark pink pegasus with neon orange eyes and a cutie mark of a pegasus in a spotlight holding a microphone, “Stage Judge, and you my dear,” she pointed a hoof and Silver Fall, “are just what we need to put this place on the map, your coat is perfect for the walk and your mane compliments your coat so well, your cutie mark is a little odd, but we don't have to worry about that. In fact we want even have to doctor your images, you have just the right figure for what we're after.”

Lightning Twist facehoofed and said, “Stage meet my fillyfriend, Silver Fall. Where's your coltfriend by the way?”

Stage Judge gasped and said, “I heard rumors from your friends that you had found an 'exotic' beauty, but I never thought she's be this marvelous to behold, Nimbus Build is busy on a project I asked him to deal with.”

“You two compliment each other well,” said Silver Fall, “he's practical and simple while you focus on the aesthetics, you're probably the one who told him to look for accessories that match up with his projects.”

“Why yes,” said Stage Judge with pride.

“Thought so,” said Silver Fall, “When he looked over my abode he found my only mirror and said matched up with the aesthetics of what the rest of group joked as 'Wonderbolt Manor', have anything to say about that?”

“If we can get just one of the Thunderbolts to like this place we can expand like never before,” said Stage Judge, “I'm show organizer and recruiter, but this is always where I called home. I could never feel comfortable in Cloudsdale or Canterlot for some reason, I guess I'm just a small town girl at heart. You've been living near the quaint little town near ours, it's pretty small as well. What exactly is it you do? What's your special talent? I've never seen a cutie mark like that before.

“I raise plants,” said Silver Fall, “and I guess you could say my special talent is understanding dragons, not a whole lot of demand for somepony with that kind of talent.”

“Nimbus also said you have an interesting secret, care to share?” inquired Stage Judge.

“All in good time my good mare,” said Silver Fall graciously, “I'm going to have to start getting settled in with my fiancé before I share a few things with you.”

“And I thought Night Racer liked to move fast,” said Stage Judge jokingly, “in all seriousness, when is the wedding?”

“A few months,” said Lightning Twist, “Silver will spend a few weeks getting used town before she shares that interesting secret you were told about with the whole town. She wants you to get to know her so that she reveals her secret you don't think badly of her.”

“Citrus Song and Bluebell Sonata know my little secret, and they've both agreed to keep it, Mustang had to pressure Citrus Song's husband into keeping it as well.”

“I'm told his reaction was priceless,” said Lightning Twist.

“Trust me when I say his reaction to me walking with his daughter on my back and giving a lecture on proper parenting, while said daughter was still on my back, was indeed amusing. I almost wish I had a painting of the event to frame just as a memento, Canterlot unicorns can be so strange sometimes.”

“Now I really want know,” said Stage Judge, “also you dropped a hint that it's something physical or visual about you.”

“And that's all you'll get for the next few weeks,” said Silver Fall teasingly, “Lightning I need to know which complex is yours so I can better move in.”

“Oh, right” said Lightning Twist with embarrassment, “this way,” and started off again.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Stage Judge,” said Silver Fall, “we'll catchup at a later date.”

“Sure thing,” said Stage Judge.

With that Silver quickly followed behind Lightning Twist. As he opened the front door to the modest two story cloud house he said, “I'm so glad you didn't have to pack anything for moving with me.”

“Almost nothing,” said Silver Fall, “I'll need to fly down and retrieve my mirror later, don't worry it has an enchantment on it that will make brining it up a non-issue. When I first acquired it I rested it on top of a fog bank, so you don't have to worry about falling from the clouds and doing something harmful.”

Lightning Twist gave her a smile and nod before heading to the kitchen and started making lunch, it wasn't anything fancy. A simple barley and tomato soup and dandelion sandwiches (Silver didn't mind it at all, she rather enjoyed it, even if the soup and sandwiches both tasted a little bland to her). After a few minutes of eating in silence Lightning Twist asked, “how are you enjoying the meal?”

“In all honesty,” said Silver Fall with a serious tone, “it's quite bland, good food starts with the chef and their ingridients. This soup tastes like you just tossed it together or heated up a premade mix. The sandwiches also taste like you bought them of a shelf after they were their for a few days.”

Lightning Twist gave her a guilty smile and said, “that's because the soup was premade and just heated up according to the instructions and I bought the sandwiches a couple of days ago. It's the the bachelor method, I've been using it for years. All the meals you prepared were amazing when we ate at your place.”

“That's because they were all homemade,” said Silver Fall with a tone that was more annoyed than she intended, “with fresh ingredients, you don't live as long on your own for as long as I have without picking up some basic skills that make living alone more bearable.”

“Oh,” said Lightning Twist.

“If you want our relationship to work good you are going to step it up a bit,” said Silver Fall, “your approach to lunch was lazy and lacked much thought. While that approach might be good enough for your friends visiting it is a disappointment to your loved ones. I know you can do better than this, I gave you lessons on how to cook for love the ancestors. Lightning if you ever pull a stunt like this I will personally trot up to your supervisor and tell them you have a week long punishment and then do everything in my power to keep you in this kitchen until you making meals from scratch has become so close to instinct that you find yourself making meals from scratch with little to no thought by the end of your week of punishment. Have I made my self clear?”

“As a bell,” said Lightning Twist.

“Not even married and already she's started running the house,” came an amused gruff male voice.

They both looked over to see dark brown pegasus with a sky blue mane and tail, Lightning Twist pulled a hoof across his face before saying, “Silver, I would like to introduce you the mayor of Cirrus, Dusty Sky. He makes it a point to meet each new resident of Cirrus, this stallion could keep anything in order no matter what.”

“Honestly I was expecting a three room apartment with a single bathroom and a small kitchen that only had a fridge sink,” said Silver Fall.

“Yeah, well,” said Lightning Twist, “I share this place with my close friends, and technically I'm the landlord. You can thank my family for that one.”

“Okay then,” said Silver Fall, “sorry about that, pleasure to meet you mayor.”

“Pleasure's all mine,” said Dusty Skies, “we don't get whole lot of beauties in these parts, pity you're taken.”

“Alright,” said Silver Fall taking on a serious tone, “no flirting with somepony else's filly or colt friend is now a rule I'm enforcing, so you are to leave this complex now mayor. If you do not comply I care not what legal actions justify your response to my actions, because I don't make threats and only promises. If you, or anypone else, do not comply with the rules I enforce there will be enough pain coursing through your body that the simple acts of sitting and standing will wrack you with so much pain that you will feel like you can't do without being on the verge of passing out for a whole week.”

“And she knows how do really put the fear of the almighty in you,” said Dusty Skies, “I'm leaving now, it was pleasure meeting you ma'am.” With that he stepped out of the door and rushed off.

Lightning Twist looked at Silver Fall for a few minutes before saying, “I think that's the first time somepony has made Dusty Skies really scared since he got his cutie mark, and that frightening assertiveness was actually pretty attractive. I'm scaring myself with thoughts like that.”

Silver Fall took a deep breath before saying, “I didn't mean to take it that far, something in me just felt a need to do that. Lightning, when will your friends be in? Is there enough room for me here?”

“Sure,” said Lightning Twist, “We have a few spare rooms that we were thinking of using for storage in the future.”

“I think we should go house hunting before the wedding, we're going to want some privacy and if any babies come along I don't want them getting into any of your friends' things.”

“Both excellent concerns,” said Lightning Twist, “mom already covered that for us,” he trotted upstairs and came down minute later before passing her sheet of paper with an address and series of twelve numbers next to twelve different abbreviations. At the bottom of the sheet was an address and key for translating the abbreviations in a font so small that Silver Fall was impressed that the whole note was hoof-written. The address on the note was 158 Rain Avenue.

“Let me guess,” Silver Fall with amusement, “she said it's an engagement gift from her.”

“Yup,” said Lightning Twist, “checked it out yesterday, the place has three stories a massive kitchen that needs stocking and accessioning.”

“Your parents really don't get subtle simplicity, it seems,” said Silver Fall.

“Not really, they understand subtly just fine,” said Lightning Twist, “but simplicity is almost a lost cause on them most of the time. Um, quick question. When you were pacing in that nervous wreck of yours you said something about dragons and and ponies producing hybrids again, how come?”

“When I was very young my parents would tell me about rumors of ponies that were part dragon being rumored to live over two-thouasand years ago. Dad said they were rumored to still be roaming his homeland in remote regions, and mom said they all died out centuries ago.”

“And you're worried that if you do become preganant with my foals that they'll be treated differently?”

“No, I'm afraid of them being feared, shunned or both,” said Silver Fall leaving the remains of her low quality meal at the table she and Lightning Twist were sitting at, “I just don't want to be a good mother, I want the children I birth to be accepted by the communities they come to call home or visit. I was never accepted by for who I was, mom's clan didn't care much for anything that had to do with me. I'm an exile Lightning, do you know how often dragons exile one of their clan or community?” The stallion just stared at her and shook is head, “one in every sixty-thousand, dragon populations never seem to exceed a few hundred at most in any given area. I'm probably the first the dragon to be exiled in Equestria in three-thousand years ago. I was barred from taking part in the Great Dragon Migration by my mother's clan, even if I wasn't I would not ever want to take part in it of my own volition because of all the terrible memories that I have attached to the event.” At this point she was collapsed next stairs with a dejected look that showed she was holding back tears of sadness.

“You want the children you birth to have what you were denied,” said Lightning Twist as he wrapped her a comforting embrace with his hooves and wings, “that's one of the greatest thing any parent could wish for their child, you'll be a truly amazing mother when the time comes, I just know it.”

“We'll have to hide them from everypony,” said Silver Fall with sorrow rich in her voice, “they might get used to seeing a dragon walk around town like it was always normal, but seeing foals that clearly show they are part dragon might be too much for everypony here, or anywhere in Equestria. I never had any friends growing up, I want them to at least have one individual they can call a true friend.”

“We'll think of something,” said Lightning Twist, “and when we do I'm sure will be incredible.”

Silver Fall smiled and just gave him a nuzzle that said she was thankful for the stallion. They were just there for almost an hour, then he said he had to go and take care of his duties, she nodded with understanding and watched him pass through the door. Silver Fall went to see which rooms were free, she found that all the rooms were spacious. She found the third room on the left, which was next to the restroom, had no occupants. The first door on the right once you climbed the stairs seemed be filled with sports equipment and at least 3 different Wonderbolts poster plastered in the room, she gussed that was Night Racer's room; the room across had a family portrait of Lightning Twists across from the door, along with an array of other things that were obviously Lightning Twist's things; the room across from Silver's was wide open and filled with images and schematics of various buildings and building designs, obviously Nimbus Build's room; the last on room, which was the second on the right from the stairs, was Storm Runner's by default since it clearly looked lived in, to put it mildly the room looked like somepony thought practicing whirlwinds regularly indoors was a good idea.

After checking for a spare set of sheets, the were all clearly being washed, Silver Fall decided to get started on dinner. After checking their fridge, which had far more fast food items and far less cooking ingredients that she wanted to see, she got started on a simple stew.

*******************************************

When everypony got back to the house, almost five hours after Lightning Twist had left, the delightful aroma of her simple meal assaulted their nostrils and prompted them all to notice the still warm stew sitting on oven pads with clean bowls and spoons at five places around the table. Silver Fall however was clearly absent from view.

Before heading the table Nimbus Build pointed to a note on the fridge. Bringing everypony's attention to the note all four of them came up on the fridge. When they got close enough the note read, “you four have some of the unhealthiest habits I have ever seen, and considering how long I've been around that is saying something, so here's the deal I challenge you all to avoid fast food for the next month starting the moment you wake up tomorrow. Enjoy the stew, it was made from what few ingredients I managed to scrounge from the fridge, because if you want a home cooked meal after today you'll have to buy the ingridients and convince me to make something if you are unable to cook. Lightning Twist I know for a fact you can cook because I PERSONALLY gave you lessons on the subject, which means I am not cooking for you after this point until you prove you can handle yourself in the kitchen before I start doing something like that again. One More thing, I cleaned all of your rooms and put 'Dining Journals' on everypony's bed, you will be showing them to me everyday (and don't bother cheating I had a unicorn friend enchant them with a truth telling spell, have fun trying to find a way around it because they're all keyed to each of you personally and if anypony else tries to write in them then nothing gets written). I will be joining you later, I'm personalizing my room.”

“Lightning, did your fillyfriend just force us into changing our dining habits?” inquired Storm Runner, “wait, she clean our rooms! No, I had everything exactly where I wanted it. She cleaned our rooms, she's a neat freak!”

“She's over three centuries old,” deadpanned Lightning Twist, “she was bound to pick up some neat freak tendencies.”

“I'm liking this,” said Night Racer, “she's challenging to change our dietary practices, and it's only for a month. In other words we only have to keep it up for...”

“Thirty days,” finished Nimbus Build, “after that we can go back to our usual routine, and the diet journals are just so she can keep tabs on our progress. She won't do much more than chastise us for our dietary choices after a week and give up on the whole project.”

“You're forgetting she's got a tanacity and stubborness that my dad likes,” said Lightning Twist, “and she knows how to stick to plan for the long haul. She's been raising her garden for centuries.”

“Oh right, forgot about that part,” said Nimbus Build, “well it's still a month, what could a month without quick and cheap food really do to us?”

“Quite a lot,” said Night Racer, “we're going to have to focus on restaurants that have a reputation for quick service and healthy choices, and who knows what she's stashed in our fridge while we were gone?”

“I have a few ideas,” said Lightning Twist, “but right now I don't really care about that sort of thing since some of the best food I've ever experienced is taunting me on the table, sorry everypony but I just have to have a few bowls.” With that he dashed over to the table, sat down, poured some stew into his bowl and started downing the soup with sounds of satisfaction.

The others stared at him for few minutes before joining him at the table and filling their bowls. Nimbus Build's eyes went wide with her first bite and started moving so as to savor her meal, Night Racer was doing the reverse and rushing as much of the delicious stew into her muzzle as possible, Storm Runner was alternating between shoveling the food into his muzzle and slowly savoring it at almost every third to fifth spoonful.

Silver Fall came down looking like she had just stepped out of the shower and said with a smile, “I see everypony is enjoying the stew.”

“This is practically gourmet,” said Nimbus Build stopping short of another spoonful, “are you sure this was made what you found in our fridge?”

“A true cook or chef knows how to make the best of everything at their disposal, no matter what it may be,” said Silver Fall matter-of-factually before heading to the empty seat and filling her bowl. After that the glow of enjoyed silence followed.

Once the pot was a little over half emptied Night Racer said, “I hope we don't disappoint with the challenge you issued. By the way, what did you do to the fridge?”

Silver Fall smiled and said, “I cleaned it out, everything having to do with fast food is gone, nothing save healthy ingridients are in the fridge. Lightning, how about you try making some lemonade tomorrow, I know you can do it since it was one of the first things I showed you how to make.”

The other three looked at Lightning Twist with an accusing eye before Storm Runner said, “dude, she gave you lessons in how to cook and make drinks and you still rush for greasy hayburger when we're all at home and somepony says they're hungry, not cool.”

“I agree,” said Night Racer, “part of the contract your parents had us sign says that anypony that has cooking knowledge must apply in this house, you've been ignoring something we were forced into.”

“I have a few days off starting tomorrow,” said Nimbus Build, “my boss says it has something about making a good impression for one of his good friends. Silver, mind giving me some lessons in cooking? I know I'll put them to better use than that big doofus,” she pointed an accusing hoof at Lightning Twist at the last part.

“He maybe a doof, but he's my doof,” said Silver Fall with a teasing tone, which also caused Lightning Twist to blush violently.

“Awww,” came came from both Nimbus Build and Night Racer when they noticed, Storm Runner just facehoofed.

“You're not getting out of lessons in the culinary arts, any of you,” said Silver Fall as she gave a panning gaze at everypony at the table, “especially you, Storm Runner, mares find a stallion with the ability to cook far more attractive. Last I checked you were dating Stage Judge.”

“No we're not,” said Storm Runner, “we're just good friends... that like to hang out a lot, there's nothing more to it.”

“Quit fooling yourself,” said Night Racer, “the whole town already knows you two have been trying, quite amusingly bad, to discreetly date. Lightning only got away with his secret dates because Silver lived near a different town and a weather pony spending a little extra time in town that he's responsible for isn't all that suspicious. You two on the other hoof have been living in the same town for months, it's not that hard to notice your behaviors around each other.”

“Besides,” said Nimbus Build, “she loves living in metropolitan areas like Cloudsdale, Manehattan and Canterlot, the only reason she chose to live here is because you're too nice to ask your superiors for a location change that she's living here.”

“Too her credit, she's a good actress when it comes to hiding that,” said Silver Fall, “I didn't realize she had a hurt undertone when she said she preferred small communities like this until about an hour ago.”

“You see you doof,” said Lightning Twist, “she's willing sacrifice her personal comfort for you, time to stallion-up and do something for her benefit. I'm giving you a month to do just that before I personally use the full weight of my connections to do it for you.”

“Lightning's told me he's accumlated a lot of favors,” said Silver Fall, “and for something like this you can bet he'll be calling in more than a small hoofful, although that's all it might really take. Something like this is easy, you just have to know who to send word to.”

Storm Runner's eyes bugged out before he said, “oh no, you are not doing anything like that!???!!!?”

“Oh, yes we are,” said Lightning Twist, “mom and dad would both be ecstactic in helping with somehting so simple.”

“Not to mention some the ponies I've come to know over the years might be more than capable, if not them then their children,” said Silver Fall, “I have a few centuries under me, and you dare think I don't know how to use the connections I've managed to acquire over my time.”

“Most of your connections are in Mustang,” retorted Storm Runner.

“I'm also connected with at least a twentieth of Royal Guard in Canterlot, am on good terms with at least a quarter of the Weather Management and Control Center in Cloudsdale and personally know some of each and have been meeting them for monthly poker games for the past year,” said Silver Fall, “do you really want to have a go at this.”

“And they're all in the know about you?” inquired Lightning Twist.

“After you had me out myself to Mustang,” said Silver Fall, “yes, and they've all agreed to keep this secret, even from Princess Celestia until I'm ready to reveal myself to the rest of Equestria.”

Everypony at the table audibly gulped before Night Racer said, “you know how to throw weight around casually without being condescending, it's kind of frightening how you can do it so cassually.

“Yes, but I'd never call on those connection to do something for me personally,” said Silver Fall.

“That's what makes it all the more terrifying,” said Nimbus Build, “you know enough ponies to dramatically influence Equestria more than any noble, but not quite as much as Princess Celestia. You're somehow above every noble without being well-known, frankly its beyond terrifying. And once Lightning Twist marries you he'll be almost as influential.”

“Yes, but neither of us really likes turning to our connections. Although, I will playing my monthly poker game next week.”

“Let me guess,” said Lightning Twist, “it's happening in Mustang?”

“Naturally,” said Silver Fall, “that might change some day, but for now it's only going happen in Mustang.”

“She's bluffing right?” inquired Storm Runner.

“Do you really want to find out?” retorted Night Racer. They both took a look at Silver Fall and the stallion shook his head.

*************************************

It was the afternoon of Silver Fall's second day in Cirrus, the kitchen looked like warzone had passed through and a pony shaped figure was next to the pegasus disguised dragon dripping a gooey, yet watery, batter. The dragon herself had some batter sticking to her coat at the chest and just below her eyes. A dough caked hoof wiped the batter off the muzzle and face of the pony next her to reveal Nimbus Build was the pony covered in batter. Silver Fall sighed and said, “Nimbus you're trying to make pancakes not bake an actual cake. I told at least thirty times, that's why we didn't preheat the oven and you got out the frying pan. You weren't supposed mix any of of it that fast, you're making batter not racing a beetle around the bowl. When I say mix hard it means put some power into it without spilling any of the bowls contents.”

“Oh, sorry,” said Nimbus Build, “when somepony says hard to me that means put all your power into it.”

Silver gave another sigh before saying, “alright we'll try making something much simpler to make next, after you clean this floor up. I'm going to wash up, I expect the floor to be clean when I get back. After I've verified you've properly cleaned the floor I'll allow you to clean yourself up then we'll try at a different food item that is simpler to make. I thought pancakes would be good start because they're not all that hard to mess up. With that Silver Fall left to go get cleaned off.

Silver came down, still in pegasus form, to see the lower floor was so clean it was sparkling in the light. Nimbus Build was slumped over the kitchen counter with a look of exhaustion. A bucket of cleaning water that looked like something out of a horror movie next her, a broom and dustpan on the floor next to bucket, nine very soiled looking wash clothes hung from the buckets side with a seventh partially grimed wash cloth in Nimbus Build's hoof as she looked like she slept on the counter. “Bathroom's all yours,” said Silver Fall after she came right up to the mare.

Nimbus Build snapped her eyes open and said in a rushed voice, “oh sweet Celestia, thank you,” before rushing up the stairs, leaving bits of her dried batter second outer coat behind her. Silver Fall just shook her head and got the broom and dustpan then began sweeping up dried batter that Nimbus Build had left behind. After sweeping up all the dry batter she opened the lid of garbage can and dropped the dried batter crumbs into it. A half hour later Nimbus Build back down with clean body, coat and mane.

“So, what are going to attempt now?”

“Sandwiches,” said Silver Fall, “go into the cupboard and get some slices of bread,” Nimbus did so with a smile, “now get mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato,” Nimbus Build did as instructed, “good, now get a spreading knife or butter knife and spread a light to generous layer onto each slice of bread,” Nimbus Build took a massive glob out of the jar of mayonnaise with butter knife prompting Silver Fall to say, “not that much, scrape it of on the inner lip of jar,” Nimbus Build did as instructed, “good, that should be about enough for both slices. Now lightly spread the mayonnaise on the bread slices,” once again Nimbus did as instructed, “now set the knife and mayonnaise aside for now. Next I want you to tear leaf of the lettuce,” Nimbus did so, “now cut a thin slice off the tomato and place it on top of the lettuce leaf you but on the slice of bread,” Nimbus Build cut off a rounded exterior of the tomato that was to Silver's satisfaction, but then she when cut a thick wedge of tomato to which Silver's articulating draconic tail snatched the knife from the mare, “we do not cut massive wedges into our foods,” said Silver Fall as she pulled the knife from the mare, “your first slice is the size you need for the sandwich.”

“But,” said Nimbus Build, “it won't be evenly flat.

“Getting the practice down right comes before setting aesthetics of your food,” said Silver Fall, “no matter what you always try the first one, now but the slice on the lettuce and put the other slice on top of it.”

“Okay,” said Nimbus Build with a slight grumble, “but I'm not going to like it.”

“We'll see,” said Silver Fall, “now test your first sandwich.”

Nimbus Build took a big bite into the sandwich and said, “this is really good, I honestly didn't think it would be this good.”

“You were right to worry about the aesthetics of the food,” said Silver Fall, “if it doesn't look all that appetizing then ponies will just pass it up, but what keep them eating is the taste and texture of the food. You have to make sure that food tastes good feels pleasant to the mouth, but if it looks like nopony would touch it then the whole project is wasted. Remember with food simplicity is best, but sometimes you need to get a little creative with the presentation. However you must never turn a meal into an 'art project' for the sake of catching someponies eye. If I'm still around during Hearth's Warming Eve I'll show everypony how to make gingerbread ponies and gingerbread houses.”

Nimbus Build perked up, “gingerbread houses? Can you make other structures out of gingerbread?”

“Possibly,” said Nimbus Build, “but you should get the basic house format down before you try making a gingerbread version of your latest project at the company Hearth's Warming party.”

“Makes sense,” said Nimbus Build, “will you show me how to make gingerbread?”

“All in good time my dear,” said Silver Fall setting the knife she had pilfered from Nimbus's hoof in the to be cleaned wrack and changed her tail back to a pony tail.

“It is so cool how you can do that,” said Nimbus Build, “when you let Princess Celestia know about you she'll probably offer you any job you want.”

“Doubtful,” said Silver Fall, “but it's a nice sentiment. Now that I've given you a run through the basics try making a sandwich on your own, you can use anything for sandwich filling, I just chose those ingredients because they would be easy for me to regulate.”

“What's the easiest kind you've worked with?” inquired Nimbus Build.

“Peanut butter and jam, peanut butter and honey, and straight one kind of spread like honey, peanut butter or honey.”

“Peanut butter and jam sounds great,” said Nimbus Build.

“Then check the fridge for a jar of jam,” said Silver Fall.

Nimbus Build nodded and opened the fridge and looked around it and said, “we don't have any jam!”

“Preserves work too,” said Silver Fall.

“We don't have any of those either,” stated Nimbus Build.

“Then I suggest you choose a different kind of sandwich or go and purchase some preserves or jam,” said Silver Fall in a gentle voice.

“I'll be right back,” said Nimbus Build grabbing her saddlebags and tossing a bag of bits into the bag on her left, “I'll be back in a few hours.” Soon as she was out the door and it slammed shut Silver Fall rolled her eyes and started putting the ingredients away. She then went up to her room pulled out one of her bags of tea with small metal pot and deep ceramic tea cup before heading back down. Silver poured some water into the pot and set it on the stove and lit it and waited, four minutes before the pot would have whistled she turned off the stove and moved the kettle over and watited three minutes before pouring some of the water into the ceramic teacup and getting a small spoon from the drawer, she then dropped a small hofful into the ceramic teacup of hot water and spent ten minutes gently stirring the brew.

Just as her brew started to noticeably darken the teacup with green she brought it to her lips and said, “foals, I never get tired seeing them do that,” before taking a contented sip of her tea.

*********************************

When the Lightning Twist, Storm Runner and Night Racer came home they saw Nimbus Build setting a pot of soup onto the table with a look of accomplishment. Silver Fall brought over a pitcher of something blue with 5 cups. The three arrivals eyed what was put on the table with surprise.

“Um, Nimbus Build,” said Night Racer, “did you really make that?”

“And the pie in the oven,” said Nimbus Build, “it'll be ready in fifteen minutes, I even set up 5 different timers to remind me.”

“She's a faster learner than I thought, worse than I hoped,” said Silver Fall, “the pancake mishap that lasted longer than it should have, and the brownie kerfluffle are thankfully behind us.”

“Pancake mishap,” said Storm Walker with surprise.

“Brownie kerfluffle,” said a surprised Night Racer at the same time as same time as Storm Walker said 'pancake mishap' with Lightning Twist just staring at Silver Fall and Nimbus Build like he missed something they said.

“Alright,” said Lightning Twist, “let's eat before the soup gets cold. Maybe you can tell us about the kitchen problems.”

“Actually we made a deal keep the details of all kitchen incidents to ourselves,” said Silver Fall and Nimbus Build simultaneously, “sorry colts and filly, but you're not going to get those details for a long while.”

“Am I the only one that finds it creepy that my sister and Silver are so in sync?” inquired Night Racer.

“Nope,” said both stallions in unison, then both looked at each other like a hiccup in reality had just happened.

“What just happened?” asked Lightning Twist as everypony sat down at the table.

“Your surprise temporarily temporarily synchronized the two of you, if I had to guess,” said Silver Fall with an analytical tone.

“Now you're starting to like my sister,” said Lightning Twist. Everypony laughed as Silver Fall poured the blue liquid into cups and passed them around the table.

“What is this?” inquired Night Racer while taking the cup.

“Blueberry juice,” said Nimbus Build with pride, “home squeezed and mixed, it's full of healthy stuff like something to help clean your circulatory system. Silver told me after I made lunch and we went shopping for the afternoon.”

*************************************

It was twenty minutes after they had finished dinner, Storm Runner was downing his third piece of Apple-Strawberry pie. As he did he said, “I know I've said this a few times before, but this pie is more delicious than I thought it would be when I realized that it was Nimbus who made the pie.”

“Like I said before,” responded, “I am too, I just followed Silver's instructions. You know lot recipes, must be nice.”

“It would be more pleasurable if I had more opportunities to share them,” said Silver Fall with a sad smile.

Lightning Twist brought a placed a comforting hoof on hers as he said, “I have a feeling that those opportunities and more will come in the future.”

Silver Fall just gave the stallion a warm smile before she brought him into a hug.

“I have time off next,” said Night Racer, “a few days next week.”

“Nice to hear,” said Silver Fall, “I hope your as fast a learner as your sister.”

*************************************************

It was Silver's second week in Cirrus, and the first day of Night Racer's time off. The two were in the kitchen, which remarkably was the only part of the downstairs that didn't look like somepony tried to turn that area of into a Jackson Foallack work with tomato paste, uncooked dough, and a variety of sliced vegetables. It was a few minutes to noon and Silver Fall (once again in her pegasus form) was looking the tomato and dough covered Night Racer with ire that was all to visible to the pegasus mare in her eyes (which was rather impressive since the top half of her head was had large slab of uncooked dough over it with cucumber slices that had landed perfectly as replacements for her eyes).

Keeping her voice level, but still providing an irked tone, Silver Fall said, “explain to me again what part of mix and fold the dough slowly for ten minutes says you are required to try and do all of it quickly in two?”

“Um... excitement,” said Night Racer with a sheepish grin.

“I was telling you how to make a pizza, not how to redecorate the level we're on as a modern art piece. Alright listen up, you need to follow my instructions exactly for the second attempt, that's after you've cleaned up this floor and washed up. I'm going to take a shower, this floor better be clean when I get back.” With that Silver Fall was back up in the shower.

When she came back down it looked like the cleaning had been rushed, and it more than showed. Night Racer was back in the kitchen waiting for her next instructions.

“Clean it all again,” said Silver Fall, “and this time do it slowly so you don't leave a mess. Since you couldn't follow simple instructions I'll be watching you from an advantageous point. Your sister only messed up the kitchen and she made the whole floor spotless by the time I was back down here, you left a mess because you decided that speed was more important than quality of the work. Cooking is an art that requires more patience than most, you clearly are lacking that particular virtue.”

Night Racer gave an audible gulp and got the cleaning supplies back out. The first thing she did was move for the mop after filling bucket with hot soapy water, Silver Fall stopped her quickly by moving her foreleg to block the reach, she shook her head and pointed to the broom and dustpan then some of the dry substances on the floor. Night Racer nodded and moved to get the broom while Silver Fall moved up the stairs a few steps before facing the disaster area.

Night Racer had been sweeping for two minutes before she said, “please don't be too hard on me, I've never really cleaned up before.”

“I noticed,” said Silver Fall, “your room looked like you had been practicing various wind related weather maneuvers in it to the point that you had a few twisters in there.”

“Okay, that's worse than I thought,” said Night Racer as she continued to clean, surprisingly faster. This told Silver Fall that Night Racer did better when she was multitasking, so she just kept up the idle chitchat and made motions as cues for Night Racer when she was supposed to use different cleaning utensils. Ten minutes the entire floor was clean.

“See what happens you you do things the proper way,” said Silver Fall as more of a statement than a question, “now go clean yourself up, and when you're done cleaning up come back down here so we can try again. I sincerely hope that the next go around is better.”

*********************************************

After a hour long shower, which Silver Fall swore should have only been ten minutes at most, Night Racer was back downstairs in a clean coat and mane. Silver Fall gave the mare an irked look that stopped her in her tracks and she turn gave the dragon turned pony a self-assured grin.

Silver Fall snorted and said, “at most most your shower should have taken 10 minutes! Tell me, what did you do for the other fifty minutes?”

“Comb my coat and mane, well most of that was looking for the brush.”

Silver Fall gave deep sigh and said in a commanding voice, “the pizza can wait, you're cleaning your room and nopony is easy eating until your room is clean enough for you to find your uniform and brushes.” Night Racer audibly gulped, “your sister's choice of profession made learning to cook an easy matter, but you with your fast pace mindset are not well suited to the craft. After this first insisted recipe I will will be only teaching you simple recipes that can be done in very short order. Pizza takes patience and commitment,” Silver Fall gave an uneasy pause before continuing with, “you are proving you have very little of one and next none of the other.”

“Oh, my personality really isn't suited for cooking,” said Night Racer with realization.

“That's correct,” said Silver Fall, “in all the time I've looked after foals or helped young ponies in discover about themselves it is you whom is proving one of my most trying.”

“Who was the most trying?” inquired Night Racer, “if I might ask?”

Silver Fall smiled and said, “Apple Chiller, she was stubborn filly, and more so as a mare. I was told it's trait that has carried through most of the Apple clan. When she got out of being bullheaded for the sake of giving a hard time she finally noticed she liked what I had been doing my best to teach her. You however are different. You're willing come and learn, but you only listen to half of each individual instruction and decide that's good enough. You'll never reach your dreams or goals with an attitude like that, you need to learn to listen more effectively. You're sister can help with that, in fact you can help cover each other's shortcomings.”

****************************************

When everypony returned home there were three plates loaded with warm sandwiches. No plates were on the table and a pitcher of cucumber water with 5 glasses was next Night Runner and Silver Fall as the dragoness (who was now her her natural look, but still pony size) were playing a one-sided game of checkers (Silver was clearly winning with most of her pieces on the board and Night Runner only have six pieces on board). The three ponies stared the odd sight for a few minutes.

“I take it the lessons didn't go well,” said Lightning Twist as he sat down and grabbed a sandwich from the plate closest to the 2. Upon inspection it was a fried peanut butter and apple preserve sandwich.

“Well yes,” said Silver Fall using her right talons to move piece to jump over and capture another one of Night Racer's pieces. Night Racer gave frustrated sound and poured herself some cucumber water and grabbed sandwich from a plate without looking, one bit proved it to be a warm banana and bean paste sandwich (not something she liked, but she was willing to tolerate).

“Well this is amusing said Storm Walker, especially since I don't get any time off until the holidays.”

“Oh, don't worry, I have a way around that,” said Silver Fall with a smile as she poured herself some cucumber water. The stallion's face fell, “besides it's Lightning's turn to make dinner tomorrow,” Lightning Twist gave a panicked look.

Chapter 6: Silver Has a Friendly Game of Cards, Life in Cirrus and a Wedding

Silver and some Friendly Games of Cards, Life in Cirrus and a Wedding

It was Silver's fourth month living in Cirrus, everypony had gotten used her nuances. Her monthly trips to Mustang for a game of cards wasn't seen as that unusual, especially since she left for her cave every three to four days to tend her garden. As always every couple of months she would set up a stand in Mustang's market and sell her soy beans (the only different being that when there were no visitors to Mustang, which was often, she was in her natural dragon form.

Silver Fall was digging through her collection before she found her deck of ancient cards; she had no idea how old they are, only that they had series of old standing enchantments that that protected them from the ravages of time. Instead of the standard suites of Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds and Spades that populated Equestria's game halls and tables these cards were in the old suites of Wands/Staffs, Chalices/Cups, Coins/Pentacles and Swords/Blades. Silver Fall actually preferred the older suites to the more modern ones. Not only did it make it easy for her to identify her deck (with its special enchanted wooden case that smelled of apple wood and felt like the wood of an ash tree), but since her emotions had melted free it made her feel like she was actually playing a mystical game of fate with her card game buddies. Speaking of which, she had to get going to the game hall.

Silver stepped into the old saloon turned rustic bar by Apple Chiller and his wife Cider Press, she was in her natural form because all the town regulars were used to see her that way and it was fun hearing the excuses everypony gave the newcomers to town. In the far right corner furthest from the door, like always, were her card buddies who happened to be three two pegasi stallions, a unicorn mare and an earth pony mare. She smiled and sauntered up to the table with her deck securely in its wooden case swaying in her articulate tail.

“Gale Stream, Guard Wind, Night Spell, Cider Press it's good to see you again, she warmly greeted each of the ponies, “I hope there weren't any complications in getting here for the game.”

“Of course not,” said Night Spell, a midnight green unicorn mare with a bright yellow mane and ocean blue eyes, “I'm off the roster for the whole month, something about policy changes.”

“Nice to here,” said one pegasi, a neon blue pegsus with forest brown mane and ocean blue eyes.

“Gale,” said Silver Fall, “nice to see work let you make it this month, I hope Slip Wind wasn't to upset.”

“Not really,” said Gale Stream, “he got a promotion at the Weather Control center last week, gonna be held up with his new duties for at least three months.”

“Pity,” said a dark brown mare with a bright red mane, bright green eyes and cutie mark that showed barrel with an apple being pressed by to big round stones with the upper connected to a corkscrew like pole, “he's missing out on using the best cards for game in all Equestria.”

“What makes you say that Cider?” inquired Silver Fall.

“Because when we play rounds with those cards I always win the last two, and those are usually the big pots,” said Cider Press.

The other pegasus, a white coated stallion with a dark orange mane with streaks of sky blue that looked like blowing wind and lavender eyes, said, “it's your establishment, the place is your lucky charm.”

“I know Guard,” said Cider Press, “but tha' don't mean the cards ern't lucky neither.”

“If anything,” said Guard Wind, “they're Silver's Lucky charm, she always seems to keep a sizable number of bit regardless of the game or winner.”

“What are playing today?” inquired Night Spell.

“I was thinking an old game called Capture the Crown, for starters,” said Silver Fall, “then a few hours of poker.”

“How do you play Capture the Crown?” inquired Night Spell, “I'm an off duty royal guard, but anything that sounds like a threat to crown of Equestria requires me to delve further.”

“Same here,” said Guard Wind.

“It's rather simple, we're all dealt cards, then we have to bluff each other into surrendering cards or force a discard, first one to get all the court cards is the victor and you get bonus points for them all being on suite.”

“And since we're using an older deck that means we need to get the Knight and the Princess in addition to the Prince, King and Queen,” said Cider Press with a smile.

“Actually,” said Silver Fall, “if you have a Knight you can have to play him within 4 turns with 3 cards from your hoof face down, if your chosen opponent has a Knight they respond in kind. Once the Knights and their troops have been set up you turn over the face down cards, the one who wins two or more of the skirmishes with their higher ranking cards takes the cards that were played against them and the knight returns your hand, you can't have another knight or any of the court cards as a skirmish card. You keep count with the cards you capture from your opponents, you can't play them and just keep them at your end of the table face down. If your opponent doesn't have knight to respond then you get to take three cards from their hoof and place them in the tally zone. Once you've captured the Princess, Prince, Queen and King you flip them over and that determines the winner. When I say bluff I mean you have to make your opponent think that each new draw potentially was a Knight, you can also issue skirmishes without a Knight, but when you do you lay the five cards on table face down. We each start with an eight card hand and draw from the central deck. We can play for fun, or do regular betting.”

“Let's do some good old fashion betting,” said Cider Press, “let's see who's best this, I always like it when somepony brings up an obscure game.”

“Remember, we change the name of the game if we want to play it in the guard barracks,” said Guard Wind.

“Agreed,” said Night Spell, “besides this game only works with decks that have Knights, Princes and Princesses. I don't think we have to worry about this becoming something of a regular card at the guard barracks.”

“Even so,” said Guard Wind, “the head of the guard will have our flanks for over a month if they hear so much as a rumor about the game we're about to play.”

“If you two are quite done worrying about what your superiors might hear about what we do in our downtime, I'd like to get to actually playing the game,” said Gale Stream, “If my superiors caught wind of a rumor or two of this game they'd threaten to fire me if I didn't teach it to them, then they'd laugh their flanks off playing the thing.”

***************************

Half an hour later Silver Fall was looking at a Prince and Princess, on suite, along with an eight, nine and three off suite; Gale Stream and Guard Wind were dueling with a Knight of Chalices and Knight of Coins, they decided to add a new rule they called “Wager” where they added extra cards from their to their skirmish group and bet the on the turn of single card of their opponents choosing to turn over to claim victory. Night Spell was writing down the rules, original and added, in her personal logbook, nopony other than her was going to read it anyway (at least that's what she believed at the time, and found no evidence that the contrary was true). Silver Fall just shook her head, it was amazing how competitive those two could be at times.

Ten minutes after the duel Cider Press had claimed most of the deck, followed by Silver Fall, then Night Spell with Gale Stream and Guard Wind tied for fewest cards claimed. “How is that she always wins the final rounds of the games we play?” inquired Guard Wind as he eyed Cider's pile collection of bits that had tripled its size while his and Gale Wind had diminished to a little under half the bits they had brought.

“A mystery for the ages,” said Silver Fall as she shuffled the cards, “okay the next game we'll be playing is 7 card stud poker, Ace's wild.”

“Haven't done a 'wild card' game in ages,” said Night Spell with a smile, “let's do this. So what's new with you anyway Silver? Ponies are saying you moved out to somewhere else.”

“Well I am getting ready to get married,” said Silver Fall with a smirk.

The stallions all dropped their cards on the floor while the mares gave just big smirks.

“Lightning Twist, right?” said Cider Press in more of a statement than a question.

“I've never spent time with anypony else,” said Silver Fall with a chuckle while watching the stallions trying to get their cards off the floor and back to their hooves.

“So, when's the wedding? Where?” said Night Spell with an excited voice.

“Four months,” said Silver Fall, “and in Mustang, after all I'm planning for Night Spell to be my Mare of Honor. It might be a little hard for Night to properly perform her duties if she has trouble getting to the wedding site.”

“I humbly accept, this going to be incredible,” said Night Spell, “I've always wanted to play a part in somepony's wedding. I was almost my aunt's flower filly, but the week of the wedding I had a bad rash of food poisoning, as did the bearer and half the groom's family, we didn't start feeling good enough for activities until three days after the wedding.”

“Yeesh,” said Guard Wind, “I missed my elder cousin's wedding because it was three days after I started guard training.”

“I didn't have any siblings, and my parents tried to keep the rest of the family secret from me,” said Gale Stream, “I've got a little cousin named Rainbow Dash, and she's obsessed with going faster than anypony else, keeps saying she'll join the Wonderbolts when she's older.”

“Yeah, well your other cousins are my housemates,” said Silver Fall, “and one of them has a similar personality. It's so bad her lessons almost fell through.”

“What kind of lessons,” inquired Cider Press.

“Cooking,” said Silver Fall flatly.

The stallions looked at each other and Night Spell asked, “how bad was it?”

“She somehow managed to turn everywhere downstairs other than the kitchen into a Jackson Foallack piece when I tried teaching her how to make pizza, at her request I might add,” Silver Fall gave a sigh before saying, “she almost bungled the sandwich lessons.”

“Yikes,” said Guard Wind, “what about her sister?”

“Took to the lessons quickly, after two little disasters that ended with batter splattering over her face.”

“Is tha' ull,” came a rustic sounding country accent, “nice ta hear yer trying expand the experience of everypony yer livin' wid.”

They all turned to see Apple Chiller with a tray of drinks, his famed chilled apple drinks in particular. Let meh see if Ah got all yer preferences roight,” he continued and began passing drinks around the table, grabbing an amber glass with a hint of purple he said, “ah hard Apple-Grape chiller fer Gale Stream,” then reaching for a light amber glass with a hint of blue, “ah hard Apple-Blueberry chiller fer Guard Wind,” then he reached for a dark amber glass with a hint of dark blue, “ah virgin Apple-Huckleberry chiller fer Silver Fall, congrats on finally decdin's to get yerself hitched, yah couln' ah chosen ah better stallion,” after passing Silver her drink he reached over to a light amber glass with a streak of black near the center, “ah virgin Apple-Night Berry chiller,” then finally reaching for a standard amber looking glass with three sprigs of mint floating on top in formation that looked like an apple (somehow), “ahnd ah virgin Apple-Mint Chiller fer mah darlin' apple blossom, we have ta be careful nah that we got ah foal on tha way.”

“How far along is it?” inquired Night Spell.

“About a month now,” said Cider Press, “good thing our local doctor pony is a unicorn, she even told us the gender of the foal, looks like we're gonna have a littlle...”

“Save it fer tha birthing, sweet-apple,” Apple Chiller, “Ah want it ta be a serprize fer me.”

“But honey, it'll help you come up with names before the foal is here,” said Cider Press.

“Don' rightly care aboot tha',” said Apple Chiller, “tha furst foal should always be a serprize fer tha father, help keep on his hooves, tha's wha' mah ma always said, and I don' rightfully wan' ta go against the word of mah ma.”

“Can't fault a stallion for following the teachings of his parents,” said Silver Fall, “in fact I'm glad that's a tradition that's stuck with your family over the years, your parents and grandparents were the same way.”

“Thank ya kindly ma'am,” said Apple Chiller as he made his way back to the bar with an empty tray.

“I keep forgetting she's almost as old as the Princess,” said Gale Stream, “she fits in so well with how things are now.”

“I'm only a little over three centuries,” said Silver Fall with contempt in her voice, “dad was close to Celestia's age and he kicked the bucket when only twelve, I'll be lucky if I make it past three-thousand years, and by that time Celestia could very well still be around.”

“Yeah, but the only difference would be that it would be you and her playing cards with this deck next to some of our descendants,” said Night Spell, “the Guard's had me on Night Shift since I joined up, but I've been hearing rumors that I might be moved to the day shift. I don't mind the armor enchantment to make my coat change, but what if something happens and they cut me from the Guard? My family has been serving the Princess in the Guard for the past twenty-four generations! Raise three,” she threw three bits into the pile of bits at the center of the table.

“Your concerns are noted,” said Guard Wind taking a sip of his drink, holding his cards in hooves as he used his wing to handle his beverage, “my family has been in the Guard for almost as long, and no offense to our friend here, but I don't want to suddenly find myself with weather duties as my primary job. Call,” he tossed three bits on to the pile.

“Well,” said Gale Stream, “none taken, I fold, the thing is Cloudsdale always seems to place weather priorities on Canterlot and all the major cities, what about the rural places that provide food for all those cities, just once I'd like to see places like Mustang, Appeloosa, and Ponyville be at the top of the list.”

“It would be nice,” said Cider Press, “I raise 5,” she tossed five bits on the pile.

“I know what you mean,” said Silver Fall, “this place is so dry most of the year, dealer folds, I'm surprised I've been able to keep my garden here going for as long as I have.”

Another hour and half hour went, with each of the remaining players taking 2 cards each.”

“Hah, straight on suite with Knight high on suite in coins” said Gale Stream.

“Well, that amusing because I got the same in swords,” said Guard Wind.

“Well that's might peculiar,” said Cider Press, “because I got a Royal Straight, eight low, on suite in Wands,” as she showed her cards.

“Ah, buck it all,” said Gale Stream, “now I owe him,” he gestured to Guard Wind with a wing, “a barrel of my best apple jubilee.”

“You still have barrels of the stuff?” asked Night Spell with an arched brow.

“Only five after I pay up to mister Guard here,” said Gale Stream, “I try to save it for special occasions.”

“Like a wedding,” said Cider Press with a smile.

“You'll still be carrying when the time comes,” said Silver Fall with a stern maternal voice, “all the beverages at the event were going to be non-alcoholic anyway. I never really cared much for the taste of alcohol anyway.”

“You're no fun,” said Gale Stream, “Celestia only knows what you'll be like with foals.”

Silver Fall made a sad face and started slowly shuffling the cards before saying, “even if it turns out we can have foals together chances are they won't make past infancy, hybrids have a very poor life expectancy in their first year, even if they do make it that far there's a strong possibility that they won't be able to bear foals of their own, only one in every twenty-thousand hybrids is actually fertile, according to the last calculations I read. To my knowledge there were no dragon/pony hybrids rumored to be capable of bearing foals. Even if one of the foals I bear is able to beat the odds what's to keep my grandchildren from being born without complications? I don't want my family line to end with me or my children, I want it continue far into the future, that'll never happen with my choice of partners. Love is a mysterious thing, I don't think I'll ever find another entity that resonates with me the way Lightning does, I may never feel the kind of resonance we have ever again. I hope our children can live happy lives if they manage to survive. I don't want to see a still-born,” tears began to flow from the dragoness forming Sorrow Pearls before her, “shatter those things, they're my sadness and sorrow given physical form. I can't keep up the game, sorry everypony,” with that she chugged the entirety of her drink and put the cards back in their case before sliding it closed and leaving her noticeable pile of bits on the table, deck firmly held within her tail.

“You just had to say something to make her sullen,” said Night Spell and Guard Wind in unison as they shattered the pearls, “we're leaving now.”

“The game's pretty much ruined with that downer of a confession,” said Cider Press, “great job making me feel guilty about having a healthy foal developing inside me,” said Cider press with contempt to Gale Stream, “you're not allowed to join us for the next two games, because you just made our best playing buddy feel bad about a relationship she should be overjoyed about.”

****************************************

Two hours later a disguised Silver Fall came into the complex she shared with Lightning Twist and his friends, and passed up the steaming pot of spaghetti made by Nimbus Build (whom she said made some of the best pasta she had eaten in centuries) and slowly dragged herself in a sullen saunter to her room. All four stared at the door and stairs long after she left before Night Racer said, “what was that about? She looked...” the sound draconic wailing cut through the house.

“Somepony must of made a comment about her having foals,” said Lightning Twist.

“Why would that be something to make her sad?” said Storm Runner, “she'd be a great mother, she's been playing mother-mare to a lot of ponies in her time!”

“Because of the nature of hybrids,” said Lightning Twist, “she told me most hybrids don't survive their first year, and a good quarter of them are reported to be still-born. She wants to be a legitimate mother more than anything, but she's afraid for any foals she could potentially bear.”

“Oh,” said Storm Runner, “there go all my plans for cheering her up.”

“We should give her time,” said Nimbus Build, “she'll make the decision she feels is best.”

********************************************************

A month after Gale Stream's mistake Silver Fall was back in Cirrus from a game, they didn't have a fifth player this time around. Silver Fall had decided it was time to tell Cirrus the truth about her, she had mayor call a town meeting. To say her reveal could have gone better was an understatement, they had managed to put a stop on all twelve letters being sent to Canterlot asking for aid against a possible Changeling incursion, and seven letters talking about dragon's find a way to infiltrate every community in Equestria. As luck would have it all the mail ponies were okay with her being a dragon, the mayor and his supporters not so much. It took an additional three weeks to convince the mayor and his supporters that she wasn't a threat and explain how she wasn't a changeling, she 'proved' it by reverting to her pegasus form and remaining to interact with the rest of the town as she always had.

**************************************************

It was the day of the wedding, Silver Fall was in white dress adorned with little dark blue dragons and rainbow pearl designs along the train of the dress in addition to her rainbow pearl hanging from a special gold chain around her neck. She had a nearly twenty minute freak out, which Night Spell personally put stop to before it got out of hoof or claw. After reassuring the dragon she looked gorgeous, she was in her natural form (at pony size), Night Spell helped walk her down the aisle. And that's when she saw Lightning Twist in his wedding formal attire, the white suit with a black shirt and silver tie made him look like a hero out of story to her. Presiding over the ceremony was Guard Wind, it had been a long debate over who would preside as the arbiter of vows before Guard Wind had been chosen from a lot (against his wishes, Gale Stream had put the name of Royal Guard in as a joke). “I think your much more fun enjoyable to be around since your emotions were freed,” said Night Spell as she led the dragoness down the aisle, “your weren't all that fun to be around before you met your soon-to-be husband. I always suspected something was off about you, and when you shared your secret with me it wasn't what I thought, I nearly had similar reaction to the mayor Cirrus, but my eye for detail noticed how you change and I was okay with it all.”

Looking about she noticed that Cider Press was further along in her pregnancy and crying with tears of joy, Apple Chiller was so close to bawling on his own that it would have caused a number of stallions that to laugh if it weren't for his reputation for trouncing entire gangs of ponies with little effort.

“Dearly beloved friends and family,” bellowed Guard Wind after Silver Fall had arrived at the foot of the alter and Lightning's mother had moved back to her seat, “we are here today to join together in holy matrimony Lightning Twist and Silver Fall, may their union bring them nothing other than happiness and joy. If anypony sees fit to argue why these should not be wed speak now or forever hold your peace.” After waing a couple of minutes he continued with, “bring in the bonding tool. A colt of about eight years rushed up with a golden rope, “begin the ritual.”

Night Spell used her cyan colored magic to tie the rope into a knot around the out raised forelegs of the couple and said, “so as this rope binds your forelegs so too shall this ceremony bind your lives as one.”

“I now pronounce you Stallion and Dragoness,” bellowed Guard Wind, “you may now kiss the bride.” The two gave a deep kiss that lasted over three minutes.

“Now why couldn't our wedding kiss have been that long,” muttered Cider Press.

“Having regrets about our marriage, sweet-apple,” said Apple Chiller teasingly as the now-married-couple walked by them.

“Only that our wedding kiss wasn't nearly as long as theirs,” said Cider Press without missing a beat.

Silver Fall took the boutique in her tail and wound it up before tossing it with a quite a bit of power once she passed the end of the aisle on her way out, it landed with a *thunk* on Night Spell's flank, the dark colored mare looked back to see the bundle of flowers and blushed so brightly that her dark coat was a vibrant shade of hot pink around her cheeks and the base of her horn.

The after party was simple, Cider Press and Apple Chiller stopped five instances of ponies and alcoholic beverages before they could be implemented (and 3 bowls of bunch were removed when Chiller had tested them to hints of fermentation). The party was short, at the insistence of Lightning Twist. Silver Fall really didn't mind the party's length, all she really cared about was spending time with her friends. She and all 12 of her friends played a few rounds Capture the Crown, everypony just seemed to get great enjoyment out of it (also she had the deck in the bosom of her wedding dress for safekeeping, and a few laughs).

“Well, looks like we're moving into that new house now,” said Lightning Twist.

“Pity you turned down the honeymoon,” said Crimson Skies with disappointment.

“We went over that dad,” said Star Tome, “someopny could crash the whole thing, and maybe be somepony who hasn't been given the privilege of Silver's secret.”

“yeah, yeah,” said Blackout with smile, “pity the papers can't print this, would be ratings gold, and nopony would have to make up a single thing.”

His mother just shook her head and said, “pity she'll never end up on the stage, pony or dragon she's a beauty to envy.”

“Let's head for our new house,” said Silver Fall as she assumed her pegasus form and readied to take to the air.

“Sorry to disappoint,” said Spotlight Flutter, “but your heading there in style. Star Tome and Thunder Kick will be taking you there in one of the classiest coaches we could get.”

“You mean the wedding coach you and dad road in on your wedding, which was pulled by our grandparents because they thought it would be a hoot,” deadpanned Thunder Kick.

“That's the one,” said Star Tome, “come on everypony, let's get this over with so the happy couple can get down to business.”

“No arguments here,” Silver Fall as they were led to pegasus designed, and pulled, coach wagon that looked like it was done up in sapphires to mimic a clear day with silver clouds and a topaz sun; looking at the other side revealed a night time scheme with onyx set into the coach and diamond stars along with large collection of pearls done up to resemble the moon.

“This is taking it to far,” said Lightning Twist as the two boarded the coach.

Chapter 7: Silver Faces Fear (Again)... and sends it away?

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 8: Expecting Mother

Expecting Mother

Silver and Lightning had been married for almost seven months, during that time she had spent most of her time in pony form. She had even decided that she would remain in pony form for their foal making sessions. This morning when she woke up she felt like something was different. She figured she was hungry so she went to the kitchen and made herself a few fried rice patties, no matter what she was determined to only eat vegetation (it was a decision she had made when she had lost her father, one she intended to stick regardless of circumstance).

She noticed she was much hungrier than usual after downing six of the twelve patties she had made. She brought a hoof to her stomach and a new sensation hit her, she smiled and said in a soft maternal voice, “hello there, I hope you're healthy because nothing would make me happier.” After downing the rest of patties and gulping down a few glasses of milk (the only non-vegetarian substance she was willing to consume) she wrote a note for Lightning Twist and left it in a place she knew he would see it before gently opening and closing the door on her way out and locking up. To be safe she was traveling with her new saddlebags (a wedding gift from Star Tome), the bags were a bright green with latches modeled after her pearl (Star Tome she had commissioned somepony in Cloudsdale to make them) and they were really comfortable. The only thing in them was her pearl, but that wasn't unusual.

She made the flight to Mustang, as wonderfully competent as the medical staff in Cirrus General Hospital were she was worried about their ability to treat or examine anything about her... unique physiology. She would feel much more at ease with with somepony that was confirmed to be comfortable with what she was, and she figured a unicorn with medical spells was far better equipped to answer the questions she was mulling over in her head.

After landing in Mustang she was given a warm welcome by Cider Press and her filly of almost a year, Apple Juice. “What brings ya here taday” said Cider, that mare was talking more like her husband as of late, not that something like that was a bad thing.

Silver Fall came over and ruffled the bright orange mane of the apple red filly known as Apple Juice, or Juicy as Silver and Cider had taken to calling her, before saying, “wanted to see the doctor. You know how I'm able to influence how I look?” Cider nodded, Juicy just gave her a look of interest, “well I think I felt something that might be a foal growing inside me, but I want somepony who knows their stuff to confirm it.”

“Yah 'ear tha' Juicy,” said Cider, “yer abou' ta have a new friend.”

“For a few years at least,” said Silver Fall, “Lightning says the big wings at Weather Control are all changing out, who knows what that could mean for us in the future, not to mention since this is such a low priority area if somepony says they need more weather ponies in a higher priority zone then that's it we might have to move. I'll really miss Juicy when that happens, I helped raise her daddy and I really don't want to miss out foal-sitting her, she's first real case of me being excited about foal-sitting.

“Ah'll miss loo clue mis Silba Vaul,” said Apple Juice. The mare and dragoness smiled at the filly.

After giving Apple Juice another mane ruffle Silver Fall wished them a good day and made her way to the hospital. Mustang Medical Center was clean little rustic hospital that showed signs of being overworked by an understaffed group of medically talented ponies. She met the receptionist, a white mare with red mane, and explained the reason for her visit, fortunately the hospital wasn't very busy at the time. And a female doctor pony named Heart Touch greeted the disguised dragoness. Heart Touch had red coat and white mane with bright blue eyes and the image of a blue heart with green cross overlaying it.

“So, you came for a checkup?” she said in gentle caring voice, “any reason why here and not Cirrus?”

“I think I might be pregnant,” said Silver Fall flatly once they were in a private room with closed door.

Heart Touch did a little happy dance before saying in a professional voice, “let's check on that then,” before lowering her horn to Silver's stomach and lighting her horn in a gentle orange aura before pulling away, “you are indeed with foals,” she said with a beaming happiness, “you're carrying twins, and my spell tells me they're exceptionally healthy. Congratulations you're five weeks pregnant.”

Silver stared at the mare in surprise, if she had been in her dragon form her horns would be making a set of brilliant yellow lightning designs course all around them. After staring at the mare for a few minutes Silver Fall said, “that's wonderful news, but in most cases of hybrids I've been told they are amazingly healthy prior to birth and after birth they have a much weaker immune system than a pure pony or dragon. I want them to be healthy after birth, but I'm afraid of what's to come. These are my first children, I only want them to be healthy and happy.”

Heart Touch beamed with joy on her face as she led Silver Fall out before saying, “that's the most any parent could want for their children, I'm glad you don't have great expectations for your foals like many of the higher society families.”

“Considering that I was foal-sitting your grandparents and parents long before I met my husband,” said Silver Fall, “I've found that a strong desire for the well-being of the child without imposing our desires for what we were as children or designs for having children act as more of a proxy for us in social advancements is always a good way to alienate your children almost everything that they should be enjoying or cause them to alienate you from their lives. I probably will have to hide my children during their early years, for fear of how others would react them, and probably only let them out on Nightmare Night due the holiday allowing for their natural appearance to not cause adverse societal reactions. Their grandparents and aunt will be permitted to see them shortly after they're born, their uncles however will not since they didn't take the whole 'a dragon is joining the family' thing.”

“The way you say it only Lightning Twist's family will get to see them.”

“That's because my father died over two centuries ago and I haven't seen my mother since I was exiled by her clan,” said Silver with a sorrowful voice.

Heart Touch stopped Silver at the door and nodded the receptionist, who took a hint and left her post for a presumed coffee break, before saying, “you never told anypony about that part, did you?”

“I told Lightning, but as far as I can tell he hasn't told his family yet. I started a memorial painting of dad last week, it should be done by month's end, I might also start some work on one of mom, but without confirmation about her state it'll be an unfinished piece.”

“You should go and see her before the twins are born,” said Heart Touch.

“It's not that easy,” said Silver, “the clan has rules for the treatment of exiles, and they don't take well to hybrids at all from what I can remember.”

“What makes you say that,” inquired Heart Touch.

“Because,” said Silver pausing with what could have been emphasis, but was actually shame at what she was about to tell the medical pony, “I'm a mixed blood, to you that doesn't sound all that bad since the pony tribes have been intermingling their lines for centuries now, but for my mother's clan it's an expression that means that I'm not truly a dragon in their eyes. A mixed blood is what dragons call a dragon that has parents from two different kinds of dragons. If a Wyvern and Terra-Claw were to have offspring it would be called a mixed blood, the difference being Terra-Claws and wyverns don't really see anything wrong with intermingling bloodlines. A number of fire drake clans, including my mom's clan, look down on intermingling the bloodlines with none fire drakes. My father was a dragon from outside of the territories known to Equestria, and I like to think his personality would mean he and Princess Celestia would be good friends after just meeting each other.”

“So most of your personality traits come from your father,” said Heart Touch, Silver nodded.

After a few minutes Silver said, “my choice of diet is my doing my best to emulate my father's diet and mannerisms. Although he did have habit of pontificating long winded philosophy laden speeches, which I have no interest in duplicating. My mother, as odd as it may sound, was much more practical and preferred to keep things simple as possible. I suppose I get many of my sensibilities from her, she's probably the main reason why I fell in love with a pony.”

Heart Touch then said, “You are going to need to return to see your mother eventually, exile or not, she needs to know about the children you're having. Also you need to stop coming up with excuses as why your happiness has to be fleeting.”

“I'm not,” said Silver with sorrow in her voice, “my father and my mother's clan told me of instances where dragon hybrids didn't make it to year one, the way dad put was that the energies of two different species isn't always properly synergized in most cases and the conflicting energies prove dangerous for the children. I will say this, if they are born with health difficulties I will do everything in my power to make them survive. I have already resolved to have them as a pony and raise them in their first month as a mare, after that I'll be weaning them and having them get used to my natural state.”

“Don't you think that's a little rushed,” said Heart Touch.

“Maybe,” said Silver, “but I don't want them to get so used to my pony form they wonder where their mother is when I am in my natural state.”

“Makes sense,” said Heart Touch with a smile, “I've heard the first three months are the most important for a mother's bonding with their foals. I take you're going for a home birth, I hope to someday see what your little ones look like.”

Silver said, “maybe, but I'm worried about how other ponies could react to them, after all they're only going to be half pony. I hope they're better received than I was.”

“I told you how mixed bloods aren't well liked amongst most dragon tribes or clans in Equestria,” said Silver Fall, “how do think any would take the news of hybrids being born? Especially those that carry the blood of clan that does not take well to a mixed blood.”

“Point taken,” said Heart Touch opening the door for Silver Fall, “you'll have to face that part of your past at some point, the longer you wait the harder it will be. Your mother didn't exile you, she probably cares about you more than ever, the ones that exiled her were the family that she didn't have the strength to defy after the loss of your father.”

“It also means she was torn up when I had to leave,” said Silver Fall, “she couldn't bring herself to tend dad's garden when he passed on, she probably couldn't bring herself to even enter the cavern chamber that served as my room after I left. She probably was so torn with heartache that she felt like something was tearing her heart apart,” she started to cry, “and I was so cold back then I didn't do anything other than give her a compassionate tap on the head and ask for some of dad's gardening seeds before I left, I'm a terrible daughter and will probably be a...”

“Yah stop right thar,” said Cider Press looking the disguised dragoness in the eye, “ya may be many things, but a terrible anything ain't one ah them,” Silver walked out and Cider nodded to Heart Touch who just closed the door and the two walked, “ya've watched over the ponies in this community fer a little over a century and were just what everpony needed in ah sitter at tha time, a compassionate friend who was cold and stern with the foals so they didn't get full ah themselves or try ta get the best of yah. Yah were beyond ah wonderful sitter for me and mah family. It was 'cause of the lessons ah learned from yah that I met mah husband and had mah daughter, as far we're both concerned yer an honorary member of the family and will always say so to tha rest of the family.”

“Thanks,” said Silver, “I gave you a few good kicks in the flank when you were young, it's only fair you did the same to me every once in a while.”

Cider Press nodded with a smile as Silver took wing.

****************************

One flight to Cirrus later and back home showed her that Star Tome was once again visiting.

“Star, why are you here? I was just out for a few minutes.”

“To see a doctor in another town,” said Star Tome, “that only means that it was something you thought would cause a panic in Cirrus, are you sick? Is it serious?”

“No, I'm not sick,” said Silver Fall, “I wanted to confirm something with a unicorn so that blood work wouldn't be needed to be run, it turns out it was good idea because I'm with foal.”

Both ponies looked at her before Star asked, “how far along?”

“Five weeks,” said Silver, “and it's twins,” at this Lightning actually fainted while Star Tome gave an excited shriek.

“I'm gonna be an aunt, oh this is so exciting, isn't it Lightning?”

“He fainted a few seconds ago,” said Silver, “he'll be back to working order in a few minutes or couple of hours.”

Chapter 9: Newborns and the First Months

Author's Note

A quick note, I forgot to post this chapter and technically messed up the story. This is the real chapter nine the one I posted as 9 is actually chapter 10. Again, sorry it was my bad.

As always you're free to use any of my material for your own work, just let me know in advance.

Chapter 9: Newborns and the First Months

Newborns and the First Months

Before they knew it eight months was coming to pass and Silver went into labor. Saying she was a threat to everypony around would be a gross understatement, during her mood swings prior she had left a sizable crater that was turned into an impromptu swimming hole when the rain came during one of her visits to Mustang while still carrying. To make matters worse she was having trouble meditating because of the energy she had dedicated to focusing on her developing babies, in short nopony wanted to be in the same room as her. Thankfully she had the foresight to lock herself in the bathroom and have the foals in the tub, while everpony else that was present at their home had the good sense to barricade the other side of the door until a good half hour after something akin the sounds of a rampaging dragoness had died down.

“We're going to have to wait another hour for the stallions to go and see them,” said Lightning Twist as they were removing all of the furniture used to make the barricade and returning it to where it was originally placed in the house, the fact they managed to get a table propped against the door during the made barricade rush was impressive however everypony groaned when it took time to right the thing and return it to the dining area.

“Why is that?” asked his mother, “a father should be the second one to see his foals.”

“Because for the first hour and a half a dragoness sees the arrival of any males, including her mate, as a threat to her offspring,” said Lightning Twist, “that and in dragon societies females help with the raising during the first week to ensure the children are...” a sorrowful moan came from behind the door and Lightning rushed into the now unobstructed room, “Silver, what's wrong? Are they...” he couldn't finish the sentence.

“They're barely breathing,” she said in a quiet tone, “I am not going to lose them, not while I still draw breath,” with that the sound of her stretching her neck came before a thick white mist came out of her mouth and covered the two small bodies, it was at this point everypony rushed into the room and witnessed the display. Seconds later they began to stir. She smiled and said, “say hello to your son Steel Wing,” she gestured to a dark blue colt with leathery dragon like wings and toe claws on his hind legs with a electric orange mane and tail that both looked like that of pony's and electric sapphire colored eyes, “and your daughter, Forest Snowfall,” she gestured to a dark green filly with icy blue mane, an articulating dragon-like like tail that resembled her mother's, dragon-like wings that were twice the width of a pony her size covered in pegasus feathers (that were drooping under their own weight, something the new mother would easily be correcting), brilliant snowy lavender colored eyes and horns like her mother's that swept back in an almost artistic style over the contours of her head. When both began to cry/yawn a series of dragon-like teeth stretched out from folds in their gums and some how managed not look imposing against their regular looking pony teeth and also revealed their cute dragon-like tongues.

Silver pulled the two toward her teats and and the two began to suckle from their mother, Lightning smiled and said, “you're more like a pony in your motherhood than some others I know. They're beautiful. I didn't know you could do that.”

“Yes, they are,” said Silver Fall as Lightning's sister and parents joined (his brothers opted out on account they had a health fear/respect of dragons and didn't want to do anything boneheaded). "I could always breath the mist, I told you about the dream that told me about that.”

“No,” said Lightning, “using your dragon breath in a non-dragon form.” Silver gave him a look that told neither did she.

“Oh, they're adorable,” said Star Tome, Spotlight Flutter just gave a series of aws and d'aws while Crimson Skies just smiled.

“They definitely look unique,” said Crimson Skies, “I'll be able to spot them at a distance when they're older. Have you given any thought to their education?”

“A bit,” said Lightning Twist, “we want them to socialize with foals their own age, but at the same time the mayor here, and his supporters, didn't take kindly to Silver revealing herself and are more than happy to pretend it was nothing more than a bad dream.” While he was doing that Silver was cleaning the foals with her tongue, which was alternating between pony and dragon at irregular interval giving the indication she was doing it involuntarily.

“So the foals can't go to school here then,” summarized Spotlight, “they'd practically get mauled by other parents in Cloudsdale.”

“And their unique qualities would definitely get the academy head wanting to have them,” said Star Tome, “which would lead to rumors that they got in because I pulled a few strings, the academy wanted to increase its prestige or both.”

“Probably both,” said Spotlight, “Canterlot wouldn't be much better for education, not to mention the commute would be too much for the dears if you stayed here, and we have to let you move naturally or somepony will accuse us of pulling strings to keep you all close.”

“Looks like homeschooling is our only option right now,” said Lightning Twist, “but that doesn't leave much room for socializing.”

“While I appreciate you all talking about the future of my offspring,” said Silver finally entering into the conversation, “ could we do this in a larger room, I want to see to their walking practice.”

“Oh, sorry,” said the four ponies as they stepped out of the bathroom and Silver carefully picked up her now sleeping bundles in her forelegs and floated out of the room on her wings and set the two down in the dining area.

After the two had been set down Silver said, “Spotlight could you be a dear and find a ribbon that compliments Forest Snowfall's coat, she'll trip over her wings otherwise.”

“Of course,” said Spotlight and left the room quickly.

“Why didn't you ask me,” said Lightning and Star in unison.

“No offense to either of you, but your eye for aesthetics isn't as intuitive as your mother's, and a grand-mare needs something to do that makes her feel like she's spoiling her grand-foals,” said Silver Fall as she nuzzled her foals.

Crimson just chuckled and said, “yup, my mother was the same way when every one of you was born, she was especially frantic about it when the twins were born.”

Lightning Twist and Star Tome shot him a look of surprise, he then continued with, “of course after that she went back to pretending to be a cold mare that could care less.” The two nodded in unison. After their unified nod the twin dragon/pony hybrids woke up and started suckling their mother again.

Spotlight came back brandishing a mass of sky blue ribbons in her hooves and said in a whisper when she got next to Silver Fall, “I found all of these in a drawer in your room, what were you doing with so many blue ribbons? Were you expecting a colt?... Only?”

“Actually, no,” said Silver Fall, “a long time ago pink used to be considered part of red instead of its own color, and as such was seen as the pinnacle of a male's representative color. Blue was seen as the girly-girl's color at that same time, I'm a little stuck in the older traditions I guess.”

Spotlight smiled as he passed one of the smaller ribbons to Silver Fall, who in turn gently tied it gently to her daughter so that they hung like that of a normal pegasus while still being loose enough to not hurt her (the wings still drooped, but not so much that the little foal would have trouble with them).

*****************************

After waiting three hours, mostly so that Snowfall could get used to the feel of the ribbon on her wings, Silver motioned for Lightning to take them ten feet away from her (the other ponies moved out of the room so as to not interrupt this pivotal moment in the lives of the foals. Steel Wing took to his legs fastest and made it to his mother, with her encouragements, in about a ten minutes. Forest Snowfall had more trouble because even without her wings to trip over she was still tripping over her tail, to accommodate the little filly Silver cut the distance in half after moving Steel to her back for the move and setting him back down when she was done moving. With a bit more encouragement Snowfall made it to her mother's side and Silver nuzzled her daughter while telling her she was a good girl.

As she was nuzzling her foals she heard a mechanical *click* and all three looked up and over at Star Tome who had a camera on its prop aimed at the three another of the *click*s and a flash that temporarily blinded the three as they were looking at the strange device followed by Star Tome's excited voice saying, “and got it, another precious moment for all of us to show off when Silver finally reveals herself to the Princess.”

“Star while I love like I should all family,” said Silver in a calm maternal voice (which Crimson and Spotlight both knew said that Star was in trouble) as she and the twins blinked the spots from their eyes, “please do not take it the wrong way when I say that if you use that device in the presence of my foals before the age of six years again I will break it apart and force you to eat each and every piece of it because I will be too angry to give you a far more reasonable punishment. My foals just barely got the hang of walking and you used a device that in its current state can disorient me an them, you are fortunate they were already at my hooves when you took the pictures.”

“That's why I waited,” said Star, “that and you with your foals is by far the cutest image we can get.”

“Star, honey cloud,” said Spotlight, “Silver's right to be concerned, her foals barely made it a few hours ago. Maybe you should have waited a few days before taking the pictures. Silver, the foal carrier I was having made for you should be ready and delivered next week, you'll be able to take the foals wherever you want. Their little baskets will keep them safe, they will also have straps in them to keep the foals from falling climbing to far out. I also made sure it would work well with your natural appearance by comparing the images of the design to a rendering of your natural appearance and pony look to each other in a rendering of you wearing the carrier.”

“Thank you,” said Silver gracefully as Steel tried scaling his mother's back, Snowfall was content to entertain herself by playing with her tail and watching it with a curious gaze. Turning her attention to her daughter Silver nuzzled Forest Snowfall, and was greeted to a pair of little hooves holding onto her muzzle as as she lifted her face. Her daughter tumbled away a few seconds later and giggled and shook her head before saying something in foalish that sounded like she didn't want to do it again.

**************************

It was the following week and the package arrived for Silver, as promised. The carrier baskets looked like they might hold her growing foals for a month or two before they outgrew them, that was good enough for her. Silver strapped the twins into each basket so that they were snugly comfortable. Once she confirmed that the twins were comfortable she slipped on the carrier, before the twins could make sounds of distress she said reassuring words and told them even though mommy couldn't be seen she was right there for them. She then threw a blanket over the carrier saddle and secured it using the straps before leaving the house, it had been ages since she had been to Mustang and wanted to at least touch base with Cider Press. Mustang was also the only place she could take the foals and they would not be treated as something to avoid (she hoped, since they were used to seeing her in her dragon form).

After the half hour flight to Mustang, most of which caused Steel Wing to giggle with excitement (much to his mother's surprise, she figured it was because he was a more physically oriented child in his actions and now mindset), Forest Snowfall giggled along with her brother for the first couple of minutes before deciding she didn't like extended movement and started making sounds of distress that caused Silver Fall to reassure her daughter most of the trip. Silver finally arrived at the small settlement only to hear that Princess Celestia had made one of the trips she made to small settlement and its kin roughly every decade or so prior that week (she thanked her luck, she still wasn't ready to meet with the ivory alicorn). She walked into the establishment run by Apple Chiller and Cider Press, she saw a nearly a year old Apple Juice following her mother around and trying her best not to disrupt her mother as the mare served drinks around the tavern.

“Cider, you have a moment?” came Silver's voice, everypony looked over to see the disguised dragoness with her foal carrier and all gave great cheer.

“After this las' servin',” said Cider Press, “then we caun catch up Silver.”

A few minutes later the two were in an area of the bar restricted to patrons, the place was only for family and close friends for private time and held the rooms for Apple Chiller and his family. Silver smiled as she undid the straps for securing the blanket and said, “I'd like to introduce my foals.”

“Foals? How many did you have?” asked Cider Press, Apple Juice bounced up and down with excitement giving happy cries and babbling about new playmates.

“Two,” said Silver Fall, “I had Twins.”

“Oh,” said Cider fluttering her eyes in surprise, “were thay healthy? Yah expressed concerns abou' their 'ealth in the moments after birth before ya even knew ya would be 'aving 'em.”

“There were some minor complications, fortunately I was able to remedy such things myself,” said Silver Fall as she pulled the blanket off and lowered herself before crawling out from the harness. Once she was free she started undoing the straps for the twins, she started with Steel Wing, pulling the young colt out she said, “this is Steel Wing, he's a little physically oriented, he should be fine to play with Juicy for a few minutes,” setting the blue colt down and began undoing Snowfall's straps, the sound of Steel and Juicy playing brought a smile to her muzzle.

“How old are they?” asked Cider as Silver lifted her daughter from the basket.

“About a week,” said Silver, “this is Forest Snow Fall,” the green filly waved her little hoof at Cider before wagging her tail, “would you like to hold her? She's really sweet and gentle.”

“Mos' certainly, thar size makes 'em look two or three months old,” said Cider taking the little green filly, Snowfall smiled at the mare and licked the mare's muzzle with her little tongue before giggling and making a motion for her mother to hold her. Silver took the filly back and held her to her teats and landed to bring a wing across to block any viewing of the foal suckling. Shortly after his sister had started Steel Wing rushed under his mother's wing and began to feed as well.

“Aww, Ah wanted ta pway wid 'im longer,” said Apple Juice.

“He's just a week old,” said Silver Fall, “pony/dragon mixes have more dramatic growth spurts. So they are usually bigger than a pony foal of a similar age, he's almost half your size. If he were a normal pony he'd still be a cuter little bundle.”

“But ain't ya a pony?” asked Apple Juice.

“No, I'm a dragon with the ability to look like a pony,” said Silver Fall, “you've seen what I look really look like when you were younger, of course you were only a few months old at the time.”

“So,” said Cider, “when caun we continue tha card games? Tha boys have been sendin' me letters askin' when tha games will return, they say et's borin' widout our monthly get tagethers and ya 'ave been tied up wi' 'aving the twins tha last couple ah months.”

“In three months or so,” said Silver, “I need to get the twins acclimated to their properties. I have to teach them how to handle their breath weapons, Lightning and I need to give them flying lessons, and I need to teach Snowfall how handle her tail.”

“Ah noticed it doesn't 'ave ah bony weapon at the end like mos' ahf tha dragon tails Ah've seen, yer tha only dragon Ah've seen widout that.”

“I get it from my father,” said Silver Fall, “instead of having a weapon oriented tail I have a utilitarian oriented tail. I have what's called an articulating tail, that means my tail can grab on to things and even hold on to them. It's quite strong, I've picked up immense weights with little effort with it.”

“An' it's also really nimble,” said Cider, “ya can do a lot ah complex movements wid tha' thing. Pity ponies don't 'ave something like that.”

“I've seen you do some pretty impressive stuff with your mane and tail that's akin to what my tail can do,” said Silver Fall, “earth ponies can manipulate their natural magic fields to do what my tail can, of course it might be a bit to a lesser degree when compared to my tail.”

“Well yah,” said Cider, “but it gets real tirin' and once ya reach a certain point it stops workin', when ya get tired wid yer tail ya don' lose it lahk earth ponies do.”

“Maybe so,” said Silver, “but I need to manipulate my natural magic field alter my form or breath type.”

“Yah caun change yer breath type?” asked Cider Press with surprise.

“Mhm,” said Silver Fall, “Ice, Fire, Lightning, Mist and Wind. I can do it on my own, but when certain emotions run high they cause an automatic change. If I get angry I spit fire, excitement means lightning, and when I'm feeling really frightened I can blast out wind. My foals could have inherited any of the elements I can spit.”

“Ah wanna see ya spit lightnin', please,” said Apple Juice.

“Sorry Juicy,” said Silver Fall, maybe when the twins are older and I've taught them how to handle their abilities.”

“Promise?” asked Apple Juice.

“I'll do better, I'll swear an oath. An oath is a promise that is should never be broken by anypony because it is meant to be a strong tie to them both. I swear this oath unto you, when the twins can fly on their own and handle their special breaths I will show you my Lightning, Wind and Mist breaths and should I break this oath you can punish me any way you deem fit, within the limits your mother sets on what kind of punishments you can meet out on me. It is done, we have an unbreakable promise witnessed by my foals and your mother.”

“One Ah will remin' both ah ya constantly if ya decide ta be difficult in tha future,” said Cider.

The twins crawled out from under their mother's wing and made off in different directions. Steel Wing made for more playtime with Apple Juice and Forest Snowfall tried to climb back into her carrier basket.

"That looks like it's my cue to leave,” said Silver as she picked up her daughter and began strapping the filly in, said filly gave a tired yawn and fell asleep in her basket as Silver finished fastening the last securing line on to the filly in her basket, after making sure her daughter was secure Silver did the same to Steel Wing, who made a show of fighting his mother until half way to his carrier basket. After the young colt was secure to his mother's liking she secured the blanket to the carrier's saddle. Once she was she checked with a few good tugs she nodded to herself and made her way out.

“I'll be back in a few months, make sure Juicy behaves herself. I would hate bring the Twins with me only to find out their sole playmate for the time being can't join them.”

“If she gets out ah line Ah'll remind 'er of yer oath ta her, that should bring 'er down a few pegs,” said Cider as Silver made her way to the door, the disguised dragoness nodded and took flight as soon as she was outside of the establishment.

A half hour later she was back home and putting the twins in their crib. “So,” came Lightning's voice, “where'd you take them?”

“The Desert Apple Tavern, I needed to interact with at least one of my friends, and it was a good opportunity to give the twins some socializing with another foal. Apple Juice is almost a year old, but at least she gave the twins an opportunity to meet somepony close to their age. Steel Wing took to playing with her fast, Forest Snowfall was more content to stay with the mothers and listen in on our conversations.”

“Nice to see your friend took it well,” said Lightning Twist.

“Oh, I'm sure she's having a little freak out about now,” said Silver Fall, “Cider's funny that way, she puts on a good face when in public, but in private she lets out all her frustrations somewhere she feels secure.”

“You know this because?” inquired Lightning Twist.

“I was her foal-sitter,” said Silver, “and now she's one of my best friends.”

***********************************************

Three months came and the twins did indeed out grow their carrier within a month, as their mother anticipated. Silver changed back to her natural look and had her foals confirm she was their mother by scent while she warmed up some soy milk she had mixed up when the twins were only three weeks old. She gave it to them in saucers, the twins would break any bottles or cups they tried to drink it from at this stage. Silver had Steel Wing learn to fly from his father while she busied herself with teaching Forest Snowfall the nuances of an articulating tail, in the span of a few hours Snowfall was getting it and ecstatic about it. The filly picked up her toys with a level of finesse that was impressive for one her age, but her excitement caused her to apply a little too much pressure and as a result the filly ended up with splinters in her tail from some of the wooden blocks she had been practicing with. She would cry until her mother removed all the shards from the blocks and breathed a fine mist to heal the filly.

In an effort to imitate her mother Snowfall tried spitting out her own breath weapon, only to be met with an ordinary breath. After an hour of trying, with her mother explaining how to do the breath weapon instead of trying to talk her daughter out of it Snowfall finally spit out a thin cone of snow and ice that resembled that of her mother. Both smiled at each other (she didn't care she didn't have mist powers, she could spit ice).

The next time they saw Steel Wing he was flying around the room, until he saw his sister spit out a puff of snow and begged his mother for lessons, she told him he would learn the next day and his sister still needed to learn how to fly. Silver provided her daughter's flying lesson, but this took almost six hours, and a break for two meals, before the filly was able to hover a few inches off the floor for a few seconds. Silver told her daughter to practice and in no time she would be as good as, if not better than, her brother. Silver told her children the truth, the mayor didn't want to see anything that hinted that ponies weren't the only ones living Cirrus so they had to remain inside until she could find a way to properly hide their dragon-like features from the mayor and his supporters.

The next day Silver Fall was teaching Steel Wing how unleash his breath weapon, while his sister ran an aerial obstacle course with her father timing her upstairs (Lightning got a few weeks off when he told his supervisor that his foals were ready to learn how to fly). After going through the steps with Steel Wing he managed spit out lightning after three hours of practice.

The next day was filled with Silver teaching the foals how to manage their breath abilities, Snowfall hung onto her mother's every word while Steel Wing ignored his mother's warnings and asked when the would move on to target practice. The next day Snowfall was free to do whatever she wanted, because she actually did as she was instructed, Steel Wing got another breath lesson with his mother. Silver Fall told him in a very blunt manner that if he didn't listen to his mother's warnings about his breath abilities he would be stuck in those lessons regardless of what he was old enough for, he paid the lesson attention and actually did as he was told regarding his breath ability. Silver had explained to both that without keeping themselves in check their breath abilities could prove dangerous to them and the ponies around them (including their father).

About a months after they learned their breath abilities, and were practicing in areas their mother designated, before Silver found an effective way of doing what she needed. She brought Night Spell to visit, fortunately the mare had the week off for the time she wanted and was happy help the dragoness. When the dark colored unicorn mare arrived (using a cloud walking spell she found in the spell archives) she became excited (in a good way) about seeing the twins and cast a spell to make them look like pegasus foals that had their coloration (she warned that it would only last a few hours).

Silver guided the twins, while carrying Night Spell, to Mustang. Once in the town and in the Dessert Apple Tavern Night Spell removed the illusion spell from the twins and they were let loose to play with Apple Juice and the other foals of Mustang that were haunting the tavern. Silver told everypony to hold up for a moment and went to see Apple Juice, in her dragon form, and followed up on her promise. All the foals showed great excitement, especially when Silver told the twins to be careful with their breath abilities.

After explaining why the twins couldn't demonstrate yet she headed back the table and slipped her tail under board beneath her seat to reveal that it was where she had hidden her deck. Everypony, along with a small bulging bag of bits, smiled as she asked, “what do you want to play first?"

“Capture the crown,” said others in unison. Silver just nodded and dealt out the cards after a few shuffles.

Half an our into the game Silver's tail shot out and caught a pegaus colt with a teal coat and a gray mane and tail, “and what do you think you're doing young colt?” inquired Silver without looking away from her cards (which everypony saw as an impressive feat), “the sooner you tell me the less severe the reprimand and sooner I let go.”

“Actually I'm good,” said the colt in the rustic tone that was common among all the Mustang pegasi, “but if you really wanna know, we're playing 'Capture the Dragon', the way it works is your foals are with different teams and the first team to get a hold of other dragon/pony back to their designated base wins.”

“Uh huh,” said Cider, also not looking away from her cards and drawing before saying, “an' which team is Juicy on?”

“The one with Steel Wing, I'm on the team with Forest Snowfall. I'm our scout, I would say where our base is but one of the other team could be listening.”

“Alright,” said Silver, “can you at least say you're base is out of the way and somewhere that won't get you in trouble. Because if you're entrenched in the kitchen or near the wine cellar then I will personally remove the twins from the game by taking them home and cutting our game day short.”

“Of course not,” said the colt with a laugh.

“You're based near the cellar doors,” said Silver in an even maternal voice that sent a shiver down the colt's spine, “you have ten minutes to relocate to a location that both not obstructive or likely to get you in trouble before I sniff out my foals and take them home early.”

“Yes ma'am,” said the colt as Silver released him and withdrew her tail and dashed off.

“It always amazes me how you can do that,” said Night Spell.

“I foal-sat his parents and grandparents,” said Silver with a cool evenness to her voice, “I'm well aware of his family's quirks, the colts and stallions always laugh when they're doing something that will probably get them in trouble to some degree, his grandfather was a particularly bad case,” she threw down a knight of wands and the default number of skirmishing cards and continued with it (not really paying attention who responded to the challenge), "because he got a thrill out of being caught doing something he shouldn't. That said, his wife mellowed that stallion out. That seems to be a trend with his family, problematic until they find the right mare or stallion and then become model citizens.”

“That's nice,” said Night Spell as she drew a card.

The rest of the game continued for almost another three hours without incident, Silver's tail shot out and pulled a dashing Steel Wing to her, “and just what are you up to young colt?” she said Coldly (still not looking up from her cards).

“Hide and seek, I'm it,” he said.

“What happened to 'capture the dragon'?” asked the dragon in a more judging maternal voice.

“Oh, Snowfall and her team won it a while ago,” said Steel Wing, “she somehow managed to trick us into moving our base around every few minutes and caught me off guard during the fifth move.”

“Carry on,” said Silver Fall as she let her son go.

“It amazes me how you can just do that without looking away from your cards,” said Guard Wind, “your daughter will make a fine guard when she decides to join up.”

“What makes you think Snowfall will join the Guard?” Inquired Silver.

“She'll live a long time, she'll feel a need to keep the nation safe somehow,” retorted Guard Wind.

“I wanted to play my part by being a scholar, that's why I accepted the scholarship to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns,” said Night Spell, “I wanted to be a scholar crafting new spells, but my parents forced me into the Guard, they told me it was a proud tradition I have to hold up. My parents parents might be nobles, but my grand-mare on dad's side and grand-stallion on mom's side were commoners that a lot of ponies say lucked out in training, they put in more effort than most of their graduating class. I was highly committed to my training, but that doesn't mean that I didn't want to quit. To me obligations win out over what we want, many of Canterlot's nobility find my sentiments unbecoming of their ranks.”

“She's ah noble?” asked Cider, “sure 'ad me fooled, she ain't got the higher than ya'll attitude tha' nobles 're so fond ahf.”

“Her grandparents tempered her,” said Silver as she gathered up the cards and shuffled them.

“That is indeed correct, they were good guards and good ponies all around,” said Night Spell as Silver passed five cards to all the ponies at the table, “that said many of the nobility don't really like my parents and their siblings.”

“Just because one their parents isn't from the nobility,” said Gale Stream with surprise as he picked up his hoof for the new game, “that's insane.”

“No,” said Silver evenly, “that's nobility. If you don't have what they claim is a legitimate claim to your title then you are no better than a really fortunate commoner, which they believe is of little consequence or standing.”

“It's true,” said Guard Wind, “they've tolerated my family because we've all been in the Guard for so long, but they still see us as nothing more as really fortunate servants.”

“That's the way it is I suppose,” said Silver looking at a Prince, Princess, 9, 4 and Ace off suite (a runt, that she could work with if she played her way smart, but her head was only half in the game so she decided to wait until the card trade session and if she still didn't have anything substantial she would bow out gracefully), "although from what I've heard most of the current houses only extend back about six centuries, my father was older than that when he met my mother.”

“How old were they when they had you?” inquired Cider press as she kept her face neutral while looking at her cards (she had a pair of 5s and three Princesses, in her opinion, the best hoof any player could have in any game, oh flushes were great and all but they were really hard to build up in any given game and it was better to go for sets of a single kind of card).

“That is confidential,” said Silver, “while I have no problem spitting my age out like my breath abilities, I like to keep the defined age of my parents hidden. A little mystery to mares is always nice, keeps the stallions interested in us.”

The two mares nodded in unison which was immediately followed by both stallions at the table saying in unison, “no fair, you mention your father being older than most of the Canterlot nobility then go tight lipped on it.”

“Boys,” said all three of the females with a teasing tone before giggling.

“Remember back before she had foals?” asked Gale Stream to Guard Wind.

“Yes,” said Guard Wind without missing a beat, “she wasn't nearly as fun, check.”

Gale Stream sputtered a stream of incoherent sentences before saying, “raise two,” as he tossed a pair of bits on the pile.

The game continued for another half hour when Snowfall trotted up and made series of foalish babbles. “Excuse me everypony,” said Silver, "one of my greatest obligations is calling, I fold, Guard you're the new dealer 'til I return,” with that she slipped from her seat and sauntered over to her saddlebags and tossed open the left bag to reveal three large pitchers of soy milk and a pair of sippy-cups. She poured some of the milk into both cups before passing the green one with an image of a snowflake on it to her daughter who took it in her tail and started drinking from the cup eagerly. Holding the other cup (a blue one with the image of a cloud on it) in her tail Silver closed the flap and secured the latch before taking a sniff in the air and saying, “your brother is this way, come on Snowfall.”

As they headed to find the blue colt she heard Gale Stream whining, “why are you the temporary dealer?” She figured it was the fifth or sixth time the stallion had made that complaint.

“Because you wouldn't respect the cards properly, Cider would try to cheat and Night has a bad habit of shuffling the deck during the game when she's the dealer,” came Guard Wind's voice as the mother and daughter departed the room.

The pair found Steel Wing curled up in a corner with Apple Juice giving them a look that said she was trapped. Silver lifted her son, a bit roughly so as to wake him, from the floor. The moment Steel Wing had stopped obstructing her path Apple Juice dashed out of the room. The moment Steel Wing's yawn was closing his mother placed the cup of soy milk in his mouth and his mouth closed around the sipping top, this brought enough surprise to fully awaken him and have him bring his fore-hooves to the cup and begin drinking. By this time Snowfall had polished off her drink. Silver left her son to his drink and left with Snowfall's empty cup in her tail, and Snowfall in tow.

Once she was back at her bags she opened the opposite bag and gently lowered the cup into the bag before lowering the flap. Once the closed the flap she heard Forest Snowfall say in her cute little voice, “mommy,” Silver turned to see her daughter with her hooves raised like she wanted to be lifted. Silver obliged by picking her daughter up with her tail and heading back to the table.

As she approached she said, “alright eveypony I'm back, and Snowfall will be joining as an observer.”

“Any reason why?” asked Night Spell.

“Auntie,” said Snowfall with a giggle pointing at Night Spell.

“Sound reasonin' ta me,” said Cider Press.

“Auntie,” said Snowfall again, this time pointing to Cider with her tail.

“Snowfall, sweetheart,” said Silver, “you're going to have to be quiet for mommy and her friends, can you do that?”

The green filly smiled and nodded her head vigorously, also making a lip zipping her motion with her tail. Silver returned to her duties as dealer and found that the game hadn't progressed at all, “Let me guess,” she said, “nopony wanted to play if I wasn't the dealer?”

“Yep,” said Night Spell, “your deck, your duty was our reasoning.”

“What did you do while I was away from the table for ten minutes?”

“Mostly comment on your new status,” said Guard Wind. With that Silver just nodded and the game resumed. True to her mother's request Forest Snowfall was quiet, to the point the stallions were a little creeped out and Cider was concerned about the home life of the filly. Regardless the game continued. True to form Cider won the last two games and once again made a comment about how Silver had the best playing deck in Equestria.

************************************

It was three weeks later, Silver had told Lightning Twist about Forest Snowfall's first words when they got home (after a quick illusion spell from Night Spell before leaving Mustang), he was ecstatic. That is until learning that it was only Snowfall that had said something. It wasn't until early the next day that Steel Wing said his first words, during breakfast as he followed his father before the stallion left for work he had said, “daddy,” at least six times. After Lightning had left the house the blue colt ran up to his mother and said “mommy,” half a dozen times in rapid succession. Forest Snowfall just rolled her eyes and went back to resting against her mother's side, she was still awake but just loved the feel of cuddling up against the dragoness's side.

“I know you're excited about being able to say new words,” said Silver Fall to her son with a gentle voice before nuzzling the colt, “but you need to learn when to properly use the words, like your breath ability.” The colt nodded and snuggled up next his mother and took a long nap.

Nothing had bothered the happy couple until they a few days later when they were told that Star Tome was being required to introduce her family to the new school head, apparently this pegasus wanted to know the kind of connections and relations their staff had. Silver and Lightning agreed she would spend the day in the twins' room while he entertained their guest. While Star Tome was perfectly accepting of half dragons in the family, and even considered her niece and nephew adorable, their was no telling what this unknown pegasus scholar would be like upon encountering the twins. They resolved to keep the fact the twins were hybrids secret from the new visitor. Mustang was fine with the twins, but that town had gotten used to Silver Fall long before she revealed herself and spent years getting used to seeing a dragon around town, and the twins were only playing with other foals in one building out of sight from anypony outside. Cirrus was still being governed by a pegasus that freaked out when a you joked about a dragon flying by in the distance, the same with his supporters. Dusty Skies was a pegasus that had managed to maintain his position mostly because the town didn't bother have anypony run against him when it came time for nominating and electing a new pony to office, that and his supporters were the major players in Cirrus (which compared to most other pony settlements would probably be considered a bad joke, but they were ponies that made sure things got done quickly in the town).

A few days after the letter was brought Star Tome and her new boss arrived, Cloud Scroll (a sky blue pegasus with dark blue eyes and a cloud gray mane and tail), arrived just as Silver was getting the door to the twins' room closed behind her (she made sure that she had plenty of soy milk and a variety of different plant samples that ponies regularly ate because she felt it was time to start them on solid food, she would have liked to do this at the kitchen table but with the change in circumstances she was willing to teach the twins in their room, she would just have to do it at their play table to teach them where it's proper eat).

“Hi, Star,” said Lightning Twist as he got the door, “so, this is the new academy head?”

“Yes,” said a primly arrogant sounding stallion, “I am Cloud Scroll and I believe a good educator can be properly judged by the company they keep and the family they have.”

“Very good,” said Lightning, “my wife is with the foals in their room, they're only a few weeks old so we don't want them possibly disrupting your visit.” Please buy the excuse was all Lightning and Star could think as the stallion looked around the house.

“That's all well and good,” said the stallion, the two and Silver breathed a quiet sigh of relief, “but I'm aware of all your siblings, miss Tome, only this stallion, who happens to be your twin brother, is the only one supporting a family. Care to tell me why, mister Lighting Twist?”

“I've always been family minded,” said Lightning Twist in a humble voice, “and I suppose my sister and brothers just haven't found the right pony yet. Sis, have you introduced him to our siblings yet?”

“No,” said Star Tome, “I suggested we try one of them or our parents as a meet and greet, but he insisted on you first.”

“Yes, indeed,” said the Stallion, “I understand your wife, Silver Fall, has a unique coat color. Also why is it you don't have any family photographs? You said you were family minded, so why is it your home is devoid of anything that shows you and your family?”

“Silver's a very private individual,” said Lightning, “she has extensive experience in foal-sitting, but she prefers that any photographic record of her be kept in a box to only show trusted friends and family.”

“So she's security minded then?” questioned the stallion.

“To an extent, she did insist on setting up an obstacle course on the living room ceiling so the twins could practice flying and not have any of their things lying where somepony could easily hurt themself,” said Lightning.

“Well, at least she has her head in the right place,” said the stallion as he looked at the ceiling, “that course seems a little advanced for foals if you ask me.”

“One of the twins, our colt named Steel Wing, is very athletically minded for his age. Silver thought arranging a more challenging course would help to diminish some of his excess energy faster.”

“Why is their a series of targets strewn around the course?” inquired the stallion.

“Range practice,” said Lightning, “the twins throw some foam or gel balls that are intended for foals at the targets to test their reflexes, depth perception, and once again it helps to burn off excess energy that the foals have. The blue on yellow line on the ceiling is a marker for where they're intended to stop before we pass them their throwing toys, they've also thrown a few stuffed animals at the targets during their anger fits, this method helps to make their aggression bouts a bit more constructive.”

“I see,” said the Stallion, along with the sound of something being scribbled, “Now back to your wife, she is the only pony I've heard of having silver coat, and she also has an indigo mane from what I've been told. The mane isn't all that unusual, I've seen plenty of ponies with indigo in their manes and tails, but the coat is of interest to me. Would she perhaps like to meet with our genealogy department so that we can learn where this distinct aspect comes from? Also I've found no mention of her in the Cloudsdale or Canterlot family records, I figured a pony with such a unique coat would at least be in once of those data bases.

“Her parents decided on home birth, without a doctor present,” said Lighting, “the same holds true with us, the difference is that while I registered our children in the town records Silver's were far too stubborn to tell the rest of Equestria they had wondrous bundle of joy. Also the family of Silver's mother saw Silver as a shame to their line, something about mixing tribal bloodlines diluting a powerful lineage.”

“Ah, I see,” said the Stallion, “she's from a family that had some very archaic beliefs that many think only are found amongst many of Canterlot's nobility who insist on 'maintaining the old traditions', personally I think the practice to be a bit silly with the way modern ponies are now, but it a fascinating way to peer at how things were in the pre-Celestia era of Equestria's history. What about her father?”

“Just broad strokes when talking about his home or family I'm afraid, Silver doesn't even know much beyond the fact that he had seven siblings.”

“Big families quit are common, especially amongst many of the earth pony clans,” said the stallion, “it makes finding the proper lineage more difficult, and since her father was secretive with his side the family it doesn't help finding out whom she is related to.”

“For all any of us know she could be distant cousin of the Princess herself,” said Star Tome with a teasing voice.

“Yes, well familial jokes aside,” said the Stallion, “it was nice to meet you, how old are your foals now?”

“Three months,” said Lightning, “they're just shy of four at this time.” The stallion nodded and Told Star they were off to meet another one of her brothers.

An hour after the two had left, and the door was securely closed, Silver and the twins exited the twins' room. “That was almost too close,” said Silver, “thankfully he was more business and less in the mind of wanting to see the foals.”

“agreed,” said Lightning as Steel Wing began crawling on his father's back and sucking the stallion's mane.

Chapter 10: Two Years Later

Two Years Later

The sight of a dragoness playing tag with two fillies and a colt greeted Cider Press when she entered the back room. The earth mare smiled as she saw a silver dragoness intentionally walk right passed a pair of giggling fillies in an obvious hiding place and go straight for the colt that was flittering about the room on his leathery wings. After two flaps of her own draconic wings she was floating in the air and shot her tail out and grabbed the colt by his hind right leg and pulled him into her waiting forearms, once he was in her grasp the dragoness blew a raspberry int is stomach and caused the colt to laugh.

“Go find your sister and Juicy,” said the dragoness as she landed, “mommy has some things to do with friends, so none of you leave this back area and stay away from the cellar, kitchen, and any door that leads out of the back room.”

“Yes momma,” said the colt and green filly in unison.

At the same time Apple Juice said, “yes missus Silver, Ah'll be good an' keep them out ah trouble.”

“An' lead 'em inta some that hasn't been mentioned yet,” said Cider, “no taking the twins out ah this room, Juicy.”

“Yes momma,” said the earth filly.

Silver rolled her eyes and grabbed her deck and bag of bits off the table with her and strolled into the commons with Cider Press. At their table were Guard Wind and Night Spell.

“Just you two today?” inquired Silver Fall, “how come?”

“Something about weather coordination updates,” said Guard Wind, “they told us about it last week.”

“So, why not bring another Guard that's in on the secret that's off duty?” inquired Silver Fall.

“All the other Guards in on your secrets are currently either on active duty or in the midst of reassignment,” said Night Spell, “we got lucky with mandatory leave when they noticed we didn't file for time off, ever, and just left on the days we were slated to be off work. I'm not off night duty just yet, but with all these changes in the Guard I'm not sure how long that would last. There's talk among the higher ups about the Princess making a bunch of unusual preparations and policies. It's like she's preparing for some kind of event that we haven't seen before, but that's just rumors around the Guard barracks. It's probably one of her fabled stress freak outs, rumor has she has one every decade or so. Nopony's confirmed it, it's probably just ponies trying to undermine the good the Princess does for the nation.”

“I see,” said Silver, “I heard she held the Summer Sun Celebration in Manehattan last year, or was that just a rumor?”

“Manehattan wishes they could host the event, but the Princess keeps vetoing that idea on grounds there isn't enough open space to properly host the event, well that and it's kind hard to watch a proper sunrise in that city if you aren't on on top of one of the high rises,” said Guard Wind.

“He's right,” said Night Spell, “it was in Filly-delphia, and they just barely make the qualifications these days. After this year's the Princess is only going to host it rural communities and Canterlot.”

“Well then,” said Silver as she shuffled the cards, “maybe in a few years she'll host it in Mustang, wouldn't that be nice. She usually just visits once a decade or so.”

“Well yeah,” said Night Spell as Silver dealt everypony seven cards, “but we're just guards, the Princess does all the deciding on the event. It's next month, the location she's chosen is still not announced, she's never gone this long without announcing to the Guard where the next celebration site,” everypony picked up their dealt cards.

“The winds are approaching their time of change,” said Silver looking at a pair of Princes, three Aces, a Two and and a King, all off suite, “and when they change they will bring changes that have not been seen in the land for a long time, powers thought lost or mere story will make themselves known and when the winds calm the nation will enter into an age that it should have a long time ago.”

“What are you spouting now?” inquired Guard Wind.

“Sorry,” said Silver, “it was something from a dream I had last night, I had a similar one before I had the twins. I'm unsure of what they mean, maybe if somepony who knew more about dreams helped me.”

“Yeah, about that,” said Night Spell, “nopony has a special talent that relates to dreams, I checked after I started having this stream of nightmares last year, thankfully they only lasted about a week. Raise 4.”

“Yeah, but don't you... I'll see that and raise 6... think it would be nice if somepony was an expert on dreams,” said Cider.

“Maybe,” said Guard Wind, but what would the identifying mark regarding a dream specialization even be?”

“I'm all for that sort of thing, raise 3,” said Silver Fall, “but the truth is, excuse me a moment,” Silver left the table for three minutes before returning, “Juicy almost did something we didn't want her to, the truth is that with as many ponies as there are in this nation it's hard to just state there is nopony with that kind of specialization! You just checked Canterlot and some of the major cities, but the truth is you would have to look through every town and city in the whole nation to be sure. That was a daunting task a hundred years ago, how difficult do you think it is now?”

“I guess you're right,” said Night Spell, “it's just the techniques my parents and grandparents taught me for combating bad dreams didn't work on any of my nightmares.”

“Then how about next time you try to command the dream,” said Silver Fall.

“How do you do that?” asked the three ponies at the table.

“If you're aware you're dreaming you can do it by just thinking about it, because dreams are actually very malleable. A dream is shaped by your thoughts, memories, hopes, and fears. All you have to do is repeat a mantra while going to sleep that reminds you that dreams can be shaped by your will. A nightmare is nothing more than your fears and anxieties given form inside your mind-scape.”

“What's a mantra?”

“It's a kind of chant that's usually said over and over by somepony for one reason or another,” said Silver, “in the case I'm providing it's what is also known as a 'mind over matter' chant. Anypony can do a chant, it's a rather simple task. Cider could you check on the foals?”

“Certainly,” said Cider as she slipped out of her seat and headed to the back room, a few minutes later she was back and said, “good call, they were trying to get into the apple-crumble cookies I made yesterday,” she slid back into her seat.

“It amazes me at well you two can just change your attention while keeping the flow of game,” said Guard Wind, “take two,” he tossed two cards face down on the table. Silver dealt him two cards from the top of the deck

“Take one,” said Night Spell as she gently placed a card on the table with her magic. Silver dealt her one card from the top of the deck.

“Dealer takes one as well,” said Silver as she laid a card on the table and and drew a card.

Three hours later a sizable pile of bits was on the table center and it was time show their cards, this one game lasted longer than anticipated.

“Read them and weep,” said Guard Wind revealing his hand “three Kings, two Aces and a pair of eights high.”

“Three pair with a Princess high,” said Silver as she revealed her hand.”

“Four Knights and three Nines,” said Cider revealing hers, “we all got some good cards dealt, but this game Silver wins.”

“Last I checked you had the better hand,” said Silver, “unless there's rule to this game I don't yet know about.”

“No she's right you have the best set of cards this game,” said Night Spell.

“Fine, don't tell me why you're saying this,” said Silver as she gathered the cards and began to shuffle, “two more games and we're done!” Night Spell and Guard Wind groaned while Cider clapped her fore-hooves with glee.

“The next game passed in silence, Silver got a runt and with discard-and-draw that didn't change, so she folded. The game went by almost in the blink of eye, or it felt that way anyway. As expected Cider won that game, the following game brought same result with Night Spell almost beating the mare because they had nearly matching hands and what decided it was the high cards (a Knight for Night Spell and a King for Cider Press).

After the game Nigh Spell cast her illusion spell on the twins and they followed their mother home.

**************************************

“Steel Wing, you know the rules,” said Silver Fall (in her pegasus form) as she pulled the colt away from the window, “you're not allowed near the window if it's not Nightmare Night, if you do it any other time then somepony that doesn't like to think about such things will see you and freak out.”

“Bwut, mommy, Mwy want thoo gwo woutside and pway im duh cwouds,” came the colt's voice.

“You might get that chance some day,” said Silver as she set the colt by his sister before going back over to the window and closing the drapes, “but for now the ponies in charge of this town don't like to see evidence of what mommy really is when they trot around town. On Nightmare Night they chock it up to us dressing up our foals.

The Summer Sun Celebration had come and passed, Silver hadn't heard what town they had held it in. It had been months since she was able to have a game with her friends, but for some reason after the Summer Sun Celebration they had all gotten really busy. Nightmare Night was now just a few weeks away. Steel Wing got excited because this would mean he could go running around town and his mother wouldn't try to keep him away from the doors, windows or other ponies.

Forest Snowfall however was more concerned with what her mother was up to. Silver had brought home a host of paints, an easel and some painting canvas. The drogoness had been spending the past few months alone in a locked room with the items and the filly wanted to know what her mother had been spending months on with items in question. She had even pestered her mother about the items and what she was doing, only to have her mother say something about showing her what her grandfather looked like. This confused Snowfall to a series of ends, mostly because she always seemed to see both her grandparents every three to four months. In fact Nightmare Night was one of the times of the year her grandparents came to visit.

“I have surprise for you two,” said as she took them towards the living room.

“What is it?” cried Snowfall with excitement.

“Pwobabwy swumthing swoopid,” said Blue Steel as they trotted next to their mother.

When they walked into the living room area a moderately sized framed painting of Silver's father was on the shelf. Both foals stopped at the sight of it and in unison said, “WOW!”

“That's my dad, Guiding Guardian,” said Silver, “it's his memorial picture, it's an old tradition where he came from.”

“Whem cam we mweet him?” asked Snowfall.

“You can't, he passed on to the next world when I was ten years older than you,” said Silver, “I haven't seen my mom since I was cast out by her family. I might show you what she looks like some time in the future.”

“What do that mwean?” asked Steel.

“Your grandfather, my dad, is dead,” said Silver bluntly, “and my mom's family didn't like me, at all. They held me to their standards and didn't think change anything. Long story short, you'll never meet my dad and the chance of you meeting my mom are not likely to happen. Sorry you two, the only grandparents you'll ever get to really know are your dad's parents. But at least I can show you what my parents looked like and tell stories about them.”

“Well I guess I'll start with how my father died, I know it's probably terrible story that will give you nightmares, but it's a story I've decided has to be told to you. You see it all started when a dragon named Inferno Rage challenged my father and...”

***********************************************

Three hours later Lightning Twist trotted into the living room to see the foals curled up next a now fully dragon form Silver, all three were sleeping soundly together. Lightning smiled and just slid a blanket over the three before making sure to close and lock all all the doors into the living room and and make sure all the blinds were closed.

*********************************************

Nightmare Night was finally coming. Just one more week and they would be able to go outside for the night. Snowfall wanted to dress-up for the event, Steel Wing had no intention of slapping a costume on. Snowfall was juggling between Princess Celestia, a book and a winged cat. Silver thought all would be acceptable, but Snowfall was having trouble deciding between the three and a week was barely enough time to get on of the three made to her features. After several hours of arguing with her brother over the merits of dressing up for Nightmare Night she decided forgo her costume, mostly because of her realization that her inability to decide on a costume until last minute.

**********************************************************

Nightmare Night came and passed, the twins got decent hauls. Steel Wing ate almost half his stash in one go almost as soon as they all got back to the house, Forest Snowfall by a massive contrast passed her bag to Silver Fall and asked her mother hide the candy somewhere her brother wouldn't be able to get it. The two seem to not be able to get along, but they can't think of doing things too far apart from one another. The following day, where the 2 woke up at almost two in the afternoon, Silver spent most of it telling them stories that she enjoyed (and now thought of fondly) from her father. Blue showed a great interest in tales of warriors and great battles, while Snowfall showed more interest in tales of how things were not always what they had seemed on the surface.

Chapter 11: Reassignment

Reassignment

The twins were now four years old and just a few weeks short of five years, and just as difficult to handle as ever. Lightning Twist had been called to Cloudsdale for reasons he was not fully aware of at the time, he really hoped he wasn't in trouble. When he got to the official weather control complex in Cloudsdale he was directed to the office of the head weather manager, a one Stormy Night. However when he knocked he heard the voice of a mare that was more well known telling to enter. When Lightning entered he noticed the bright orange coat of the one and only Spitfire. “Have a seat mister Twist,” said the orange mare with a very professional tone, “first off I'll get your obvious question and the requisite greeting out of the way. Hello, I'm Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts and yes I know this is unusual seeing as you expected Stormy Night to be in her office. Long Story Short miss Night was called to Canterlot for a last minute meeting for one reason or another, I'm sure it has to do with the event of this past summer sun celebration. In case you haven't heard, Princess Luna has returned as is in the process of reacclimating herself to modern Equestrian society in addition returning to her Nightly duties.”

Lightning just stared at the orange mare in surprise, “So” continued Spitfire, “I will be handling her duties until her return, which is believed to be later this week. Quick question, how's the family doing?”

“Fine, why do ask?” responded Lightning.

“Your sister is an old friend of mine,” said Spitfire, “and she says you have some of the cutest foals she's ever seen, also that your wife is gorgeous and keeps refusing auditions for modeling.”

Lightning gulped down a large chunk of air before saying, “Yes, well my wife has a unique heritage which is very pronounced in our foals, we're not comfortable letting them out of the house yet.”

“With good reason I assume,” said Spitfire, “anyway, an incident happened in Ponyville a few weeks ago and enough of their local weather team decided pack up and move to other places to drop past the minimum requirement for a weather team in the town, so you will be taking up new weather duties in Ponyville. You have three weeks to prepare after that I will personally see to it that you are dragged there, ready or not.”

“Understood, miss Spitfire,” said Lightning with a shaky voice, “we'll start preparations for the move the moment I get home. However, since I'm here the wife wants me to run a few errands.”

“My sympathies go out to you,” said Spitfire in a sarcastic tone, “dismissed.”

“Thank you ma'am, and please don't patronize me,” said Lightning as he made his way out the door. Dead, I am so dead! Either a national hero kills me for my being to forward, or my wife kills me for not being assertive enough in the situation. Thought Lightning Twist as he mad his way out of the complex. He quickly took to the streets, Silver had asked him to pick some foods that had a higher protein concentration, after all she could only make tofu so many ways before the foals could tell that it was just the beans. As he trotted the streets a sign that read “Sunrise Books” caught his attention or more accurately a book in the window with the title “The Complete Guide to Rare and Mythical Creatures: Revision 12” caught his eye. He asked the mare at the desk, who went by the name of Novel Concept, how much the book in question was and bought before his return flight.

*********************

After his hour and a half flight, Cirrus was considerable distance from Cloudsdale, he was back home. “Honey, kids, I'm home,” said Lightning as he shut the door, “and I'm sorry I didn't pick up any food in Cloudsdale, but I did get this fascinating book. I leafed through it on the way here, it has a section dedicated to explaining what our foals are.”

The sound of rushing hooves greeted his ears before the book was snatched up by Snowfall's tail before she scurried off to a place she knew her brother wouldn't approach without their mom or dad. Silver trotted in with Steel in tow (and in pegasus form) and said, “so what was the call to Cloudsdale about? Nothing too serious I hope.” At this point Steel Wing trotted off to look for his sister.

“Nah, just reassignment to a new town, which means we need to start packing, we have to clear out to Ponyville in a couple of weeks. There was an incident in the town a few weeks back and a considerable portion of their local weather team decided to pack up and move somewhere else, I was selected as one of the replacement ponies.”

“We'll have to pack in such a way that the foals are well hidden,” said Silver, “we don't want the mayor or anypony else starting ruckus regarding the twins being out. Why doesn't he like the idea that one of the citizens is a benign dragon? I've done nothing to make anypony doubt I'm anything but a friendly soul.”

“Dusty's just stuck in the old times,” said Lightning, “also this past Summer Sun celebration was very eventful, Princess Luna returned. Who is that exactly? I didn't want to show my ignorance when I was told, especially since it was a Wonderbolt telling me.”

Silver gave him a 'really, you don't know the history of your own nation' look before saying, “She's Princess Celestia's younger sister, she fell victim to a dark force about a thousand years ago and became the villain known as Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon creating the iconic image of the Mare in the Moon about a thousand years ago. Seriously, how is it I know your history and lore better than you? I'm a dragon, I can tell you all about different kinds of dragons without a thought, easily, but when it comes to a set of foal's tales that anypony should know you fall flat are your face.”

“In my defense I never really paid much attention to those old stories, I just sort of tuned them out.”

“We all have our shortcomings Lightning, and true love is sticking with your partner in spite of their failings.”

“The foals are in another room now,” said Lightning.

“Snowfall hasn't learned how to read just yet, she's probably looking to see if the book has any illustrations, in the library.”

“Steel won't enter that place without either of us,” said Lightning with a smirk, “I'll get Steel, you get Snowfall and we can all start packing. The move is probably a good idea, the foals are almost school age and we'll have to come to a decision regarding their lesson plans by then.”

“I know,” said Silver with a sigh, “I've been telling them stories that are intended also teach lessons. They think they're just pretty stories right now, but they'll probably come to an understanding to the lessons taught in the stories when they're older.”

With that the two went their opposite ways to gather their children and prepare for the move.

***************************************

It was two hours later and about a dozen boxes were filling the front room of the complex, Snowfall was hugging the newly purchased book tightly to her (she had decided it was her new favorite thing in the world, especially since there were a dozen hypothetical renderings of what a kirin would look like), her mother had to read the chapter sections too Snowfall and had promised the filly that she would teach her how to read after the move. The twins were both excited to be moving, it would mean seeing more of the world (they were considerably less excited to learn that they would be hiding amongst the luggage during the majority of the move).

Silver was preparing a set of moving boxes done up like a play fort which would act as the hiding place for the twins during the move when Snowfall said in her inquisitive little voice, “Mommy, will our new home be a place where we can run around in the yard or walk around town?” Snowfall became very articulate with her words at only three years, a major accomplishment since Silver had been told most ponies can't properly articulate their words until around the age of five. Steel Wing was still stuck in foal speak.

While checking over everything before heading out to ensure that everything was indeed packed Silver said to Lightning, “So, who's the new boss? Are they nice?”

“Stormy Night,” said Lightning with a hint of dread, that Silver apparently decided to disregard or didn't seem to catch discomfort in his voice, “I was told by one of the Wonderbolts about my reassignment,” This is it, thought Lightning, I am so going to die, “captain Spitfire to be precise.”

“Oh,” said Silver with a smirk, “what was your impression of her?”

“Very formal, honestly I think she needs to relax, it's like her plot was way too tight,” that's it, I am one very dead stallion.

“I sincerely hope she didn't get the impression that you're a pushover,” said Silver with a smirk that she meant as reassuring, but Lightning found both as attractive as it was terrifying.

“I'm... I was submissive in her presence, so that's likely the impression she got,” said Lightning with a hint of fear in his voice, this is it, he thought, I am so going to die at the claws of the dragon I was foolish enough to marry.

“Well, to be honest,” said Silver calmly as she looked over the move carrier that would be hiding the twins, “you are far less dominant than most stallions, I don't see it as being too bad.”

Lightning gave a deep sigh, “I thought you were going to kill me for not being more assertive.”

“Lightning,” said Silver with a chuckle, “I'm over three centuries old, I have a gotten better and longer experience being able to tell the nature of ponies and animals than most would think possible. The last time I checked I've been able to better manage my emotional state since I had the twins. If that were not the case you would've had to explain how a berserk dragon got to the town without anypony noticing a few dozen times already. So, where are we moving to again?”

“Ponyville.”

____________________________________________

At the same time a certain pink party mare in Ponyville got a series of sensations in her body and gave an explosive deceleration that four new ponies were coming to town and started her mad rush to prepare. “Let's see a stallion, mare, and two foals,” said Pinkie Pie to no pony in particular as she minded an empty Sugurcube Corner, “all fliers, this might be a little tricky, but absolutely tootsly doable. Oh wait, only one is a pony and two are sort of ponies, and one isn't a pony, but totally the kind of... individual we can be friends with.”

________________________________________________________

Silver blinked a few times before saying, “I just got the strangest feeling that we're going to have an interesting reception, it is almost like I caught a glimpse of my dreams.”

“Really?” said Lightning, “what did you see?”

“Pink, a lot of pink,” said Silver, “whatever is on the way is going to involve something very pink, maybe somepony. It's hard to tell, the vision-like dreams blink in and out on me.”

“Oh well,” said Lightning, “at least we got fair warning, I'm still not sure how you get those dreams that you say help you divine the future.”

“Possibly a family trait,” said Silver, “after all my dad could do magic, maybe one day Snowfall or Steel will show an aptitude for magic as well.”

“Well you can sort of do magic,” said Lightning.

“Five spells does not a spell caster make me,” responded Silver in a teasing voice, “besides I haven't used any of them since before the twins were born and for the most part they're not all that useful so it's no big loss.”

“You used that old Equestrian dialect again, you do that when you feel like being ironic. You're a dragon with more than one breath type, I'd say that's impressive enough.”

“Thanks honey,” said Silver with a smile, go get our son while I grab our daughter it's almost time to go.” Lightning nodded and was off. Silver rolled her eyes as she headed to the house's former small library. She found her daughter hugging her new favorite book in front of the place where she had kept her finished memorial image of her father. “You know,” said the disguised dragoness causing her daughter jump in surprise, “my father could do magic, maybe someday you will show signs of being able to cast spells.”

“Really?” said Snowfall with excitement.

“Provided we can find you an instructor,” said Silver, “mommy doesn't really know any spells. But that won't be possible if you just sit here, go take your place for the move,” with that Snowfall rushed out of the room to her designated place for the move. When the two got back to where they were going to move everything out they found Steel Wing tied down with cloud chains, something that caused his sister laugh hysterically and his mother to look over at his father with a look that said there would be explaining at length (and a trouble verdict would be decided after the explanation).

Taking a closer look at her children as she made some fine adjustments to their carrier Silver could see how they had changed physically over years a bit more closely. Steel Wing's hind legs had developed a set of bony pads around the knees for extra protection in addition his tail hairs were speckled with scales that were the same color as his coat. Forest Snowfall's tail had continued to grow until it was almost a quarter her total length on its own, in addition her wings had grown to be a little over twice the size of those of a pegasus that was equivalent to her size, fortunately she had much finer motor control over tail and stronger wing muscles to ensure that she didn't trip over either, she also wore her ribbon like a bow in her mane (something she had insisted on after she was able to hold her wings to side without the aid of the simple accessory. Both had figured out their wings were collapsible like their mother's wings (a trait she had explained was highly common among winged dragons).

After the last minute checking Silver nodded and the luggage was placed around the twins before the securing walls were placed around said luggage. The flight to Ponyville would be around 2 hours, even if the twins could be seen flying with their parents they wouldn't have been able to maintain their flight for such an extended period(despite Steel's insistence that he could do it and then some). After making sure the twins would remain quiet during the flight, with Snowfall it was easy, Steel was a bit more of a chore. After getting him to promise to be quiet in exchange for some free flight time once they were settled in they were off.

*********************************

The two hour flight with the cart bearing all their possessions was tiring for Lightning, whom had fallen asleep a half hour before the town came into view. Silver roused her husband after landing, she wasn't adverse to picking up his slack (especially considering her natural strength). She had landed them just outside the city hall building so that Lightning could take care of the final process, he had been told all the preparations were already made. The stallion headed in to finish the process of moving.

While looking about with genuine interest the pegasus with an indigo mane and tail disguised dragoness noticed a few sites that would be of interest. She spotted Carousel Boutique, she'd probably end up their as a model at some point; Golden Oaks Library, she could read the sign with her incredibly sharp eyes and noted that Snowfall would probably be found there more often than other location town. Turning her eyes upwards she spotted a cloud house a short ways off and up, that would belong to a pegasus for sure she thought.

As Silver looked around she got the sensation that somepony was watching her. A short ways off Pinkie Pie was in a tree hanging by her tail taking notes, in her usual way, on the new arrivals. She noted that the mare that had arrived was a highly noticeable color, that apparently had a coat that clashed with half the party supplies she was planning on using, while her mane and tail were far more normal by pony standards. She saw the mare whispering something to a section of the cart, she correctly assumed this was where the foals were hiding.

Pinkie watched a dark green pegasus stallion with a sky blue mane and tail walk out of the town hall build with a set of keys and say something, after listening to him the silver coated mare pointed in Pinkie's direction and said something, Pinkie saw the stallion raise his eyebrows in surprise before muttering something before unhitching the mare and hitching himself to the cart. The mare walked over to Pinkie and said in a cool feeling motherly voice, “I assume you are Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie just nodded and went back to her notes, “I'm Silver Fall, it's a pleasure to meet you. The mayor said you would know how to get us to our new address, also something about a rampaging dragon scaring off almost half the weather team along with a sizable portion of the rest of the town,” Pinkie nodded again as she continued her notes, “well then, she also said you can take us to our new address,” the mare passed Pinkie a small piece of parchment, the overly pink blue eyed pony put her notebook and pencil into her mane before taking the sheet.

After looking at it for half a second she said in an overly cheery voice, “Oki, doki, Loki, let's get you to your new house. Ooh, and you'll get a welcome party in a few hours, gotta make sure you're kind of settled in before we start the party. Don't worry I'll make sure there's plenty of fun stuff for your foals.”

Silver gave the pink mare a surprised look before saying, “how did you... never mind, yes I have two foals, twins in fact. One of them is showing signs being a little scholar, she's a very well behaved girl, her brother is very athletically minded and will probably not want any sort of game that doesn't feel like it's testing him. Now can we please lead my husband, children and belongings to the address on the paper I just passed you.”

“Sure thing,” said Pinkie as she hopped toward the cart, this is going to be an interesting first day, thought Silver, hoping it went well. After they got to their new house, a surprisingly spacious two story building for ground based ponies, and Lightning was bringing his keys to the house when Pinkie hopped off humming, Silver's ears thought she heard the pink mare humming a song about either cupcakes or meeting some new friends before deciding it was a song of the mare's own devising that was about both.

“Well,” said Silver after all their luggage was loaded in to the spacious front room, “she's an interesting one, reminds me of a unicorn called Party Punch from a while ago, I wonder if she could be related in some way.”

“What was that unicorn like?” asked Snowfall as she and here brother let out of their carrier.

“When you meet Pinkie Pie you'll know,” said Silver with a chuckle, “although she was little different in color, being a happy blue, don't ask me how that's possible, seems to do that. Now that I think about it her mane was the same color as Pinkie's eyes and Pinkie's coat was the same color as her eyes. Of course I could be mixing a few things up, after all mommy's a bit of and old codger.”

The twins giggled and Lightning said, “You take the twins and their things to their new room I'll handle the rest of our things.”

“Don't forget to check the appliances in the kitchen,” said Silver with a teasing voice, “our last house was assured to have working appliances and...”

“The fridge cut out so much we ended up calling for a service to haul it away after we found a new one, that fridge is still back in Cirrus, I liked that fridge,” replied Lightning.

“So did our son,” said Silver as she ascended the stairs with twins in her natural state while holding a set of boxes that had the impression the twins on them in her tail. Snowfall still had her favorite book in her tail.

Out the window after getting to the new room for the twins she spotted what looked like a blue maned black unicorn mare with... leathery wings? And a small bat winged cream and white filly walking past. Silver blinked a few times and put more focus into her eyes to improve her visual perception and noticed the mare had dark blue draconic eyes while the filly had yellow cat like eyes, and fangs? Well, thought silver, the last time I saw one of those was... 156 years ago, of course it was a scout looking for a new place to put their colony, never talked to the poor stallion though.

**********************************************

Two hours later what sounded like a mariachi band and polka band were having a musical duel came from down the stairs along with garbled words from Lightning Twist. Silver's sharp ears picked up on the sound of somepony ascending the stairs, and quickly shouted, “We'll be down in a moment, just making sure all the twins' things are all here, you know how moving can be.” The sound of stairs being climbed turned into going down them. Silver gave a little sigh of relief. “Alright you two, since keeping it hidden until we feel everypony is ready is no longer a viable option...”

The voice of an irate mare, with what sounded like a slight roar to her voice to Silver's ears, cut through the din with the simple expression, “It is way too loud in here, Squeaks has really sensitive ears. Pinkie Why does it sound like you have a pair of bands having a duel in here? And for that matter, why is it Squeaks and I got here before the rest of your friends? Especially since Twilight is technically the closest to this place. Did you get permission for this one?”

“They didn't say no,” came Pinkie's voice as the music suddenly cut out, “sorry, I got a little carried away.”

“That doesn't explain why I'm here,” came the voice, “or why you insisted every foal we could get our hooves on come to this party. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Dinky, Pinchy, and Twist are all here in addition to Squeaky. I would have brought Autumn, but mom took her and Orange out of town for the wee.”

“So, why is the piñata in the shape of a manticore?” came a much younger squeaky sounding voice.

“It was the only one I could find,” said Pinkie with a despondent voice that quickly went back to chipper, “guess that means I have to go shopping for more party supplies, definitely need more...”

“Not that your conversation isn't scintillating,” came Lightning's voice, “but my wife and foals are still upstairs and I'm wondering why the party, couldn't you have just given us a welcome fruit basket or flower bowl instead?”

“And what fun would that be,” came Pinkie's voice, “those don't make ponies get to know new ponies like a party does.”

“Dreadfully sorry about this dear,” came a prim sounding female voice, “but this is just how Pinkie is, you get used it after a while.”

“Um,” a very low voice that Silver figured was far too low for anypony to make out, and proven right when the question, “are they nice ponies?” went unanswered for several minutes.

A brash feminine voice following a rather loud whoosh came out saying, “Woo, made it, didn't want to miss a Pinkie Party.”

“Rainbow Dash we specifically told you this party would be a full two hours earlier than it was supposed to in order for this exact thing to not happen,” came a female voice that denoted a considerable amount of book learning.”

“Ya'll need ta just calm down,” came a country mare's voice, with an accent that sounded very familiar to the dragoness.

Well time to meet my doom thought Silver, the dragoness told the twins to keep close and opened the door before walking out. As she made her way gingerly down the stairs the twins rushed down the steps, the dragoness gave and exasperated sigh. Looking up she noticed the black mare looking to her direction then the twins and back several times. It was doing so that the mare noticed the book in Snowfall's tail, and only caught part of the book's title.

“Ooh,” said Pinkie, “your foals aren't like any I've...” the pink mare stopped when she noticed the literal dragon in the room.

Silver gave a deep sigh before saying, “I'm sure you all have questions, I will do my best to answer the ones I am able to.”

A lavender unicorn pulled out a notebook and quills, it was at this point Silver noticed the purple and green baby dragon in the room giving an awestruck look.

“I see we have a wyrmling in the room,” Silver said, quietly chuckling at the faces everyone in the room made, “that's what you call a baby dragon.”

“Really?” asked a soft yellow pegasus with pink mane and tail in a really soft voice.

“Yes,” said Silver, “and don't worry about me I haven't had meat in centuries, I'm strictly a herbivore. By my own volition”

“Really?” came the peagasus's voice with excitement, “how did you manage that?”

“I have some very special beans that I eat that contain most of the nutrients I need, I supplement the rest with other plants.”

“Wait,” said the country mare, “yer sayin' that ya, a fully grown dragon, made the conscious decision ta not eat meat.”

“Yes well, I'm actually rather... unique when compared to other dragons,” said Silver.

“How unique?” came an excited voice from the purple mare, “I want to know everything, this will be such a wonderful presentation to the academic community.”

“Twilight, calm down,” shouted Pinkie to the purple unicorn, “they just moved here, sheesh, give them a few days before the interrogation.”

“Pinkie telling everypony to take it easy, well...” the cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and maroon colored eyes was cut off.

“We need to know about where they just came from and what they're like before all that,” continued Pinkie.

“That's kind what an interrogation is,” snarked the black mare, which now that she looked at her more closely Silver noticed said mare towered over the rest of the ponies in attendance. “So, you had a pair of kirins, it's nice to see I'm not the only one in Equestria. Of course the Princesses will want to meet you,” she gestured to the foals which were now just running around and playing like nothing awkward was going on, “and them.”

“I'm well aware of that,” said Silver, “I just don't know how well they'll take it when they learn about me.”

“Probably as interested as Rarity,” said the Cyan pegasus with a giggle.

Silver turned her head to notice a white unicorn mare with well styled purple mane and tail inspecting every inch of her. “Can I help you miss...” said Silver.

“Rarity, darling,” said the unicorn in the prim voice she had noticed earlier, “your scales are just absolutely beautiful, is there a way I can get a hold of some while they still have their luster?”

“Not to my knowledge, but if you want I could probably give you a few lustrous pearls.”

“You mean make her some pearls,” said Ligtning playfully before realizing what he just said.

Silver shot her husband a look that told him that he would sleeping outside on their first night in town, which he didn't read quite right.

“What does he mean make?” came the voices of Twilight and Rarity simultaneously.

“My tears coalesce into pearls,” said Silver with a sigh, “you just have to make me so happy I'm crying tears of joy. Well you can also make me so sad I cry tears of sorrow, but those are atrocious things that bring back a lot of bad memories.”

“So we just have to make her laugh so hard she's crying her happiness,” said Pinkie with excitement.

“Challenge accepted,” said the cyan pegasus.

“Getting back to the matter at hoof,” said Silver, “I believe you said this was supposed to be a party, the only ones taking advantage of that are the foals.”

“So,” said Pinkie excitedly, “what are their names? I like to know everypony in Ponyville.”

“Befer ya'll get ta that,” said the orange earth pony with a blond mane and tail, “Pinkie you said there was a silver colored mare tha' moved in here, but all Ah see tha's silver is this um... what is the term ya use fer uh girl dragon?”

“Dragoness,” said Silver with a smile, “and I am the mare in question.”

“Sugurcube ya don' look lahk uh mare,” stated the orange pony.

“Well, ya see darlin',” said Silver in a perfect imitation of the Apple clan's accent, and shifting to her pegasus form, when she did everypony talking to her took notice of how every muscle, fiber and hair changed before their eyes, “Ah've got uh few little tricks uhf mah own,” she then shifted back to her natural look and said in her usual voice, “it's a trait I inherited from my father.”

“Yah were mockin' me while ya did tha',” said the orange pony with a strong note of anger, while all the fillies that had heard the exchange were giggling in the background.

“Applejack lighten up,” said Pinkie, “I think she was just trying to lighten the mood.”

“So, you're part of the Apple clan,” said Silver with a note of pride, “I could tell the moment I heard your voice. By the way your cousin Apple Chiller in Mustang is a nice little colt, I should know I was his foal-sitter and happen to be good friends with his wife.”

Everypony, including the foals stopped at this, “um, just how long have you been around?” asked Twilight with care.

“I've been around for a little over three centuries,” said Silver with nothing other than honesty in her voice, “and thus the only older beings in Equestria proper are...”

“The princesses,” finished Twilight, “how long is your life expectancy?”

“A few thousand years,” said Silver, “I think.”

“What do you mean you think,” said Pinkie with interest holding a plate covered in chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting and adorned with apple slices cut to look like little version of the black mare.

“You see I'm a mixed blood, which means that I'm two different tribes of dragon blended together, so my abilities aren't as clear cut as a pure blood. I know this isn't a big deal for ponies these days since the tribes of pony have been intermingling lineages for quite some time now, but to some dragon clans it's far from a term of endearment.”

“Well,” said Twilight, “I guess that explains why you look the way you do. What kind of dragons are there?” The black mare just kept watching with a wary eye, almost like she was unsure what to make of any of what was happening in front of her.

“There are numerous tribes of dragons,” started Silver, who paused when she heard the sound of writing only to see the young dragon and Twilight both in the act of taking notes before continuing, “the tribes each belong to different groupings. The Fire Tribes, Wind Tribes, Water Tribes, Earth Tribes, and Thunder Tribes are the most common in the Equestria area, to my knowledge.” more scribbling, “the Fire Tribes are the most well known and are often characterized by hotheadedness and their immense obsession with their hoards in addition to destructive tendencies. The Wind Tribes are mostly characterized by their flighty personalities and immense sense of speed. The Water Tribes are mostly characterized by their gentle nurturing personalities and wishie-washy mindsets. The Thunder Tribes are mostly characterized by their impulsively competitive natures and erratic behavior. And the Earth Tribes are mostly characterized by their immense devotion, levelheadedness and strong sense of acceptance.”

“Ooh, Princess Celestia said that Spike is an Earth Dragon,” stated Pinkie.

“Really, could you give me the details of your wyrmling associate? Leave out coloration, that tends to change over the course of an Earth dragon's life cycle in some tribes.”

“Well he's super friendly, really devoted to his work, seems to suffer from a sense of unrequited love, is a really good digger when I take him gem hunting and breaths fire,” said Rarity.

“Ooh, and he turned into a big dragon the size of big hill when he went all greed crazy, of course that was after a short period where he was a pony sized dragon with wings,” said Pinkie.

“Hm,” Silver started mumbling, “can't be a Terra-Claw, they don't have any combustible breath abilities or develop wings during maturation cycles; maybe a Vulcan Crawl, but those usually go seeking volcanoes during all forms of maturation,” Silver's muttering took on in a musing tone, “could be a Pyro Tunneler, but they have tendencies to go looking for the nearest place with high gem deposits and ignore everything else up to and including the massive hoard they've been collecting.” The sound of a quill snapping brought Silver back to reality, “alright that's it for Silver's primer course on dragons, “we'll have the full course another day, at which point I will answer all your questions regarding dragons. Everypony back to the party.”

With that she headed for the buffet table. While in the process of enjoying a piece of broccoli with a creamy white dip she was unfamiliar with when the black mare, with the little cream and white bat filly in tow trotted up to her and said, “I know you said you would answer all questions regarding dragons at a later date, but could you at least give me a brief summary of Wyverns. My Father was one, I never got to know him,” the mare looked around apprehensively like she wasn't sure she wanted the other guests to hear her or not.

“Wyverns have a tradition of passing their family names down to each generation, most breath fire as a defense or weapon, however between twenty and forty percent have been known to belch blasts of high pressured high speed air instead and will often combine it with their roars to make themselves come off as more dangerous. They technically belong to Fire and Wind Tribes as result of this.”

The mare blinked a few times before saying, “sorry, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Midnight Storm and this is Squeaks, my daughter.”

“Well that's nice,” said Silver, “technically since my mother was a member of the Fire Tribes I could be considered a distant cousin to you, Midnight. That means Squeaks has been playing with her new little cousins, the twins are only five years old so it's your job as an older member of the same generation to help them out when they need it.”

“Really,” she said with excitement, “wait, you still didn't say what their names are.”

“The filly is Forest Snowfall, she's the own with feather covered dragon wings and articulating tail, and the colt is Steel Wing, I think you figured out which one he is.”

Squeaks ran off to play with the other foals and share the news.

“Was that really necessary?” Inquired Midnight.

“Probably not, but I think it's nice to have more ponies to lean on, and seeing foals happy is one of the things that makes me feel most accomplished. A little word of warning Midnight, from what I've been told about hybrids the likelihood of them being fertile enough for bearing offspring is very low, I'll explain how low for everyone at my little... seminar on the subject, there will be a separate one from dragons on what dragons where I openly share my knowledge regarding kirins.”

The black mare just nodded and trotted off. Turning her attention to the foals as she grabbed a cupcake from the tray behind her she said, “how long are you going to just stand there not saying anything miss Pie, from what I've read about you during prior interactions you have something you want to get off your hooves and chest.”

“Well,” said the pink pony in her chipper voice, “I think you said that mostly because you want to be called auntie, but seriously you don't look a day over thirty years.”

“Most dragons grow slowly during their first twenty years, then experience annual growth spurts for the following forty years, also we experience the aging process at a slower rate than ponies. What is twenty years to a dragon is roughly fifty-two to a pony. We just feel time passing differently.” The sound of a belching and the smell of something burning in reverse met Silver's senses shortly after.

“It's for you,” said Spike in a youthful yet annoyed voice that had an undertone of snarkiness as he handed Silver a scroll.

Silver looked over the letter shortly later after watching the young dragon walk off, by this Pinkie had gone to somewhere else. Inside the letter, which had some of the most beautiful penmareship the dragon had seen, said,

“My dear Silver Fall, I look forward to meeting you and hearing how it is you came to be the mother of some of the next generation of kirins. Although due to my schedule structure I will not be able to visit Ponville for quite some time and see your foals for myself. However I am inviting you to the Nightmare Night festivities in Canterlot, I hope you can find somepony qualified to look after your foals at that time, knowing the head of Ponyville's weather team your husband may not be able to look after them that particular night.

~ to our first official visit, Princess Celestia

ps Do your best to make a memorable entrance.

Silver stared at the message for a moment before looking over at her husband who was being talked to by Rainbow Dash.

Silver walked over and said, “And what are you two talking about? Nothing too hazardous I hope.”

“Not at all,” said Rainbow as she puffed her chest out, “although I would say go and get your stallion fixed, this guy's a pushover.”

“Yes well,” said Silver with a smile, “he's a sweetheart and hard worker.”

“And she's my new immediate boss,” said Lightning pointing to Rainbow with a wing.

“If you want a pony that understands competition I suggest you look up Night Racer,” said Silver, “she's an old friend of Lightning's, last I checked she was still in Cirrus.”

“That little rundown town,” said Rainbow, “I heard they have some rather out of date mindsets, that and the mayor there is a jerk.”

“Yes, well,” said Silver, “Dusty Skies is a bit of an archaic mind. When I revealed myself in Mustang the ponies there just took it in stride, same with the ponies that belonged to families I got into the good graces of over the past two-hundred years, but Dusty Skies and his supporters freaked out and started trying to say I was an attacking dragon,” she gave a huff of annoyance, “they were the only aggressive ones in the time I was in my natural state before the whole town, after I made it back to our house I reverted to my pony persona and those jerks had the gall to say they 'chased off the violent dragon' and went to acting like my whole shifting in front of the whole town was nothing more than a hallucination or bad dream. We could only let the twins out on Nightmare Night because of it.”

“Dude, not cool,” said Rainbow, “you just walked away? I would have flown straight up to his face and...”

“Whoa Nelly,” said Applejack cutting the rainbow maned pegasus off, “we are in the same room as foals, Ah don't think they'd appreciate 'earing something potentially hazardous ta somepony's 'ealth.”

Silver chuckled and said, “I think Steel Wing might try to follow Rainbow around and learn all her flying secrets, he has that kind of mindset. Snowfall seems to have taken a shine to Twilight, they're both academically minded. Looks like Twilight is asking if she can see Snowfall's favorite book, the poor dear can't read just yet. I'll be giving Snowfall some reading lessons for the next couple of days, tell your friends I'll give the full lecture on dragons in four days, we still need to acclimate to the town.” Rainbow nodded and zipped off.

“My heroine,” said Lightning with a smile.

“You are still in trouble mister,” retorted Silver.

“I know, I know,” said Lightning, “I'm spending the night on the couch.

“No that's too comfortable for you,” said Silver with a smirk, “we have a lovely tree right outside behind the house. You. Are. Sleeping. Outside. Tonight. And. If. I. Ever. Hear. About. You. Spending. The. Night. At. Somepony. Else's. Place. Then. You. Keep. Spending. The. Night. Outside. Until. It. Stops.” The dragoness punctuated each word of the sentence and threat with her claw lightly digging into Lightning's forehead. The stallion gulped loudly and nodded mechanically before dashing away. The sound of Rainbow laughing followed shortly after. Looking over at Applejack the country mare just gave tip of her stetson hat and a curt nod.

As the party finally began to die down, a three hour affair, Twilight trotted up and said, “quick question before I leave and we have to wait for the seminar to talk about this, how do you know all the stuff you do about dragons?”

Silver gave the lavender mare a smile and said, “how do you think kept myself occupied for the past three centuries? Little joke there, to answer your question I learned it from my parents from the time I was five to the time I was eleven. Most other dragons were given the same lessons, but the ones in mom's clan ignored the lessons in favor of pointless acts of strength and strength enhancement. The thing is even though it was part of the common dragon education system most of the dragons from mom's clan didn't pay attention because the were too busy doing musclebound things. I don't see why, considering that only dragoons were allowed to take part in duels.” Twilight, as before, jotted everything the dragoness said down. “Why are you recording ev... right not many official records that say how dragons actually are, and to answer that coming question a dragoon is what you call an adult male dragon. Get going home and I will give the seminar in a few days, although you might end up seeing me beforehoof.”

“Why is that?” inquired the purple mare as she was getting ready to leave.

“Two reasons,” stated Silver, “one my daughter has taken a shine to you, and two, I'm probably going to be over to the library, which I heard you are the caretaker of these days, to see if there are any easy reading books to help her with her education. I promised her I would teach her to read once we we get settled in, and I am of the camp that always keeps its promises. I gave Juicy an oath to maker feel more at ease about me keeping a promise.”

Twilight nodded and trotted out the door, “Um, who's Juicy?” came Applejack's voice from behind the dragoness.

Silver turned around to see Applejack and Apple Bloom staring at her with interest. “The daughter of Apple Chiller and Cider Press,” said Silver with a smile, “her name is Apple Juice, but Cider and I call her Juicy. She's a little over a year older than the twins. Oh and before I forget, the last time I saw her she had no cutie mark.”

Apple Bloom's face lit up before she dashed out the door, presumably to set up for telling her friends in a grand manner she has a cousin around their age with no cutie mark.

“Tha' was uh good thang you did,” said Applejack as she trotted out the door and once again tipped her brown stetson hat to the dragoness before exiting the portal.

“You simply...” started Rarity on her way out.

“Must come to the boutique so that you can try a few things,” finished Silver, “I've encountered a few ponies like you over my time, never took them up on their offers though. I'm sure you must have heard rumors over the years of a mysterious exotic beauty that has made the decision to never be a model,” Rarity slowly, yet primly, nodded her head, “chances are I might have been the originator of such rumors with my constant refusals. Now, I will see you another day.”

The white mare trotted out the door after calling for Sweetie Belle.

“So,” said Rainbow Dash on her way out with Scootaloo in Tow, “can you do any other awesome stuff?”

“You'll just have to attend that seminar in four days to find out,” said Silver with a teasing voice, “besides a form shifting dragon should be enough for you right now.”

“I guess,” said Rainbow, “come on squirt, it's time I got you back to your parents.”

A groan and whining followed by a string reasons to stay spilled from Schootaloo's mouth as she followed Rainbow out. Silver just shook her head. The rest filed out without a word until only a certain yellow pegasus remained.

“Fluttershy, was it?” said Silver, “what is it I can help you?”

“Wh-wh-what...”

“was it I supplemented my diet in place of meat,” finished Silver, she quickly walked into the kitchen and came back with soybean a little bigger than the mare's head, “these,” she said, “I'll be growing a small garden to these, I should be able to take a few to market in a few months. You can have this one, I'll also show you how to make tofu at another date if you want,” she smiled as the mare trotted out the door with the bean. “Alright you two,” she said to the twins, “time for bed, this is the most excitement you've had in your lives, and I have a feeling it's just going to get better.” Without complaint the the twins ran up the stairs, “As for you mister,” she said as she turned to her husband, “you are still in trouble, and that means...”

“I'm sleeping outside tonight, and if I try circumvent my punishment the act will continue until the whole town catches on and doesn't let me spend the night with them.”

“Good boy,” said Silver, “now, you...door.”

“Yes dear,” said the pegasus stallion with resignation.

“Oh and before I forget,” said Silver just before he reached the door, “clouds are off limits until sunrise.” Lightning gave out a sound that that was somewhere between a groan and sigh as he exited the house and closed the door and quietly behind himself. Silver quickly opened the door and just said, “keys,” Lightning passed her his keys, “and the other sets,” he gave her the rest with a resigned sigh, holding all the keys in her claws and silently counting them all Silver had her tail slide out to be in front of the stallion as the sun was setting behind him, he passed two more sets of keys to the dragoness who just gave prim nod before pulling her whole body into the house and the sound of doors locking could be heard. Before long the sound of Silver heading to the master bedroom.

****************************************

Silver awoke to the sound of the door being knocked on, the sunrise still in its infancy. She figured it was her husband banging on her door, she was quite surprised to see a very irritated looking white rabbit sitting on Fluttershy's head. “Um, Fluttershy why are you here at sunrise?”

“Oh, um I cut that large been you gave me into pieces” she said in her usual soft voice, “and shared it with with Angel and some of my animal friends, they really liked it. Angel was very insistent that we get another.”

Silver gave a sigh before saying, “Come on in, I might as well make breakfast since I'm up so early, feel free to join us.”

“Oh, um, thank you,” said Fluttershy, “I saw Lightning Twist in the tree behind your house, he didn't look very comfortable, why wasn't he in here with you?”

“He needed to be punished for saying something like that too soon,” said Silver, who quickly realized that the yellow mare probably hadn't heard the conversation that prompted the stallion to sleep outside.

“Oh, um, I hope you weren't being too harsh.”

“As long as nopony else let him stay the night it was only for one night,” said Silver as she made her way into the kitchen. Once the two were in the kitchen Silver opened the fridge door and pulled out a small red clay pitcher and poured the contents into a pair of glasses she got by opening a cupboard with her tail. “This should keep him satiated until breakfast is cooked, you should try it as well.”

“What is it?” asked the yellow mare with interested as the white rabbit sniffed the glass.

“Soy milk,” said Silver, “I raised the twins on it when the came time to wean them,” she pulled out a platter with large block of what appeared to be some kind of white gelatin from the fridge, after setting it on the counter next to sink she went through motions of washing her claws, carefully with one of her claws she cut off a small chunky piece before placing the chunk on the counter and placed the block back in the fridge. The dragoness then began washing her 'hands' before going to turn on the stove and getting a high walled frying pan out and placing it on the activated surface of the stove before getting back to the slice of gelatin. After a few minutes of seeming to message the gelatin what looked like two pairs of white thin strips and a collection of a mass of thin noodles were in front of the dragoness who then got out set of spices from another cupboard and with a practiced claw moved different mixtures of the spices over each group of items before messaging them into the pieces of white food without distorting their form. She then threw the strips in the pan before opening a drawer next to the stove and pulling out a set of tongs and after a minute or two used the tongs to flip the strips and opened another cupboard with her tail and pulled out a set of five large plates and two small plates and set them down on the counter by the stove before using the tongs to remove the strips from the pan and place them in even divisions on two of the larger plates before bringing noodles into the pan.

After a few minutes of tending the noodles they were broken into portions on all the plates. A small plate loaded with noodles was before Angel, a larger plate with noodles was in front of Fluttershy. Fluttershy saw the plates with the strips were placed closest to the stairs and the other plates were to the right of those, making sort of circle around the round table in the kitchen. The sound of foals bounding down the stairs was heard while Angel sniffed the white noodles dotted with spice specks.

“Oh boy,” said Steel Wing, “bacon,” immediately snatching up one of the strips and almost inhaling it.

Forest Snowfall shot her twin an annoyed look before saying, “mommy, may I please have some silverware for my meal.”

“I was just getting to that, Snowfall,” said Silver as she opened a drawer and the sound metal clinking was heard as her tail grabbed at a bunch of the utensils. With a practiced motion Silver's tail dropped a fork on the right side of the plate and knife on the left side of the plate, for each and every plate (there was even a small set of the silverware for Angel). Snowfall thanked her mother and started using her silverware to gracefully eat her food, with her tail holding the fork, while her brother just seemed to ignore the utensils and ate more like a mad goat.

Silver set some glasses in front of the plates that didn't have any yet and poured some orange juice from a gray clay pitcher into the glasses in front of the twins before returning it to the fridge and pulled out a brown clay pitcher and poured a blue liquid into the glasses that were still empty before seating herself in front of one of the plates that had yet to have an owner. Just as Silver was starting on her third forkful of noodles, Fluttershy her first (with Angel following Steel Wing's example), the door flew open and a very exhausted Lightning Twist dragged himself in before almost collapsing in front of the remaining plate, him muttering something about being forced into an early morning exercise routine with a cyan terror.

Silver giggled around her drink as she carefully sipped it, her daughter following her mother's example while Steel just chugged his drink like he was rushing off somewhere.

“Um,” said Fluttershy as she brought the drink to her lips, “aren't you going to get him to work on his manners?” she took a sip of the white liquid and gave startled look before taking a deeper sip, Angel just chugged it once he saw it wasn't an immediate threat to the yellow mare (then made a motion that he wanted more).

Silver gave a light chuckle before bringing out the pitcher for the soy milk out and pouring a new glass for the rabbit before setting it in front of Fluttershy and saying, “I'll teach you how to make the soy milk too, although it might take a few months what with me having to grow a whole new stock and the actual process of instructing you how to make tofu and soy milk.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, “okay then, but you really don't have to if you don't want to.”

“That's just it,” said Silver, a loud belch came from Steel wing causing the mare, filly and dragoness to shoot him a disapproving glance, “I want to. Steel, for being so disrespectful in the presence of company you are grounded both figuratively and literally. Snowfall, get the wing chains and cloud lock when you're done with breakfast.”

“Wing Chains?” said Fluttershy with quite a bit of fear.

“They're just cloud chains,” said Silver, “and it's only for the day, we've tried stern lectures to no avail. This is just his punishment for ignoring one of the house rules, when the twins do something that Lightning or I disapprove of we take away something they prize for a day. Snowfall hasn't done anything bad in months, as a reward for being such a good filly I'm going to allow her to spend the day anywhere in town she wants with anypony she wants.”

“No fair,” retorted Steel Wing.

“Well then you should have more incentive to behave when we have company around, what if it were Rainbow Dash at joining us? Would you want to be rude in front of her?”

“No mom,” said Steel Wing, “I'll be good. Also, miss Fluttershy's stare is scary.”

Silver looked over at the demure yellow pegasus before saying, “I find you to be one of the least intimidating entities I have ever encountered, so please don't take offense when I ask, why did my son just say that something about you scares him?”

“Oh that,” said Fluttershy, “that's 'The Stare', it's a little trick I developed a while back to help keep difficult animals, and in some cases ponies, in line. I know that it's going to be blown out of proportion when the foals share the story, and I don't like to brag, but I used it to beat a cockatrice in a staring contest once, when it was all over I had the cockatrice removed it's stone affect from everything I was aware it had turned to stone.”

The foals and stallion in the room just stared at her in awe, Silver responded with, “I've faced down a Phobarian Hound on three prior occasions, all before I had the twins. I also have deliberately not shared the story of my encounters with it because of what I'm afraid they might to try and do, that and I don't want to give them nightmares.”

“But, you just said you faced something that sounds really cool and don't want to tell us,” said Steel Wing. “Not cool.”

“You want to try for two days of grounding?” Responded Silver with a smile.

“No ma'am,” said Steel Wing. The sound of dishes entering the sink gently before the sound of little hooves leaving the room followed that, looking over to where his sister had been Steel noticed she was no longer there, he gave a resigned sigh and trotted over to the stairs after looking back at the table and noticing his plate of hastily devoured food was missing.

“She's very polite,” said Fluttershy, “and didn't even bother us with anything, “so, um, what's a Phobarian Hound? I've never heard of them.”

“A sort of magical canine,” said Silver, “they have abilities that revolve around putting fear into other creatures, I still have no idea why they would have such abilities. Their howl makes you feel every fear you've ever had all at once,” Fluttershy eeped , and Angel gave the dragoness a skeptical look to the dragoness, “their bite makes you see your worst fear everywhere, and they have a third ability I won't tell you just yet. They have an appearance that looks like something out of a nightmare and they're one of the only creatures I'm aware of that fully matured dragons will actively avoid. Anyway, it seems we've both done some amazing things in our time. I trust Angel liked his tofu noodles and soy milk.”

Turning to the mare and rabbit she was treated to the sight of Angel Chugging the pitcher, “I guess so, I should say that some have found the bitter taste that's sometimes in soy milk so unappealing that they actively choose to no longer consume it.”

“I did notice a slight bitter aftertaste,” said Fluttershy, “but it was still pretty good. You should share it with everypony, I think they might like it.”

“Fluttershy,” said Silver, “as far as I know I am currently the only one who knows how to make soy milk in Equestria proper, I would have establish a course for every chef, cook and homemaker interested in learning the process. How many of those do you think would probably disregard what I tell them are key steps in the process and try to make the same thing by omitting those steps?”

“I suppose it depends on how self-assured of their skills that pony is,” said the pegasus mare.

“Exactly, which means for those overconfident ponies I'm going to need a task that highlights their skill levels, which I have by the way.”

“Really?” said Fluttershy, “what is it?”

“You just ate it,” Silver stated with a chuckle, “depending on how it's prepared and cooked tofu can emulate any food you want, the tofu bacon the foals had almost the exact taste and texture of the real thing. By giving them a meat analog I can help sate their carnivorous cravings until they either learn to manage their urges for meat like I have or find another way to satiate their cravings for meat.”

“Oh, um, how do you know what bacon is like? What is it?”

“I was forced to eat meat until I turned eleven,” said Silver, “sometimes wild pigs were brought in and their belly meat was used to make bacon. I know that sounds cruel, but you have to remember I grew up with carnivores until I was twenty.”

“What happened when you turned twenty?” asked Fluttershy, just as Snowfall was trotting back into the room with a cloud key in her mouth.

“Thanks Snowfall,” said Silver as she took the key from her daughter with her tail, “Lightning you already know this story so you better head to work,” the stallion groaned and left the table, he had been so sure the two females had forgotten he was still at the table, Snowfall you may not like hearing this, I don't think you're old enough for this, how about you go find some books that you think you'll want to read in the future and bring them to the door so we can go to the library, Snowfall dashed out of the room, once Silver heard the filly at the top of the steps she said, “my mother's clan exiled me, my mother couldn't go against the clan's decisions without being seriously hurt, I haven't seen mom in centuries.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, “can't you just go for a little visit? I'm sure she'd like to see you, and hear about her grandchildren.”

“It's not not that easy,” said Silver, “when a dragon is exiled they aren't allowed back into the the territory of the clan that exiled them or any clans that clan is on friendly terms with,” she let out a deep sigh, “there is nothing I want more than to see my mother and have a long talk with her that could last days on end, but the truth is if she has passed on by now I will have more of a reason to avoid the Infernal Sky clan's territory.”

“Why is that?”

“Mommy I found them them all,” came Snowfall's voice.

“What they do to their dead should never be heard by foals, or wyrmlings,” said Silver flatly as she raised herself from the table, “you should get going Fluttershy, I'll tell Twilight about some things she will want to not have Spike hear, also keep all the foals that were here for our welcome party out of earshot.”

“How long will Spike remain a baby dragon?” inquired the yellow mare as she followed the dragoness out of the kitchen.

“That depends on the kind of dragon he is,” said Silver, “you'll have to attend the seminar in three days for more details.”

“Okay,” said Fluttershy, “I'll tell the rest of the girls about the things we've discussed.”

“Thanks,” said Silver, she then turned her attention to the door to outside, “Snowfall! I meant some of the books you want to learn to read at a later date, not all of them,” the kirin filly gave a sheepish grin from her now impromptu high walled nest of books, “okay, put most of the books back and leave the four you like the most. I can wait to see Golden Oaks, can you?”

Forest Snowfall started making a mad dash around the house returning all the books she had taken to the rooms she had removed them from, Silver quietly chuckled to herself as she watched her daughter in a mad dash to clear the entryway. Once a small pile of four books was in front of the door Silver opened the door and gave a very loud warning a minute before the her daughter colliding with door was heard, which was promptly followed by the sound of Steel Wing laughing like a hyena, Silver immediately responded with his sentence of grounding being doubled which was followed by Steel yelling a loud, “Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“And that is why you keep telling me to not run in the house,” said Snowfall as she rubbed her muzzle with her tail, “why didn't you remind me?”

“Because experience can teach you much better than anypony or thing ever could,” said Silver, “and you have to remember mommy has different thoughts on how to teach ponies, mostly because she's older than most of the other parents,” replied Silver, “now grab your books, we are off to the library.” With that the two were out the door with it closing closing close behind them and Fluttershy (with Angel on her back) with the aid of Silver's tail. Fluttershy gave the two polite goodbye and headed back to her home.

On the way to the library they ran into a sea foam green unicorn with mint green mane, with a white stripe in it, and lyre for a cutie mark.

“Hello,” said Silver, “I'm Silver Fall,” she gestured to Snowfall with a claw, “and this is my daughter Forest Snowfall, we just moved in yesterday, I take it from your lack of a fear induced reaction you've been told about us and have made the appropriate actions to tone down your... miss, why are you looking at our tails.”

“How are they doing that?” the unicorn asked in an excited voice.

“They're articulating tails,” said Silver, “they let us manipulate things with a level of fine detail, but compared to the tail of another dragon they aren't all that strong.”

The unicorn gave deep gasp before running off, “Mom,” said Snowfall, “she is an odd pony, and she didn't tell us her name either.”

“That happens sometimes, honey,” said Silver as they continued towards the library, “she'll see us some time later and apologize while giving her name, or somepony else will do it for her, either way you need remember to not assume somepony is rude or mean after a first encounter.”

“Alright mommy,” said Snowfall.

As they continued towards the library Silver noticed a smiling lavender unicorn mare in the door to the library.

“I'm surprised to see a foal up so early,” said Twilight, “and she doesn't even have school yet.”

“I'll be enrolling the twins in the next school year,” said Silver, “they're only five right now, and they need to learn some basic skills before their first official classes. Could you find some beginner's reading and grammar books for us?”

“Sure thing,” said Twilight, “it might take longer than usual since Spike isn't quite up yet. By the way, do you really know some members of the Apple family personally?” she shut the door with her magic. Snowfall was about to ask excitedly about how long it would be before she learned to do that when Silver quickly stopped her daughter with a claw and motioned for her to come closer, after whispering something to Snowfall the filly nodded and they continued into the more open area of the library.

“So,” said Snowfall, “when do I get to read my favorite book?”

“When you've finished the books on the basics of reading,” replied the mare and dragoness in perfect sync, after looking at each other they shared a giggle.

“Snowfall, sweety,” said Silver, “your favorite books are going to have some difficult words, you'll need to know the basics of Equestria's grammatical structure before you can read them. The reason I said you could bring your favorites was to be a reminder of why you're doing this and act as an incentive to see it through. I'll mostly be the one teaching you, Twilight is a very busy mare and might not have enough time to help you with learning the nuances of written works. However once you've learned the rules for grammar and basics of reading you can start writing and that's when your creative side will really start showing through.”

“You'll even able to do my favorite system,” said Twilight, “the checklist, it helps you keep track of everything you want to keep track of. But if you can't read it then the whole act of making the checklist is meaningless.”

“But, favorite books,” mewled Snowfall.

“You won't be able to learn everything from just pictures in books,” said Silver, “and some books have no pictures other than one on the cover, in many cases the covers have no pictures.”

“Okay, I'll read the beginner's books,” said Snowfall with resignation.

“It's also a good way to learn new words,” said Silver, “there's a big set of books called dictionaries, and those tell you the meaning of words and in some cases how to pronounce them, but you still need to get through the beginner's reading books to understand what's in the dictionary you're reading.”

Snowfall's eyes lit up and in her excitement she accidentally froze the floor under Twilight's hind legs as the mare was trotting away from them, causing said pony to slip.

“Sorry,” said Snowfall, “sometimes when I get excited I can't control my dragon's breath.”

“Ice?” said Twilight, “How? This is...”

“All will be explained at the seminar in three days,” said Silver, “which reminds me, I'm going to need to borrow some chalkboards to help provide visual aids.” Twilight nodded and floated up a long list before writing something down and exasperating how she was going to have to rewrite all of her checklists now.

Twilight brought over a small set of stack of beginner's reading and grammar books, in neat little stacks. Silver picked up a book with her tail after they were set gently on the table next to the dragoness and kirin filly. The book was entitled Grammatical Rules for Beginners, “Perfect,” said Silver as she cracked open the book, “I'll read the words and move my claw along for you to follow, once we've made it through the book I'll go through the motion of pointing with my claw without reading and let you practice each of the words and sentences.”

“Okay mommy,” said Snowfall with a bit more joy than before. Twilight just smiled at the sight before her, with a look of interest.

“The foundations of grammar are as follows...” began the dragoness as she read through slowly the book and slowly pointed to each word as she came to it.

****************************

Four hours later Snowfall was giggling with a ring of twelve beginner's reading books around her.

“That is the fifth time she's read through them,” said Twilight as she and Spike were going through and rewriting her checklists for the week.

“Um, Silver,” said Spike with a little apprehension, “when can I expect to be more matured?”

“That's dependent on which Earth Tribe you belong to Spike,” said Silver, “to my knowledge there are five-hundred and seventy different Earth Tribes, I'll only go over the four to six most populace for the sake of time, although if you want I can write a series of books on the different dragon tribes, but if I did that you would have to wait an excess of nine months just for proofreading. I have a lot of information on dragons up in my noggin, and that's not even even my most detailed aspect.”

“Wait, there are more than five-hundred Earth dragon tribes?” came Twilight's voice in surprise.

“There are nearly twice as many fire tribes, Twilight, fire dragons are among the most populace dragons you will find, not to mention the seventy-thousand Water variations I'm aware, Four-hundred Wind variations, and that's not including the lesser known tribes like Light, Shadow, and... you know what I'm going to stop now before this act of eating my own hind leg goes further. If you want to get to know a fraction of my knowledge then just attend the seminar in three days.”

“But, books,” mewled Twilight.

“You sound just like my daughter did four hours ago,” teased Silver, “but yes I'll see about writing up a series of books regarding each of the tribes of dragon if it makes you feel better, but still it'll be a few months before the rough drafts are ready to be proofread. Well, that and I'm not sure how anypony could possibly catch some of my mistakes, maybe Princess Celestia would be able to if she had the free time.”

“What about Princess Luna?” said Twilight.

“All I have to go regarding her are a bunch of old dragon legends,” said Silver, “granted the same was true regarding Celestia until I started regularly interacting with ponies, but as it stands all that I have to go off of regarding Princess Luna in terms of ponies are the old stories of Nightmare Moon and the tale of the battle of 'Divine Equines' in a dragon legend.”

Twilight's eyes practically lit up before she said, “Dragon legend! Where can I find those?”

“Oral tradition among dragons,” said Silver Fall, “those sorts of tales aren't written to my knowledge, sorry Twilight. Besides by Pony standards of time it would be more allegorical story than than any sort of second claw history.”

“Oh,” said Twilight with disappointment.

“Um,” said Spike, “should we be worried that Snowfall has been spending hours with those learning books?”

“Better than the past four revolving around us chasing her around the library telling her to read just one of them,” said Silver, “besides, it's just for today. I told her this is her reward for being such a good filly the past few months.”

The purple mare and young dragon looked at the dragoness with surprise for a few minutes before Twilight said, “She wanted to come here?”

“For the whole day,” said Silver, “I'll be leaving her in your care, I need to check in on my son, actually I should have done that two hours ago.”

“You're awfully calm about all this,” said Spike, “shouldn't a mother be a bit more, I don't know, ecstatically loopy about something like that?”

“Spike,” said Silver, “I have a few centuries under me, it's to be expected my approach to things is... a little different. You see I've figured out a while ago regardless of what you do young foals will just do their own thing, so instead of trying to manage their actions you just have to find ways to mitigate the results to something more favorable. Children need opportunities to make their own mistakes, that and I've kept my ear on him this entire time. He's been debating with himself how to get out of his punishment without waiting for it to end, every one of them has been shot down the moment he realized that if I ever found out his sentence would be far worse than it is now.”

“Your house is two blocks down from here,” said Twilight, “nopony's ears are that good.”

“You are forgetting I'm a dragon with a few hundred years of practice at such things,” said Silver, “I could probably give Midnight and Squeaks some lessons on focusing their hearing, at most Midnight could probably only hear about five blocks and Squeaks would probably be able to hear about three or four. I can easily hear somepony on the other side of town and then some if I put enough focus into it. You see, Twilight, dragons have really good hearing.”

“What about me?” said Spike, “I'm older than any of the foals in this town.”

“One you're still considered newly hatched by dragon standards,” said Silver, “and two I was planning on giving you a few practice courses after the seminar on dragons in a few days. By this time next year you might be able to make out a pony in distress half away across town by just the sounds of movement,” said Silver, “but if you don't want the lessons I'll understand, not a whole lot of wyrmlings like to learn about focusing their senses.”

“No, I really want to learn how to do that,” cried Spike, “can it work the other way too?”

“Dulling certain senses,” said Silver, “is possible, but not recommended, and I will not even entertain the thought of teaching you how to do that. It is impossible to cut out a sense entirely. Take it from a dragon that was mostly emotionally dead most her life when she says going your life without something potentially crucial to you is not fun.”

“What do you mean?” said Twililight.

Silver gave a long sigh before saying, “I could only fully experience 5 emotions before I met my husband. Those five were Compassion, Generosity, Concern, Loneliness and Sadness. Do you know what it's like to live your life unable to recognize love? Never be curious? Go entirely without fear? Not have any days of happiness? Of course you don't, Twilight I'm telling you now you should treasure your emotions as much as you treasure your friends.”

“You really didn't know what it meant to be happy?” laughed Twilight, “you playfully tease, and show enjoyment in things, you show us the full breadth of your emotions.”

“Now that is true, but when I was your age such things were nothing more than thought exercises for me. My complete lack of curiosity made such acts a bit of a moot point though and nothing more than something to pass the time and keep loneliness at bay.”

“That is so sad,” said Pinkie, seeming to pop up out of nowhere, “you really couldn't feel any emotions, you were really cold before you had your foals?”

“If you had been here earlier,” said Silver with amusement, “you would have heard I was capable of expressing only five emotions, and that the rest of my emotions were freed when I met my husband. I'll be going now. Twilight, when it gets to four bring Snowfall home if you would, she insisted that she spend her day here and that her time with you when you are able.”

The lavender mare looked over at the kirin filly before saying, “Can I do some research on her?”

“Maybe in a few months, when we're all settled in,” said Silver as she opened the door, “and only if she wants to,” with that she closed the door behind her and made her way back to her house.

The moment she got to the door she noticed a certain pink pony was still with her, just looking at Pinkie for a few seconds expecting the pony to say something, when that didn't happen she just shrugged and opened the door. The moment the door was open Pinkie said, “So, what was your first encounter with Lyra like?”

“Was that the unicorn I encountered on the way to the library?” mused the dragoness, “a little odd, she ran off after I told her what an articulate tail is.”

“Oh,” said Pinkie, “I don't know her all that well, two of the ponies that best know her are Berry and Midnight, you'd have to ask one of them what she's like. So, where's your colt?”

“Grounded,” said Silver as she entered the house after unlocking the door, he was very disrespectful to the guests I had this morning and laughed a little too loud at his sister's lack of stopping before hitting a door.”

Pinkie giggled as she entered house, “Have anything to snack on, I'm getting rumbly in my tumbly.”

Silver rolled her eyes at mare's word play, “All we have is soy products at the moment, all made by me by the way. It's something dad taught me when I was really young.”

“Whatcha make?” asked Pinkie.

“Soy milk and tofu,” said Silver, “the milk might be a bit bitter, although Angel seemed to enjoy it.”

“Oh, Fluttershy came to visit you this morning! What for?”

“I gave her a soybean yesterday,” said Silver, “apparently Angel liked it so much that he 'insisted' that Fluttershy come to get more. Now tofu is different, you can eat it as is or prepare it anyway you want. You see, depending on how you prepare it tofu can be any food you want, it just depends on how your prepare it. But that's only if your a good cook or chef, if your skills are lacking then all you have is a mass of tofu with whatever seasonings you decided to use with it. And since it can keep for months on end as long as it's kept cool you don't have to do much when you get hungry.”

Pinkie's eyes went big before she cried out, “You have the best emergency party prep food in your fridge and I'm just now finding out about it, show it to me now.” At the last word she was so close to the dragon's face it started to make her feel uncomfortable, and she immediately went into the persona of a caretaker watching over a young foal.

Her mother matron voice caught the pink mare completely off guard, “Pinkie Pie you are being a very overactive foal, what do overly active foals get?”

Pinkie just sat like a school-filly that just got caught passing a note during the teacher's lecture before raising her hoof and saying, “Um, nap time?”

Silver's eyes narrowed before saying, “Cleaning duty before snack time, and no naps for the day. Before you begin to complain just remember that every sound or act I see as a complaint will earn you another five minutes of cleaning duty, your current time on cleaning duty is ten minutes and starts, now. And no running.”

************************************

Ten minutes later Silver was in the kitchen with a small glass of soy milk and small plate of unaltered tofu which she slid to Pinkie when the mare crawled into the room looking exhausted, the dragoness gave a chuckle before saying, “Sorry about that, I was the go to foal-sitter for Mustang for a little over a century. When you got in my face like that I felt a need to go mother matron on you.”

Pinkie chugged some of the soy milk before saying, “It's okay, I liked feeling like a school-filly again,” she then turned her attention to the white gelatin in front of her and said, “So, this is tofu. Alright tofu, I'm going to teach you what it means to party and meet new ponies, right after I give you a taste,” with that the pink mare scarfed down the white gelatinous cube, “a little slimy, are you sure you can turn it into any food?”

“If you don't believe me,” said Silver, “how about a test, any food that you can think of I'll make only using the tofu in the fridge.”

“Then make me some strawberry-chocolate cupcakes,” said Pinkie licking her lips.

“I thought you would ask for something hard,” chuckled Silver as she headed to the fridge and opened up the cupboards and pulled out a variety of spices (some of which were unfamiliar to Pinkie). Pinkie watched as Silver cut out some small slices from a large block and started kneading some of the ingredients into the blocks until they were small smooshed piles with the color of the requested confections. Next she saw Silver shape them into the form of cupcakes and lightly breath a burst of crimson fire over them, the scent of genuine fresh baked strawberry-chocolate cupcakes filled the room, Silver blew a light cold burst of air over one before passing it to Pinkie with her tail.

Pinkie took a bite and found the flavor and texture were so close to the real thing she probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if she didn't spend so much time baking in the kitchen at Surgarcube Corner. “This is amazing,” said Pinkie as she downed the rest of the confection, “I almost couldn't tell the difference,” she then grabbed the other four and downed them as well.

“And it's healthier for you too,” said Silver with a chuckle, “think about it, you could make healthy snacks for foals that are almost indistinguishable from the genuine article.”

Pinkie's eyes lit up before she said, “You need to give me the rest of this stuff and tell me the secret to making such yummy foods with just it.”

Silver chuckled a bit before saying, “Sorry Pinkie, I won't be able to supply you with the core ingredient for tofu for a few months, I have to grow the soybeans and that takes quite a bit of time, even with magic. The tofu in the house will run out by the end of the month. I think there might still be some in my garden that I grew the soybeans in is in Mustang. And if Rainbow pushed her limit she could probably make the run in a little over an hour, but she would be really exhausted. So, you'll just have to wait a few months.”

“Oh, phooey,” said Pinkie, “I was hoping it would be just a matter of weeks at most.”

“Look at it this way, the longer wait means the more special everything will be after you figure out how to make it. From what I hear you are very competent baker, so you figuring out how to use tofu to make existing dishes, and new ones, shouldn't be too hard. I managed to make such high quality food because I have the benefit of a few centuries worth of experience. I deliberately make the food the twins eat like something is trying to imitate the food so they will go and try it for themselves, but as it stands they have no intention of turning down what I've made them. Oh and since you asked yesterday, and I never got around to telling you, my daughter is named Forest Snowfall and son is named Steel Wing.” With that she headed up the stairs to check on Steel Wing.

What greeted Silver Fall when she opened door to the room the twins shared was what looked like a perfectly cleaned room, everything looked as if it was tucked away where it was intended to be and the beds were done up neatly without a crease to be found. “I... I wanted to do something nice for my sister,” said Steel Wing, “she's been such a good foal that I can understand why she's your favorite child, maybe...”

“Steel,” said Silver cutting her son off, “I don't love one of you over the other, I give praise to actions that I find beneficial to your futures. I was praising you every flap of the way way when you figured out how to fly, your sister felt neglected because she was having trouble lifting her wings. Snowfall has wings that could easily intimidate other ponies when she flares them, they're almost twice the size of a pegasus her size and she can fly now, but she still feels envious of your natural flight aptitude. Your sister is somepony that prefers to know things and using that knowledge to help her, you're more of the mind that believes actions are what need to be done. That might help you in the future, but your aversion to reading and writing will hurt your advancement when we put you in school next year. Try to be a little like your sister and just maybe she'll try to be a little more like you. You're both twins, you share a kind of connection that's akin to magic while being its own amazing power. Every good parent has a special magic, even if they can't do magic. Do you know what it is?”

“No,” said Steel Wing, “what is it?”

“A boundless love that is like an armor for their most precious treasures, their foals, when they can't be there to keep them safe in body. It's just as vibrant and strong for your sister as it is for you because your father and I love so very much and never stop doing so, we do everything in our power to show our love, even if you don't think so sometimes. The force of a family with genuine love can overcome even the most terrifying forces you can think of.”

“D'aw, that is so sweet,” came Pinkie's voice.

The two turned to see Pinkie with happy tears in her eyes. “Um, it's the pony that threw our welcome party,” said Steel, “why is she here?”

“Pinkie followed me from the library,” said Silver, “Pinkie, why were you at the library.”

“Coming to visit a friend,” said the pink mare with a chipper voice.

“You are good friends with Twilight, I can see why you would want to visit her,” said Silver as she inspected her son's wings and legs.

“Nope,” said Pinkie, “I came to see you, Silver.”

“Pinkie, we just met yesterday,” said Silver, “that's hardly enough time to become friends. Becoming friends takes time and work, it took me weeks to form most of my friendships, and at most I knew you for about an hour before today.”

“Most?” came the pink mare and colt in perfect sync.

“I somehow formed my friendship with Night Spell in a matter minutes, I'm still unsure how it happened.”

“What's she like?” inquired Pinkie, “where's she live? What's she do?”

“A fun loving black unicorn mare,” said Silver, “very studious, takes everything seriously when she dedicates to it. Her cutie mark is a staff and spear crossing each other with a bright blue tome acting as their backdrop. Last I checked she lived in Canterlot. Last I checked she was in the Royal Guard, and a sargent.”

“Now for the most important question,” said Pinkie with a serious face, “what's her opinion of parties.”

“She doesn't hate them,” said Silver, “she usually finds them as an inconvenience when she has no clue what they're for.”

Pinkie nodded and bounced out of the room. After Pinkie had been gone a full minute Steel Wing said, “Mom, she's a little odd.”

“But her energy can be a little infectious,” responded Silver, “you did a pretty good job cleaning this room,” said Silver, she then looked over at the closet, “so good in fact I want to see how thorough you were.”

Steel started sweating bullets as his mother approached the closet door before saying, “Um, Snowfall doesn't really use the the closet, it's all me, no need to check it.”

Silver gave a knowing chuckle before saying, “I knew this is where you stashed everything from the get go, this isn't the first time I've come to such a sight as this,” the dragoness stepped to the side and opened the door so it acted as a shield for her as a flood of foal's toys and various other items poured out easily missing the dragoness, “since you were so dedicated to the illusion of a cleaning the room you can do it for real and your grounding will be dropped back to a day, and if you're really good I might consider lifting it before the day is out. Just remember to not rush it, that's a good way to make mistakes.”

Steel Wing just eagerly nodded as Silver made her way down the stairs after closing the door behind her gently. What greeted her at the bottom of the stairs was the sight of a white mare with with well quaffed purple mane and tail. “Let me guess,” said Silver, “you want me to visit your shop so you can feel the inspiration closer to home.”

“Um, yes,” said Rarity in surprise.

“One moment,” said Silver before she headed to the master bedroom, the dragoness returned with a large white box which she passed to the white mare.

Rarity took the box in her magic before saying, “What is it? I hope it's something truly magnificent.”

“It's my wedding dress and the chain for my personal jewel,” said Silver with a chuckle, then realized what she just said and made a worried face.

“Personal jewel?” said Rarity, still floating the box in her magic.

Silver gave a long drawn out sigh before saying, “Dragons from dad's side of the family had a property where they kept a specific gem close to them at all times. I like to refer to it as a Dragon Gem, dad called it a Dragon Stone. They're part of the dragon, and I don't mean in a figurative way. A piece of the dragon's essence is embedded in the gem, it has properties that you don't see in an ordinary gem. A dragon giving their gem to anyone else is a big deal because it means they have absolute trust that individual won't use it in a way the dragon does not agree with.”

“That's all fine dear,” said Rarity, “but why did you look worried when you started mentioning this?”

“Because the magical connection between the dragon and their gem can be used to influence the dragon if you know how or put enough power into it, I haven't even trusted Lightning with my gem once over our entire time together. I love the stallion, but sometimes his worrying over the family can mean he could use it to make me put everypony I care about in danger while I'm trying to keep them safe. Not to mention my gem is quite a rare sight, like me.”

“I will admit you are rather unique to look at, but rare could be pushing it. I admit I don't know much about dragon mixes, but they can't be that rare.”

“Rarity, I was born with the power to breath ice,” said Silver, “from what my parents told me there haven't been that many dragons in all the world with that kind of ability, I may very well be the only ice breathing dragon in all Equestria, and the surrounding areas, I'm a precious jewel among dragons. Do you know what my mom's clan said about me?”

“Well no dear, but it couldn't be that bad, right?”

“They said I was failure of a dragon, granted they said it to my face when I couldn't feel the range of emotions they wanted from me. But now that my emotions are free and remembering those moments hurts more than it probably should. I've come to accept myself for what I am, and have no intentions on changing that for any pony or thing. There are still a few things I'm trying come to accept, but everypony has those events in their life they are still trying to full come to terms with.”

“Yes that's all nice dear, but you still haven't said what kind of gem has a piece of your spirit in it.”

“It's a pearl,” said Silver with resignation, “in particular a rainbow pearl, those kinds of pearls are so rare that you could live over a thousand years and the closest you'd get would be is unconfirmed rumors about where one might be. I didn't find it like most dragons would, it literally grew inside me. I don't know how or why, but it did.”

The dragoness gave a deep sigh before saying,“I know about your ability and how you'll probably use it to find my pearl because you want to surprise me with something incredible that uses it as part of the design. So I'm going to ask you refrain from such thoughts or actions.”

“Why dear?”

“Shortly after I moved into my cave near Mustang and discovered my gem I encountered some overzealous diamond dogs,” Rarity gave a prim nod remembering her experience with the creatures, “one tried to take chip of my pearl after finding it so that they could better inspect the authenticity of the gem. Every strike of the chisel on the pearl caused me physical pain, in particular it felt like someone was trying to chisel my heart.”

Rarity stared at the dragoness for a moment before saying, “Can I at least see it? maybe I could try making a duplicate for you to keep ruffians from doing anything unscrupulous to it.”

“I suppose,” said Silver in a wary voice, “I'm just tired of hiding all these things, that's why I offered to share as much as I have.” The dragoness lead the white mare into the living room area and carefully removed a panel that was blended seamlessly into the wall.

What greeted Rarity's eyes was the largest pearl she had ever seen, in every color of the rainbow with a sheen that was all natural and gave off a serene glow she had only ever seen from the Princesses during her encounters with them. “You, keep something so beautiful hidden away from everypony, you should being going around with it on display.”

“I'm a dragon,” said Silver, “and I've had some pretty bad experiences regarding things this precious. That jewel holds the key to my life, if it were to be broken so would my body, if it were to shatter my life would end. Rarity that pearl is as much me as the dragoness telling you all this, and as much I want to be able to trust you with it I'm afraid of what you might do with it or somepony might do with it because upon seeing it they say how much they want it as part of a piece you are doing for them regardless of how much you try to explain you're just holding it for me, and what if your sister decides to take it for some reason. Don't feel too bad, I've been having these kinds of thoughts about all of your friends, all of mine and Lightning's family. The fact is that giving somepony easy access to this gem is too much of a threat to me and temptation for them, I've even had this line of thought regarding Celestia and probably would be having similar thoughts regarding Luna if I ever had the honor of meeting her. I might have come to trust it with Celestia if I had grown up with her as an individual that was there for a large portion in my life. I like to think that if she met my father, Guiding Guardian, the two would have become fast friends.”

“I thank you for sharing all of that with me, darling,” said Rarity, “and I promise to do everything to keep this confidence you've placed in me. But I have to ask, why share any of it at all?”

“My generous nature,” said Silver, “the two emotions of the five that I could feel before meeting Lightning that were generally positive were Concern and Generosity. When I was old enough to take part in a certain rite my mother's clan dropped me in a pit specifically designed to induce greed, I felt greed for about three seconds before I started rushing about sharing all the treasures in that pit, I was the only dragon to do that in the entire history of that ritual.”

Rarity giggled a bit before saying, “You really should have been born a pony dear, you would have done well in Equestria. What kind do you think you would have been born.”

“Probably an earth pony or maybe a unicorn,” said Silver, “considering... you'll just have to attend my little seminar in three days to hear the rest of that.”

Rarity nodded primly as Silver returned the panel. “A few questions, dear,” said Rarity, “when did you install that panel? How long may I keep keep this outfit? I assume you want to keep it close to show the foals eventually.”

“I had trouble getting to sleep after the party last night,” said Silver introspectively, “so I decided to do something that would help calm my mind and help me sleep, I'll probably end up making a proper dragon's nest another day,” she gave a light chuckle, “so I installed the panel last night, you can keep my wedding vestments for the whole week before returning them, or if you want the entire month.”

Rarity's eyes went huge before she just uttered a long stream of gratitudes before rushing out the door with the box in tow within he magic, Silver just shook her head as she closed the door behind the mare.

“I hope the next visit is expected,” Silver said to herself as she headed for the kitchen to make the next meal. She found herself humming a song to herself as she made the meal, one that made her happy and sad at the same time. The song was one her father had sung her in the years before his passing, a song about finding the balance in your life and world around you. Silver stepped away from the counter where she was preparing the meals to capture her tears on her tail. A small shiny black pearl rested on the dragoness's tail after she pulled it away. She smiled at the small dark orb, mostly because she saw the balance of her expressed emotions in it (almost equal parts happiness and sadness). After curling her tail around the jewel she set it above the fridge on a simple stand that was intended for glass spheres that she kept as a spare for her Dragon Gem. Looking at the clock she saw it now read two-thirty, she smiled to herself before going back to her prep work.

At three-thirty-four a knock at the door pulled her from the kitchen, where she was uncharacteristically fussing over the six sets dishes for reasons unknown to her (she wanted to be sure there were some extra places in case they had another unexpected pair for the coming meal). What greeted Silver was Twilight (wearing a set of saddlebags that looked like they were loaded for an expedition) and Spike with a very happy Snowfall at the door when she opened it.

“Oh, when I said four I didn't expect you bring her back so early, especially considering the tendencies I heard Twilight has.”

“Yeah, well Rarity dropped by a half hour ago,” said Spike, “when she told us about that item Twilight got all excited, Snowfall and I made her promise to only do a set of basic analyzing spells and not take it out of your house,” he shot Twilight a look that said that she wasn't to overdo it.

“And I want to see mommy's pearl again, it's soooooooooooooo pretty,” said Snowfall.

Silver chuckled and said, “come in, all of you. I was in the midst of making dinner, I put up some extra places if you would like to join us, you know what that that means Snowfall.” The kirin filly nodded and bounced a bit, much to the amusement of the others in the room, as Silver closed the door behind them. “I put it up in a hidden section in the living room, follow me.”

After a short trot through the house they came to panel and silver removed it again. Twilight and Spike just stared at it for a few minutes before Twilight shook herself of her trance, then shook spike out of his, “Spike, the notebook and pen,” said the purple mare.

“Oh right,” said Spike before reaching into the bags on Twilight and pulling out a brown notebook and red fountain pen.

“No,” said Snowfall with a heavy note of disappointment, “you said you were going to use the gray notebook, because it most closely matched mommy's scales.”

Spike looked at the notebook in his claws with a sense of embarrassment before saying, “Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking.” He quickly put the notebook back before he made a good show of rummaging through the bag closest to him.

“Other side” said Twilight in a deadpan voice when she heard the dragon rifling through the bag.

“Oh, right,” said Spike.

“How did he forget that?” said Snowfall, “he's the one who packed that side of the bags.”

“Sometimes Spike doesn't pay full attention to what he's doing,” said Twilight in her natural voice, “it's to be expected, he is only a baby dragon.”

“Still older than the foal that pointed out I packed this side of the bags,” responded Spike, “but I know what you were getting at.” He placed the pen and gray notebook in front of Twilight who then took them in her magic, did a quick test of the ink level in the pen on the first page with a curt nod when she saw it at an acceptable level before floating the items back into Spike's claws.

“While they're doing that how about you give me a hoof in the kitchen,” said Silver to her daughter, “all we need to work on is the dessert, you can decide what it is and help me make it.”

“Ooh, rice pudding,” said Snowfall with excitement.

“Sure thing,” said Silver, “I checked the pantry, we have plenty of rice, so that won't be a problem, all the other ingredients for it are in the house too. I have a feeling they'll be joining us for dinner regardless, once we have the pudding ready for cooking I want you to get your brother.”

“Where is he?”

“Your room, I told him that if he did a good, and real, job of cleaning the room I'd cut his punishment down a bit.”

“Thanks mom, I didn't want to spend a night with a mopey Steel, that's never fun.”

Silver gave a warm maternal chuckle as they entered the kitchen.

**********************

It was ten minutes, and seven chastisements from Spike to Twilight regarding her promise, later when the the the mare and wyrmling entered the kitchen. Spike looked annoyed, while Twilight looked a little exhausted and happy. “Why was that so hard?” said Spike, “Twilight's one of the most talented spell casters in Equestria.”

“I probably should have warned you about the magic resistance that dragons have and how it grows to incredible levels when we mature,” said Silver as she passed a small bowl of cinnamon to her daughter, “now remember, Snowfall, just a really small and light sprinkle over each of the bowls,” the filly nodded and rushed off to the area of the kitchen where the nearly completed bowls of pudding were, “my resistance to magic must be shared with my pearl, it makes some sort of wacky sense. Especially considering that I actually do know five spe... oh, scales.”

Twilight put the pieces together quite quickly and said, “you can do magic? Dragons aren't supposed to be able to do magic.”

Silver gave a resigned sigh before saying, “Dragons on dad's side are capable of magic, he tried teaching me when I was little, I could only get five spells down. I haven't used four of them in centuries. I suppose you're probably wondering about my daughter now, I'll get to all I know about kirins after the seminar on dragons, which means you'll have to wait almost a week for that one, I want everpony to have a few days to digest everything on dragons I tell them before moving on to kirins.”

“Makes sense,” said Twilight, “there's something else you're hiding, I think it would be best to come clean with somepony. Since I'm the most knowledgeable on a lot of things that what you say will pertain to I suggest you let me and Spike know now.”

Silver gave another sigh before saying, “Snowfall go get your brother, but wait a few minutes to come down, mommy needs to have a complicated talk with Twilight and Spike.” Without a word the filly was out of the kitchen.

“Okay, spill,” said Spike when the sound of Snowfall half way up the steps could be heard.

“I don't just have one kind of breath,” said Silver, “ice was just the first to manifest, Snowfall has ice breath too,” the mare and young dragon stared at each other a moment before Silver continued, “my other breaths are fire, lightning, wind and mist. I got the mist from dad, it has healing properties and really has no application as a combative ability. Steel Wing can also spit lightning, he's a little more impulsive than I would like. Also from time to time I have prophetic dreams, I had one just before the twins were born and it had told me about my breath abilities. I've had a few over the years, but none in the past year or so.”

“Um wow, I think you should share all this with Princess Celestia when you meet her,” said Twilight.

“I got a message from her during the welcome party, Spike passed it to me,” said Silver, “she invited me to meet with her this coming Nightmare Night, I'm going to have to find somepony to look after the twins that night, just in case Rainbow has Lightning pulling a night weather shift.”

“It's always good to have a backup plan just in case,” said Twilight.”

The sound of little hooves running down the stair cut the rest of the conversation short. “How about we sit down and enjoy a nice meal together,” said Silver as the foals dashed into the room and sat down in front of the places they usually took at the table, “any preferences for beverages.”

“Could we try some of that soy milk stuff,” inquired Twilight, “Fluttershy told me you made it yourself and it piqued my interest.”

“Sure thing,” said Silver, just as she was getting the soy milk from the fridge Lightning came in and almost flopped in front of the plate closest to the kitchen entrance. Causing the foals to giggle as Silver set the pitcher on the table and began bringing the prepared food to the center of the table as she said, “Tonight is serve yourself night, dig in and enjoy, just remember to let everypony have some of what's been made.” With that dining and a set of light dinner conversations began.