“Spike!”
The voice boomed through the library, calling to a young assistant who at the moment, simply slept peacefully, treating the sound as nothing more than a mere insect, noisily buzzing near his earholes, trying to annoy him into being ‘not’ asleep.
“Spike!” the voice called again, but to him, it had become just background noise seamlessly melding into the myriad of natural sounds that usually occurred around him, he was at pe-
“SPIKE!” the voice of Twilight shrieked, her voice booming at an unnaturally louder volume that he was accustomed to.
“Whoa! What? Huh?” he mumbled, getting up too quickly, feeling suddenly dizzy and tumbling backwards heading directly towards the stairs that stood nearby. “Whoa!” he yelped far too late, falling down and letting out pained grunts until he reached the first floor lobby. “Ugh…”
“Oh, Spike! You are up!” Twilight said innocently, noticing him on the floor. “And don’t fall asleep now! Come on!”
"Don't tell me what to do," Spike thought, rubbing his pained elbow. “Ugh… What’s the big deal, Twi? You don’t usually wake me up this early.”
“How do you know it’s early?” she asked dubiously.
“Twilight, a dragon always knows,” he replied, waggling his claw at her.
A roll of her eyes later, she continued. “Anyway, the reason i woke you up is that Apple Bloom came by earlier to ask for some help with a project she had, but she forgot her notebook!” she noted, bringing forward the item in point and giving it to Spike. “I need you to take it to her.”
“How come you didn’t do it yourself?” he asked dubiously, fueling his question with enough contempt to match his pain.
“I would if I wasn’t busy packing!” she noted, pointing at numerous bags nearby. “Don’t you remember?
“Oh?” Spike mumbled momentarily lost. “Oh yeah! Dad‘s birthday! I nearly forgot about that!”
Twilight nodded satisfied. “So you know what to do. Any questions?”
“Yeah… Can we put your room in a place that isn’t right next to the stairs?”
…
“And then she yelled at me!” Spike complained, having relayed the story to the three fillies standing near the schoolhouse, all listening with varying degrees of interest showing in each of their faces.
Sweetie Belle nodded once. “Well, it WAS a fair question.”
“That’s what I said!” Spike replied, happily agreeing with Sweetie'a backing.
“Um, Spike,” Apple Bloom cut in. “Ah’ thought y’all were supposed to be here for something.”
“Oh, yeah! I was supposed to be quick!” he recalled, slapping his forehead for his negligence, then reached into his bag, taking out the notebook Twilight had given him. “Here, you forgot this back at the library!” he said as he handed the item to Apple Bloom.
“Thanks Spike, but what’s the big hurry?” asked Apple Bloom, looking around suspiciously. “You don’t have to go to school, do you?” she huffed, mentally berating her own need to attend.
“I don‘t, but Twilight and I are heading to Canterlot, we are going to visit our dad!” he explained, donning his bag again as he readied himself to leave.
“You are going to visit your dad?” Sweetie wondered out loud. “Wait, but Twilight was the one that hatched you, didn‘t she?”
“Twilight hatched him?!” Scootaloo asked surprised. “I actually thought Spike's family was dragons!"
“Family of dragons?” Spike mumbled taken aback. “Dragons… Well, I…”
Apple Bloom shook her head in disbelief. “Scootaloo! Twilight told us the story when she spoke about her cutie mark! How do you not remember?”
Scootaloo harrumphed in return. “Hey! I was far too busy thinking of what awesome story Rainbow Dash would tell us! You can’t expect me to remember small details!”
With a sigh, Apple Bloom turned to meet Spike. “Sorry Spike, Scootaloo can be…” she cut her apology short, noticing the dragon in question was nowhere to be seen. “Um, Spike?”
Several feet away, Spike mulled to himself, thinking of the what Scootaloo had said.
“Dragon family, huh…?” he said out loud. “I never really thought of that,” he had always imagined that his life with Twilight had been an absolute, and he had had thoughts about what life with the dragons would be like, going as far as to attempt to live it. And yet, he had never wondered about his own blood relatives.
“I wonder how dragon dad was like…” he said out loud, catching himself by surprise. "What would things be like in general?"
What would life have been like if he had been born in a place with dragons? Who would his friends be? Where would he be? His mind wondered about the events of his would-be life, raising even more questions in their wake. "Ugh..." he rubbed his head, feeling overwhelmed, noticing one of his questions standing up from the others. “But, if I’m one of those dragons… Does that mean that I… I was taken from my family?”
Confusion began taking a backseat to his growing anger, conflicting thoughts towards Celestia there, but more importantly, thoughts about the pony he cared about most.
“She hid this from me!” he growled in a low voice. "Of course she did! She doesn't respect me enough to even acknowledge when I'm right! S-she... She treats me like a worker, and... Grr, Twilight!" he shouted, taking into a run to the library, which he quickly reached in his rush.
“Twilight!” he yelped, slamming the door wide open.
“Gah!” Twilight yelped, jumping in place before she noticed Spike standing by the door. “Oh Spike, you scared me! That was fa-” she cut her comment short, noticing Spike breathing unevenly. “Spike? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“You happened!” he growled with a furious glare plastered in his face.
Twilight looked around, wondering if some pony had entered the place without her knowing, but quickly realized only she had been there the entire time and discarded the hypothesis, focusing on the only pony in the place -- herself.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, thinking of the reason why Spike was angry. “Sorry if I was rude earlier, I was just a bit unnerved about today, I want it to go pe-”
“That’s not what I’m talking about!” Spike shouted, sparks of his fire inadvertently bursting out of his mouth and landing on the floor.
“S-Spike?” Twilight stuttered, fearfully watching the small sparks hit the wood of the floor, but then fizzle out much to her relief.
"Who were they?" he asked timidly, feeling his anger dissipate at Twilight's terrified expression.
"Huh? Who?"
"My parents! My dragon parents!" he shouted, using his volatile emotions to slam the entrance's door shut as he did so.
“Your parents?” Twilight asked stupefied at his question. She had expected it to come, but never had she imagined the timing and the way the young dragon would lash out as badly as he had just then
“D-don’t act dumb! I mean, you aren't dumb, so you should know! Don't hide it from me!" he demanded awkwardly, going back to his glaring.
“Spike," she said calmly. "Please, if you just let me tell you, you would know that y-”
“What?” he interrupted. “That I was stolen from my nest? That I was taken without my consent? Is my life a lie? Who were my parents?"
“The dragons who laid your egg are gone, Spike,” Twilight said harshly, and an awkward silence was kept as Spike processed what she had said.
“W-what?” he gulped, shaking his head. “T-that can’t be! Dragons live for a very long time, don't they?!”
”And they likely did, actually,” she noted, slowly inching towards the still shocked Spike. “I was hoping I could tell you this when you were older, but I never expected it to come up like this, so please, I want you to listen to me.”
“Don't move!" he ordered her, catching her. "A-and what does that mean? They ‘did’?” he asked, shaking his head. “How is that possible!?”
“Listen carefully,“ Twilight began slowly, taking a deep breath in an effort to articulate her thoughts, thinking of the best way to appeal to the stunned Spike while carefully approaching him ever so slowly. “The egg, by which I mean your egg, it was an infertile egg found by the princess in one of her travels many years ago. It was abandoned."
Spike’s eyes shot up instantly, the disbelief in Twilight’s so-called explanation quickly showing. “That can’t be! I… I was hatched, wasn’t I? And what do you mean by abandoned? What happened?"
“That I don't know,” Twilight continued, keeping her eyes locked with his. “And that’s why I’m telling you this, the princess tried her best to hatch you, but was unsuccessful, so she kept the egg for years."
"Why would she do that?" Spike asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
"All she said was that if looked defenseless, so she took it," she explained. "She didn't really tell me anything else."
“B-but if that’s the case… How am I here?” he asked, giving Twilight a terrified look. "A-am I like a zombie?"
“No. Dragon eggs can last a long time, Spike,“ she explained, holding back a grin. “And yet you were hatched, you know when that happened, don't you?"
Spike’s mind ran amok as he realized what Twilight was referring to. “Meaning that without you... I... You...” he tried to speak, unable to form a single coherent sentence despite his best efforts.
“Yes Spike,” she nodded, having reached him and enveloping him in a hug. “The egg used in the examination was a simple attempt at gauging magic, nopony was supposed to have been able to... And yet, you still hatched from it."
Spike looked up to Twilight, seeing her in a completely different light that he had ever done before. “Then if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have hatched!"
“Details aside, yes,” she answered, patting Spike's scaly head. “I know this sounds hard to believe, and I didn’t really believe it myself, but according to the Princess, my magic surge is what hatched you.
“I… Wow…” Spike half-laughed. “So the reason I’m alive is because of you! Y-you… Your magic gave me life, Twilight!” he said, feeling his eyes tearing up. “Wait, why am I calling you Twilight? I should be calling yo-"
“You don’t have to do that,” Twilight interrupted, looking uncomfortable. "It makes me feel old."
He ignored her comment, simply walking in circles with a goofy smile on his face. “Oh! I bet that’s why I can use my breath to magically send letters!” he let out excitedly. “I bet that’s why I’m purple!”
“Only one of those was a valid theory,” Twilight halfheartedly chuckled. "But Spike, where did the question come from anyway?"
"It sorta came up when I was talking to the crusaders," Spike admitted, much to his surprise. "Sorry, I guess I just let my emotions get the best of me."
Twilight shook her head, putting a comforting pat on Spike. "Not the way I saw it coming, but I expected the question, although I never imagined you would be so angry. it probably didn't help that I was rude to you earlier."
"Oh, that's no problem! I'm used to that!" he shrugged the issue aside.
"But it is an issue! I don't treat you with the respect I should, and I'm sorry for that," she apologized, giving Spike a hug. "I do care about you."
"Aww, thanks Twi, that means a lot, I care about you too," he said with a sincere smile. "But wow, what a weird day," he realized, thinking of what had transpired.
"You can say that again," Twilight agreed. "Wish Pinkie had been here, she would have warned me about how much of a doozy today would be," she joked. Mostly.
"So, what now?" he asked, the ordeal of events having left him lost on what to do or say next.
"I guess we just carry on," she said with determination. "We can start with a father that needs his birthday celebrated, don't we? We also have a mom that's looking forward to seeing little Spikey, right? And when we come back, maybe we can arrange moving your basket away from the stairs."
Spike blinked once before slapping his forehead. "Of course! It was so simple!"
"Good, now go ahead and grab your bag, I already packed your stuff, just don't dawdle! Our carriage will be here in a couple of minutes," she warned him, going for the bags she had packed for herself.
Smiling devilishly, Spike turned to her before doing his task. "Geez, fine, mom!"
Twilight's responding groans were all Spike needed as response.