The sky above Ponyville was full of wings.
Not the usual feathery pegasus wings; the pegasi were all staying grounded for their own safety this day. No, these were vast, leathery dragon wings. They moved overhead in an endless stream of color, headed towards distant lava fields where the youngsters would play and the older dragons would seek mates.
On the ground below, one dragon sat and watched them soar overhead. He sat lightly on the ground, his forepaws just touching, his hind legs bunched, as if he might leap towards the sky at any moment. Every line of him yearned upward, skyward. Yet the leap that ached within his body never came.
"Uncle Spike?"
Spike swiveled his head to look down at the pony who had trotted up to him. She didn't even come half way up to his shoulder, though she was tall for a pony her age. She'd gotten her star-shaped cutie mark only two years ago, and was currently in the gawky, gangly stage between childhood and adulthood.
"Hello, Evening Star. Come to watch the migration with me?"
She nodded. "Mom says she'll be out as soon as she finishes her experiment."
"So sometime next week, then," said Spike with a chuckle.
Evening Star giggled. "Yeah, probably."
Spike shifted, his stocky form settling more firmly to the ground, his tail curling around his haunches. He lifted his head once more, looking at the dragons soaring above. There was a long silence, during which Spike's gaze never wavered.
At length Evening said, "Are you sad you can't go with them?"
Spike turned to look down at her. "A little, I guess."
"You're supposed to have wings, right? There has to be some way to fix that."
"Heh." Spike's neck was long and flexible enough that he could look behind him, at the bare spot below his shoulders where his wings should have been. "I don't think there is." Spike looked up at the dragons again. "But I probably still wouldn't go. I went with the migration last time, you know."
"What? But it only happens once a generation. The last one would have been when you were like... a baby."
Spike grinned. "Yep. I was about half the height that you are now. I felt the call, just like I feel it now, so I walked there. I thought I could learn what it meant to be a dragon. Instead I ended up learning that I'd rather be a pony."
"Uhm. But you are a dragon."
"Yes. I'm a pony too, though. On the inside, where it really counts. I've lived my whole life among ponies. I don't really belong up there." He sighed again, looking back to the sky.
"Oh." She frowned faintly. "But you said you were sad you couldn't go."
"Well sure. It would be nice to be able to fly. Just because I'd choose not to go doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to have the choice." He glanced down at her, then gave a little shrug and looked back at the sky.
They sat in silence for a while, watching the seemingly endless stream of scaled, winged forms overhead. Suddenly Evening burst out, "It's not fair! It's stupid! Mom could fix you, I know she could!"
Spike turned his head back towards her, lifting one scaly eyebrow, and said mildly, "I'm not broken, Evening."
She flushed and her ears went back. "Sorry. But she could give you wings! She could! She can do anything, she's the alicorn of magic, for crying out loud! She could and she just won't, because she's stubborn and stupid! She goes on about doing the right thing all the time and she won't even give you wings!" A hint of moisture began welling up in the young unicorn's eyes. "She's horrible. She keeps you stuck here on the ground, and me stuck here in Ponyville, and she says it's the right thing to do, but it's not! It's just not!"
"Is that what this is about? You having to study here and not in Canterlot?"
Evening looked away from Spike, but her angry tone was no softer when she continued. "That's not fair either! I'm good enough, Spike! I know I am! I'm not as good as Mom was, but I'm good. I could pass the tests for Celestia's school, I know I could. But she won't even let me take them!"
"It's not as though you're not learning things here," said Spike, still speaking calmly. He put a huge hand very gently on Evening's withers and gave her a small smile. "You have the alicorn of magic as your teacher, after all."
"There are things I can't learn from Mom. She knows a lot, but she doesn't teach me everything. I learned to turn things into teacups when Trixie visited last week, and she never taught me transformation at all. She said it was dangerous!"
"It can be."
"But she knew transformation magic at my age! They teach it in the School for Gifted Unicorns in this year, I saw her old study books. And every time I ask her to let me take the tests she starts babbling about nepotism and morality and the unfairness of her influence getting me a spot that could belong to some other unicorn but I don't need her influence, I just want to take the test! Fairly! Because things should be fair!"
Spike gave a little chuckle. "It's not actually about that, you know. That's just an excuse."
Evening blinked up at him. "Huh?"
"She loves you very much. She would miss you if you left to go live in Canterlot."
"But... that's still not fair! I'd miss her too, but I want my chance to learn! She left home to do it, why can't I?"
"You're right. And she's probably being a little bit over-protective. I'll see if I can talk to her about it. She might be persuaded to change her mind."
Evening's eyes lit up. "You'd do that?"
"Sure. You're right that it's not fair of her to keep you here when you want to be in Canterlot. You're old enough to have at least some choice in how the course of your life should go."
Evening frowned. "What about you? Will you ask her to give you wings?"
Spike sighed and looked back up at the sky again. The migration was nearing its end, the stream of dragons no longer stretched from horizon to horizon. The final stragglers were beginning to go by overhead now. "Dragons are resistant to magic. She could give me wings temporarily, but she couldn't permanently change me. It can't be done, not even by the alicorn of magic." He gave a little shrug. "It doesn't really matter that much. My home is here, and I'm happy here."
"That's still not fair." Evening's frown deepened into a scowl.
"It probably isn't, no."
"But..." Evening waved a hoof around as she looked for the words to express her frustration at the awfulness of Spike's situation.
He smiled faintly down at her. "There are two kinds of problems in the world, Evening. There are the ones you can do something about, and there are the ones that you can't. My lack of wings is a problem I can't do anything about. I could beat my head against that particular cliff if I wanted to, and all that would happen is I'd end up with a bloody head. Uh, metaphorically speaking. Or I can accept that it is what it is and do the best I can." He gave her a little pat and added, "Maybe if I'd grown wings I'd have flown off to the dragonlands years ago and never met you."
"Heh." Evening smiled up at him. "I hadn't thought of that."
"Even the worst problems sometimes have a silver lining. And some problems can be fixed. Yours, for example." He suddenly grinned. "Even if your mom decides to keep being stubborn, I've just had an idea."
Something in his grin, and in his playful tone promised mischief to Evening, who perked her ears up, her eyes shining. "Ooo. What's your idea?"
"Well, I know my way around official paperwork, since I was Twilight's assistant for so many years. You'd have to hold the quill, but I could help you fill out the application as, say, 'Afternoon Spark' or somepony like that. So how's your disguise magic?"
Evening's enthusiastic hug would have bowled over a pony her own size. "You're the best, Uncle Spike!"
Author's Note
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