Author's Note

Descriptions are based on the work done by RacoonKun support him/her on Patreon
Drakaina is the correct word for female dragon.

The Stakes

A green haired young man on the 19-year-old side of 18 years old dressed in a pair of purple jeans, looked at looked at himself in the mirror and smiled showing his more fang like front teeth. His tone muscles hid the true strength his body process. He gave his leathery wing a flap and a strech. "Looking good, Spike." he said to the mirror. Before he turned his gaze to wrapped box on his dress. He sighed, "I hope she likes this." he said as he picked it up the box before he put on a light green shirt and purple jacket the same shade as his pants. He then exited his room.

After a couple of seconds he arrived at the strairs to main lobby of the Castle of Friendship. The whole place was full of Hearth Warming decations, with wreaths, a large evergreen treen adorned with a wide array of orienimates, lights, garlands, candles and bells. On the top of tree was purple flame shaped like a heart. Under the lowest branchs of the tree were a multitude of wrapped boxes, all of them gifts. Spike smirked as he jumped onto the stair case railling and slide down it. He landed on his feet with a thud. "SPIKE!" came a familiar voice as a woman about a decade or so older then him came into the lobby. She had dark puple hair with a lighter purple and a pink streak in. She had feathery wings and spiraling unicorn-like horn from her forehead. She was dressed in a light purple shirt a long skirt a different shade to Spike's cloths.

"Good Morning, Twilight." Spike said as he rolled his eyes.

Twilight groaned, "We talked about you sliding down the railing." she started to scold him. "You're not a light as appear. It could break under you and you can fall and break a bone or two or three." Before Spike responded there was a knock on the front door. "We'll talk later." she said sturnly as if she was still repremanding a child. Spike only rolled his eyes as he flew over to open the door.

"WE'RE HERE!!!" shouted two men, two woman and two girls all together, all of them with horns like Twilight. One of the men was over three decades older than Twilight had amber eyes and dark blue hair, he was dressed in a gray azure shirt and pants under a matching winter jacket. The other man was somewhere between five to ten years older than Twilight had blue eyes and with blue hair with two streaks one a different shade of blue another a blue-green mix, not-like Twilight. He was dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans, with a purple jacket and scarff one between six and eight and the other between three and five. Older of the two women was about the same again of the older man and had blue eye with purple and white striped hair and dressed in a light gray blouse and dress under a black jacket. The younger woman was about as old as the younger of the two men. She had purple eyes with violet hair with rose and gold streaks and was dressed in a light pink dress and blouse and like Twilight, she too had wings and was noticed with a slightly swollenbelly indicating a child was in the earliest stages of his or her life. Much like the younger of the two women, the two girls had wings. The older girl had opal eyes with hair that was colored in a gradient of pink to purple with blie steaks and had a light pinkish gray dress. The younger girl had blue eyes with gold and purple hair and was dressed in a dark pink dress.

"Dad, Shining, Mom, Cadance, Flurry Heart, Skyla..." Twilight said as she idenified each of her guest as she joined Spike to usher them in. "You're early!"

"We caught an earlier train to Canterlot." Shining said as he picked up the two girls.

"We really wanted to be with THE BEST AUNT EVER!!" the two girls shouted together before they tackled their aunt.

"Girls," Cadance said as she and Shining took their daughters off of Twilight. "We talked about tackling Auntie Twilight." "Aww" the two girls pouted.

"So when do we meet Spike's girl friend?" Twilight's mother asked.

The man identified as Twilight's father pulled Twilght's mother to the side, "Now Velvet, dear, it's too soon for Spike to bring a girl to a family event."

"But Nightie," Velvet faked whinned, "Shining can't be the only one to give us grandchildern, Cadance is already bearing his thrid," she then turned to Twilight, "and Twilight might as well have a barren womb, heck she hasn't even adopted a kid."

"MOTHER!!!" Twilight shouted as she burried her face to hide her embrassement.

As everyone was laughing at Twilight's current state Spike sneaked out of the castle and flew towards to Twilight's school. As he flew through the halls he passed various humans, some had horns like Twilight's family, some had wings like Twilight and Cadance without the horns and some had niether. All of them heading out of the school, most likely home for Hearths Warming. After about fifteen minutes he arrived at the door he was looking for. On it was the name plaque that read 'Ocellus and Smolder'. Spike landed and knocked on the door. "Coming." came a female voice from other side. The door then opened to reveal a young woman with leathery wings and tail, not unlike Spike, however her scales were orange, she had purple hair and horns. She wore dark orange pants that matached her scales and a jacket that matched the pants with a light gold undershirt. "Hey bou." the woman said with a smirk before she kissed Spike on his lips.

Spike shock his head after they broke the kiss, "That's not the word." he muttered, "But A for effort, Smolder." he concluded.

"Gah." Smolder groaned as she turned and walked back into the room, "One more school refrence..." she started only for her to be hugged from behind and had her face turned to her left and kissed over her shoulder. After a second, they broke the kiss. Smolder smirked, "Feeling bold?" she asked rhetorically as she slided out of the hug and turned to face Spike as she leaned against her red. Spike only smirked in response. "You sure this is a good idea?" she asked. "To your adoptive family and everyone else here, heck even for Ocellus, Yona and Silverstream, bringing a... what do you call them?" she asked as looked at Spike somewhat confussed.

Spike smiled, "Special somebody." he answered as he stepped forward and took Smolder's left hand in his right hand. "Yay, it is considered a big deal, but if helps my adoptive mother pretty much ships us already and my sister-in-law, if you call her Shipance, she'll let it slide." The two then shared a chuckle. "Besides we also want to try out the Dragons' Fest of Fire." Spike pointed out.

Smolder sighed, "Alright let's get this over with." she said as she lept to be in the air to fly. She was then joined by Spike. "Don't forget I am doing this for you." she said as she had her finger tapped on Spike's chest to make a point clear, "But if Headmistress Sparkle gives me a book, I'm razing her castle to the ground, no surviviors." She then leaned in so that Spike could only see her eyes, "not even you," she growled.

Spike gulped at first, "Understood." he replied.

Smolder smiled and kissed Spike, "Glad we got that cover. Now let's go." After they flew out, Smolder locked the door behind them and flew towards the castle.

After their flight they arrived at the front steps. As the two started to climb the steps, Spike stopped her and him a couple steps from the door. "Look up." he said as he pointed to just above the door. "Mistletoe."

Smolder sighed, "Do we have to kiss in door way?" she asked with a clear groan.

Spike shook his head, "I'll just fly back to your room with a suitcase of your things, just give me you're key and wait until I get back before you knock on the door. Smolder gave Spike her room key and the male dragon flew back to her room. After a few minutes Spike arrived back with a suit case. He nodded to Smolder for her to knock. Smolder then walked up and knocked on the door.

Cadance was the one to open the door and spotted Spike not even the base of the stair, "Oh..." the princess pouted. She then smiled and allowed Smolder in. "Welcome Smolder," she said as the two walked in. "Spike has told us all about you." As she finished, she looked over her shoulder as Spike climbed the stairs.

After about hour or so later as everyone was in the dining hall and were preparing to eat, "I hope I got the Feast of Fire dishes right, Ember's letters were pretty vague on the details." Twilight said as she was leviatating the servings platters with various dishes, some where more inline to what humans ate, others were made with various gems and some stones. Twilight's comment was more concerning the dishes made with gems and stones.

Smolder took a spoon full of one dish and a fork full of another and muched on them. She then swolled what she took, "Not bad, next time use dragon fire to cook them." the drakaina said as she served herself from the rest of platters and then had them pass on to Spike who was across the table from her as she accepted some of the other platters.

"Okay so the food's the perfect, but I hope you don't mind the attempt at a Feast of Fire." Spike asked as he accepted was given to him as he severed himself.

Smolder smiled, "It's a good first try, but the key thing is actual the contest of story telling." she informed. "But since the only pile is the presents intended for everyone, a we'll do a wager among dragons."

As everyone was eating, Shining spoke up, "Not to come off a predjuice..."

"Only a human would care about their word giving offense to a dragon. And if you take offense to that, that say more about you then me." Smolder said before chomped down on her piece of the Hearth Warming Roast. "Good cow, Sweet Apple Aches?" she asked with the meat still in her mouth.

Twilight was somewhat shocked but everyone else shrugged it off. Shining then continued, "Don't you think it's kind of speciesist to only keep the contest between dragons?" he asked.

Cadance over looked at Smolder and noted a slit twinkle in her eye, a spark of something, then spoke up, "While it would be nice if we all took part in the story contest. How about we all act as the judges for the contest between Spike and Smolder." Shining, Velvet and Night Light looked at Cadance and she nodded to them.

The three then said together, "Agreed."

"Alright Smolder, what is the wager?" Twilight asked as she saw that the other adults seemed to be in agreement about something which she didn't get or had the time to get.

Smolder leaned back as she took a swig of her drink, "Professor Rarity always talks that one of the greatest shows of generocity in her life was when..." the drakaina started.

"Deal." Spike declared in confidence. "So what if I win?" Spike asked.

Smolder corrected her seat and leaned forward to look squarely at Spike, "If you win, I'll give a Hearth Warming Eve you'll always remeber." She then winked with her left eye and ended with a smirk.

Spike smirked back, "You're on."

"I say Auntie Smolder should go first." Flurry declared.

"Me Too." Skyla cheered. Spike, Velvet, Night Light, Shining, Cadance and Twilight all nodded in silence.

Smolder smirked and cleared her throat, "Once upon a time..."