Spike the Dragon had grown. He wasn’t as large as he thought he’d be. Definitely not larger than a pony. But he was still larger than the average stallion. Big Mac and Trouble Shoes withstanding. He came up to Big Mac’s shoulder at the base of his neck, Trouble Shoes’ shoulder at the top of his head. He’d grown up around Ponies his entire life. From Twilight’s assistant to the Dragon Guard of the Princess of Friendship, Spike had grown in more ways than one.
Now he had one more obstacle. He didn’t know how to be a dragon. Twilight paced the library, wondering to herself how she would help him. She could always send him to the Dragon Lands to learn from Ember and the rest. But would he even want to come back? What if he… mated with one of the female dragons there and they had a clutch? He’d have a family he had to take care of. Smolder could teach him, then he wouldn’t have to leave Ponyville. But there was still the matter of possible mating. If Spike mated with Smolder, would they return to the Dragon Lands to raise their new children?
“…light.”
She could have Ember make frequent visits to Ponyville, to help Spike learn how to be a dragon.
“..wilight.”
Or she could have Smolder teach him, under the promise that she’d remain in Ponyville if they mated.
“TWILIGHT!”
The shout caused Twilight to jump almost fifty feet in the air, her magic firing off in random directions when she came crashing down on her back. Looking at the intruder upside down, she blushed. Arcane. Her newest guard and Spike’s Lieutenant. She should have known that only he would call her by her name rather than Princess. Rolling to her feet, she coughed and stood straight.
“Yes, Lieutenant Arcane?”
“You were pacing and twilighting hard.”
“You say twilighting too?” he just smirked as he walked into the room.
“What’s got you so flustered?”
She sighed and looked at him. “Is it really that obvious?”
“I’ve known you for six years now, Twilight. It’s obvious when you’re twilighting over a problem.” She grumbled and he chuckled.
“It’s Spike. He’s grown up now, but he… he doesn’t know how to be a dragon. He’s grown up around ponies his whole life.”
“Then send him to the Dragon Lands.”
“That’s just it. What if I send him there and he doesn’t want to come back? What if I send him to the Dragon Lands and he… ehm… has babies with a dragoness there? What if Dragon Lord Ember won’t let him leave?”
“Twilight… it’s Spike. You really think he’d just bow down and say ‘Yes Dragon Lord Ember. I’ll stay here forever now.’ Not likely. And if he does have a clutch with a dragoness, two hundred bits says he brings her here to meet you and live in the castle with you. She’d probably complain, but so what? It’s still a castle that’s large enough to accommodate a dragon. And it’s not like she has to starve. Rarity and Spike visit the gem caves daily. I doubt your friend…”
“Our.”
“Our… friend would argue about having a second dragon to help out with carting gems back to Ponyville. Especially if Spike does have a clutch with some random dragoness. She’d be ecstatic about having a baby dragon of her own to raise, to help with gem gathering and being a constant companion like Spike is for you.”
“But he still doesn’t know how to be a dragon.”
“Then we’ll find him a mentor that can teach him.” Arcane said and Twilight nodded before rapidly shaking her head as he turned and walked out the door.
“Wait, what!?”
Two hours later, Arcane and Twilight stood in front of two dragons. Both were purple. One with golden horns and a gold underbelly, the other with a rim of horns around her head and a red underbelly. They looked around the castle as if it were the most fantastic thing they’d ever seen. “Glad you two could come.” Arcane said and they turned to look at him. They were the size of a pony. A large pony, like Trouble Shoes, but a pony all the same.
“Sure thing. What can we help ya with?” the male asked, and Twilight looked at him. If not for the golden scales down his back, Twilight could swear he was an adult version of Spike.
“Well, Twilight here has an assistant who is a dragon.”
“The little one with green spines?” the female asked and Arcane nodded.
“That’s the one. She’s concerned he doesn’t know how to be a dragon.”
“What? That’s preposterous. He is a dragon. How can he not know how to be a dragon?” she asked and Arcane chuckled.
“He was raised by Twilight from a baby, so the only family he’s ever known besides her and the other ponies around him was the dragon Sludge.”
“Ah yes… him…” the female said, an air of disgust in her voice.
“Yeah. So, I was thinking perhaps you two could help him learn how to be a dragon. Just, not some pony hating, gem hoarding mule of a dragon.”
“So… not like Sludge or Garble.”
“Exactly.”
“I think we can handle that, right Cynder?” the male asked and his companion nodded.
“Of course. It will take some doing, but we should be able to handle teaching him.” Cynder said and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “On the condition that we’re paid for it.”
“Cynder…” the other dragon groaned.
“What? We need the coins and you keep taking charity work.”
“That’s what heroes do, Cynder. They help without asking for anything in return.”
“This is not hero work. This is a job to teach a young dragon how to be a real dragon. Among ponies. This is paid work.”
“I agree.” Arcane said and the two dragons looked at him. “And you will be paid. Once we’ve established a baseline for how well you do your job.” He said and Cynder huffed, small flames blowing from her nostrils.
“And how will you stop us, pony?” She asked and her companion groaned again. Twilight turned to stop the fight and caught something out of the corner of her eye. Arcane’s Cutie Mark had changed. He’d told her about his strange brand of magic. The red corner of the star was taking up three other sections of it. Fire magic. Twilight looked around and finally spotted the flames. Hovering an inch behind Cynder’s head.
The other dragon followed her eyes and spotted the spiraling flames. He opened his mouth to warn Cynder, but the flames grew and encircled her throat, licking at her scales. “I assure you; you’ll find I am very persuasive.” Arcane said and Cynder swallowed, wincing when one of the flames licked her neck. Just as quickly as they’d grown, the flames vanished. “As I said, after we’ve set a baseline for how well you teach him, we will discuss payment. Whether it be in bits or gems, I’m sure we can accommodate.”
“Thank you. When should we start?” the other dragon asked and Arcane looked at Twilight. All three of them watched as his cutie mark returned to normal, the purple and yellow reappearing in their respective triangles.
“Does tomorrow work?” he asked, and Twilight nodded.
“Yes, of course. Spike is out with Rarity at the moment in the Gem Caves. They should return soon.” Almost on cue, the door swung open, admitting Rarity into the castle. Right behind her, pulling a cart full of gems, was Spike.
“Helloooo Darlings! ~” Rarity sing-songed as she entered the room. Spike panted with the struggle of pulling a full cart, but he wasn’t struggling with pulling it. It was the distance he’d pulled it. “Oh. Now I see why you wanted us to fetch so many gems, Arcane. Hello dears. My name is Rarity. If there is anything you desire, fashion wise, I am the pony to see.” She said, extending a hoof to Cynder and her friend.
Her friend smiled and grasped her hoof in his claws first. “Hello Rarity. My name is Spyro. This is Cynder, my partner.”
“An absolute pleasure, my dears. I must say, your scales are simply a divine shade of purple.” Rarity said and Cynder couldn’t help but blush.
“Thank you…” she said and Spyro smiled. Spike was staring at them silently the entire time.
“You must be Spike.” Spyro said and Spike shook his head rapidly and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Cynder and I are here to teach you how to be a dragon.” Spyro said and Spike blinked at them.
“But… I am a dragon.”
“But you don’t know how to be a dragon, Spike. You were raised by Twilight, around Ponies. You don’t know how to actually be a dragon.” Arcane said.
“One that isn’t a jerk anyway.” Spyro said and Twilight nodded. “Trust me, Cynder might be a little rough around the edges, but she’s been through some stuff. We can help you figure out how to be a dragon. Complete with your friendship with ponies.”
“Ok… when do we start then?”
“We can start whenever you’re ready.” Spyro said and Spike looked at Twilight then nodded.
“We’ll start now.”
Four hours later, Spyro, Spike and Cynder walked into the castle foyer. “I am so sorry, Cynder.” Spike said and Spyro chuckled as Cynder batted away his claw as he attempted to put out an ember of green flame sticking to her horn.
“I… don’t want to hear it…” she said as she shook her head, the flame going out in the air. Twilight and Arcane walked into the foyer and looked at the three of them. From Spike’s apologetic look, to Spyro’s barely contained laughter, to Cynder’s lightly scorched scales.
“What exactly happened?” Twilight asked
“Four hundred gold. We have a lot of work to do.” Cynder said and Arcane chuckled as Cynder walked past them, using her nose to find her way to the nearest bathroom.
“What did happen?” Arcane asked and Spyro sighed.
“We were practicing fire breath. Spike showed us his and that it’s green fire. Which is all well and good. If you want to transport scrolls and such. But it’s not much good for combat. Or keeping eggs warm after hatching season. So… we had him turn up the heat. And… he did. But then he couldn’t stop. It kept getting hotter and eventually it was white hot.”
“Wow. Impressive.” Arcane said and Spyro nodded then shook his head.
“Impressive, but dangerous even to dragons. We had to put out the fire, and Cinder thought she could tank through it to close his mouth with her paws.”
“And got burned for it.”
“Well… scorched, but yeah.” Spyro said, looking at Spike. “We eventually had to shove his face into the dirt to quench the fire.”
“Is that why he’s all dirty?” Twilight asked and Spyro nodded.
“Water would have just boiled the second the flame touched it. Dirt was quicker because the worst that would happen there is it would melt and turn to rock.
"And Cynder’s angry because she tried to clamp his mouth shut from the front and got a face full of fire.” Spyro nodded and Arcane let out a belch of laughter.
“Alright… Four hundred it is.” Arcane said and Twilight nodded. “As well as an extra hundred for Cynder, in case she wants to go to the spa to get her scales waxed.”
“They do that here?”
“Oh yeah. I go there all the time.” Spike said and Spyro looked at him. “Lotus and Aloe have the best scale wax in Ponyville. And the best hooves for massages. You don’t know relaxed until Lotus and Aloe work on you.” He said and the door to the room Cynder had vanished into banged open.
“Spyro. Spike. Spa. Now.” She said and the two purple dragons watched the other purple dragon stride passed them towards the spa.
“I… guess she likes scale waxing?”
“Cynder likes anything that can get her pampered.” Spyro said as the two dragons followed her out the door. Twilight turned to Arcane to tell him to go alert Lotus and Aloe they were about to get three dragonic customers, but the circle of blue flames told her he’d already gone.
“At least… they aren’t mean.” She said to herself before walking into her library to read more on purple dragons. The book she’d found had mentioned Cynder specifically after all.
Author's Note
Alright y'all. Tell me what ya think. I've NEVER played any of the Spyro games involving Cynder, but I've heard that she still had some of her "attitude" from when she was a villain even now that she's one of the good guys. Did I capture her right? Or should we just accept this as an AU version of Cynder who's still kinda rude, but cares about her friends and doing a good job?
