Feathers on Scales

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Scootaloo zoomed through town with a huge smile on her face. Her heart was a flutter with hope. Rainbow Dash, and her family had actually cheered her research project. It was a silly thing to be happy about, but it meant everything to Scootaloo -- and not just because it was a well needed ego boost.

Home sweet home, Scootaloo thought bitterly as she pulled up to the porch of the Ponyville orphanage. It was a nice inviting two story house, with nearly five bedrooms. But, it didn’t have the same levels of love as a family… a family like Rainbow Dash had. That wasn’t to say that Mrs. Sweet Home didn’t care about Scootaloo. But, she didn’t love her… at least not in the same way as a parent. Instead, she tended to care about Scootaloo in the same way as Mrs. Cheerilee cared for her, or Pinkie Pie cared for the Pie twins.

“Cinnamon Buns, no running in the house!” Mrs. Sweet Home sternly commanded a small five year old colt, who Scootaloo knew liked to run around a lot. Currently the orphanage had only five foals in it, and that was sure to change quickly. The reality of Ponyville was that it was small, and fairly well off. That meant that most foals didn’t stay at the orphanage long… unless they were Scootaloo.

“Now, I need you to get out of the kitchen. I have a lot to talk about with my guest,” Mrs. Sweet Home commanded sternly as she pushed Cinnamon Buns out of the kitchen.

Scootaloo jumped out of the way as Cinnamon Buns galloped past her at full speed. The colt bore the largest smile Scootaloo had seen since Diamond Tiara visited the Orphanage with gifts. “I’m sorry, but I can’t handle her anymore,” Scootaloo heard Mrs. Sweet Home whisper to somepony. Scootaloo then found herself sitting on the other side of the kitchen wall. Scootaloo could feel her heart drop. She’d heard about this sort of thing happening. Scootaloo had been in the system since she was practically a newborn. That was practically a full ten years. By now, they were just ready to give up on her.

Scootaloo gulped. In some ways she’d seen this coming for years. Quickly she struggled to suppress that nagging, and familiar feeling… The feeling that something was wrong with her. Nopony had ever taken interest in her. Whereas, Scootaloo had never seen a foal reach the age of seven without being adopted. But, she was already ten.

“She’s just getting to be too much to handle,” Mrs. Sweet Home continued, undeterred and unaware of Scootaloo’s presence behind the wall. “I’ve been giving her all of the food supplements the doctor called for me to give her, and it’s only getting worse,” Mrs. Sweet Home explained with a frustrated sigh.

Oh no, Scootaloo thought with a gasp.

She’s still mad about what happened to my bed, Scootaloo realised with a long swallow as she looked down at her forelegs forlornly. She didn’t know how it had happened. But, she’d gone to bed the night before, only to find her room scorched in the morning. Fortunately, Mrs. Sweet Home had “Cutie Mark Crusader-proofed” the room earlier that year, and so it hadn’t completely taken the house down with it.

“We may have to move her to another orphanage,” Mrs. Sweet Home explained clinically to the, as of yet, unknown pony. Scootaloo couldn’t register what the other pony said in response through the pounding of her heart. Mrs. Sweet Home was giving up on her… just like every other pony eventually did.

“With all due respect: I know what you said. But, I cannot do that anymore. I’m not properly equipped to handle her needs,” Mrs. Sweet Home insisted to her mysterious guest in a softish whisper.

Scootaloo could feel the tears well up, and then flood her eyes. She didn’t want to leave Ponyville. She didn’t want to lose her few friends, her hero slash sister, or the few ponies that actually cared about her. Scootaloo could no longer see anything in front of her, because of the flood of despair. Still... even before Scootaloo knew what she was doing, her legs were already galloping at full speed around the corner, and into the kitchen. “Please don’t send me away,” Scootaloo pleaded.

“I want to stay in Ponyville,” Scootaloo continued to beg pitifully. She found herself kneeling on the floor, and her hooves outstretched in a silent prayer.

“How much did you hear, little one?” asked a melodious, and gentle new voice. Scootaloo opened her eyes in surprise to look at the mystery pony, only for her heart to drop at what she saw. Standing in front of her was the regal appearance of Equestria’s tallest, and most powerful princess.

“P-princess Celestia?” Scootaloo stuttered as her jaw dropped, and all further conversation left her throat.

“P-please don’t let them take me away?” Scootaloo managed to plead through her dry throat, and empty mouth.

“It’s ok little one, I wasn’t going to send you away from your home,” Celestia softly explained as she laid a comforting and downy wing on Scootaloo’s withers, and shot Mrs. Sweet Home a clearly displeased look.

“Quite the contrary, the most qualified pony to care for you lives right here in Ponyville,” Celestia explained warmly as she kneeled down to sit closer to Scootaloo’s level.

“Most qualified pony?” Scootaloo asked glumly. She couldn’t help but feel like she was being shoved on some pony she didn’t know. Like, they just found somepony that would put up with her for a while.

“You see, you’re a very special pony, Scootaloo,” Celestia continued as she gave Scootaloo a warm smile.

“And, you are getting older. And, part of getting older is going through some changes in your body,” Celestia explained cryptically.

“Like puberty?” Scootaloo asked with a long gulp. She’d heard about this from Miss. Cheerilee. But, she thought she still had about three more years before she had to deal with that “fearful, but wonderful time.”

“Heavens, no,” Celestia said with a slight blush.

“This is a special situation for you. And, one I suspected you would be going through for quite some time,” Celestia added. Scootaloo looked at her with a face full of confusion and skepticism. It was understandable… It was an alien concept to any pony that Celestia could have any specific interest in their life. And, that was mostly because she was so busy. But this case was special, and it called for special attention.

“So, I need you to pack your things, Scootaloo. So that we can get you settled into your new home,” Celestia explained as she called her two guards over, so that they could help the small filly pack.

Spike hastily waddled around as he frantically attempted to sweep the entire crystal castle from top to bottom in less than ten minutes. “We gotta hurry up. Princess Celestia said, she’s supposed to be here today!” Spike shouted in panic as he whizzed by Twilight Sparkle with a feather duster now sitting firmly in his hand.

“Spike, she’s younger than you. I doubt she’s going to get worked up over a little dust,” Twilight chastised him as she watched him whiz by a third time, this time carrying a mop.

“Plus, we don’t know when she’s supposed to get here, it could be hours,” Twilight added as she watched Spike run himself ragged.

“But Twilight, this is my sister,” Spike chastised the lavender alicorn as he took a second from his cleaning spree to stare at Twilight slack jawed.

“A sister, mind you, that nopony even knew I had,” Spike pointed out eagerly as he resumed his mopping.

“And, I want her to feel right at home as soon as she arrives,” Spike concluded as he ran around swabbing the floors.

“But, she’s younger than you… And, a lot younger if I correctly understood what Princess Celestia’s letter was telling me,” Twilight countered as she flew just a few feet off of the ground in an attempt to keep up with Spike without tiring out her legs.

“According to the letter that the princess sent, she just started expressing fire recently. And, you were already a baby when you started expressing fire,” Twilight explained as she watched Spike’s pace only pick up, rather than slowing down.

“Or, she could be a late bloomer,” Spike countered with a large grin, and excited eyes.

“After all, she’s never had a chance to be a dragon, since she was raised by ponies. And that means, I’ll get to teach her everything I know about being a dragon, and doing things the dragon way,” Spike added as he eagerly imagined himself teaching a little sister everything he knew, just like Twilight had taught him everything she knew.

“Don’t get too excited, the only things you know about being a dragon you learned by experience, or from the Dragon Migration and the Dragon Lord competition,” Twilight warned. She didn’t want to break his heart, but she didn’t want him building his hopes up too high, either.

“Still, she knows nothing. And, that means I have a lot to share,” Spike stated eagerly.

“And, why aren’t you more excited? We’ve never had a chance to know anything about my family, and now the princess just found a long lost sister that nopony even knew about. Do you know what this means?” Spike asked eagerly.

“That you have a sister?” Twilight asked nervously through a forced smile as she watched Spike’s mood continue to grow ever more excited.

“Not just that, the princess might know who my father, or mother is,” Spike added as he wrung his claws together with an excitement too big to contain.

“We might finally know who my family is, and why they abandoned my egg,.. Or my sister’s egg for that matter, I suppose,” Spike grimly explained as the melancholy thoughts managed to suppress his previous uncontainable excitement.

“Not necessarily. I think Princess Celestia would have told us more information if she knew more,” Twilight explained as she rubbed her chin with a hoof.

“And, all she told me was that your sister was being cared for by ponies, and that she’d be staying here with us from now on. Nothing else. She didn’t even tell us who hatched her,” Twilight added as she watched Spike’s face grow more somber with each word. Twilight could feel her heart already ache to see Spike in such a rare slump.

“But, I could ask the princess next time I see her,” Twilight added as she reached out and gave Spike a gentle tap on the shoulder.

“Would you?” Spike asked as his face slowly turned up with a new look of hopefulness.

“Because, maybe she’s learned more since she sent the letter,” Spike added hopefully.

“I certainly could,” Twilight admitted as a faint knocking on the front door told her somepony was at the front door.

“That’s her now!” Spike shouted as he frantically resumed the mopping that Twilight had interrupted.

“Twilight, please get the door!” Spike pleaded as he hurried to finish the cleaning quickly.

“Spike, you answer the door. I’ll finish the mopping,” Twilight commanded with a roll of her eyes as she grabbed the mop out of Spike’s claws using her magic.

“Right,” Spike agreed anxiously as he sprinted down the hall, and down the stairs. Spike was well out of breath by the time he reached the front door. Hastily Spike licked his hand, and ran it along the spikes along his head and back.

“Hello little sister,” Spike said as he casually pulled the door open.

“Little sister?” asked a small feminine voice from behind the door. If Spike wasn’t so surprised by the familiarity of the voice, he might have heard the subtle sound of a poorly hidden hope buried in her voice.

“Scootaloo?” Spike asked in wide eyed surprise. Quickly he watched her wilt at the surprise. Both her wings, and ears pinned to her body in an obvious sign of depression.

“Spike, please show Scootaloo in,” calmly commanded the gentle voice of princess Celestia as she strode up to stand right next to Scootaloo.

“I want you to show Scootaloo around her new home, and help her feel at home. She will be staying with you and Twilight from now on. Don’t worry about her luggage, a couple of my guards will be moving them in for you shortly,” Celestia explained, earning a surprised look from Spike.

“In the meantime, I need to discuss a couple of matters with Twilight,” Celestia explained casually as she waited for Spike to lead Scootaloo into the castle.

“What about my sister? Is she still coming today?” Spike asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“Spike,” Celestia stated calmly, but assertively.

“She’ll be moved in soon. But for now, I want you to make Scootaloo feel at home -- while my guards help move her into your home,” Celestia firmly stated with a voice that was not harsh, but it was commanding.

“Of course,” Spike submitted with a definite disappointment in his voice.

“Come on Scootaloo. Let me get you something to drink,” Spike said calmly as he turned around to give Scootaloo his most inviting smile.

Scootaloo followed Spike as he walked into the castle with his usual trundle, and not the highly energetic movements he’d shown earlier. As Spike took a turn at the top of the stairs, princess Celestia walked up to Twilight’s throne room.

“Twilight are you here?” Celestia asked gently as she took a quick look around the throne room. Much to her suspicion, she found Twilight sitting on her throne with her muzzled buried in a book about dragons.

Celestia gently smiled when she noticed that Twilight had not yet noticed her voice. It reminded her of a few times when she had dropped in on Twilight unexpectedly. It seemed that Twilight could still lose track of time if she got herself wrapped up in a problem.

“Twilight?” Celestia stated a bit louder. This time, the familiar voice managed to arrest Twilight’s attention away from her work.

“Celestia?” Twilight said with a start as she looked up sheepishly at Princess Celestia.

“Is Spike’s sister here already?” Twilight asked curiously as her ears perked up in an obvious sign of her fascination with the problem.

“That’s one of the things I wanted to discuss with you,” princess Celestia stated plainly as she trotted over to stand at Twilight’s crystal table.

“Another would be Spike’s parents,” Celestia added with a definite reservation in her voice.

“You know who they were?” Twilight asked curiously, her smile growing as she began to show an obvious curiosity.

“I do,” Celestia admitted.

“But before that, do you know about the story of Sedna, and Clip the thief?” Celestia inquired. Twilight lifted an eyebrow as she tried to figure out what a seemingly irrelevant myth had to do with Spike. Celestia’s face bore no help, however.

“It’s a myth, about a genocidal unicorn wizard, and how he was ultimately slain by a petty thief at the cost of her own live,” Twilight answered as she allowed herself to stare up at the ceiling.

“It never made much sense to me, to be honest. Besides there being no reliable historical records. The whole story has several problems with it,” Twilight recalled as she considered all of the issues with the story.

“One, how could any being, especially a pony, be so monstrous. Second, it seems unlikely that an untrained and unprepared filly could survive a direct magical blow from such a powerful wizard. Finally, the timetable of the story seems off… It takes nearly eleven months to resolve, and is broken up into two different confrontations between clip and Sedna. I just don’t think anypony as evil as Sedna could get away with wanton murder for that long,” Twilight finished as she allowed her eyes to return to looking at her ex-mentor.

“It all just seemed allegorical to me. Even the tale highly suggests that Clip’s appearance wasn’t her true shape. And, Sedna’s curse on his own children made even less sense. After all, Sedna had been obsessed with starting a strong dynasty for himself, but then he cursed his children to be brutally murdered… It just never made sense outside of figurative imagery,” Twilight summarized as she looked to Celestia to see what information the princess would supply.

“The story does predate Luna, and my time on the throne. So, some of the details may have changed over the course of a couple thousand years,” Celestia admitted as she gave Twilight a gentle smile.

“But, I can assure you that both characters in the story did exist… If not quite in the same shape,” Celestia added as she watched Twilight suppress a skeptical look.

“So the story is true?” Twilight asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

“As a matter of fact yes,” Celestia acknowledged, before she walked over to stand closer to Twilight Sparkle.

“Now for the second thing I wanted to discuss with you: did you know a dragon egg only hatches in response to certain magical stimuli, but will remain alive and intact for several Millennia as long as they are continually incubated by magic?” Celestia asked as she watched a look of surprise cross Twilight’s face.

Twilight’s mind was racing from all of the seemingly unimportant, and disconnected elements. Finally, she asked the first rational question that came to her mind, that she could figure out how to vocalize. “Who hatched Spike’s sister?” Twilight asked calmly.

“You did,” Celestia admitted with no discernible expression crossing her face.

“But, I only cast my magic on Spike’s egg,” Twilight countered with a definite confusion in her voice.

“Yes, but your magic burst was powerful enough to touch everything in the building… even the other egg from Spike’s clutch that we had stored in the basement,” Celestia explained with a gentle smile, and a slight look of pride vaguely hiding on the fringes of her face.

“Celestia, why didn’t you tell me? I would have taken care of Spike’s sister too,” Twilight admitted with a hint of betrayal, and hurt on her face.

“You had enough to work to do, just caring for Spike,” Princess Celestia admitted somberly.

“And also, Spike’s sister needs special considerations -- which I decided you wouldn’t be able to provide for her,” Princess Celestia concluded as she gave Twilight Sparkle an apologetic look.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Twilight admitted with a defeated sigh.

“Celestia,” Twilight asked quietly. “You said you were bringing Spike’s sister here today. And yet, you brought Scootaloo instead. Are these things related?“

“Twilight, I think you already know the answer to that,” Celetia said calmly.

Twilight sighed, and hung her head.

“Could you at least tell me who Scootaloo’s parents are?” Twilight entreated her beloved mentor.

“Yes, but this needs to stay between us,” Princess Celestia explained with an air of utter finality.

Chapter 2

A small dragon, a rather quiet orange pegasus filly, and two rather large royal guards walked down the empty halls of Twilight’s crystal castle. While the dragon and filly weren’t carrying anything, the two guards were laden down with Scootaloo’s worldly possessions.

“And, this will be your room,” Spike explained casually as he opened one of the large crystal doors to reveal a rather empty crystal room.

“And that wraps up the tour,” Spike added as he stepped out of the way, so Scootaloo could peek around the dragon, and see her room.

The small orange pegasus didn’t seem to bite. Instead, she moved her head a bit, and then went back to following the dragon very quietly. Spike couldn’t help but feel like the normally energetic filly seemed off today. Quieter, more aloof even. His thoughts were interrupted by one of the two stallions wearing heavy armor.

“Umm… can we unload the stuff now?” one of the two guards quietly asked Spike. The two guards had reached their limit of patience and strength about four rooms ago. But, they had diligently muscled through, as their mission from their princess was pretty specific.

“Sure go ahead,” Spike conceded with a shrug.

“Hey Scootaloo you hungry,” Spike offered, finally getting a bit of a reaction from the filly. Her stomach growled, causing her to blush. She then gave a wane smile and a nod.

“OK. Follow me. The dining room is this way,” Spike explained as he doubled back and started walking where the two had just come from.

“Hey wait! I got to get my medicine,” Scootaloo realized with a small startle. Quickly she ran over to one of the stallions, and grabbed some saddle bags from his back with her teeth, and then she gallopped back after the small retreating dragonling.

It took a little while for the dragonling to realize he’d left the pegasus behind, and even longer for him to finally stop and let her catch up.

“I didn’t know you took medicine,” Spike said with a hint of surprise.

“You seem healthy enough,” he added casually. “I mean, aren’t you the one doing all those fancy scooter stunts?”

Scootaloo nodded as her mind seemed to switch gears into a lighter mood. “Yup. I got to get my wings stronger somehow. If my wings don’t grow out, then my only hope for flight is to muscle through it. And that means, I got to get stronger!”

“So, what’s it for?” Spike couldn’t help but ask.

“Nothing,” Scootaloo said with a blush.

“It’s not important,” she insisted a bit brusquely.

“Hey, no need to get worked up about it.” Spike retorted defensively as he raised both claws in a defensive stance.

“I don’t think it’s anything stranger than Twilight’s had to take over the years. I remember when she was a teenager, she had like four different medications just to keep her acne under control,” Spike said with a snort, and a small laugh. Those years had embarrassed poor Twilight, but he’d just thought it was amusing, really.

Spike frowned a little when he noticed the small pegasus didn’t even smirk.

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo said as Spike saw the two into a rather large room with enough space to comfortably sit eight. “This stuff is pretty funky...”

“Oh come on. Don’t be so worked up about it. It’s not that important, and you might as well tell me. I’m going to be pestering you until you tell me,” Spike admitted as he took one of the empty seats. Scootaloo then took the seat next to him.

“Fine,” Scootaloo conceded in defeat.

“But, I want some bread, a knife, some peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a teaspoon,” Scootaloo demanded. Spike shrugged, and conceded to her demands. He grabbed the small list of items, and then set them casually down on the table as he returned to his seat.

“Well, this blue stuff is for my heartburn,” Scootaloo explained as she plopped a large medical bottle full of some kind of paste down on the counter. The contents were hidden by the tinted plastic. But Spike could see it was a deep blue.

“Heartburn?” Spike asked casually as he looked at the blue paste.

“Yeah, I get this whole burning sensation from my stomach, clear up my throat,” Scootaloo explained as she scooped two teaspoons worth of paste from the bottle, and slathered them onto the bread.

“Ohh, it sparkles,” Spike said in awe as he eyeballed the glittering paste. It actually did glitter like gems when free from the confinements of the tinted medical bottle.

“It tastes bad though,” Scootaloo complained as she stuck out her tongue.

“It kind of tastes like Salt water… But, nothing like Salt water… If that makes sense?” she tried to explain, before she looked away in frustration.

“Huh…” Spike said as he rubbed his head. Carefully he reached over and dipped his claw into the bottle, before pulling out the now blue tinted substance.

“Hey! That stuff is expensive. Mrs. Sweet Home is going to…” Scootaloo started in a panic, before she figured something out. The rest of her argument then died in her throat.

“Never mind...” she mumbled as she looked away with a slight huff.

Spike shrugged, and licked the paste off of his claw. He then shook a bit in revulsion. “Ugg. It tastes just like a Water Sapphire.”

Spike then pulled the bottle over, and sniffed the contents.

“Smells like it too,” he complained as he made a point to plug his nose in the most obvious way possible.

“Can’t be,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. “Miss. Cheerilee had a lesson about edible rocks when we visited that rock farm, and she said to never eat Water Sapphires.”

“I guess you’re right,” Spike conceded with a shrug.

Scootaloo shrugged back, and then reached for her other medical bottle. This time she was less careful, and just dumped out a small mound of the contents. It was a rainbow of colors, but also glittered like fine gems. Spike could also smell it. It smelt delicious. Spike reached a claw towards the bread, only to get a sour look from the pegasus. He withdrew his claw, and attempted to return the conversation to the blue paste.

“Dragons can eat them. But, they make it so we cannot breath fire for a while. Twilight usually makes me eat them when I have a bad cold,” Spike explained as he passed the bottle back.

“What about the other stuff,” Spike asked as Scootaloo began to spread the paste evenly.

“It’s…. It’s…” Scootaloo struggled to say anymore. Her face was flaming. And, her ears and tail drooped with an obvious embarrassment.

“It’s what?” Spike asked with a building curiosity.

Scootaloo buried her muzzle in her forelegs. “It’s for my skin condition…” She mumbled almost completely unintelligibly into her forelegs.

“Skin condition?!” Spike shouted in surprise.

“Shoosh!!! Not so loud!” Scootaloo half shouted as she covered the dragonling’s mouth with both hooves.

The dragon continued to look at her with that questioning look. Even after a few seconds, he just didn’t seem to give up on the question he was sitting on,

“Fine…” Scootaloo sighed.

“There’s some kind of hard scab or something growing under my fur. The doctor couldn’t make it stop, so he just said to use that stuff to keep it from cracking and bleeding,” Scootaloo whispered into Spike’s ear fin.

“Wow… That is freaky,” Spike marveled causing Scootaloo to blush harder, her face turning completely red with humiliation.

“Can I see it?” Spike pleaded with the orange pegasus, who shot him a grossed out look.

“Why would you want to see that?” She hissed.

“Oh come on, I’m just curious,” Spike explained as he raised his claws in a defensive posture.

“Boys…” Scootaloo muttered to herself.

“Fine… There’s some up here on my foreleg. Just don’t tell anypony about it, ok?” She grumbled as she shot her foreleg out, and rested it on the wooden table.

“Right…” Spike accepted as he gently slid her fur out of the way to poke at the reportedly scabbed skin.

It was solid, but had a bit of give to it. It was rough to the touch, but didn’t feel rough in the complete way that a scab might. It also looked like it was broken up into several smaller circles. Furthermore, Scootaloo’s fur seemed to be growing out of the odd skin without any difficulty, something that Twilight’s scabs never did.

“It kind of feels like Scale,” Spike decided as he gently rubbed the odd skin a bit more. Carefully he looked over the small scale like growths. The skin had turned from it’s usual hairless pink to a shade of orange to match Scootaloo’s coat.

“It’s not scale,” Scootaloo groused as she slapped Spike’s claws away. She then huffed, and began to slather the jelly and peanut butter onto the other slice of the bread.

“Sorry… Geez, what’s getting you so worked up?” Spike asked with a hint of concern.

“For starters, you are asking me embarrassing questions, “ Scootaloo hissed.

“Before that. You’ve been sulky the whole time you’ve been here,” Spike pointed out calmly but firmly.

Scootaloo opened her mouth to object, only to get cut off. “And don’t try to deny it, I could tell,” Spike pointed out.

“It’s nothing,” Scootaloo retorted defensively.

“Not to you,” Spike pointed out firmly.

“Come on, out with it. Holding it in is only going to make you feel worse,” spike insisted.

“I… I… you said ‘sister’,” Scootaloo mumbled as she mashed her sandwich together with a little too much force, causing it to smoosh into two smooth lumps of flatbread with filling oozing out from all four sides.

“What?” Spike asked as he rubbed his ear fins.

“I just wanted a family. OK!?” Scootaloo admitted as she slammed her hooves on the table, and stifled a whimper. She choked a couple of times, and then rubbed her eyes.

“But, nopony wanted me. And, if anypony even showed a little interest… any interest at all, Mrs. Sweet Home would always have a list of demands. Not even those two monster hunters wanted me after they saw all the requirements Mrs. Sweet Home had… I…. I… I guess: I just wasn’t worth the effort,” Scootaloo grumbled as she desperately suppressed a whimper.

Finally, she began to furiously attack her bread with her teeth, tearing large chunks off, and then chewing it like it was her worst enemy. Her furious eyes still looked wet, but she didn’t seem like she was actively crying now.

“I’m sorry,” Spike apologized. As he went quiet, and watched the little filly continue to attack her bread. His mind raced for a good thing to say. Something to cheer her up.

“Spike,” Interrupted another voice, drawing Spike’s thoughts away from the current issue.

“I got a summons from Twilight. And, I’ve been looking everywhere for her. Do you know where she is?” asked the familiar voice of Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkles current student. Although, “student” was pushing it a bit at this point.

“I think she’s still in her throne room. At least, that’s the last time I heard from her,” Spike said as he rubbed his chin.

“Do you think it has to do with my sister? Celestia’s letter said today, right? I swear that’s what it said,” Spike asked the pinkish purple mare.

“I think so. Maybe that’s what she wanted to talk to me about,” Starlight Glimmer offered as she made a beeline out of the kitchen.

“You have a sister,” Scootaloo asked with a hint of curiosity, poking through her dour mood.

“Apparently,” Spike admitted.

“I never knew my parents, and I assumed I didn’t have any family,” Spike conceded.

“But a few days ago, we got this letter from Princess Celestia saying that my mother had two eggs in the clutch I was born from, and that she was sending the other dragon from the clutch here,” Spike explained casually.

“Oh… Now I see what you meant by ‘sister’,” Scootaloo mumbled with a hint of guilt.

“It’s ok. I guess we aren’t that different after all. Neither of us knew our parents,” Spike offered as he reached a claw out, and gave the filly a little pat on the withers.

Scootaloo gave the dragon a small smile as her face brightened up a little. At least, she could appreciate the empathy.

It was fairly late into the evening by the time Spike or Scootaloo saw anypony again. The rest of the day had been a few odd board games, or comic books as Spike had tried to entertain Scootaloo for the rest of the day. Naturally, he’d picked the Crystal table, it was the best place to spread out a board game. And, Twilight, Celestia, and Starlight Glimmer were not currently using the room. Wherever they had gone and whatever they had been talking about, it was no longer there.

“Double Six, that means I land on Go!” Scootaloo bragged as she reared up a bit in her chair, and waved her hooves a bit in the air.

“You won’t be bragging once you land on my Neighyork Avenue!” Spike gloated back, only to hear the doors to the throne room open.

“Spike, I need you to go. I need to coordinate with my friends on an important friendship problem,” Twilight demanded as she and her five friends stepped into the throne room.

“Right…” spike grumbled as he started grabbing clawfulls of game pieces to throw back in the box.

“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo eagerly shouted as she waved a hoof at her honorary sister.

“Hey half-pint,” Rainbow Dash said eagerly as she flew over to stand on the table, and look Scootaloo in the eyes.

“But, is it true? Are you like half-dragon?” Rainbow Dash eagerly inquired as she squeezed her cheeks. “That must be super amazing!”

“What???” Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with a look of pure confusion. Her eyes blinked a couple of times as she tried to decipher what Rainbow Dash was trying to say. Was it a joke?

“Rainbow Dash! That was supposed to be a secret!” Rarity chastised the cyan mare in a rather brusque whisper. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soft enough to not be heard by the little orange pegasus.

Scootaloo squared her withers at that statement. Her body snapped to attention, and her eyes locked onto the white unicorn. Rainbow Dash would play pranks… Scootaloo had never taken Rarity for the joking sort… Applejack was the only other pony she knew to be less likely to play jokes.

Scootaloo could feel her mind racing. Rainbow Dash was joking, right? If so, why was everyone acting so serious about it? She would have expected comments about the tastefulness of the jest… not this response.

“Darling, did you forget what Twilight told us, already?” The white unicorn tisked with a click of her tongue in her hushed tone. A thought crossed her mind, and her eyes peeked over towards Scootaloo with a look of fear behind her carefully cultivated expression.. Unfortunately, Scootaloo had heard that too.

Scootaloo felt a tinge of a headache building. It wasn’t a joke. A secret? What? Why? How? No way, it couldn’t be true. She didn’t look anything like Spike…

But, then why the secrecy?

“Yeah, breaking a promise is not ok dashie,” Pinkie Pie added in a subtly chastising tone. The bubbly pink mare’s usual quirky smile had been replaced by a gentle but firm look of disappointment.

“Dragon? What? Huh?” Scootaloo stuttered. She’d been a pony her whole life. She didn’t have scales, or breath fire. She had wings, but they weren’t webbed.

“Wait? You hadn’t heard?!” Rainbow Dash said in shock. She then noticeably flinched at the rather sour looks that most of the other ponies in the room were shooting her.

“Whoopse…” Rainbow Dash breathed quietly as she rubbed her head nervously with a hoof. Twilight Sparkle noticeably shook her head.

“Uhh. Nevermind!” Rainbow Dash said with a clearly forced smile.

“Funny joke, eh Scoots? You a half-dragon...? Uhh… never!” Rainbow Dash tried, her weak retort only serving to cement the opposite in Scotaloo’s mind.

“Half… Half… Half-Dragon? When?!!” Scootaloo shouted in confusion. Her mind was racing now. Celestia had said her body was changing. Was this what she meant? While Scootaloo would normally be intrigued by the prospect, the thought of her body changing was overriding her playful side.

Everything that she’d thought suddenly didn’t seem to make sense anymore. The meds? Was that to fix her dragon-ness? Was it to make her change faster? Was everything a lie? What else didn't she know? Scootaloo’s breath continued to grow more and more frantic as she tried to work through the new information.

Is this why I cannot fly? Do dragons even get Cutie marks? Scootaloo could feel a fresh wave of panic hit her.

Is my cutie mark going to disappear? That thought almost stopped Scootaloo’s heart entirely. She’d spent so much time just getting it, and if it could just go away in the same way as her scales grew in.

What if things continued to get worse? Would she need to worry about turning into a 50 foot tall monster? Would she need to watch her every thought for greed? Would she rampage through town square like Spike did?

“Scootaloo, please breath!” Fluttershy’s panicked voice whispered, as the whole world began to spin. The last thing Scootaloo felt was her face hitting a stack of Mare-opoly bits.

—-

Scootaloo slowly came to. She was greeted by a soft comforting hum. Two warm forelegs cradled her. Gently she felt herself rocking back and forth. “W… What?” Scootaloo croaked as her mind slowly returned, and her eyes slowly creaked open.

“Are you ok?” whispered the gentle voice of a yellow and pink blob as Scootaloo’s eyes slowly came into focus.

Scootaloo knew that voice. “Miss. Fluttershy?” she asked groggily.

“Good. You’re ok. Please, take your time. No need to wake up too quickly,” Fluttershy cooed as she continued to gently rock Scootaloo back and forth.

“I’m ok,” Scootaloo insisted, a bit weaker than she meant to.

“Still, you gave us a big shock there, little filly,” Fluttershy gently cooed in a tone that hardly sounded like the chastisement the words implied.

“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo murmured apologetically.

“See Scootaloo’s ok. Now, can somepony please explain why this is a secret!” Rainbow Dash growled.

“Didn’t you hear Twi, when she explained it? The less ponies that know, the less likely the curse is to hurt them,” Applejack explained astutely.

“C...Curse?!!” Scootaloo murmured with a slight tinge of fear.

“It’s not a curse, it’s some kind of prophecy, or maybe an oath,” Twilight snapped back.

Curse!? Scootaloo's mind repeated. Scootaloo’s eyes went wide.

“Shh… Shh… no need to worry, we came here to protect you. And, maybe figure out a way to make sure you’re never in any danger,” Fluttershy whispered directly into Scootaloo’s ear.

“Does this mean I’m some sort of freak? I just wanted a normal family, and a normal life,” Scootaloo whimpered into Fluttershy’s fur.

“What if I things keep changing?” Scootaloo murmured as her fears from earlier returned, despite the comfort Fluttershy was showing her.

“It’s ok,” fluttershy whispered. “Nothing bad’s going to happen.”

Scootaloo took a couple of deep breaths… She wanted to believe that, she really did...

“Twilight dear, I was curious. Does this mean Scootaloo is a Kirin, like in the old bedtime stories?” Rarity asked.

“Will she explode into flames if she gets too mad?” Rarity added, as she remembered the old lullaby.

“I’m not sure. It’s inconclusive whether Kirin are actually related to dragons, or if they are another tribe of ponies,” Twilight Sparkle lectured.

“Even if they were half dragon, that is not what Scootaloo is. Frankly, she is something new.. or at the very least, something not previously recorded,” Twilight explained.

“To be honest, this opens up a whole new realm of questions,” Twilight added with a growing glee at what she could learn.

“Stop!” Spike shouted.

“I think they’re something you aren’t telling Scootalo and I. Things that we need to hear!” Spike accused with a claw pointed directly at Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight opened her mouth a couple of times, but nothing came out. Instead, she looked back at Spike with a look of guilt, remorse, and anxiety.

“Twilight, does this mean Scootaloo is my sister?” Spike continued to press rather rudely with a clearly irate expression on his face. Twilight looked down at the floor with an obvious look of shame on her face.

Scootaloo looked up in shock. She then looked at Spike with wonder, and curiosity.

“How long did you know? Were you planning to hide this from me all day?” Spike huffed.

“It was for both of your safety,” Twilight insisted. “Frankly, I shouldn’t even let you two leave until we have a good plan. This is why I wanted to discuss this matter with my friends and Starlight Glimmer first...”

“But, I wanted to go to school tomorrow. My friends and I had plans. And...” Scootaloo insisted. Her cries interrupting both twilight and spike.

“it’s ok. You can probably go to school tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll have it figured out by then,” Fluttershy assured the filly.

“Actually…” Twilight started, only to lose her resolve at the pleading look Scootaloo was currently giving Fluttershy.

“For now, I think you need to go to bed. Too much excitement is bad for fillies your age,” fluttershy purred as she carried Scootaloo off.

“You should go to bed too, Spike” Twilight commanded.

“Not till you tell me: when were you going to tell me?” Spike snapped

“I just found out today,” Twilight hedged.

“Never… I see,” spike said coldly. His voice actually did a wonderful job of sounding disappointed. But, there was no new fury in it. The small dragon waddled off leaving the six mares alone.

“I did it for your good…” Twilight called as Spike stormed off. He didn’t respond, and she couldn’t be sure he even heard...

Chapter 3

Scootaloo yawned, and rolled over a couple of times in bed. The whole night had been fairly sleepless. But, at this point, she was just about to give up on sleeping entirely. Instead, she would get up early to do her usual training.

While her night had not been restful, it had given her a chance to think and brighten her outlook. Spike made being a dragon look cool. And, Rainbow Dash was impressed. Maybe this was not a bad thing?

Where did they put my scooter and wagon? Scootaloo asked herself as she rolled out of bed, and wandered over to the crystal closet.

Everything being crystal is going to take some getting used to, she decided as she pulled the doors open and rummaged through them. Hastily she grabbed her saddle bags, and threw them onto her back. She then grabbed her medicine bag with her teeth, and held it in her mouth. Finally, she found what she was looking for, buried at the bottom of the closet next to a soccer ball, and some small dumbbells.

Scootaloo grabbed it, and tucked it under a wing. Then, she tucked her helmet behind her other wing. Finally, she wrapped her tail around the wagon handle, and tugged it behind her. She then made her way out of her room. Now where was the dining room? She asked herself. However, everything just looked the same. Doors and crystal walls as far as the eye could see.

How does anypony find their way around here? Scootaloo grumbled as she picked a direction, and started marching that direction. Thankfully, it only took about four wrong turns before she finally found her way back to the dining room.

Now to grab a quick bagel, Scootaloo decided as she sat her scooter and wagon on the floor and dropped her medicine bag on the table. She then reopened the door leading back out the hall, only to come to a realization. She didn’t know which way the kitchen was. Still, it had to be close to the dining room, she decided. So, she just needed to pick the correct door.

Why does this darn tree have to be so large! Scootaloo complained.

Eenie-Meenie-Minie Moe, Scootaloo counted as she began to point at the various hallways.

That one she decided, as she pointed at a random door.

Scootaloo walked over the door, and bit down on the handle. “Scootaloo! You’re up early little sis,” Spike called out from down the hall, causing Scootaloo to jump. Her grip on the door released with the shock.

“Spike?” Scootaloo asked in surprise.

“I was going to surprise you with a good breakfast. I made it myself so that you’d have a good breakfast to start your first day out right,” Spike said as he showed her the tray of pastries he had made himself.

Scootaloo couldn’t help but look at the tray of pastries with a look of desire. They smelled delicious.

“Come on, let’s go back to the dining room before they get cold,” Spike insisted as he began walking back the way Scootaloo had come.

“Spike… could you show me where the kitchen is some time? I want to be able to grab my own breakfast some days,” Scootaloo admitted with a hint of a blush in her cheeks. It was a bit embarrassing to admit she didn’t remember where it was.

“No problem. I’ll show you right after breakfast,” Spike added as he clumsily pushed the dining room door open with a foot. He then walked in and set the tray down in the middle of the table. Scootaloo followed, and sat down at the table.

“What are these?” Scootaloo asked as she took a closer look at the pastries. They looked like lumps of baked dough, but they did appear to be folded at the top. They smelled heavily of sugar, and an earthy smell the Scootaloo was not familiar with. She supposed the smell smelt quite tasty, but it was not one she was familiar with.

Cautiously Scootaloo reached out, and stuck a pastry to her hoof using the innate magic in her frog. She then pulled it in, and took a large bite out of it. The filling was crunchy, but not difficult to chew. Furthermore, it was like a flavor explosion in her mouth. It was a rainbow of different sweet flavors. She couldn't help but give a pleased "mmm".

What is in here, that tastes that good? Maybe a fried nut? She considered.

“Do you like them?” Spike admitted as he nervously rubbed his head with one of his claws.

Scootaloo nodded with a pleased smile.

“They’re gem dumplings. It was super hard not to eat all the filling before it hit the dough… But, I managed to do it just for you,” Spike admitted with a sheepish rub of his head. He’d only eaten enough filling to make up a full dozen dumplings.

“There’s gems in here?” Scootaloo asked as she held up the dumpling closer to her eyes so she could look at it.

“Yes. Is it too hard to chew on?” Spike asked nervously.

Scootaloo could see a slight glitter from within the pastry. It certainly looked like there could be gems in there.

“No… I thought it would be. But, it only seemed a bit crunchy,” Scootaloo considered with a look of amazement.

“I figured: if you’re a dragon, then you should eat gems,” Spike explained as he reached out and grabbed one of the pastries.

Scootaloo slowly worked on her pastry. It wasn't that it wasn't good. But, there were a couple of things sitting heavily on her mind.

“Spike, are you still mad at Twilight?” Scootaloo asked first. “I mean, I’m not happy with her for keeping it a secret. But, maybe she had a good reason?”

Spike sighed, and looked down at his dumpling for a bit. “I suppose I’m not. And, I’m sure she had a good reason. But, I don’t see why we didn’t have a reason to know. I mean, it’s not like our dad was some kind of monster. You know, some kind of pony that we’d hate to be related to.”

“Like Sombra, maybe?” Scootaloo proposed.

“OK, that'd be bad. But, I could live with that. Somepony worse. I don’t know, Sedna the Murderous, maybe?” Spike proposed as he waved his dumpling around a little.

“What about the curse? Maybe something bad really would happen if too many ponies knew?” Scootaloo suggested as she tried to push back on the thought of their being a curse at all.

“I don’t know...” Spike mumbled as he paused for a second to think about it. “She could have not told Starlight Glimmer, and Rainbow Dash then. I mean, that would be the same number of ponies. And, those two aren’t always the most subtle, anyway.”

“Hey! Rainbow Dash is awesome!” Scootaloo objected. That thought brought her back to the other matter. Rainbow Dash had been rather fascinated by the thought of her being a dragon. And, she had to wonder if she could do it...

Spike shrugged. The two went silent for a moment or two. But, Scootaloo had to ask the other question.

“Spike: Do you think I’ll breath fire?” Scootaloo considered as she reached out and grabbed a second pastry.

“I’m certain you will. I bet that’s why they were feeding you Water Sapphires,” Spike stated as he waved the pastry in his claw around a bit, like he was pointing at something with it.

“They were probably trying to suppress your fire till you learned how to use it properly,” Spike concluded as he took a big bite out of his pastry.

“Huh…” Scootaloo considered.

“Maybe I shouldn’t. I don’t want my friends to think I’m weird,” Scootaloo mumbled nervously as she rubbed her foreleg with a hoof.

“Nonsense. They’ll think it’s cool,” Spike assured her with a smile, and a thumbs up.

“I guess it would kind of be cool,” Scootaloo admitted with a growing grin. Her mind was already beginning to imagine the cool things she could do with fire breath. Maybe an awesome prank or two?

Then the sudden weirdness of a fire breathing pony hit her like a cold blanket. “I mean… as long as we keep it just between us,” Scootaloo proposed with a blush.

Spike just shrugged in response, and grabbed another dumpling.

Still her friends wouldn’t be weirded out, right? “And, I bet Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would flip if I showed them some fire breath. Do you think you could show me some time?” Scootaloo decided with a playful smile forming on her face.

“And here, Twilight said I wouldn’t have anything to teach you,” Spike pointed out with a smug smirk and a laugh.

“Why don’t you try now? It’s pretty straightforward. Just take a deep breath, hold it in for a second or two, and then breathe it out like you were trying to say ‘oh’,” Spike instructed.

I hope I can do this! It would be amazing… Scootaloo thought with a hint of doubt. She’d never breathed fire before. She couldn’t be sure if she truly was able to.

Come on, Dragons do this all the time, she coached herself as she took a deep breath. Finally, she pursed her lips, and breathed out. She could feel a slight warmth in her chest, and then nothing came out.

“Nothing... “ Scootaloo mumbled in disappointment.

“Huh,” Spike puzzled.

“Try again,” he instructed as he placed a claw a couple of inches in front of her muzzle.

Scootaloo frowned, and tried again. Still nothing came out, although a small smile did seem to form on Spike’s lips.

“I can’t do it,” Scootalo lamented with a pout.

“You need a bit more time. I felt hot air come out. Your pilot light might still be small from the Water Sapphires you ate earlier. Just give it some time. We’ll just have to try again later,” Spike offered her as he reached out and gave her a pat on the withers.

Scootaloo breathed a long sigh of defeat. “Well… It’s just another thing I have to wait around for,” she grumbled.

Her grumbling was cut short as a clock chimed in the distance. “Shoot! I’m going to be late for school!” Scootaloo panicked as she hastily shoved her purple helmet onto her head.

“Spike, point me to the exit. I got to pick up my friends,” Scootaloo urgently demanded as she hastily hitched her wagon to her scooter and quickly hopped onto said scooter. Her small wings were already buzzing frantically, even before she was truly ready to go.

“And, don’t try to stop me. I’m going,” Scootaloo insisted gruffly with an air of finality.

“I wasn’t going to ask you to stay. If Twilight doesn’t want to be honest with me, I don’t see the point in just doing whatever she says -- just because she says to,” Spike grumbled.

“Thanks Spike,” Scootaloo said as she smiled a little.

“Anway… That way, and then take a left as soon as you can,” Spike instructed as he pointed back out into the hall. He then waddled over to the table to finish the rest of the dumplings, only to notice a small bag left behind on the table.

Scootaloo burned rubber as her small wings pushed the scooter out at the speed of a motorized vehicle.

“Hey, you forgot!” shouted the fading voice of Spike as Scootaloo quickly revved out of earshot.

Scootaloo’s scooter pulled up to Sweetie Belle’s house. “Come on Sweetie Belle, we gotta get going! We’re late!” she shouted anxiously.

Sweetie Belle stuck her head out of the window. She then looked with a wide eyed surprise as she noticed the little pony on the ground.

“Scootaloo you came?!” Sweetie Belle cheered with a definite surprise.

“I mean… I’m Coming!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she pulled her head back into the window. Scootaloo could vaguely hear the sound of construction as the white unicorn tore apart her room to be ready in two minutes or less.

Scootaloo sighed. She’d left late, despite getting up early… Then again she was only a couple of minutes behind schedule. After all, she was a little closer to both of her friends than Mrs. Sweet Home’s house had been. So, maybe it worked out to be a net zero?

“Sorry,” Sweetie Belle apologized as she put on her green helmet and loaded herself into Scootaloo’s wagon.

“Don’t worry about it,” Scootaloo assured her as she turned her head back to the road.

“And, we’re off,” Scootaloo announced, mostly to herself, as she took off towards Apple Bloom’s family farm.

“I’m surprised you made it today. Rarity was saying you weren’t feeling well, and that we wouldn’t see you for a few days,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile.

Scootaloo grimaced. She heard that bit about a curse, but it didn’t seem like a problem before yesterday. What had worked them up so much? For a brief moment, Scootaloo considered just spilling everything to Sweetie Belle.

But, if there was a curse… a slight shiver ran up Scootaloo’s spine.

“I feel fine,” Scootaloo stated flatly to the little white unicorn as she sped up the buzzing of her wings. The scooter rocketed down the road.

Things went thankfully quiet for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Apple Bloom lived on the other side of town, which meant that Scootaloo had quite a ways to go before she could pick up her yellow friend.

Scootaloo pulled up to the farm house, and hesitated. If she shouted here and now, she might draw Applejack’s attention. And, Applejack would probably send her right back to Twilight’s castle… thus canceling the sleepover.

“Hey Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle shouted. Scootaloo flinched at both the loudness of the yell, and the unexpected surprise of it.

The door opened up to Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the little yellow filly, and not her orange sister. Maybe we can get away with this yet, she thought giddily.

“Hey Scootaloo. I knew you’d be picking us up today. Heh, There’s no way you would miss our crusader business after school”, Apple Bloom explained as she came out wearing her blue helmet.

“You know it,” Scootaloo bragged as she waited for Apple Bloom to load herself into the wagon. Once she did, Scootaloo hastily took off. Scootaloo couldn't help but look back one final time to see if Apple Bloom's sister came out of the house. When she didn't, the little pegasus breathed a sigh of relief.

“How’d you get away from Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked, causing Scootaloo to look back in surprise.

“How did you know I was living with Twilight?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well… Applejack said so. She said you were staying with Twilight from now on. She also admitted that Twilight’s really worried about you, and she didn’t want you leaving the castle while she figures things out,” Apple Bloom explained casually.

“I… uhh… just left the castle,” Scootaloo admitted reluctantly.

“No problem,” Scootaloo blustered, but only externally. Internally, she couldn’t help but worry a little. Would her friend just send her away. Worse, did she know about why Scootaloo was staying with Twilight?

Scootaloo bit her lower lip. “W...What else did she tell you?”

“Not much,” Apple Bloom admitted.

“Applejack doesn’t lie, but she doesn’t always talk, either,” Apple Bloom admitted.

“What else would she tell you?” Sweetie Belle interrupted with a question that Scootaloo had hoped she wouldn't ask.

"Nothing important. Just some... uhh... personal business," Scootaloo practically mumbled as she struggled to come up with a satisfactory excuse.

Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded. Scootaloo released a held breath. Much to her relief, they had accepted that answer.

“So, what’s it like to live with Twilight? Is she teaching you all kinds of new stuff?” Sweetie Belle asked as her curiosity peaked.

“I bet it’s like Twilight Time, but better,” Apple Bloom agreed.

Why couldn’t it have been like that? Scootaloo thought bitterly.

“I… uh… Didn’t see much of her, yesterday,” Scootaloo admitted.

“She was strange all day yesterday. She and her friends were busy slinking around. I almost thought they had been replaced by changelings again… But, they were being too friendly for that,” Scootaloo admitted.

“That’s too bad,” Sweetie Belle sympathised.

“I bet she’ll show you a lot of cool stuff later,” Apple Bloom consoled her.

“But, we’re still going to have a sleepover at the clubhouse tonight, right?” Sweetie Belle almost pleaded with a hint of concern.

“As if I’d miss a chance to hang out with you girls,” Scootaloo said cockily.

Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom smiled.

“But yeah, I was working on a trick with Spike. Maybe I’ll be able to show you tonight,” Scootaloo said with a smile.

If I can figure out how, she realized with a grimace.

“Sounds like fun,” Apple Bloom decided. Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.

Scootaloo carefully stowed her scooter and wagon in the class closet. Somehow, much to Scootaloo’s relief, they had arrived a little early. With a smile, Scootaloo then trotted out to go play with her friends for whatever time they had left before class.

Now, where’s Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom? Scootaloo asked herself as she scanned the school yard. They weren’t by the swings. A quick look showed they weren’t on the Merry Go Round. Even the seesaw was empty.

Where is everypony? Scootaloo asked herself as she noticed that several of the other colts and fillies seemed to be missing. Carefully she trotted around the school yard, until she found Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle huddled around a small group of colts and fillies.

“You sure?” asked Archer to Sun Glimmer.

“Yeah,” Archer confirmed with a definite confidence.

“What’s everypony talking about?” Scootaloo asked as she trotted up to the group.

“Archer was saying that the orphanage randomly caught fire like two days ago,” Sweetie Belle explained.

“Sun Glimmer and I were saying that it just didn’t make sense. I mean, why would a room just spontaneously combust.” Apple Bloom added with a shake of her head.

“Beats me,” Scootaloo fibbed with a nervous smile that so loudly screamed forced, that it was positively deathening.

“Anyways. I heard they had to call in a specialist to put it out. The fire was like some kind of magic fire,” Archer continued as she took a moment to heighten the suspense. She positively relished the energy as she soaked in the tension.

The room was smoking a little when I went downstairs that day… And, they did call in a pony. But, I don’t think it was on fire. Maybe I missed something when I ran downstairs? Scootaloo pondered as she tried to mentally think back to that day. In truth, she’d been too panicked at seeing her room grayed and covered in ashes and soot to look to see if any fire lingered.

“My big brother said the place is haunted. He works for the specialists, and he said that’s the room where that filly died a decade ago,” Archer concluded with wide eyes, and a small wave of her hooves.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“Nonsense. There’s no ghost,” Scootaloo insisted with a stern frown.

“How would you know? And besides, my big brother does not lie!” Archer countered.

Scootaloo opened her mouth to continue the argument only to hear the obvious ringing of the school bells. All the colts and fillies took off in a hurry, leaving Scootaloo in their dust.

“There’s no ghost!” Scootaloo shouted insistently at the quickly disappearing herd of students.

“Miss. Cheerilee is starting class a bit late,” Scootaloo mumbled.

Quickly the fillies and colts loaded into the classroom. Some continued to talk amongst themselves. However, the vast majority simply looked forward to where Miss. Cheerilee would be standing.

“Good morning, Fillies and Colts,” said a new masculine voice. Everypony looked up in surprise as a new pony walked through the doorway. He was a tall muscular unicorn. Although not as big and bulky as Big Mac, or Bulk Biceps, he carried himself like he could take said powerhouses in hoof wrestling. His mane and tail were an azure color bright enough that it almost glowed. And, his coat was a darker tan. But, the most disconcerting thing about the stallion was the way his cyan eyes just seemed to glow.

The stallion certainly seemed nice enough. But, there was something about the stallion, or at least his eyes, that made Scootaloo uneasy. A quick look around the room suggested other colts and fillies were a bit uneasy around the new stallion.

“I’m Wrangler DrachenJaeger, and I’ll be subbing for Miss. Cheerilee for a couple of days,” The stallion said in a friendly enough tone. He even gave the class a very warm smile. Not as warm as Miss. Cheerilee, but not too bad.

“What’s wrong with Miss. Cheerilee?” nervously asked Sweetie Belle. Her question leaving her mouth, even before her hoof finished raising.

“She got tied up…” the stallion said with a clinical certainty, then he flinched.

”I mean: she got very sick, and will be out for a couple of days,” the stallion assured her with a somber look on his face. However, the look didn’t last long as he quickly seemed to reset to that lackadaisical mood from earlier.

“In the meantime, I have her lesson plan right here. Plucked right from her desk,” he said eaglery as his cyan magic levitated a stack of paper onto the desk.

“It says here you were supposed to have a lesson on the rise of Barnyard Bargains,” the stallion read dryly from the lesson plans.

Only one filly in the class looked enthused. Diamond Tiara positively glowed. Scootaloo just let her head hit the desk.

“I’m afraid I’m not qualified to teach this,” he said with a shrug as he tossed the papers over his withers. The stack smashing into the blackboard -- scattering paper everywhere.

Diamond Tiara’s mouth practically hit the floor. Diamond Tiara wasn’t the only school foal, either, that looked at the stallion like he’d grown a second head.

“I think we’ll leave that for Cheerilee when she gets back. Today, I think we can talk about dragons,” the stallion said with an eager grin.

Scootaloo couldn’t help but grin as well. Maybe she would learn something good. This lesson could very well affect her directly.

“You know about dragons,” Diamond Tiara asked skeptically from her seat next to sweetie Belle.

“I know it sounds unbelievable. After all, ponies didn't used to know much about dragons -- what with the fact that they are dangerous and terrifyingly large creatures,” Wrangler admitted as his magic pulled up a large picture of a dragon towering over a pony, and mounted it to the chalkboard. The poor little pony in the picture actually looked up in wide eyed terror at the much larger dragon.

“Yes, Dragons have always been a mysterious topic for ponies. Generally because they’re too dangerous to approach. But, with Dragon Lord Ember opening diplomatic relations, things are looking up in that area. Also, there are a few families in Equestria that have been known to watch, or even search out specific dragons for generations,” Wrangler explained as he drew a painting of some kind of warrior ponies, ripped straight out of a Daring Doo book, watching a dragon from their hiding place in a bush.

“They’re idiots,” he admitted with a small laugh. Nopony returned the laugh, however. Instead, each foal in the class looked to the next, with confusion, as if they knew what was going on.

“My family is in the construction and repair business. Although, I might brag: we do know a proprietary… that’s a secret... method for putting out dragon flame. I know what you are saying: dragon flame goes out like regular fire. But, not always. It’s very magical,” he admitted with a bit of a smile.

"Dragon Fire, you see, is unique for each kind of dragon. Usually the differences are minor. But, they can occasionally be quite vast. Being able to recognize dragon fire could be used to figure out what dragons were in an area," Mr. Wrangler continued to babble, before he blushed deeply. "Or... so I've heard..."

“Still, you can ask me anything about dragons. I assure you, I’m quite up to date on my reading,” he assured the class. Nopony was certain if that was true, after a lecture like that…

Does he know anything? Or, is he just messing with us? Scootaloo suspiciously eyed the odd stallion from here. At the moment, he just seemed to be looking at each colt and filly with an odd expression that looked like he was trying to read their minds.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Scootaloo decided.

Scootaloo raised her hoof, and waited for the stallion to acknowledge her. “What happens if a pony and a dragon get married and have a foal?” Scootaloo asked the stallion.

“A good question,” the stallion said with a strangely happy smile. His eyes then seemed to lock onto Scootaloo with a laser like focus.

“I assume that’s because of the dragon living in your town? Or, do you know somepony like that?” he asked with a rather casual tone and a big grin, even as he continued to stare into her soul.

Scootaloo gulped. Did she say too much? “No… I mean yes… Because of the dragon living in town,” Scootaloo tried to say as naturally as possible. The seemed to appease the stallion’s interest as his eyes seemed to relax.

“Well. I assume maybe it’d make a Kirin,” the stallion said as he pulled up a couple of paintings of Kirin, and mounted them to the blackboard.

“If not, then the foal would be a freak of nature,” the stallion said with a shrug as he made a point to look at every foal in the classroom. Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel like he was staring at her again.

“Chromosomes work the way they do to keep compatible creatures breeding, and incompatible ones from breeding. Although magic can occasionally mitigate this, such as hybrid creatures. Some examples exist: such as Hippogriffs, Sirens, or even the Chimera of Flame Geyser Swamp,” the stallion explained as he mounted a few pictures of an odd structure that looked like two strange chains made of different color beads. There were arrows between the two showing where beads could be moved between chains.

“If magic didn’t stabilize the merged genetic code, the results would be a mismatched chimera so confused and disorganized in shape that they’d make Discord look as normal as a pony. They’d be a hideous, twisted, horrible abomination,” Scootaloo flinched with every word, even as the stallion finished with a rather inappropriate smile, and looked around the room. As if that wasn't bad enough, the stallion pulled up a painting of a Chimera. But, the snake, goat, and tiger parts were all mangled and mismatching, creating something of a horror show.

“But, I know a dragon that’s got a crush on a pony. There’s no way there could be love there if it wasn’t natural,” Sweetie Belle objected, causing Scootaloo to startle. This time, the stallion’s eyes locked onto Sweetie Belle.

“It could be. Or, everything would be normal until the magic came undone,” The stallion added with one final smile… Although to Scootaloo, it almost looked like a smirk. The thought made Scootaloo mentally cringe. Her mind was suddenly plagued with images of her looking like somepony had torn apart a Smarty Pants doll, and attached a bunch of random dragon parts to it. Her limbs were mismatched in size, and half of her mouth was sharp fangs, and the other blunt teeth.

Scootaloo violently shook her head, in an attempt to clear her mind.

“Well… We should move on,” The stallion said. Scootaloo couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She needed to clear that image from her mind.

The rest of the lesson was thankfully, more friendly things. Apparently the stallion knew quite a bit about dragon dietary needs. He knew about Dragon Puberty -- or Molt Down, as he called it. Scootaloo made a point to take some mental notes.

Then, the lesson was over, and the stallion waved and watched all the fillies leave. Scootaloo hurried out the door with her friends. They had a lot to do.

The stallion watched all the fillies and colts go. After they were gone, he quickly scribbled on a piece of paper. He then focused his magic on the paper with great intent. The paper glowed with a bright cyan light. After several migraine inducing moments, the stallion stopped looking like he was going to have an aneurysm, and the paper disappeared in a flash of magic.

Within moments a piece of paper returned from the ether, in a puff of smoke.

Our father has received your message. He is ecstatic to learn that the children of Sedna may have appeared. At last, the blood spilled can be avenged.

But, he is not happy to hear that you still have not reported their identities. He wants to know why you are hiding this from us. Have you rejected our ancient blood vow?

If such a shameful thing were true: father wants to remind you that your vow was made on your own life, and it will be collected if necessary.

The stallion winced… This would need an immediate response. Carefully he rubbed his head. He hated when he had to write a letter.

The stallion tried to shake the migrain from his head. If anything, it just made the throbbing worse. With a grimace, he wished he’d had a cutie mark in magic. Carefully he wrote on another piece of paper.

I apologize to father. But, I have about four suspects. But, nothing conclusive. While I am sure father would gladly murder two or three innocent foals in order to kill the evil line. I would feel much better not murdering the innocent with the guilty.

I ask that father give me a little time. I have a couple of tests I can run that should narrow it down quickly. Please tell father to give me two or three more days.

The stallion then shook his head and groaned, as he powered up his horn to send the new response.

Author's Note

This chapter, I wasn't as confident in as the first two. But, I'm still fairly happy with it. And, I hope it was enjoyable to others as well.

The next chapter has the Crusader sleepover, More time with Spike, and a little lullaby I tried to string together to get a bit of context about this whole "Clip and Sedna" thing.

There's a lot about Sedna I wanted to put in the story, but most attempts I had just came out various levels of way too Expositionary. I might make a blog post or a author note at some point if people want an info-dump on the stallion.

Chapter 4

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