Wheezing and gasping for breath the two ponies that had been laughing finally start to quiet. Leaning against one another they seem completely immune to the deadly glare the drake was giving them.

"It's not funny." Baring his teeth and growling at the two he doesn't see Celestia sitting down next to him until she puts her wing over his back.

"It's fine Spike. Clearly their misunderstanding of your actions are due to a lack of information on their part. Seeing as Gaia will be staying with us for a while I think that the two of them should get a refresher course on dragon mannerisms.” Both ponies stop laughing instantly.” Looking at me Celestia lights up her horn and I feel something settle around my neck. Glancing down I see the same necklace from earlier.

"Tranquil told me you accidentally broke the last one when you crushed it during the exam so I had a different one made quickly. Unlike the last one this only changes your speech into Common so we can understand you.” Isn’t that all the last one did?

“Wait isn’t Tranquil the name Chrysalis uses when she- ow!” Celestia continues to smile as the pink alicorn giggles.

“The kitchen did say it may take a little longer than normal to get your meal ready as I asked them to prepare a little of everything we have in our store rooms for you. While we wait for our food I wanted to introduce you to some of my family” Celestia motioned to the two ponies sitting together as she spoke.

"The two ponies that have been teasing Spike are my niece Cadence and her fiance Shining Armor. Cadence is the princess of love and Shining is the captain of the royal guard." Sitting up straight the pink pony reached across the table and held up her hoof towards me.

"Hello Gaia, it's very nice to finally meet you. Aunt Celestia has told me a lot about you over the years." Meeting her hoof with the palm of my wing I hold her for a moment before gently pushing my mana against her own.

As expected I'm met with a powerful wall of her energy that pushes mine back. Closing my eyes to better focus my mana I pull myself back into a druidic trance. Just as I've done countless times before, I open myself to the natural energies of the world around me. Seeing through my third eye I move my mana around myself and carefully pull from the natural flow surrounding me to push against Cadence again. Hitting the same barrier as before my mana is stopped, but is not pushed away like before. Smiling, I run my mana across hers.

Warm to the touch her mana is oddly calming. Filling me with a familiar pleasure I want to press myself deeper against her energies. Yet I can't. Keeping my mana pressed to hers for just a moment longer I force myself to pull back. Just as quickly as it started the warmth from her mana fades away. Opening my eyes again I push Cadence's hoof back to her chest and then fold my wing back to my side.

"Many blessings upon you young goddess." Laughing strangely Cadence pulled back slightly and looked to Celestia. Confused, I turned to Celestia as well. Before I can fully turn however, the white pony next to Cadence clears their throat loudly.

"So Gaia, I heard you were a soldier like me. Maybe you and I can get together and swap war stories over a drink some time." While he didn't hold up his hoof like Cadence he smiled widely. Looking him up and down I notice he is quite large for a unicorn. Overall taller and stronger looking than many of the earth ponies I used to kill.

“No.” His smile quickly fell into a stunned expression of shock. Rolling my eyes I turn my attention back to Celestia.

"Umm… Over here is my little sister Luna. She is the princess of the night and mistress of the moon. Luna has also only recently returned to Equestria after being cleansed by the elements of harmony. Though it is not my story to tell at this moment, I believe you two may have a lot in common." Looking at the last pony at the table I watch them freeze with a cup to their lips. Apart from her size and the color of her fur she looked remarkably similar to Celestia. Setting down their cup she gave a small smile.

"Greetings Gaia. It's nice to meet you." Pulling back slightly Luna picks her cup back up and looks away as she drinks. I bow my head to her in return.

"And lastly the dragon who has been trying to escape since I sat down is my son Spike. If I remember correctly he should only be a few years younger than you." Turning my attention to Spike he seems to flinch. Looking him over the best I can, I am confused with what I see.

"I forgot how small you are." Spike's muzzle turns a bright red and he pushes himself out from under Celestia's wing with a low growl.

"Hey I am not small!" Grabbing Spike with her hooves and pulling him back to her Celestia sighs.

“Spike stop, she did not mean that as an insult. Though I guess I can understand why that is the only thing that stands out to you. While by all accounts Spike is perfectly healthy he still has yet to go through his first molt” Their face still a bright red Spike tries and fails to hide behind Celestia’s wing.

“Mooooom!" Standing up I move around the end of the table and sit back down next to Celestia. Still trying to hide behind Celestia’s wing I grab him with my paws and pull him into my lap. Struggling against my grip I growl and bite at his neck until he stops moving.

“Gaia what are you doing?” Glancing briefly to Celestia I can see she is using her wing to cover her muzzle but only so she can hide her massive grin. Moving my wings down to help hold Spike in place I let go of his neck to speak.

“If he has been raised by you it is no surprise that he is like this.” Growling Spike struggled in my grasp until I loosed my hold enough for him to turn around and face me. Somehow his muzzle was more red than before.

“Leave my mom alone! I am perfectly healthy, you ancient bitch!” Squirming again to try and get free, one of his paws kicks my groin. My breath catches in my throat as a pained wheeze and only the patience I’ve gained through many battles stops me from ripping his body apart with my claws. No doubt encouraged by my lack of resistance Spike tries to squirm free but freezes at the last moment. Scrunching my own muzzle at the suddenly strong scent that assaulted my senses I opened my wings and pushed him away. Spike only yelps as I push him back from me but I catch the worried look on Celestia’s muzzle all the same.

Standing back to my paws I silently move to the farthest side of the table away from the drake. I say nothing though I know from the twitches of my wings and tail that my body betrays me. As I make it to my new and isolated position a large set of doors I failed to notice earlier open up and a pony pushing a large cart approaches me. Without saying a word they light up their horn and lift a large metal domed plate onto the table in front of me. Before I can say anything they bow and then sprint back through the doors they came from.

“Um.. Auntie what just happened?” Ignoring the delicious aroma of fish pouring from the metal I instead drop my head and hide my muzzle in my paws and wings.

“Well other than the fact I need to have another meeting with the staff. I am not sure. Gaia are you alright?” Lifting one of my claws I peer at Celestia through my paws. Everyone at the table minus the young drake is looking at me with mixed expressions but thankfully none of them are disgusted. Spike however is covering his body tightly with his wings. His nostrils flaring and even though it looks to physically pain him he is forcing himself to not look at me.

“I am fine.” The room falls silent for a moment before Cadence clears her throat.

“So Gaia tell us a bit about yourself.” I lift my paws to stare at Cadence.

“What?” Cadence just smiles brightly and nods her head.

“Tell us about yourself. You know, your likes and dislikes, hobbies, past love interests. Things like that!” Poking the metal dome with my snout I am pleasantly surprised when it falls to the side to reveal a mountain of fish. A low growl escapes my throat involuntarily and I quickly grab a mouth full of fish.

“Let her eat Cadence. This is the first meal she has had since she was put in that crystal.” The others at the table start to talk again but I do not pay attention to them. Focusing solely on the fish in front of me I savor the rich flavor that drips from their perfectly charred flesh.

“That is horrifying.” Leaning back slightly, I struggle not to purr.

“Is she even chewing?” Someone at the table gags as I feel the loud crunch of one of my fangs piercing the skull of a rather large fish I can’t identify.

“If Gaia were to chew it would do her no real good because she’s a carnivore. She doesn’t have molars to chew her food with, only sharp dagger like teeth.” Slowing my eating I chanced a glance at the rest of the table again. Shining and Cadence both look as though they are ready to lose whatever meal they had just eaten and actually turn away when I look at them. Celestia tries to give me a strained smile and Luna for some reason looks on intently at my fish. Spike however looks ready to attack. Spines and scales standing on end and his eyes focused on me.

“That's horrifying… Why exactly did you give her fish and not gems? I thought dragons eat gems…” Confused enough by his words to drop my fish I cock my head to the side and stare at Armor.

“We eat meat. All dragons eat meat. Not that I’d expect a grass grazer to care.” Luna coughed violently and dropped her cup as she pounds on her chest with a hoof.

“GAIA!” Celestia flares her wings and frowns but the others do nothing. Only the two alicorns seem to take offense to my words.

“What?” Celestia's face goes red.

“You can’t just say that! Your mother ga-” Narrowing my eyes I stand up from the table and flare my own wings. The action caused Celestia’s stance to falter slightly much to my joy.

“The only reason I do not cross this table and rend your flesh is because you were smart enough not to say her name. Just because she trusted you does not mean I will give myself entirely to your command Æsir. I am the daughter of Artemisia and just because she is dead I -”

“No you're not. Mom said that you are Artemisia. That you used to call yourself that before she got you back into the crystal.” What?

“SPIKE SOLARIS!”

Author's Note

As I mentioned a little bit ago some of the chapters will be slightly changed. Mostly in terms of the what is said, who says it, and why. At the same time most of the changes will be relatively minor as they are not going to affect the overall arch in any major way.

Other than that I hope you enjoy!