Finding your Wings

Scootaloo awoke to the sound of Twilight's voice and Spike's movement. They'd shifted during their nap, and she had ended up using his chest as a pillow.

As he tried to stand up, she gripped his side, but with a small kiss of assurance that he was going to come back, she let him go. She pulled up the blanket as he left.

Twilight came around the shelf. "There you are, Spike. I've been looking all over for you!"

"I was here the whole time," answered Spike.

"I told you to come back when you were done with Scootaloo."

"And I was going to, but it took longer than I thought it--"

Twilight held up her hoof. "Who is this?"

Scootaloo tightened her grip on the blanket. She could pretend to be asleep, still. If she made a loud enough snore, could she convince Twilight to leave? No, she'd take Spike, and he'd just be yelled at for this. She could bolt. She had wings now, so she could fly away. Exit the city, come back a few days later with a new name and a sob story, and hope that Twilight didn't remember what she looked like. No, Spike would still be yelled at, and it would make her loved ones feel that she'd abandoned them. What would become of Sweetie Belle? She was so sensitive that being abandoned by her might cause lasting harm. Plus, Spike could call her out on her lie.

She tried to ask herself what Rainbow Dash would do in this situation, but she could only think of one thing: announce herself not just to Twilight, but to all of Ponyville, and even Equestria. The coolest, raddest, awesomest dragon in the whole of Equestria, no offense to Spike.

Scootaloo didn't quite have the guts for that yet. Having Rainbow Dash around made her brave, because she knew she was safe as long as Rainbow was around. With just Twilight to fall back on, she felt less secure.

"So, promise you won't be mad?" pleaded Spike.

"I make no such promise, Spike."

"Can you at least try?"

Twilight sighed. "I'll try to be reasonable and rational. That is what I promise."

Spike took a deep breath. "Do you remember the story you used to read with me?"

"Spike, you're going to have to be a lot more specific. We've read thousands of books together."

"The one where the earth pony princess turned into a dragon."

"I remember. You loved that one. Read it over and over. What does that have to do with anything?"

Spike cleared his throat. "In that story, the dragon and the princess kiss, and the princess begins to turn into a dragoness."

"Spike, it's just an old dragon's tale. It's not real."

"No, but it is!" insisted Spike. "At least, I've seen evidence that suggests that a case can be made to reopen the discussion!"

"What evidence?"

"Well..." Spike paused. "I'm a dragon."

"Right."

"And I kissed somepony."

"Really?"

"Well, they kissed me, but I reciprocated!"

"Go on."

"And she turned into a dragoness!"

Twilight shook her head. "Spike, you're not making sense. We may not have a lot of literature on dragons, but I made sure to grab everything there was on dragon medicine and dragon magic, and even they say there's no spell like that. Even among dragons, that's just a bedtime story."

"But Twilight--"

"No buts, Spike. It's a fictional story, and I know that for a fact."

"But it really happened..." Scootaloo could hear Spike's voice beginning to crack. She couldn't sit here any longer and let him flounder. She was scared of the repercussions, but she wasn't going to let Twilight call him a liar when he was telling the truth.

"It's the truth," she said, sitting up and glaring at Twilight. "Spike isn't lying to you."

Twilight turned to Scootaloo, confused. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure. My name is--"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," finished Scootaloo. "We've met dozens of times."

"My apologies, but I don't remember--"

""Stealing is wrong. Giving back stolen property and trying to make amends for damages done is the best course of action." Does that sound familiar?"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Scootaloo?"

"The very same."

"But... you're a dragon."

"Also accurate."

"How?!"

"I kissed her," answered Spike. "It just happened..."

Twilight took a deep breath. "Explain to me the exact steps you both took to make this happen."

Before Scootaloo had even finished, Spike had left to make tea, and as he brought back the pot, Twilight took a sip. "I see."

"And then the blanket literally wrapped itself around us, and we took that as a sign that we should take a nap. And then nothing else until you came in."

"That's very strange," huffed Twilight. "I've never heard of anything like this."

"Other than the book," corrected Spike.

"Other than the book," nodded Twilight. "I guess that we're well within our rights to open an investigation. I wonder if perhaps the Magic of Friendship combined with Spike's dragon magic and your pegasus magic."

"Don't be silly, Twilight," scoffed Scootaloo. "Pegasi don't use magic."

"I wouldn't say that. Several reports have shown that there is a latent magic in the wings of pegasi that helps them fly. It also allows them to walk on and interact with clouds. It's not quite as versatile as unicorn magic, but it's there."

"So how do we even go about testing what magic did this?"

Twilight rubbed her chin. "Well, the most obvious path would be to either replicate it or undo it. Since we don't quite know how to undo it, we'll need to replicate it. For that, though, we'll need to collect some volunteers."

"You'll need some dragon volunteers, too," added Spike. "I'll likely be recording data alongside you, and I'm not too keen on kissing every mare in Ponyville."

Twilight nodded. "You'll be my number one research assistant," she smiled. "We can't let the results be skewed, can we?" she shook her head. "So, here's what we'll do: I'm going to contact your current guardians about having you stay here with me. That way, we can keep a close eye on your condition, and see if anything changes. In the meantime, I'll send a message out to Ember about this. She can bring us a few volunteers, plus she can bring a more practiced expert on dragon physiology to help you stay healthy. Sound good?"

Scootaloo grabbed Spike's claw. "Can I stay with Spike?"

Twilight smiled and nodded.

"It's a deal."