Author's Note

Man, I feel like the quality of this has dropped ever since I got COVID. It's harder to think, at least that's what it feels like. But I got a chapter out, so hope you enjoy it!

6 - My Little Brother

I remained at the orphanage for a couple more weeks after that fateful meeting with Celestia. Nothing seemed to change in the everyday routine for me. Aura came by at her normal time to train me in magic, and I had the regular visits from my friends. The news from the papers (which I learned were handwritten and then magically copied for distribution) didn’t make mention of her visit to the orphanage or of any kind of adoption.

The day before my sixth birthday, Bygynneth 6th, I received an important looking visitor, an older medium brown furred pegasus mare with dark gray tail and mane, the latter tied up in a secretarial bun. She wore official looking garments, a long dark red skirt and dark brown blouse. Sewn onto both sides of her skirt was her cutie mark, which was a scroll tied in a red ribbon. She introduced herself as Minister Penny Line, a member of the Canterlot Royal Chancery. She carried with her some official looking documents. She spent about an hour with Sunny and almost every other nurse. After coming out of the meeting, Sunny looked both elated and saddened. She took me aside and told me that Penny was from Canterlot Palace and was here to bring me there. Still thinking I was a colt, she said that I would be adopted by the Princess herself as her nephew.

It was here that I received my very first taste of royal privilege as she bowed down and apologized over and over for any rough treatment she or any of the nurses or other foals might have given me. I had to quickly reassure her that I wasn’t mad or anything like that. After she calmed down, she hugged me and said she would miss me. Truth be told, I would miss her, too. She’d been there since my birth and had been the closest I’d had to a motherly figure since arriving in Equestria. She then reached into her pocket and gave me a small copper coin, something the orphanage gave to all the foals who were adopted. On it, there was a smiling foal and the words CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ADOPTION written above. That made me tear up as I took the coin reverently and clung it in my hand before hugging her once more.

After I packed up what little belongings I had, I made my way to Penny, who was waiting at the front. Strangely enough, I saw no other fillies or colts on my way down to the front, which I later learned was on purpose since the Princess wanted my being at the orphanage a secret. Penny and I were hastily packed into a covered horse drawn wagon carriage with nobody seeing us from the outside. We then returned to the palace while Penny told me that the Princess herself had promised to explain everything the moment the two of us arrived at the palace. The two of us didn’t really speak much during the ride there, and it was a rather awkward trip.

When we reached the palace, Penny took me directly to Celestia’s private office and left me and the Princess alone. There, Celestia told me more about her plans. Only she, myself and her personal secretary would ever know about my secret: the fact that I came from an orphanage in Canterlot. From the way she explained it, even Celestia had political rivals at best who might use this as a weapon against her. The ‘official’ story would be that I was found after years of exhaustive search from a small unknown town at the edge of Equestria’s territory. She’d apparently even made a false paper trail for others to follow, which was why she hadn’t come for me right away.

When she told me this, I was a bit stunned and instinctively expressed my disapproval, seeing as how honesty was one of the principals of harmony, but she quickly explained that it was the only way for her to keep her rivals and enemies from finding anything to use against her. It was this first interaction that reinforced for me that this world was a lot harsher than the one in the show. To quote one of my favorite shows, she was playing the game of thrones. And while I didn’t like it, I still had no idea how politics really worked in this Equestria, so I really had no choice but to accept it.

The two of us talked for hours establishing the story. Nothing about my upbringing would really change, save for some names of course. Anyone who really knew about my living at the orphanage had been handsomely paid off, of course. The town I was apparently living in was called Coalton, a small town near the southwestern portion of Equestria. They did have a small orphanage which Celestia had recently closed due to poor management of funds. The other orphans who had been living there had been sent to the neighboring town’s orphanage, which ironically enough was Sire’s Hollow. Coalton was also slowly being abandoned since its coal mine had dried up months prior.

Once the story had been established, my new aunt showed me around the palace, introducing me to key members of the staff. The throne room, to my surprise, looked the most like the one from the show, albeit with muted colors. There were stain glass windows on the righthand wall of the throne itself, showing famous historical events.

The first window showed three ponies, standing in a massive cave. Each were from one of the different tribes of ponydom and each had their hands out, joining in the center of the circle of three. Above the joined hands was a glowing white triangle. On the bottom, a sign read Founding of Equestria.

The second window depicted two familiar alicorns, each sitting on a throne with a unicorn pony mare placing two golden tiaras on their heads. The mare I saw wore dark blue robes with swirls of white sewn into the fabric. There was a dark hood over her head but the artist had not hidden her piercing gray azure eyes and her brown fur. On the bottom, a sign read Starry Swirl Crowns the Sisters.

The third window depicted the same two alicorns, both with blades in their hands and wearing fierce looking armor. Both were facing down a dark gray alicorn with dark magic tinted eyes. Behind the two were two stylized armies facing each other with a large crystal city in the far background. On the bottom, a sign read Defeat of Emperor Sombra and the Last Battle of the Silica Empire.

The fourth window showed both sisters wielding six familiar gems and blasting at a somewhat familiar looking being of chaos. However, unlike the one I knew, this one had long flowing white hair, large but different sized breasts and a slender feminine and more humanoid form. Other than that, all the body parts were pretty much the same, albeit more anthro than animal. On the bottom, another sign simply read Discordia’s Defeat.

The fifth window depicted Celestia banishing the corrupted Luna to the moon. To my surprise, however, there was no mention of Luna’s name. Instead, the sign read Nightmare Moon’s Banishment. I almost asked what Celestia had said happened to Luna, but held my tongue.

If those images hadn’t already told me about my new aunt’s prowess with a blade, then her demonstration in the palace’s training grounds definitely convinced me. This Celestia wasn’t a chump when it came to fighting. She was a warrior princess. She moved with a grace and speed that was indescribable, but with a deadly ferocity that terrified me. She didn’t even use any of her magic or her wings when she fought and still she fought the enhanced and magically moving dummies with striking ease. When she told me that was merely lesson one, I gained a whole new respect for my new aunt. She did promise me that when my body was ready, I would be allowed to learn a fighting style to give me an edge in protecting myself just in case.

Something that stunned me on that first day, however, was the fact that the room I was given was a near carbon copy of the bedroom I’d seen in the very first episode of the show, the one where Twilight and Spike had stayed in. It was a bit more closed off than in the show, having been built into the side of the mountain itself, but nevertheless it was fairly similar. There were two levels, each connected by a large spiral staircase in the center. The room had an amazing view of Canterlot through the massive window on the second level. There were plenty of books on the shelves on the second level already, a brass telescope near the window, a massive hearth next to my bed that kept the entire bedroom warm, a desk which was complete with ink, quill pens and papers all neatly stacked, a practically king sized bed with a stepstool for me to climb up, and much more to see.

My friends were also there in that room with cake to celebrate my adoption. They and their families were there as well, and I later learned that they had been told to keep my secret and had been rewarded for their silence with large amounts of money as well. Anna Belle was the most excited that I would be around the palace and didn’t seem to care that I would become a prince. All she saw was a close friend moving closer to her so she and I could play. I noticed the change in Shadow right away. He became more formal with me, at least until I begged him to act like he had before since I wanted to be friends with him.

Certain members of all three families had been assigned to me, as it turned out. Buttercup had been reassigned as my personal maid and would see to my daily needs. Maple, who had background in education, was to be my main teacher, but not my personal tutor. Instead, she would teach me and my friends in a small classroom setting. She was aware of my intellect and being farther ahead in certain subjects, but she was insistent on teaching me Equestrian and world history, something I was not so great at. Barley was reassigned to be my personal cook for the time being, while Astra Breeze and Crimson Comet were my personal guards, having been reassigned from the Royal Guard to me. At the time, I felt rather overwhelmed by all of this, and Celestia promised me that I would be given time to adjust to the new life I now led.

After the first week, Celestia made a major announcement in the form of a large banquet. There, she told the cover story and introduced me as her distant nephew Prince Blueblood. I had been trained on how to behave and walk as best as I could, but I felt completely out of place in that banquet despite my aunt’s reassurances that I was doing splendidly. It was there that I had the very first of many tastes of upper class society and how nobles and ponies of high standing used honeyed words to try and get what they wanted. It reminded me of an old saying from a movie from Earth, “A nobleman is nothing but a man who says one thing and thinks another.” I kept that in mind during the entire night.

Aunt Celestia’s announcement hadn’t even left her lips before I was being introduced to many noble daughters my own age. I could tell that the fillies thrown at me were as nervous as I felt. However, what brief training I’d had that week came back to me and I put them at their ease with my best imitation of honeyed words, something that made me feel sick to say. However, the giggles of the fillies as we played out in the courtyard more than made up for it.

It was also there where I was reunited with Jet Set. He was nearly unrecognizable, and I was glad that I was as well, having had my mane and tail trimmed. Seeing him reminded me of Crystal, and I made a mental note to ask Aunt Celestia if there was any way for her to find my oldest friend.

Jet Set was already rude and a bully a back in the orphanage, but now he was an insufferable spoiled brat. He was incredibly rude to the maids and servants, especially those who were eutherians or non-ponies, while at the same time he had his nose so far up the asses of anyone of standing that his face might have been brown by the end of the night. He especially sucked up to me, and I had to tolerate it. His father was the Duke of Chicoltgo and was very wealthy, I learned. Jet spoke of Chicoltgo Keep as if it was on par with Canterlot Palace in terms of beauty and scale. He insisted that I come and visit, to which I gave a noncommittal answer.

I was exhausted by the time the night was over, physically and mentally. Physically from all of the walking around and the food consumed, and mentally from having to deal with all the false platitudes I was now a part of. Aunt Celestia personally escorted me to my new room, telling me how proud she was of me for how I acted, but I reminded her once more that I was older than I looked. Nevertheless, she praised my acting skills. However, she did tell me that there might come a time where I might have to visit other noblestallions. She promised to put it off as long as she could.

As the days turned into weeks, I began falling into a new routine. Now that she didn’t have to travel once a week to a Canterlot orphanage, Aura would come and train with me in the training arena multiple times a week, which helped my magical prowess grow much faster than it had before. She was still strict in her lessons, which I appreciated since it meant the lessons stuck more, at least for me. Maple, on the other hand, was a kindhearted teacher who knew just how to teach each one individually. She was impressed by my writing and math skills and advanced me more and more in those areas. My Equestrian history and geography weren’t as good, but since I had the mind of an adult in the growing brain of a child, I made those subjects a higher priority.

The others had their own troubles. Shadow was ahead thanks to his age, and was actually fairly average when it came to his age group except for math, which he struggled with. Anna Belle, being a bundle of energy most of the time, was in general not one of the best students, but she never gave up. Frostfall was smart for her age and she and I would gladly help the other two in study sessions.

To my surprise, McAngus was asked, not instructed as he owned his own business, to take time out of his day to be more or less a physical education instructor to me and my friends. He never allowed me or Shadow to use our special magic, as he viewed that as cheating. Shadow and I both took it seriously, doing our exercises with no complaints. Shadow, due to his being older, was very fit and could easily take on all three of us in games of strength. Anna Belle would complain, but she was just as physically fit as me and Shadow. Poor Frostfall, however, was not the best despite her best efforts but she never gave up.

I hadn’t forgotten my first friend Crystal Moon, and I had asked Aunt Celestia if there was a way to track her down. She promised that she would have her investigative team look into it. A week later, however, she came back with some upsetting news. The family who had adopted Crystal had vanished without a trace about a month after they’d adopted her. The parents had been in their Canterlot house one day with their daughter, and gone the very next day. All of their belongings were gone as well.

Winter turned to spring, and things remained the same with me. However, that day at the beginning of Sprende, my life underwent yet another change…

It was late morning and I was sitting at my desk looking over one of the books in my room titled The Eutherian Art Of Stealth by Fresh Breeze. One of the things I’d learned from Shadow and his parents were that they had a very unique type of magic which was called Shadow Magic. They were capable of not only blending into the shadows quite literally, but some of the more talented eutherians had great powers of hypnosis which they could use to cloud the minds of their victims and make them pretty much invisible. That power reminded me of the one that was used in the old radio serial from Earth called The Shadow.

I was reading it because it was said that some talented unicorns could also learn Shadow Magic. I knew I wasn’t quite ready for it, but I still wanted to try and learn when I was. Having such a power could be a valuable asset, especially since I was now a prince and a high value target. There were practice exercises within, but I knew better than to even do them.

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice the warm presence of my aunt as she walked up behind me. I jumped when she put her hands on my shoulders. “That must be quite an interesting book you have there,” she said in amusement as I jumped up.

“Whoa! Oh…Auntie, you startled me,” I said, putting my hand on my chest. I had grown quite used to calling her Aunt or Auntie, and thinking of her as such always made me smile. I did so now as I looked up at her, only to see her wearing something other than her royal garments. She was wearing a dark blue flowing dress with a gold rope around her midsection and a necklace that had her cutie mark hanging from it. She was wearing a pair of spectacles as well that made her look like more of a teacher than anything. I raised an eyebrow. “What are you wearing today?”

She chuckled and turned around for me to see everything. Her tail stuck out and was flowing in the ethereal winds that they constantly experienced. “I’m going down to my School for Gifted Unicorns today for the opening ceremonies,” she explained, “and since today is a day off for you, I was hoping you would like to join me.”

I felt excitement rushing through me as I put a mark in my place in the book and closed it, setting it on my desk. “I’d love to come!”

Aunt Celestia smiled warmly and put her hand on my back, patting it. “Then get dressed, young Blueblood.”

After I quickly got into my outdoor royal garments, dark blue trousers, a blue and gold long sleeved shirt with a golden triangle sewn onto the chest and a small black cloak attached by a gold chain, Aunt Celestia, myself, and two of her best guards walked towards her carriage, which was pure white with her cutie mark painted on the very top. The corners were lined with gold and the curtains were as white as the paint, but managed to keep out the light very well.

As we were taken to the school, Aunt Celestia and I talked. She asked me how my lessons were going, and I told her. When I asked if there was anything big happening in the world, she told me that she had been attempting to broker a treaty with a nearby island nation of zebras called Farasi. However, it was difficult especially since, unlike Equestria, Farasi consisted of many different tribes of zebras. Like ponies, zebras had three different types of zebras, mountain, plains and imperial. The first two were easy to distinguish by where they lived, but the imperial zebras were so called because they claimed to be able to trace their ancestry back through the Weave of the World as they called it to a time when Farasi was once a powerful empire that spread all over its savannahs, prairies, oases and mountains. They were called imperial because they claimed to be descendants of the line of emperors.

Aunt Celestia had been trying to work out a peace treaty with the major tribes in order to establish a trade agreement with them, but it had apparently been difficult since smaller tribes had spoken up against the proposed trade. According to the leaders of the larger tribes, said smaller tribes didn’t want foreign politics involved in the day to day of Farasi affairs. Zebras were fiercely independent and hated to have their affairs interfered with by outsiders. Aunt Celestia had been trying her best to reassure these smaller tribes of her intentions to stay out of their politics, but so far it had been a losing battle.

“What if you arrange for one of their leaders to visit Canterlot and see us in person?” I suggested. “While you send one of your trusted nobles there in an exchange?”

“I had thought of that,” she admitted, “but no noble will want to go to Farasi. They all think it’s a filthy disgusting nation full of savages.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a shame Fancy Pants isn’t around, yet.”

Celestia looked at me with a confused expression. “You know of that young lordling?”

I chuckled. “He showed up in the show I mentioned a few times. He was mentioned as being the most important pony in Canterlot.”

“Well, his father, Charm Pants, is the Duke of Manhattan,” Celestia said, “one of Equestria’s biggest port cities and one of the richest as well. His son is about…thirteen or fourteen if I’m remembering right. The Pants family has always been a friend of the crown and one of the best noble families I’ve known. I’m sure if I asked, Charm would let his son go, but his wife might not allow it.”

“What, is she like most other nobles?” I asked.

Celestia shook her head. “No. Lady Petunia Bush is a very sickly young woman. She worries a great deal about her son, since she nearly died giving birth to him from what Duke Pants has told me. She doesn’t want to lose her son.”

“She sounds like a hovering parent,” I said, “like a mother hen.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “She is, but a part of me can’t blame her. She’s lost almost her entire family, and all she has left is her husband and son.”

“Still, you said Fancy is thirteen? He’s a stallion grown already, as you’d say,” I replied.

Celestia giggled a bit. “Yes, he is. Oh, we’re here already.”

As the carriage stopped, I prepared myself. I’d seen the school only briefly in the show, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As the driver opened the door and pulled down the carriage’s steps for me and my aunt to use, I caught my first glimpse of the school. My first impression was that I was looking at some miniature version of Buckingham Palace, but upon closer inspection, I aw plenty of differences. There was a large lawn in front of the building with a cobblestone pathway heading towards the entrance. In the center of the lawn was a fountain with a unicorn pony stallion statue standing in the center. Water spouted from the horn and sprayed out in a dome formation. The stallion statue itself was holding a book in one hand and was holding out its free hand towards the sky.

Behind the statue and yard was the school itself. The school had three sections, it seemed. There were two parallel square sections on the right and left which were connected by a rectangular section that ran perpendicular to the other two sections. At the very center of the building was a large white domed tower which loomed over the rest of the building. All along the walls were windows of identical size. The sun shone down on the school itself, its warm light glistening against the massive building.

My jaw must have dropped without me realizing it because Celestia reached down and gently pushed my mouth closed. “It is impressive, isn’t it dear nephew?”

I nodded slowly. “It’s really big,” I said, slipping into my younger talk.

“Yes it is. Come along, nephew. I want to show you around,” she said, taking my hand and leading me down the pathway.

As we walked, I saw other ponies, all unicorns ranging from about my age to teenage years, walking towards the entrance. Each one was wearing what looked like a uniform. The colts wore a pair of black pants, a beige undershirt with a cravat, a dark purple vest with some kind of sigil sewn into the right breast and a black hooded cloak with gold lining the inside. The fillies wore something that was pretty identical except that instead of pants they wore long black skirts. Some even wore some kind of dark purple berets. Many of them saw us and would greet Celestia as Headmistress instead of Princess. When I asked why, Celestia replied, “I prefer that when I’m here, as the students and teachers know well. It’s one of the few times where I can be something other than a princess.”

For the next hour or so, she showed me around the school. Each classroom was pretty much identical. Unlike the ones I was used to back on Earth, these were more like a small amphitheater, with students sitting in a small semicircle and facing down towards the podium and chalkboard where the professor would stand. Much like the architecture of this world, it was medieval in nature. There was a large dining hall near the center of the building along with a meeting hall which reminded me of a cathedral’s sanctuary. The school had two massive libraries, one in each wing where we saw many students reading and studying the old tomes there. It was as if I’d stepped into one of those schools one sees in a magical school anime, albeit with more realism, if such a thing existed in a world where magic actually existed.

It was during our tour that something unusual caught my eye. We were passing some of the smaller and empty classrooms when I spotted a small cart in a darkened classroom. Aunt Celestia had just gotten stuck talking to a few of the teachers, so when I asked if I could explore one of the classrooms, she turned and nodded quickly. “Just stay in that classroom until I’m finished here, alright?”

“Okay!” I said, and with a childlike excitement, I rushed into the classroom.

The room itself was dark, its two windows to the outside covered by thick curtains. Using my telekinesis, I pulled the curtains aside, letting light into the room, which in itself wasn’t anything spectacular. It was smaller than most of the other classrooms, but it still had the same general shape. But that wasn’t what had drawn my attention, because sitting at the front of the room next to the podium and in front of the chalkboard stood a cart full of hay. And in the middle of that hay, I saw an egg.

I walked up to it, almost entranced by how beautiful it was. The egg was a light purple with dark purple spots scattered all around it. Reaching up, I touched it and caressed its smooth surface. It was cool to the touch, each part of it identical in temperature. Gently rubbing it with my hands, all I could say was, “Spike…”

Suddenly, to my complete surprise, the egg shuddered slightly. I jumped back in alarm. “What the fuck…?” I whispered in English. The egg remained still as I maintained eye contact with it. Slowly, I approached it, reached out, and touched it once more. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the egg shook once more, and I felt a burst of heat coming off of it.

I should have gone to talk to my aunt about this. I should have been more patient about things, but something inside me felt compelled to approach once more. The egg was now trembling as if it was cold. Immediately, I remembered not only that one episode with the dragon eggs but something I had learned in my extracurricular reading about dragons: their eggs needed extreme heat to hatch.

I grabbed the egg and placed it on the stone floor as far away from anything burnable as possible, which was a corner of the room. The egg was still trembling, and when I touched it next, the temperature had gone down considerably. “Shit shit shit,” I muttered. “I need to heat you up!” Remembering my studies in fire magic, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I held out my hands and called forth the basic fire spell. Immediately a ball of bright yellow fire appeared in front of me. I brough the ball of flame to the egg and placed the fire around the egg. The shaking subsided only slightly, but didn’t stop. Gritting my teeth, I poured more magic into my flames, trying to elicit more heat from them.

However, all I managed to do was turn the flame from bright yellow to a piercing white. I felt myself beginning to sweat, my newly cut mane drenched from the heat and exertion. Quickly, I tried to think of a way to increase the temperature of my flames. The only way I could think of at that moment was to increase the oxygen flow to the fire itself, but I had no idea how to do that. Thinking as hard as I could, another idea came to mind. Slowly, I began channeling more magic through my left arm and out through my left hand. I thought back to my teacher’s instructions on how to use dual spells. It wasn’t something I’d mastered, but I felt like I was so close to understanding…

Understand…

Understand…

“Blueblood?! What are you doing?!” A shocked voice called out from behind me. Whirling, I saw a stunned looking Celestia with the three professors she’d been talking to earlier.

My concentration broke, and with that something else inside me broke. I felt a surge of magic unlike anything I’d felt before. The surge flowed through my left arm and the burst changed the white flames to bright blue flames. The surge then flowed through my right arm and out of my right hand, creating a massive burst of wind that surrounded the flames, making them hotter. My horn flared above me, and I felt magic pour from it, surrounding me with a bubble of magic.

I grew immediately afraid as my magic poured out of me in droves, creating a massive and hot fireball around the egg. The more I tried to retract the magic, the more it came flying out of my horn and hands. There was so much noise from the wind and the magic surrounding me. I was aware of someone shouting something, only to realize it was me screaming for help.

Through all the noise and chaos, I heard something crack. Immediately, I locked onto the source and saw a dark crack that had formed in the egg. As I watched, more cracks appeared, until finally a claw burst through. The egg burst apart, revealing a very familiar dragon baby. A baby surrounded by fire.

I redoubled my efforts to pull the magic away, but my magic wouldn’t obey my commands. Not until I felt a hand firmly grasping my leg. Looking down, I saw Celestia looking up at me with a reassuring smile. It was then that I remembered that fear was something that could overwhelm a magic user in certain situations, especially during a magical surge. She pulled me down and wrapped her arms around me. Despite the noise, I heard her saying, “Deep breaths, dear nephew.”

At that, I felt myself going limp. Her grip on me increased as the noise of wind and fire vanished, only to be replaced by a child’s babbling. Slowly, I turned and saw a young dragon baby rocking back and forth, his tail sticking in his mouth. Our eyes locked, and I saw him release his tail from his mouth. He babbled and squealed in what looked like delight, reaching out towards me.

As my strength returned, I looked up at my aunt and tugged at her. “Can you put me down for a bit?” I asked.

She looked down at me, then back at the dragon baby. Nodding, she slowly put me down and helped me get my bearings. My legs were a bit wobbly, but Celestia stabilized me. The other three professors were standing near the dragon baby, looking at him in awe, however when I began to walk towards him they backed away after looking once at Celestia.

Slowly, I walked up to the baby. In the light of the sun that shone through the window, he looked identical to the Spike I’d seen on the show, although his colors were a bit muted. His scales were a darker shade of purple and his spines were evergreen, but his reptilian eyes were identical in color to those I’d seen on the show. However, unlike the episode which showed his birth, this dragon was covered in a glistening fluid. The young dragon sneezed, letting loose a small bit of blue fire before he began to shiver. Then, he started to cry.

Acting immediately, I removed the cape around me and wrapped the young dragon baby up in it, beginning to clean the thick embryonic liquid off of him. I overheard one of the teachers exclaiming, “Headmistress, surely you cannot be serious in allowing the young prince to engage with a young dragon! They are dangerous.”

“They are no more dangerous than griffons, Professor Ironsides,” Celestia replied sternly, “and this is a child. What will he do? Drool on you?”

I ignored them as I looked down at the as of yet unnamed dragon. His shivering had gone down and he was looking up at me with more curiosity than anything else. “Hello, little one,” I whispered as I wiped his face clean, “welcome to the world of Threia.”

The young dragon’s eyes widened a bit, and a small smile formed on his face, turning wide as he babbled and reached up to grab at my mane. He pulled at it and giggled. I simply chuckled and pat him on the head before turning to Celestia. She looked back at me, and as if a message had been passed between us, she nodded swiftly, then turned to the other professors. “With what has just happened, I’m afraid I must take my nephew home with me and make sure he is alright. Please forgive the abruptness of the departure.”

“Oh, not at all, Headmistress, we understand,” one of the ponies said.

“We will take our leave,” the third one said, but not before she gave me an odd look before turning away and heading out with the other two.

The moment the other ponies were gone, Celestia dropped all pretenses and rushed over to me, kneeling before me and putting her hands on my face. She had a worried look on her face as she looked me over. “What were you thinking, nephew?!” she exclaimed softly as she put a wing around me.

“I…I don’t know what came over me, to be honest,” I replied, looking back down at the dragon. “I just…I knew he needed to be hatched right away. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew.”

Celestia sighed, looking down at the young dragon. “Well…you’ve done something that nopony else has been able to do since I found this egg abandoned. Even I couldn’t do it.”

I was about to reply, when suddenly I felt a burning sensation on the sides of my bottocks. Standing quickly, I put my hands there, wincing. The burning sensation quickly went away, but there was a warmth that was still there. When I looked at Celestia, I saw that she was looking at my arm. Confused, I looked down at my arm, only to see the blank patch on my arm had morphed into a glowing compass rose with two distinct colors to each point on the compass. The north, south, east and west portions were a dark golden color while the smaller portions which signified directions like northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast were a deep royal purple. There was a small silver circle around the compass itself.

As the glow slowly vanished, I quickly grabbed my pants and pulled one side down, looking in shock at my brand new cutie mark which matched the one on my cutie mark patch. Slowly, I put my pants back in order, then looked up at Celestia. “Um…you’re more of an expert at cutie marks than I am,” I said as I pointed at the patch on my shirt, “what exactly does this mean?”

Celestia looked down at me, smiling with what looked like an impressed look in her eyes. “It means, dear nephew, that you have a rare talent for magic, one that even I don’t have. It means, with plenty of practice and training, you can use more spells than the average unicorn.”

“I can master any magic?!” I asked, looking at my cutie mark in awe.

“Master magic? That depends on you,” Celestia explained. “What I mean is you are more magically versatile, but that means you won’t be as powerful. At least, not without a great deal of practice with certain magical spells.”

“So…a jack of all trades and a master of none or possibly some?” I asked.

“Yes, dear nephew.”

I looked down at my cutie mark, then back at my hands. A small grin formed on my lips. “Sweet.”

“Oh, but don’t think you aren’t going to get away with what you just did,” Celestia said in a now stern tone as she reached down and lifted the still babbling dragon into her arms. “You are in a lot of trouble for what you did. So expect some sort of punishment, young colt.”

I swallowed nervously. “Yes, auntie.”

“And the first punishment of yours is going to be looking after this young dragon,” she explained as she turned to walk towards the door.

“Spike.”

Celestia turned. “I beg your pardon?”

“That’s his name, Auntie. Spike the Dragon.”

Celestia turned and looked at the now named dragon baby. She smiled and nodded. “Very well. I suppose since you hatched him, you get to name him. But he will be your responsibility, you know.”

I gave her my best puppy dog eyes. “But Aaauntieee…I’m only siiix years old!” I held up my hands and showed her six fingers.

“No, Stephen. You’re older than that, you know,” Celestia said, giving me a little glare before she relented. “Oh, very well. Buttercup can help you, but young Spike here is your responsibility most of the time. Is that understood?”

“Yes, auntie,” I said with a nod.

“Good. Now, let’s get you home,” Celestia said, “you and I need to celebrate. Six years old is early for a pony to get their mark.”

As we walked out, I looked up at Spike, who gave me a smile. In that moment, I made a promise to raise him properly and never let him ever feel left out of anything. I reached out to him, and to my delight he did as well.

Our fingers touched and he wrapped his claw around my outstretched finger. I was filled with a sense of warmth and protectiveness for this young dragon.

I will protect and cherish him, I thought to myself, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.