Draconian Prince

• 10 years after Twilight's coronation-Dear Princess Celestia,

A lot has happened in the past 10 years. Twilight became a princess, Applejack founded the Apple Family Corporation, Rainbow Dash became the captain of the Wonderbolts (everyone knew it would happen anyway), Rarity rose to stardom as both a world class designer and model, Fluttershy settled down with Big Mac and opened a new animal clinic, and Pinkie Pie took over Sugarcube Corner. The Crusaders even found their cutie marks!

Everyone we know has grown so much... everyone except me...

Spike looked up from the scroll and stared at the mirror in his room. His limbs had grown significantly longer and he was now 8 feet tall when standing on two legs. His tail and spines grew longer and sharper with each passing day. But the biggest change in Spike was his enormous wings. His wingspan was easily as wide as Princess Celestia's. Yet... he was still the same old Spike. Spike turned back toward the scroll and continued to write.

I'm bigger now. I'm older, stronger, and even grew wings, but I haven't changed at all. I mean, I don't know anything about myself! What are dragons capable of? What do dragons do at my age? And... where are my parents?

Spike took on last look at the letter, crumpled it up, and threw it into the ever growing pile of failed attempts. "AAARGH! It just doesn't sound right! How do I ask this without making it sound so awkward?"

Spike had been thinking more and more about his family ever since he had moved back to Canterlot with Twilight. He was hatched from an egg and was raised by Twilight, but where did the egg come from? He needed answers soon or he was going to go insane.

Twilight and Celestia would be back from Neighsia any minute now, and Spike had promised himself that he would ask Celestia the next chance he got. *ruuumble* But right now, his stomach was making the rumblies... that only breakfast could satisfy.

Spike went out the door and walked over to the kitchen, where his breakfast was waiting for him. “Mmmm, sapphire pancakes with emerald syrup, my favorite!” Spike tied a napkin around his neck, threw his fork and spoon behind him, and ate the pancakes whole.

The doors to the kitchen opened up to reveal a familiar lavender alicorn with Celestia standing beside her. “Glad to see that your appetite hasn't changed,” Twilight giggled.

Spike recognized the voice instantly. He quickly flew out of his chair and tackled them to the ground. "Hey Twilight! Princess Celestia! Welcome back!" Spike said as he gave them both a powerful hug.

"Nice to... be back... Spike," Celestia said as she struggled for breath.

"Spike! Can't breathe!" Twilight said as her face began to change into an impressive shade of red.

"Oh, sorry," Spike said sheepishly as he released them. "Now that I'm not so small anymore, I don't know my own strength."

Spike was amazed at how much more Twilight looked like Celestia with each passing day. She had grown to be a bit taller than Cadence, and her ethereal mane had begun to sparkle and flow in the celestial winds.

Twilight was fascinated with Spike's growth as well. "Spike, you've gotten even bigger! You must be at least 8.67 inches taller than last month." Twilight circled Spike, lifting his tail, spreading his wings, and measuring his spines. As Twilight was taking notes on Spike's growth, he was mentally building up the courage to ask his question to Celestia.

"Uhh, Princess Celestia? I have something to ask you," Spike said as he looked down at his feet.

"What is it, Spike?" Celestia asked with a smile.

"Well, I'm not sure how to ask this." Spike said as he shifted uncomfortably. C'mon Spike, you can do this. He looked up, took a deep breathe, and asked, "where did I come from?"

At that moment, it seemed to Spike that the temperature had dropped a few degrees. Celestia's happy demeanor was quickly replaced with a look of sadness. Twilight stopped calculating the amount of lift that Spike’s wings could generate to look up at Celestia. They all stood silently for what seemed like an eternity and the tension was killing him. Finally, Celestia broke the silence.

"Let's talk about this somewhere private," Celestia sighed as she opened the doors. Celestia started trotting towards the throne room as Spike and Twilight walked beside her in silence.

When they walked inside, Celestia closed the double doors. The brilliant multicolored lights from the stain glass windows lit up the room. Each window represented an important chapter of Equestria's history, and Celestia had the feeling that today's events would warrant a new window.

Celestia turned around to face them and sighed. The time has come. Celestia knew this day would arrive, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of a good way to explain herself. “Spike, it has been over 1000 years since I had received your egg. Well, found is the better term…”

“Found? What do you mean you found me? Dragons don’t just leave eggs lying around,” Spike said.

Well, I'll just give it to him straight. "Spike, your egg was left at the castle gates in a basket.”

Spike was crushed. “W-what do you mean it was left in a basket?" This doesn't make any sense. Dragon's are extremely protective of their children. My parents wouldn't just leave me! But if they did... "Does this mean…”

“Yes, I don't know where you came from.”

Spike simply stood there for a while. The gears in his head were turning, trying to comprehend what he had just heard as Twilight waved a hoof in front of his frozen face.

"Princess, I don't understand. What do you mean you don't know where he came from?" Twilight asked. "I mean, didn't everypony in your 'School for Gifted Unicorns' have to pass the entrance exam?" Twilight remembered the day she hatched Spike's egg like it was only yesterday. She was so happy when Celestia accepted Twilight as her protégé. In fact, she was so excited that she forgotten to ask. "Where did you get all of those dragon eggs?"

"Twilight, there was only one dragon egg, and it was Spike's. If everypony in the school had to hatch a dragon egg, there would be hundreds of baby dragons walking around in Canterlot." Celestia said.

"But that doesn't make any sense! If nopony passed the test, then how were there so many students?"

Celestia smiled. "It wasn't passing the test that was important."

Twilight quickly caught on. "You mean... It was meant to make us fail?"

"Well, yes and no. I was hoping that the egg would be hatched whenever somepony took the test, but they would have been accepted into the school regardless." Celestia looked at Spike as she continued. "Even Starswirl and I had attempted to hatch Spike's egg and failed. But Starswirl had thought of using the students to crack Spike's impervious shell. We even had a little wager on it," Celestia giggled.

"What was the wager?"

"I got to cast the instant-beard spell on Starswirl and he couldn't shave it off until Spike was hatched." Celestia started laughing painfully, tears trickled down as she continued. "He had made it a point to always keep his word. And since then, he was known as 'Starswirl the bearded'. Oh, I miss him so much."

Twilight nuzzled Celestia's neck to comfort her. It was obvious that Celestia was still not over Starswirl’s disappearance, but Spike still needed his answer. "Princess, what does this mean for Spike?"

Celestia wiped her tears. "It means that Spike will not find the answers to his questions here. There are very few ponies that know much about dragons. And even fewer that know dragons personally. If Spike wishes to find out about his family and his origins, then he will have to travel to Draconia to find them."

Spike was still soaking in the information from their conversation. It wasn't that it was difficult to comprehend; it was just that Spike got way more than he bargained for. If Spike heard her right, Spike was dropped off and abandoned at Celestia's doorstep, and he would have to travel through the lands of terrifying, fire breathing, 100 times his size, dragons to find out whether his family was alive or not. So while Spike had a million more questions to ask, he had just enough brainpower left to ask one more.

"...What?"