Equestria's Risen Hero: Airborne, the Changeling-Dragon

Thanksgiving

In the month of November, Airborne was fully engrossed in Unity. It was noon with cloudy weather. A strange thing happened to Airborne as well. The Changeling-dragon was reading in Twilight's Castle. He was in the library section sitting on Spike's old giant pillow bed. Starlight Glimmer, a light purple unicorn with big curly, white and purple hair, was sitting next to Airborne in a chair to monitor him. Airborne read aloud, "'Read page 872 if you want to know your uncle."' He then skipped to page 872. He then read, "'Ask him about the secret.' Seriously?! Ugh. Wow, author."
Starlight asked, "What are you even reading?"
Airborne answered, "The book I got from Twilight. I'm on page 453."
Starlight then laughed a bit. "You seem to have taken a liking to Twilight, haven't you?"
Airborne blushed and growled, "No! I just... like reading. And learning."
Starlight asked, "What grade are you in, 5th?"
Airborne replied with, "7th actually and I am 10 times more ahead of my class."
Starlight then investigated his intelligence. She thought of something and for a moment and asked out loud, "Okaaaay smartypants. Who's stronger? Me or Twilight?"
"In terms of magical skill and spell casting, you," Airborne explained. He continued on. "Reason being was that I learned that even though she was an Alicorn, she lost to you in a magical fight. In terms of knowledge, that's indecisive. Who knows, moreover? Twilight."
Starlight was surprised. She then asked another question with confidence, "Uhh huhhhh. Thanks for the compliment. Now, answer me this. Why do dragons have magic if they don't have unicorn horns or any source of magical output?"
Airborne laughed. "Oh man! I love this question. Okay, so dragons have primordial powers of fire, water, earth, lightning, and air. There are also derivatives of those powers in mixed offspring. Humorously, they too have magic because that's their most substantial source of power. I'll give you an example." Airborne set his book to the side and then spoke, "U'Sarra Shide!" The floor then turned to ice. "'S' incantations are for mainly ice spells. 'D' is for gravity, and other letters have extraordinary influences like that." Starlight was in utter shock by her answer. She then looked at the floor stunned. "Desai," he added which made the floor turn back to normal. "That one's for the 'undo' spell."
Starlight couldn't believe it. A dragon doing magic is something she's never seen before. Twilight wandered into the room however using magic to hold up glasses of lemonade she made. She walked over to Airborne and handed him a cup with a straw. "Here you go," she said tenderly. She turned to Starlight and observed her facial expression. "What's wrong?"
Starlight spoke, "He... used incantation! He spoke words, and the floor was frozen in ice!!"
Twilight said calmly, "You're missing out. Heh. I've been teaching him dragon incantations as much as he's taught me about new magic spells. You should indeed catch up some time." She turned away and sat next to Airborne. "What part are you on?"
Airborne answered Twilight, "The part where he explained to me of Spike's 'secret'. Hehe, I didn't even know he had a secret from me."
Twilight then asked, "Aren't you worried that maybe you're a bit too engrossed in a book?"
Starlight chuckled, "That's rich. You're informing him he's going too far into a book."
Twilight giggled, "Point taken, Star."
Airborne made a "mmmmmmm" sound thinking about it and spoke, "I think I'll be fine."
Twilight then decided to ask, "So, what more can you tell us about the book?"
Airborne said, "It enlightened me that the first Dragon forged the land, sky, sea, etc. and along with the first Alicorn and the First Changeling. Then many things were blessed with the land. Life itself was known, then more. Man, this book is fascinating."
Twilight questioned, "How do you know this book is 100% factual?"
Airborne said, "I don't know, really. I mean, I've learned incantations so maybe..."
Twilight shrugged. She then said, "That's alright if you don't know. We can find out with a spell."
Airborne said again, "Princess Twilight, I think the spells are good enough. There was no sense of dragon history like this in any book, but there was recorded history of the war in every history book. This one just has a personal story."
Twilight nodded in understanding. "I agree with that statement, but I do think we should all explore what went on in the past."
Starlight then said, "Well it's real to Airborne. It really has not lied to us... yet."
Airborne quickly said, "I don't think the book will lie."
Twilight said, "Well, I'm not saying it will lie, but I just want to know if everything in it is true. Can I analyze it?"
Airborne was afraid to hand the book to Twilight. "I'm sorry, but... I don't know if it'll hurt you or not."
Twilight then said, "Trust me. I'll be okay. If it shocks me, then I guess it means the book is now fully designated to you." Airborne hesitantly gave the book to Twilight. This time, it did not shock her. Twilight held it in her hooves and handed it to Starlight. "I understand. No one can just take the book from you. You must willingly give it. Starlight, revert the room around us back into an age of all the events that occurred in the book.
Starlight used her magic to reverse the time of the castle in a small done. In that dome, there was nothing but war ground around. They watched the past world in a dome that soon vanished. They did not time travel; what they did was just make the area around them have an image of the past without being in the past. What was happening in that time was a changeling-dragon walking over to the exact same location the group is at. He had the exact same form and shape as Airborne, except he was 10 feet tall. He also had golden horns, a white scales body on top, beautiful dragon-shaped changeling wings with the colors of purple and blue, and a yellow underbelly. What he did was wave a "hello" to the group. He spoke, "I know you all will see me someday. But for now, a map lies here for you to come to see me." He stopped speaking and went in between every one of them. He buried a map right underneath the group. He continued on saying, "Find me when the war starts. Princess Twilight, I believe you will be delighted to meet me. Airborne, you and I have a lot to discuss. Starlight, don't stop believing." Pretty soon, he walked away. "Make sure to stay united as one. You will do many great things, Airborne. Also, Happy Thanksgiving in your time."
Starlight stopped the spell reverting everything back to normal. She then was so shocked that her jaw was dropped and she stared into space in awe. Twilight then clapped her hooves on the ground and shouted, "That was amazing!! I can't believe a past changeling-dragon spoke to us!! And oh yeah. Airborne, we should get back to our families for Thanksgiving. I must see my brother and parents for the holiday again. You should see your family too."
Airborne then said, "But I've got to... read more."
Twilight said, "Airborne, I know how important it is to want to learn more about this, but doing this whole experiment today was enough knowledge for a lifetime. What you can do though is find the map that is under the castle and head home. Other than that, as your teacher, I want you to give me a friendship report on the importance of Thanksgiving."
Airborne sighed. "Oh, alright, Princess Twilight." He gave her a gentle hug. "Goodbye."
Twilight hugged back, "Goodbye, my faithful student." Airborne went to Starlight and said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Starlight, and goodbye!" He then flew out through the library window and went to the base of the castle. He then began digging. Starlight, however, still in the library couldn't believe what she saw still.
"Well..." Starlight started. "I guess I'll just... go to... see... Sunburst. Goodbye!" She ran out. Twilight shrugged and flew out the same window Airborne did. She then flew straight for her hot air balloon.
Airborne dug for a long time underneath the castle. It took a while, about an hour, but he finally got under the entire castle to grab the map. He went out the tunnel he came in and stood up. Opening up the map, it was dirty and old. "I found it!" he quietly exclaimed. He then flew away and towards Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Entering the shop, he looked around for Rarity. He saw her downstairs admiring her dresses. "Rarity, do you know where Spike is?"
Rarity looked up from one of her dresses and said, "Oh, Airborne. Yes, I do. He should be in the Everfree Forest as we speak. He said he had something to do."
Airborne said, "Thanks. Have a great day" as he left.
In the Everfree Forest, it was a large, dark, and seemingly evil forest that has many fallen trees but many tall trees too. It was grassy and showed no dirt on the ground. Airborne wandered into the forest and walked around. He was shouting Spike's name. "Spike! Spike you here? Uncle Spike! I need you to take me home!"
There was talking. Some words were heard. "Where will you live, Garble?" Other words were, "I will just wander." Airborne followed the voice silently. He listened to more talking. "But... But Garble, you-..." and an "I want to experience the open life of Equestria." There's more. "But without you, Airborne..." Silence struck... Airborne drew closer. He can hear clearly. "I would never want to leave the child open to another attack, but I can't be his guardian for the rest of his. He's stronger without me here." Airborne then stopped as he now saw Garble and Spike talking. Garble appeared to be hungry, thin, and frail. He also looked dirty, but he seemed... happy.
Garble spoke, "My decision is final... I'm never living with dragons until Airborne's accomplished whatever goal is in his destiny."
Spike then looked down sadly. "But it isn't just Airborne who wants you to stay. You're my friend. Will I be able to see you again?"
Garble smiled, "Of course you will. It's just going to be a while before... I'm... " Garble sniffed the air and looked in the direction of Airborne. "Aha! There's our little buddy."
Airborne wandered over. "So... you're leaving?"
Garble looked at Airborne sadly. "Yes. I'm sorry. You may have taught and changed me, but I'll find a place to go before I can come back to the dragons."
Airborne shouted, "No! You're not going anywhere."
Garble spoke softly, "But I-"
Airborne said, "You're coming over for Thanksgiving! You're family, now."
Garble couldn't fathom what to say but just look at the sky and the sun. He couldn't help but wonder why Airborne cares about him so much. All he could do was smile and say, "Sure. I'd love to."
Spike blushed at Airborne's outburst. "Why did you say that?"
Airborne asked, "Why are you red?"
The purple dragon concealed his face shouting, "I'm not red!!" with embarrassment.
The changeling-dragon laughed. "Because he's family too. He's the only dragon bully who I helped save." Airborne walked to Garble, went behind him, and nudged him with his head to move forward. "Let's go! We're going home, Garble."
Garble fell forward a bit. "Gah! I'm going, I'm going!!" he laughed a bit.
Spike just thought to himself, "Airborne... You don't want to know what I really think. I think you'll be upset with me." He looked down sadly. Airborne saw Spike feeling sad.
"Why are you sad? Garble's gonna stay!" asked Airborne.
Spike said, "It's... just that... well... I am happy Garble's staying for Thanksgiving but... I uhh... You won't understand."
Airborne said, "You won't know until you try."
Spike sighed, "No. Now's not the time. I'll tell you when I feel I'm ready."
Airborne then questioned Spike by making a confused expression. He looked at Garble asking, "Do you understand?" Garble shook his head saying no. "Hmm. Alright."
Soon, the 3 went to the Dragon Lord's rock and land outside of it. To the entrance of the rock, there was a large cave going inside. As they head inside, there were carvings of ancient dragon lords. Airborne saw them all except the first one. He then questioned, "Wait. Where's the first Dragon Lord's carving?"
Garble answered, "Huh? Wait. You mean from your book? Uhh... I don't know. Good question."
They all traveled through the cave into the dining room. Airborne's parents were there and they were speaking to each other and the servants. They soon turned their attention to Airborne and the other 2. Garble waved hi.
Ember then said, "Hello, sweetie. I see you brought Spike and Garble."
Garble then smiled, "Hi, I'm staying for Thanksgiving. Possibly... longer if you allow me to."
Thorax happily said to Garble, "You defended our son. Of course, you are welcome here."
Ember said, "I agree with my husband that you are indeed apart of the family already."
Garble looked around wondering what time it is. Spike saw a sundial that was on the ceiling saying it was 1:30 pm. The purple dragon said, "It's 1:30 and dinner will start at six."
Ember then asked, "Do you mind if you three go pick up some groceries? We need some more pumpkin pie and a large turkey from the farm."
Spike responded, "We'll get right on it. However, I think you should help Garble get his health back up. He's not eaten in a while."
Ember and Thorax then led Garble to the table and sat him down. They ordered appetizers for the red dragon. Spike and Airborne left the Dragon Lord's Rock and flew out towards Ponyville. There, they went to various shops. One of them was the Sugarcube Corner. It was a colossal bakery with lots of desserts and treats and pastries. Additionally, it had a display case where the cash register and order section are posted. It had stairs that led upstairs. A pink earth pony with a slightly darker pink mane. It was big, poofy, and curly. She then gasped saying, "I've never seen a special littl creature like you before, little dragon... changeling... fusion or hybrid! That's so cool! I'm going throw you a special party for that and it's gonna be amazing!!" She was radiantly beaming with intense happiness.
Airborne felt overwhelmed by the profound sense of joy from the pony. He responded, "Wow. Thanks so much... Umm... What's your name?"
The earth pony responded with, "I'm Pinkie Pie! And I work here, sometimes throughout the week. At other times, I eat pastries, cake, anything sweet, and throw parties!"
Spike rubbed Airborne's head speaking to Pinkie, "This is my dear nephew, Airborne the sky demon."
Airborne gave a playful remark, "Hey! I may be an excellent flier, but I'd prefer speed demon!"
Spike then jokingly said, "Next to Rainbow Dash!"
The 2 dragons laughed.
The earth pony gasped again. She spoke to Spike, "You never showed me your nephew! This is him? Aww, ain't he just so adorable!!! You can just eat him right up like an absolutely delicious pound cake!"
Airborne blushed hard at the compliments. He looked elsewhere bashful. Spike continued on, "Heh. Remember when I was that adorable?"
Pinkie Pie then said, "Yeah but you were very, very small compared to now. And you constantly needed help made messes except when helping!"
Spike then got embarrassed. "Hey! I didn't make that many messes... I... just made few. That's all. Besides, I look after Airborne and so does Garble."
"Ooooh, you are such a good uncle, Spike," Pinkie said. "So, what can I get for you 2 today?"
Spike answered, "A few pumpkin pies, please."
Pinkie ruefully said, "Oooh... sorry. We ran out an hour ago."
Airborne asked in disappointment to the response, "Are you able to make some more?"
The earth pony shook her head no. "We don't have the ingredients either. How about apple pie? We had not run out of those!"
Airborne then pulled out his book and looked at the words of incantation. He scrolled through for anything about conjuration. Spike asked, "What are you doing there kiddo?"
Airborne said, "Just looking for a conjuration spell that will help us make a cake with magic." He continued searching and searching inside the book of Unity until he came across a spell. "I found it! But it's risky. I'd prefer not to use this one. Dang, it. Looks like we are all out of ideas."
Pinkie Pie then said, "Hey! Why not ask Starlight Glimmer to use her magical powers to conjure up the pie that you need?"
Airborne nodded in agreement but Spike said, "Actually... ummm... Let's not use magic for this one. I'd prefer if nothing went wrong on this day."
Pinkie Pie said, "Alright. Do you want anything else?"
Spike said, "No thank you, Pinkie. We will be leaving now."
Pinkie said bye, and the dragons left the store. Airborne looked up at Spike. He wondered what was his secret. He thought in his head, "What is it that he doesn't want to tell me? I really wanna know. Did he do something bad? Did he hurt someone? I've got to know... or... maybe he will tell me on his own. I wish I could see the future as the author of my book. I wonder what the author's name was, though... Hmm... " Spike looked at Airborne. Spike just stared at Airborne as they walked around Ponyville. Airborne spoke out loud. "Well if there aren't any more pumpkin pies left, should we head to the farm to get a turkey?"
Spike answered, "Sure, might as well." The two dragons flew off to the farm that was outside Ponyville. It was large, had so many acres, and looked to have a big red barn as well. It had spots for certain animals like a chicken coop, a pigs' den and other things. The acres of land were entirely filled with apple trees. A bright orange pony with a blond mane and tail was kicking trees. Her cutie mark had three apples on it. Once she noticed Spike, she came over.
"Spike, how are you doing there, fella?" she asked.
"Apple Jack!" Spike called her. "I was wondering if you had any turkeys left for sale."
Applejack gave a disappointed remark. "Oh, I'm sorry, sugar cube. We just sold our last turkey to a family already."
Airborne grew upset. "No pies, no turkey? Ugh. Worst Thanksgiving. Now there's nothing that we can call a 'Thanksgiving feast."'
"I'm sorry, little billy," Apple Jack started, "but that's no way to pout on this holiday."
Airborne said, "Well... what's the point of Thanksgiving without the proper food for it?"
Spike then held his hand over Airborne's mouth. "Please excuse my nephew. He's not really knowledgeable about the holiday spirit."