Spike arose with the sunlight bouncing off of his purple and green scales. He looked beside him to find an empty space. He figured his wife, Applejack, was probably already bucking apples. Spike was slowly getting ready. While he was shining his scales, he heard his daughter, Sweet Tree, screaming. He ran downstairs to find his daughter running over to him. Sweet Tree was a green earth pony with brownish mane and a sweet tone of red in her eyes. As Spike looked around, he saw his son, Scales. Scales looked like a mix of Spike and Applejack. He was a pony, but with some scales, claws, and fangs. He looked terrifying, but the family knew he wasn't dangerous.

"Dad! Scales is breathing FIRE!" Sweet Tree remarked. Spike was wide-eyed. His son was now actually becoming quite dangerous. The purple dragon walked up to his son.

"When did you learn how to breathe fire?" Spike asked his son.

"I'm not sure, dad. I woke up this morning feeling really warm, and then I blew some fire," Scales responded. He then looked over at Sweet Tree, who was sitting on the steps in fear. "Come on, Sweet Tree! It's not like you haven't seen fire before!" Scales remarked to her sister.

"Yes, but it is kind of shocking to see my own brother breathe fire!" The green pony responded. Applejack came into the barn as her daughter responded to Scales.

"What in tarnation?" She asked confused. Spike ran over to her.

"Scales is breathing fire!" He said. Applejack got a really surprised expression.

"Scales? Is breathing fire?!" She asked in shock. Spike nodded his head. "Well, I guess I should've expected it. You are his father, after all," Applejack responded, pointing at Spike.

"True. But what should we do now, AJ? It is weird that he is gaining the powers to breathe fire just now," Spike asked his wife. He then looked at the clock. Applejack then hurriedly zipped shut Sweet Tree's saddlebag and put it on her daughter.

"It's time to go to school, Sweet Tree!" Applejack said while looking down at her daughter.

"What about Scales? Are you really letting him stay home?" Sweet Tree responded. Applejack gave a warm chuckle.

"Naw, sugar cube. We are just taking him to the doctors to get examined," The orange earth pony responded. "I'm not sure how long this will take and what will happen, so he may not be goin' to school."

"Yeah!" Scales yelled. Applejack then laughed and shoved Sweet Tree out the door. Sweet Tree waved goodbye and walked to school. As she walked on the path through the orchard, she saw many beautiful, shiny apples hanging on the trees. Birds chirped and flew around the trees. She took in the sights until she was out of her family's orchard. Soon, she was at the steps to go into school. She saw all of her friends walking in and decided to catch up with them.

Sweet Tree was sitting at her desk working when someone next to her tapped her on the shoulder.

"What is that?" The filly asked, pointing at Sweet Tree's stomach. Sweet Tree looked down to find something reflecting the morning sun. They were scales. She gawked, confused about how she grew scales overnight! Well, her brother was somehow able to breathe fire this morning. She then remembered that she was only born 6 hours before her brother. Maybe this sort of thing happens around teenage years for dragon-pony hybrids? She wasn't sure. Class went on as usual, and Sweet Tree took whatever moment she could to look down at her shiny scales.

The doctor examined Scales in many different ways. He looked down his throat, checked his pulse, his ears, everything that would normally be in a normal check-up.

"I'm sorry, you two, but I cannot seem to find out what the problem is," The doctor remarked, looking all over Scales' body again. "It is strange that he can suddenly breathe fire. Well, you two are the first dragon-pony marriage, so maybe your kids will be a little different from normal children." Spike and Applejack agreed to the doctor's statement. As Scales jumped off the chair, the doctor checked his temperature again. It was still normal.

"I wish you good luck!" The doctor remarked to the three. They waved goodbye as Spike checked the time.

"It's only 10:30, Scales. You should probably go to school," Spike told his son. Scales grunted as he walked into the orchard. He walked into the barn, grabbed his saddlebag, and was off to school. By the time he got there, it was already lunch time.

"Scales, why are you here so late?" Cheerilee asked her nephew. Cheerilee was married to Big Macintosh, so she was part of the apple family.

"Sorry, Aunt Cheerilee. I had to go to the doctor's. I can breathe fire now!" Scales responded. Cheerilee was amazed.

"Oh, goodness! I guess one of Spike's children had to inherit his ability to breathe fire. By the way, your sister has a little patch of scales on her stomach. I don't know why, but she does!" Cheerilee responded. Scales was surprised. He thought that his sister would never inherit anything from Spike. He then went into the cafeteria, bought lunch and sat down next to his friends. He then started talking about how he could breathe fire. Soon, it was time for everypony to go out to recess. Scales walked outside to find many classmates swarming around him.

"We want to see you breathe fire!" One of them shouted. Scales then got a small grin on his face. Sweet Tree rolled her eyes. She knew what his fire looked like; for she was petrified by it just this morning.

"Alright, everypony, step away!" Scales cautioned. The ponies backed up as Scales inhaled. He blew out, and green flames came hurdling out of his mouth. His classmates watched in awe as the fire slowly deceased. They all then started clapping and giving praise to Scales. Meanwhile, Sweet Tree was sitting on the swings alone. All of her friends wanted to see her brother breathe fire. After the lonely recess finished, it was time for class to start again.

Sweet Tree and Scales waved goodbye to their aunt as they walked out of school.

"Hey, where are those scales I've been hearing about?" Scales asked. Sweet Tree then sat down and pointed at a little patch on the inside of her stomach. Sure enough, they were scales. "Cool!" Scales remarked as he continued to walk home. The two soon came to the entrance of the barn.

"How was school today?" Applejack asked her children. Sweet Tree was about to tell her mom about her scales when her brother cut her off.

"Everypony, even Aunt Cheerilee, loved my ability to breathe fire! They all watched me at recess!" Scales responded, obviously proud of himself. Spike then came over to the kids.

"Why wouldn't they watch you? You are the first pony with that ability!" Spike remarked, grinning at his son. Sweet Tree finally got her chance to speak.

"Mom, dad, I have a patch of scales on my stomach," Sweet Tree said, showing them the scales. Applejack and Spike's jaws dropped.

"Well, I guess you had to inherit something from me!" Spike responded. Applejack was still amazed, but then smiled. The rest of the night went normally, but included Spike giving a lecture to his son about when to use his fire power and when to not. As the sun was setting, Applejack and Spike tucked their kids in. They then walked downstairs to the table together to get a small snack before bed.

"We still have these cupcakes that Pinkie gave us at her last party," Spike said, showing Applejack the two cupcakes. She and Spike both took one and started eating, talking about their day. Applejack then looked at her cupcake and thought about Pinkie Pie.

"Gee, I wonder how Pinkie's doin'," Applejack said. Spike nodded as he stuffed his face in his cupcake. Applejack laughed, which of course caused Spike to laugh. The two's laughter rang through the stillness of Luna's night. Applejack looked outside and then saw two shooting stars. She smiled. She knew her kids were changing, but she also knew that they will forever be part of her family.