They continued on. A couple days later they finally neared the kingdom, but were cut off from the entrance by a couple of dragon guards. The one on their left was gray and yellow and the one on their right was orange and blue. They both were only about a couple feet larger than Princess Celestia (when they were on all four legs).
"Halt!" The gray dragon guard said as he and the other guard pointed their spears at them. "Who goes there?"
"Hey, that is no way to treat-" Rainbow Dash almost flew at them to defend her friends but Applejack grabbed her by the tail.
"Whoa girl, they have every right to be protective of their land." Applejack said through her teeth.
Rainbow Dash calmed down, but still glared at the dragon guards.
"Please lower your spears, we mean no harm." Twilight said in a businesslike manner. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, we come here to gather dragonsnap for Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, who has fallen ill from a foreign disease."
The guards softened and lowered their spears.
"You are all friends of Princess Celestia?" The orange guard asked.
"Yes, in fact Twilight here happens to be Celestia's most faithful student." Spike added, smiling.
The guards then smiled.
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" The gray guard smiled. "Our esteemed rulers are good friends of Princess Celestia. And we're sorry to hear that she has fallen ill, I hope it isn't serious."
"Not as serious as we first thought." Twilight smiled.
"That's good to hear." The orange guard smiled. "Please follow us, we'll take you to the dragonsnap. You can collect as much as you want."
"Thank you kindly." Applejack smiled.
"These are really nice dragons." Fluttershy smiled, relieved.
"Told you they were tame." Twilight smiled back.
Suddenly, a message burped out of Spike!
"I wonder if Princess Celestia is okay?" Twilight asked, guessing the message was from Luna.
It was, but it wasn't about Celestia. Twilight read the message.
Dear Twilight Sparkle
My sister seems to be getting better, as she woke up a little earlier today despite still being weak from the illness. However, when I told her about your journey to get the dragonsnap for her cure she became most distressed. Before falling back asleep, she told me to warn you to not let Spike into Drakeria, as if he does enter his life will be in grave danger. I hope my message has reached you in time.
Princess Luna.
Twilight, the other ponies, and Spike were very shocked. The guards were also surprised, but for a different reason.
"Since Spike came from here why would his life be in danger from entering this place?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Beats me." Twilight shrugged.
"Maybe there's a curse surrounding his family." Pinkie Pie said spookily before making a spooky noise.
"Pinkie Pie, will you please stop with that curse nonsense." Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, caught up in the moment." Pinkie Pie smiled before bouncing around the group.
"Beg pardon but did you say that the young dragon's name is Spike?" The gray guard asked as he and the orange one looked around warily.
"That's right, Princess Celestia told me to name him that after I hatched him." Twilight explained.
"Uh...you should come with us." The orange guard motioned in a different direction.
Confused, everyone followed them to a mountain wall.
"Where are you taking us?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"To see Spike's parents." The orange guard explained.
Twilight and the others dropped their mouths open.
The gray guard wrapped on the wall in a certain pattern, and a door slid up to reveal a tunnel. Everyone followed the guards down the tunnel to find a series of passageways resembling a mine, except more decorated. To Spike and the ponys' confusion, the further they followed the guards the more elaborate the decorations became. Finally, they came to a door that had a crown carved onto the top. The guard unlocked the door with a key he had tied around his waist, and they entered. They went down some stairs, until they saw two dragons sitting at a small table (small for dragons I mean). There were gold and jewels surrounding them, and on the wall behind the two dragons were tapestries. One was of a unicorn, the next one was a large white flying unicorn, and the third one was a pegasus. The weird thing is, there was a gap between the flying unicorn tapestry and the pegasus tapestry, as if there was a tapestry missing. Spike and the ponies then looked at the dragons. The male was purple and red and the female was blue and green, and they apparently were a married couple. This was confirmed when Spike and the ponies saw elaborate gold wedding rings on the dragons' left hands. The most surprising part of the whole scene however, was the fact that the two dragons at the table were wearing crowns and royal cloaks!
"Uh, beg pardon, but I thought you were taking us to Spike's parents." Applejack spoke up, very confused.
The two royal dragons looked up, surprised.
"We were." The orange guard smiled, knowing what the ponies were confused about.
"But aren't these the rulers of Drakeria?" Twilight double checked.
"They are...and also Spike's parents." The gray guard smiled.
I don't think Spike and the ponies could have dropped their mouths open any farther than they did then, especially Pinkie Pie who once again exceeded expectations. The queen and king looked at Spike and gained expressions of realization.
"Spike? Is that you my son?" The queen said.
"Are you...are you really my mommy?" Spike walked up to her wide-eyed.
"Yes son, she is, and I am your daddy." The king smiled.
Emotional, Spike and his parents hugged.
"Hold up, but doesn't that mean that Spike..." Rainbow Dash hesitated.
"Is a prince? He sure is." The queen smiled proudly.
"A prince!" The ponies gasped.
"Me? A prince? You mean I was a prince this whole time?" Spike couldn't believe it. "But then why did you send me away? And why is my life in danger?"
The king and queen looked at each other sadly.
"You see son, thousands of years ago a ruler of Drakeria and a ruler of Equestria made a deal." The king explained. "In order to get into Canterlot's School of Gifted Unicorns aspiring unicorns had to pass an exam. Since hatching a dragon required powerful magic that was chosen for the exam, though permission had to be asked first. Considering it takes a while for baby dragons to hatch on their own, due to the thick shell of the egg, Drakeria's ruler agreed to have his subjects lend eggs for the exams on the condition that each baby dragon would be returned to his or her proper parents. In our case, well..."
"We loved you, but by the time you were due to hatch a rogue band of dragons arrived and attacked, hoping to claim our kingdom for their own." The queen continued. "We knew that they would go so far to kill us, and you, so that's why we hid underground. In your case we decided to lend you to Princess Celestia, an old friend of our parents, for the exam and have her or whoever hatched you raise you for us so that you would be safe."
"Oh I see." Spike smiled, understanding.
"So who did hatch you?" The king asked.
"She's right here." Spike leapt down and gestured to Twilight. "Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet Twilight Sparkle. She hatched and raised me, and has even become like a big sister to me."
"It's an honor to meet you." The queen said as she and the king bowed.
"The honor is all mine." Twilight bowed.
Twilight then introduced the others, leaving Rarity for Spike.
"Mom, dad, this is Rarity, the most beautiful pony in all of Equestria." Spike smiled. "And my girlfriend."
Spike's parents were surprised, but it was a happy sort of surprise.
"You fell in love with a unicorn?" The queen gasped.
"I did, I couldn't help it." Spike smiled at Rarity.
"And I ended up loving him back when he proved his love for me during our journey here." Rarity smiled at Spike.
"This is amazing, no dragon has ever fallen in love with a unicorn before." The king said, awed. "We tame dragons have always been fond of unicorns, as not only do they live about as long as us but their magic can be quite impressive. In fact, as you have probably guessed by the tapestries, we sort of honor unicorns and pegasi. Pegasi due to them being among the few creatures who can fly pleasantly with us, as some other flying creatures can be unpleasant to even know of. Son, you ending up with a unicorn is a great omen. It can be assumed that you will become one of the greatest rulers Drakeria has ever had."
"Wow." Spike didn't know what else to say.
"Say, is there a tapestry missing?" Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Cause you have quite a big gappy-gap there on the wall."
"Huh? Oh yes, uh, a tapestry of Princess Luna used to hang next to that tapestry of Princess Celestia." The queen explained. "Until she became Nightmare Moon that is, when that happened we took it down."
Twilight, realizing that Drakeria had not heard of Nightmare Moon's defeat, told them the story of Princess Luna's return.
"She is now a dear friend of ours." Twilight finished.
The king and queen smiled as the king took a rolled up tapestry from behind a pile of gold and hung it up next to Princess Celestia's tapestry. It was Princess Luna's tapestry, now back being next to her sister's tapestry where it belonged.
"We hang new tapestries whenever there is a new ruler or rulers of Equestria." The king explained. "But, forgive me for asking, returning Spike to us is not the nature of your visit is it? Because Princess Celestia would not have allowed Spike to come home until the rogue dragons had been defeated."
Twilight then explained of Princess Celestia's illness. The king and queen were shocked, but relieved that it wasn't dangerous.
"You must get some dragonsnap at once then." The queen decided. "Charcoal, Embain, please escort them to where the dragonsnap grows."
"As you wish milady." Charcoal, the gray dragon guard, bowed.
They left to get the dragonsnap, but on their way out of the kingdom the rogue dragons saw them!