Draconic Desires

That morning, Derpy woke up in the dragon’s embrace. They were in a secluded forest clearing.

Derpy prodded her dragon friend. “Wake up, my love” she cooed.

The dragon stirred and yawned. “Oh… right. Thanks for your help last night.”

“I told you it would be easy to pull off. I’m not as disaster-prone as other ponies say.”

“I don’t know how good your memory is, but we first met by mid-air collision, dead on. I still don’t know how you managed that.”

“It was destiny!”

“Still, you need to keep riding on my back so there are no more… destinies.”

“Alright then, drag. Who do you want next on the menu?”

She handed him a mailing list of all of the current residents of Ponyville.

He handed it back to her.

“Actually, I think we’ve taken enough risks. Let’s just lie low. I need to find somepony more expendable to help me out.”

Derpy pouted “Really? Lying low is no fun!” She sighed, “Oh, well. Just let me watch you cough up Lyra’s remains.”

The dragon complied. He disgorged a disorganized pile of Lyra’s white bones.

Derpy watched in morbid fascination. She started to sort through the pile for herself. She smiled and said, “Hey, here’s her skull. The horn must have broken off, though.”

Nodding, the dragon replied wistfully, “I like skulls.”

Eventually, she found Lyra’s horn.

Derpy pointed it skyward and declared “This is the one thing that we should save forever, in memory of Lyra and the sacrifice she was forced to make.”

The dragon couldn’t keep a straight face. He started laughing evilly and Derpy mimicked him by laughing evilly, too.

He felt a pang of annoyance. She was always copying him.

The dragon shook his head. “The horn is just a horn. Lyra remains as nutrients and energy. She is forever integrated within me.

“There we go; she lives on in a way! That assuages my last lingering guilt.”

The dragon grinned. “You’re such a sell-out.”

“Hey! I’m no sell-out! I’m just a friendly non-suspicious mailmare. Speaking of which, I have some mail to deliver.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Oh, come on! You’re so mean to me.”

“I love you, Derpy.”

“That’s better! I’ll see you later.”

Only an hour later, he noticed Derpy frantically flying back to find him. She landed in front of him in a rush.

Her voice was mixed with sobs. “I got to the library mailbox and Twilight was waiting for me next to it! She handed me a newspaper and a letter!”

The dragon knew about Derpy’s tendency to panic. He sighed. He wrapped his wing around her. “Calm down, love.”

She held up the front page of the newspaper for him to look at.

“I can’t read your language, love.”

Derpy cried out, “It’s horrible! It says that there will be investigations of everypony who was involved with Lyra leading up to her disappearance!”

The dragon thought about this. “Okay, well, is there anyone who saw you with Lyra at the party?”

Derpy sadly shook her head “I don’t think anyone was paying attention, but I don’t know for sure!” She sobbed. “I’m sorry I messed everything up! I cause disaster to everything!”

The dragon realized that Derpy was not going to calm down unless he took control.

He wrapped her in his wing very tight around her and said in a relaxed voice “Derpy, relax. It’s okay. You didn’t mess up at all. All that matters is I love you. Now read me what the letter has to say.”

She calmed down and starting to unseal the envelope. She read,

“Dear Dragon,

Meet me at the library as soon as you can today. I have an important proposition for you.

P.S. I’m going to tell everypony not to be surprised if they see a dragon because I’m having one come over for special dragon-related research.

-Twilight Sparkle”

The dragon felt good about this prospect. He told Derpy to go back to her job delivering mail and he would go find out what this was all about.

He headed out for the Library without delay.