It was a beautiful summer night and somewhere there was a train that had Ponyville as its destination and two little hybrids in that train were not having a precisely good night
“MOM! I don't wanna go to sleep!”
“I agree with Claire here, mrs. Rarity, sleeping´s no fun”
“But you have to go to sleep, darlings! It´s late and there´s just so much patience I have!”
“How about we do an exchange?” Illusion said, grinning evilly
Already used to her daughter´s best friend´s antics, Rarity just rolled her eyes “What do you want?”
After some whispering, the two foals looked at her in the eye and said:
“We…Want….A bedtime story!”
“Okay, let me see what I have”
She went to one of her many, MANY bags and got out a rather short book with a red cover.The children lied down their respective beds as the unicorn began reading:
“The Dragon, and The Princess.Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess.The most beautiful in all her kingdom……”
Illusion fell asleep easily but Clarity kept awake throught the whole story, which was about a princess being kidnaped by a dragon and saved by the love of her life.Once this one ended, and her mother saw she was still awake she asked:
“It´s something wrong, darling?”
“Mommy, Why was the dragon the bad guy?”
“I don't know, I didn´t write it”
“No! I mean………Dragons are good, Right?You married one”She pointed to her father,who was snoring very loudly on the floor.
“Your father is……………Different from other dragons.He was raised by your aunty Twilight and not by his real parents so he´s good but……………The rest of them……………You get it”
“But WHY?”
“Because they're greedy, and violent, and breathe fire and your mother needs to sleep right now, sweetie”
Claire sighed “Okay.Good night, mom”
She took off her fake eyelashes, kissed her kid in the forehead and went to her bed.Hours later, Crystal Clarity was still awake looking at the ceiling.She couldn´t put her cute claws on it but it just didn´t feel right that everyone thought that of dragons.Did they ever actually met an evil dragon or were they just making it up? She didn´t wanted to believe it.She wouldn´t believe it.She stayed up all night thinking about this, which was a bad decision.Next morning, they were welcomed at the train station by princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, Golden Delicious and Red June.Claire was really happy of seeing her Almost-kinda-the-point-is-that-they-love-you-family,Illusion was just happy in tagging along and the grown ups almost cried, it had literally been ages.
“Oh, girls! I am so happy to see you! You got the letters?”
“Yup! Ah can´t believe you´re having another one of your cuties!” The cowmare said as she hugged the little hybrid
“Thanks for taking us in, Fluttershy, I don't think the old Carrousel Boutique would be a really great place to spent this vacations on”
“Anything for you.Besides, you know how much I love children”
“Oh,yes, but How come you don't have your own?”
The pegasus blushed “I'm not seeing anyone right now”
“You could adopt”
“Well…….Yeah……….Maybe”
“Um………..Honey, we should get going” Spike said, trying to stand with his wife´s bags
They all laughed
“Would you ever stop abusing him?”
“WHY,SWEETIE BELLE! What a thing to say! I ask for help and he gives me help.It´s not my fault that he´s such a sweetheart”
They all gasped as the dragon collapsed on the floor
“We should go”
And so they went to the outskirts of the little town, finding a rather small cottage very near a very dark and quite scary forest.They got in and started getting things ready when the little dragoness noticed something:
“Fluttershy, darling, Is that the Everfree Forest?”
The pegasus chuckled at how the filly tried and failed to mimic her mother but eventually calmed down, smiled and answered:
“Oh , yes, it is.”
“I thought you were scared of it”
“Oh right, I never actually showed you where I live.I am a bit scared but you'll be surprised how calm this is at night”
“Doesn't it have mean creatures? Mom told me about that time you were being chased by a black crocodile and………..”
“Well, yes, it´s full of bad creatures.Cocatrices, spiders, dragons…………”
“DRAGONS?!”
“Yes but if you watch it from afar, it´s just another dark forest”
“Aja”
“Claire! Lookit what I found!” Illusion appeared out of nowhere and their conversation ended there.
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That night, they asked for a bedtime story again.This time read by Fluttershy and, what do you guess, the bad guy was a dragon.That night,Claire made a decision.A stupid decision.An action that didn´t seem remotely Claire-ish.She waited until everyone was asleep and got out of the home, ready to go into the Everfree Forest and face the music when
“Claire?”
“Lulu? What are you doing here?”
“I heard you go out and followed you.We´re not supposed to be here”
“Well, then go back”
“I said we! Why are you even out at this time of day?”
She looked around, making sure only the animals were there.Then, she got close to her friend and whispered:
“I´m going to the Everfree Forest to look for a dragon and prove that they're nice”
“That sounds dangerous and very reckless…………..Take me with you!!!!!!!”
That made both of them laugh out loud until someone in the house opened the window and made them run as fast as they could towards the dark and giant forest below.
__________________________________________________________________________
“Wow,this is massive!”
“Indeed”
“How exactly do you plan on finding a dragon here?”
“They most likely live in caves so let´s look for one”
They walked for almost an hour, but finally found a huge cave and got inside of it, where they found hundreds upon hundreds of gold and gemstones. Crystal Clarity did not think twice before she started eating.Illusion just sat there, he was indeed capable of eating gems and almost anything but he wasn't hungry right now so he just watched his best friend as she left her lady-like manners and started swimming thought the stones.A few minutes later, they both heard a loud growl, looked at that direction and noticed a monstrous and very, very big dragon looking at them furiously, his eyes having the flame he was about to throw at them.
“WHAT are you doing on MY cave eating MY gems?!”
“Um, sorry, sir.I am Crystal Clarity, he's prince Illusion…..”
“PRINCE?!”
“Yes, he's the son of……..”
“I don´t allow Equestrians here so GET OUT!!!!!!”
He started using his fire breath to attack the children.Luckily, she was immune to fire and he had run away.
“Lulu!!! Where you going?!” Crystal shouted as she saw her best friend running away, a look of fear like she never saw on him before “You´re not gonna leave me with this beast Aren't you?”
He didn´t answer.Maybe because he couldn´t listen but that didn´t stop her from crying and running in an opposite direction.Unfortunately, the dragon followed her, furious at the little, shall we say, filly.
“Oh, gosh,What was I thinking?” She sighed, the answer was simple, she wasn´t.Right before he tried to bite her, another reptile appeared and pushed her away
“Ouch! I…….Dad? Is that you?”
“Don't worry, Crys, I got you!” A voice behind her said.She turned around to see…..
“Illusion!”
“What? Did ya really thought I was leaving you?”
“You brought dad?”
“And her” He pointed at the white unicorn throwing laser beams at the beast and shouting:
“Leave my daughter alone!”
Rarity eventually got one of the beams to hit him in the eye and took the chance to teleport them back to the cottage.
“Wow! I didn´t know you could do that, mom!”
“Your aunt Twilight taught me so many things, darling, you would be very surprised to know.What leaves ME surprised, thought is WHY IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WOULD YOU GO TO THE EVERFREE FOREST? AT NIGHT! ALONE!”
“I'm sorry, mom, I wasn't thinking right.I wanted to see a real dragon”
“WELL YOU´VE GOT ONE RIGHT HERE!!!!!!” The pregnant pony beamed, pointing to her husband who was just as angry.
Thought a bit scared at her mother´s tone, the young hybrid continued, as she didn´t wanted to be grounded in front of Illusion, who will likely laugh out loud.
“Another dragon.You know how they say dad is the exception to the rule, how everyone in school treats me………...I wanted to prove we were not monsters” She started crying and looked at her pointy purple claws, silently wishing they were actually whooves “Guess I was wrong”
Both the grown ups and the prince looked in shock how she started sobbing.Eventually, Spike put a claw on her back and said:
“Sweetie, we´re not monsters.We…...Look and act different and ponies don't like that but so what if they don't like it.You shouldn't care about them cause they don't care about you”
“T-thank you”
“Your welcome.We should go to sleep.You can no longer go out without permission”
“Okay”
They got in to find Fluttershy holding a first aid kit.She inmediatly flew towards the children and revised them
“Oh poor things, Are you alright? You shouldn't have done that”
“I know, Fluttershy, but we´re fine, really.We´re going to sleep now”
With none other word said, they all went to their respective rooms.
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Hours later, the two little hybrids were still awake.Lying on their beds, looking at the ceiling.Claire was the first to talk:
“Hey, Lulu, thanks for helping me”
“It´s what friends do.”
A long silence happened but it was soon broken, this time, by the prince of chaos:
“You´re not gonna sleep?Cause I'm not”
“We have both a lot to think about”
“Guess so.Hey, Crys, Remember what I said the day we first met?”
“Well, you were disguised as Coal.You went and told me: ¨You look weird, I like you.Because I look weird too!¨ Then you turned into yourself and asked me to play.Why?”
“I wanted to make sure you remember that you´re beautiful……..To me, at least”
“Aw, thanks” She blushed and started shaking
“It´s what friends do”He repeated then, let out a huge yawn and said “I think I'm getting sleepy.Good night, Crys” He fell asleep too soon and was not able to hear her response which was:
“Good night…………..Friend” With a huge sigh added.
Author's Note
And that's how Claire got a crush on Illusion……..Wait, WHAT?! Haha I really don't care if I win, I just want senpai to like it
