The Tale of the Toymaker and the Dragon

by Alfoals Trottenbauer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Thriller, Original Character, Mystery, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 2233

A little toymaker takes flight.

A toymaker named Stuffy Hearts creates a masterpiece.

Published 2017-02-20 08:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-02-25 01:36:17 UTC

II - Project

If the entirety of Equestria could enjoy it, what would it be, and what were it's qualities?

She figured it needed to be huge.

She took a quill, ink vial, and paper, then started to sketch the design.

It was going to be a Dragon.

Many drawings were made, all but one were thrown away.

Once the sketch was done, it was time to gather the parts.

She needed to find large parts, for a large project.

She galloped around town, looking for anything.

She came across some earth ponies tearing down a dilapidated house.

"Hi, when you're done tearing down that house, can I use what's left of it?" She asked.

"Sure, why?" One inquired, confused.

"I have a big project that everypony will enjoy." She almost exclaimed.

"Okay..." They responded, still baffled of what it was she was making.

After a few hours, at least, she finally had the parts she needed.

She took her tools and the house's parts to an empty field.

There was no way she could build this in her small homestead.

She began to work on this little project of hers.

Nailing boards, reusing metal hinges, screws, and bolts, she made a frame.

In no time at all, Princess Luna's night had already fallen.

She sat down, exhausted from work.

As soon as she caught her breath, she began to work again.

This time, she had started filling the frame with roofing, walls, windows, and doors.

She had obtained a few observers, too.

Two little fillies watched her work on her dragon.

As she worked, she decided it'd need a name, once it was alive.

She decided she'd call it Snap, after a certain flower she loved.

Slowly, day by day, her dreams started to take reality.

A dragon soon took form.

Once it was finally done, she took a step back to admire her hoofwork.

It was something, alright.

Windows for eyes, doors for eyelids, roofing for a head, hinges for joints, Walls for a body. It was a giant.

With an animation spell that took all her energy, a dragon rose.

"Snap!" She called, estatic.

III - Animation

It looked around, then saw her, an ant to a building.

It looked down and grinned at her, lowering an arm to her level.

She galloped onto it's arm and climbed up on it's back.

It took flight.

It was amazing.

Nothing crumbled, it all held together.

She looked down in awe of the beautiful world below her.

It landed in another empty field.

It could only land in fields.

It was too large to land in a town.

It would destroy it.

Stuffy had made Snap too nice to ruin a town.

Snap acted depressed.

Nopony could admire Snap's creation, other than Stuffy.

"Don't worry, Snap, I'll find you friends." She reassured, unsure if it could understand her.

And so she set out for somepony to see him, or at least he seemed like a him, to her.

She invited ponies at random.

She found one who seemed to not be too busy.

He said his name was Ace.

She led him to the empty field the dragon was in.

"So, where's the dragon?" He asked, his question almost instantly answered by one.

"Woah! Was this a house?" He exclaimed, shocked.

"Yes." She responded.

V - Repair

Stuffy's dream had always been to make colts and fillies happy. She never imagined that she could also see a smile on everypony's face.
She had finally created a masterpiece.

Once the group had gone, she checked on Snap.

She trotted and climbed all over him, searching for any damage.

She found a few tears in his wings.

She frowned, thinking about how she could fix and also improve the wings.

She searched for anything she could replace them with.

She thought.

Maybe some canvas would do?

She searched for someplace to get some.

She found a dumpster filled with old paintings, in front of a hotel.

She took all the paintings and began sewing the canvases together.

After many hours, she eventually finished.

She attached them to the frame for the wings.

Snap smiled at her. At least she thought it was a smile.

They locked eyes.

Snap's eyes glowed blue from his animation spell.

This moment was of understanding that they were to help each other until the end.

VI - Dreams

She smiled, then rested on the dragon's head of hay roofing, nuzzling her head into it.

Snap made a thoughtful kind of snarl.

It was the first time he ever had said anything.

And then she fell asleep.

She dreamt of flying higher than the sky could hold.

As she dreamt, the dragon, too, fell asleep.

As the both slept, the world ticked on by.

It was night.

It was a beautiful night that Luna had so graciously given them.

Stuffy awoke in it.

She softly and quietly climbed off of Snap.

She looked to the moon. The wind blowing in her mane gently.

She looked at the stars.

She wondered if there was any planet like her Equestria.

She looked at the dragon of her own.

A tear befell her face as she had accomplished everything she'd ever wanted.

She wouldn't trade the world for it.

VII - Accident

Stuffy woke as the sun rose. She didn't even know she had fallen asleep.

When was the last time she had slept?

She noticed she was still in the empty field.

Her dragon was still asleep.

She got up from the grassy ground.

As soon as she did, Snap awoke.

He made a happy sound as he looked toward her, a familiar pinpoint on the ground to him.

His eyes still glowed a blue.

His tail of wood boards moved from side to side, excited to take flight again.

Snap lowered his arm to the ground.

Stuffy climbed it to Snap's back.

He rose again, spread his wings of canvas, then jumped into the air, flying.

Snap flew past pegasi, their shocked faces rushed behind them.

Snap flew increasingly faster.

Stuffy could barely hold on.

"Snap! Wait!" She called, though unheard.

Snap kept flying faster.

Stuffy started to lose her grip.

"Stop!" She yelled again.

Snap went even faster.

She lost her grip.

She fell out of the sky.

IX - Recovery

Stuffy frowned, looking out the window in the bed.

What could she do now?

It was a ways down from the floor she was on.

She looked down at the ponies below.

They didn't look very happy.

She figured she should get her rest while the fractures healed.

She went to sleep.

She dreamt of riding again, only this time it was different.

The sky was orange, a sunset, instead of the night.

They flew past pegasi.

She could even feel her mane in the wind.

Then she felt falling again.

She woke before she hit the ground in her dream.

When she did, there were some foals in the room.

"Stuffy, awe you still going to make mowa toys?" One asked, with a cute kind of accent.

"Yes, but I'm pretty hurt right now, sorry." She apologized.

They didn't quite understand, but still cantered out.

A few days later, they let her go.

She trotted to the field where she left Snap.

He was there with Ace.

"Hi, Stuffy. You can have him back." He greeted.

"Thanks, Ace." She responded.

"Welcome."

Ace trotted off.

She decided that she'd build a larger home to have Snap in.

XI - Finish

She laughed at Snap shaking the water off. It soaked the walls.

The dragon made a sort of purr.

She loved her creation.

And he loved her.

IV - Flight

The dragon lowered it's hand again.
She led him onto the back of the dragon's neck.

It rose.

"Fly, Snap!" She exclaimed.

It took flight, this time higher than ever before.

The wind soared in their coats and manes as they ascended.

The dragon's wings were made from bed sheets, tied together to make a kind of sail.

It seemed something something of a dream.

Soaring through the air, she laughed.
Ace yelled at first, then laughed with her.

When they landed, Ace was the first to get off, on wobbling legs.

He trotted off to get more ponies.

Everypony needed to hear of Snap.

Later on, a small crowd had gathered around the dragon, wanting a turn to fly.

Stuffy had always dreamed of being a flying pony.

She took small groups to fly.

Everypony got a turn.

They went off to tell more ponies.

Stuffy had never been happier.

VIII - Injury

Stuffy hit the ground. Bones quite obviously broken.

Snap landed on the ground near her.

Luckily, they were descending when she fell.

Stuffy still laid on the ground, legs bent in ways they shouldn't have been.

Snap whimpered next to her.

Stuffy woke up to a severe pain in the legs and back.

She could move, however it was extremely painful to do so.

"Snap, get help! Please."

Snap flew off to a field next to ponyville.

She could hear the dragon making noise for attention.

after a few minutes, Snap came back with somepony on his back.

It was Ace from a while back.

"What happened?" Ace inquired.

"I lost my grip on Snap..." She responded.

"We should get you to a doctor." He stated the obvious.

"Can you walk?" He asked.

"I don't think so." She answered.

He picked her up with magic and trotted to the hospital.

A receptionist took them to a room.

Ace laid her on the bed.

A doctor came in and examined her.

"It three of your legs have been broken." He observed.

She groaned.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Snap is okay." Ace assured her.

"You should stay here for a few days, Miss Hearts." The doctor stated.

X - Homestead

It started raining. Stuffy decided that Snap needed a roof over his head, or he might rot.

She decided she'd get some materials.

She galloped into town.

She looked around for some abandoned house, anything.

She kept searching.

She eventually found a condemned two-story home.

She waited for them to finish tearing it down.

They began to haul the parts off.

"Could I use those pieces?" She requested.

"Yeah. Say, What are you building?" They asked.

"I'm building a house." She answered.

They left the pieces for her.

She took them to the field, bit by bit, one at a time.

She got her tools once again, in the rain.

She started building a frame, hammering the beams with nails.

The rain made things more difficult. She almost slipped a couple times.

The rain stopped, after a full day's work.

It was night now, though she still worked.

She kept hammering nails.

She finally got a frame done. She started giving the frame walls, hammering more pieces together.

The sun rose as she worked.

She finished building the walls.

She started the roofing.

Pounding nails into the sides, she went around the whole building.

The rain started pouring again.

She finished the roof.

She trotted back to look at her work again.

It was more of a large shack than a house, but it would shelter Snap.

She led him into the building.

It was dry inside, Snap shook off all the water.

I - Magic

Stuffy cast an animation spell on a toy, then sent it elsewhere in Equestria. She didn't have a job, so she didn't do much those days.

Hopefully a little colt or filly in need got their hooves on it, rather than it going around, disturbing the busy ponies of Ponyville. They had enough things for their manes to go on fringe about.

She usually spent all day like this.

Today was an exception. She was going to see their effect on the world outside her home.

She trotted out the door and further for a bit.

She saw a colt holding the toy she just sent off. He looked as if he never had seen anything so beautiful in all their life, although it was a simple wind-up walking pony.

She smiled at the colt.

The colt looked at the toy's bottom. It said: Stuffy Hearts.

"Do you want yowuh toy back, miss?" He asked, offering it to her.

"No thanks, you can keep it." She said, smiling at him as she cantered by.

She heard him giggle with happiness as she turned away.

She trotted further.

Another kid was playing with a different toy.

She had no idea that any of them were found.

As she explored more, the more about Ponyville she remembered, since she had been inside her home for so long. Day and night she worked, making miniature bundles of joy. She only occasionally looked out a window to appreciate the beautiful night Luna herself had given them all.

She only recently learned anypony enjoyed her works.

There was one in particular she worked very hard on, but that one was at home, sometimes she couldn't let go of certain toys.

She thought of the foals who's parents didn't have the bits for anything, much less getting something to play with.

With this new confidence she trotted back home and worked.

She decided she wanted to make a toy that everypony in Equestria could enjoy.