And So it Begins *revised*

Spike looked at all the ponies that were staring at him as if he had started spouting water from his ears. Twilight was the one to finally break the silence.

"Spike, did you just say you summoned a dragon to PonyVille?"

"Well, Lyra did the actual summoning, but I convinced her to let me summon him."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you, wait. Did you just say him?"

"Yes twilight, HIM. He's a guy."

"And just how do you know that, mister?"

"Well for one, he had a deeper voice than any girl I've known. For another, you have to admit, he is kind of muscular."

Just as Spike said this, Scorch groaned before getting up off the ground.

"You know, that wasn't very nice pulling my tail like that." He said while rubbing his head.

Seeing him get up, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew straight at him, clearly thinking he was a threat. Before he knew what had happened, a dark, translucent sphere appeared around Scorch, and Rainbow Dash just bounced off. All the ponies looked at the sphere, clearly at a loss for words. However, one of the ponies was looking at the sphere with a completely different expression. Twilight was looking at the dark sphere with fear in her eyes.

"No, it couldn't be. Girls, back away! That's chaos magic!"

Somewhere in the Royal Canterlot Gardens a statue began to shake, nefore a slight voice could be heard.

'OH HELL NO!'

At the time Princess Luna was leaning out the window, and heard this outburst.

"Shut up Discord!"

Meanwhile, back in PonyVille.

"Chaos magic!?" the other ponies, including Spike exclaimed.

"Um, am I the only one at a loss to why this 'chaos magic' is bad?"

The others just stare at him, not knowing how to respond. They were sure that it was Discord trying to fool them. But then again, Discord wouldn't flinch when he saw Rainbow Dash coming at him. He'd just flick her out of the way, or do that wierd hypno trance thingy he did on them all.

"Wait, so you're telling me you don't know what you just did?"

"Nope, first thing I know that rainbow one is flying at me. Next thing I know, I'm surrounded by that dark bubble. Your guess was as good as mine. But chaos magic huh? Sounds very interesting."

"Not to us it's not. We were put through tartarus and back when we had to deal with another who could control chaos magic. His name was Discord, and he tricked all of us into seeing things that weren't there. It really tore us apart."

At these words, the six ponies looked down at the ground, clearly remembering whatever had happened to them.

"Whoa, I never meant for you to remember anything painful, I was just saying that this is all new to me, especially all of you. Where I'm from, ponies don't talk, and we certainly don't have dragons."

"Then how do you explain all the scales, wings, and a tail?" interrupted Rainbow Dash.

"Again, I have no clue. The last thing I remember was waking up in Lyra's house, face down. As for me being covered in scales with wings and a tail... again you got me, but I think it's pretty cool. I can't explain it, but I feel, for lack of a better word, powerful."

It was after these words that Lyra finally spoke up.

"Um, I might actually have an explanation as to why you're like that. But first, am I correct in assuming you were a human?"

Everyone looked shocked as Lyra asked Scorch if he was a human, but he slowly nodded.

"Yea, I was a human, how'd you know?"

"Well you see, when Spike asked me to summon a dragon, I was concentrating on a mental image of a dragon. While I was concentrating on that mental image, I started making connections how dragons had claws similar to the hands humans have, and how they stand on their back feet, just like humans. I guess I was thinking about humans too much, 'cause when I summoned you, it must've mixed the images of the dragon with you once you were summoned here, and something in your DNA-"

While Lyra was talking, Scorch and the rest of the ponies started to lose focus on what she was saying. Scorch soon became bored and looked up at one of the tree. Unfortunately, as he wasn't used to his new body, he accidentally let loose a stream of fire from his mouth, lighting a nearby tree on fire.

"Oh, shit! Sorry, sorry. Here, let me help."

Scorch then proceeded to flap his wings at the fire, eventually extinguishing it.

"I guess I should be thankin' ya pardner, but then again you were the one that set that fire to begin with."

Scorch blushed a little and rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrased about the problem he caused. "Sorry, I didn't know I could do that."

Twilight cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Once she had it, she stated, "Well, I guess from what I've seen, we can trust you... for now. We'll be keeping a close eye on you, but I do have one other question for you before we, and by we I mean me and my friends, head back. Where are you going to stay that doesn't draw attention to you?"

"Well, I never thought of it. I guess I could stay here, but I doubt you'd be willing to agree with that."

Applejack just shakes her head before he continues, "Well in that case, I don't have anywhere."

Spike turns around to Twilight with puppy dog eyes before pleading, "Oh please Twilight, can he pleeeeeease stay with us? I'll finally have someone around who knows what it's like to be a dragon."

Twilight listened to Spike plead with her to let the newcomer stay with them, but she had already made up her mind before he had said anything. She was a sucker for puppy dog eyes. "Ugh, fine Spike. But it'll be your responsibility if something happens, do I make myself clear?"

Spike replied, "Crystal." before jumping up and down with joy and running over to Scorch. "C'mon Scorch, our house is this way. Ooh, I can't wait to-"

"Spike, I think you're forgetting something." Twilight said before Scorch could hear what Spike couldn't wait to do.

"What's that Twilight?"

"Well, don't you think that the fact that he looks like a dragon might upset the town if they saw him walking towards PonyVille? Even if he was with us, there would still be a panic. We need to find some way of disguising him so that nopony will freak out before we can introduce him to the town."

"Well, if it's okay with you, Twilight, I think I have a solution."

Twilight turned around to ask 'what solution,' when she saw a dark cocoon wrap itself around Scorch, before opening to reveal a crimson red unicorn with a fireball cutie mark.

"Well, what do you think?" asked a grinning Scorch to an awestruck crowd of ponies. "Pretty cool right?"

Twilight sighed before turning around and heading back towards PonyVille. This was one of those times she was just going to have to drop it, unless she wanted her head to hurt. 'Damn you Pinkie Pie for your randomness. It's just rubbed off on both Spike AND the new guy.'

Scorch started walking back towards PonyVille, eagerly chatting with Applejack about her huge apple orchard.

"So all this land is yours, and you work it with just you, your older brother, your little sister, and your grandma?"

"Well yea, that's the gist of it. Although Granny Smith doesn't actually work the land, 'cause she's too old for manual labor. And Applebloom helps out sometimes, but she never really does much. She'd rather be out crusadin' with her friends. So really, it's just me and mah brother who work on the farm."

"Wow, just two ponies to work on this gigantic farm?" Scorch lets out a low whistle of apprectiation. "Must take forever when it's harvest time."

"Yea, but the girls here help out sometimes, so it's not as bad as it seems. We can usually harvest every apple off of all these trees within a week."

"Wow, that's really impressive. Anyways, you said something about your little sister 'crusading' with her friends. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Oh, well mah little sister and her two friends came up with a club to find their cutie marks. They've been tearin' through town doing all sorts of things to earn them. They call themselves the-"

But before Applejack could finish a loud shout came from somewhere nearby.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER FREE RUNNERS!"

"Wait, did I just hear them say 'free runners'? Oh god, this can't end well."

Out from around the corner, three little fillies come speeding by Scorch and the others before trying to vault over a fence and failing miserably. Scorch could've sworn he heard them skid across the dirt.

The group ran over to the bruised fillies, before they sprang to their feet.

"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, what have we told you about doing dangerous stunts without anypony watching you?"

The three little fillies all respond at the same time, "To not to."

Suddenly, their eyes all lock onto Scorch, before roaming down to his flank to look at his cutie mark.

"Hey mister! What's with your cutie mark, Ah've never seen anything like it. How'd ya git it?" said the little yellow filly with a red bow in her hair, who Scorch realised must be Applebloom, considering she had the same accent as her sister.

"Well, as you can see, it's a fireball. It just shows that my specialty is controlling fire."

"Woah, that sounds neat, do you think you could show us? Hey, maybe we could get our cutie marks by controlling fire."

"Hey, slow down girls. I discovered my cutie mark by accident, and I don't want to be responsible if any of you gets hurt. Now promise me you won't go trying to mess with fire."

All three of them rolled their eyes before replying, "We promise."

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie appears to the right of Scorch with a serious look on her face.

"Do you Pinkie Promise?"

The fillies look at each other nervously before looking back at the rest of the group. They sigh and say, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." While making an X gesture at the beginning and almost poking themselves in the eye at the end. They walk off in lower spirits than they came with, and when they disappeared from sight, Scorch finally broke down and asked Pinkie what a Pinkie Promise was.

"Well, it's an unbreakable promise, and nopony has ever broken it. Well, except Applejack, but she found a loophole."

"But why is it unbreakable? Is it some kind of magic?"

Before Pinkie can respond, Twilight pulls him off to the side.

"Look, if you really want to know, I can tell you later, but you don't want to get into this discussion right now. Especially not with Pinkie Pie."

Scorch and Twilight rejoin the group, and they soon reach PonyVille. Before Lyra and Bon Bon could make their way back to their house, Twilight steps in front of them and blocks their path.

"You two need to promise us not to tell anypony what you saw today concerning Scorch. And I need you to Pinkie Promise. There's no telling how anypony else would respond if they found out we had a dragon living in PonyVille besides Spike, they might panic."

Lyra and Bon Bon just look at her before saying, "Well, he seems friendly enough, so I guess we can trust him." then nodding and reciting the Pinkie Promise, gestures and all.

"All right, thanks you two. I guess we'll see you later then. Lyra, if you ever want to ask Scorch some questions, just drop by the library."

"Thanks Twilight. Is it okay if I come by tomorrow? I'm wondering if Earth has changed since the last human I summoned."

"Wait, I'm not the first human you've summoned?"

"No, but you're definitely the first 'dragon' I've summoned."

"You know, I'm not even going to question the fact that I'm now half dragon anymore. I'm just going to pretend that I am a dragon, considering that this place has got to be better than where I came from."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Not right now, just wait until tomorrow to ask your questions."

After that, everyone went their own seperate directions, with Twilight, Spike, and Scorch all heading towards the library. They passed many different colored ponies on their way back to the library, including a gray pegasus with mismatched eyes, which Scorch found odd, but decided to let it slide, seeing as how the only other pegasi he'd met were Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and that yellow pegasus that had been staying as far away from him as possible.

Once they reached the library, Scorch looked around for a second before cancelling the transformation spell he had cast earlier. Once again in dragon form, he stood up and stretched, focusing on each muscle and joint in turn until everything was loose. He walked over to the rows of bookshelves lining the walls, before turning back to Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, mind if I grab a couple books? I feel like I'm going to be stuck here a while and I'd like to at least read as long as I'm going to be shut inside."

His face lit up for a moment before he was encased in the dark cocoon once more.

"On second thought Twilight, I just had an idea. I'll be right back." He said as he started to walk out the door.

Twilight galloped in front of the door and used her body as a barricade. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere. I still can't fully trust you yet."

"If you're that concerned about me doing something, then why don't you come with me? I just need to run outside and grab something, then we'll be right back."

"What do you need to grab?"

"Oh, just something that I think will make my stay here a little more entertaining."

Twilight looked around outside nervously, before finally agreeing with him.

"Great, this shouldn't take long. just point me in the direction of the closest tree that you don't mind seeing cut down."

Twilight raised an eyebrow before motioning for him to follow her.

They walked for about ten minutes before they reached the everfree forest.

"Well, seeing as how nopony goes in here, I don't think anypony would mind if you cut down a tree."

"Excellent, just give me a minute to find a nice tall one."

Scorch spent the next half hour looking around for a tall tree, until he finally found the one he was looking for.

"Hey Twilight, this is a secluded area so nobody's going to barge in on us, right?"

"Yes, but why does that matter?" she face-hoofed as her question was answered the second she turned to face him.

Once again Scorch was back in his dragon form, and sizing up the tree. He looked at it for all of five seconds before he swiped at it just below the top to cut off the leaves, and just above the stump. The result was a large log that was now being carried by a crimson red unicorn.

"Well, are you coming back with me or not?"

The two walked back towards the library, earning a lot of curious glances towards them, seeing as how they were carrying a huge log into town.

Once they got back to the library, Twilight stopped him and asked, "All right, so why is it that you brought this back? What are you planning to do with it?"

"Oh my dear Twilight, that would just spoil the surprise."

Twilight groaned, but eventually relented and let Scorch bring the log into the library.

"All right Twilight, I'm going to need your help on this one. But before we begin, I have one simple question. Is this tree magically enchanted to resist fire, seeing as how it's a library and all."

"Yes, the tree itself is fireproof, however the books aren't. Why are you asking me this?"

Scorch reverted back to dragon form before grabbing the log and flying up to above ceiling level, before lining the log up so where the two flat ends touched each wall of the library. "Hey Twilight, can you hold this here for me?"

Twilight did as he requested, and held the log in place with her magic. When she had a firm grip, Scorch flew over to where one side of the log met the tree, and breathed fire onto it to weld it to the wall. He then flew over to the other end of the log and welded that side to the other wall.

"Okay Twilight, you can let go of it now."

Twilight released her hold on the log, and to her surprise, it stayed there. "Okay, you welded the log to the tree, now what?"

"Now this," Scorch said as he flew up with a book in hand. He turned upside down and wrapped his tail around the log, now hanging upside down and reading 'Daring Do and the Search for the Sapphire Sphinx'.

Twilight just groaned as Scorch started reading his book. Spike came back into the main room, and upon seeing Twilight there, he asked, "Where's Scorch?"

"Up here Spike," Scorch waved at him from the ceiling.

"Mind telling me why you're hanging from a log on the ceiling by your tail."

Scorch just looked up before answering, "Simple really. One, it's fun. And two, it's great exercise." He said as he started doing a tail version of pull ups on the log.

Spike groaned before turning back to Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, I'm going to bed now. Dinner is in the kitchen."

"Thanks Spike. Good night."

"Night Twilight. Night Scorch."

"Alright, good night Spike." Scorch said without looking up from his book.

AN: Some point in the middle of this chapter, I actually typed everything in 2nd person. Thank you "The Color of Apples" you brain washed me into typing like you. Sorry if this seems to lack detail. I'm typing this at about 1 in the morning, and I'm having trouble concentrating, so sorry if I leave things out that should be included. If you spot anything like this, just leave a comment, and I'll try to fix it.
After writing this chapter however, I just feel like writing one thing: Cannot brain, I have the dumb.