“The rumours we had heard about your mate, if anything, had been watered down. He was known as a monster, with fangs, as sharp as polished diamonds, and claws, so strong, they could easily shatter rocks with only a glancing strike. He’s always had a habit of keeping his scale clean, so he was as black as the night and his soul wasn’t too different when we first met! He wasn’t so cuddly and friendly back then! You would try to avoid him at all costs back in those days!

But, that wasn’t what we were going to be doing. Me and my crew, the Black Sabers, were some of the most skilled and successful fortune hunters from Alofted Harbour to the springs of the Golden River after all. Our crew had a little over half a dozen griffons and a few minotaurs, enough to sail our airship, the Windbreaker. Tall as the largest dragon and twice as swift.

I don't think I need to remind you that dragons are some of the most dangerous and deadly creatures. Well, at the time, he was pillaging the nearby village and plundering the homes of every noble in a day or two’s flight from this icy wasteland you two call your home today. If he wasn't so lazy, he might have raided a lot more nobles that were living around here. Anyhow, it came to our attention that your mate’s hoard had more than likely been filled to the brim with shimmering gold and precious artifacts, it wouldn’t be a surprise after all the trouble he had been causing. So it didn't take much to convince us to take the job, especially since what we would have found in here would have been on top of the Fifteen-thousand gold piece bounty for his head- and only his head. Fifteen-thousand, let that roll on your tongue for a moment. Who wouldn’t like to bathe their claws in that? It was enough to make us even consider doing some work for the authorities, despite the danger, and our… let’s say not so good terms we had with them. We were pirates after all! But still, Fifteen-thousand gold pieces. The potential for what one could buy with that. Even split ten ways, the sum was still a small fortune.

We all knew that the risk was high... but our greed was stronger.

So the Windbreaker set course for the scattered shores of Sandworm Bay, and from there, along the Icy River and right into the mountains.

Mount Tail-Tip, we were coming!”

***

“Just skip the pre-story, Angorik, and start when you and the guys entered my lair, that’s far more interesting than all this background stuff.” I stroked softly over Fluffies wing, making sure she felt comfortable. “You don’t want to bore your audience with details.”

“But this could be interesting,” Fluffy objected, “who knows what they did on the way here?”

I shook my head pejoratively. “Eh, nothing important, just some preparations, filling of their stocks and gathering some info about me.” I placed my wing on her and tried to roll her on the side, into a position I could more easily cuddle her. “Really nothing of interest.”

Fluffy gave me an accusing smile and spread her wing to push mine away. “Storytime, not cuddling time.” She booped my nose with her hoof. “Behave yourself!”

“Always do,” I said with a mischievous smile which caused Fluffy’s smile to get brighter.

“No you don’t.”

I shrugged and then kissed her. “I am a good dragon.”

She rubbed her head against me. “Meh, sometimes… maybe, a tiny bit.”

“Uhm, shall I continue or not?” asked an obviously confused Angorik. Seeing me and Fluffy being so affectionate and playful didn’t match with the image he had of me back then. And I confess, there was definitely a significant difference, though, pony-magic works twice as well on dragons! Anyway, back to our conversation.

“Yes, please continue, Angorik, I would like to hear the story.” Fluffy turned her head to him and gave him back her attention. “Though, maybe it would be better to start when you entered the lair.” She nodded in my direction. “I don’t know how long I can convince this dragon to behave.”

I purred silently, but for some reason, it didn’t increased Fluffies confidence in me behaving.

“As you wish.” Angorik bowed and continued…

***

“It was our captain, Anastasia, who first set paw in the dark and spooky cave Black Death had chosen to be his lair. A saber firmly in her grip, and a shield steady in her left claw. Whatever lurked in the depths, she was sure we could handle it.

I myself walked near the end of the group, my bow ready, I was not the kind of griffon to stay in front. And with my leather armour, I had no illusions that it would withstand even a single strike from your mates claws. Nah, my place was behind the others and their thick iron armour, though, we would soon learn how little they would matter in the fight to come.

We left Augustus and Artur at the entrance, guarding the ship, and followed our captain into ‘the beast's’ lair.

To our surprise, besides the sound of a waterfall, it was quiet. No sound of the dragon and nothing that would indicate that a monster was living here. Still, in the dancing shadows of our two torches, we expected something to be lurking in the dark and watching us. It was like a cool breeze running down my spine, and I wasn’t the only one that had a bad feeling about this. Alidaria next to me moved closer. Her bow shivering. The arrow on it sliding ever so slightly back and forth.

Heavy Hammer noticed this too and snorted down at her. He had it easy, wielding this two-handed hammer of his. Though, minotaurs are known to be more brave than other species in general. I always wondered why he joined our crew in the first place. He seemed way too smart for a pirates life. But on second thought, he did walk into this cave with us. So maybe not that smart.

Despite our misgivings of the situation, we kept moving, reaching a larger area not too long after. You can imagine our surprise when we found it wasn’t only not empty, but filled with a little forest. Grown only by the dim daylight coming through small holes in the ceiling and water from the stream that was being fed by the waterfall we had heard earlier.

Anastasia raised her shield up and we stopped. Closely, she looked at the forest. No sign of Black Death so far. But just because we couldn’t see him didn’t mean that he wasn’t there. From all that we had heard, he was good at hiding, merging with the darkness. He could hide in every shadowed corner, waiting for a moment of carelessness to strike.

I must confess, my bow was starting to shiver a bit too now that I was seeing this. These trees, they shouldn’t be down here. This was a cave occupied by a monster, not a garden.

I saw it in the faces of the others, they were thinking the same.

Only Anastasia and the first officer, Silver Claw, a griffon we gathered from Sore Rift, weren’t showing any signs of concern. Even the condescending smile Heavy Hammer always seemed to have plastered on his muzzle had vanished. We expected a cave full of bones, but found a peaceful little forest instead. Something felt really foul.

“Fifteen-thousand gold pieces,” Ansgar whispered while he played nervously with the shaft of his axe before he spat and straightened up. “Heh, if anyone found out that we fell back after seeing this we would be the laughing stock of pirates for all eternity. And that’s not going to happen, not at all.”

I heard similar sentiments from the others. Finally, one by one, we moved after our captain. Down into the cave we went.

“Silence!” Anastasia whispered when we reached the edge of the forest. “Whatever awaits us now, no need to alert it too soon!”

“If it isn’t already waiting for us…” one of the others mumbled, I couldn’t say who.

We did as we were told, no further sounds passed through our lips as we made our way through the trees and bushes, approaching the lair’s main entrance.

At any second I expected something to break free from the greenery, jumping at us, or a lance of stone melting fire to fly our way, but… nothing happened. It seemed Fortuna was on our side. Without incident, we reached the main entrance, and found it locked by a lattice.

“A lattice? Which kind of beast has a lattice as door?” Maze Keeper wondered quietly, with one eyebrow raised and a hint of sorrow in his voice. ‘No way this is the brainless beast we expected.’ He started to look around, trying to pierce the greenery with his gaze.

“Nonsense. However this lattice got here, the beast has nothing to do with it.” Anastasia hushed him sharply. “And it surely is to our advantage, no way the beast is roaming around here now.”

“What makes you think that?” Alidaria asked while she peaked inside the darkness behind the lattice.

“Do you really think this monster closes the door behind it? Like a gentle chick? No way. It is definitely inside.” Anastasia put down her saber and shook the lattice carefully. “Best case scenario, it’s sleeping.” She shook the lattice once more, a bit more forcefully. “Doesn’t move an inch, we have to find a way to open it, or, we wait till it comes out, but that could take quite some time.’

“And if we try to use a lever on it?” Silver Claw suggested. “Makes some noise, but at least we would be trapping the beast inside since we would be guarding the only way out.”

Anastasia leaned back and looked up to where the lattice vanished into the stone. “Leveraging it should be our last option, surprise is out greatest advantage at the moment. If this beast knows we are coming, we are toast.”

“What about a nice big fire, smoke it out?” Dead End asked. “It has to come out, and when it does, we impale it right away.”

Well, he sure was a good animal hunter, but not the brightest bulb in the team.

“It’s a damn dragon we’re talking about,” Anastasia reminded him. “It’s a giant, fire breathing lizard, smoke will do nothing on it.’

“Oh, hmm, shame.” Dead End said.

To be honest, If it wasn’t for his talent at hunting everycreature and his skills with the javelin, we would have kicked him out of the team a long time ago.

“I think we have no choice other than to wait for it to come out.” The Captain looked around. “We’ll take position in the brushwood and hit it with everything we got when it comes out. Make sure you guys aim for the head, or the wings if you must.”

And that is what we did. The plan wasn’t bad, and we had the time, though, there was a little thing we overlooked. Clever Black Death here, wasn’t inside the inner lair.

*

It was an hour or two later that we first got a clue that something wasn’t right. It was Alidaria who brought it to our attention.

“Shouldn’t we tell the others? I mean, we have been here for quite a while, not that they would leave without us.” Alidaria mentioned.

“They won’t, I told them clearly if they don’t hear from us in a reasonable amount of time, they should come and look for us, carefully. And, if there is nothing to do, take the ship and leave.” Anastasia explained. “And since they haven’t shown up yet, they probably think everything is fine.’

“Or they already took the ship and left,” Heavy Hammer mocked, “Wouldn’t be the first time somepirate tried their luck with leaving the rest of the crew back.”

“Everyone at home knows who’s ship it is and which crew it belongs too, they wouldn’t dare lie about us,” Silver Claw snorted. “They are not that stupid.”

“No, they are not,” Anastasia agreed.

“Definitely not,” Silver Claw once more supported his statement.

“If we were in their situation we wouldn’t leave for sure.’

“No way.”

“Ridiculous.”

“Absurd.”

A moment of silence followed were the two exchanged a longer look.

“Alright, Alidaria, you go and check if they are still there.” Anastasia decided.

“Aye. What if they aren’t?”

“Better for them if they are still there.”

Obviously glad to get more distant between herself and the beast, Alidaria quickly rose from her spot, hung her bow on her back, and scurried back into the tunnel behind the waterfall.

“You know, somehow I have a bad feeling about this,” Ansgar said. “We’ve been waiting here all day, though nothing’s happened. What if this is just an empty cave, long forgotten and all. I mean, this little garden here,” he plucked a random little plant out of the soil, “it doesn’t seem like it’s being maintained. And I see no signs of some evil beast living here either, no bones or bodies, you know?’

“So what you wanna do? Politely knock and ask if a dragon lives here?” Heavy Hammer spat out. “Maybe you get an invite for tea, huh?”

“Shut up, both of you. Only thing that’s happening here is that you’re exposing that we’re here.” SIlver Claw silenced them.

“But,” Ansgar started once again, only to get an angry stare from Anastasia which caused him to fall silent once again.

Well, maybe another 20 minutes passed, without anything happening. And I mean, without anything! Alidaria didn’t come back.

And that was the point we started to worry a bit.

“Where is she?” Anton, despite his name was also a minotaur, asked. “She should have been back by now. It’s only a few minutes walk back to the ship at best.”

“I said so at the start, something is wrong here,” Ansgar repeated. “What if the beast is outside, trapping us here while taking the others out one by one?”

“Nonsense, you always have a bad feeling about everything,” Silver Claw replied.

“But something is different this time,” Anastasia threw in, “this time, I feel it too.”

With surprise, we looked at our captain, rarely did she ever agree with something we said.

“Captain?” Silver asked.

“He is right, she should have been back by now. Whatever is going on outside, if Artur and Augustus are still there or already on their way home, Alidaria should have come back to report either way.”

“So what do we do?” Heavy Hammer asked.

“We go back, and check on the ship. The beast can’t escape without us noticing, there is only that one tunnel. And we will hear if the lattice moves, it will at least give us some time in the worst case.”

No one had any objections to this.

Though, before we could make our way up the tunnel, Alidari suddenly appeared out of it. Unharmed and with no sign that anything bad had happened.

“Where have you been?” Anastasia asked impatient. “You had us worried!”

“Not my fault captain, the weather outside’s gotten worse, I came just in time to prevent the worst. Artur and Augustus were already back on board, sailing the Windbreaker to the other side of the mountain and out of the wind. It looks like a heavy storm is forming. The ship should be okay, but we are on our own for now.”

“Dammit, that’s the last thing we need at the moment,” Anastasia groaned. “Even with the beast inside, we can’t stay here much longer without some supplies and we don’t know how long it will take until it comes out on its own.” She sighed. “Maybe we need to risk it and leveraging the lattice after all. Silver, you…” Anastasia turned to her first officer, or where he had been standing for the last few minutes. But there was no sign of him.

“Silver?” she repeated. “Silver? Where are you?”

We all turned around, our attention had been so focused on Alidaria that we hadn’t noticed how Silver had vanished.

“Where is he?” Anastasia demanded to know. “He was standing right here,” she pointed at the spot, “just a few seconds ago!”

“Don’t know captain.” Anton said with this clueless look on his face. He had been the one nearest to him. “Didn’t see him leaving.”

“He couldn’t have vanished into thin air, search for him!”

“Aye captain.”

We didn’t need to look for long though. Just a few dozen steps away from us, a paw was peeking out from a bush.

It was Dead End who found him.

“Nothings going to help him now,” Dead End commented after Anton had kneeled down and whispered Silvers name. He pointed at the wet red puddle below Silvers head. “Whatever got him, it had to have been swift and silent, that much is for sure.”

It was that moment a…

*

…loud ‘Hello!’ echoed through Fluffies and my lair.

I raised my head from Fluffies and looked at the floor in confusion. If I weren't mistaken, it was Fluffies mom that we had heard.

And indeed, that much was confirmed when another ‘Hello? Somepony or somedragon home?’ came from the inner lair’s entrance.

“What’s your mom doing here?” I asked Fluffy as I made an attempt to stand up.

“I don’t know,” she replied and rose too. She turned to Angorik. “I am sorry, let’s take a short break while we greet my mom.”

“Of course, I understand,” Angorik answered with a sour face. After all, he was a bard, and they naturally didn’t like it when someone interrupted their stories.

“We are here mom!” Fluffy shouted, “in the living room!”

“Ah, it is good to see you, Danger,” Cloud Planter Do said warmly and embraced her daughter after she had entered. “And where is my little granddaughter?” she asked with a happy tone, already lowering her head to get level with Fiery. “Come to grandma!” she requested and opened her forelegs.

With a happy squeak, Fiery did as she was told, though, that may have been caused by the knowledge that grandma always had sweets for her little sunshine when she visits. A thing Fiery soon found out after the regular visits from her grandparents on Fluffies side.

And that hadn’t changed this time. As soon as Fiery was in Cloudies forelegs, a little piece of chocolate wandered into her mouth, followed by some snuggling.

Fiery approved.

“Mom! I told you to ask me first before you feed her sweets!” Fluffy scolded her. “It’s not good for her to have too many!”

“Oh, don’t be so finicky,” Cloudy waved Fluffy off. “She likes it.” Cloudy rubbed her snout against Fieries. “You like it, right my little sunshine?”

Happy squeaking was proof enough.

“And how is my favorite dragon?” Cloudy went on before the argument with her daughter could go on. She opened a wing to allow me to hug her without having to drop her grandchild.

“I am fine,” I said amused, knowing how this harmless dominance fight between her and Fluffy was just their way of saying they love each other. “Though, I must insist you listen to the lady of the lair. I heard her dragonfriend doesn’t take it well if somecreature doesn’t pay her the respect she deserves.” I playfully spit a tiny lance of fire above her head. “He is very picky about that.”

“You wouldn’t dare scare an old lady!” she replied with a giggle, “What would your mom say to this?”

“She probably would tell me to eat you I’m assuming.”

“Touche!”

Now we both giggled. Just so you know, I had a very good connection to Fluffies mom. She was very grateful that she had a grandchild now, despite it not being a pony, and I was more than happy for someone to tell me how to treat a pony. Or how to seduce a pegasus mare. Cloudy had told me quite a few tricks, and Fluffy would surely kill me if she ever found out I had asked her mom about it. For some reason, ponies don’t speak about this so openly.

Anyway, there was still another creatures present. So I introduced her to Angorik and she was pleased to meet him. She said that a bard always makes for a more enriching gathering. In return, obviously happy about her praise of his profession, Angorik bowed and told her what a good looking mare she was.

Those two seemed to have started out on good terms from the start. But as soon as we came to ask for the reason Cloudy was here, my mood soured.

“Well, Danger, your brother was visiting and you can’t imagine how surprised we were when he told us that he’d never visited you two here, and, therefore, hasn’t seen Fiery yet! And that’s such a shame!” She shook her head unhappily. “You sure can imagine that we do not approve of this, he is your brother, he has to know his niece! So long story short, we brought him here. He and your dad are waiting outside.”

I growled.

“I know, I know, “ Cloudy admitted, turning her head slightly left and right, “you are not so fond of our son, and that is understandable given how your last meeting went at our house, but still,” she nuzzled Fiery once more, “she is his niece. He should know her and come to visit once in a while.”

“Mom! You really should have let us decide on that,” Fluffy said angrily, and I agreed with her.

Well, it should be said, her brother and I have never had too much contact with each other, so I neither hate him nor like him. But, he had gotten between me and Fluffy when we were at their parents’ place. That act alone didn’t exactly make him the most welcome stallion at my lair, if you know what I am talking about.

Remind me to tell you that story later, for now, be it as it may, bringing him here without at least a letter first was rude. Letting him wait in the cold outside, however, was a nice touch to things. And, from what I had learned about ponies, they cared about their siblings, and despite my thoughts on what he had done, Fluffy liked her brother regardless of his behaviour.

So I let Fluffy and her mom argue just a little bit more before I played the ‘be calmed’ dragon and began sneaking some cuddling and calming caresses towards my marefriend. Cloudy, and to my surprise, also Fiery, just watched me, not buying it.

I got my cuddling though, and generously agreed to pick Fluffies brother up at the entrance. I must add, Cloudy’s clever understanding of dragon behaviour impressed me from time to time. For a pony, she stuck to dragon etiquette quite well. It was hard to tell if I should consider her to be more brazen or more intelligent.

“Would you take care of your mom and Angorik while I get your dad and brother?” I asked Fluffy.

“Of course.” Fluffy pointed towards the kitchen. “Mom, Angorik, why don’t you take a seat while I make us some more tea?”

Both agreed, even Angorik threw a longing gaze at the wine shelf before he followed them into the kitchen. When they had left, Fluffy whispered into my ear. “Be nice, he is my brother, and you know I like him.”

I sighed, but before I could reply, our daughter made it audable that she was not pleased with being taken away from her parents, and therefore Fluffy had to hurry off to catch up with her mom.

My eyes stayed on her sexy flank while she moved away, I had quite a good idea about what I would request as a reward for being a nice dragon towards her brother. But first things first.

*

The two were easy to see, and more easily heard, when I neared the surface. Seemed like Never Ending Do, Dangers brother, was not so fond of the idea of staying outside in the cold, while at the same time worried to enter my lair. His dad was constantly assuring him that if he would just behave and go through the formal greetings and stick to the protocol, there would be nothing to worry about. That I’m a nice dragon, just as long as he doesn’t make a fuss about me being with his sister.

Meh, for pony standards I was anything but nice I suppose, though for Fluffies family I did made some concessions.

“Welcome, Gold Digger,” I said when I came into the dim light of the evening sun again, “a pleasure to see you again.”

Well, he and I were not as close as I was with Fluffies mom, but still, he was Fiery’s granddad and he had the guts to threaten me if I were to treat Fluffy badly when we told him about ‘us’. I assume that not many ponies would have dared to threaten me, so yeah, I kind of liked him.

Also, keeping my focus on him for the moment would only underline how low my opinion of Never Ending was.

“Black Death,” Gold Digger turned to me and greeted me formly with a little bow. “Good to see you too.” He pointed at Fluffies brother. “You remember my son, Never Ending Do?”

Said son was showing obvious signs of wishing to be somewhere else right now. No wonder, since my gaze had moved onto him and I had spread my wings a bit to look more threatening too.

“Yes, I do.”

“Well,” Gold Digger began rubbing his neck, “I assume my wife already told you we are here to introduce him to our grandchild?”

I just released a small cloud of smoke.

“So, uhm, will you please allow him to enter your lair?”

“We will see.” I said as I clicked my claw on the ground.

“Uhm…” Gold Digger’s tone was highly unsure. “Right,” he gestured his son to come closer, “time for you to say hello, Never Ending.”

With his ears folded back, Never Ending managed to approach me slowly and say a barely audible hello.

I growled in response, straightening my stance, causing him to hastily step back.

“Stick to the protocol, son!” Gold Digger reminded him. “You are supposed to show respect and bow.”

“Bowing?” Never’s bold behaviour seemed to have come back, he was a Do after all. “Don’t I count as family too?” he unsureadly asked. “Bowing sounds like lowering my status.”

Oh, someone’s paid attention to dragon behaviour. I mean he was right, though, a shame he couldn’t use his knowledge at this moment.

Gold Digger shook his head. “It is his lair after all. But it is only a one time thing, you don’t need to do it every time once you have permission to enter.”

“And if we just fly home and forget about all this?” he suggested, throwing another unsure look at me and the lair. Being stuck in there with me gave him a bad feeling I suppose.

“You know what your mom would think about that. And she is already in there, so come on and get this done so you can get in too.”

He sighed, as frustrated as he was unsure. “Alright, alright.” He stepped forward again and slightly bowed. “See, all done, let us get in now.”

It was unwisely of him to not wait for my response and simply take my ongoing silence as acceptance or permission.

So he was quite scared when I rushed forward in his direction and hished, spreading my wings and slammed the ground with my tail, causing him to fall backwards over his own hooves. If it wasn't for my intention to be nice for Fluffies sake, I wouldn’t have held back in my charge before I could teach her brother about dragon protocol. But I could only behave myself so much, I would not tolerate this lack of respect in my own lair.

“Woah!” his father rushed between us. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, hold on, please.” He made a calming gesture with his hooves. “Just give us a second to figure this out.”

I lowered my wings and allowed him to try. He always showed me respect, except for the time he threatened me, and I knew it was to my benefit to have a good connection to Fluffies dad.

He exhaled slowly. “Alright, alright, something obviously went wrong, but it’s not a broken wing, we can make this right.” He offered his son a hoof to help him up and turned to me again. “Keep in mind, Black Death, that we are not familiar with all the dragon rules yet, and that we were so generous as to turn a blind eye to your mistakes when you visited us.”

Not that they had much of a choice, but yes. Even so, I remained in my less aggressive stance for the time being.

“So, my son greeted you and bowed soon after. That should have done the trick as far as I know, more so since he’s family. Am I right?”

“Not completely, only very close family members get away with such a botched attempt.” I explained.

“Oh, that's the problem. I see.” He whispered something to his son.

Before I could figure out what it was, however, a light clippety-clop echoed up from the tunnel behind me, making it known that somepony was approaching. It turned out to be Fluffy with Fiery on her arm.

“Didn’t you say you were going to be a nice dragon?” she accused me with a certain look before she addressed her family. “Hey dad, hey brother.”

“I am,” I snorted, “I let them try again after your brother was so rude, again.” I nuzzled her and poked my nose against Fieries. “I wouldn’t give just anycreature such a chance.”

“Hey kid.” “Hey sister.” where the delayed replies.

She rubbed her head along my shoulder, pushing me aside a bit. “Males, always the same no matter which species.” She added a little smile to her next words. “Look who’s there, Fiery, it’s grandpa and uncle Never Ending!”

Ponting in their direction, she lifted our daughter up a bit. “Are we wanna greet them? Yes we are, right?”

In the case of grandpa Do, Fiery was of course happy to see him. She knew him and her baby instincts were telling her that grandpa was a good guy. So a happy bout of squeaking and open claws were her reactions. Her uncle was ignored though, at least for the time being. Gold Digger took his granddaughter in his own hooves and it was not clear who was more happy at that moment. It was always something special to see how Fiery affected her relatives. And even though Gold DIgger doesn’t have as much chestfluff as his daughter, cuddling was a must for Fiery, as she welcomed it with happy noises.

When it comes to her uncle however… the reaction was quite different.

“Look son, your niece.” Gold Digger held her up and offered her to Never Ending. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Hesitantly, Never Ending stretched his hooves out to take her, though, both he and Fiery didn’t really seem to know just what to do with the situation. Fiery stopped her happy squeaking and seriously looked at this strange pony. Her uncle, however, just held her there, his hooves stretched out under her armpits.

“She is not a sack of flour, brother!” Fluffy scolded him while shaking her head. “Hold her in your forelegs, she is a baby after all!”

“Uhm… yeah… of course,” he replied and leaned her against his shoulder. “Hey Fiery, uhm, nice to meet you, I am your uncle Never Ending.” He started to pet her head.

Unsure about him, Fiery started to sniff at him, first his hoof and then his mane and throat.

It found my full approval that she wasn’t happy with the result. Since he wasn’t present at her birth so she could get to know his scent, nor was she given to him directly by me or Fluffy. So in her opinion, he wasn’t allowed to hold or pet her. So Fiery took immediate action to stop this, she raised a claw, threatening his hoof and started to hiss and squirm all of a sudden, scratching her uncle in the process..

“Ouch! Ouch stop!” Never Ending tried to calm her down, but without effect.

“Fiery, no!” Fluffy shouted and rushed over. “Don’t scratch you uncle.”

A little smile crawled up my lips, my daughter showed a good understanding of who could be trusted. Though, Fluffy thought differently and placed a hoof on her claw, telling her that was bad behaviour.

Spoilsport.

Well, it was a bit of a back and forth, but in the end, Never Ending was at least allowed to carry her. Still, Fiery stared at him emotionless whenever he tried to pet her. I was rather pleased. That was far worse than scratching and biting, she judged him silently.

“I don’t know what there is to be purring about!” Fluffy snorted.

“I am just a proud father you know, having such a wonderful girl is a gift.” I gave her a kiss on her head. “And having a most attractive marefriend doesn’t hurt either.”

Fluffy hissed at this obviously attempt to flirt my way out of this, though, since my words were the truth, and she knew that was what I really though despite my use of it here, it was not meant seriously.

“Okay,” Fluffy sighed, “lets move in.” And with those words she took the lead, walking into our lair.

“Hey!” I interrupted, “your brother still doesn’t have my permission!”

“He has mine,” Fluffy replied a little annoyed.

“But,” I started, though I had underestimated Fluffies understanding of dragon behaviour. With a loud hiss, Fluffy turned to me, spreading her wings and charged right in front of me, rising to her hind legs.

“This is my lair too, and my family is always welcome!” she hissed.

“Not without paying me the respect I deserve!” I countered, spreading my wings too.

“They show it like ponies do! By being nice to you!” Fluffy yelled, stomping a hoof.

“I am a dragon, I want to be treated as one! Little ponies have to bow before me!”

“Not my family!”

“Maybe we co…” Gold Digger started, trying to help, but we both hissed at him unison and he stepped back. So did Never Ending, with an attentive Fiery on his arm. Fiery seemed to be the only one that wasn’t worried though, her dragon side knowing mom and dad were only playing.

And that was the case. Of course, to the unskilled eye it looked like an argument, and a heated one at that, but in truth it was just a civilized bargain.

“I got this dad,” Fluffy explained loudly, hissing once more. “My family is always welcome in my lair!”

“Our lair!”

“Our lair,” Fluffy agreed but added, “is always open for my family as it is for yours!”

“I demand some form of respect though! I am the offspring of an azure dragon after all!”

“And I am the lady of the lair!”

“Still, a bow and a gift is the bare minimum!”

“A friendly nod is enough!”

We continued at this for a little while longer, threatening each other, whipping up some dust and therelike, in short, it was like good foreplay, just with the purpose of both satisfying my demand for respect while also allowing Fluffies family to visit and come in whenever they want. I didn’t mind, mostly. I had no problem with Cloudy and Gold Digger, but for her brother… for her brother she would need to give me something in return.

“A massage for every day he stays!” Fluffy offered.

Now she was talking.

“Two! One in the morning and one in the evening! And you do the housework while they stay!”

While her giving me massages was something she had no problem with, I saw it in her eyes that doing the housework was a different story.

She growled.

“You give me the massages and I do the normal housework while you do the extra housework that comes with us having guests. Last offer!”

After thinking for a second she charged forward, her wings spread and her hooves ready to strike.

We had an agreement.

I caught her midair and we exchanged some cuddling and purring. Good old dragon diplomacy.

So there was only one thing left to do before we could move in. I placed her back on the ground, walked over to the still astonished Never Ending and grabbed Fiery by her mane with my fangs, lifting her up and placing her on my back. I couldn’t stand that accusing look of hers, like mom and dad had betrayed her, leaving her with this strange pony.

“Alright, welcome at my lair, Never Ending, you may enter now,” I said. And when I reached my spot next to Fluffy, I rubbed my head against her. “I am really looking forward to my massage this evening.” The look on her face when she realised that our agreement already included today was very pleasant. I simply had to kiss her again.

Author's Note

I apologise for the delay with this chapter, but the heatwave we had in germany the last month was terrible.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and had a lot of interesting stuff to read

Have I ever mentioned how much I like comments? I mean like they uplift the authors mood and everything, no? Well, they do!

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Editor was again the amasing Schattendrache!