The Time I was Reincarnated as a Dragon

(3rd person POV)

It was early dawn as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. The air was cold with a light mist that covered the green foliage, making little dew drops of water at the tip of each blade of grass. Very few ponies were up during this early morning, but one pony in particular was out and about as she performed her morning routine, all while humming a pleasant tune. Fluttershy was going about her morning like she would any other. She would prepare breakfast for the many creatures that call home in her cozy little cottage. She let out a long yawn as the events of the night prior had still left her exhausted.

The previous night, she, along with her friends, had paid a visit to the old castle of the two sisters, where they had experienced a plethora of shenanigans and heart pounding frights, but toward the end, they looked back on it, laughing at how silly they had acted. It was there that Twilight had discovered an old journal that belonged to the princesses during their years spent back when the castle was new and they were but little fillies.

Looking back on it, Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at how silly everypony had acted during that night, and how she was frantically panicking for the wellbeing of her pet bunny, Angel, who was happily lounging about with Twilight eating a bowl of carrots at the time.

A knock on the door had pulled Fluttershy from her walk down the events of last night. She was rather perplexed as to who could be knocking this early in the morning. She made her way to the door and raised a hoof to turn the knob, seeing that it was her dear friend Twilight on the other side. "Twilight? What brings you here so early? Oh, not that I'm not happy to see you this morning, I mean. Please, won’t you come in?"

Twilight gave a small bow as she trotted inside from the cold morning air and into the warmth of Fluttershy's cottage. "Thanks, Fluttershy. I'm actually here because I received a letter from Princess Celestia after I had Spike send her a letter telling her and Luna how we found their old journal, and offered to return it to them."

"Oh. Well, that's nice. Are you planning on making a trip to Canterlot today then?"

Twilight nodded as she pulled out a letter out from her saddlebag. "I was, but the princess wanted me to give you this before I left. They said it's something you might want to know about." She passed the letter over to the pegasus mare with her magic and watched as she took it in her wing and proceeded to open it. Twilight watched as her friend's eyes scanned the letter, confused when she saw her eyes begin to tear up and her ears slowly fold down. "Fluttershy, what's wrong?"

Fluttershy held the letter close to her chest as she took in a few deep breaths. "It's about Toothless. They finally finished the statue for his memorial." She let out a few sniffles as she wiped her eyes with her feathers.

Twilight walked closer to Fluttershy, draping her wing over her friend for comfort. "Oh, Fluttershy. I'm so sorry."

It had been three months since Fluttershy, her friends, and even the Crusaders learned the horrible news that the dragon who had risked his life to save them from the manticore had passed. This act of sacrifice did not go unnoticed as both princesses declared that they would host a memorial in his name after they had a sculptor create a statue in his memory so that no pony would forget him. Now the statue was finally finished, and the time for his memorial was close at hoof.

"They said that it will be held later this evening, and that I can invite my friends." Fluttershy said while trying her best not to weep.

Twilight hated to see her friend this sad, especially over the loss of someone who she cared for. "If you want, I can try and invite the girls to come along. The next train for Canterlot doesn't arrive for another three hours. I'm sure they would want to be there to support you and the princesses through this."

Fluttershy was having a hard time deciding what to say. Yes, she wanted more than anything for her friends to be by her side as she attended the memorial of the dragon who gave his life for her and the Crusaders, but she didn't want to burden them either. "D-do you think they w-would mind?"

Twilight gave her friend a warm smile as she leaned in to hug her. "I'm sure they wouldn't want you to be alone on this day, and that they would be honored to attend for the one who risked everything to save you and the fillies."

A few more drops of tears slid down Fluttershy's cheeks as she hugged Twilight back. "I would love for them to come with me." Her voice cracked as she allowed her tears to flow while she sniffled and sobbed.

The Princess of Friendship gently patted her grieving friend's back as she cried into her withers. "There, there, Fluttershy." She tried her best to try and sooth her friend as she sobbed.

Fluttershy was able to finally stop herself from crying as she wiped her eyes of her tears. "Th-ank you, T-Twilight. I'm so grateful to have a friend as kind as you."

"Of course, Fluttershy. That's what friends are for." She gave the pegasus mare one more hug before slowly making her way to the door. "I'm gonna go let the others know what's going on. You should take care of whatever chores you need to finish before we leave."

The yellow mare simply nodded as she watched her friend exit out the door and used her magic to close it behind her. Fluttershy just stood in place for what felt like an eternity before she decided to make her way upstairs to her bedroom. Opening the door to her room, she trotted over to her bed and moved her hoof under her pillow, slowly pulling out the vest that Luna and Celestia had brought her when they told her the news. The vest that was made from Toothless’ scales was all she had left to remember her now departed friend. She smiled a bit when she looked back on how they first met, and how silly they both reacted when they both screamed and ran away from each other. She giggled when she thought back to when he and the Crusaders played together in the cove. Her smile disappeared when she remembered how terrifyingly hard he fought to protect her and the girls from the rogue manticore. And finally, she started to weep when Celestia and Luna brought her the very vest she was holding onto when they told her that he had died in some arena that was used for sport.

She squeezed the vest tight to her chest as though Toothless was right there in her hooves. "I'm so s-sorry, Toothless. I'm so sorry." She cried as she laid in bed, nuzzling the vest as she hugged it.

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(Noir POV five hours later that day)

A set of three loud knocks roused me from my dreamless slumber, prompting me to sit up and stretch out my limbs and wings. I let out a quick roar, and in came a griffon guard. "Sir Noir, Her Majesty has requested your presence in the throne room." I give him a small nod, which he took as his cue to head off. I let out a long roar-like yawn and licked the back of my paw to rub my eyes clean of any eye crust. I hop off the bed, make my way out of the room, and down the newly refurbished hallway.

Three months. That's how much time had passed since Glenda had brought the idol back to Griffonstone and her new reign over the kingdom. We've made good headway since then. For starters, we found out that a good amount of the griffons were actually skilled artisans. Some were incredibly skilled in blacksmithing, construction, tailoring, and teaching. It was quite the surprise to both Glenda and I, considering before when none of the griffons showed any interest in anything that wasn't gold, but I believe that we can thank the idol for that.

My theory is that the return of the idol must have lifted the veil of greed and hatred that once loomed over the griffons. And with that veil gone, the griffons were able to see how far they had truly fallen and learned the error of their ways. This may be why the griffons were so quick to listen to Glenda and accept her as the new ruler. Of course, that's not to say that there weren't a few griffons who weren't so eager to change their ways, but they weren't opposed to the idea of change.

Whatever the case may be, things have been improving at a steady pace. Our first order of business was the restoration of the city itself. We had started by cleaning up the main streets and rebuilding the houses for the citizens. Afterwards, we had begun reconstruction of the castle to its former glory. Thankfully, the old thing wasn't in terrible shape despite being unkempt for many years. By that point, Griffonstone actually looked presentable, and it wasn't as filthy as when Glenda and I first arrived.

The next part we needed to work on was a form of law enforcement and protection for the kingdom. We both had agreed that the need for a new guard was needed. The first reason was to help keep the griffon citizens from squabbling amongst each other or letting it escalate toward violence. The second and most important reason was due to the dragons who would occasionally invade the griffon kingdom’s territory.

On a continent south of Griffonstone lies the home of said creatures: The Dragon Lands. On multiple occasions, young, adolescent dragons, who were more like teenagers, would fly into the griffon's territory to hunt and occasionally cause a bit of havoc to any creatures they came across. It goes to show that even in another world, teenagers tend to be troublesome.

So in order to combat these invaders, I helped form a guard of the strongest, fastest, and wisest griffons I could find…The pickings were slim, unfortunately. Some had potential, but where some had great strength, they also had many flaws. So we had to form an academy to train new recruits and built barracks for them to stay in so they could be close to the castle for training. I, of course, helped train them in combat drills, seeing that their many foes were gonna be dragons. I made sure not to pull my punches with them, with their only handicap was that I wasn't able to fly due to my wing still being broken at the time. Although I still gave them a run for their bits, and they had learned to show me respect as their instructor.

Glenda has also been improving over these last few months. At first, her leadership skills were a bit shaky with her doubting herself and making a few mistakes. But after a while, she started to get the hang of things and connected with her subjects, helping them to the best of her abilities. She had a natural talent for being a leader, no doubt due to her lineage as royalty.

But back to the present. I made my way down the halls, nodding to some of the guards I passed as they patrolled the halls, which they happily returned in kind. Some even took a moment to salute me with their wings.

As I rounded a corner, a peculiar scent caught my attention, halting my movements. I raise my nose to the air, sniffing quickly to better locate the scent. 'So, she had sent more of her creations to invade the castle. Well, much like the others, I shall dispose of them like the rest.' Crouching down low, I slowly stalked my way through the halls as I followed the scent of the intruders.

I rounded another corner and spotted my quarry. There were three in total, gathered together in the middle of the hall. 'Alright, trespassers, say your prayers. Now you’re dealing with the Noirinator.' I think in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression. Despite my warnings, the three did not move an inch. 'You leave me no choice but to TERMINATE YOU!!' I lunged forward, quickly sinking my teeth into the intruders, causing a red liquid to spread across my lips as I devoured them with no mercy.

The sound of talons slowly clapping catches my attention as I look over to the creator of the intruders. "Well, it didn't take you long to find the scones, did it, dweeb?" Gilda smirked as she walked toward me, holding a glass of milk out for me.

I happily took the glass with both paws and brought it up to my lips. I let out a low purr as the refreshing milk slides down my throat, along with the strawberry filling from the baked goods. Gilda had been offered a position as one of the royal bakers here in the castle. Back then, however, her scones weren't as good as the delicious morsels I'm enjoying now. Before, her scones, if you wanted to call them that, looked like dried clay that had leaves and twigs sticking out of them, and were practically as hard as a rock. If Gordon Ramsay had taken a bite out of one of those, he would have said something like. "Are you stupid?! A stray cat would walk away from this garbage!!"

But thankfully, she was quick to learn her mistakes after getting some advice from another griffon, who was apparently a well known chef. I didn't catch his name, but I remember he had a French accent. Thanks to his teachings, she was able to make better baked goods, and her specialty are these delicious scones. Recently, she has been experimenting with fruit fillings, like blueberries, banana, and just recently, strawberries. Although there was that time she filled one with hot chilli peppers; my mouth was practically spewing fire as I rolled around the ground in agony that day. And despite my ability to breath fire, I still can't handle spiced foods. It sucks that something like that transitioned from my previous life.

Once I had finished savoring my breakfast, I handed back the plate and glass to Gilda, then gave her a bow of appreciation. She of course just nodded and went back to her kitchen to cook some more. Since she became a baker here, her mood slightly improved from aggressive to playfully aggressive, although on some rare occasions, I catch her spacing out with this sad look on her face, like something was missing or she felt regretful about something. I didn't want to bother her about it, making sure to give her the space she needed.

So I was back on my stroll to the throne room. I wasn't rushing since Glenda hadn't immedietly requested my presence. If I had to guess, she probably wanted to discuss what our next course of action would be before we made our presence known throughout Equestria.

According to some griffins who had recently returned home from traveling across the country, not many knew that Griffonstone was in shambles. A vast majority of the populace believed that Griffonstone was still a great and noble country, they just never knew that it had fallen into ruins many years ago. But that was most likely due to no creature ever visiting the kingdom. Glenda wants to make sure that Griffonstone should look presentable before trying to connect with the other creatures of Equestria.

Now, this wasn't so she could invade any of the other kingdoms or anything like that; she wanted to better cement her ties with the other races in order to someday rely on them should something come up that Griffonstone can't handle, while also doing the same for the other races should they need help.

Another reason she is most likely calling me is to have another sparring match with the guards to better improve their combat against dragons. This became more frequent of a request now that my broken wing was back in shape, thus I was able to give the guards the experience they'll need when fighting flying dragons.

My wing has actually healed well over two weeks ago, mostly thanks to Nana's special ointment. That stuff really helped with the healing process. However, even though I was able to fly again and I knew where Ponyville was, the town in which Fluttershy and the Crusaders lived in, I hadn't made any attempts to return to them. It wasn't like I was being forced to stay in Griffonstone or had any obligations to stay, but I had made a promise to myself that I would stay and help Glenda out as much as possible until I knew that she would be able to look out for herself. But even then, I wasn't sure if I could leave that easy. While Fluttershy and the Crusaders were my first ever friends here, I knew Glenda longer and went through a lot with her. We had comforted each other during the rough patches spent during our days in the arena, and shared laughs on the rare occasions when we could find joy. To have to say goodbye to her would be as hard, if not more so, than when I was separated from Fluttershy and the CMC.

But Glenda knew that I wanted to go back and visit them, to show them that I was okay. When we spent our first week in the arena together, she told me about how she ended up there and I did the same with how I met Fluttershy and the Crusaders. Well, I actually showed her through pictures I drew in the dirt, rather poorly now that I look back on it. I made sure to leave out the part where I had been reincarnated as a dragon. I wasn't really sure how she would have reacted to that.

I think another reason I want to go back to Fluttershy was to repay her for all the kindness she had shown me during my time in the cove. I really missed those days.

"I'm gonna laugh my beak off if you end up running into a wall while zoning out there, boss." Once more, I was brought out of my thoughts. This was starting to feel like a running gag nowadays. I turned to the owner of the voice who hadn't ruined my deep thinking, only to smile as I saw a familiar griffon guard standing in front of me. "You on your way to the throne room? Is the queen gonna have you put us through the ringer again?" Gallus asked while adjusting his helmet.

Gallus is one of my favorite guards. I had met him well over two months ago while I was looking around the kingdom to see how things were progressing. On that day, I accidentally bumped into him. Back then, the griffons were still grouchy and sometimes rude when someone would bump into them, but Gallus was kinda different. He didn't snap at me, nor gave me much attitude. He just shrugged it off like it was no big deal, or like it was not worth his time caring about. At the time, I found it rather strange, yet also refreshing, and for some reason, I wanted to see if he'd join the new guard. So I tried to follow him to try and have a word with him...well, more like try to convey what I wanted through body language. But after a while, I found out that he didn't have a home, or even a family for that matter; he was all alone in this kingdom.

So I offered him a place here at the palace as a guard, gave him a place to stay, and now the guard and everyone in the castle are like his family. "Glenda wanted me to make sure you didn't keep her waiting while you pig out on Gilda's scones." I rolled my eyes at how predictable I was to Glenda. "Come on, she probably wants you to give me and the others another combat course." I grinned as I raised one of my wings to ruffle the feathers on his head, getting an annoyed squawk out of him as he batted away my wing. Gallus was probably one of few griffons in this castle who I can mess around with like a friend. Gallus was rather different than most of the griffons; where most griffons had feathers that were either, black, white, dull greys, and browns, Gallus had bright blue feathers.

Eventually, we both made it into the throne room. It was fairly large with stained glass windows that made up most of the room. And because the castle was built into the one of the many large branches of the great tree, a vast majority of the infrastructure was made of wood. And at the top of a set of wooden stairs was Glenda, who was currently filling out some paperwork. And from the looks of it, she was deep in thought that she didn't notice either me or Gallus as we entered the room. Which was fine by me, because I get to have a little fun. I nudged Gallus, holding up a claw to shush him, which he nodded to me with a grin, most likely knowing what I was about to do.

This isn't the first time she was so beak-deep in her work that she failed to notice when I came into the room, even when she was expecting me to show up. So I like to give her a good old scare for the lolz. Crouching down low, I sneakily stalked my way to the base of the wooden throne, and slowly but quietly climbed along the side of it. My claws gently dig into the wood as I creep my way up, not making a single sound as I do. Soon, I was right next to her, and was about to scare her when she suddenly turned around and got in my face."Boooo!"

I let out a roar-like scream as I lost my grip, inevitably falling down to the ground with a loud thud that echoed across the room. The next thing I could hear were two laughs; one being from Glenda, who was currently rolling on her side trying not to fall off the throne, and Gallus, who was on his back holding his gut. 'Traitor!!'

"Ahh hahah! You should have seen your face, Noir!! It was priceless! Hahahaha!!!" Glenda said between laughs while I was still on my back, pissed that they had actually pulled one over me. However, my anger was quickly extinguished as I started laughing myself. If you can't laugh at yourself over the little things, then you have a poor sense of humor. I rolled back onto my feet and saw that Glenda was already hovering down to land on my back. Once I felt her feet touch down onto my back, she plopped her body down, laying atop of me and giving me a hug. "Good morning, Noir." She giggled as she scratched under my chin, getting a low purr out of me.

It's been a long journey since our escape from the hellhole that was the arena, but life has finally managed to slow down so that we can relax and have some time of peace. "So, I was thinking that you and Gallus, as well as the other guards, go out and do some hunting. I heard that the kitchen is gonna need some more supplies soon, and the armory was running out of leather for armor. Think you can handle that?"

Because Glenda wanted to keep the secret about Griffinstone's restoration a secret, we have been hunting and foraging for food and supplies around the nearby forests and mountains. And this of course will often lead to us encountering dragons trying to sneak in on griffon territory, so they send me and the guards to help pick ingredients and hunt for meat.

I gave her a nod, which she happily thanked me for with some scratches behind my ear, causing my tongue to loll out. Gallus was currently snickering behind his wing as he watched, which I promptly retaliated with a smack to the rear with my tail, getting him to yelp.

The double doors to the throne room opened, and in walked a familiar elderly griffon wearing a fez. It was Grandpa Gruff, who I later found out that he wasn't actually anyone's grandpa. Weird. He was carrying in his talons the golden idol. Since we had brought it back, we wanted to get it nice and clean like how it once was before it had been lost in the Abyss. Glenda figured that Gruff was the best pick for the job, and boy was she right. The moment she told him that he was to be made the official caretaker of the idol, the old bird nearly shed tears of pure joy and vowed that he would polish and guard it with his very life. And so he did; he would spend hours upon hours each day, carefully cleaning and polishing the idol till it was practically glowing. Glenda also made him the official historian and placed him in charge of gathering what few books remained of the library till it could be rebuilt, so that Griffinstone's history wouldn't be lost again. "Greetings, Your Majesty. I've brought the idol, clean as a whistle." He moved to the large stump that was in the center of the throne room, carefully setting it down and bowed his head.

"Thank you, Grandpa Gruff, and your dedication to cleaning the idol. How goes the gathering of the books from the old library?" Glenda asked in a kind and regal tone.

Gruff lowered his head a bit in shame. "Not well, Your Majesty. Few of the books are within good condition, and some have been destroyed over the many years of neglect. It honestly pains me that I hadn't considered keeping those books of our history safe. Despite my constant raving about our pride in the past, I'm a poor excuse of an historian."

Glenda climbed off my back and walked over to the old timer, resting one of her wings on his back to comfort him. "It's alright, Gruff. Things were different back then, and I honestly doubt any griffon blames you for something they could have easily kept maintained as well. Besides, we can simply focus on the history we are making at this moment, so that future generations will have better insight into their history." This managed to get a pleasant smile out of the old bird as he bowed his head, then left to continue his work.

'Man, Glenda really is an amazing leader. She was born for this, and I'm sure with her around, Griffonstone is bound to get better soon.' As I was lost in thought about how great a ruler Glenda was becoming, the doors to the throne room slammed open once more with two guards running in at full speed, practically out of breath.

"Your Majesty, urgent news from the outpost flock!!" The first guard spoke as he quickly remembered his training and bowed to the queen before continuing. "They spotted a titan class dragon that had passed over the northern mountains a few hours ago!"

"Is it on its way here?" Glenda asked while trying her best to hide the alarm in her voice.

The second guard stepped forward, pulling out a large map from under his wing and layed it across the floor for us. "No, Your Majesty. According to the scouts, the direction it was heading was not here, but to the pony capital of Canterlot."

This made my heart skip a beat and my blood run cold. "Are you sure about that?" Glenda asked, trying to verify the situation.

The first guard managed to catch his breath to continue. "Yes, Your Majesty. The scouts had tailed the dragon until it had left our territory, and saw the direction it was heading was on a direct path with the pony capital. After that, they started to relay the message along the outposts until we were left to deliver the message, Your Grace."

My heart was now racing as I thought of what could happen if that titan class dragon attacked. Titan class dragons are the largest of all the dragons and can cause total devastation wherever they may go. The current dragon lord himself is one.

Glenda could probably see the fear in my eyes as I was having a small panic attack. "You have to go and warn them." She placed her talon on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "You have to fly after that dragon and hopefully fly past him fast enough to warn the ponies. You're the fast flyer here, and you might be able to warn them in time and save them if you leave right this second." I know her words hold some truth, but this meant that I would have to leave her. Was she really ready to lead this country while I'm gone?

She raised her talons to pat my cheek as she tried to sooth my nerves. "We're not strong enough to lend a hand out there, nor do we have enough guards to make a difference even if we wanted to help. So you have to leave and try to save the ponies before it's too late." Even though she was telling me this, I could still see the sadness growing in her eyes. "Just promise me that you won't forget us and come back to visit. Okay, Noir?" She asked as tears slowly started to form in her eyes.

It tore me apart to see her this sad, even though she is trying her hardest to put on a brave face. Leaning in, I gave her head one last nuzzle while pulling her in for a hug, which she returned as she wrapped her wings around me. "Please be safe out there, Noir. I will await the day you return to Griffonstone. And until that day..." Before I knew it, she leaned in and gave me a small kiss on the lips. The sensation made my heart skip another beat as I could feel a warmth enveloping my whole body. Before I could fall too deep into my thoughts, Glenda was already pushing me towards an open window. "Go on. Hurry and go warn them before it's too late!!"

I quickly shook my head as I started to move on my own toward the window, getting a running start, flared out my wings, and took off into the sky as fast as I could. I glanced back over my shoulder to watch as Glenda, Gallus, and the two guards waving goodbyes. My focus was on Glenda as she held a hand to her chest and tears flowed down her cheeks while she tried to keep up a front by smiling.

I gave her one last wave goodbye before turning forward and climbing higher into the clouds above to try and catch a ride on the tailwinds. 'Please let me get there in time!!' I roared as I picked up my pace, praying that I'm not too late.