How to Befriend a Dragon

Chapters

When Fates Meets
A Strange Friendship
How To Fix A Dragon

When Fates Meets

Author's Note

Enjoy. :3

When Fates Meets

Every week or so, Scootaloo has her up and down days like every other pony. Some had their downsides of having a bad day at work, some had bad days with family and friends, some just had bad days where nothing seemed to go right. For Scootaloo, hers in particular had to do with the fact she can't fly. The years are coming when she will no longer be a little filly anymore and what excuse or hope will she have to wait on to know if she can be able to fly at all. Bulk Biceps and Pound Cake had been known to fly when one had wings as small as hers and the other was just an infant. Life never seemed to be fair to her when it came to fight. It was great to have Rainbow Dash fly her around, but it was a little less of a thrill to know she had to be carried around. Bullies didn't make her days any better. She would be picked on that she was the weakest pegasus as the rest of them could fly at a young age. This brought her to tears as she couldn't find any words to defend her disability. This made her downsides come more often than less. Her friends would be there to defend her, but even that wasn't enough to help her face her cold truth. Every time it pained her heart as if she had been ripped in two. She would then run wanting to be alone, even from her friends. Away from every pony.

When she felt at her worst, she walked off alone into the wilderness near a lake in the woods. Of course, it was far from the Everfree. She knew better even in her most depressed state not to go there. She would always just stare into her reflection of the water and dipped her hoof in the water just splashing it around a little as she dwelled on her flightless wings. Every time she was here, she always made a desperate wish to fly and every time it never came true. Her friends would always remind her how swimming like a sea pony was like flying, repeating her own words. Even then, it was just nothing like the real thing. Scootaloo sighed just staring into the water letting several tears dip in the lake.

That was until she heard something in the woods. It sounded like tree branches shaking. It was followed by some kind of sounds of groans and growls followed by an occasional small roar. Her heart and mind told her to flee for her life, but curiosity made her continue to walk cautiously deeper into the woods towards the sound. She made sure to crawl low through the bushes to avoid being seen from this creature, whatever it was. It was still hard to see through her cover. She would start to see vines from a tree moving and whipping as if something had been caught in them. Something either big or heavy. When she was close enough, Scootaloo peeked out from the bushes just enough that she could look at what was in the trees making so much strange sounds. Shocked and surprised, it was a young dragon tangled and hanging in the vines. It looked like a fish caught in a net when it's wings, limbs, and head was tangled down in the vines. It must have been struggling so much that it got even more tangled in the vines for who knows how long.

The dragon appeared to have a round head with some sort of scaled fins on the back of its head. It was all black except for its eyes that were different shades of green. It also had slender legs. It had more fins down on the tail. Two, closer to the main body and… one on the end. Scootaloo figured something might have happened to it. Something might have ripped it off. It looked far stranger and much more different from the other dragons she had heard about. She wondered if it could talk. Although, it could still be a hostile dragon that would eat her as soon as it got the chance. Then there was the fact that she couldn't leave something behind when it clearly needed help to be freed. Who knows what kind of creature would come to eat the helpless dragon. Sighing, she slowly walked out into the open.

The dragon heard her coming out of the bush and turned its head at her. It snarled in hostility despite having vines tying its mouth shut. It could not bite or breath at her to scare her off. It seemed to trust no creature, but it had little options on deciding who would be at who's mercy. Scootaloo had been frozen in place when it snarled at her with it's green piercing eyes with its slit pupils. Its eyes locked solely on her watching her every move. Swallowing and taking a breath, she attempted to speak to it. "Um… H-hello. M-my name is Scootaloo." She started with a nervous smile. But the dragon didn't change his reaction towards her. "Um, I heard something over here and found you. Uh, it looks like you need help, so I came to try and… give you… a helping hoof?" Still the dragon made no reaction other than glaring at her still growling. Her smile then fell seeing it wasn't going to react any differently. "Right." She said knowing talking wasn't going to change the situation.

Scootaloo then observed the trees and the vines it had been caught in. She looked around for a sharp stone before heading to one of the trees the dragon was hanging from. Not having any other choice, she would have to flap her wings as hard as she could to give her some support to climb the tree. It had been a while of falling or sliding down off the tree when she lost her grip, but she pressed on to make it to the top. This intrigued the dragon to watch her try to flap and climb the tree. It assumed that she couldn't fly for some odd reason. But it still didn't like seeing her hold a sharp object in her mouth as she tried to climb the tree.

Finally, Scootaloo made it to the first branch almost out of breath. She would then continue to make her way to the vines by crossing over branches to reach them. The closer she got, the more the branch become more unstable and would wobble around. She held on tight to the branch and crawled closer to the vines. She looked down to see the dragon still glaring at her. "Give me a break." Scootaloo thought to herself. When she reached it, she tried talking thought her mouth still holding the rock in it. "I'm going to get you down, so don't eat me." She tried to say and hoped the dragon understood.

Scootaloo began sawing through the vines slowly with the rock. It took a while before she cut through one of them and then the next and finally the last one. Unfortunately, she didn't consider that the branch she was on was bending from the weight before she cut the last vine. *snap* "Whoa!" The dragon then fell to the ground still tangled and giving a painful yowl from hitting the ground. Scootaloo was flung into the air before crashing through the branches and leaves. "Oof, ow, oh, ooh eek ow!" finally hitting the ground. "Awh!" Luckily there was a bush to break her fall, but it still hurt on the crash landing. "That could have gone better." She said getting up and looking for any broken bones. She managed to sprain her front hoof and hissed at the pain. She then looked over at the Dragon's body lying still. She became afraid that she killed it in the fall. She limped over to try and see if the dragon was alright. On closer inspection, she saw it still breathing. It gave her a breath of relief and figured it had been knocked out.

It seemed to still be tangled up in the vines. She saw the rock across from them and went to retrieve it. As she limped over, one of the dragon's eyes opened up to watch her head for the sharp stone. When she bent to grab the stone, it closed its eye to pretend to remain unconscious. Scootaloo came over to the dragon looking at the vines still tying the dragon down. The dragon could feel her standing over it knowing she had the stone in her mouth. If it planned it out right, it figured it could wait until she cut him loose. Then it would attack not trusting she had some other plan for it. The dragon trusted no pony by thinking she would double cross it. It heard her cutting the vines, but it felt her do it slowly and carefully. It puzzled the dragon to why she would be cautious to not cut it in the process of cutting the vines off. *snap* It began to feel the vines come loose. Some other vines were still tied tight to the dragon. It only had to wait for more vines to cut. *snap* It could feel more of its body become free. Its wings still felt tied together. It felt the pony climb on the dragon to reach the last main vine to set it free. *snap*

"There now. You can… AHH!" Scootaloo screamed as she was pushed off and pinned to the ground as the dragon had lunged from under her and pressed its foot on her with its claws near her neck. Scootaloo's eyes were wide with terror as she stared straight into the slit green eyes of the dragon looking down on her a growling with every breath. She was breathing fast as her heart raced and felt like it would pound out from her chest.

"What else did you have planned for me pony?" The dragon finally spoke. It had an accusing tone when speaking to her. Scootaloo guessed that the vines had kept it from speaking in the first place. "Is this some game to plan a bigger trap?" the Dragon spoke slightly gripping its claws harder on her.

Scootaloo tried to find the breath to talk. "N-n-no… I-I just c-couldn't leave y-you like th-that." She stuttered in fear. She wished she could close her eyes from seeing the jet-black reptile, but the fear it sent through her made it impossible to even blink.

The dragon looked for any sign of a lie in her face. He only saw terror. Then he saw a tear fall from her eye. "Don't you ever come after me, pony." He said before starting to breath in. Scootaloo's eyes started to shut feeling that this was the end for her. The dragon only gave a piercing roar in her face before dashing off into the woods. Scootaloo was panting rapidly when realization kicked in that she was still alive. She peeked from her fetal position to see the shadow of the dragon fading deeper into the woods roaring and crashing through the bushes and oddly making ground thumping noise. It barely mattered to her why he was making those sounds. She was still reeling in from the near-death experience. She started to get up and walk back to Ponyville, until she made a weary groan and falls forward on the ground and passes out.

A Strange Friendship

Author's Note

Enjoy :)

A Strange Friendship

The black dragon had been trying to fly out of the forest, but his attempts were futile. He felt the pain in his tail burn and sting. One of his back-tail fins was ripped off. He knew he should have let the bird go. It wasn’t worth the trouble chasing for a quick snack. Now he was a downed dragon. It irked his pride that a small pony had saved him from a tree of vines. If he ever got back to the other dragons, what would he tell them? Both the bird chase and pony rescue were equally embarrassing to him. He was a night fury. One of the deadliest dragons. At least when he would grow to his full height. Now he was stuck in a forest not knowing where to go. The trees could still have vines in them, and he would get caught again if he tried to climb them to see over the tops. Not only that, these trees were too small to get a good vantage point over the land. Who knows what kind situation he would run into if he ventured out in the open? He would have to wait until dark to move in the shadows of night.

He felt a bit of pity for that young filly. She was only trying to save him, and he scared her almost to death. Well, he just felt a small amount of pity. After all, she did damage his pride of saving him even though it was greatly needed. Maybe he should check to see if she was alright. She did fall from a great height from the trees. He could at least see if she wasn’t badly injured to head home. He then turned to head back to make a small check on the filly. He wasn’t concerned about her, at least that is what he told himself. He just wanted to see if she was gone to never bother him again.

When he came back to the spot where he last saw her. He noticed she was unconscious on the ground. He sniffed the air to make sure this wasn’t a trap as he came closer to the filly. So far nothing seemed strange out of the ordinary. He came over her and nudged her body. She wasn’t dead, but she still wasn’t moving. He saw that her foreleg was starting to swell and bruise. He figured it had happened when she fell through the trees. He assumed she was at an age around ten years old. What he didn’t understand was why she wasn’t flying yet. He didn’t understand the anatomy of a pony’s body on how they could fly. There had been some ponies known to have small wings and big bodies that were able to still fly. He just didn’t know why she couldn’t.

Apart from that, this filly needed help. Dragons had no real knowledge of pony medical aid. But what the night fury did know was when some ponies he saw that were injured, they would have some white cloth around the spot they were injured. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was the only thing he could do for the filly.

Although, not having any white cloths lying around, he grabbed some leaves and vines and wrapped her leg in leaves and tied it up in the vines. For added measure, he had placed mud under the leaves of the bandage. He had no idea if this was enough, but that was all he could do for the filly. That and stand watch in case any predators came to make a meal out of her. He perched himself in a tree to watch over the filly and over anything that moved around the area. Staying in the shadows of the tree made great cover for him until she woke up.

The sun was passing by as time dragged on. The night fury felt that he would have to spend the night and miss his chance to get back home. He hoped some pony would miss her and send out a search party. That way he could leave the filly in their care. But as dusk was falling, not a sign of a pony was seen. Perhaps they didn’t know where to look. Maybe this filly wasn’t from this part of the land. Maybe this filly was all alone. Either way, he had to stay and make sure she was alright.

The night fury noticed that it had been a while since the filly was unconscious and had gone without water since she was out. The night fury groaned as he took a leaf to dip in the water and cup it in his front foot to hold the water. He then came over to lift the filly’s head a bit before letting some drops fall in her mouth and then a few more when he was sure the first drops went down her throat.

Night had fallen and the night fury had gathered sticks to make a small fire around her to keep the filly warm. He was growing quite irritated about having to spend the night out watching over the filly. He could only hope she would wake up soon. Perhaps it was his own fault. He did roar right in her face as she was already cowering in the fetal position.

He spent the night watching over the filly as he spent the night in the tree. Morning soon came and the sun rose up in the sky. The night fury had kept the fire going all night so the filly wouldn’t freeze in the morning cold. When the sunlight finally reached the filly, she started to stir. The night fury was both relieved and upset that she was awake and was going to be able to leave him alone, but the night fury had to hide out until night so he could return home.

Scootaloo opened her eyes a bit dazed. She tried to rub her eyes, but her leg was still sore. She also noticed the bandage made of plants around her leg. She wondered who made it for her. It couldn’t have been a pony. They would have taken her with them to town. Maybe she did it in her sleep? It was a long shot of an answer.

She slowly got on her hooves and looked around. “Hello? Is anypony there?” She called out to anyone that might have been out there. She had the feeling something was watching her.

From behind her, a black tail stirred as it was hanging for out of a tree. The two bright green eyes watched her as she looked around. He then started to make his way down as Scootaloo turned to see him climb out from the tree. She gasped in fright scared and confused to why he was there. His head was low and back arched as if ready to pounce. His eyes glared at her full of distrust.

Scootaloo relaxed a bit after seeing that the dragon made no move to advance at her. “Um… hello?” She nervously greeted.

“Look pony, I didn’t have to stay and watch over you, but I did because you got me out of the tree. Now you are awake and can go back to your home.” The night fury said.

Scootaloo was surprised that he was finally talking to her. A bit rudely, but at least there was communication between them. “S-so you can talk.” She said

“Are you saying I am not intelligent enough to talk?!” the night fury growled.

Scootaloo raised her hooves defensively waving them and shaking her head. “No, no! It was just that you did say anything when I was talking to you before.” Scootaloo said trying to calm the dragon’s temper. “I’m Scootaloo.” She said placing out her hoof to the night fury.

“I have no desire to talk or give you my name.” The night fury said coldly.

“Well that sure is a nice way to thank a pony for saving you.” Scootaloo retorted. “I could have left you there and ran away, but I came to help instead because you needed help.” She said glaring at the night fury.

The night fury snarled at her making her remember not to antagonize a fire breathing dragon. But the night Fury new she was right and sighed. “Toothless.” He said.

“Wait, what?” Scootaloo asked confused at the word.

“My name is Toothless. Don’t ask why that is my name.” Toothless said begrudgingly.

Scootaloo made sure not to since he was very temperamental. It was silent for a while before she spoke. “Um, thanks for watching over me.” She said grateful for his aid.

Toothless just snorted as he faced away. “Just be careful next time.” He said bluntly.

Scootaloo walked a bit close to him. He saw her from the corner of his sight. She held out a hoof to him. “Friends?” she offered.

Toothless just growled and glided away to another spot away from Scootaloo. He made a shaky landing on an open spot. He hoped to discourage the pony from making anymore contact with him. He burned the ground with his flames to warm it up to rest on. What he wouldn’t do for a pile of gold to sleep on. He would then lie on the ground and hope to pass the time until the pony was well enough to leave. He noticed the birds flying in the sky and grew envious. Now with his tail damaged, he would never get to fly again. A bird swooped by his face and made him turn to watch it. It made him notice Scootaloo sitting just across from him giving a sheepish grin and wave of her hoof. Toothless grunted in annoyance and shifted his body so the fin of his tail would lie between them and block his vision of her.

Scootaloo was persistent to try and make friends with him. She limped over to a berry bush to pick some off and place it in a big leaf to carry over to Toothless. She was about to tap his tail, but he lifted it before she could touch it and gave an irritated groan. She presented the leaf of berries to him as a friendly offering. Toothless snorted and shook his head before walking away from her. Scootaloo remembered that dragons were flesh eating only. She then retreated and started eating the berries herself while trying to think of what else she could do.

This time he hung from a tree branch using his tail as a hook to hang upside down over the ground. This way the pony couldn’t reach him as he let his sleep pass the time away. An hour had passed. Toothless was still slumbering in the tree before a pesky bug flew in his nose. He then sneezed out fire to burn out the insect. The rude awakening made him wake and yawn. He wondered if the pony had left already. Instead he saw her sitting on a rock. She seemed to be doing something in the dirt as her head would move around. Curiosity got to Toothless to wonder what she was doing.

Scootaloo had a long stick in her mouth as she was drawing in the dirt. She had been drawing other pictures as well. As she drew, she then saw a shadow loom over her followed by the sound of deep breathing. She only assumed it was Toothless looking over her shoulder. Finally making some progress with interacting with the night fury, she just continued to draw in the dirt.

Toothless was looking at the pictures in the dirt. All pictures having to do with her and him playing, flying, and being friendly towards each other. Dragons were no artists or had no desire for it. When toothless saw it being done in front of him just with a simple stick being dragged in the dirt, he became curious of the significance of art. He figured he could at least give it a shot to see what the meaning behind it that made this filly draw. He began to walk away from Scootaloo to find something to draw with.

Scootaloo then noticed him leaving and turned to see what he was doing. She saw him rip a branch off a tree and hold it in the middle from his mouth. She was now curious herself to know what he planned to do.

Toothless then started to drag one end of the branch through the dirt and walk around making lines in the ground. Going from one area to the other and making turns and twists making it look like some strange dance. He would occasionally look back at Scootaloo and then return to drawing again. He would once and a while brush the leaves over Scootaloo’s head making her try to duck from the passing branch. Finally, the picture was complete. Toothless nodded thinking it was a well-done picture of his. It was supposed to be Scootaloo, but it was hard to tell as a bunch of scribbling in the ground. Scootaloo got up to try to get a better view of it. She then heard Toothless growl at her making her freeze.

“Excuse me, did I walk all over your picture?” Toothless said offended by her negligence.

“Sorry.” She apologized as she tried walking over the lines. She knew she would have to get out from the lines to get a better view. She carefully started walking over the lines so not to anger the dragon again. More focused on avoiding the lines, she wasn’t paying attention to where she was heading. She finally walked over the last line to escape the little obstacle course of lines. “There, I am out.” She said proud of her effort. She then felt a gust of wind or at least the breath of Toothless brush through her mane. Her smile disappeared knowing where she just walked next to. She slowly turned and recoiled to meet the eyes of the night fury. To her surprise, he seemed to have a more relaxed expression as he looked back at her. More curious than hostile by her. She then made another attempt to lend out a hoof for a shake. The closer she got, the more he would make a low growl of weariness of her hoof getting closer. She pulled back her hoof a bit frightened to see him settle down again.

Scootaloo then closed her eyes and faced away to lend out a hoof in his direction. Toothless saw this and was surprised by her actions. She was allowing him the choice to shake her hoof instead of trying to push her friendship on him. He figured she really did have respect for him. This made him allow himself to trust her. Instead of placing his paw up to shake her hoof, he closed his eyes and placed his snout onto her hoof instead. Scootaloo winced at the sudden contact on her hoof. She slowly turned to see what had happened and was surprised in awe to see the connection.

Toothless then took his snout off her hoof and looked at her. “I guess you are okay, for a pony.” Toothless said before walking off to another spot to rest.

Scootaloo just stood their amazed at what happened. “I guess I better get going. My friends and family should be worried about me. I’ll be fine to get home.” She said

Toothless grunted in acknowledgement. On the way back, she couldn’t get it out of her mind about that moment they shared. She felt something special between them some kind of connection they shared that made them the same. It was a great feeling that made her feel better about herself. The troubles of flying seemed far in the distance that it no longer bothered her. She remembered his tail and thought she should try to do something nice for him. She just hoped he would still be there the next day.

How To Fix A Dragon

Chapter 3

Scootaloo had been in her room thinking about Toothless. After coming back and telling every pony she was alright, some cried with joy while some scolded her of even going off on her own like that. She didn’t tell them where exactly she was lost during the past day so they wouldn’t discover Toothless. She just told them she fell down a hole and was unconscious until the next day before waking up and coming back home. There was nothing to really punish her on since it wasn’t really her fault. Accidents just seemed to happen like that and there was nothing a pony could do to prevent them. So, they all put this incident behind them and told her to really look where she would be walking next time.

She had rose early in the morning to draw a sketch of Toothless’ tail. She had to draw and redraw his tail until she got it right. She made sure to find a piece of paper long enough to how she remembered the length and width of the tail. She would even use multiple pieces of paper if the paper she found wasn’t big enough to draw on. At least the part of his tail that wasn’t damaged. She just needed help on what she planned to do next. She had been practicing a lot to rebuild and build scooters. Going through blueprints and books, but she felt she needed professional assistance for her project. She knew exactly who to go to. Of course, not Twilight. She would quickly get suspicious on why she was making what she wanted. She had to go to some pony that wouldn’t get wise to her. After finishing her sketches, she rolled them up and placed them in her saddle bags to leave the house.

Scootaloo was making her way into town. She saw some of the bullies she knew. But she didn’t care since something else was on her mind more important than their presence.

“Hey look, it’s the flightless chicken.” One of the bullies said.

Scootaloo just passed by not even listening to their insults. “Sorry can’t talk, I’m busy” She said bluntly and continued her way without even a glance at them. The bullies just stared after her confused.

Scootaloo had finally made it to her destination. The home of Doctor Whooves. She knew he loved to invent things and hoped he could help her with her task. He was the kind not to ask about some pony’s inventions if he could get the chance to make something if it intrigued him as a challenge. She just planned to tell him it was a science project of flight. She hoped he was home or more importantly, interested in her project. She walked to his front door and knock. She waited for a moment as she heard nothing. She knocked again. “Hello? Dr. Whooves?” Scootaloo called. She then heard some crashing and sounds of metal banging around. She hoped he wasn’t in the middle of something big.

The door soon opened revealing Dr. Whooves as he was surprised to see a filly at his house. “Oh, hello young filly. Can I help you with something?”

Scootaloo inhaled readying herself to do this. “I have a science project I am working on and need your help. You are the only pony I know that invents things.” She said.

Dr. Whooves became curious and intrigued about the assistance she needed for her project. “Well you have come to the right pony for the job? What kind of project is it?” He asked.

She pulled out the sketches of the tail. “It is about flight. I wanted to do a project on how a dragon could fly with a tail like this.” He looked over the sketches as she explained her problem. “As you can see, I could only draw half of it. I really need help to learn about how this half of the tail would make a dragon fly and build a life size functional model for it.” She said. “Can you help?”

Dr. Whooves looked over the design. “I see. This is similar to some of my recent models and the mechanism of the wing functions are pretty basic.” He said inspecting her sketches.

“Also, can you teach me how to make it? I really need to know everything about it.” Scootaloo added to her request.

Dr. Whooves found this as a challenge not only to build the dragon’s tail design, but to pass its knowledge to a filly. “I think I can help. Follow me to my lab.” He said letting her inside the house.

Scootaloo looked all around the room of his home to see all kinds of inventions and models. She wondered where he had the time and bits to make all this. She wondered if he could ever build some mechanical wings to help her fly. But that shouldn’t be her focus. She shook her head from those thoughts and focused on the one she was here for. He brought her to her desk and moved all his other invention ideas out of the way. He then started explaining the basic mechanism functions of the tail fin and how it was vital for certain dragons to fly with a tail like this. This worried Scootaloo about Toothless. If his tail was damaged like this, that means he couldn’t fly. She knew what it was like not to fly. She didn’t want Toothless to go through the same thing. Scootaloo made sure to listen and remember everything. This was important for her idea to help with the dragon to repair his tail. She would make sure to ask what certain words meant that he said that seemed too scientific for her to remember or understand. If ever she needed to repair the tail, she would know what to do in order to repair it. She had Dr. Whooves guide her with making the tail model. Using what was in his workshop to tinker and create the tail with. Also using a material that was strong enough not to tear that was like strong leather. It was taking hours and they would break for lunch before going back to work. Scootaloo was focused on making and finishing this tail. Dr. Whooves was impressed with her dedication to this project and her effort to learning all about her project. It filled him with hope and pride for future foals to start taking an interest in inventing new technology.

With the passing of time, they finally finished the model. Scootaloo looked at it and was satisfied. They had both tested its durability to make sure that it would not break if overly used and tested if they used a big fan. After finishing, the Doctor helped strap it on Scootaloo to carry back to her home. “Thanks for everything Doc. I’m sure this will work.” Scootaloo said grateful for his assistance.

“Anytime err…” Dr. Whooves paused from not knowing her name.

“Scootaloo.” She said almost forgetting about introducing herself.

“Right, Miss Scootaloo. Good luck on your project.” He said as he showed her to the door.

“Bye Doc.” Scootaloo called while she rushed off with the Doctor waving her goodbye.

Scootaloo only made it look as if she was running in the direction of her house until she was out of sight. Then she turned into another direction to find her way out of town and head for the spot where she last saw Toothless. She was just about to head to the edge of town until she heard her name being called.

“Scootaloo!” Scootaloo stopped startled by her name being called out. For a second, she thought she was caught by an older pony, but she only saw it was Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They finally caught up to her curious about two things. “Where have ya been all day Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “We haven’t seen ya all day.”

“Yeah, and where are you going with that thing on your back.” Sweetie Belle asked pointing to the tail device on her back.

“Oh, well I was… going to try a new… Kite. Yeah, I made a kite and wanted to try it.” She said hoping they bought it.

“Awesome, can we come help fly it too?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“NO!” Scootaloo shouted in fear. She also scared her friends from the sudden outburst. Scootaloo cleared her throat. “I mean, I can take care of it myself. It’s a… personal project. I have to do it myself to… study. For something important.” She said.

Apple Bloom gave a confused look to wonder what kind of project this was and who gave it to her. “Personal project?”

“Look, I’ll see you girls tomorrow. I just really have to get this done.” She said as she ran off leaving her two confused friends behind. She didn’t want to lie to them, but she couldn’t risk them finding Toothless and either them alerting other ponies or getting set on fire by the dragon. Too make sure she wasn’t followed; she took different routes around the area to lose any pony that might be following her. Later when she finally ended her attempt to lose any following ponies, she headed straight to where she last saw Toothless.

Toothless was still where he was before. He had been planning to head back home to the dragon lands until a dark thought entered his mind. What would the other dragons do when they learned he couldn’t fly anymore? Would they cast him out or leave him to fend for himself? Would they even accept him anymore? He had been one of the most popular dragons for his firepower, his expert flying, and his ferocity. Now he would be no better than a fire breathing lizard that was stuck on the ground. He couldn’t go back to be met with all the shame. He couldn’t go anywhere. His new life was to wander the world a flightless reptile. Worse was that he couldn’t cross the ocean, so he was stuck in this pony land. He sighed in only guessing was that he would have to hide out in a cave somewhere for the rest of his life. A lonely hermit dragon. “How could it get anymore worse than this?” he asked himself.

Then there was the sound of rustling bushes. Toothless stood up quick and was on alert to what was coming his way. The sounds kept coming closer and he prepared to attack. No doubt that whatever it was, it was coming straight for him. He would give it no chance to attack as he began to breath in to ready a fire blast. Right when he saw it come out, he was about to blast the creature until he saw it was Scootaloo. At the last moment, he turned his head only just enough to have the plasma shot just miss her and pass right her head and blasting over a tree with a loud crash.

Scootaloo had ducked and covered when she heard and felt the explosion behind her. She then peeked up from her hooves that was covering her face. She looked behind her to see the burning stump of the tree and the rest of the fallen tree on the ground. She then turned back to Toothless who had multiple expressions of shock and anger. “What is wrong with you?! It was just me coming to visit!” Scootaloo shouted as she was just as shocked and angry as toothless.

“Me?! What about you?! How was I supposed to tell if it was you or some creature trying to attack me? You could have called out or something!” Toothless argued back. It made him more outraged to being yelled at by a young pony.

“Well you could have called out who was coming! I come back trying to help you and this is what I get?!” Scootaloo shot back.

“Why would I need your help? We’re already even. You don’t need to bother me anymore.” Toothless said before turning around facing his backside to her and plopping on the ground in a pout.

Scootaloo just took a breath to calm down. She guessed he was acting like this because of his tail and being unable to fly. “You can’t go home, can you?” She asked Toothless. Toothless only made a snort as his answer. “Don’t worry, I know what it is like.” She confessed. Toothless head dorsal fins perked up when he heard this. “I was never able to fly, and I don’t think I ever will.” She then pulled the prosthetic tail from her back. “I made this for you. I was hoping it could help you to fly again.”

Toothless turned around and came over cautiously. His pupils turned to slits as he was on alert to look at anything suspicious. Scootaloo was shrinking back a bit still a bit frightened of the dragon’s size and appearance. He came close to sniff the prosthetic. “How does this thing work?” Toothless asked curiously as his eyes returned to normal.

“Oh, let me show you.” She said as she ran behind him to his tail. Toothless turned still feeling uneasy at her approach. He kept his tail away from her.

Scootaloo frustratedly chased after his tail. “Will you just stand still? I’m not going to eat your tail or anything.”

“How do I know you won’t cut off the rest of my tail when I’m not looking?” Toothless said accusingly.

“Then you can eat me if I do!” She said still trying to catch his tail. “I sure hope he doesn’t.” Scootaloo thought to herself.

Toothless reluctantly stopped moving for Scootaloo to catch his tail. “Sounds like a deal.” Toothless said for something to go wrong.

“Gee, thanks.” Scootaloo grumbled as she got to work on fixing on his new tail fin. Toothless moved his tail a bit feeling like his tail had been restored by feeling the weight return to his damaged tail fin. “Alright, it seems to work. Nice and tight. All we have to do is… YAHH!” Scootaloo shrieked when she was forced to cling to his tail and watch herself leave the ground and start being lifted into the air riding backwards on the dragon’s tail. “What’s going on?! What are you doing?!” she shouted in fear.

“I’m going to fly!” Toothless called back.

“But I didn’t test it yet!” Scootaloo said. Just then, they both began to feel gravity pull the down.

Toothless screamed as he fell seeing that they were heading into a pile of stone. Scootaloo then saw the prosthetic closed and flailing in the wind. She then reached out and pulled the fin open. Toothless was able to fly up from the pile of stone and up into the sky.

“I can fly again!” Toothless shouted with joy to be in the air again.

Scootaloo was just as excited to know that the new fin was working. “I think it’s working!” She said then pulling on the fin up to force Toothless to make a sharp turn. He flew back down towards the lake. “I did it! I fixed it!” Scootaloo shouted happily and proud of herself.

“Yes, you did and now I can go home. Goodbye.” Toothless said before making a sudden U-turn and sending Scootaloo screaming into the water. “Now I am home free.” Toothless said as he tried to fly off but felt that he wasn’t in control anymore. He looked back to see the new fin flail once again into the wind as he fell into the water as well. After emerging from the water, Toothless looked back at the filly with a disappointed frown.

“What?” Scootaloo shrugged as she treaded water. “I see this as a win.”

“You mean a win of getting my hopes up?” Toothless said swimming towards the shore.

Scootaloo started to make her way to land as well. “Oh don’t be such a baby. I’ll fix it when I get back. I think I know how to fix it.” She said unsure.

“What do you mean you think you can? You are the one who built it, right?” Toothless said concerned.

“Yeah… sort of… I had somepony else to help me make it.” She admitted embarrassment showing on her cheeks.

“That is it then. I’m a grounded dragon.” Toothless whined.

“Hey, I did most of the work to build the tail! I can fix it, just you wait and see.” Scootaloo said walking over to his tail and taking the fin off. Toothless didn’t make a fuss this time, but when she turned around from the tail, Toothless swatted his tail fin on her flank as punishment. “Ow! What was that for?!” Scootaloo shouted angrily at him. She rubbed her reddening flank.

“That is for getting my hopes up.” Toothless said pouting.

“You sure are grateful, you useless reptile.” Scootaloo said sarcastically.

“Make sure it works this time, you flightless chicken.” Toothless demanded. He then walked over to a spot where he could sleep in the shadows.

Scootaloo headed back home to Ponyville. Despite her rude reward from Toothless, she couldn’t help but feel a bit better and excited from having a short flight on a dragon’s tail. The speed and the power of his wings were much different than a pony’s wings. Each beat was so powerful. Pony’s had feathered wings, so they didn’t beat as loud as a dragon’s. Maybe if she tried harder to earn his friendship, he would let her fly with him or better yet, ride on his back. That gave her an idea. She would first make the fin more functional to help him fly. To do that, she would need to also make something else for Toothless. A saddle.

Author's Note

If anyone is interested, I have another fanfic on Fanfiction.net called Dragonbond. just a suggestion. I don't think it would be accepted on this site according to the rules.