Well then, ponies...

Alrighty then, as many of you have no doubt noticed i need an editor. after i finish the chapter i'm often too tired to do it myself. not trying to be subtle here in case you haven't noticed... if you haven't then i have some bad news for you.

I woke up in my bed with fresh claw marks on my back, “Is it weird that I enjoyed that so much?”

Rulia put her head on my chest and smirked, “Which part, the part with my tail or my claws?”

“Umm, both.”

“No, how much you want to bet you won’t sit right for a week?”

“Nice try, but I still have my magic.”

“Do you ever get tired of relying on it for everything?”

I stroked her hair as I thought about her question, “I suppose I don’t really think about it. It’s just another part of me like an arm or a leg. If I ever did lose it I could live without it but I’d rather not think about it too much.”

I sat up and smelled one of my pits, “Oh yeah, fire.”

“Oh you know you liked it.”

“Of course, what guy doesn’t like being set on fire while getting some?”

“Exactly.”

I got out of bed and bent backwards making my back pop several times, “Alright, shower time.”

“I do not understand why humans use water to clean themselves, why not just burn the grime off?”

“Because human skin is sensitive, what a nice cleaning is for you is a death penalty for us. Well regular humans anyway.”

“weaklings.”

I nodded as I went into the bathroom and took off my necklace. The shower was short but relaxing, the water cleaned out my wounds before I healed them and felt soothing on my sore muscles. I scratched my chin and noticed my stubble was growing into a beard, good. I toweled off but as I was about to walk out my crystal started vibrating, “Jacob Indium here.”

The portal blinked into existence showing an angry Twilight, “I figured it out.”

I smiled, “Good, I see you got a communication crystal. Has your princess been told yet?”

“No, why?”

“Well unless she volunteers you’ll be assigned a teacher, if you do pray it isn’t Noxus.”

“Who’s Noxus?”

“Sexual deviant, he’ll try every trick in the book to get you into bed with him. Some not legal.”

She shuddered, “Alright, I’ll do that now.”

“Oh and before I forget you can ask me anything about my completed spells now, and you best call her with your crystal instead of a letter. Don’t ask, just trust me on this one.”

She nodded and cut off the magic. I went back into the room and got dressed, “You hungry?”

she nodded, “Do we have pickles and vanilla ice cream?”

I raised an eyebrow, “we do, wait why did I even pack those?”

I shrugged and retrieved the food from under one of my anvils, “Here ya go. I need to drop by the Arcanum for a little bit, you want any books to read?”

she nodded, “Can you get something on fire magic?”

I smiled and left her to eat her odd confection. I walked outside and opened a pitch black portal enticing some odd looks from the passing ponies. After I stepped through I looked at the world that was the Arcanum library, it was a literal paradise for magic users. Each building was ancient, built with magic in mind. They each had a symbol on the front telling what sorts of magic lay inside, rune magic, blood magic, ice magic, harmony magic, chaos magic, fire magic, summoning, conjuration, transformation and so much more. I walked into the building with a red banner and an orange emblem of fire. The insides were like any other library, books organized by content and author on neat shelves as far as the eye could see. “Hello dearie, can I help you?”

I looked to the old librarian; she was a flame atronach whose flames just barely rose off her body. “Yes, do you have any magic a dragon could learn rather quickly?”

she thought for a moment before snapping her fingers creating a small burst of fire, “Ah yes, Ignis infinium by Seras Jokial. Go down three rows then take a left, it should be under author but if it isn’t then check content.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

She smiled as I walked away, sure enough I found it under the authors name and walked back to the desk, “Alright, here’s my card and the checking fee.”

I dropped several silver coins on the desk along with a golden piece of metal. She picked the card up and put a mark on it, “You can check out two more books.”

I nodded and smiled. After I put the book in my bag I walked out and my crystal started buzzing, “Two in one day, looks like I’m popular. Jacob Indium here.”

The portal revealed a pissed off alicorn, “Why did you tell Twilight about the Arcanum!?!?”

I raised an eyebrow, “Two reasons, one I thought she’d be a good student. And two, my personal revenge against you. I’m not saying you had to accept him but you rejected him like a grade A bitch.”

“That was before your time!”

“You of all people should know time is irrelevant to mages. Especially me.”

“Not quite, you will grow old and die.”

“You haven’t heard? I’m working on a new field of magic, reincarnation. If I succeed then when I die I will just be resurrected in a younger body that I made.”

“But it won’t have your power.”

“On the contrary, it is a perfect copy of me and will absorb even more magic over time. When I die I will become even more powerful.”

“Your mad!”

“So was your father.”

She closed her mouth but her eyes were screaming bloody murder. I gave her a smile and cut off the communication, “Oh that’s going to bite me real hard in the ass.”

I walked through the streets until I got to the residential area and knocked on my old room. After a few seconds my old roommate opened the door, “DUDE! You guys need to get internet all up in this place.”

I smiled at the drug addicted man, “You know I have no idea what that is.”

“Dude, Jacob, you need to try this weed!”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m here for the book.”

He instantly got serious, “You sure? Once you take it there’s no way I’m taking it back.”

I nodded, “I need it, I’m getting married.”

“Right now?”

“No, but the sooner I do this the sooner it can be over.”

He walked into the house and came back with a dusty old book, “If you’re sure then here.”

I took the book and blew the dust off of it revealing an ancient tome called: Yellow pages. I walked off before sitting on a bench and opening the book, “Michael Indium.”

A rather large portal opened showing my father working his forge. His Braided white beard slightly dirty from the smoke and his eyes only regarded me for a moment before he pumped the bellows, “So, how are you son?”

I gulped and tried to smile, “Fine, I have some good new actually.”

“Destroy another country?”

“No, um, I’m getting married.”

He stopped in his tracks and gave me his full attention, “To that dragon princess?”

“Rulia, yes.”

“I see you’ve started growing your beard.”

“Yes sir, however I will be a dragon the first time we get married.”

“What kind of rotten magic is that?”

“Transformation, class ten. But after that we’ll have a human wedding.”

He stroked his beard, “Have you told your brother yet?”

“No, but I figured you would want to know first and he prefers it if I don’t call.”

“Well why is that?”

“He said it’ll ruin his image if he’s seen talking to me in public, he needs that position to keep the masses from starting an all-out war against me.”

He nodded before pumping the bellows a few more times, “Have you been keeping up with your forging?”

“Yes sir, I had to forge a necklace for Rulia actually. I used magic metals but the skills I used were from you.”

He nodded, “Well I can’t say I approve of how you’ve spent your life but, I can’t very well refuse to go to my son’s wedding.”

“Thank you father. And please remind me to give you the barbarians axe, I found it in some old ruins deep under dragon territory.”

“You found it?”

“Yes, our family will finally have it back.”

He nodded, “Son before you close this magic thing, I’m proud of you. You have an adventurous life.”

“Ha-ha, you know I’d rather be at the forge.”

He nodded and went back to work. I closed the portal before shakily standing up and walking through the park. It was a quaint place compared to the libraries but I liked them anyway, a good place to meet friends and relax. I wandered for a moment but stopped when a skeletal hand landed on the shoulder, “And where do you think you are going mortal?”

I smiled and turned around, “Just appreciating the scenery, not causing any trouble sir.”

Death stood over me his bony skull just barely covered by his ebony cloak. He removed his hand before chuckling, “Still can’t get a scare out of you can I?”

“Not until you come for my soul sir.”

It looked like he nodded but I wasn’t sure. “So you’re getting married I hear.”

“Did Mark already put in the paper?”

“Ha, no he just overdosed on some stuff.”

“Wow really? I saw him like five minutes ago.”

“Truth be told I gave him a few freebies, he was a nice kid but there was no way I could ignore it this time.”

“Understandable, so how’s your dad doing?”

“He’s been better, there are twenty something wars going on through the multiverse so we’ve both been swamped for the past few weeks.”

“Isn’t that new guy Mortality working out?”

“He is, extremely efficient that one. Even so the three of us have to round up ten to fifteen thousand souls by ourselves every day.”

“What about the shadow servants?”

“The last one died about a week ago.”

“Well why didn’t you say so? The next few groups got finished a month ago. Just go pick them up at you earliest convenience. You know I take what little work I have seriously.”

His hood moved up and down before he walked away. Let’s see, anyone else I need to see before I leave? I looked around before shrugging and opening a portal back to Ponyville. I stepped through and immediately my eyes were assaulted by the sun, “GAH! Gods dammed fireball!”

I rubbed my eyes for a moment before walking back to the inn, “I got a book, and pretty sure you haven’t read this one.”

I handed her the book and sat on the edge of the bed. “You look upset, what’s wrong?”

Rulia put her chin on my shoulder thrumming. “Nothing, just, nothing.”

“Now don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t know, something’s missing. Right above my stomach, an emptiness.”

Her forked tongue wriggled in my ear causing me to shudder. “You know I hate it when you do that.”

“I know, but I think I have something to cheer you up.”

She pulled a newspaper over and put the front page in front of my face, “Grand Galloping Gala, tonight. After last year’s gala ended in fiasco we are all waiting eagerly to see what fun and festivities are going to be present at this year’s gala. This event is bringing dignitaries from all around the world including the dragon queen Sephora.”

I smiled, “Dragon queen, high class party, oh and look here the elements of harmony are going to be attending. Rulia, you really know how to cheer me up. I think I’ll wear my formal robes, or maybe the armor I forged for our wedding. No that would ruin it, maybe just some ebony armor.”

“Why not something gold? You always wear black so why not change it up?”

I nodded, "I have all the materials and a few hours, do you want me to make you anything while I’m at it?”

“Maybe some earrings, I’m going to wear my new dress. The one I made from my old scales.”

“Better than any armor I’ll give you that.”

I stood up and cracked my back, “You want to come?”

“No thank you, I think I might go shopping.”

“Alright, here are all the bits I have on me.”

I tossed a couple bags of the golden coins onto the bed and headed out. The innkeeper cleared his throat as I walked past, “You’re going in and out an awful lot. Suspicious if you ask me.”

“I suppose you would know, even with your magic you can’t hide all the things in the wall.”

“Fair enough.”

I smirked and walked out the door reaching the forge soon enough. “What brings you back? I was just about to close shop.”

“Need to use the forge, I have a party to crash tonight.”

“This party wouldn’t happen to be the gala would it?”

“What can I say, I aim high.”

He nodded and walked out, “Lock up when you’re done alright?”

I just grunted in agreement as I took my robe off leaving a pair of pants. As I worked my mind fell back onto my spells, how they worked, how I could improve them, that sort of thing. After a couple of hours I had finished most of my armor and Rulia’s earrings, they were just a couple of the twisting dragons, they were long snake like dragons with whiskers on their faces. I stood for a moment debating whether I needed a helm. I’ll just go with a circlet with some rubies. I closed the door and locked up before lugging all my things back to the room, “I’m back.”

She was on the bed sniffing a rather large crystal, “It’s amazing, these things are filled to the brim with magic.”

It was just a blue crystal but she was right, with the right conditioning that thing could take out a castle. Hmm, or fill it with a nasty smell. “Hey, I have an idea. What do you say when we leave we leave with a bang?”

“I’m listening.”

Me: Alright lil’ bro, take it from here
James: I will shave your head in your sleep if you call me that again.
Me: Shutting up.

We slinked past the guards with relative ease, “I swear if I was an assassin everyone in this castle would be dead already.”

Rulia nodded as we climbed onto the top of the castle. We looked down through a skylight to see the princesses shaking hooves, “Look like they’ll be there for a while, I’ll set up the crystal real quick then join you. Ah there’s the dragon queen. She’s half the size of you!”

True enough the blue dragon was rather puny compared to the two of us. I sneaked through the castle placing the crystal in Celestia’s room. There was no way that smell would come out for months! When I finally got to the ballroom Rulia was trying to keep her cool while Sephora was insulting her, “HA! Dragon princess, you hardly look like you would be suitable for a snack!”

“Watch your mouth you overgrown iguana!” I walked through the crowd of ponies up to the dragon.

“And who are you? The Dragon prince?” She spoke in a tone that made me want to throttle her.

“I am; now if you don’t want to leave here missing a leg I suggest you apologize to my fiancé!”

she just snorted and ignored me. I could feel Rulia’s anger and it dwarfed mine, she was ready to rip the dragon’s throat out, “Jacob, as your mate I demand you make her pay.”

The pure animosity in her voice scared me, “Y-yes dear.”

I floated up behind the dark blue dragon and smacked her with enough force to send her forward a dozen feet, “You will pay for that you little flesh bag!”

“You insulted my mate; as such we demand a duel. Your mate against me.”

she seemed amused for a moment before roaring, “Very well, we shall see how you fare against Alduin.”

A few minutes passed before we heard flapping and a roar in the distance. “What is going on here!?”

the entire room turned to see Celestia stern faced and staring at me. It reminded me of when I broke Clover’s favorite vase, “The fat lizard here insulted Rulia, she told me to make her pay, so I am. Her mate and I are about to fight to the death for our mate’s honor.”

She just looked at me exasperated, “How did I know tonight was going to end like this?”

“Who says the night will be over?”

“Death tends to put a stop to festivities Jacob.”

“Normally yes, but I have a plan.”

I teleported outside and saw what I could honestly say was an embarrassment to the dragon race. His arms fused with his wings at some point and his body was thin to the point the bones were showing. His now grey scales were dull and rough. His mouth was missing a few teeth and his eyes, they were dead. He cleared his throat and spoke, “Introducing the king of dragons, Alduin.”

Behind the sickly dragon a golden monster hit the ground; he was a perfect specimen about the size of me in my dragon form. His scales shimmered in the moonlight as his blue eyes took me in, “I was summoned to fight an insect? What trickery is this?”

his voice was deep and commanding, every word carried weight of someone who knew all. He scared me. I looked back at Rulia who was smirking; she had way too much confidence in me. The only advantage physically I saw was that he lacked the trademark spikes of a male. I sighed and started growing until I was about ten feet tall before my body turned black and my skin turned to scales and my face grew into a snout. My back burned in pain as wings sprouted and a tail grew from the bottom of my spine. Before too long my stature equaled Alduin’s and my eye sockets were pure crimson, “An insect indeed, you’ll find I am full of surprises.”

My claws felt the earth underneath them leaving gashes in the dirt. We tensed waiting for each other to make the first move. When it became apparent I would have to I took a breath and spewed ebony flames from my may which stopped halfway to him by his own golden ones. This went on for a few minutes before I had to take a breath. I cut off my flames and stepped to the side making his flames fly by. A quick thrust of my wings and I was sailing towards him my mouth prepared to clamp onto his neck. He however had different plans his pristine claws swiped across my face leaving a sizable wound. It’s odd, this was the first time I’ve actually had a wound inflicted by a single opponent. It was, well I felt odd. A strange mix of respect and fury. From the spot I stood in front of him I growled, “You are the first to bleed me old one, well done.” I curled my claws and brought them up in a punch, an odd tactic for a dragon but effective nonetheless. He recoiled if only a bit before I used some magic to make the earth shoot up and impale him. He coughed some golden blood as I put my lips next to his hearing scales, “Looks like an ant can take down a dragon.”

He started to fall but I caught him and started spinning him around in circles till we were a blur of gold and ebony. I let go of him making him sail away towards the soft glow of volcanoes in the distance. I turned around and started back towards the castle, as I got closer my body began dissolving until I was at one of the window which I just passed through as my human self. The wound had transferred over leaving three nasty gashes on my face. All night not a word was spoken of what happened, eventually ponies went back to the party and several things all happened at once. Rainbow in an attempt to do a trick hit a column which slammed down next to Twilight who was concentrating on a spell making it misfire hitting Rarity who had turned into a literal mule in her dramatic outburst she hit Pinkie making the canon she was showing off hitting Fluttershy making her jump onto a table making the punch fly off and land on Luna’s head who screamed so loud it scared Applejack causing her cart to hit another column making the rest fall and the entire room fall apart over us. Incredibly nobody was hurt other than their pride. I just sat there wide eyed as Rulia was laughing so hard she was crying, “I didn’t think it would end up like that!”

I shook my head and cursed, “Stupid ponies trying to show me up. Ah well guess I lose this time.”

I helped Rulia up and teleported us back to our room. The crystal sensing my exit started on turning the air within a five mile radius into methane, not enough to kill but more than enough to stink up the place. As we lay on the bed naked and exhausted I started laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I’m just wondering how hard all of this is going to bite me in the ass.”

“Hahaha, good thing to wonder.”

With that we fell asleep my dreams filled with pain originating from my face and hers of ripping Sephora’s innards out.