The coastal village of Riverdale had seen many things over the years, from bandit raids to Ursa Minors causing mayhem. Yet nothing had prepared them for the chaos that had befallen the little hamlet when the dragons had begun their attacks. Up and down the coast, villages were razed or carried off by the greedy claws of the great beasts, leaving little but ash in their wake and sorrow in the hearts of the survivors. Many had fled the coast for safer areas inland, but for some there was no real choice. They had nowhere else to go, and thus they stayed, despite the risks weighed against them. Yet even with the threat of death hanging over them, the ponies of Riverdale had stood strong against the fear in their hearts, and many felt that their strength had been rewarded by their new protector.

While the village had been able to avoid attacks for a while due to its small size and its secluded location in a river valley between two mountain ranges, that luck had run out only three short months ago. Dragons, most likely a scouting party given it was only a quintet of teenagers who found them, had flown into the village from the coast and began torching the hamlet while destroying everything else with tooth and claw. Riverdale had no guard ponies to protect them due to their small size, and most had been ready to flee for their lives when it happened.

From the river, rising from the previously calm waters to over twice the size of their largest building, was an adult dragon. Her sapphire scales had rippled with rainbows from the water cascading down her form while her bright, golden eyes glared down at them with righteous fury. Yet what happened next shocked every being present into a frozen stupor.

“Leave this village alone,” her voice had been soft and smooth, yet held the force of a raging storm within as she stared down the teenage dragons, “or I will see to it you never get the chance to see the Dragon Lands again.”

The younger dragons had only taken a moment to glance amongst themselves, as if looking for a braver soul to lead them against this new threat. When none were to be found, they seemed to reach a single conclusion, quickly taking to the air and fleeing down the coast with their tails tucked in fear. The dragoness had followed their shrinking forms with her narrowed gaze until they were out of sight, before turning towards the ponies that had remained frozen in place.

As her golden orbs landed upon the terrified villagers, most either closed their eyes and awaited death, or outright passed out from terror. A few even tried to hide in their huts, but nopony was ready for what happened next. The dragoness looked at the burning buildings and seemed to feel sadness for their loss, a small smile crossing her muzzle as her head tilted back slightly. Many watched in shock and wonder as a great stream of water erupted from her mouth, dissipating into a fine mist as it settled over the burning section of the hamlet. The flames struggled against the sudden downpour for only a moment or two before slowly dying, leaving half-soaked husks in their wake. A rainbow formed in the droplets once the dragoness stopped, her gaze warm and inviting as it turned to the ponies that now looked up at her in stupefied awe.

“You need not fear me, little ones,” her voice was like a warm stream as it flowed through the ears of those listening, “I am not your enemy. As long as you call this valley home, I will protect you from the other dragons.” Gasps had erupted from the crowd and even more had stuck their heads out of their windows to listen better, “I am not like the other dragons, who only look for personal gain or pleasures. I will be your guardian, for as long as you wish it.”

The dragoness seemed to understand the sudden worry that had swept through the crowd upon hearing her declaration, “You need not worry about providing food or shelter for me, I will hunt for myself and have a home already set up nearby for my own needs.” Her muzzle curled into a soft smile as relief flowed through the still warry villagers, her body disappearing into the waters of the river as she passed on her final words, “Take care now, and I will be here if you ever need me. Just call for Azura should the dragons return.”

With that the titanic beast sunk beneath the rapids of the river, leaving the entire village in shocked silence.

Since the appearance of Azura, Riverdale had been the target of two more dragon raids, both smaller groups of drakes and drakinas that had apparently heard the stories from the first group and had come to investigate for themselves. Two times a raid had been spotted by scout pegasi, two times the call for aid had been cried at the tops of the villagers’ lungs, and two times the attackers had been scared away by Azura, who always appeared from the river’s deeper waters to defend the hamlet from destruction. At first the villagers had been worried that they had been lied to and that they were trading one threat for another. Yet Azura never showed herself except when the village was under attack, and nopony had been able to locate her lair or discover any other signs that she was even living nearby. The mystery of the sapphire dragoness continued to grow, yet what nopony could have possibly imagined was that Azura did in fact live within the village itself, just in a manner that none of them could have foreseen.

Morning Dew trotted through the village square with a pep in her step, a smile warming her cheeks as her saddlebags bounced against the sides of her barrel. She felt like a princess and was doing her best to not burst into song with each passing second. Her long, golden mane rippled in the afternoon sunlight and her sky-blue coat shimmered with moisture just like her namesake as she greeted the various villagers around her. She giggled at the stunned happiness that seemed to shine in every face around her and took pride in the fact that she had been the one to cause those expressions in her neighbors.

And yet, her face couldn’t maintain the same beaming smile for long as she spotted another group of ponies milling around the town hall, their hoof-written signs bouncing above their heads as cries of anger and fear echoed down the street. A sigh escaped Morning’s muzzle as she lowered her head in passing, doing the best she could to avoid being noticed as the mayor tried to calm the raging mob.

“Why do we even listen to that overgrown lizard?!” One pony yelled above the rest.

“Yeah!” Another cried, “All she’s doing is waiting for her chance to take over our village and is keeping the competition away!”

More accusations flew as Morning stepped around the corner of the next street, her heart pulsing a few dozen beats faster than normal. It was ponies like those that prevented her from revealing her secret, mostly in fear of what would happen if she did. She knew that a dragon helping ponies was unheard of, and deep down inside her heart she knew that it would never be easy to reveal what was really happening, no matter how much she may have wanted to. And so, she kept trotting down the street, her destination appearing from the houses on her right while a small wooden sign waved overhead in the afternoon breeze.

Another, smaller smile found its way to her lips as she pushed open the door to the establishment, the chime of a bell ringing through the space upon her entry and a chipper voice calling from the back room.

“I’ll be with you in a moment!” There was a loud crash and a muffled curse before a dusty-brown mare with a pink and green mane trotted into the main room. “Morning Dew! Oh, it’s been a while! I haven’t seen you for a few weeks!” The mare rushed forward and embraced Morning with all her earth pony strength, forcing the air from the taller unicorn’s lungs before she let go.

“It’s good to see you too, Curio.” Morning wheezed despite the grin that still held firm to her lips, “How’s business lately?”

Curio Corner’s rose eyes flashed in glee as she spun around to indicate the somewhat sparsely filled shelves, “Business has never been better! Especially with all the cool things you keep bringing for me to sell!” The petite mare did a small happy dance on her hooftips before returning her attention to Morning, “You have no idea how many ponies stop in just to see if you’ve brought anything new for me to sell. It’s like every other week the little foals are getting another surprise Hearth’s Warming present. I keep telling them you can only find so many treasures at a time, but it just never seems to sink in.”

Morning rolled her eyes as Curio giggled like a filly herself, “You and I both know that the treasures I find aren’t worth that much. Why the foals and mares of this town go nuts over them I’ll never understand.”

Her friend just rolled her eyes and pat her hoof against Morning’s shoulder, “How a mare of your beauty and eye for detail can’t see the value of your work astounds me. You find one-of-a-kind treasures out in the middle of nowhere and don’t visit the village for weeks on end, yet you never stick around to even see the smiles and joy you bring to the others.”

Morning shrugged, “I guess I’m just a hard mare to pin down. I can’t help it if my tastes are different from everypony else.”

A gusty sigh escaped Curio’s muzzle before she rolled her eyes, “Whatever. Anyway, since you’re here, I don’t suppose you happen to have something for me?”

Morning rolled her eyes in return at her friend’s antics, “Yes, I did happen to find something that you might be interested in. Give me a sec.”

Curio bounced side to side in eager anticipation when Morning’s horn lit up with a warm golden light, her saddlebags’ flaps folding open as several small items floated into the air between them. Curio’s eyes widened in awe as Morning’s lips curled into a smirk, both of their gazes locked on the items currently hovering in between the two mares.

Curio slowly lifted a hoof but paused just shy of touching the first item, “Is this what I think it is?”

Morning nodded, “A real life griffin feather. A primary if I remember correctly from a hen that had a raven’s wings.”

In the bright light coming through the shop windows, the feather had an iridescent glow to it that rippled along its two-hoof length as it rotated in Morning’s magical grip. It was well known that griffins fiercely protected their valuables, and the shed feathers of their wings were one of the most treasured things they owned. It was said that a griffin would save every primary feather until they day they died and had the otherwise immortal items burned with them when they were sent to the next world in the flames of a funeral pyre. To possess one was considered either the highest honor one could receive, or a death sentence, depending on the way a pony got the feather.

Curio turned her gaze, with some difficulty, to the next item in Morning’s magic, her eyes somehow growing even wider as they settled onto the small, silver sphere.

Morning preempted her friend’s question with a laugh, “Yes, this is a Morningstar Pearl, and yes I had to dive into the ocean to get it.”

Curio, in a rare moment for the excitable mare, seemed to be completely lost for words, “I-I don’t even know how you do it. You managed to not only swim down to those depths and survive, but actually got the pearl away from the oyster without being turned into a pincushion.”

Morning simply placed the pearl in Curio’s outstretched hooves, her smile softening as she remembered the feeling of the oyster’s famed projectile spines bouncing off her draconic scales and the awesome feeling that had pulsed through her when she had crushed the fiendish deep-water monster with her own claws. She hadn’t been planning to take the stupid thing’s treasure while out hunting for fish in the deeper waters of the ocean, but it had been an opportunity she couldn’t refuse when she had felt the first spine impact her belly and drawn her attention to the otherwise unassuming creature.

The pure silver pearl was about the size of Curio’s hoof and would probably fetch a price worth three times her weight in bits if she found the right buyer, hence the stupefied look the smaller earth pony gave her when Morning simply passed it over without any hesitation.

“I-I can’t accept this.” Curio’s attempt to give Morning back the pearl being blocked by her soft magic grip, “This thing is worth more than the rest of my store combined! And you’re just going to give it to me!?!”

Morning’s smile only grew as she nodded, “I am. I don’t need something like this, and I know how much it is worth. That is why I’m giving it to you. As the first and only friend I’ve made here in Riverdale I would feel like it was going to waste if it didn’t provide something of worth to somepony I care for. I know you will give this treasure a good home and the bits you make will be able to help not only you but the rest of the village as well. I understand if this is a bit much, but as my friend, would you accept this gift as a sign of my gratitude for all you have done for me?”

Curio’s eyes shined with tears as she held the pearl against her chest, “I-I’ll do my best to live up to that glowing review.” A heavy sniff echoed through the space as she wiped her eyes with a fetlock, “G-Give me a moment to put this someplace safe.”

Morning’s eyes sparkled with mirth as she tucked the griffin feather behind Curio’s ear, the smaller mare’s eyes widening even further at the gesture, “Don’t forget this one too.”

A snort escaped Morning’s nose as she tried to hold back her laughter at the stunned look on her friend’s face, “S-Sure.”

With that, Curio turned and stumbled back to the rear of the store, her dazed expression making Morning giggle a few times before her gaze turned to the final item floating in her magic aura. At first glance it didn’t look like much, but if one looked a bit closer, they would be able to see the small runic carvings carefully inscribed into the rippling surface of a navy dragon’s scale. This treasure was of Morning’s own creation and was something she had thought of that would help to keep tabs on the village when she was away. While it wasn’t a very complicated spell to cast if the unicorn had the right technique, it was actually inscribing the spell onto an item that had proved to be the challenging part. Regular stone or gems wouldn’t work, as the power involved would split the medium before it could fully form the spell, but when Morning had experimented with her own dragon scales, she found that their resistance to magic damage was just the ticket to make sure the listening scale wouldn’t tear itself apart.

Morning smiled as Curio came back out from the rear of the store, her stunned face still present as she glanced over at the final item in Morning’s magic, only for her eyes to narrow in confusion as she stepped closer.

“What is that?” Curio asked, her hoof rubbing over the smooth surface of the scale for a moment before glancing up at Morning.

“It’s a dragon scale that I found along the riverbank,” Morning stated plainly, “I think it might belong to Azura, if the color is anything to go by.”

Curio nodded, her eyes narrowing further as she inspected the runes Morning had carved into the scale, “But what about all of these marks? Those don’t look like normal marks from a shed scale.”

“Because those are unicorn runes,” Morning lied, “I carved them into the scale so that you will always know how much our friendship means to me. I didn’t plan on giving this for you to sell, partly because I think it wouldn’t be worth all that much, but mostly it’s because I wanted to give you something to remember me by that wouldn’t end up going into somepony’s collection.”

Curio smiled again, her eyes actually shedding tears this time as she pulled Morning into another bone-crushing hug, “I’ll keep it right on the mantelpiece, so I see it every time I step into my living room upstairs.” She lifted her head and nuzzled under Morning’s chin, the unicorn returning the affection with a nuzzle between Curio’s ears. “Thank you for this wonderful gift.”

“You’re welcome.” Morning whispered, pulling her friend closer for a moment with one of her own hooves.

“Now don’t be a stranger and stay away for too long, you hear me?” Curio jabbed Morning in the chest as she pulled away to playfully glare up at her friend, “Or else I might just have to reconsider our friendship status.”

Morning held a hoof against her chest, as if wounded by the mare’s words, “Oh, Curio, I had no idea you felt that way.” A playful smirk found its way to her muzzle as she quipped back, “If you had those kinds of feelings for me, I would have remembered to wrap the pearl before I gave it to you.”

Curio sputtered as a bright blush bloomed on her cheeks, “M-Morning! Don’t tease me like that!”

The two mares laughed as Curio got her blush under control, “Anyway, I’d best be off. Got things to do and things to see.” Morning nuzzled between Curio’s ears again before turning towards the door, “I’ll see you around, Curio. Try to stay out of trouble.”

“I should be saying that to you!” Curio called after her as Morning opened the door to the shop, “Don’t make me come looking for you, you hear?!”

“Loud and clear!” Morning laughed as she closed the door to Curio’s Curiosities, her smile holding for a few seconds before it dropped into a frown as she walked down the street away from her friend’s place.

“Now if only I could find it in me to tell you the truth, like a good friend should.” Morning muttered under her breath, the weight of her secret falling over her shoulders one again as she made her way out of the village and down the road towards the coast.

She was so wrapped in her thoughts that she missed the golden glint of armored ponies flying in from the coast towards Riverdale, the collection of Royal Guard descending towards the village with one mission in their minds.

Find the dragon protecting the village and learn the secret behind why she was defending ponies from raids.

Author's Note

Aaaaaand we're back!! So glad to be able to write again for you all!! I hope everypony is excited to see more updates for my books, because now that the move is mostly taken care of, I'm going to be putting 110% into my stories so all of you can get to read more horsewords.

Hope you all enjoyed this little addition, and I look forward to hearing what you think in the towel section below!! Remember, comments are food for authors like us! Hope you enjoy and I look forward to being able to write again for everypony!!

See you all next chapter,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.