“Light and Dark” A 4th story in the “Dragonhoof” series
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“Light and Dark” A 4th story in the “Dragonhoof” series
“Light and Dark” A 4th story in the “Dragonhoof” series
It had been several days since Dark Horse had attacked, but Fluttershy was still “messed up” from the encounter, which Dragonhoof understood, as Shy had been clingy to Dragon, which was fine, but Shy was now so clingy that Dragon was beginning to wounder if it would expose their relationship to the others, who seemed to be gradually accepting of Shy being so close to Dragon, on a regular basis, but not as close as they actually were, and Dragon worried that upon learning how much they were in love, never mind how their love has been “expressed” all over his human, and Shy's homes, which Dragon half thought would be funny, as he imagined the other's reaction to the news, by, repeatedly yelling, “Eew! Eew! Eew!”while stamping their hooves repeatedly...
The part that unnerved him, was if they got over that, and then wanted to be “experienced” like Shy had been, which would make Shy very jealous, and possibly start a fight that Dragon didn't want to be the cause of...
Yet, as they sat in her home, there was a part of him that wouldn't mind having his own herd of a sort, but not to order about, just to have them about, and the loving part, well, he didn’t know... His work involved comforting Shy stroking her mane and reassuring her that he'd not let Dark get to her, and promised to pound on him for what he'd done to her already...
It did bother him that a few times in the middle of a night, upon his reassuring her, she seemed to like the idea of basically taking a baseball bat to Dark Horse...
Dragon wasn't sure if helping her learn fighting skills would help her deal with her fears or not...he worried that someone might “surprise” her and she'd flip out and toss them onto their back without meaning them any harm...
Then, whole idea of “kung-fu” might further confuse her, and by the time Dark showed up, Dark would be in need of a hospital!
Sighing for the “approaching storm”, Dragon quietly offered Shy a few “lessons” in defending herself, explaining “It'll be only a few things...too much of it and you might hurt someone without meaning too..
She suddenly went from crying to angry as she snarled, “The only pony I’m gonna hurt with such things, will be Dark Horse!!”
Dragon jerked back from Shy's loud assertion, but then held her, gently rocking her back and fourth, as she went back to crying...
Soon she fell asleep, and rather than slip out, Dragon stayed there, and also fell asleep... The next morning, he made breakfast and did the initial stuff for the animals about her place, so she could have a quiet morning...
When Shy yawned and stretched her hooves, she was surprised to see a tray of breakfast and a note telling her, her morning chores with the animals were done, and to meet him outside when she was done eating...
When she finished up, she went outside to see what Dragon was up to... She found boards placed between stacks of bricks, candles burning about a large circle, and other such things while her animals tried poorly to play the japanese music that Dragon had taught them, which made Shy laugh, which she'd not done for a long time...
“Glad to see your in a better mood, my little filly...” Dragon teased, throwing in a bit of hinting at which might happen later that afternoon, as he smiled... Then he began to explain about the human teachings of a sort of man, called “Buddha...”
He kept out the religious concepts out of it... He didn’t think Equisteria could handle religious concepts, and not collapse into fighting over it...
Dragon instead used “Shaou-lin” monks philosophy, to help Shy to get over her attack, as well as help her have control over her moves, once she mastered the few Dragon had in mind for Shy...
He 1st taught her “inner peace”, and once she could do so, he presented her with the boards, showing her how he could stomp a hoof through them! Shy was in shock that such a thing was possible, but wanted to learn all about doing so, even as Dragon warned her that, “doing so badly, or poorly, will only hurt your hoof...”
Shy was torn between trying out the board breaking, and hurting a hoof or two...
Finally after seeing her Dragon do so, she sat before a board, and did the breathing and focusing techniques she'd been taught, and yelling, she bough a hoof down and to her amazement, her hoof broke the board in two!
Then she excitedly tried a back hoof, without focusing and while she did crack the board, she hurt her back hoof! She cried out in pain, and fell to her butt, while Dragon ran to her, and comforted her, brandishing a 1st aid kit, he'd made earlier that day...
As far as Dragon could tell, Shy hadn't broken her hoof, or her leg, but it'd be sore for awhile... Dragon massaged her hoof, and used some pain numbing cream, he mixed, after reading up on them in Shy's little library...
She sighed in relief, and bemoaned no running about, until at least three days had gone by... Still, she liked his carrying her into her home, and upon being laid down into he bed, just had to flirt with her Dragon... “Come here my big stallion savior...”
Dragon sighed, as he liked it when Shy talked like that, but he worried about aggravating her back hoof injury, until she grabbed him and yanked him down for some “fun”, which he had missed, but he hoped doing so wouldn’t hurt her back leg further...
Later on, Shy was a happy pony, and Dragon went outside, and took care of the animals, when suddenly Shy cried out his name! Dragon charged the front door, only to find it locked! He knocked on it, calling for Shy, only for Dark Horse to answer!
Now angry, Dragon told him, “You'd better open this door Dark...if I open it, it'll be a broken door and then the next thing I'll be breaking, will be you!”
Dark laughed, “NOTHING can break through my magic barrier!!”
Taunting Dragon like that was the worst possible thing to do to him, when it came to Shy, and then as Dragon was all set to bust the door down, even if he had to rip out the door frame to do so, when a distant voice spoke to him, saying, “Remember...you are a pogon...”
This gave Dragon a new idea, while Dark got busy ranting to Shy about how he'd won and Equisteria would soon be his; suddenly, the front door began to groan, loudly, and was seriously bending inwards! Dark became frighted, yelling “That's IMPOSSIBLE!! My barrier spell is unbreakable!”
Then, in answer, the door shattered, and thanks to Dragon's breathing a blast of his fire breath, it vaporized the smashed door pieces, before the shards could damage anything... Dragon stood on the doorway, looking very scary as he snarled, “Heeerrrsss Dragon!” and slowly walked into Shy's house, frightening Dark, who began to back up, aiming to get outside to escape, until he turned to make a grab for Shy, who had made a bit =d to run outside, but Dragon had been doing a series of kung-fu moves, ending with clapping his fore hooves together, just as Dark reached for Shy...
Suddenly, two big halves of solid earth came up out of the ground, and slammed shut around Dark, leaving only his head untouched! Shy cried out, “Finally! My Dragon has come to rescue me!” and ran to Dragon, holding him in relief and kissing him in thanks... Dark, meanwhile, struggled to free himself, as Dragon “dragged” the new prisoner into the yard, now angry to have been caught, and his plans for conquest, ruined...
Shy, meanwhile, looked confused as to how Dragon did his magic, which she couldn't identify what kind of magic it was...
Dragon, now much calmer, explained, “I was reminded by some voice, I'm an pogon...”
Dark then took this moment to RANT about how he'll get Dragon and Fluttershy, “and all the other ponies too!” Dragon casually waved off any threat Dark was making, until with a BIG effort, Dark got his horn to glow very brightly, and broke free from his prison!
Shy screamed, but Dragon was still calm, to Shy's confusion, until he brandished a bunch of iron chains, and casually flung them at Dark, in such a way that they wrapped about his body, and one last set of the chains, had a cuff on it, which latched onto his horn and locked shut around the horn, rendering it powerless!
“I believe iron ruins magic does it not?” he sneered at Dark, now rendered into being an “ordinary” pony... Despite that, Dark then said something very RUDE about Dragon and Shy, for which Dragon looked very offended by the comment, and suddenly, there was a loud *smack!* when Dragon punched Dark, and Dark was sent crashing into their home! Dragging himself outside, a stunned Dark dragged himself away from the couple, managing, “You....yuh...CAN'T do that! What kind of pony are you!?”
Looking very calm, Dragon sneered, “I'm a pogon...” and this time, after stomping his forehooves into the ground, two earthen hands rose out of the ground, and grabbed Dark, firmly pinning him to the ground...
By the time that Princess Celestia arrived on her flying chariot, under a trumpet fanfare, and her royal guards protection, she looked over the area, and lingered on Dragon, as if she thought something had changed in him, noticing his Cutie mark now had a ball of energy and lighting arcing out of it, instead of a fireball...
Then, before anyone could say a word, she waved her own horn and restored their home and front door, just as the rest of the Mane 6 arrived, to see if they could help out...
Then Celestia spoke to Dragon, seeing a caught Dark's new 'crown' and asked him quietly, “Please keep such knowledge to yourself...no one needs to know how to render a unicorn or an alacorn powerless...”
Dragon smiled in understanding, and bowed to her, and then turned to help Shy into their home, only for Dark, still not having learned his lesson, as the guards picked him up to haul him off to prison, he threatened to “get back” at Dragon and Shy...
Shy looked at him angrily and stepping off from Dragon's support, limped over to Dark, and kung-fu punched him in the face, making Dragon humeriously wince, and the others stare at Shy's unusual reaction, until she returned to Dragon's arms, where she said, “I feel SO much better, my Dragon...”
The other ponies cheered the situation, as another evil was now defeated, thanks to Dragon, for which Applejack called out, “Tarnation! This calls for a celebration at Sweet Apple Acres!” This was met with more cheering, by all but for Shy and Dragon, whom had some “celebrating” of their own to do, but promised to stop by, once they were done with their business...
Dark was carted off by Princess Celestia's guards, while the others went off to start the party, and make the food, etc, while in Shy's home, they made up for lost time and by the time they were done, they were hot and sweaty, and reeking of certain smells, so they got showered and dried off, decided to arrive at the party, hoof in hoof, not caring anymore how the others view that sort of thing from them as such...
However, as Kevin would say “It'll raise nine kinds of hay...” but, after facing someone like Dark Horse, facing the others over their soon-to-be-revealed love, would be a snap...
Obviously, they'll not be proclaiming what they've been doing over the past several months,...that subject was not spoken of in polite company, but their hoof holding would be a good place to start...
Once groomed properly, they stepped outside and looking lovingly at one another, they took off for Sweet Apple Acres...
Along the way, they performed several maneuvers, among the clouds, to “cool off”, and be ready for the others reaction, when they arrived hoof in hoof... Several moves later and with one last kiss, they rolled over and dove in on Sweet Apple Acres...
They pulled up at just the right time, and landed perfectly to the others' cheers, until they noticed their holding hoofs with one another in more than a “just friends” manner... There was a moment of utter dead silence, while the ponies stared at the newly revealed couple, in utter shock...
Then before they could explain themselves to the ponies, Princess Celestia showed up to congratulate the couple, and then casually ask, “Where is the punch at?”
The others yelled again, this time in celebration, instead of the scolding, many of them had been about to do to the couple...
Shy was then dragged off to “spill” about her time together with Dragon, while Dragon got to hang out with Big Mac and Spike... They gave him a pat on the back, knocking him forward a bit, which he took good naturedly, keeping polite about answering questions about his time with Shy, how they met, etc....
By that late afternoon, the couple was exhausted from the “3rd degree” they'd gotten over their relationship, without being rude, and were left alone, to get some punch, and for Dragon to quietly magic up some pizza for them, since he didn't want to give the ponies any ideas about abusing his powers by “making” all sorts of “human” foods etc...
Raising their cups, they said, “To our open relationship....” and then Shy commented, “I guess this ends our sneaking about, Dragon....” and smiling he replied, “well... true, but not other “parts” of it..”: and Shy opened her mouth in surprise at Dragon's hinting at what he was still up for doing with her, lightly whacking him on an arm for such an outrageous idea...
They nuzzled one another by the nose, and watched as the others ran about Sweet Apple Acres, oblivious to how far the two of them had already gone, in their relationship... Then came the next matter for them....how “compatible” were they, human and pony? They got along great, but the idea of a foal was something they hadn't really considered that much, but now they wondered, what would it look like, how much power would it have, and, what kind of colt would it be, earth pony, “Pegi(flying pony)”, or unicorn?
Then, where would they raise it? In the human world or in the pony one?
Then the questions were forgotten, when Shy leaned over to whisper into Dragon's ear, and made Dragon have a BIG grin on his face... They snuck off into the nearby woods, giggling like naughty colts, as they looked for a good place far enough away from the others so no one would hear what they were about to do, and clothing would make the afternoon even better, but lacking anything “within reach,” they'd have to “make do”...
Finding one suitable tree, Shy leaned on it with her forehooves and spread her back legs apart, saying, “C'mere my studly stallion...” Dragon couldn't refuse the invitation, and in the process, Shy had to bite her lower lip, lest she cry out and bring the other ponies running, only for them to see what kind of “loving” they had been up to in the relationship...
They might be okay with that, or not, and Dragon still worried about what if the other ponies decided they wanted in on Shy's “action” with him, and all the mane pulling and biting that would occur, when the arguing started, over who Dragon liked best, or who held the highest “rank,” who 's “turn” it was, etc...
Dragon wasn't against such a “herd” but he guessed Shy would have several things to “say” about that effort, and Celestia might also have something to say, and if they all got pregnant by him, what would the next generation of ponies look like, and, what powers would they have...? Dragon dreaded having to be “called in” for a colt herd of his making, going on a “rampage”...
Meanwhile, Shy finally cut loose with a quiet “yell”, when she finally came, making a mess around the tree... Upon seeing the mess, Dragon commented, “Well that ought to make for sum unusual tasting apples...” Shy turned and stared at him for such an outrageous idea, lightly whacking him on a shoulder, while they went off to find some means to wash themselves off, before they returned to Sweet Apple Acres, and had a lot of explaining to do otherwise...
Unable to find a water source, Shy was annoyed that they couldn't clean up, and, to show up otherwise, would mean a lot of awkward explaining to the other ponies... Then Dragon got an idea and got a look on his face, and took her into the sky to find a big thick rain cloud, to clean up in, until Dragon pronounced her clean...
By the time they got back to Sweet Apple Acres, Shy was all “cooled off”, as was Dragon, to join in on the final activities for the late afternoon... Then Dragon snuck off to privately speak to Celestia, about his worries about fathering a colt with Shy...
“I'm not against one, but, what would it look like? Would it have my powers or Shy's, or some combination of them? Then there is our personalities..” he finished up with...
Celestia finished her cup, and eyed Dragon, as if she'd never seen him before, proceeding to ask Dragon several questions of her own, and he answered about what he knew of human pregnancies, and his worries, once Shy became too pregnant to hide it from other ponies...
Then once the delivery occurred, if it was like human ones, Shy could end up saying/doing several things that none of the other ponies would not like to hear from her, nor go through...
Pausing for a second, Celestia replied, “This is true, Dragon, but since our world doesn't have condoms, your only solutions would be to either give up on such actions(which they both knew Shy wouldn't like), or, cross your hooves, hope she doesn't become a “mother”, or you’ll have to raise a colt etc...
Celestia then had to leave for Castle Canterlot, so Dragon had to ponder what to do with Shy... Asking her to stop would be impossible, and yet, a pregnant Shy was far scarier than Dark Horse was at his worst!
He also thought about taking her to a human doctor, but then, how would he explain things, and would their colt become a child or remain a colt? Discovering that about a human Shy, would probably kill the doctor in shock... Then his parents and their neighbors would throw fits, if their colt remained a colt, and he didn't want his mom messing with his colt like she'd done to him.
Then, if they raised their colt in the human world and it was human looking, how would Shy raise it? Did she even know how to do so, and what would happen with the 1st bit of trouble it would get into or when his mom and dad started to nose into their lives?
Then, what of the other human parents and their kids? The human race didn't have the best record for tolerating other races, never mind pony ones... He sighed heavily, watching Shy frolic with the others in an above ground pool he'd made for the party, making sure Applejack understood the danger in leaving it unattended, and possibly having a colt or pony try to use it without knowing how to swim...
Once Shy was shaking herself dry from a swim, she saw Dragon's face and asked him what was wrong... He carefully explained his thoughts, and instead of being offended, Dragon got nervous as Shy said “Oh, I'd love to have a colt with you, my dear Stallion...”
Fortunately none of the other ponies heard her reply, and then they thought out all the good and bad of such an effort.... neither one of them was against raising a colt and would like to have a daughter, but Shy could see their personality traits being mixed into the colt, and most of them didn't make for a “clean” daughter, and more likely running amuck and driving everyone in Ponyville crazy with her antics... As Dragon put it, “there'll be days in which she'll be the best thing to happen to us, and, others days, in which she'll likely drive us crazy...
Dragon then told her of what he knew of human child rearing was like, as far as he knew of it, and a lot of it sounded like raising animals from birth, but much bigger, and “louder”...
With all of that in mind, they decided to put that aside...for now, and when they were ready, look into spell books, to see if there was a spell to make Dragon “compatible” with her, because, if they haven't had a foal by now, there wasn't gonna be one, unless they found a spell to make it happen, and Shy was “ready” to deal with the mayhem when the others found out she was pregnant, and all that it might do to her, during and after she had a foal...
He also made a swing/slide set for the farm, mostly for the CMCs to play on, but the adult ponies were also enjoying it, and managing to remain polite about its use, unlike back home, where human kids could get pushy about who gets to use such things the most...
The ponies did enjoy the set, and Granny smith was watchful when the young'uns played about the pool, and when the day ended, the swing set was ok, but the Apples frowned on the pool remaining assembled, so the water was redirected into a nearby stream, and the rest of the pool, simply was taken apart and put away for another day to use...
The couple headed home, where they discussed the means to have a foal, as Dragon had no problem with it, but they both knew asking others for help, would result in their trying to “ignore” the subject, or, no pony wanted to talk about such an “impolite” issue...
The only ways, as far as Dragon could see, was a return to his world, and once or IF Shy could be human, have a human child, and then return to Equisteria, but given how his parents had reacted to Shy being a pony, the people in his “adult time” would have fits over what Shy was, and there was no guarantee that their human colt would change into a ponified colt once back in Equisteria, which would make for an awkward time of showing them to the other ponies...
The only other way, a spell of some kind, was one that Dragon was reluctant to try out on Shy, in case he screwed up somehow, so the only other way would be to ask Celestia, if she had a book with such a spell in it, but given how others reacted to the subject, she may be okay with it, or she may frown on the idea...
So the next day, they flew to the Castle, and once they were in the throne room and was announced, Dragon found himself the subject of a friendly hug by Celestia, making Shy frown, but not react to it, and then, once they were able to speak privately to Celestia, Shy was calm and understood...
Celestia looked among her private collection of books and did find the right one, but looked serious, as she asked them several questions about their intentions...
Dragon and Shy answered as best as they could, but along the way, Dragon's “inner red flag” kept on pointing out Celestia was showing signs of “crushing” on him, which could end up being awkward at some point, if he wasn't careful... He didn't think Shy would “go off,” but she did have the underlying temper, he'd rather not see surface at a bad time...
That, and he also didn't want Celestia having a meltdown, and/or doing something to him that she'd later regret, like tackling him for a serious hug, or giving him a kiss on the lips...that would definitely set Shy off, and he'd rather not be the the cause of a “pony fight” over him...
Still, he kept from asking Celestia about it, and continued to answer what he could as well as supporting Shy, who was embarrassed by some of the questions, and then once Celestia was finished, she offered them a 'glimpse' of their future, with their “daughter,” should they decide to have her... Before Shy could ask, Dragon offered, “Okay...so we get to see our 'Rose' then..?” surprising Celestia, as she hadn't said what the colt’s name was, but she could see in Dragon's eyes, his ongoing climb to higher levels of powers...
He was beginning to reach her level of magic, but with his powers, she wasn't sure just how far he could go with his own powers, and that unnerved her, and was relying on his keeping himself under control...she knew what he was capable of, if he ever lost his temper, never mind how she was beginning to feel about his muscular form and personality...which unnerved her a little bit...
Still, she knew he was a sharp human, and had probably figured her crushing on him already, but what could she do? She didn't want to come between Shy and Dragon, and yet, her crush was building up, and unless a solution was found, she feared making an utter fool of herself at some point in the future, which she'd rather not have occur...
Then, in the back of her mind, she heard Dragon's voice! “I understand your problem, but the only solution, like Shy, would be to give you some private time to hang with me, and I'm not sure if you want to do so, nor if Shy found out about your crush... Think on it, and let me know...”
Celestia came back out of it, and took a deep breath to calm down, as Dragon was along further than she had guessed, and yet, he didn't abuse his power, by, say, putting Shy to sleep, and then pulling her to him etc...
She then concentrated, and in a flash, the couple saw their future selves...a bit older and enjoying a picnic on their front lawn, with a soccer goal set up nearby... Dragon quickly explained to Shy what Soccer was, until they saw their Rose, with a deep red mane and tail, a body slightly lighter color similar to Dragon’s human self, sporting three brown stubby claws on all of her hooves, two tiny horns on her head, next to her ears, fortunately all but hidden by her thick, deep red mane; on her hip was a rose surrounded by flame, while Rose was running along, sporting a pair of ordinary tucked in wings, kicking a oddly decorated ball, in front of herself, until suddenly, she was able to kick it up into the air and executing a flip in the air with the aid of her wings, to use a back hoof and kick the ball at the goal!
It looked like it was going into the net, but instead it missed and bounced off one of the goal posts, and came back at Rose, to bean her in the forehead! She was sent flying backwards and tumbling along the ground, much to both sets of couple's concern, but Dragon was instantly there, and helped his daughter to her feet, and carefully looked her over for any injuries, and then with his powers, for a concussion...
He found nothing wrong and rubbing Rose's mane said, “You have a hard head, just like your old stallion....however, if you're gong to keep on doing the fancy moves, I insist you wear the helmet I made you...I don't want my beautiful colt getting hurt...”
Rose half whined, but realizing it would prevent a painful hit, if she missed again, she smiled and gave her poppa a quick kiss on a cheek and ran off, to get the helmet, as her wings loosely flopped about, instead of being properly tucked in, when she was walking, to Shy's weak protest...
The image faded away and the couple was happy, as was Celestia, because no one whom was like what Dragon was in in the image, would ever harm Equisteria, and when he 'spoke' to her, reminding her, “What I said to Shy long ago, still holds true...'I'll never do anything to harm Equisteria, and especially my filly, Shy...”
She dismissed them, after she got an unexpected good bye hug from Dragon, explaining to Shy on the way out, “She seemed to need a hug...” and then, “That reminds me...” and their voices faded off into the distance...
Celestia was feeling a bit better, as Dragon had snuck in a hug for her, which did relieve her crush somewhat, and would allow her to resume her duties, until nightfall, when Luna took over and she could get some sleep, and wonder about other things...
Then, when she entered her bedroom, she found a scroll, on her bed, saying, “My dear Celestia, if you ever want some 'reassurance time' like Shy does, let me know, so I can work on Shy not blowing her top etc.... --- Dragon, Your protector of Equisteria”
Celestia got worked up at the idea, but calmed down, as she liked the idea, of 'reassurances' from Dragon, but then again, how would he overcome Shy's jealousies? She'd seen how Shy viewed any other filly even “looking” at Dragon, if they hugged him for “too long”, watching them, like she expected them to try something with 'her' stallion...
She didn't want think what would happen, if Shy's jealousies got the better of her, and she pushed another filly off of Dragon or actually took a swing at them... Dragon would have to separate them and keep them apart, which she cringed at the image of, but then, she went to to sleep, leaving such thoughts for later on...
Several days later, Celestia sent them a scroll, with the spell on it, that would allow them to have a colt together, warning them to NOT share it with anypony; for five months, after Dragon was able to get Shy pregnant, a cranky Shy made Dragon's life difficult, as well as the others, once they found out about her pregnancy, and wanted to help, until Celestia gave them a potion, to calm Shy down, from her hormones boiling over on a daily basis, and then once “Flaming Rose” was born, Shy apologized to everyone for her behavior, which was understandable, as Dragon sighed, knowing their “fun” had only begun, in raising Rose...
Then, Kevin noticed the unusual features on his colt, coming to pass, from the image earlier on shown to him... Rose quickly learned to use her “stubby” brown 'claws' on her hooves, like fingers... Then came the one thing that had concerned Dragon...her tail was a dragon's tail, but for a tuft of red tail hair on the end of her pointy thin tail... He then knew this was gonna be trouble when she went to school, but unless he tweaked it, why mess with it?
Then, several months later on, after Rose was beginning to walk about on her own, she was showing a lot of promise in using her wings, while she showed she was human in several ways, as well as being her father's colt, when she figured something out, or took something apart and got upset when she couldn't put it back together, or was caught doing so, or sneaking out of her “pen”...
Then it kinda freaked Shy, when Rose occasionally stood on her back legs, and because of her claws, was able to stand and sort of walk upright, longer than most 4 legged ponies could stand, as well as grasp objects with her fore claws, like Dragon could with his “cloofs”...
Then, Rose got her cutie mark: a rose, surrounded by flame, which was about as unique as anypony had ever had, until she hiccuped and breathed her 1st tiny blast of blue/white flame!
One day, several months later on, Celestia got a scroll from Cadence in the Crystal Empire, and upon reading it, sighed heavily, as she knew how much trouble this would cause Dragon; Twilight had to be an official representative for her own castle, and, Shy... Still, she made a copy and magically sent it off to Dragon, as well as making a royal outfit for him to wear, even through she knew how he poorly viewed such things and in all likelihood, it'd end up smeared in stains, and/or torn here and there...
Meanwhile, the couple arrived back home, from tending to animals in Ponyville, where Shy held her stallion, not liking Celestia nor any filly anywhere near HER stallion, even as Dragon held her, and stroked her mane, reassuring her she was his only filly, until she relaxed, just in time for Twilight to arrive, to deliver the ‘sealed’ scroll... Dragon went outside to read the scroll, and then began to laugh out loud!
This confused the two fillies, until barely able to stand, Dragon recovered, explaining, “You're gonna “love” this one, Twilight and Shy...” sounding like they'd been talked into a barn/cleaning every animal applejack had session, over at Sweet Apple Acres...
“But 1st off, Twilight, I need your magical opinion...” Dragon said, guiding her into the house... To the fillies, he explained, of how he'd seen Rose go from crawling on the floor to suddenly being on the table top, or on top of a dresser, and yet, he didn't think she was using her wings, yet, nor any magic to do so, that he could sense, so perhaps Twilight could figure things out...?
They looked at Dragon like he'd been out in the sun too long, until Rose came slowly walking by, on all 4 legs, which was impressive for her young age, and then left the fillies wondering if Dragon needed a long nap, and then they looked for Rose, only to find her on a table on the far side of the room, looking outside at the animals at play!
They both stared at Rose, in utter surprise, as Twilight hadn't sensed any magic use either, and started to approach Rose, until Dragon warned her that he'd tried to look over her wings recently, to see if they were ready to be used, and upon spreading them out, he guessed, she feared them being taken away, or something, because she wailed at the top of her tiny lungs, and wow, did she have a set of lungs...!
Twilight approached Rose and asked her about how she got there, trying to be quiet about looking her over magically, but all Rose did, was smile and say in a tiny voice, “I like to watch the animals...” Twilight came back and had found nothing, making them both sigh heavily, while Shy asked about the crying, and was told it was while she was out on a job, and Rose had fallen on her face, as she tried to walk on two legs...
Rose had then grunted, and pulled herself up and continued to walk, on four hooves, and then, when he picked her up to look her over for injuries, her face was fine, but when he opened her wings and looked them over, Rose wailed briefly and he had to apologize to her and hold her and reassure her she was alright, etc...
That over with, Dragon settled onto the couch, along with a slightly jealous Shy, as Twilight had another session of “poking” at Dragon, to learn about what made him “tick...”, only for another sudden event to occur... Rose flew in, easily maneuvering to plop onto Dragon's chest, and then sighing in happiness and wrapping her forehooves around his neck, gave him a kiss on a cheek, saying only “My Poppa...”
Looking at his fillies, Dragon said, “I guess that solves one mystery...” and looked forlorn as he and Shy would have to begin to see how far Rose had learned to fly and how to best train her, so her wings didn't cramp up in mid flight, nor about where to fly that was appropriate etc, etc... Then there was her claws and horns...they'd be trouble for her and others, once she was going to school...
Then when Twilight was about to leave, to get ready to do her royal duties at the Crystal Palace Ball, Dragon held her back, explaining about the scroll and how he thought she should know that he'd never been to such a royal ball and was hoping to learn a few things, so as to not foul up in the process...
He then explained about the upcoming party, which he guessed was partially for his own 'coming out' party, officially as the “protector,” showing them the outfit he had been given...the fillies tittered, knowing how Dragon felt about such things, until Dragon then quietly reminded how colts sometimes “behaved” and while at the royal party, there might be royal guests whom might not be as understanding of Rose as Twilight was, which got Twilight wound up at the image of Rose wreaking havoc with another royal couple etc...
Shy was sympathetic, as Twilight took a few minutes to sip some warm, relaxing tea that Shy had and Dragon “warmed up,” to calm her down, until she then noticed Dragon's “cutie mark” had actually changed from the fireball, and dragon wings image, to the fireball being replaced by an example of his energy ball, arcing lightning from it!
She also looked at it and also was surprised, realizing that in order for such an event to occur, Dragon was indeed growing in power, as was much further 'along' , than his display at the academy awhile back...
He reassured the fillies, he still wasn't going to abuse such power, and it wasn't like he actually trained to increase it, it just did so, with each use of it, and he reassured them, that such power would never be abused, nor used in anger, unless it was for a very good reason, like some bad pony threatening to hurt his family or his friends...
Dragon frowned on the outfit, but promised to wear it in public at the party, but since flight was likely to wreck the clothes, they packed it and readied to take the train tomorrow, when Shy realized she didn't have a proper outfit for, and Rarity would take several days to do so, but instead of panicking, Dragon had that confident look, that he had figured things out...
Twilight stared, as Dragon focused his powers, and within moments, Shy found herself lifted off the ground, and then, a blue/green butterfly bret for her mane, appeared in her mane, followed by a cape and clasp in the same design as the bret, and the cape looking like a cape of grass with yellow and blue colored flowers, as well as other flowers along the bottom edge of it, and even allowed her wings to stick out from it, as he set her down on the ground to ask, “Well...? how did I do?”
Shy gave her new cape a walk about and gasped how soft it was and yet, it wasn't actually disintegrating like his last effort did sometime back... the wavy lines around the cape's design, actually shimmered in some non magical way, which impressed even Twilight... Dragon, being the usual stallion he was, whispered humeriously, “Don't tell Rarity who designed and made it...she'll have a fit and badger me for the next month or so, for more designs and I'll be too busy raising my daughter...”
Twilight gave them a wink in understanding and having done with her visit, flew off to ready for the party and help with Rose...
The next day, the other ponies had heard of the royal ball and sighed to see Dragon being able to go to it, and still ribbing him good naturedly about having to 'behave' around royalty, which they knew he frowned upon such events, but given Celestia all but 'ordered' it, he couldn't refuse it, could he? Nor could Twilight, whom remained strong, but shook a little bit, at the thought of having to help deal with something Rose might start among royal ponies, because of her claws, as they entered the train station, and then the train for Crystal Empire...
At the train station, Dragon held a hoof of Twilight's, in reassurance and then Shy's hoof, with his other cloof, while Rose was carried in a saddle pack, to keep her out of trouble, etc, as the train pulled out of the station, and within moments, he fell asleep, right along with Rose, while the two fillies talked of other times together, while Shy blushed, in how good she felt to know her stallion was only getting better with time, now taking care of his daughter, but she did wonder about what to do, when Rose wanted to know where her Poppa came from, and, would she want to visit such a place...?
Along the way, Rose regularly stuck her head out a window and let her tongue hang out of her mouth, as she enjoyed the wind blowing in her face, as the train traveled along, much to everyone's concern, but inside there wasn't much to do for Rose...
Finally, she rejoined her Poppa in taking a nap on a couch, leaving Shy to sigh in exasperation, but seeing that there was nothing to do, she and then Twilight joined Dragon, plopping onto him, and cuddling up to him, making him briefly open an eye and look at his “companions” and quietly hoped it didn't dissolve into a pony fight right there...
They arrived at the Empire's station, and slowly waking up, they all piled onto their hooves to look presentable to Cadence and Armor, while Dragon simply shook his head and stretched awake, cracking several bones in the process and dusted himself off, not the least bit worried, but watching Rose, as she had begun to walk more often, since her wings were as far as she was going to develop them, until his parents could get her to learn refined skills in flying...
Still, she took the opportunity to be carried off the train by Shy in a saddle bag, into the Crystal Empire and was in awe of it as was Dragon... “Most impressive” he said, as official escorts showed up with a wagon to drive them to the palace, making Shy and Twilight cringe, as Dragon sat down in the wagon, making it groan for his size and weight...
They tried to leave the station, but weren't budging, until Dragon waved a hoof, and then, the wagon was able to properly trundle along... Along the way, they all waved to the friendly ponies of the Crystal Empire, while many fillies waved and blushed, upon seeing Dragon, making Shy frown at the attention, to Twilight's dismay... However, one kiss from Dragon, as he yanked her to him, fixed all of that, and left many looking the other way and trying to ignore the action and whistling in the process, while Rose, upon seeing her 1st kiss, thought it was disgusting and commented “bleagh!”...
They arrived and bowed to the rulers of the Crystal Empire, who introduced them selves to the new stallion, Dragonhoof, which was a surprise to Dragon, when Prince Shining Armor called Twilight “Twily” until Shy explained how they were brother and sister... This was a bit of a surprise to Dragon, but he got over it quickly...
He got a tour of the place and a history of it, all of which was fascinating to Dragon, even as he found his room and dropped his stuff off, and then decided to wander about with Shy and Rose, who was now tucked into a saddle bag, almost embarrassing them, when Rose broke free of her bag, and flew right at the royal couple and introduced herself... The 'hows' of that particular event, got the couple's attention, trying to be polite about questions, to Dragon and Shy, until Dragon came up with “the power of our love” as to how it had occurred, leaving the royal couple slightly blushing......
Dragon one arm hugged Shy in reassurance, as Shy and Dragon re-tucked Rose back into the bag, and they continued to wander about, until Armor had to attend to royal duties, and left Cadence to guide them about, while Shy quietly told Dragon that Cadence was Celestia's niece... They ended up in the palace library to Twilight's delight, and Dragon's slight confusion as he saw the “Crystal Bard” creature stacking books back into the proper place, which was a creature he'd never seen before...
The Bard was nervous to meet such an important and famous pony as Dragonhoof, grunting *mwrr* every so often, but Dragon remained quiet and was friendly, as the bard explained what he was doing, and how he performed music/read aloud to others in the evenings all the time... Dragon smiled and suggested, “Well now...we'll have to see one of these performances for ourselves, right dear?” looking at Shy...
Shy had wanted to listen to one, but had been too busy and shy, to ask Dragon about doing so on the way there on the train...So she smiled and nodded, along with Rose, who flew into the Bard's face and eyed him over, briefly poking him with her blunt claws, pronouncing her liking him and landed on her Poppa's back, dropping into place with a thump...
Dragon slapped a hoof over his face, over Roses antics, and Shy smiled nervously, trying poorly to laugh it off... Fortunately, the bard had work to do and ambled off...
They then poked about some more, until they got to a stadium and watched the workout of ponies and Armor coaching many of them... Then Armor noticed them and welcomed them to the stadium and even put up with Rose's “in your face” greeting... Shy slapped a hoof to her face, while Dragon shook his head...
They watched the ponies train, until Armor asked Dragon about his own life, and he confessed he used to like to run, but he didn't want to embarrass anyone, least of all himself, laughing... He was then goaded into a run around the track, and was sworn to not tap into his powers to do so... Dragon sighed, as he knew what such a run would do to the local fillies, and then, to Shy... Still, he grinned and settled down at the starting line, striking an odd pose, his butt sticking up into the air, explaining, “It's how ponies where I'm from, ready to run...It's a faster way to start to do so...”
They looked at him with disbelief, until Armor shouted out, “Ready...GO!” and without touching his powers, Dragon was 1st off the line and got a good start, to everyone's amazement, and then just as he'd guessed, several of the fillies on the side lines began to swoon from seeing his muscles, which he tried to ignore, lest Shy “let him have it” when they got back to their quarters...
The others did catch up, but just barely, impressing Armor, and understood, when Dragon turned down an offer to join his team, but he did accept Dragons suggestion for using that pose to get his runners off the starting line faster...
That evening, Dragon reluctantly got into his uniform, as did Shy, into her ball gown... Then to Shy's outrage, Rose revealed she'd had her mane done, with a black tip on her mane and tail tuft, when Shy tried to brush her slightly tangled mane and tail out, which she also made a “pony tail” in her mane!
They entered the area where the ball was being held, and their appearance, was announced, like they were Royalty, to the surprise of other royal ponies, “Arrival of Dragonhoof, Royal Protector of Ponyville, Castle Canterlope, and Castle Friendship; Escorted by Fluttershy, Escort to Dragonhoof and their daughter, Flaming Rose...”
Twilight then joined them, impressed with how regal Dragon looked, even through he frowned on the outfit... However, she did approve of Rose's hair style, to Shy's embarrassment, and to Dragon's pride, as they mingled with other ponies and Twilight introduced him and Shy to other royal ponies, almost overwhelming Shy, being in the presence of such high ranking ponies... Rose even managed to remain on the ground and bow politely to them, before leaping up to a table and then clawing food into her mouth...
Then as the ball went on, things looked like it would be a fun time, until suddenly with a dark flash, Dark Horse appeared! This time, he was clad in armor, declaring he was back for his revenge, and this time he had on steel armor, so there'd be no using iron on his horn ever again! He looked at Dragonhoof accusingly, with narrowed and very angry eyes...
Dragon now liked him even less and said,”Give up...or this time, I won't be as nice about stopping you...” and got his “I'm dead serious” look on his face, scaring Dark for a moment, until seeing Shy and Rose, he teleported them to his side, taking them hostage!
They both screamed for Dragon, who was now verypissed off, but still in control, asked, “Cadence? This is your kingdom, but that's my herd, and noone threatens my herd...”
She understood, but she also knew what Dragon was capable of and didn't want to lose the Crystal palace from such a blast... “Do so, but nothing must damage the crystal palace...” she finally ordered; Dragon flinched, as most of his BIG shots would do that, so he smoldered, until Dark threatened to give Shy a kiss!
“THAT’S IT!” Dragon yelled and suddenly he disappeared, while there was a slight sound of a “Thump” but he didn't use any magic to teleport! Dark looked confused as did the other ponies, until suddenly, there was another “thump,” and Dragon appeared in front of Dark and punched him across the face, making him drop Shy and Rose in the process as his helmet was severely bent from Dragon's punch, as Dark went flying sideways from the hit, until finally, he landed onto he ground tumbling along the ground to a stop!
Dragon then grabbed Shy and Rose, telling them to “Hold on...” and he disappeared...again! There was a quiet sound of a *thump!* as they then reappeared near Cadence and Armor, where a scary sounding Dragon said, “Keep them safe...” and disappeared again; and while Dark struggled to his feet, Dragon appeared, and grabbed Dark in an embrace and began to yell, confusing and scaring Dark, as he yelled, “What are you doing?!”
The answer came, when his armor suddenly arced something like bolts of lightning all over itself and was turned into iron! He tossed Dragon off, yelling in anger, as he was again in iron “chains,” and then, he was somehow able to shatter the iron, and then threatened to shatter the crystal palace, unless Dragon surrendered!
Dragon was now even more angry than before, on the edge of dropping his “nuke em'” shot on Dark Horse and utterly nuking Dark out of existence... Then Shy and Rose, despite Cadence and Armor's protests, walked to either side of Dragon, who was now randomly generating brief arcs of lightning, he was so angry, and held onto him, quietly saying, “You can figure out how to defeat him, my stallion... I know you can, because we believe in you...” as Rose added he own “Kick his butt Poppa!” actually making a gesture from Dragon's world, by brandishing her middle claw at Dark and scaring Shy, as Rose gave out a tiny burst of flame!
Then Shy took ahold of Dragon's chin and turned his head to face her, whereupon she kissed him on the lips! The other ponies suddenly became uncomfortable in seeing it occur, until Dragon took Shy into his arms and returned the kiss and held her close, while Rose held on to her family and suddenly Dragon 's eyes snapped open as he said, “I got it!” and then looked at Dark with an utterly evil grin, making Dark suddenly worry he was again about to be painfully handed his butt...!
However, instead of an atomic blast, Dragon told his family “Hold on...it's gonna be a wild ride...”
and suddenly he closed his eyes and yelling a battle cry, dark clouds formed over head, lightning arced from them, freaking out Discord, Rainbow Dash, Celestia and Luna, as they all sensed his massive power build up...
However, instead of unloading his atomic shot, he concentrated and yelled even louder and his already muscular body suddenly bulked up and two tall crystals rose out of the ground on either side of them, and ignited in power! Dark fell onto his back, scooting backwards, as this was far more power than the last time they had fought and he'd barely survived the last time!
The new crystal pillars really lit up as Dragon opened his mouth and tilted his head skyward, unleashing a BRIGHT energy beam! Dark thought he missed and laughed at his effort, until from the dark clouds above himself, there came a distant rumbling...
Everyone cringed, as Dragon struggled to remain upright, barely conscious after he'd fired the shot, when suddenly, Dark barely had time to yell, as the beam Dragon had fired, came roaring down out of the dark clouds, onto him, engulfing him in it's light!
Once the blast was over, Dark was lying in a shallow blast crater, beatenup and unable to move... Dragon then fell to his knees, exhausted from the effort, as the new crystal pillars darkened and powered down... His family held him in thanks... Everyone was relieved as Shy and Rose did their best to pick him up and walk him away to rest and recover, until just as they were about to reach the others, Dark managed to stand and make one last threat…
Looking only annoyed, Dragon griped “Oh my gawd...” rolling his eyes in annoyance and freeing himself from his support, turned around and reared up on his back hooves and slammed his fore hooves onto the ground, shaking it up as two bright “cracks” of energy, coming from his hooves, made their way towards Dark, who hadn't counted on Dragon still having power, until to everyone's amazement, instead of blowing Dark up, crystals suddenly grew out of the ground around the edge of the crater and soon engulfed Dark, imprisoning him forever within them! Dragon then fell to the ground, now out cold, much to everyone's concern...
Dragon slowly woke up in one of the empire's hospital rooms, while Shy paced near by and Rose was sound asleep in a chair in the room's corner... He groaned, nursing a headache, and felt like he'd just ran an iron-pony triathlon...
Shy saw him slowly sitting up and cried out in joy, and before he or anyone who heard her cries could stop her, she pounced on him, and he loudly grunted in pain, while Shy proceeded to cry her eyes out, happy to have her one and only stallion back, while Rose woke up, sleepily complaining about all the noise, until she saw her Poppa awake and also launched at him and tackled him the same way as Shy had done, latching onto him with her blunt claws, temporally leaving her Poppa breathless...
The others all piled into the room, just in time to see the family in the middle of a big family hug, soliciting an “Awwwww...” from them all...
“Wow...not gonna be doing that again for awhile...” was all Dragon said, while Shy scolded him for almost costing her, her stallion, and almost making Rose fatherless... Making Dragon smile in understanding...
Then, he greeted the others, whom had arrived from Ponyville, while Pinkie ranted about how awesome everything was, that he'd done that day, once they had recovered from “catching the edge” of his “effort”...
The nurse and crystal doctor explained, “He'll just need a few days of rest, and, no energy blasting for at least a week..” Then as everyone began to swamp Dragon with offers as to how “relax”... He smiled, to Shy's confusion, as the others turned to argue with one another as to who had the best way to relax Dragon...
The why of his smile was made clear, when with an arm gesture, a bubble formed around the whole bed, and effectively silenced outside noises, and then it darkened, to give the family some privacy as they went to sleep in Dragon's arms...
It was awhile later, and Dragon had sufficiently recovered, to be able to go home, but not before having to wear his wornout uniform, one last time, while Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence had a ceremony on their balcony in the Crystal Palace to honor his saving the Crystal Empire from Dark Horse, who's crystal prison was moved to an isolated chamber, where he wouldn't bother anyone ever again...
Cadence thanked him, as well as for creating what was proving to be a pair of “healing crystals”, placing a medal around his neck, for which Dragon also thanked his “herd” for helping inspire his idea on how to defeat Dark Horse, having Shy join him in wearing the metal at the same time as he did, as well as Rose, whom he held in one arm, as they all waved to the crowd, and the palace sent a shot off into the atmosphere...
It had been several hours since they had arrived back in Ponyville, and was given a ride in their own carriage, drawn by royal guards from Canterlot Castle, through town in a 2nd parade, to celebrate Dragon saving yet another kingdom, and, Celestia's niece, Candace...
At the end of it, they greeted their friends the “Mane 6” at the end of parade, amidst cheers of the ponies in town...
“This calls for a celebration at Sweet Apple Acres..!” Applejack called out, which was celebrated by the Mane 6, including Dragon's own herd... They all then rode in his new wagon, powered by a wind up mechanism, as he was still under orders to “Keep things low key until your next check up in a month...” to Sweet Apple Acres, to set up a celebration, but not before Dragon leaned over and whispered into Shy's ear, making her eyes widen in surprise, and then, she smiled and giggled like a naughty school pony, as she looked lovingly at her stallion, while Rose rolled her eyes in annoyance...
Upon seeing this, Dragon raised an eyebrow and suggested, “My darling filly, I think it's time Rose and the others learned a human sport, called Soccer, suddenly producing a soccer ball and tossing it up onto the air repeatedly, much to Rose's liking the look of the new object, as Dragon tossed the ball to Rose for her(and the Crusaders)to kick about Sweet Apple Acres, while her parents joined in on the celebration, of Dragon's victory ...
T H E E N D
