JAN 29 Saturday.

The inn goes silent as the dragon walks inside and all heads turn to them momentarily before looking away.

While this is happening my mind moves at a mile a minute. I've seen a dragon before, only once though, and not very close up. They are not known to be the most social so you never see them often, the only one I've seen was quickly walking through the streets of Canterlot.

I've heard they can be seen more often in smaller towns like this, and it seems that holds true. I think they just don't like large busy cities, something I can agree with to a degree. I sweep my senses around the room and look over the dragon as they look around the inn angrily.

They have a three-tone body, the main scales have an ash gray color while her underbelly has a lighter sandy color. The spines along her back and head are a deep almost black gray, while her eyes are a bright yellow. They stand around twice the height of an adult unicorn, a good two feet taller than me while having an impressive pair of wings and short three to four inches spines from their head to tail.

Overall, they look intimidating to most ponies, but I'm mostly calm unlike every other pony here. I've dealt with Celestia and this just doesn't compare to that. The dragon looked around for a few moments as ponies avoided eye contact before stomping over to the bar.

They definitely seem angry, but that anger doesn't seem to be pointed at anypony in the inn, just angry in general. Most ponies in the room seem uncomfortable and talk in whispers while trying to avoid the angry dragon. The dragon doesn't head for a table and just walks over to the bar.

I do notice they have a bag with them, it's not large and looks pretty roughed up but it seems to work just fine. As they walk towards the bar most ponies freeze as they yank a stool out and sit next to me with an empty stool in between us. They glare around at the ponies and me but I just keep my calm face and drink some of my juice.

She snaps her eyes at the mare and huffs a bit before slamming a few bits on the bar. "You pony! Drink! Anything strong!" A gruff but female tone sounds from her and the poor mare that was flirting with me jumps a bit before doing as told. I stare at the dragon for a moment, not really liking the tone she used.

It only takes a few moments after that for every other pony at the bar to suddenly have somewhere to be. I see her eyes narrow a bit at this sight and honestly, I feel for her when it comes to that, she may be angry but avoiding her like that is still a bit rude.

Eventually, the mare comes back with the drink and the dragon takes it from her before she can even place it down, this dragon is being kind of a dick. It seems she notices the fact I haven't moved and that I'm staring at her, she turns to me with a more intense glare. "What?! Got a problem pony?" Her angry tone is challenging now and while she speaks louder than needed it's not in a shout.

Entropy moved off the bar and into my shadow when the dragon walked in, she knew I would want her out of the way if a fight happened. I stare her down calmly, taking note of her claws and sharp teeth. "Yes, you're being mean for no good reason," I answer back just as bluntly as her tone and actions have annoyed me a little, although this is probably not a good idea. I don't have the best impression of her so far.

She bares her teeth more but I don't react in the slightest, this reminds me of dealing with a human actually. "Fuck off!" She says and I surprise myself a bit by chuckling at that. I don't know what she was expecting but that was probably not it, and my reaction seemed to anger her a bit more. "You laughing at me?!"

I realize that while she's been rude she's at least been nonviolent so angering her doesn't help anyone, time for a different approach then. "No, it's just been a long time since someone has insulted me like that. Brings back memories." I answer with a little honesty and a more relaxed tone to try and de-escalate things.

My answer seems to stump her a little but dragons seem like the stubborn type. "Then you shouldn't care if I continue?! You fucking feather duster." She says and throws another insult at me with a little venom, and honestly, it's not a bad insult either.

I can't help but laugh a bit more and smile at the audacity of this dragon. That insult might have worked on a normal pony but all of this is still weak and uninventive compared to anything a human child could come up with, I'm more amused than anything with the situation but keep my guard up.

I might feel a little angry if it was unprompted, but I kind of brought this on myself and I'm curious what she can come up with. I smiled up at her, "Sure, as long as you can take an insult in turn you walking burnt log." I start off with something lighter and hope I judged her right and didn't make things worse.

Again her eyes narrow a bit as she looks at herself, and she huffs out a little smoke, but she doesn't look as angry at me anymore. "A pony with some backbone? HA! Now that's a good joke." I've seen humans like this, the type who just can't deal with other people's shit. It's a little refreshing to talk to someone like this again.

I nod. "Yup, just like you, if those are bones." They still have an angry face and tone but it isn't really directed at me all that much now.

She sees me looking at her spines. "No, maybe?" My question makes her question it for a moment. "HGG! I don't care! Why the fuck are you even bothering me?" She demands impatiently as her anger comes back.

I shrug a little. "Curiosity? I've never met a dragon. And, you look like you want to hit something, so at least I can distract you from bothering the others here." I answer completely honestly, lying probably won't help much here and if she sees through it she might get too angry. And this has been the plan, even if it's a horrible plan.

She seems a little surprised at my blunt answer, but I can't really be sure because of the unfamiliar body language and angry look. She really seems to look me up and down for a moment, "You're a weird pony. And yes, I want to hit something." That just seems to remind me why she's so angry but her voice is not as loud now.

I think for a moment before I get a stupid idea, it's probably something I shouldn't do, but I'm tempted. :Fuck it: "Ok then, drain the drink and follow me." I have no idea if this will work but in the worst case scenario she ignores me and I leave having somewhat distracted her.

I just drop some bits on the counter and walk outside without looking back, she stays for a moment but eventually, it seems her curiosity gets the best of her and she follows me. My senses let me know that there is an empty space between this inn and the building behind it that should give us some cover.

I walk out into the dark and cast a light more for her sake than mine. She walks faster than me and catches up as I walk down an alley beside the inn. "If your trying to fuck me that's a great way to piss me off pony." Apparently, she got the wrong idea after seeing the alley.

I look back to her as we enter the enclosed-ish space behind the inn. "Not interested and not my plan. You said you wanted to hit something and I'm not passing on the chance to fight a dragon." I answer completely seriously while casting a more powerful light above us to give us light to work with.

I'm able to fully see the shock on her face this time as I drop my saddlebags to the floor and turn to face her. She laughs after a moment, "Of course, I find the only fucking insane pony in this town! Fine! You keep fucking with me and I'm pissed!" She really stops holding back her anger at that.

I just nod and calm my mind and body to prepare. "Good. First though, rules."

She groans at that and looks even more annoyed "Fine! Hurry the fuck up so I can hit you!"

"No claws, ball your fists. No teeth, I will bite back if you try. Don't push things, this is a fight, not a death match. And we stop when someone surrenders. If you go too far I will put you down, hard." I don't mince my words and keep a serious tone as she looks like she's thinking about it for a moment before nodding and balling her fists up.

"Good enough!" With that, she just full on runs right for me like a bulldozer. I knew this was going to be a shit show, but there is a certain thrill to just hitting someone, no weapons, no fancy shit, just a fight. As she gets close she moves with some serious speed and tries to land a hit on my neck.

She's definitely a predator, she went right for my throat from the start. I take a step back and dodge before landing a hit on her right leg, it doesn't do all that much but I was mostly testing the waters with that blow. Her scales are tough but I know she felt that as she delivered a blow to my back a moment later, purposely avoiding my wings to not break them.

Stone has gotten me used to getting hit so while I feel it I recover quickly and slam my hoof into her gut, she's knocked back a bit but is able to slam her tail into my neck after a moment knocking me over as we both land in the dirt. "Ugg, yup, you hit like a fucking brick," I say while getting back up as she does the same.

She snarls "SHUT UP AND HIT ME!" That's all I need to rush at her and after a moment I slam into her as she blocks with her arms and is able to stop my charge after sliding back a few feet. I feel a fist slam into my head twice in a quick moment. :FUCK:

The blow hurts but as she moves for another blow I turn on my front legs and buck her with my back legs pretty hard. I still hold back with my legs but even then she gets hit in the chest and has the wind knocked out of her. Somehow she's able to claw her feet into the ground and not move too much before grabbing one of my back legs and slamming a fist into it.

It doesn't break even though I know she could have if she really tried, it still hurts like a bitch though. I'm able to break free a moment later and turn around to hit her in the muzzle, I land a decent hit and she tries to grab that hoof to keep me off balance and hit me with her other hand.

She got a hold of my foreleg and is twisting it a bit so instead of getting hit in the face again I just slam my forehead into hers as the spines scrape me a little. The blow was probably a little too hard as I'm really getting into the fight and we both stumbled back before landing on our backsides.

I have a few bruises and a bleeding nose but I'm mostly fine, she kept to the rules. She even avoided hitting my wings as they are more fragile, this dragon isn't a complete asshole then.

There is a moment of heavy panting as we both recover a bit but neither of us moves to stand up and eventually, she starts to laugh. "Well, shit." She rubs her head a little as her nose is also bleeding a bit. "You hit hard, and can actually fight unlike the rest of their fucks, the hell do you normally fight?" Her tone is a little more relaxed and friendly as I stand up.

I stand up and ready myself but she seems to have lost some interest in the fight and stays down. "I'll take that as a compliment. I've been getting my ass kicked by some demented stallion for years now, he still kicks my shit in with ease. Now get the fuck up, I'm not done yet." I use a few more curses than needed, it's not often I get to use them so freely.

She laughs some more and does as demanded before shaking her head. "No, I'm already tired and need another drink." I'm a little disappointed at that but nod in acceptance and relax my stance. She smiles showing all her teeth, "Don't think this is your win though, this is just a draw." Seems her pride won't call this a loss.

I just nod again. "Fine, but I have some annoying questions for you, let's go get another drink." I take the new relaxed mood with a smile of my own and take a moment to dismiss my wings much to her confusion. A moment later I cast the two healing spells on myself as I walked down the alley.

She catches up and looks at me oddly. "The fuck was that?" She demands with some curiosity.

I smirk. "Magic, you need some healing?" She raises a brow and shakes her head but looks unhappy at my uninformative answer. "Suit yourself. To be specific it's a complex spell, better than walking everywhere." I re-cast the wing spell, something she doesn't question, and we enter the inn again.

When we walk in I notice it's more empty and the ponies that remain look a little surprised seeing us. Although we both look roughed up, nopony seems to question us as we sit at the bar again. "Ugg! The last thing I need to hear about is some magic mumbo jumbo." She groans out.

After a moment the older mare from earlier walks up and eyes us both. "Something strong for her and apple juice for me," I ordered bluntly and turned back to the dragon. "So, now that you're doing better, mind telling me what got you so worked up?" I ask, trying to continue the conversation.

She huffs some smoke out but keeps her cool. "Some soft scaled bustard merchant scammed me," she grumbles out. "I sold him some gems and we disagreed, the guards showed up and I was told to kick rocks." I pay extra attention to the odd words used at the beginning.

She sees my curious look. "A dragon word, soft scale, or something like that." She humors me a little even though I thought she'd be less accommodating and didn't ask.

I nod. "I'm just going to guess they gave you a price far from fair." Her look is all the answer I need. I chuckle a little, "I have fallen for that far more than I'm willing to admit." I say in good humor and try to keep things light.

She seems to take that and move past the topic. "Why?" I give her a confused look. "Oh, don't give me that look, I can tell you aren't as stupid as the rest here. Why help me? Even with you ponies being so... Nice." She holds a slight disdain at that last word but I don't take any insult to it.

I decided to keep to the honest approach that has been working. "Out of all the ponies in this place, I'm probably the only one who could handle you if you got violent, or became an actual threat to others. And I helped because I felt like it, and that's all the damned reason I need." She gives me a level look but also shows a slight respect I think.

She takes a deep drink. "I ain't that kind of dragon, no matter how angry." She's surprisingly firm about that point. "I can also respect a pony that actually sticks to their shit." I nod at the unexpected compliment. "But we both know I was holding back out there, what would you have done if I was a threat?" Her tone is actually a little joking but mostly challenging.

I stare at her eyes unblinkingly for a few moments before casting a spell on her mug, she notices the slight light and raises a brow. "Pick it up." She looks at her mug and tries but it's firmly stuck to the bar, she tries again with more force but can't make it move even when almost breaking it.

I cancel the spell and she looks intrigued. "That is a sticking spell. I don't know much about dragons so I'd have to go for a sure weak point in an actual fight." I take a long drink of cold juice.

"If you were a threat I would have stuck you to the bar or floor and strangled you until you were either unconscious or dead before running my dagger through your eye to make sure you stayed down," I speak quietly so others can't overhear us while my tone is as blunt and cold as stone.

Her eyes widen at the detailed plan and my shift in tone before I smile up at her. "But you are my kind of person, blunt and no-nonsense, plus you can definitely control yourself," I add with a more relaxed tone and smirk a bit. "Now, you fine with a few questions? Because I have so many."

She stares me up and down after her surprise wears off and she seems to reevaluate me again. After a moment I see another look of respect and what I think is slight weariness. "Sure, as long as you're paying for the drinks." She holds a slight respect in her tone as well but seems to just relax after a moment.

"For how rare information on your lot is? Drink yourself under the table." I turn to the mare. "Put her on my tab, and do you still have something to eat?" She has been listening in on us but didn't hear my explanation so she's mostly relaxed and she nods after a moment. "Anything good then, thank you."

I turn back to the dragon "Well, as a start. Names Shade, nice to meet you." I finally introduce myself.

She looks a little amused and nods. "Andradite, or just Andra because fuck that. And I'd say the same but you're an annoying pony." She doesn't sound actually insulting and I think she just enjoys talking to someone who can take an insult in good casual humor.

I chuckle again. "Fantastic. What do you eat? I know gems are a staple but what else?" I ask while showing a bit of excitement and taking out my notebook to write some things down. She rolls her eyes a bit but starts to answer me after the glorious promise of free drinks.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I tried to make Andra come off as rough and rude but not a complete asshole normally. I think as a Dragon in Equestria she has to at least be somewhat civil with others. Also, I don't think I want to continue this as I'm not planning for Shade to learn all that much about dragons from a tired dragon drinking themselves under the table.