Rise Of The Dragon Lord

Chapter 5:

Tension Spreads

"What is this?!"

My voice echoed through the darkness. I was talking to someone, but in the same way, I wasn't.

"This isn't what you promised!"

Again my voice rang through the darkness. That was my voice for sure, but I wasn't the one saying it.

"You cant do this to me . . . I wont let you."

Was I actually saying this? I tried to call out, but as I tried to speak. no sound came out. Suddenly, I heard a new voice. It was oddly soothing, but held a dark melody.

"And just what are you going to do to stop me?"

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I woke up to the early morning, sunlight flooding the room. The memories of the strange dream still lingered in my head as I stared up at the rooms ceiling. That other voice sounded so very familiar, yet I've never heard it before. But like all dreams, it began to fade from thought. Although, I wished it wouldn't. Something about the dream seemed to draw out something that felt like a memory. But I couldn't tell if it was a good one or not.

Without another moment's hesitation, I got out of the bed and left the room. It was still early in the morning and the sun was just barely breaking the horizon. But as I entered the living room, I noticed that the house was empty except for me.

"Where is. . ." I began only to stop when I remembered something. Derpy had told me the night before that she and Dinky would probably be gone by the time I woke up. "So Derpy's at work and Dinky went to school," I mumbled to myself.

At first, I thought of getting something to eat. But I was never one to just go and take food without asking. Even if I was given permission. Besides, I was getting tired of nothing but fruit, grains, and sweets and I could feel a dire craving for meat.

After a few moments of trying to think of what to do, I decided to just go and see if Twilight had a response yet. It was better than sitting around in a empty house. So with that, I left the house, making sure the door was locked in the process.

As I made my way down the semi familiar path towards the library, I thought of what I would do first when I got home. As the library came into sight, I decided that my first stop would be a diner that served burgers.

"Hello," I called as I began knocking on the door. It wasn't soon after that a sleepy Spike answered the door. "Did a response arrive?"

"I'm sorry," he said as he stared at me in confusion. I could feel my hopes crumble as I stared down at Spike. Then he said something that confused me. "Who are you?"

". . .what," I questioned. Then a look of surprise popped onto Spikes face.

"Oh, its you Chris," Spike said, still staring at me in confusion. "Where are your cloths?"

"What," I nearly yelled. Looking down, I saw what he meant. I wasn't wearing a shirt or jacket. Although, I was lucky enough to still be wearing pants. I had forgotten that I had taken them off the night before when I went to sleep. "I guess I forgot them," I told Spike, mildly embarrassed.

"I completely understand," Spike replied with a smile. "Rarity's always making me cloths and because of my scales, its hard to tell when I'm wearing them or not."

"yeah, well," I chuckled. I didn't really care about the shirt at this point. I just wanted to know about the letter. "So, did a reply come?"

"Oh, yeah," Spike said, ending his little speech. "Sorry Chris, theres still no reply."

"And what about Twilight?"

"Sorry to say, she just went to sleep," Spike said with a little chuckle of his own. "But don't worry, if it comes, I promise to come find you." Then, without another word, Spike closed the door, leaving me alone outside the library.

"Now what," I questioned as I began walking away. I originally thought of going back to Derpy's house to grab my shirt, but then I remembered that I had locked the door as I left. "Looks like I'm going shirtless today," I grumbled as I began walking in a random direction.

"Hi Chris," three familiar sounding voices echoed unanimously. Turning to look, I wasn't surprised to the Cutie Mark Crusaders all standing outside the Carousel Boutique.

"Hello," I replied as I walked over to them. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"We were just about to leave now," Scootaloo said as she began to walk past me.

"We just wanted to get something from my sister," Sweetie Belle said as she began to follow Scootaloo. I could hear several things banning against each other from her saddle bag as she walked past.

"Wheres your shirt," Apple Bloom asked, completely changing the subject. I quickly explained how I forgot it and that I wasn't able to go back and get it. I was actually starting to miss it.

"I have an idea," Sweetie Belle said as she zipped into the shop. After some loud bangs, she returned holding a red shirt. As I looked at it, I quickly realized that it was meant for me.

"Rarity made this," I questioned as I took the shirt. Giving it a quick look over, I was actually shocked at just how normal it looked. I wasn't going to put it on at first, but decided to anyways.

"Don't worry," Sweetie Belle said as I began putting it on. "My sister was going to get rid of it because she made it half an inch too short on one sleeve."

Inspecting myself, I was happy at just how well the shirt fit. "Never worn something this tailored to fit before," I told the young fillies. I also looked at the sleeves, but they looked fine to me.

"So what are you doing," Scootaloo asked me. It was obvious by my sudden silence that I had no idea.

"Why not come to school with us," Apple Bloom said with a little hop.

"School," I chuckled. I wanted to tell them about how I hadn't been to school in years, but I quickly realized that this could be a good idea. "Sure, why not? Might be able to learn something in the process."

"Well then," Sweetie Belle said as she began to lead the way. "Lets go!"

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As I first walked in, some of the young students made comments. Some in complete wonder, others just seemed to make comments about the attack on Canterlot. But still, Cherrilee completely ignored them and allowed me to stay. It actually worried me just how accepting Cherrilee was with me attending the class for the day.

"I can't believe Miss Cheerilee would just let that thing stay," a pink pony wearing a tiara said to a gray pony with glasses. "I mean, what if he attacks us like his kind did to Canterlot." While the students around the two heard their comment,Cherrilee seemed oblivious to it. In the end, I just smiled and gave the pony a little wave. She turned her head in a huff and proceeded to look towards the front.

"Brat," I whispered to myself.

"Did you say something," Cheerilee asked, stopping her current lesson on math. I just shook my head as I took a seat on the side of the room. It confused me that she had heard my whisperer and not the pony's comment.

As the class proceeded, I noticed the similarities the lessons had with the ones I had back in grade school. She ended up doing a few lessons on math and english. Each, reminded me of my childhood and how much I would sleep in class.

The biggest differences that I saw was when it came to history. I knew that would be the case. But, it was nice hearing a little about the history of this world. Some of the things she talked about reminded me of things that had actually occurred in my own world. Soon after that, Cheerilee decided to release her class for an early dismissal. Which all the young ponies happle accepted.

"Mr.Chris," Cherille called as I made my way towards the door. By the time I made it close enough to talk, the room was empty except for the two of us.

"Yes," I asked as I looked down at her. She quickly produced a newspaper out of her desk and held it out to me. I took it and quickly skimmed the front page.

"It described the attack on Canterlot?"

"I thought that you would like to read it," Cheerilee said with a smile. "And please, do come again. I was planning a field trip next week and would be thrilled to have another chaperone to help out."

"Ah, yeah. Sure," I said, not really listening to what she was saying. I was already deep into the article about the attack. It described that several small dragons lead a assault on the castle. The dragons were chased off and there were no casualties. But the main point of the article was the mere fact that dragons had attacked the castle in the first place. The author kept questioning why they would attack in the first place.

"I wonder why they were so hesitant to tell me about this last night," I said to myself as I left the building. I couldn't help but remember the fact that Twilight talked to everyone about it a full night before it reached the paper.

"Hay, Chris," Dinky called, cutting into my thoughts. Looking over, I saw her, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom standing next to a tree with a swing hanging off of one of its branches. "They said that they'll help with our plan."

"What . . .plan," I said in confusion. Then I remembered what I had said to her the night before. "Oh right. Helping your sister find a special somepony." I could tell my face was getting red as I remembered making the promise to Dinky.

"Yeah, we'd love to help find Derpy a special somepony," Sweetie Belle said with a smile. Although Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn't share the feeling.

"Didn't we nearly kill my brother and Miss Cheerilee last time we did this," Apple Bloom said. I couldn't help but chuckle as I remembered the episode they were talking about.

"And won't it be another one of those things where we have to watch a bunch of lovey dovey stuff," Scootaloo sighed.

"Oh come on girls," Sweetie Belle protested toward her friends. "Maybe we went about it the wrong way last time. But with Chris, it should be easier."

"What's that supposed to mean," I asked as I stared down at Sweetie Belle.

"Well, you are a guy," Apple Bloom said as she scratched under her chin with one of her hooves. "Maybe this time it will work!" Apple Blooms realization caused  the spark of excitement to flare in Scootaloo as well.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MATCHMAKERS!!!"

As the three crusaders yelled this, Dinky proceeded to join in as they all clapped one of their front hooves with one another in a circle. Then, without another word, all four of the young fillies began running towards town.

"I really hope this doesn't go as bad as I think it will," I mumbled to myself as I began chasing after them. I was so preoccupied with catching up, that I didn't notice the two other fillies following closely behind.

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"Maybe he would be a good choice," Sweetie Belle said as she pointed a hoof at a stallion standing just outside the flower shop. This was the fifth one that the young fillies had pointed out and thought would be a good choice.

"Nope," I said as I continued walking. This was my answer for the last four as well.

"But why," Dinky asked as she followed close behind me.

"Yeah, thats the fifth one you said no too," Scootaloo said in confusion. "I'm starting to feel like you don't want to find Dinky's sister a special somepony."

"Should we even call them a special somepony," Sweetie Belle questioned. "I mean, Hearts and Hooves day past a long time ago."

"Who cares," Scootaloo groaned. "It still doesn't change the fact that the one guy in the group isn't helping like he had said he would."

"Hey," I said, a little insulted. "I have my reason for saying no to all of them, and when I see him I'll explain."

"Him," Apple Bloom questioned me with a confusing stare. I merely kept walking forward, one target in mind. When I didn't answer, Apple Bloom turned to everyone else with hope on getting an answer. They merely shrugged, equally confused.

"Don't worry. He has to be around here somewhere," I said as we walked into the towns center. A large fountain stood in its center surrounded by several groups of ponies. Including the one I was looking for. "There he is," I said as I pointed toward him.

The sudden silence from the fillies caught me off guard as I turned to look back at them. They were looking at me as if I had just dug up a grave.

"TIME TURNER," each nearly yelled in unison. Their outburst ended up catching the attention of all the surrounding groups of ponies, including that of Time Turner. Who, at this point, was making his way over.

"Did someone say my name," the brown stallion asked with a easily noticeable british accent. At first I didn't know how to respond. It wasn't the fact of who it was that caught me so off guard, it was the fact that he had a british accent. Although, something in the back of my mind was telling me that he was faking it.

Looking over at the fillies, I was surprised to see that they had taken several steps back, looks of fear in each of their faces.

"Wait a minute," I said as realization quickly swept my mind. "You just said 'someone' didn't you?" It had been the first time I had heard the term used in this crazy world by someone besides myself and I knew it had to mean something.

"Yes," Time turner said as he became confused. "It is a common term used when asking about an unspecified or unknown person."

"You just said 'person'," I said with a smile.

"Are you alright," Time Turner asked. He seemed to confused by my reactions and couldn't seem to understand the situation.

"What's your name," I quickly asked. I knew at this point I was just mindlessly saying things. I should've been asking different things that would help me figure out if he would do well with Derpy or not.

"It depends," Tume Turner said as he brought a hoof to his chin. "Where are we at this moment?"

"What," I questioned. That definitely wasn't the answer I was hoping to hear. ". . . Ponyville?"

"And who might you be," he asked, still not answering my prior question.

"Chris. . ."

"Is that short for something or is that. . ." "Its short for Christopher," I blurted out in an unknown rage. Even though I had interrupted his sentence, he still kept talking. Turning to look back at the young fillies for some kind of clue as to what to do, all I saw was all four of them running down a nearby street.

It was at this point that Time Turners rant had stopped and a strange feeling crept over me. Turning back to face Time Turner, I was met with a different scene. The once confused looking pony now had a look of seriousness. "What is my name," he said in a low whisper.

"W. .wh. .what," I questioned. I was beginning to feel a sense of fear slowly taking over my mind. He repeated the question once again, but I could do little but stutter a fragmented response.

"D. . .Do. . .Doctor . . H. . .Hooves."

Suddenly, the look of seriousness on the pony's face was replaced with a caring smile. "Then thats my name," He chuckled as the fear in my mind was replaced with confusion.

"I mean, as long as I have a definitive name, I don't care what it is," he said. "But I need you to understand a few things about me." From there, he moved towards the side of my head and began to whisper something in what I guessed was where my ear was.

"There are differences in what we know and what we think we know," he said without a british accent. "And I know you've been hanging out with that mail mare Derpy, and just so you know, she's not my type."

With that, he walked away humming a merry tune to himself, leaving me more confused than I had been since I had arrived in Equestria. Turning to go find the four fillies, I couldn't help but ponder how everything he said made sense while making none at the same time.

"Wait a minute," I quickly snapped as I realized what he had said before leaving.

"How did you know what we were doing," I yelled as I tuned to question Time Turner, or Doctor Hooves, or whoever he was. But as I turned to look, I was surprised to see that he was gone.

"And here I thought I could easily make it canon," I mumbled to myself as I returned in my pursuit of the young fillies. Again, I was too preoccupied with my thoughts as two fillies followed just behind me, hidden from sight.

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"I'm not so sure of this Diamond Tiara," the small gray filly said to her pink friend. The only response she received was a angered glare from her as she continued her pursuit.

Turning her attention back on her target, Diamond Tiara, went over her plan. Her goal was get the town to throw out the strange white dragon that was walking with four blank flanks. She couldn't make hide nor hair of what they were doing, but to her, it didn't matter. Memories of that morning began flashing through her mind. The clearest was the snide comment of calling her a 'Brat'.

"No pony calls me a brat and gets away with it," Diamond Tiara told her friend. "You know what to do Silver Spoon?"

"I don't think this is going to work," Silver Spoon replied as she adjusted her glasses. Again, the only reply she got was a angered glare. "O. . .ok," she stuttered as she began to walk off in a different direction.

Diamond Tiara watched as her friend moved just ahead of the group, hiding just out of sight by a stack of barrels. Each barrel was stacked vertically on top of one another and while she hadn't had much time to come up with the plan, but she knew it would work. All she needed to worry about now was that she wasn't spotted before she could set up her part. It would take some acting and a little dirt, but she was ready for it.

Just as she expected, the white dragon passed close enough to the barrels that an onlooker would suspect that he hit them. It was in that moment that Silver Spoon kicked the pile of barrels just enough to cause them toppling down, causing everyone to look around in confusion.

Just as the barrels rolled past her, Diamond Tiara rolled out, caking herself in dirt and mud in the process. To someone caught in the confusion, it looked as if she had been just about ran over by a barrel.

Letting out a forced moan of pain, everyone around turned to see the young filly in the dirt. The surrounding ponies quickly began to move toward the injured looking filly as questions flew through the air.

"Does anyone know what happened?"

"Why did the barrels fall like that?"

"Did someone push them over?"

"He did," Silver Spoon said from a nearby position. She had moved away in the confusion from her spot by where the barrels were originally and was pointing an accusing hoof at the white dragon standing nearby.

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"Wait. What," I quickly questioned as I stared at my accuser. I had no idea what was going on and wasn't anywhere near to figuring it out when I was being accused of something.

"I saw him," the small gray filly known as Silver Spoon continued. "He pushed the barrels over when he walked past them."

"I did not," I yelled back at the young filly. But my statement was overpowered by the angry yells of the surrounding ponies as they began advancing forward, demanding for the police. This was a fight I wasn't going to win.

Even I knew their tensions would be high from the news about the dragon attack in Canterlot. It was clouding their judgment and preventing them from letting me explain. Before I could even try to run, I could feel  a force begin to force me to the ground. It felt the same as when Twilight used her own magic to hold me down back at the train station, only weaker and on individual areas. I could see several unicorns with glowing horns in the increasing crowd.

"Yeah, Chris didn't do it," Sweetie Belle said. Although, she quickly hid herself behind me as the crowd grew.

"Yeah," Scootaloo said as she moved in closer to Silver Spoon. They were face to face and Scootaloo looked ready for a fight. This was quickly followed by Apple Bloom pulling her back by her tail.

I wanted to tell the fillies to just go and find someone that could help calm everyone down but one of the unicorns had my mouth sealed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't open it. All I could do was make muffled sounds, but the surrounding uproar downed even those out.

"What in the name of Celestia is going on here," a familiar voice said from above. At first the voice was ignored, But as a gray blob crashed into the middle of the crowd, everyone fell silent. Laying on her back was the mail mare known as Derpy. He face scrunched up in a scowl and her eyes staring in opposite directions.

Almost immediately, a five foot radius was created around her as she got back on her feet. But it did little to stop the crowed from continuing their shouts towards me. As I looked, I could see Derpy trying to tell ponies to calm down and that I did nothing wrong. But everyone just seemed to ignore her.

Suddenly she took off again, zig zagging towards a large tree in the distance. Again the crowd fell silent as she flew off, scanning to make sure she wasn't flying in their direction. Within a few minutes a purple flash of light flared in between me and the crowd, revealing Twilight.

"What is going on out here," she yelled over the crowd. Almost instantly, the crowd fell silent. The only other sound was that of Derpy landing next to Twilight a few moments after she had appeared.

"This thing blatantly attacked my daughter," A light brown stallion said as he separated himself from the group. He wore a white color and a red tie with a money symbol on it. I couldn't help but wonder when he had arrived.

"What do you mean Mr.Filthy . .. I mean Rich," Twilight said calmly. It was obvious that she was doing her best to keep everyone calm. Quickly, Filthy Rich explained what he and all the other ponies believed happened. After hearing his explanation, Twilight gave a glance back at me and made her way towards the small pink filly. Who, by this point, was merely watching the entire event with a devilish smile.

"Diamond," Twilight said looking down at the young filly. "What happened?"

Without a second thought, Diamond told her side of the story. It coincided with Filthy Rich's but began to become choppy when it came to describing her injuries. She said the her sides hurt and that her right fore hoof felt numb, although she held her left hoof up as if it were the hurt one. It was instantly apparent to most that she was perfectly fine, even though she gave some fake moans of pain.

At this, some began to clearly doubt the story, but most were still to riled up to see it as a false accusation. "See," Filthy Rich said as he walked over to his daughter. "That beast should be caged up for what he did to my daughter."

"Please don't take this the wrong way," Twilight began as she began to talk to Filthy Rich. "But your daughter, is perfectly fine. She obviously lied to you about being hurt. As to why, I do not know.

"But if everypony would stop and think for a second, they would realize that those oh, so dangerous barrels, are made of paper mache." With that, Twilight pointed to the now destroyed pile of barrels that lay several feet away. They had broken apart upon hitting a tree and revealed the insides to be that of old newspapers.

"So thats why they were so easy to kick," Silver Spoon said from inside the group.

"Silver," Diamond Tiara yelled at her friend. Although by this point, both of them were surrounded by several ponies who were looking down at them with a bit of annoyance in their eyes. "But he called me a 'brat'," Diamond Tiara tried to say, only to be scooped up by her father.

Quickly, the ponies began to disperse. Some saying sorry's as they walked past me, while others just huffed off. It was by this point that all the different forces holding me in place eased off and allowed me to move freely again.The last pony to give their apologies was a downtrodden looking Silver Spoon as she followed both Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara.

"That could've gone . . . worse," I grumbled as I looked at the six remaining ponies. It was the four fillies, Derpy and Twilight, and except for Twilight and myself, everyone couldn't seem to comprehend what had just happened.

"Why did everyone act so irrationally Twilight," Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah, I mean," Sweetie Belle began as she moved from her cover behind me. "If they had just looked, they would of know that the barrels were fake and that Diamond Tiara was faking."

"It was because of the dragon attack on Canterlot," I replied before Twilight could answer. "It caused people to distrust me, and in a situation like this, it become easy to overlook simple thing."

"So you're not mad," Scootaloo asked. "Not really," I replied as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, yeah I'm annoyed and I didn't actually think something like that would happen. But in the end no one actually got hurt, right Dinky," finishing with my question, I turned to look for Dinky, who had remained silent since this whole thing had began. I was actually shocked to see her in a heated discussion with Derpy.

"You know that you're not supposed to walk around town without me if school lets out early," Derpy said to Dinky with a small scowl. Dinky tried to reply, only to be interrupted by Derpy. "You're just lucky I was on my lunch or who knows what could've happened to you."

"She would've been fine Derpy," Twilight said moving up next to Derpy.

"Yeah," I said as I also moved closer. "They were after me, Dinky wasn't involved at all."

"But what if something did happen and she had gotten hurt," Derpy questioned, thoughts of what could have happened running through her mind.

I could see where she was coming from. There had been a very large group of ponies and if something had happened, Dinky as well as the other three fillies could've gotten hurt for just being around me.

"Look, if you're going to be mad at someone, make it me," I said grabbings everyones confused stares. "I should have told the four of them to leave as soon as the incident began."

"And leave a friend behind," Apple Bloom said with a smirk. "As if," Scootaloo finished as she brushed her hair back with her hoof.

"No," Derpy said with a reluctant sigh. "I know it wasn't anypony's fault, well except for the pink ones, but I do worry about Dinky, you know?"

"We know," Twilight said with a hug and a smile. "Now, why don't you get back to work? I'll watch Dinky and the others, ok?"

Looking back at Dinky, Derpy gave a weak smile and nodded in agreement. Shortly after she took to the sky, narrowly missing the corner of a nearby house in the process.

"Now then," Twilight said once Derpy was out of sight. "Let's all head back to my library for something to eat? What do you say?"

All four fillies quickly cheered in agreement as they began running toward the library. Twilight began to follow, only stopping and looking back to see that I hadn't moved.

"Aren't you coming," she asked with a caring smile.

"In a moment," I said as I looked over at the paper mache barrels. "Why were they made out of paper mache in the first place," I asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

"Because," Twilight said with a giggle. "That store," she continued as she pointed towards the building the barrels had been behind. "Its a joke shop, the barrels are part of its inventory."

"Oh," I said as I looked down at the destroyed fake barrels. It was at this point that a dark furred stallion showed up and began cleaning up the mess. "How much weirder can this day get," I asked myself as I began to walk with Twilight towards the library.