Chapters ... Thus, cake was not a cake, the cake was a lie...
"GAH!"
The sudden outburst from Spike interrupted Twilight's reading, and you looked up at the frightened dragon. "Spike, what's wrong? I'm trying to read here."
Spike is wide-eyed and seems to be looking at something behind her. Twilight turns her head to see... A dragon!?
A comical scene ensues as Twilight scrambles to stand up, turn around, and get in a fighting stance. Spike jumps behind her, peeking around her hind leg. As the dragon still approaches, Twilight studies the creature. The dragon is light green in color, and lacked wings. It seemed to have a black nose with white shielding on it, which went up to turn into a small horn. From this horn, it splits into white hair, going down the back of it's neck. Between this hair is teal spikes, which matched the long goatee which hung from it's chin. It has green and black markings all over it's body. it has teal spikes going all down it's upper body, along the tail where it meets a strangely silky looking bunch of black hair at the end of the tail. On the underbelly of the dragon was white fur, and went to the end of the tail much like the teal spikes did. The end of the dragon's legs ends with black, what looks like a strange & natural torn pair of black socks on each limb. At the end of these limbs are very white claws. Not to mention, there were black whiskers on the sides of the dragon's face.
The dragon got close enough to where Twilight could see the creature clearly. The eyes are surrounded by black marks much like the limbs. The eyes of this dragon look... Very strange. The what would be whites of the eyes are black instead, as is the pupil. The iris of the dragon is light brown, a sort of clay color. The dragon's expression is hard to place. It doesn't look happy, but it's unpleasant aura is overshadowed by a stronger emotion; confusion.
"You... Want to fight me?," The dragon bellows, seeming to tense up in case he would be attacked.
Twilight's horn glows, a crimson aura surrounding the dragon's claws. The dragon looks down, confused as to what was going on. A short while later, the dragon's feet are completely covered in ice. Twilight pants a bit, before sighing in relief.
"Um... Alright? I was just wondering about that baby there," the dragon stated as he broke the ice on the left foreclaw.
After a long silence, Twilight manages to speak. "Y-... You mean Spike?"
"If that is the name of the child, yes. I was wondering why it would be left in the attendance of a pony. Normally, dragon parents are very protective of their young."
"Well, Spike is my assistant," Twilight says, matter-of-factly, "he is in my care. What do you think you're doing, approaching ponies anyway? Dragons aren't welcome here."
The dragon, now free from the ice, moves too quick for Twilight. As soon as he is free, he zooms behind her and picks up the baby in both of his claws, holding it to himself like Spike was a baby (which he was). Twilight is too shocked by the dragon's quickness to move, and Spike is trembling in the dragon's arms.
"There, there, child; there is no need to fret," cooed the dragon as he rubbed Spike's belly.
"H-hey, stop!," Spike almost screamed, panicking.
Calming down a bit, Twilight decides to take the diplomatic approach. Time to act friendly.
"Tell me, dragon, who are you and why are you here? I'm curious," She said, forcing a smile.
"My name is Dunite. I recently moved into the Everfree, and I figured i'd come into town to check out the scene. That's when I saw this baby here without it's mother," The dragon said, shushing the baby dragon that was squirming in his arms, trying desperately to escape.
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After a short (er, well, long) explanation from Dunite, Twilight led the odd dragon back to her library, as it was getting late and Dunite had explained that his home had caved in, and she figured she would be generous enough to accommodate him. Apparently, Dunite was from a far-away land where dragon & pony relations where more acceptable in recent years.
Twilight sighs on the way to the library; it had been a long day, after all. Dunite followed behind her, awkwardly walking on his hindclaws in order to continue holding Spike, who long since tired of trying to escape and passed out from exhaustion. Twilight herself was exhausted; trying to figure out Dunite had really worn her down. Not that what he was saying wasn't interesting, it's just... Well, it's like trying to solve a milk puzzle, or a puzzle with no picture. It takes longer because you want to piece it together, and for a nerd like Twilight, it's fun. However, it takes lots of work after a while, you start to wonder whether you should be doing something more productive or fun.
Twilight walked into the library, headed up the stairs, and crawled into bed, almost immediately falling asleep. Dunite follows afterwards. He looks around, and notices a small dog bed with a blanket. He frowns somewhat, figuring that this is Spike's bed. Well... It could be worse. He gently sets Spike onto the bed, covers him up, and curls up around the bed in order to keep Spike warm. A short while later, he falls asleep as well.
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The loud cry wakes up both Twilight and Dunite. Twilight looks out the window quickly. Looks like it's sunrise. She looks around in panic, to notice that Dunite seems to be squirming. For somewhere near Dunite's belly appears a frightened & angry Spike, lashing out at Dunite in fear.
"Hey, hey, calm down, child!," Dunite shouted, trying to catch the kid so he could calm him down.
"Spike, relax! It's alright," Twilight shouted over the scuffle.
Eventually, Spike seemed to calm down. He slid off of Dunite, landing on his bottom, panting heavily. After a while, he manages to speak up, "Sorry, I just woke up to see a dragon's face and I kind of freaked out."
Dunite stood up, making Spike (who had been leaning on him), fall over. Dunite helped Spike back up carefull, apologizing. After Spike pouted and told him to go away, Dunite looked at Twilight, "Thanks for the hospitality, but I really do need to get back to work on my abode."
Before Twilight could say anything, the dragon turned to leave. What really caught her tongue was that she had a good view of his sides in the morning light. Going across his side was a barely visible scar, like it had been there a while and faded over time. The scar was placed where, seemingly, the wings would go...
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Dunite was heading back to his cave when he heard a mare scream. He turned a little too late to see a white blur zip around in front of him. A white unicorn mare looked up at him with disdain on her face. She had a wavy, purple mane curled to look fashionable, along with cyan makeup to match her cutie mark. Gems?... Why would a woman like this be a miner? Unless she makes jewelry or something...
"Green?! GREEEN!? Darling, you must-," The white unicorn stopped suddenly, and looked scared as if she had just noticed him in full, "DRAGON, IT'S A DRAGON, A GREEN ONE! RUN!"
The mare took off, and seemed to zig-zag like he was chasing her & she wanted to throw him off. ...She moves awfully fast for a unicorn. If that's the reaction every one of these ponies is going to give me, then i'm in for a long day. Wait... Why did she say I was green like it was a bad thing?
He humphed as he went to continue his way home. However, when he turned his head...
"Gah!," He exclaimed, taking a few steps back from the pink face that had somehow ended up in his face.
This other mare in front of him wore a smile on her face. She was pink... All pink! Except for her eyes & cutie mark. She had pink fur along with a darker pink, curly mane. She had bright, blue eyes. Looking at her hooves, Dunite noticed that she had stilts on her hooves. That explains that...
"Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie! Ooh, ooh, are you a dragon? I know a dragon! Are you new to Ponyville, huh huh huh?," She spewed out, fast enough to be confused for one sentence. Dunite had a bad feeling about this... However, he was never one to discredit someone right away. Maybe she didn't take coffee well; he knew the feeling.
"Oh, um... Hello, my name is Dunite, and yes, I am a dragon. I am new to the Everfree, but I did come into town," He answered, extending a claw as an introduction.
She gasped and somehow managed to smile bigger, and started bouncing on the stilts, "Oh! We need to throw you a surprise welcome party! Except now it's not much of a surprise, but hey, I didn't tell you anything! Oh, oh, I need to go get my welcome wagon! I think I left it at Cranky's...," She continued rambling, stumbling as she ran off. Dunite lowered his claw and watched her go.
...
I should probably go . The dragon took off at a high speed, rather not wanting to know what this, 'welcome wagon,' was.
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The rest of the day was spent digging out the rubble without any interruptions. Dunite finally stepped back down into his lovely home. Not exactly lovely, but it's what Dunite loved. In the far right corner was a large & old fishing net, hooked into the walls to make a sort of makeshift hammock. Around the room was an assortment of old machinery. To be more accurate, machinery for smithing and refining. In the far left corner was a desk (clawmade, from the looks of it), where an assortment of papers where stuffed in the drawers and on the top. Not exactly for paperpushing, but Dunite used to have a habit of drawing when he was younger and he figured the drawings were too precious to throw away. Although he did not enjoy drawing anymore, his old drawings still symbolized him as a person, and he could never bring himself to throw them away.
All of the things in the room where either found or made by Dunite himself. He had moved them here from his old home.
Exhausted from the work, he sighed with relief and made his way over to his makeshift net hammock. He curled up, and fell asleep.
Dear Princess Celestia,
A dragon named Dunite recently moved into the Everfree. I'm confused on what to do, as he does not seem to be violent. He seems to disapprove of my guardianship of Spike, however. He also is not small like Spike is, and despite being around (from head to claw) 12 hooves tall, he does not come off as greedy. In fact, he came into town and even spent the night here, and never took anything. I do not know, however, where this dragon lives and he has not been into town in a few days. I am worried, as I told him that pony & dragon relations here aren't that good, and he may not feel comfortable returning to Ponyville. Also, he has a few scars on him, and it almost seems like he lost his wings in a f-...
That was all that Princess Celestia read. She looked up from the paper with a frown plastered onto her face. She looked to the nearest guard. "Ready the carriage," she ordered.
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Dunite had finally expanded his home to a comfortable extent, to about the size of a tennis court. Building his home here was not chosen at random; the nearby mountains where formed out of volcanic eruptions, which for some reason seemed to cease below ground, as if giving up on erupting but not it's position. The lava would work wonders for metalworking. Near the middle of the back of the cave was now an oven, which would take in a small amount of lava when activated.
The only thing to do now was go back into town and try and check out those stores. The dragon sat in the darkness of the cave, rather regretting have to go into the town. His last visit had not gone too well, and he certainly did not want to meet that pink one again. Pinkie Pie, that's what her name was.
The dragon turned, and sighed deeply as he headed off to Ponyvillle.
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Twilight and her friends bowed down before the incoming carriage. Now that she thought about it, she had always wondered why the princess needed to be carried by pegasus guards anyway. Did she not want to strain herself? That can't be; Rainbow Dash never got tired of flying, nor did Fluttershy, and the princess had very large wings to accommodate that large body of hers. It could be to keep up appearances or old traditions, most likely.
The carriage landed, and Celestia stepped off of it with an uneasy expression on her face. This made Twilight feel uneasy. When Celestia wrote back to Twilight saying she was coming to Ponyville, she had not said why. I hope she isn't upset with me...
Celestia looked around cautiously. She then looked down to Twilight, "Where is this dragon now?"
"I don't know, Princess. As I wrote, I haven't seen Dunite in 2 days."
"Ooh, ooh, hi dragon, hi dragon!," Pinkie said from behind them, bouncing with excitement.
"Oh no," a lower voice came from somewhere further away.
Celestia looked up to see a light green dragon looking at them all warily.
"... You," she snarled
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The familiar voice sent shivers down his spine, but for whatever reason, he did not know why. He looked up to see a rather large, white pony glaring at him. She was about 3/4 his height, with both a horn and wings. She had pretty pink eyes, and a multi-colored mane. She wore golden jewelry, with purple jewels adorning them, her crown and neck piece, to be precise. The very definition of royalty.
"Um... Me?," he asked.
"Yes, you," she said, like she expected him to know why she did not like him.
...
"Do... I know you?," He asked, started to become increasingly nervous as to what this pony could do.
"You don't recognize me? The very pony that took your wings, you wretched creature?!," She nearly shrieked, her anger rising.
"M-... My wings?," The dragon thought back to many years ago. As he looked closer at her, he could see a smaller pony, with a pink mane and innocent smile. The realization smacked him mentally, and his expression dropped into frown.
They stood there, glaring at each other. Twilight did not speak up, for fear that any interruption would unleash their fury upon her. They continued staring for what felt like hours, a sort of invisible battle going on between the two.
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"Father, thou cannot do this! They hath done nothing to offend us!," a young mare squeaked over the ruckus at a larger stallion.
The larger stallion ignored his daughter, and watched the scene unfold as she cried. Slowly, the clamor died down and stallions started to gather around the large stallion & his daughter.
"Commander, sir, thou request is ready," reported an armored soldier. Well, armored wasn't a good word; the most armor was a chestplate, the rest of the outfit was made of either fur or scales.
"Very well, bring it here," The large stallion ordered as he turned to his daughter, "Tia, my dear. I have prepared something for thou so that thy can accompany us on these raids later on. Thou art coming of age, and this will prepare thou early. I know thou art hesitant to do so, but this is something that thou must do. As your father, I have to choose thy life's path for thou; who thou marries, what thou does, and several other things."
The small white mare with a pink mane looked up at her father, her face bearing a confused and scared face.
"To prepare thou for thy inevitable future, i'm going to have thou start on the small ones," the mare was trembling now,"I do, however, believe in a fighting chance. The dragon shall not be restrained. Should thou fail to kill this dragon, the dragon will kill thou. These beasts are not one of us, and neither are we one of them; thus, it is destiny that we fight one another to determine who is best. Besides, the threat of death will ensure that thou shall fight this dragon, and thy fate will be sealed."
The soldiers returned, and along with the large stallion, formed a circle around the trembling young mare. A soldier came late after the rest of them, holding a moving bag as if something were trying to escape from it, it's escape stopped by the tight rope at the top of the bag, sealing it. The soldier dropped the bag before the white mare, looking at the large stallion for confirmation. The large stallion nodded, indicating his approval. The solder gripped in end of the rope with his mouth, pulling it quickly as he took off into the crowd.
From the bag emerged a small pale green dragon, snarling at the skies above. It looked around at the surrounding guards, the bodies of the dead dragons, the whole massacre. He noted they were standing in a circle around him, all of them except... A white mare.
Emboldened that her life was on the line, the mare took on a fighting stance, though still trembling. The baby dragon has not yet known much, but he knew naturally that the mare was most likely his target. He flew up from the bag, soaring down to the young mare while letting out a terrifying roar.
The mare was taken back by this sudden experience; it surprised her that there was no hesitation, no restraint on this dragon's anger, all directly aimed at her. The dragon came down, made a missing swipe at her misjudging his distance, and flew around to come back for another attack. it's not my fault... IT'S NOT MY FAULT! Was what went through her mind as she released her attack on the incoming dragon.
Streaks of light came surging out at the dragon. They tore into the small dragon, tearing off the baby's wings and eliciting a ear-ringing shriek. Blood spewed out, and the dragon had spiraled and landed on the ground before the light had died down. The mare looked on what she had done in horror, tears making their ways down her face. She shook, her breathing somewhat erratic. One would assume she was hyperventilating, but with the medical knowledge of the time... You get the idea, there was no paper bags for her.
The soldiers dispersed and the large stallion carried the crying mare off on his back, wearing a neutral expression on his face. The dragon lay still on the bottom of the large nest, who appeared to be dead. The stallion returned home to his stronghold, depositing his daughter onto her cot and leaving her room so she could sleep.
All she did that night was cry.
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The princess's frown grew deeper as the dragon dared a step closer.
A New Beginning
"Hi," The dragon said with a nervous smile as he dared make the space shorter between him and the princess. He extended a claw for her to shake. She snarled, getting low into a fighting stance, making him take a step back.
The dragon sighed, "Oh good, you want to fight me, too. Let me guess, you're gonna freeze my claws?"
The princess was taken back by her first adversaries attitude. Does he... Not remember me? How did he know what attack I was going to do? Best to play friendly to avoid a confrontation in front of my subjects.
She held out a hoof and forced a smile, "just being cautious is all. It's not every day you get to meet a dragon. My name is Princess Celestia."
"As in... Tia?," The dragon asked, as he retracted his extended claw away from her, hesitating to shake it.
"That is something people who are friends with me call me by, yes. Do you know me from somewhere?," she asked and continued smiling, hoping to seem innocent.
...
"You're the one who slaughtered my family"
Audible gaps where heard from the group of nearby friends
The princess dropped her hoof and assumed her previous fighting stance. Now way was this dragon going to be friendly now!
"... I forgave you long ago, Princess. There's no need to be hostile," Dunite said as he extended his claw again, smiling a little. The princess looked back and forth between the claw and his face, confused. After a while, she stood back up and warily shook his claw.
"But your family is gone, and I took your wings. How can you not hate me?," she asked, relaxing a little as both hoof and claw retracted without harm done.
"Well, it happened thousands of years ago. Not to mention, the soldiers forced you to do it, didn't they? I hated you at first, but as I got older and more knowledgeable, I learned what being in that circle meant. Plus, you didn't have a choice, what with me attacking you anyway," replied the dragon, flicking his claw as if batting away the problem like you would a fly.
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The pegasi pulling the carriage grunted and dripped sweat from the extra weight on the carriage. After a bit of understanding on both ends, Celestia decided it would be best to take Dunite back to Canterlot for observation. Not that she told him that, she had instead told him she wanted him over for tea. Dunite had turned into a metaphorical Pinkie at the mention of tea, bouncing around excitedly. The action did not suit him, being an ancient dragon and all.
The dragon stared off into the distance from the carriage, a nostalgic look on his face. All the while, the princess sat beside him, staring daggers at him. She still did not trust him. He turned around to look at her. Realizing she had been lost in thought, and glaring at the dragon as he looked at her, she shook her head and looked back towards the front of the carriage.
"Heheheh, you don't trust me. It's alright, princess, I understand. Not like we met under sunny circumstances," He dragon giggled at his own pun. The princess noticed this.
"Do NOT make puns. My sister, Luna, does that constantly and it always gets on my nerves."
"Maybe it really brightens her day," the dragon replied, a mischievous appearing on his face. Oh, he forgave her and he had lived long... But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy being immature.
The princess sighed and remained silent for the rest of the journey, only moving to push away Dunite as he kept trying to annoy her, with much success.
The birds took off squawking over the treetops of the Everfree as a loud clamor could be heard.
A light green dragon was laying on the ground, panting on the ground in front of a cave. Well, it was a cave before it caved in. The pile of rocks covered the entrance, making entry impossible to whatever lay behind the pile. The dragon slowly stood, looking back at the so-called cave with a frown.
"Darn animals, always weakening the earth so that it crumbles," He growled. Unlike most dragons who sought homes in high places, this particular dragon preferred the opposite, tunneling beneath the earth to not only create a home, but to work as well. Underground homes had their disadvantages, though... Like caving in. Making an underground home was proving troublesome. There were many underground critters in the area, and the abundance of trees did not help make the earth more suitable. The cave, as you may have guessed, was what was supposed to be the dragon's new home.
The dragon contemplated on what to do. Well, 3 days of work down the drain. I'm just going to have to dig this rubble up later to get back into cave... Might as well go into town and see what stores they have . With his mind made, the dragon made way for the clock tower looming over the treetops.
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After a short while, the dragon arrived in a field, where he had a full view of the town. The grass was green, the flowers were in bloom, and the weather was nice on such a sunny day. The dragon looked to the skies, where he saw pegasi in the clouds. They were not working, however; they seemed to be playing a game. The dragon smiled as he remembered days long past.
As he turned his gaze back into the field, he noticed a purple object that stood out among the green grass like a sore claw. Wait... What exactly about a sore claw sticks out anyway? The dragon shook the thought out of his head as he took a few steps closer to get a better view.
It was a pony, a purple pony. A mare, the dragon could tell, as she was somewhat smaller with a thinner physique and long eyelashes. She was laying on her belly with her legs under herself, and reading a rather large looking tome. She had darker hair, with 2 streaks of pink and purple in her mane. Then the dragon noticed the creature next to this mare, which seemed to be telling an exciting tale, one of which the mare did not seem to be listening to.
That's... A baby dragon? What is that doing unattended?
The dragon stepped out from the cover of the forest, making a beeline for the other dragon.
