The Last Dragonkin

Prologue

The moon was high in the sky, beaming down on the last remaining village of the Dragonkin, Sherdaul. The Dragonkin were a powerful race with their command over darkness. Their coats were black, and their manes and tails were mostly black, but some others had colors streaked in them. They also looked like Pegasi since they had wings, but the thing that gave away what they were was their eyes. They had draconic looking eyes that normally scared ponies. Their power required the use of their eyes as well, because if they couldn’t see something, then they couldn’t focus on it or use any of their power. A blind Dragonkin was more or less a blind Pegasus with crazy looking eyes.

The Dragonkin loved the night, able to absorb the darkness to rejuvenate themselves, making food and drink unnecessary. This helped them survive during the day where there was usually no darkness.

The Dragonkin liked to stay hidden, but sometimes if somepony looked hard enough, they could probably find a Dragonkin settlement somewhere. Because of this not much was known about this race.

They used their dark power for everyday life, and rarely ever for fighting. They hated to fight, unless they had a reason to fight.

This day was like every other day. The Dragonkin tailor Shadow Seams was making clothes for the others to use. She wasn’t as experienced as a certain white Unicorn she had heard lived in Ponyville, but she was still able to make clothes, and that was all she needed.

There was also the blacksmith Black Hammer. He was not only good with metal, but wood as well, so he was able to make toys for foals and frames for glasses for the older Dragonkin.

There were no elder Dragonkin, since Dragonkin, like Alicorns, lived forever. Sometimes though, after a long life, Dragonkin go a bit crazy and fed up with how long they have lived, and the massive increase in their dark auras causes their entire body to dissipate into black mist and then fade away.

Black Hammer was currently working on a project he had been working on for a while. Even though Dragonkin hated to fight, he was always fascinated by the weapons ponies used. He was working on shaping the handle to a scythe at the moment. Shadow Seams had come over after getting a break to see him working on it.

Black Hammer and Shadow Seams had been married for a while now, and they already had a child. For some reason though, the foal wouldn’t open his eyes. He breathed like a normal pony would when they were asleep, and wouldn’t move. The couple worked together to make things for him for when he woke, but he continued to sleep. He had red streaks in his mane and tail like his father, which he was proud of.

She giggled as she saw him working, and he turned his head to look at her standing at the entrance to his smithy. He put his project down on an anvil and walked over to her, his tail swaying as he walked.

“Still working on that thing? When will you ever use it?” Shadow Seams asked her husband, a smile on her face. “We might need it for something you know. Like the other villages we could be attacked as well,” he replied.

She shook her head and nuzzled him. “Why would somepony want to attack the village where all the remaining Dragonkin are? We have a lot of power here, so I think we’ll be safe for a long time. Besides,” she turned around and flicked her tail at his face, Black Hammer falling back and into one of his buckets of water, soaking him from head to hoof. Shadow giggled again and helped her husband, pulling him from the floor, water dripping off her soaking husband. “you shouldn’t think like that around our son, it might give him negative emotions once he wakes up.”

She headed back to their house, and he charged out of his smithy, looking around for where she might have gone. Not finding her, he walked over to a stall where another Dragonkin with blue shades, blue streaks in his mane and yellow streaks in his tail was standing, advertising jewelry which he hoof crafted.

Moon Chain burst out into laughter once he saw his friend soaked. “What happened? Decide to take a bath on the job?” Black breathed out a sigh, the bad joke not really calming his mood. “No, just seems to be that my wife thinks I’m too negative.” Moon scratched his chin in thought, and then grabbed a box from behind him, shoving it into Black’s arms. “Take this, it might make her happier. Girls love jewelry from what I can tell. Just don’t try to soak HER with water once you find her. She’s probably back at your house, you know.”

Black nodded and started walking towards his house, the moon reflecting off the water still on his coat.

Once he reached his house, he opened the door and looked around the front room for his giddy wife. He heard a soothing sound coming from their bedroom and decided to investigate. Once he reached the room, he pushed open the door and saw the lovely form of his wife singing a lullaby to their sleeping son.

His expression immediately formed into a smile, and he approached his wife slowly. “You aren’t very good at sneaking around, you know that right?” He jumped, and she turned her head to look at him. He scratched the back of his neck and looked away, and she smiled again.

“Maybe you should learn from Night Leaf, she is good at sneaking up on others.” He chuckled and nodded his head quickly.

The sound of an explosion was heard outside, and they rushed to the window, seeing Moon Chain’s stall on fire as well as Moon Chain who was trying to crawl away from what had attacked him.

The scene unfolded quickly, a group of ponies spreading out through the town, setting buildings ablaze with magic and what looked like bottles with fire in them. They shouted words that could not be heard as they began wreaking havoc on the town, now setting Shadow’s shop on fire.

Shadow saw her friend Night Leaf crawling on a roof above an orange Unicorn, and then jumped, but got knocked aside by a blue Pegasus. Some of the Dragonkin tried to flee, using their wings as an advantage, but the Pegasi moved swiftly, kicking them so they fell back to the ground, where they burned like the others.

Shadow and Black ran to the entrance of their house and locked the door, hoping it would hold, but they both knew wood wouldn’t last long against fire.

A piece of their roof fell and landed on Shadow, and she cried out in fear. Black rushed over as quickly as he could, then kicked the debris off of her. “Shadow, get up, we need to get out of here,” Black shouted to her. They both looked over and saw their foal still wrapped up in a blanket woven by Shadow herself, and he was awake now, tears streaming down his face and crying out. Black dashed for his child but the roof decided to not let him, a large chunk falling on him.

Shadow’s vision was fogged by the smoke, so her vine power wouldn’t help her much here. She also wasn’t as strong as her husband, but she pushed at the piece of roof, but it wouldn’t budge. Flames ate away at the floor, and approached their child.

With their last ounce of strength and the thick smoke flooding their house, they focused on their son, spotting him through the smoke, and protecting him with dark vines. It wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the fire, but it would give him more time.

Shadow fell to the ground, but her and her husband never took their eyes off of their son, putting all their strength into protecting him.

Their door was bucked open and shattered into splinters, and Black thought it was the end for them all. The gleaming golden armor told another story, and the couple knew it was the Canterlot Royal Guard. They had heard the cries and rushed in, hoping for any survivors.

Shadow released some of her dark vines around her child to reveal him to the guards. “Please… save him… The rest of us won’t survive this, but please make sure our son does.” She coughed and her vines faded into the ground as she lost her focus, but a gray Pegasus had grabbed the foal in time and nodded to the mother, leaving her and her husband as they held hooves for the last time. Their tears evaporated in the heat, and they closed their eyes for the last time.

The guards rushed off, the village nothing but flames now. The gray Pegasus looked at the foal, who was crying out in confusion. The moon was sad that night as almost all of the creatures that lived under it were now dead, buried in the ashes of their village.