The Last Dragonkin

Chapter 1

The guards finally touched down back at Canterlot Castle, forcing their weary legs to carry them to the guard barracks close by. The doors made a loud noise as the guards ran straight through them. The other guards that were sleeping sat up, their expressions showing their annoyance from being woken.

The gray Pegasus took the lead with the foal in one hoof, flapping a wing to keep his balance as he galloped to the infirmary. The foal’s face was mottled and wet from tears.

Nurse Vital trotted down the rows of patient beds, wounded guards in their dreams. Her heart skipped a beat from the loud crash of the infirmary doors slamming into the walls. She peaked her head around a cabinet and saw more guards, and they had something with them.

‘I thought North Wind wasn’t going to try flirting with me anymore. What has he brought me this time?’ She trotted over to North, a smile trying to cover her annoyance of this sudden interruption. “Hello North Wind. Is there something you need?” North skidded to a halt in front of the nurse. He held out what looked like just a bunch of cloth. ‘Probably a bottle of wine again. He knows I don’t drink though, or at least I hope he does.’

Her gaze met the eyes of a foal, a foal with strange eyes. She was at a loss for words, and just stared at the creature in front of her. “Wh-what is this? Is this even a pony?” North shook his head and hoofed the small child over to her. “Make sure he is fine. He went through a lot. I’ll explain everything later.” Vital wrapped her hooves around the cloth and couldn’t help but stare. Finally she snapped out of her trance and moved to an operating table, doing what she normally did.

Hours passed, and at last the doors to the infirmary swung open and Nurse Vital stepped through them. “He… seems to be fine… But I can’t be too sure. What is he and where did you find him?” North turned his head to the others that accompanied him to Sherdaul, and then turned back to the nurse. “Sherdaul, last standing village of the Dragonkin. From what we can tell, he is the only Dragonkin that remains. All the other villages are gone too and we couldn’t save any more than him. The only reason he survived was because his parents had used the last of their strength to ensure his safety.”

Vital breathed deeply, trying to calm down. ‘I’ve dealt with injuries from splinters to broken bones, but another species entirely? Is North trying to make me have a heart attack? I don’t know how to treat a… whatever North called him.’ North put a hoof on Vital’s shoulder, realizing how stressful this must have been on her. “Calm down, it’s okay. We just need to make sure the Royal Family doesn’t find him. I suspect Princess Cadence wouldn’t mind, but the captain or the Alicorn Sisters may not feel the same way. And if word got to that idiot Blueblood we would probably have a fight on our hooves. Celestia knows that he has quite the silver tongue.” Vital put a hoof to her chin, and silently agreed.

A blue Unicorn stepped towards the two discussing ponies. “May I see him? I have experience with foals. I have 3 happy foals at the moment.” Vital nodded her head and headed to the examination table where she left the foal, and he was still there, but now he had his eyes fixated at something outside the window. The Unicorn saw nothing outside the window except the moon and the stars. ‘He must like the moon,’ she thought.

The last thing she had expected to happen was to see the foals eyes begin to glow. Nurse Vital had already left to attend to other patients, leaving the Unicorn alone. Thin black vines suddenly snaked out from the mattress, but seemed to be weak, causing them to almost immediately die. Instead they sunk back into the mattress as soon as the foal’s eyes stopped glowing. ‘What… was that? Did he just create… vines? This foal is certainly a strange one.’

A smile spread on her face as soon as the foal fell asleep. Memories of her foals playing with their toys crossed her mind, as well as memories of them sleeping. She turned around to head back to the barracks, but glanced at the foal one last time. “Sleep well,” she whispered.

The next day the Day Guard walked to their posts, replacing the Night Guard as was routine. Nurse Vital burst through the doors of the infirmary, searching the barracks. “What’s wrong Nurse Vital? Lose something,” asked a white Earth Pony stallion. She nodded frantically, checking under all the beds and even behind the curtains. “So… what did you lose?”

Two purple draconic-like eyes watched from a shadowed corner of the room, watching everything. Nopony seemed to notice, or they weren’t paying attention. Nurse Vital accidently bumped into the owner of the two eyes, the Dragonkin foal who had snuck out of the infirmary while the nurse had slept.

She quickly put her hooves around him and picked him up off the ground. He tried to struggle but couldn’t get out of her grasp. She stormed back to the infirmary, all the guards having wide eyes at what had just happened. “Sooooo, does anypony know what that was all about,” asked the white Earth Pony. All the other guards looked at each other, a few of them scratching the back of their necks.

Nurse Vital set the foal back on the bed she had put him in yesterday. ‘How did he even get out of here? He shouldn’t know how to walk yet, unless these Dragonkin can learn a lot faster than ponies. That would be kind of scary actually.’ The nurse let out a soft giggle. ‘It might even be like the captain’s sister.’

North Wind and the other Day Guards trudged back into the barracks. Some of them nearly fell asleep while walking. Some of the Night Guards chuckled as they passed them. “Didn’t sleep enough last night? I heard you went to go see Nurse Vital. Did she finally accept you or something,” joked the white Earth Pony. “Shut up Steel Ring. We didn’t get much sleep last night,” North replied angrily. Steel trotted out of the barracks, the other Night Guards following behind him.

North walked to the doors of the infirmary and entered. “Nurse Vital, are you in here?” The nurse poked her head out of her office. “When am I not here? As much as you visit me you should know I’m always in here. Did you come to see the foal? He’s staring at the moon again as usual. It hasn’t even come up fully but still he can’t seem to look away from it.” Both of the ponies walked side by side to the Dragonkin foal’s bed, where he was doing exactly what the nurse said he was doing. He had his eyes fixated on the moon.

The Unicorn from yesterday had made her presence known by tapping North on the back, which caused him to jump and then face plant into the mattress of the foal’s bed. He quickly raised his head, his eyes focusing on the Dragonkin. ‘He didn’t even flinch… Do all Dragonkin love the moon this much?’

North stood up and turned to glare at the Unicorn. “Water Wishes, you better not sneak up on me next time.” Water lowered her head. “I didn’t mean to. I thought you would’ve heard me walking down the hallway.” North sighed, closing his eyes. “We’ve all had a long day. You should just get some rest. The foal is doing fine.” Water’s expression quickly changed to a smile at hearing about the foal. “Yes sir,” was the last words she spoke before leaving the infirmary and heading to bed.

Nurse Vital looked at North, who had bags under his eyes and his eyes slightly closed. “You should get some rest too, it’s bad for your health to be staying up late,” she told him. He glanced at her before nodding and heading off to bed as well.