The Last Dragonkin

Chapter 2

The small black foal paced up and down the rows of beds in the Royal Guard barracks. The meeting for all the guards was taking too long, and an idea suddenly came to him. His eyes began to glow, black vines slowly rising from the floor.

North Wind, Steel Ring, and the other guards pushed open the door to their barracks, discussing the recent news. When North turned to look inside, the beds suspended by thin black vines definitely caught his attention. A laugh came from the center of the room, and sitting in the center of the room was none other than the black foal they left with the Nurse.

“Hey! What are you doing! That’s dangerous,” North shouted. The black foal turned around, the glow from his eyes fading away and the beds in the air hit the floor with a loud crash.

Princess Celestia strode down the hallway beside the guard barracks. She turned her head towards the sound of a loud crash from behind the doors. The doors swung open with a flash of her horn, and she glanced inside.

The beds were strewn about, sheets and pillows covering the floors, and some mattresses dangling from helmet hangers. Cheerful laughter came from the guards scattered around the barracks. Celestia eyed North Wind and Steel Ring. “What is going on here? Why does it look like a tornado flew through here?” Both stallions’ heads whipped around to face their ruler. “Well, you see your highness, we were having a bit of a celebration from the recent news, and we got kind of carried away, as you can see,” North said.

Celestia gave a sweet smile and took another look at the mess. “Well next time try to keep it down, that was rather loud.” North knelt down in acknowledgement, and then rose back to his hooves, flapping his wings and taking flight, heading towards one of the hanging mattresses.

“Alright all of you, get to work cleaning this up,” Celestia commanded. The guards dashed about, getting to work on the mess. Celestia glanced at the dark area under one of the beds, taking notice of a quick purple flash. ‘What was that? They better not have brought wine in here. Oh well, I’ll let them have their fun for now.’ She turned around and headed out the door and down the hallway.

North breathed out a sigh of relief, raising a hoof to his chest, and releasing the mattress in hooves. It slammed into the floor but made no noise.

The foal crawled out from under the bed and turned to look at the other guards, who were staring back at him. North floated down beside the foal and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Hey, look, just because you’re older doesn’t mean you can go messing up our room. Why don’t you go see if Chef Gourmet needs your help, but remember, don’t get caught, ok?” The foal nodded his head and trotted towards the door with his head lowered. North let out another sigh before turning to the other guards. “Alright, let’s get this place cleaned up.”

The foal darted from shadow to shadow, making his way towards the kitchen. Princess Celestia strode past him, but didn’t notice him.

Finally the young Dragonkin snuck through the doors of the kitchen, trotting over to the pony who was currently spreading spices over a fine dish. The foal crept over to the chef, staring at the stallion’s hooves working their magic.

Chef Gourmet turned his gaze away from his work, bringing his attention towards the small black foal who had just poked him. A smile spread across his face as he turned to the foal. “Hello there, did you come here to help me?” The foal nodded and the chef turned to his kitchen, putting a hoof to his chin. “Well, I don’t know what you can really help me with.” The chef turned back around and a dozen black vines were grasping some of his spices up to the foal’s face, the foal seeming to examine them, his eyes giving off a faint light. “No! Put those down! They are not to play with!” The foal laid down and put his hooves over his face, the vines retreating back into the ground and the spices dropping.

The chef swiftly snatched the spices out of the air and set them down on the table. His eyes shifted to the side, looking at the foal cowering on the floor. He knelt down in front of the foal and brushed a hoof through his mane. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell like that. I’m very busy at the moment so maybe you can see if one of the maids needs your help. I heard Feather Duster was having some trouble down the hallway in that spare room. You might even find something fun to play with in there, so why don’t you go lend her a hoof?” The foal nodded and bolted out the door, his hooves clopping on the tiled floor as he ran.

He stopped at the door of the room Chef Gourmet was talking about. He put his hooves against the old wood and pushed, the door slowly swinging open.

Standing on her hind legs on a table sweeping the top of a bookshelf was Feather Duster. After she finished, she got back on all fours, but her fore legs slipped off the table and sent her in a tumbling heap against the bookshelf, which began to teeter.

Feather Duster put her hooves in front of her face, awaiting the crushing pain that was to come. She peeked from between her hooves to see the bookshelf suspended in the air by a few black vines.

The vines lowered the book shelf down to the floor, where it proceeded to tip over, colliding with a suit of armor, the helmet soaring through the air and landing cleanly on the foal’s head.

Feather Duster rose to her hooves and brushed her hooves against her now dusty clothes. She glanced at the small black foal and let out a small giggle. She strode over and knelt down in front of him. “My knight in shining armor. What are you doing in here anyways?”

The foal looked at her, their eyes meeting. The foal kept quiet, but pointed a hoof to the dusty desk in the corner. “So you came to help me? Thanks but I think I can handle this. I may be a bit clumsy but that doesn’t mean I can’t work.” Her horn lit up and a feather duster levitated beside her. She headed towards the desk, her hooves slipping from under her after stepping on a knocked-over spear. She quickly rose to her hooves and proceeded to clean the desk.

The foal glanced around at the room, noticing the glint of metal in the far corner of the room across from Feather Duster reflecting from the dim light swaying on the ceiling. He jotted the location down in his memory and left the room, quietly pulling the door closed.

He snuck back to the guard barracks and pushed the door open, trotting to the infirmary and to Nurse Vital’s office, leaping up into the bed she had in there for him and drifting off to sleep.