Chapter Seventy-Six: Attachment

Smokey studied the drawings as Terra Cotta flipped through them. Impressed with the amount of talent the child displayed as he observed her.

"You have some nice pictures."

"Tanku," she mumbled through the crayon between her teeth. Glancing up at him every so often, she went back down to her drawing.

It did not take long for the sketch to take form. Within a minute she had the form of a powerful, majestic creature standing and displaying his strength-a dominating resplendence that awed those around it. Its wings were spread wide, its tail high, muscles rippling with might.

It was Smokey as he had been during the show… though something seemed off. Upon closer inspection, the artistic representation was lacking the chains and shackles that bound him.

The dragon was even more impressed now. Though, the look on his representation's face proved disturbing to him. Those thin slits in the eyes, the wrathful snarl, the position that appeared it was about to jump right off the page and attack…

Biting his lower lip, he wrenched his eyes away from the drawing. Over the next several minutes, the filly drew several more pictures. A melancholy one where he was sitting chained and looking depressed. A second one with him sitting-unchained-and appearing content as the girl drew herself drawing next to the dragon in a third picture.

Sighing, ear frill extending at the crumpling of moving paper, he returned to watching Terra Cotta draw.

"This is what you do in your spare time? You draw? You are very good at it," he complimented again.

"Mmmhmmm. I like culurin'. Dwahing. Is fun!" She turned a smile up at him. "I wuv dwahing."

She gave pause, before nudging the crayon box closer to him.

"… Would you like to dwah, too?"

"Sure."

Scooting closer, he chose the yellow, pink, and black crayons and accepted the drawing pad. Flipping to a clean sheet, he tore it out and began drawing. Unlike Terra Cotta's drawings, Smokey's weren't very good, but they were good enough to see that he was sketching a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail.

Terra Cotta reached for the space where the black crayon usually resided, but soon saw that Smokey had taken it, and didn't complain. She took the midnight blue, which was closer to what she wanted anyway, she discovered, as she drew.

This last picture was not Smokey-or even anybody else. It was, instead, of a dark unicorn mare with flashing red eyes and sharp fangs. She was breathing fire and tentacles of dark matter seemed to be coming out from every orifice. She had dark ratted and shredded leathery wings and appeared to be rising from the inky depths of Tartaurus.

For a simple drawing, it was rather… disturbing. Frightening, even more so than the initial sketch of Smokey had been.

The dragon hadn't been paying attention to what the little girl was drawing, focused on his own. Finishing his work on Fluttershy, he picked up the black crayon to make out the outline of his precious baby. As he drew, he felt his heart break again, fresh tears pooling at his eyes.

"Why did this have to happen…?" he whimpered, his voice cracking.

Terra Cotta paused her nightmarish portrait, glancing up at him.

"Wha' di' wha' hah to happ'n?" she slurred out, tilting her head with a frown.

"I… I bit Pendulum… but… I don't remember doing it…" The draconian held back a sob as his mind trailed back to Fluttershy, Chenoa, his animals, and his friends. "I had to be taken away from my family…"

Terra Cotta blinked at him, eyes wide as she tilted her head to the opposite side. She seemed to regard him for several moments…

"Bull sit. I dun bleeve you. You nice!"

Smokey was stunned to hear such language from a young child.

"You shouldn't say bad words like that, young lady," he admonished gently and slid his hand underneath the haystack to retrieve his scrapbook. "Would you… like to see pictures of my family and friends?"

Terra Cotta appeared to be sorry, as she hung her head. She often heard ponies around this area use such colorful language, but she never understood why she wasn't allowed to use it-or why there were "bad" words.

Lifting her head when he offered to show her his scrapbook, she stared at the book in a confused manner.

"… Sur."

The dragon wanted to give Terra Cotta a lecture about the usage of proper language, but she wasn't his child. Settling the book in his lap, he cracked it open and flipped through the pages. Passing the photographs of the wildlife in places he had traveled to, he pointed to the pictures of doves and a brown rabbit in cute poses before moving onto the prints of a yellow pegasus.

"That… is Fluttershy," he said in a loving, yet distant, intonation. "She… she is the most wonderful pony anypony could ever meet. She's kind… compassionate, sweet, gentle… beautiful…"

Planting both forehooves on his leg, Terra Cotta ducked under Smokey's arm to peer at the pages. She seemed interested in the rabbit and doves, but when her eyes fell upon the pegasus, she stared more intently.

After a second, she lifted her gaze to the dragon.

"… She preddy."

"She is," he breathed longingly. "She is the most beautiful pony in existence… I wish… I was still with her… and Chenoa." As he mentioned the baby griffon, he turned the page to several pictures of her. "That's Chenoa. Isn't she the cutest little baby you've ever seen?"

"Babby?" she uttered. Fixating her eyes upon each photograph of the white chick, she tilted her head to the side with a small smile.

"Yes. She didn't have any parents, so Miss Fluttershy and I decided to take care of her together," the winged beast explained, flipping through more pages with more photographs of Fluttershy and Chenoa, eventually coming upon several of his friends. "And these… are my friends."

Terra Cotta took each photo in view. A violet baby dragon, a blonde orange mare wearing a Stetson hat, a bubbly poofy-maned pink pony, a svelte white unicorn with a flawless mane and tail, a sky-blue rainbow-maned pegasus, Fluttershy, and…

The girl gasped, eyes lighting up in recognition at the final pony.

"Printest Twiwight!" She pointed at the picture of the young alicorn excitedly. "I taw her! She gave me candy. She wuz v'ry nice."

Smokey smiled with a huff of a chuckle.

"Yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle is a very nice pony." The dragon then went on matching names with each individual on the pair of pages. "That's Spike. This one is Applejack. That one is Pinkie Pie. And Rarity. You know that is Fluttershy. The six of them are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. When I first met them, I could hardly believe it was them."

Interested, the filly lifted a hoof to tap her chin.

"Elementu no Haamoni," she spoke. She had a vague understanding, as if remembering something from a dream. However, she shook her head, thinking of it as nothing of great importance. Smiling softly, she leaned against him. "Dey look nice… I wan frens, too."

"They are…" Smokey said, about to turn the page which contained more pictures of Spike but paused when Terra Cotta's last words sank in. "You don't have any friends here?"

"Nu," she replied mournfully, before she corrected herself. "Nu! I… Miss Pearl… Jambree… um…" She was quiet for a moment until she spoke again, her eyes meeting the dragon's. "… You."

Smokey nodded in acknowledgement, bringing up a hand to stroke the girl's head.

"As long as I am here… I'm your friend… When you are with me, your sister will not be able to harm you."

A grateful smile pulled at the filly's lips. Leaning into his hand, she relaxed and closed her eyes.

"Tanku…" she whispered, her smile dispersing. "… Skies skurs me. I dun like be'en wif h'r."

"You're safe as long as I'm not growling. But… if I start snarling, I want you to get out of my cage as fast as you can. I don't want to hurt you."

Terra Cotta was confused at first, then recalled the incident from earlier, when she had witnessed him in his bestial state. Nodding a couple of times, she curled her forelegs around his wrist.

"Okay," she said softly, pressing a kiss to the back of his hand.

Heart turning in his chest, Smokey smoothed his hand over the filly's cheek after she released it. Closing the book, he slid it back underneath the haystack and leaned back against it and gestured for her to hop up on the makeshift bed with him. It was late and he had stayed up too long.

The small filly gave a smile and crawled closer to him. Snuggling up by his side, he released a yawn and rested her head on his arm. It did not take long for her to drift off. As the child slept, Smokey stroked her head gently, silently watching her. It hadn't been long since he met her, and already he was forming an attachment akin to the bond he had formed with Chenoa when he first spent time with her. But… no little one could ever replace the chick in his heart. Feeling a wave of pain, he cried until he fell asleep.