High Moon

Ch 2: New Home

The tall equine pushed opened the doors to the entrance to a part of the ruins she calls home with the twin dragons and phoenix pair following close behind. “So just why are two young twin dragons wondering this deep in Everfree forest,” The pony asked while she led the twins through the halls.

Spike lowered his head in shame at the memory that it was his fault that the Canterlot library was destroyed. Quill saw the sadness on her brother’s face and decided it was best for her to answer instead of him. “It’s a long story,” she answered, not sure if they should tell the pony everything before they knew more about her. “So what is this place exactly? It looks just like the old castle near here.”

Cracks line the walls, rips and tears throughout most of the ancient tapestry, and spider-webs in every corner that the twins looked in. The floor was covered in dust and rubble from fallen walls. And the few windows that remained were broken in, letting any storm that roll around to speed up the process of the settlement’s decay.

The pony caught the twins wandering gazes and she knew that they were taking in the poor conditions of the room. “Yes, I must apologize for the lack of upkeep. It’s been a rather...eventful year for me. Come along hatchlings, I know of a better place where we may talk in better conditions.” Spike and Quill were lead through the abandoned halls of the ruins as the pony went on explaining everything that she knew about this place.

“You see children, I’ve not lived here my entire life, so I do not know exactly what has happened to this settlement, but I do know that it does have something to do with the castle of the alicorn sisters.” As Quill had already pointed out before, the halls of the ruins had a similar layout as the castle, and even had both princesses royal symbols hanging tattered tapestry. “By my guess this must have been the first capital city of Equestria before the Lunar Fall.”

Quill raised an eyebrow while Spike continued to look depressed. “Lunar Fall, what like when Nightmare Moon was defeated by princess Celestia,” Quill asked, having a feeling that she was right, but something told her that she wasn’t completely correct.

The equine nodded her head towards the dragoness. “Almost my young friend. The Lunar Fall wasn’t just the defeat of the nightmare, it was also the end of the Nightmare Rebellion, and it is also why this place still stands.” The group reached a set of small doors at the end of the hall. The pony opened the doors allowing the dragons to enter first along with their phoenix pests and she closed it behind her.

Spike and Quill examined the room the equine led them to, from the bed, nightstands, and bookshelves it was quite easy to tell that they were led into a bed room of some sorts. “I hope you find everything to your liking, and I also hope you don’t mind sharing this bed until I can get another room ready for one of you stay in.”

Quill looked around the room as it was cleaner that the main entrance they came in and also the bed was far large enough to accommodate the both of them without trouble. “Nah, that’s fine this will do alright Ms…” The dragoness trailed off, remembering that she, nor Spike knew of the pony’s name.

“Lily Winds if you don’t mind,” Lily said, bowing her head slightly towards the two. “May I ask for your names as well,” She asked wanting to know the names of the twins that will be staying with her for the night.

Quill straightened up, putting on a confident smile, and pointing her thumb to her still growing chest. “I’m Quill Dragul, and this is my pet phoenix, Cinder.” The purple and black phoenix on Quill’s shoulders let out a cry of acknowledgment. “And this is my twin brother, Spike Dragul along with his pet phoenix, Peewee.” Spike’s red and orange phoenix mimicked Cinder’s cry of acknowledgment while Spike simply gazed towards Lily with a wary smile.

Lily nodded her head, taking note that Quill was the only one doing the talking. “I see, well I do bid you to a good night, and marry dreams. We’ll talk more tomorrow morning, “ She said, walking towards the door, but stopped right in the doorway. “If either of you need me I’ll be just on the other side of the hall, just knock.” The tall mare was out the door right after that, leaving the twins to wrap their heads around the sudden change of plans, and created more questions than answers.

Quill sighed while she hopped onto the bed and took off her book-bag. “Man, talk about a turn of events, huh Spike,” She asked, pulling out an apple that she and Cinder picked from earlier. Quill went for a bite but stopped when she saw Spiked still standing in the same spot when they came in. “Spike, is something wrong?”

Spike continued to stare at the wall of the room, not even hearing his sister’s call, or paying much attention to the phoenix on his shoulder. Quill placed the apple on the nightstand and hopped of the bed to walk over towards the unresponsive drake. “Spike, Spike.” Quill waved her hands in front of the dragon yet still no response. Quill placed her hands on her hips as she tried to think of a sure-fire way to get the drake to response, and a devious plan soon came to mind. “Spike don’t say anything if you want me to ask Rarity out.”

The dragoness’s plan succeed in getting Spike to take a step back from her with an angry stare. “What! No way Quill, she’s mine!” Spike’s brain caught up to what he just said as he covered his mouth in shame.

Quill smirked, not from her plan working better than she thought, but from finding out something that Spike has been hiding for three years now. “Ah, so you do still like her. Well you can have her, I’m tired of being her work-mule, and I’m more tired with fighting you about it,” She said, waving a dismissive hand towards Spike before he could say anything else on the matter, and started to walk back towards the bed. Quill hopped back on the bed and took a bite out of the apple, upset that it didn’t taste nowhere as good as the ones from Sweet Apple Archers. “So I’ll ask again, what you think of our new ‘friend?’”

“Huh, our new friend?” Quill flatly stared at Spike until he finally understood what she was asking. “Oh, you mean Ms. Winds?”

Quill dropped her head at Spike’s empty-headedness, now’s wasn’t the time she wanted to deal with it, but she had to if anything was going to get done. “No I mean the Windaghost that haunts these walls.”

“Wait, what?” You have got to be kidding.

“Yes I mean Ms. Wind, coal for brains. What do you think about her and this place in general?” Sometimes Quill would wonder what goes through Spike’s head at times, the drake would always start drifting off into some deep thought about something that wasn’t an immediate problem, and it irritated Quill be on measure.

“Well...I don’t know, she okay I guess,” Spike said, not really putting any thought into the question. Quill stared at the drake as the same heavy thought look overtook his face, she looked towards the phoenix pair, and only got curious stares in return.

“Spike is something the matter? You seem...distance and it doesn’t work for you well.” Quill waited a moment for Spike to respond, each passing second she became more worried for the sensitive drake. “Spi-”

“Quill, go home.” The dragoness reed back from Spike’s sudden firm tone of voice and also the assistive look in his eyes.

“Go home, why would I do that, and leave you here alone,” Quill questioned, only seeing this fiery look in Spike’s eyes when he was passionate about something important to him. Quill hopped off the bed yet again to stand in front of Spike with the same emerald-green fiery look in her eyes. “We’re in this together Spike, its somewhat my fault as well.”

“No Quill. This is my fault, I was the one to start looking in the draconem part of the library, and it was my fire breath that burnt the Canterlot library down.” Even with all that being the truth, Quill still stared down the drake, and was unmoved--or unimpressed--with his guilty plea.

“Yeah? Well, let me tell you this just in case you stupid boy-brain had already forgotten. It was me who found that part of the library--which by the way, how did we miss in the first place?” Spike continued his stare but still shrugged his shoulders in response. “Anyways, it was my idea to check the library in Canterlot, and it was Discord that ruined everything.”

“Which is why I’m telling you to go home, you didn’t burn the library down, I did. It’s not fair for you to have to runaway with me if it wasn’t your fault.” Quill let her head fall and her shoulders slump. Spike knew that he had finally gotten through the dragoness’s stubborn attitude. “Quill go home, tell Twilight that I’ll be okay, and tell princess that I’m sorry for everything. And be sure to tell Rarity-”

Spike was stopped by a sharp and vicious slap from Quill that had both phoenixes using their wings to shield themselves from the sound. Spike blink several times before any sense came back to him, he slowly turned his head while he was rubbing the stinging spot where Quill’s hand touch for a mere second. He was glad that his face was made of scales or else Quill’s claws would have left slash marks on his cheek. When he finally turned his head fully, he saw Quill with her head down, and drops of tears coming from her face.

“Quill wha-”

“You’re an idiot,” Quill shouted, scaring both Spike and the pair of phoenixes. A few silent moment befell the two as Quill was working on getting her breathing back to normal while Spike took a step back. “You’re the world’s biggest idiot, if you think I’m going to leave you here by yourself, and if you think that you can dump the hard part on me you got another thing coming.”

Spike stared at his sister, with a look of confusion, and shock from her words along with the tears that very was seen on her face before. “Dump the hard part on you, Quill what are you talking about,” Spike asked after he regain some composure.

“Don’t play dumb with me Spike, you may be dumb sometimes, but I know you’re smart enough to know what I’m talking about. You want me to face everyone while you get to hide away here, well let me tell you something, that’s not going to happen.” Quill turned her back towards her brother and walked back to the bed. “We’re in this together, we both wanted to know more about dragons, and we both decided to go to Canterlot.” She picked up the apple and finished it off in a few bites. “Whether you like it or not Spike, you’re stuck with me as I’m stuck with you.”

Quill incinerated the apple-core with her purple flame until it was nothing but ash and took off her green jacket, leaving her in nothing but her bright purple tank-top, and took a spot in the bed. “Now if you don’t got anything else to say, I’m going to sleep. Night Spike.” Quill soon closed her eyes and drifted off to much needed sleep after a full day of running to and from Canterlot.

Spike stood in the middle of the room, watching his sister drift off to sleep, and started to put together the piece of the puzzle in his head. She doesn’t want to be alone...and I was trying to send her home. Quill is right, I am the world’s biggest idiot. Spike started to take off his purple jack, which left him in his green t-shirt, and claimed in the bed with Quill. He rolled over to met the back of Quill’s sharper head spines. “Hey Quill, you asleep yet?”

Through the darkness of the room, Spike saw the faint lines of black smoke coming from his sister. “I was, what is it Spike,” Quill asked with a low growl, irritated that Spike woke her up knowing that she doesn’t like it when he do so.

“Do you think everyone is worried about us?” The question had plague not only Spike’s mind but also the mind of Quill. However the dragoness was able to push the thought way much better than Spike, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t thinking about it.

Quill turned around in the bed so she could face Spike. “Of course they’re looking for us. If Discord’s words hold any truth, than the whole Solar guard is looking for us, but I doubt that they’ll find us here.” The twin dragons didn’t know which part of Everfree they ran into, which meant neither will Twilight or the others.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, but we should at least tell them that we’re alright.” Spike hated to think about the fearful look on Twilight’s face as they were away from home. The last time they ran away Twilight looked like she was scared half to death, not just cause of the dragon that they ran into, but because they abandoned her.

“No Spike, we can’t give them a way to find us. So no letters okay,” Quill commanded, knowing the drake’s thinking. “Now go to sleep, we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow, and I’m sure that Ms. Winds have a lot of questions for us as well as we do for her.” Quill turned around again to go back to sleep as Spike did the same thing.

“Night, Quill.”

“Night, Spike. Good night you two,” Quill called out to the pair of phoenixes, who had already went to sleep a few moments ago.

As the twins rested in their room, Lily remained awake through the cracks of the rising sun, and was searching through the archives for a particular book. Her long slender fingers danced on the spines of the dusty ancient tomes, eyes searching through the ancient equine language of year’s past.

Her search came to a stop when she found the tome she was looking for as she carefully removed it from the shelf, as not to further the book’s decay. She walked over to a small desk that Wolf was so graciously made for her in exchange for the assist when Blaze wanted to find something in the archives along with any other structures she needed build. She simply placed the book on the desk, leaving it for tomorrow’s study, and walking out of the room that she turned into a sort of private study.

Before reaching her room, she carefully opened the door to the twins’ room, and a soft smile formed on her face glad to see the two peacefully enjoying Luna’s dream-world. She gently shut the door and walked into her room to call it a night--well rather day, since the sun was almost out.

Back in Canterlot, Twilight along with the other elements of harmony were informed of the events that transpired during the late afternoon. When the news reached Celestia’s ears, she sent out a band of Solar guards to locate the twins, and bring them back unharmed. However the search through the expansive forest turned up with nothing and the news wasn’t taken well by Twilight.

“What do you mean you CAN’T find them,” The enraged alicorn questioned the shaking earth-pony guard in front of her.

“P-princess I’m sorry, but at this rate--if they wanted to--they could have already set foot in the Dragon Empire.” Visible lines of smoke seeped from Twilight’s body as the anger inside of her started to raise at a destructive pace.

“Well why aren’t-”

“Private Stronghold,” Everyone’s attention was drawn to a large dark-blue diamond dog as he walked in the throne room, wearing his trademark black-shorts, and black work gloves on his hand that flashed the celestial symbol on them. “You’re dismissed, head back to the barracks, and don’t come out until I give you permission to do so. Is that clear?”

Stronghold saluted his high-ranking officer, more than glad to follow his command if it meant getting away from Twilight’s angered looks. The pony quickly left the room, keeping his gaze away from Twilight’s as much as possible, and closed the door behind him.

The dog turned to the still angered alicorn, his flat look working on calming her down. “Princess, you know yelling at them while it looks like you’re going to set them on fire, isn’t the best way to talk to new recruits,” He said as Twilight tried to take in slow breaths.

“Sargent Obsidian, what brings you here?” The dog--named Obsidian--turned to princess Celestia as she was musing over the lumps of information that flooded her mind.

Obsidian bowed towards the princess respectively before stating his reasons for entering the throne-room. “Princess, if I may speak out of respect, but I think you should end the search for the twin dragons.” Everypony in the room looked over to Obsidian, he felt the room’s collected mixture of shock and rage towards what he just said, but he remained unmoving.

“Oh my, that is a heavy request. Well, may I be so bold to ask why you would think that is a good idea,” Celestia asked, she always trusted the dog’s insight, but to end the search for the twins and leave them in Everfree was something she was hesitant to do.

“Princess, everypony, I know that the twins mean a lot to you, but there’s something you all must realize.” Obsidian paused for a moment, knowing he was going to catch hell in the face, but there was no turning back now. “The twins, they aren’t going to come back because we find them, and if anything our searching may push them further away.” The elements were wide-eyed by what the dog said while Celestia herself appeared to be unnerved by the statement, but too she was shocked by his claims.

“What led you to this conclusion,” She asked, wanted to see the dog’s thinking before make any decisions.

“Princess, I mean no harm, but I speak from experience. I ran from home at a younger age than the two, not once had I thought about going back until the second month when home-sickness really kicks in,” Obsidian answered, using his own life as an example. “Also I do think that they can make it out there.”

“What,” The elements shouted at the dog in unison.

“But there’s scary monsters in Everfree,” Fluttershy said, shaking from the thought of being in Everfree surrounded by creature that could eat her alive.

“Yeah what do you expect them to eat,” Applejack questioned, knowing that there’s a lot of fruit in Everfree that’s not healthy to eat.

“And you expect us to leave in Everfree forest all alone,” Rainbow Dash questioned, placing her head against Obsidian’s, and glaring into his flat silver eyes. She felt a tug on her tail and looked back to see Rarity with a disapproving look on her face. Rainbow back away from the dog, only to let Rarity to take her spot.

“What about their safety, hm,” She questioned with a disapproving tone.

Obsidian was going to answer the girls questions when Pinkie Pie popped up from underneath him. “Yeah what everypony said.” Obsidian stared at the party-pony with a wary look before looking towards Celestia.

The princess knew what Obsidian’s look was for and nodded her head. “Okay, in order: They are dragons they can breath fire. From my chats with princess Celestia, I know that Quill can tell which fruits they can eat, also they’re dragons so they can eat meat. They’re not alone they have each other along with two phoenixes. Does that cover everything?”

The girls thought about all that Obsidian said and realized that he had a point. “Look everypony, I know it’s hard to let them go, but this was going to happen one day or another.”

“How do you know,” Twilight asked, keeping her head low during Obsidian’s explanation. “H-how do you know that they’ll make it?”

Obsidian looked towards the darkened expression on Twilight’s face, he knew that it was the look of a mother losing their children to the world, and he knew it was the same one his mother had when he left home. “I know because they have something I didn’t when I left home.”

“And what’s that?”

“Each other,” Obsidian answered, getting a reaction out of Twilight as she slowly raised her head. “Princess, there’s one thing I regretted when I left home, and that was leaving my brother all alone. But after seeing how he turned out, I wouldn’t change it for anything, but still.” Obsidian turned towards Celestia, again he knew that he was going to catch hell, but he needed to get his point across. “It was bound to happen one day, as I’ve said they’re dragons living in a land ruled by ponies, of which know little about dragons, or is trying to hide something from them,” He finished, casting a glance back towards Twilight, who failed to meet his. “Wouldn’t work, which is why I’m requesting a hold on the search.”

Celestia mushed over Obsidian’s proposal, it made sense, but she didn’t want to risk the twins get themselves hurt or worse. “I’m sorry Sargent Obsidian, the search for them will continue until we get reason to cease, but if we can not find them within a week’s time, or if they refuse to come back then I’ll consider your proposal.”

Obsidian bowed his head in acknowledgement towards Celestia’s decision. “Very well, than I’ll have my team out on the search of east Everfree,” He said as he started to make his leave but was stopped by Celestia raising her hand. “Yes princess?”

“Obsidian, you said that home-sickness will hit them in two full months, but after that how long does it last,” Celestia asked, curious about the topic.

“Princess, it doesn’t go away. You can only find something to help cope with it, for me that was my marefriend in Blatimare, but I have no idea what they will find out there.” Obsidian raised his head towards the ceiling, he knew that it’ll be hard for both the elements and the twins to cope with the change in events, but one day or another life changes for better or worse. “Now if you excuse me, I have a team to get ready, and a forest go comb through.” Obsidian left out of the room after that, leaving the mare’s to think about what he said.

Twilight looked towards Celestia, the same look of thought on her face that she seen before during other matters of high importance. “Princess, you not really thinking about what he said are you?”

“I don’t know Twilight. Truthfully, if anyone knows what the two are going through it’ll be Obsidian, but I’m not willing to give up just yet.” Celestia stood up from her throne and started to walk down the steps. “Now I think all of you should go get some rest, tomorrow will be just as long as today, and I don’t want any of you to go into Everfree.” The elements looked towards Celestia, confused that they aren’t allowed to help look for Spike or Quill, but nodded their heads.

Celestia bided the two guards standing at the door to escort the elements to guest rooms for the night while she finished up some last minute work. When the doors closed, Celestia’s warm smile fell into a dark frown as she turned back to the throne. Her horn started to glow a vibrant gold and the throne started to shift to the side, revealing a winding staircase.

She started down the staircase, the only light was the one from her horn as she descended onward into the darkness. The throne above her moved back into its original spot, sealing her within the hidden chamber, but she didn’t react to the throne’s movement only continuing the trip downwards.

Soon she came to a large underground study, yet the room only accommodates a single bookcase, and and desk. Celestia walked over to the bookcase, furiously scanning over the ancient tomes of a time before Nightmare Moon, and a time long before the elements of harmony.

Celestia picked the book up with her magic and placed it on the table. “I wish this time would not come, at least not this early, but there is no time for me to dwell on such wishes.” She waved a hand over the top of the book, making it glow in a bright golden light before it started to flip open. Oh mother, give me strength for what I am about to do.

Celestia’s bright sunlight flowed through the cracks of Wolf’s and Blaze’s temple home, forcing Wolf out of the peaceful realm of dreams to face the day ahead of him. He started to get out of the bed when Blaze stopped him by squeezing tightly around his back. “Blaze, let me go, I’ve got to see about those new creatures here.” The mare didn’t release her grip, instead it tightened up.

Wolf sighed, sometime Blaze had her moments where she acted like a stubborn spoiled filly, but he still had a job to get done. Wolf reached down to Blaze’s flanks and give them a pinch with his claws, forcing her to wiggle away from him, and allowing him to get out of the bed.

Blaze whimpered in disapproval from the dog’s absents in the bed next to her but she soon allowed him to leave. Wolf walked over to a wardrobe that he fashioned out of a fallen oak tree and picked out a pair black stained sorts along with his brown cloak. He walked over to the mare and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll be back in a little while, stay here, and be good alright?”

Blaze rolled over to her stomach and cracked a sleepy eye towards Wolf. “Mmm...fine,” She said, not feeling the best this early in the morning. Wolf placed another kiss on the top of her head, making her purr slightly in response.

“The both of you stay safe,” Wolf said, talking not only to Blaze, but also to their unborn cub as well. A warm peaceful smile stretched across Blaze’s lips, the memories of the potion working better than she could have hoped, and thoughts of caring for a child of her own filled her head even overcoming the sickness that she was feeling.

“Be safe Wolf,” The mare said with a brightened smile towards Wolf. “Please make it back to us.” Wolf nodded towards the mare and walked out the room. He quickly made his way back to Blaze’s work area and when the solid black door came up in sight, he raised his hands, and reviled the black and silver braces with the fire-stones still charged with Blaze’s magic.

The door responded by glowing a bright crimson red and sliding to the side. Wolf walked into the mare’s work area and headed straight for the tunnel entrance but not before grabbing a flint-stone touch. As with most of the doors in the temple, the tunnel’s entrance was sealed off by a rounder slab of stone that Blaze revealed to the dog as ‘Arcane-rock.’

Wolf raised the braces to the door as it responded the same way as the last one and rolled to the side. He started to walk in the tunnel, running the flint of the touch against the fire-stone, and activate the magic in the fire-stone to light the touch in a dull--yet still usable--red glow.

He walked through the tunnels, following the direction where the new creatures were last felt, which was in the ruins of the settlement at the end of the tunnel. Wolf thought about what kind of creatures could suppress their predatory presents and all thought when towards another sentient being in the valley.

“I better check on Lily, Blaze seems to be fund of her, and she has been useful to keep around,” He said out loud, knowing that Blaze freely talks to the mare about her species, and about their magic. This thought got him thinking on the matter himself. The first time they’ve met the equine she revealed herself to be a relative of the changeling race known as a flutterpony.

Wolf was special of the mare’s claims but when she removed her own cloak revealed her body to the two, Wolf and Blaze were both given a surprise to find that the mare wasn’t lying about her race.

However the mare’s explanation of her magic was oddly vague for him. Lily claimed that she uses her butterfly-like wings to create rapid beats of magical current that’s naturally flowing in the air to generate shields and magical blasts of energy. Wolf didn’t know much about magic or anything related to the topic, what he did know was her wings had to serve a higher purpose than just acting as a unicorn’s horn, but he’ll never know nor does he want to.

Frankly all he wanted to do for the day was check on Lily, those new creatures, and find some food to add to the smoke-chamber. Wolf spotted the bright sunlight shining at the end of the tunnel as he picked up his pace to reach it.

Once he was on the other side, Wolf was greeted by the familiar sight of the city ruins stretching far out to the rising sun in the horizon. Somehow the falling rubble looked magnificent under the rising sun, images of his cub running through the barren streets and walkways filled his heart with a warmth that rival the same sun that’s giving the city’s its appearance, but before he would allow any child of his to play within the city walls he had to make sure this part of Everfree stays safe for his family.

Wolf started down a dirt path, the gentle winds of the morning air tickled against his fur as he came up to a small lake the formed from Everfree’s periodic downpour. He placed the torch in the lake to put out the fire and to have it close by the tunnel for when he heads back to Blaze. When he was sure that the fire was completely out, Wolf pulled the torch out of the water, and sat it against a tree to dry off.

He started to make his way towards the ruins entrance, the size of the ancient stone doors always caught his attention. Wolf could tell by the carvings and how long the wall were able to hold up without any to look after them for a thousand years, that the settlers put an extreme amount of effort in building the settlement. Wolf pushed opened the stone doors, entering the parlor room of the--what he believed to be--mansion that the alicorn sisters used as a second castle.

Wolf looked around the empty parlor room, where piece of glass broken from the window the rays from the sun would fill in its place, and bits and piece of the wall crumbled to the ground gathering on the ground with the floor’s other collection. “Yeah, she definitely trying to fix this place up.”

“Actually I am.” Wolf turned his head down towards the hallway to see the tall equine walking down the hall, wearing her oddly made two piece red dress that showed off her stomach, and along with her red silk braces. As she walked closer to Wolf, both her white mane and tail along with her translucent butterfly wings started to shimmer from the little sunlight that leaked in the room. “What brings you here Wolf, I haven’t done anything to upset you I hope,” Lily said her tone devoid of emotions but still carried genuine concern.

“No, you haven’t yet, but I wanted to come tell you that two new--possibly sentient--creatures entered the valley.” For a brief moment, Lily flinched from the dog’s knowledge, but regained composure before he could catch it. She had a feeling Wolf sensed the twin’s presents in Everfree before her magic could hide them, Lily don’t want to think what Wolf will do if he finds two dragons within his territory. “I came to tell you before combing over the valley to see if they’re still around, also there’s something we need to discuss concerning these ruins. Lily are you listening?”

“Yes, yes I’m listening,” Lily said snapping out of her thoughts. “I doubt whatever creature you are sensing wouldn’t be here in the ruins. So it best if you started your search somewhere else for the moment and we can talk later I’m-” A loud crashing sound erupted from the hallway followed by the sounds of a female yelling.

Wolf looked towards Lily with inflamed stare. “Lily, who else is here with you, and don’t lie to me,” He commanded with a low growl, blood-curdling venom lacing each word. Lily looked away from the dog’s menacing stares, each time she would look back to him, the darker the expression got. “Answer me, Winds.”

“Fine,” Lily said with a sigh, giving up on trying to think of a way to fool the dog. “Follow me.” The pony started to lead Wolf into the hallway towards the door where the shouting was coming from. Lily hesitantly reached out to the door knob to turned it, revealing Wolf to the valley’s new dragons.

Quill looked towards the door while she had Spike in a headlock on the floor, she blushed when she saw how beautiful Lily’s body was without the dusty cloak covering it up, and got off of Spike to greet her new friend. “Ms. Winds go-” That’s when she saw the angered look on Wolf’s face, which made her flinch back.

Spike soon got up from the ground, only to met the dark stone face of Wolf. “Dragons, you were trying to hide dragons from me,” Wolf questioned Lily, who had the look of sorrow on her face. “Lily you better have a good fucking reason for doing this.”

The mare was silent for a moment before an idea shined brightly through the dark sorrow. “Yes, yes I do in fact.” Lily step in front of the twin dragons, who still didn't have a single idea what was going on. “I found these two just outside of the valley and thought that they could be useful.” Quill right eye started to flinch and she was going to speak up when Spike covered her mouth with his hand. Lily ignored the two’s fighting to continue defending them. “Think about it Wolf, you’re always going on about how there’s so much work to get done, and now you have not one but two twin dragons at your disposal.”

The boiling anger in Wolf started to ease over the thought of having a pair of dragons helping out. “Alright, I see you’re point, but how do I know that they can be useful? The last thing I need is for me to be taking care of a pair of dragons that can’t fend for themselves.” One of Wolf’s rules of his territory was that if any was going to call the ruins that they were going to pull their own weight and in return of him protecting them from the dangerous of Everfree, they were to make themselves useful to him in anyway.

“I assure you that they are, if you turn your attention towards their pet phoenixes, you’ll see that they are highly trained.” Lily motioned her hand towards the small desk in the room where the phoenix pair were perched on the back of the chair.

Wolf looked over the phoenixes, they were young, younger than their owners, but they looked trained enough. Let’s test that. Wolf moved his hand out from behind his cloak, revealing the fire-stone on his arm-brace. The phoenixes immediately responded to the stones by flying over to Wolf and landing on his arm-brace. Spike and Quill stared at Wolf wide eyed, and not believing that he was able to get the birds to come to him without trying.

“Fire-birds, huh? Look healthy enough and quick to respond,” Wolf noticed, motioning his hand towards the chair, which the pair flew back to without a hesitant taught, and preached back on the chair. “What else they got?”

Lily looked back to the twins as Quill sat on top of Spike, both of which were looking straight at Wolf. The mare nodded to Quill and motioned towards her book-bag. She soon got the hint and got off of Spike to grab her book-bag that was filled with fruits. Lily reached into the bag and pulled out the reddest apple she saw and took a bite.

“As you can see, they’re good scavengers, not the best but with time,” Lily urged on, hoping that it would be enough to get Wolf to agree with the twins stay.

“Animal-tamers and scavengers, whoopdedoo. I don’t need either of those things, I already have it covered, but what I do need is hunters. Ones that can help protect this land, not a pair of hatchlings and their pets.” Lily looked towards the twins for a moment, a feeling of worry, and concern for their well being filled her heart.

When she turned back around towards Wolf, there was only one thing that she could say to get them to be able to stay, but she hoped it wouldn’t get them hurt. “They can, just yesterday they charged at me with nothing, but sticks.” Wolf remained unmoved but Lily saw that he was at least thinking about it. All she needed to do was give one more push and they’ll be set. “They shown that they have some skill, with time, and a little training I’m sure that they will prove to be vastly useful.”

Wolf looked passed Lily to stare into the eyes of the twin dragons. Let’s give them their first test. He stepped closer to them to see what kind of reaction he’ll get from them. Spike flinched a little at first but regain most of his--sort of--while Quill remained unmoving, even going as bold to take a step towards Wolf, and looked him dead in the eyes.

“What’s your names hatchlings,” Wolf questioned, not breaking the stare on Quill. “You got mouths, so speak up.”

“I’m Quill Dragul, and the purple cool-looking phoenix over there is Cinder,” The dragoness said with a cocky confidence that rivaled Rainbow Dash’s. Wolf stared in the dragon’s emerald eyes for a longer moment of time to find any weakness in her. When none came, Wolf nodded the dragoness passed his first test will flying colors, and so he refocused his attention towards Spike.

“What about you hatchling, you got a name as well?” Spike stole a glance towards Quill, who just gave him a reassuring nod.

“I-I’m Spike Dragul, and the other phoenix is mine, Peewee,” The drake said with less esteem and self-confidence than Quill. Wolf stared into Spike’s eyes, a storm of doubt, fear, worry, and dread freely flowed from the quivering drake’s eyes. One out of two huh?

“Well the two of you, my name is Wolf, and the ruins you’re in right now is part of my territory. Which means if you want to continue sleeping on a bed and not the dirt floor and want a ceiling--mostly--over your heads than from here onward, you’ll listen to me, and do anything I ask. Clear?”

Quill placed her hand over her head in a mock salute. “Crystal.” Wolf smiled towards the dragoness and turned towards her drake twin.

“Well, are we at an understanding?”

“Y-yeah,” Spike said, trying to mimic the salute, but it was far weaker than Quill’s. The smile on Wolf’s face drop a little, irked that the male dragon seems far weaker than his sister, but choose not to dwell on it much.

“Good, you two get ready outside there is someone else I want you to met before we do anything else. Lily, a word with you,” Wolf said, leading the flutterpony out the twin’s room, and into her adjacent bedroom. Lily closed the door behind her and patience awaited for Wolf to speak. The dog took in a deep breath and let out a small growl. “You irritate the hell out of me sometimes you know that?”

Lily heard the anger in Wolf’s voice but she still didn’t regret her choices. “Wolf, they’re just hatchlings. You couldn’t expect me to let them roam around lost, could you?” Wolf closed his eyes, breathing in another breath of air, and letting out a smaller growl than before.

“No. No I suppose not, still doesn’t change the fact that you tried to hide them from me, but I’ll overlook it if you do me a favor.” Lily flashed a quick smile, more than glad to do anything to keep the dragons within the relatively safety of the city walls.

“Name it.”

“There will be a time, a time that I’ll need your help the most, and on that day I need you there,” Wolf said with a hint of dread and happiness. “Can you do that for me, Lily?”

The mare blinked several times, not once over the near eight years of knowing him has he sounded like that, and it freighted the mare a little. “Sure Wolf, anything I can do to help.” The dog nodded his head as he turned around to the mare.

“Also you’ll be the one to care for them.” Wolf started to walk back to the door passed Lily but stopped when he opened it. “Oh and from now on, I’ll be helping you with restoring parts of this ruins.” Lily smiled, she didn’t know exactly where the dog’s sudden interest came from, but glad to have his help none the less. “Come on, I don’t want to leave those two alone for too long.”

Lily turned to follow Wolf out the door, enjoyed that the twins now had a place to stay, and more happy if the learned to call High Moon valley their home.